I'm Julia Angonese and here is a short preview to my talk towards an objective measurement of individual listening preferences, trait consistency and state specificity. Let's assume we are at the coffee break of the conference and you want to understand what your German colleague is telling you. If I were to ask you which sound you prefer among these two that I will now play in terms of better intelligibility and lower listening effort, what would you choose? This one, or this one, and this is actually what our colleague was telling us. Some people might prefer higher background noise to maintain a good signal quality, others might want to maintain listening comfort, so low noise, despite having some signal distortions. This trade-off between noise and distortion is introduced by single microphone noise reduction algorithms in hearing aids. These algorithms provide an increasing signal to noise ratio by reducing the surrounding noise, but with this they also introduce distortions to the signal. Despite this drawback, however, these algorithms are an essential part of the fine tuning of hearing aid, since they improve the understanding of speech and noise. So can we measure this trade-off preferences to achieve information on the individual that will favor better individualized fitting? We implemented a mobile task to categorize noise and distortion haters, and we will discuss its psychometric qualities and whether these measured preferences are stable along the days. We will do so in a dataset of 185 unedited older adults with subjective reports of hearing loss who participated in a three-weeks-long ecological momentary assessment study. But for now, I thank you for listening and I will be more than happy to welcome you at my talk.


If a politician does something stupid, I'm going to write about them. But do I care about the parties and not one's act? And was there every time you did? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, that's the one thing that Nikki Harger did a great favor to me is that he taught me the value of being a political or agnostic when it comes to politics. And you know, I thank him for that. And I'm glad he wrote the book that he did and it made me a better commentator. And he was trying to destroy me and he actually made me better. And so Nikki, if he's listening to this, thanks a lot, Nikki. You've really improved my life out of sight and I'm a better political commentator because of it.


From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report. A United Nations agency estimates that 516 million of the world's women cannot read and write. The UN Education Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO says programs are needed to help illiterate women learn, although they are past school age. Women make up two-thirds of all illiterate adults. The majority of these women live in West Africa. Many girls in that area never go to school. But in Liberia, a new education program is giving women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s another chance to learn, to read, and write. Pauline Rose heads UNESCO's Worldwide Monitoring Report on Education for All. She says being illiterate causes huge problems in daily life. She notes situations like not being able to read directions on a medicine bottle or the number on a bus. Ms. Rose says illiteracy affects not only the women but also their families because women are often the main caregivers of children. She says when women are illiterate, they are less likely to use health services. Some countries like Senegal have improved women's literacy rates through government efforts. They tell more girls in primary school and community programs about the importance of education. But there are still many nations where less than one in four women can read and write. They include Niger, Benin, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Ms. Rose says these countries need literacy programs that target women. Liberia, for example, has launched a second chance literacy campaign to teach women. Liberia's Ministry of Education says 5,000 women currently study in adult literacy programs across the country. For VOA Learning English, I'm Alex Villareal.


Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasebreaks.com coming at you with a 2020 Panini Donors Football Fat Pack Break, number 38, this right here. So this, after we do the break itself as always, we're going to re-randomize your names in a different dice roll at the end and give away the final three team random spots. So if you're in the team random, which is actually right there, then you're guaranteed one of these teams, right there, which in turn unlocks, pick your team nine right there, all of those are coming up in separate videos. But big thanks to everyone here for making this happen. I appreciate it. I know there was a couple layers that we had to get through, but I appreciate you being good sports about it and plugging away, chipping away and making this happen, I appreciate it. So let's do this pack first. Names and teams, five and a four, nine times. One, two, three, four. And ninth and final time, after nine, we've got John down to Ryan, five and four, nine times, four of the teams, seven, eight. And ninth and final time, after nine, we've got the Jaguars down to the Browns, down to the Bears, that's the ability to read. All right, I'm not going to read off all that. I got to save my voice for that prism break, but there's all those teams there. There's all these teams there. Steve with the Chargers, we've got, we're right there, we've got Walter with the Dolphins.  Could be surprises in a pack. All right, these blue parallel are exclusive to this set. There's Michael Thomas for the Saints. There's Debo Samuel for the Niners. Saints is Ryan, Niners is Steve. Daniel Jones for Sean and the Giants and a rookie blue, Eno Benjamin for the Cardinals, Ryan H. These inserts, some more rookies. Any key rookies here? No, well, not any of the big quarterbacks at least. So there you have it. All right, now, more importantly, it's re-randomizing these names to see who wins spots in that team random. I think you could win yourself the Chargers, which would be pretty nice. Let's flip back to this list. Let's grab Ryan's name down to Aubrey and everybody in between. Let's roll it and randomize it. Three and a four, lucky seven times. Top three after seven, good luck. One, two, seventh and final time. After seven from four down to 32, we'll get them next time. Top three, congrats to you though. Walter, Steve and Gary, Gregory, that is. Not Gary Harper, Gregory Harper. There you have it, Greg, Steve and Walt. Thank you very much for giving this a shot and congrats for winning. I'm Joe, I'll see you next time for the next one. Bye-bye.


Okay, move out. National Guard Hope. And I want to tell you that the story of today's Army and Air National Guard is something all Americans can be proud of. Man, they're getting too close. Let them have it. That'll teach them. Is the coast clear? They're not really running away, folks. They're just moving into position for some sharpshoots. At the rate they're moving, they'll be there in no time. These M-42s can move along at 40 miles per hour, and that's really hustling for babies this size. You know, the story of any military organization is found in its men, in its machines, and in its missions. These men are Virginia Army National Guardsmen, and that's a radio-controlled aerial target. Better known to these guys as an RCAT. Their mission is to shoot it down. Once this little bird gets airborne, it's up to the RCAT controller to keep it flying in its prescribed course. You might say he's one pilot who flies with both feet on the ground. When these guys open up on that RCAT, they have the capability of pumping out 120 rounds per minute from each tube or barrel. Man, that's 240 rounds per minute. Glad they're on our side. Incidentally, the weapon I've been referring to is the M-42 Duster. It's heyday was a generation ago, during World War II, when it dusted enemy aircraft from the skies. After World War II, the Army gave the entire duster system to the Army National Guard. The Guardsmen took the weapon, trained on it, and became professionally competent with it. Watch them go after this RCAT. That's what I call coming in for a soft landing. It makes things a little softer in our pocketbooks, too. If you've been thinking that Guardsmen face a paper enemy in the field on these training exercises, don't say it out loud. The Guard uses its own aggressors right from its own ranks to oppose the good guys on field exercises like this one at Camp Grayling, Michigan. Coordination is a key factor in any exercise. These Guardsmen are checking the lay of the terrain prior to the exercise. Battle planning strategy is just as important to the bad guys as it is to the heroes. These men are jumping off on an attack, which will test the reaction and effectiveness of elements of the 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the Ohio Army National Guard. The guerrillas have plenty going for them, as you can see. These scenes are typical of the realistic combat conditions Guardsmen undergo at training sites throughout the United States, as well as overseas. Things could get a little hot around here. I've got to hand it to them, though. He really knows how to use that oversized cigarette lighter. I don't know about you, but as for me, I'm not too sure, but I'd just as soon be on the aggressor side in this battle. I'm just kidding. It's mighty comforting to know the bad guys are really good guys in this case. They're all part of the National Guard team. It's red, white, and blue as old glory yourself. Now, if heavier reinforcements were needed, the Guard has them too. This honest John Rocket can deliver a mighty punch if needed. Manning these powerful rockets takes a lot of training, believe me, but these Guardsmen are well-trained and well-prepared. The Army National Guard is composed of many different type units, including airborne and special forces. Organizations that demand the best courage and stamina. These West Virginia Army Guardsmen are preparing to board a West Virginia Air Guard plane for a challenging night operation. Because of the nature of their military responsibilities, National Guardsmen don't accept the words professionalism and readiness as mere slogans. That guy reminds me of Crosby trying to get to the bank with all his loot. There's no room for the timid at an outfit like this. No, sir. And the important thing to remember is that Guardsmen have accepted their responsibilities readily. They're all volunteers, men who have stood up ready to be counted if the country needs them. By their oath, they're pledged, irrevocably, to safeguard the nation and its institutions against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Any Guardsman who is worthy of the name accepts this as a fact of service. Guardsmen are citizen soldiers, and their purpose is the American purpose. For more than 300 years now, theirs has been an unbroken record of duty accomplished, of lives saved, of property secured, and of order in the face of potential chaos. Because of the close ties of the Army and the Air National Guard, they are working together continuously. These Rhode Island Army Guardsmen, for example, are practicing an infiltration operation with the help of their Rhode Island Air Guard planes. The Air Guard has four of these air commando units, two of which are equipped with this H-U-16 amphibian aircraft. In situations where commando units require either a land or sea rendezvous or both, this sturdy flying boat can maneuver about and land almost anywhere with ease. Guardsmen are trained to operate under all climactic conditions over all types of terrain. Because the Guard is dispersed in communities throughout the United States, you will find that many men are already are skilled in many of their military assignments before they ever raise their hand to take the oath as a member of the Guard. And that saves dollars for the taxpayers. Natural wild surroundings of the West Yellowstone area set the scene for these Montana Special Forces Guardsmen as they work their way to the top of this barren outcropping. Ordinarily, this cliff would be considered a dangerous obstacle, but danger is just another word to these guys. They figured that the best way around is over the side. Some people call this a gung-ho gravitational go-mobile. Let's watch this fellow. Well, now that wasn't bad. However, if you'd rather take the express route, man, that's what I'd call moving. These guys are on the move, too. Graceful movements, cat-like responses, superb balance and control. That's what it takes for a ballet like this. Yet those are the talents of these Montanans that contribute to their capabilities as Guardsmen. They're a proud bunch, and they've got a right to be. Now, it's pretty nice to get paid for this type of thing, but it's training with a purpose. They're actually on a mission to ambush a mythical enemy outpost. Once they reach the area of operations, a brief planning session is all that's needed to finalize the plan of attack. Strict silence becomes the order of the day as the Guardsmen close in on their objective. They know the outpost is somewhere close. Then, without warning, they spot the enemy just a few yards away. Because silence is imperative in a situation like this, the usual weapons are not employed. The quiet deadliness of a swift arrow does a much better job. Don't be alarmed. It was just a dummy. From the deep snows of Montana to the tropical beauty of Hawaii, that gives you some idea of the Guards' scope of geographical operations. They reach into Alaska and Puerto Rico, too. These Hawaii Guardsmen are on a routine patrol in an exercise that will eventually bring aerial support from mainland air guard units. The last minute check of plans was made before the troops move out for the objective. You know, the Guard is composed of many veterans of World War II, of Korea, and even Vietnam. Their background and know-how provides a measurement of leadership that should serve as comfort to any parent whose son has joined the Guard. These veteran Guardsmen know the ropes. They've had battle experience. They've been leading men for years, and they know their business, including the techniques of camouflage. See anything? Well, watch. I thought about mortar fire in Vietnam. Well, this is what a mortar looks like. Guardsmen are trained on them, as well as every other fire system with which there aren't. Here's a grenade launcher.  Just watch. Bullseye. And if you really want to clobber a target, grab one of these 106-millimeter recoil-less rifles. These Guardsmen operate this weapon with perfection. Bullseye again. Really packs a wallet, doesn't it? If anyone thinks it's all sunshine and flowers in Hawaii, just look at this. This is the air guard's radar station atop Mount Kuala. Nestled in virgin forests and frequently invaded by wild pigs this outpost, 4,000 feet high, is shrouded in fog much of the time. That doesn't bother these Hawaiians, however. That radar sweeps through that fog and reaches miles in all directions of the Pacific in surveillance against a possible enemy attack. Nearby, other Guardsmen receive and interpret the information collected by the radar atop the mountain. Each Guardsman is a specialist, and each knows his responsibility like this fellow writing backwards on a transparent wall. If you want some fun, try that sometime. This man has located some air guard aerial tankers and jet fighters who are flying from the mainland. They're about 200 miles out and the radar shows that they're about to rendezvous for the fighter refueling. Then they will continue to Hawaii where they will take part in exercises of the active army and with the Army Guard. The air guard has five air refueling units equipped with a KC-97 aircraft. With four reciprocating engines and two jet engines, these birds really get out of move. These tankers from the Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin air guard provide the fuel for the jet fighters making the deployment. They're F-84s from the Ohio Air National Guard. Imagine meeting a couple thousand miles over the ocean to gas up. It's a bit different from pulling into the corner service station. This refueling capability within the Guard makes it possible for the Guard's fighter units to deploy anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. These air guardsmen are operationally ready, too. And that means that they're ready for combat the minute they get where they're going. When they're landing at Hickam Air Force Base, the guardsmen prepare to launch a mission to the island of Hawaii.  These are your citizen airmen. These air crews meet the same standards as the active Air Force air crews do. They do not ask, nor do they receive, any credit for performing their roles as part-time airmen and in their home communities. And the National Guard believes that it is highly unlikely that a citizen soldier or citizen airman would demonstrate qualities as a soldier or airman that he does not possess as a citizen. This operation was known as COFFIC-like, a good example of support to Guard provides the active military service. These fighters were working at Army ground crews. As a part of their training for combat, they participate in operations in which close air support is demonstrated. Because the air guard is able to support these missions, the Air Force can turn its attention to higher priority missions. Thus carry out air strikes with speed and efficiency. These RF-84s of the Alabama Air Guard are taking off on a photo reconnaissance mission over Puerto Rico and exercise clove hitch. While another plane has just returned with a load of film for immediate processing, clove hitch was a massive operation in the Caribbean involving all the services. Air Guard jet fighters, reconnaissance aircraft and aerial tankers joined these Navy men from the aircraft carrier forest stall. Proving once again the teamwork among the services provides the background for effective defense whenever and wherever needed. Engaging in an air assault after being dispatched from ships at sea to reinforce infantry elements ashore. Guardsmen swear allegiance to the state and to the nation. For that reason, they train not only for their federal mission, but for their state mission as well. These guardsmen are playing the part of rioters in this training session. In the event police forces are overwhelmed, the National Guard is the only force immediately available to a community for the distasteful assignment of quelling civil disorder. The Guard has had to face the real thing on many occasions like this. In most cases, folks have recognized the unpleasantness of the duty and they've accepted the Guard as a force for the preservation of law and order. Whether you're young or old, however, facing a shouting mob or a lurking sniper calls for the highest degree of discipline. This is what the guardsmen faced in Cicero, Illinois when demonstrators marched. These are scenes from the Watts riot where two divisions of guardsmen were called a duty. The usual fire damage and destruction followed us in each riot while patrolling guardsmen surveyed troubled streets searching for snipers. Watch closely now. This is a spectacular shot of a fireman just as he's hit by sniper fire.  Because of the increased intensity of violence in our cities, the Guard has accelerated its riot control training. This was Detroit, the highest level of damage and violence ever experienced in an American city. Fires and lots of ruined personal property, snipers, looting and more destruction. The protection of personal property always has its problems, especially when the trouble spreads like quicksilver over an area plagued by hidden dangers. Two guardsmen were assigned to every fire truck to protect the firemen from sniper fire. They were mighty busy on duty for long hours with little rest as they helped the weary firefighters battle more than 800 fires. Whenever a flood, tornado or other disaster strikes a community, the Guard is usually there. This flood brought out the Garden, Kansas, where the guardsmen played an important role in rescuing the stranded and protecting property. Guardsmen were on the scene immediately, aiding those who suffered in the tragedy, whatever way they could.  Ever wonder how those sandbags get on the riverbank? You're looking at the answer to both questions. Those bags weigh 40 to 50 pounds each. Every means is used to reach the stricken who need help. The trucks slowly search out victims. Guard helicopters do their share to assist in rescuing persons stranded in a remote area. Few tragedies strike with more fury than a howling tornado. This one leveled half of Oakland, Illinois. 50 lives were lost during this freaking age. Guardsmen were on the job immediately, searching debris, helping out the wounded, assisting firemen, fighting fires, and restoring power and communications. This school was all but demolished. Shattered ruins offer a mute resistance to the presence of patrolling guardsmen, alert to the possibility of looters. Because the Guard plays a vital role in providing medical assistance in these disasters, nurses are a necessary part of both the Army and the Air National Guard. The Air Guard flies many aeromedical missions for the Air Force, and its aeromedical personnel have comforted many victims of the Vietnam War. Assisted by the medics, these nurses fly missions around the world. They work around the clock when necessary to comfort the sick, disabled, and wounded. This specialist helps the nurse check oxygen equipment aboard this C-97. If you really want to find out how terrific these people are, just ask some of the boys who've been wounded in Vietnam. This is Captain Betty Aiken, the Tennessee Air National Guard. She's made more than 23 trips to Vietnam. Here she administers aid to an air-evacuated patient. Air Guard nurses receive specialized training so they can meet in-flight emergencies. I understand you have a pretty bad back injury. Have you ever flown before? Yeah, with good-looking nurses like that around, who wants to be healthy? What they need are more beautiful nurses like me. Yeah, we save your kind for us taxpayers. Much has been said and written concerning the tradition and heritage of the National Guard. Throughout its long history, the Guard has always attracted men of the highest caliber, many of whom have gone on to become great leaders and respected figures of prominence in the world. For example, George Washington, one of our early militiamen. The nurses make an impressive list. Here are just a few. Abraham Lincoln, yes, sir. Old Honest Aid. Our 16th President. He started with a militia in 1832 and became a captain with the 4th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers. Harry S. Truman, our 33rd President. Served as a World War I artillery officer, commanding Battery D of the 135th Field Artillery, Missouri National Guard. Charles A. Lindbergh, hero of the aviation world, won fame in the first solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Lindy's military career began in the 110th Observation Squadron Missouri National Guard. He was granted leave to make his flight. General Earl G. Wheeler, the top military man in the United States, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began his military service as a member of the District of Columbia Army National Guard. General Curtis LeMay, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he started his illustrious career in the Ohio Army National Guard as an artilleryman. Brigadier General Charles W. Sweetman, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Massachusetts Air National Guard. He piloted the B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan. It's target, Nagasaki. Brigadier General Joseph J. Foss, South Dakota Air National Guard. Former Governor of that state, a top ace who won the Medal of Honor in World War II. Captain Larry B. Mason, veteran of Vietnam who joined the Michigan Air National Guard, awarded the Air Force Cross for extraordinary heroism in Vietnam. While attacking an enemy target, his B-57 tactical jet bomber was hit repeatedly. With a wounded navigator aboard, one engine shut down and the other one on fire, approximately 30 square feet of surface area missing from the right wing, and most of the electrical system knocked out, this young pilot nursed his plane to a safe landing in friendly territory. The guard also numbers prominent figures in the fields of entertainment and sports among those in its ranks. Here is Bobby Rydele, popular singing and recording star, seen here performing at the Kreeb Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bobby is a specialist fourth class in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Bob Hayes, teammate of Lily's for the Cowboys, all pro offensive flanker, member of the Texas Army National Guard. He's known as the world's fastest unit. You can see why. Gary Anderson, Lieutenant of the California Army National Guard, especially shooting. He's the guy who set three new records in winning the world's rifle championship at Cairo in 1962. Won two gold medals in the 1963 Pan Am Games, set a new world record and picked up a gold medal in the Olympics at Japan in 1964 and won seven gold medals during 1966 firing an international shooting union sponsored events. Gary, by the way, is studying for the ministry. If you think the sky's the limit for ex-guardsmen, you're absolutely right. And here are some of the men who can prove it. Russell L. Schweighart, better known as Rusty, former member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard and the first guardsmen to be selected for astronaut training directly from the guard. You're watching him at work in a zero gravity situation, ironing out bugs so future space flights can be as safe as possible. If you haven't spotted him yet, he's the guy with the red hair. Donald K. Deek Slayton, one of the original seven astronauts. At one time in his career was a member of the Minnesota Air National Guard. Deek has taken over the administrative responsibilities pertaining to all astronauts in NASA's program. Charles Conrad Jr., astronaut who has orbited the earth on two occasions and is ready to go again. He's a former member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. That's just a few. There are many others in the community. In reality, the Guard is the community. That's why it's an organization you can count on. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Earl Wheeler, once characterized the Guard by saying, For my long association with the National Guard, I've arrived at two conclusions. First, as a military organization, it is consistently better than the material with which it is equipped. Second, when the chips are down, the guards surmount whatever obstacles confronted and gets the job done. Well, the Guard's been that way for more than 330 years now. That's right, 330 years. Its past has been one of glory and accomplishment. But like that Saturn rocket, it has a long way to go. It'll reach higher and higher achievements in the future. This, then, is really not the end. It's just a beginning.


Hello there, my name is Carla and I'm a Senior Developer Advocate here at Opta. I would like to invite you to Dev Day 23, a free virtual first event happening on May 16th and May 17th. You can join virtually from anywhere in the world or if you're in London on May 16th, you can join me in person at the Opta office. We'll have talks from security and identity experts, hands-on workshops and even architecture reviews for your application. Register now at developerday.com and I'll guess I'll see you there.


Well, well, boys and girls, it looks like it's that time of year again. And what better way to celebrate this jubilous time than with a classic pole? It was the night before 4.20, when all through the warehouse, the shippers were sprinting to get all the orders out. Glass was all wrapped and packaged with care to be sent cross-country to a smoker somewhere.  And Nola with her flower and I with my rig had just settled down for a toke and a swig. When out at the shipping station there rose such a clatter, I stumbled from my beanbag to see what was the matter. After my beaded curtains I flew like a flash, first checked my eyes and then hid my stash. When what to my drooping eyes did appear, but one of the most stunning and high-functioning pieces of gear. With a little orange peach, so delicate and ripe, I knew in a moment that this must be my new pipe. Faster than eagles did the shippers fly, they wrestled and rived, and my arms they did pry. So take dabbers, take bubblers, take chubblers and collabs, or vape pens, or glass domes, or beakers and straight fabs.  This rig goes to a special follower of Smoke Cartel. Take your bowl, hit your carb, do a dab and then cap it. Tomorrow we celebrate our most favorite habit. So happy 420 to all and to all a good night. So this is the piece ladies and gentlemen. A lovely concentrate rig by Smoke Cartel with a little peach percolator. The peach is representative of Savannah, Georgia, where Smoke Cartel is located.


Hi there, I'm Sandy Allnog, artist and paper crafter here on YouTube and I'm gonna do another human rainbow video, haven't done one of those in a while, and I'm gonna alter a stamp for a boy to make it African-American hair. And this is what the stamp looked like in the first place and I kind of stamped a whole bunch of them so I could practice different skin tones and hair. And you can see on the right hand side I altered the shape of the hair. I did that with the stamp in place because it was black so I could cover that up. But if you're gonna do what I want to do in today's video, you need to mask that off in some fashion. You can either use a post-it note or something. Or what I did was get the ink on the stamp and then wipe off that top portion so I could draw in my own head. Now on a stamp like this and on any, most any stamp, you're not gonna get kind of normal proportions, shall I say. The eyes on any head are not this low on the shape of the whole thing. But I'm kind of looking at the original stamp to see how tall that hair goes and how big that head is intended to be so that I kind of make my head the proper proportions, which is important. And I started with a really light marker so I could adjust it as needed. And if you're gonna do this, make the hair go in further. Don't make it as poofy-outty as you think it should be. So you have room to expand it a little bit more.  Now you're trying to make it look like a specific person. The shape of the head and the amount of hair is gonna differ. So you'll need to adjust that based on the kind of person that you're trying to color. So I put another ear on the other side because it just felt like it needed it. And now I'm gonna start putting in the flesh tones. Notice that I did put the brown underneath of where the hair is gonna go because depending on how close cropped the hair is, you're not gonna just see black hair.  So you wanna have at least some of that brown color underneath. And I'm making him kind of a really high forehead because I was looking at a picture online to figure out kind of what sort of haircut I wanted to have. And the child in the picture had a really wide, large, tall forehead. So I started building my colors to do that. And I'm just using all the E3s to make my skin tones. There's a lot of different skin tone kinds of combinations you can use. And again, practice on another sheet and just try all your different browns and see what works. You can use some purples and that sort of thing in the shadows if you're bold. And then I soften the edges that are gonna go into the hair before I started on the hair. Now the hair I'm starting with a W6. And that's gonna be the places where the hair is not really super thick because the child had kind of on both sides a little bit of lightish sort of hair so you can see a lot more of the skin tone and then it got darker on the top. So it's not gonna go completely black usually unless the hair is really, really dense. But on a really short, close-cropped hair like this, you're gonna have that brown showing through. So I'm going back in with my E3-5 to just kind of blend some of that out and make sure that I don't end up with a harsh line where the hair starts and stops because if you look at anybody's scalp, if you can actually see their scalp, if they don't have any banks hanging down, you'll notice that they actually don't have a really sharp line. It's a very soft line where the hair begins. And then I'm going in with my W8 to add the darker parts at the top. And I'm doing it by putting dots in there just like I did with the W6. If you start putting like big swashes of marker on there, it's gonna be like a helmet. You don't want the poor child to be wearing a helmet. But if I'm doing this gingerly the way I am, I have the ability to adapt some of this. And I didn't want to adapt so that I had those really dark W8 dots going toward the skin. I wanted the W6 to be the part that's kind of moving in toward the skin on the line where the hair turns into the face because I don't want that to be super sharp. So I'm just gonna do it with a lighter color and then I can also go in with the brown and soften it again to make sure I get that really soft blend, that soft edge. Doing all this this way as well, not having a hard line on the outside lets me kind of adjust that hair later on too if I decide I want to add more hair or something. But I also don't have a hard outside edge because it's hard to draw that kind of a shape. It would be a really fuzzy sort of line and so I'm just going to kind of leave it as is and color the rest of the image. And while I do, I thought I would tell you about an idea that I shared recently over on the MFT channel because it kind of goes with what I'm gonna do with this card. I have been looking for people to give my cards to because I send out a lot of cards to my students and to my patrons and that sort of thing to random people that comment on my blog and that kind of stuff. But I also like to do something else with them because I have so many cards I make a lot.  So what I've been doing is looking for people to give a pack of cards to that they can use to write to somebody else. It's kind of like the old style Operation Right Home days but since Operation Right Home is in existence, we can do this one on one in our communities. Now I gave a pack of cards recently to my aunt. My aunt is without a computer so she wants to keep in touch with all of her kids and grandkids and great grandkids and everything so I sent her a pack of cards and I included a lot of kids cards because I don't send out kids cards but I like to make them. So I sent those to her so she could be able to use them. This one is gonna be one of the ones that I'm gonna put in the pack that's gonna go to our food bank at my church because every once in a while, like for Mother's Day, they just have done this thing where they ask people to donate items that a mom would want and that they could give to moms as a special treat in addition to the food that they're giving them. But you know what else could a mom use and like this is perfect for that. So I wanna put together a little rack of cards to put out when they come and pick up their food that they can pick up a birthday card for their kid or something and this allows me to use a lot of my cards that I wouldn't use for me necessarily but I like to color things like this. I like to experiment with that. So I encourage you to think of places in your life where there are people that might have a need for a card or two and that can be anything from like I said, a food bank. It could be a ministry in a church of course but it could also just be somebody who's living in a nursing home or somebody who's in the hospital for an extended period and they wanna keep in touch with their friends and their family. Take them a little pack of cards and there's lots of places that you can do some good with the cards that you're making and the cards that you're creating to give to someone else who can use them and it also allows you the opportunity to make things that you don't really have anybody to send them to but it'd be really fun to make the card anyway. So that's what I have been kind of keeping my eyes open for lately. Now when you do animal cards you can of course give them to your local shelter and they can either give them away or sell them as fundraisers that kind of thing but also think about just individuals that you know of or even individuals that somebody else knows. If you don't know anybody in that circumstance ask on your Facebook page say is anybody know a person who's in a nursing home who needs some cards and who could use some because I have you know X kind of cards. I have a lot of thank you cards. I have a lot of birthday cards whatever it is and just say does anybody know anybody that I could send a half a dozen cards to in the mail and you could you know do it in your community or you can send them in the mail to that person and just do it anonymously don't hashtag it don't get crazy trying to get credit for doing something good just do something good with your cards and I think that would be really an awesome way that we as crafters can make a difference in our world. So this card is going to go in my box for the food pantry and I hope that you will take the idea and run with it and go figure out your way to do it in your community with the kinds of cards that you want to make. All right I will see you guys later have a great great day click the like button if you enjoy the video. The supplies are all linked down below as well as the blog and I will see you next time. Bye bye.


News reports have attributed the extreme air pollution levels that we've seen over Sumatra and Singapore in June 2013 and the earlier part of 2014 to the burning of forests or to the slash and burn forest clearance for agricultural development. Now we've found something different. We knew from the satellite imagery that over 80 percent of the areas that have actually burned we've mapped that's about 160,000 hectares of burn so 80% of 160,000 hectares were actually non-forest lands ranging from shrubs exposed soils to plantations oil palm or acacia plantations but we went to the field to find out what these non-forest lands were actually made of sorry we flew a drone over seven burn sites in the in the in the areas where the burning had been more than the most severe and we were able to conclude that much of the burning happened in what we called forest cemeteries in other words areas of land that had already been deforested before fire and which were where you could see scattered wood debris everywhere the remnants of you know of forests decapitated, stems, branches lying about, downed trunks but these areas had not yet been converted to agriculture so this is rather different from the slash and burn forest clearance. What burned last year and in 2014 was not so much forest these were areas that were already deforested but that had not yet been converted to agriculture and these areas that burned were on peatlands. Now peatlands in their natural states are extremely fire resistant why because they are wet all year round I mean they're they're they're essentially a bog or you know a swamp and they are covered in lush tropical rainforest and so the lush tropical the canopy cover above ground keeps the below ground cool and wet all year round because there's always water. Now what happens is that when these systems get become deforested when you strip the forest of these lands the peat becomes exposed to soil becomes exposed to air and peat in itself is a type of soil which is extremely flammable it's it's a type of fuel it's a type of young coal decayed organic matter so here what's happening is that we're having these extremely fire resistant ecosystems in their pristine state turned into extremely fire prone systems in virtue of the fact that the peatlands becomes exposed to the air there is no longer the the protection from the vegetation cover because the forest has been removed and on top of this these lands are drained because they are swamps and for anybody to grow anything on them for agriculture they need to remove the water so now all it takes is you you know just a few days if you want of little to no rain for these lands to burn so what we what's happening is that it's it's not just that it's the combination of the fact that many many people migrants are seeking land in those extremely fire prone systems which creates this mess these systems stay once they've become deforested they stay they can stay idle for a few years so from the from the time the forest is being removed to the time this same plot of land is being converted to agriculture it might take a few years and that's something that struck us because we thought that it would normally take up to six months to a year between the time it gets the forest becomes removed and the agricultural area becomes established but what we're seeing is that a lot of these areas stay idle in this fire prone system for a good number of years before they get converted to agriculture we don't understand why there are probably constraints associated to this that we don't know of but what that means is that the same area repeatedly burns over time it can burn multiple times it keeps burning burning and burning and that's obviously bad news because it means that every time there's burning there's haze there's another episode of of of pollution and what it also means is that you no longer need to have these extreme drought years for these fires to start all you need is to have just a few consecutive days of no rain in a regular or wetter than average year for these fires to start so that means that these fires are going to keep recurring more and more often and and and it's going to be more and more difficult for anybody to predict them so that thing that's the novelty of our research this research is really telling us that the main problem is is really the destruction of peatlands and what really what we really advocate is to actually stop the conversion of peatlands and the drainage of peatlands further conversion of these peatlands because what we're seeing is that the destruction of these peatlands is a lose lose situation wherever you look at it it's peatlands are not deemed suitable for agriculture in fact for you know farmers would like to would tend to avoid farming on peatlands they would prefer to farm on mineral soils but what's happened with the growth of population you know there's less and less good land available then people have started developing techniques with the technology as well to develop those peatlands for agricultural development and it really started in the in the early 1990s so this is pretty recent we're talking like 20 years or 25 years ago when it really started and but the development of peatlands is really really costly you need to drain them so you need to have you need to use excavators heavy machineries and in themselves peatlands are also really not really they're not very suitable for agriculture they're very acidic soil so you can't grow anything you like you have to often bring topsoil if you want to grow crops that are not really suitable for these systems so they're very costly very expensive secondly they create a lot of pollution you know every time you burn there's a haze event they emit a lot of greenhouse gases and they and they emit a lot of aerosols which are particularly noxious for people you know for this particular matter this pollution this haze that people will inhale either in cities or in the neighborhood or in the vicinity of the fires so really what we advocate is the the to stop the development of the further development and drainage or of peatlands. Peatlands are when they burn they release far more greenhouse gases and aerosols per unit area of burning than any other land use and we have to we have to realize that these fires are not your typical fire that you'll find in Southern Europe or in California or in Australia where we're having these wild flaming fires you know these gigantic flames destroying homes and you really have to run away for your life because otherwise the fire will kill you now in this case we're not talking about flaming fires we're talking about smoldering fires and smoldering fire fires are almost flameless and they generate far more smoke and far more you know greenhouse gases CO2 methane and and CO than the flaming fires and so we need to understand what is the level of toxicity generated by these fires both from the point of view of greenhouse emissions but also from the point of view of your health so understanding how much aerosols particulate matter these systems are emitting it will also if we know better if we can quantify better what's being emitted by those smoldering fires then we will also it will help the Indonesian government to better establish a baseline against which it could then start to you know sell carbon credits the Singaporean government ratified a law which essentially enables gives the legal right to prosecute anybody who's found guilty to create haze over Singapore which but which would mean that any executive of a company involved in burning somewhere in Sumatra stepping foot on Singaporean soil could be arrested or questioned detained and eventually be fined for wrong doing if found guilty I think this is a step in the right direction because it really sends a strong signal to those who are creating this mess that they will face consequences if they go to Singapore. However we the Singaporean government doesn't fully realise that the situation on the ground is a lot more complex than what they think this law is primarily going to target the large companies the conglomerates the oil palm and acacia companies who operate in Sumatra and the executive who work for these companies. Now our research tends to suggest that if companies are involved in burning they are not the only ones and in some cases the companies thinking of the acacia companies in particular might actually be the victim of the fires more than the culprits and so this law will does not yet I think have the tools to tackle this complexity on the ground I mean for example the Singaporean government is thinking of prosecuting companies based on the evidence that there's fire being found inside the concessions of the companies but our research tends to show that if there's burning inside the company it might not necessarily be the company who's starting the fire and there's two main reasons for that one is because well the fire might actually start outside and you know spread uncontrolled in about within the concession because of wind for example and secondly the concession might be occupied parts of the concessions might be occupied by land users who are unrelated to the concessions communities whether local people or migrants or maybe small-scale companies who operate illegally in the sense within the concessions but who have backup from maybe the local elites you know maybe from a village head for example and who have also financial backup from mid-level investors who might be living in cities like in Medan or in Jakarta who are investing in oil palm so this complexity really must be understood through research by going in the field doing ethnographic studies I think we've gone as far as we could using the remote sensing tools that we have you know the drone the satellites and so on but now it's time to go in the field and really understand what's going on and because by understanding what's going on you understand who is burning who's responsible who's gaining and who's losing from these fires


Hey guys, this is Matt Beck from free salon education calm I had a question come through Facebook and it was how do you be how to become a successful hair stylist? And I don't think that there's one easy way to do it But here's some things that I've done that have helped kind of push my career forward So I think the first thing you need to focus on this is something I struggle with a lot But it's what makes you you and I think for the first part of my career I was so focused on trying to be everyone else that I didn't focus on what I'm good at and what Qualifications I have what different types of skills I have so then just over the last couple years I've really focused on what makes me different than everybody else and I just focus on that So make sure when you're going through your career You're you're promoting yourself out on your town or anything like that Just focus on the things that you do best and that's what people are going to love you for The next one is make connections. I think This is something that gets tossed around But make sure you go through your town and connect with different people in your town different business owners Those are what's going to connect you to the other people in your town that are going to give you more clientele coming through Also, don't have an ego. I know this is hard You know a lot of us we all have some type of ego, but just don't let it get to you We're hairdressers and what our goal is to make people look good and feel good If you have an ego you're not making anybody feel good So make sure that you drop the ego at the door Never be too good to learn too good to share with the people around you That's what creates a successful salon environment and also never stop learning. That was the reason I started free salon education was it was very hard to find Education on the internet that was free and I think that that's the way that we stay connected That's how we really share with each other And how we grow and how we learn so just never stop learning take classes Focus on that and then your job is never over is another thing when you leave the salon You're still a part of the salon. You're still trying to grow So you need to make sure you don't just go home sit in your hole and then come to work the next day and expect to grow and be busy Get out there make connections after work And and that's really you know I think the few things that made me more successful than most hairdressers that I've talked to is that you know you just never stop working keep pushing forward make sure you don't have that ego and Really just keep educating yourself. I hope this video helps you guys and just kind of clicks that light on for you Make sure you check out our website free salon education comm subscribe to us right here on YouTube for more business tips and Tips and hair cutting tips and everything in general and we'll see you guys on the next video


20% of Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed in four months. Grant Shaps, Minister of Defence of the UK, has stated that the strike on the large landing ship Novosekask in the port of Theodosia Crimea disproves the claims about an alleged stalemate in Ukraine. Shaps said that the destruction of the Novosekask ship shows that those who think that the war in Ukraine has reached a stalemate are wrong. They have not noticed that 20% of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was destroyed within the last four months. He added, Russia's domination in the Black Sea is under threat right now and the new coalition of navy forces led by the UK and Norway helps facilitate Ukraine's victory in the sea, Shaps summed up. Ukraine also claimed in September that the Novosekask's sister ship, the Minsk, had been destroyed in an attack on the Sevastopol naval base in Crimea. The British Defence Ministry reported that an analysis of open-source intelligence found that the Minsk was almost certainly functionally destroyed and the Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don also suffered catastrophic damage in that attack. Destruction of the Novosekask is a third instance in the past week of the Russian military suffering losses of important hardware in combat according to Ukrainian claims. Recently the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed an SU-24 fighter jet in the eastern Donetsk region and an SU-30SM fighter jet over the Black Sea. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country's forces had downed three SU-34 warplanes.


t probably we're not gonna do the annual meeting any kind of justice, having a conversation adjust us and adjust now. And I think that's something to think about for the board retreat. What I'd like to say, though, about the annual meeting piece now is that if we could all take some time and you can Google it, you can see a lot of other town reports. I think, you know, I heard what everyone was saying. This, you know, this report will use it not even good and I really couldn't be, I really didn't feel it was appropriate to say, to discuss the, you know, the turnover of business managers and the fact that, you know, that really Tara did when above and beyond just getting us something. On the table. You know, but I think if we could find, if we could, you know, take some time to find some formats that we find understandable. I think they have in my head after that meeting, I literally have a vision. I can see it. I can see what our book looks like next year. Okay. And it's got a narrative throughout and it has literally headings and it's sort of me like I do in the meetings asking clarification questions. And I think it's, so I have a really clear idea and I'd even happy to put it into when we have the retreat or talk about this more. Write it out a little bit because I just think let's set a standard for this. Why not? I think your idea of having the schedule so that we're not waiting for everything at the last minute, we know, okay, we've already got this stuff. Let's have that so that we're adding things in throughout a four month period, let's say, or six months period. Part of this annual meeting review is Jenny is going to set up a calendar for us. That's not necessarily on the June 2nd. No, no, no. It's like in the month of January. This is what we need to be looking for trying to accomplish. Yeah, exactly. Cover design and more things than just that. I mean, you know, the fact that I was doing the cover design at the meeting before it was going in, you know, it was fine. It worked out. Absolutely. But I just, I have, so I got your feedback. Yes, and I think again, the more preparation we get out of the central office. Yes. I think the less work, I mean, if we can know that we've got the numbers right and we've put the numbers to bed and we have more time to say, okay, let's talk about, you know, achievement and let's think about how we could put test information out there without compromising children's identities and how we can put some more of that in there because we don't really, I mean, these last couple of years, it's been just, okay, we got some spreadsheets there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. We're very fast trying to get it together. And this is, no, because you and I, you know, and no, it's really, I think it's- We did a fine job and it was surprising that that was the biggest issue of the night, well, aside from how to vote at the end. That was just, that was like dying, because, you know, I was seven years as a town moderate and it was like, no, we gotta just resolve the amendment and once we resolve the amendment, that gets us the question. Then you'll have to vote the whole thing again, yeah. Anyway, great, so I'm excited for that process because I think it's- So we're sort of tabling, we're gonna go over to the annual meeting a little bit more, a little later, yeah. Right, right. The biggest piece was I just wanted us to be doing some leg work and it sounds like you have some great ideas and if we can look at things and say- And the schedules. Here's what we're like about the- Really great ideas for us. Yeah. Because then we know what we're looking ahead at and say, right, we gotta, this is coming up, yeah. Good, good. We kind of skipped over board comment. We did. So kind of like to plug in there, along with kind of the time of the budget and new meaning. I'd like to propose that even like, specifically around budget season, possibly we add another meeting to the month that is just a budget meeting and then our regular meeting is all of your lessons and hearing about all the rest of the business because we end up here so late, which, you know, and then other things don't get as much yet. Yes. Oh no. Exactly, as we said here at 9.15. It's right after I'm saying it, come on. Right, yeah. And we should still have- Yeah, because these things, all of it's weighty and, yeah.  But yeah, we need to, if the meetings are going to go this length, we should definitely consider- If you cut out all the jokes and snide and nice little things. I know, I know, that wouldn't be as much fun. Oh, what do you want? I know, I know. I'm waiting for number seven. Are we there yet? I thought maybe we could get on. Have we finished with, Have we finished with- Board comments. Okay. That was board comments. That was just honing the board retreat. Yes. And we had a review of the annual meeting. Can we, can we, just to think, can we talk in general terms? So we talking like July, June? When are we talking for board routine? July. July sometime or- Third week, third week in July is far enough before, oh no, you're gone. July. I'm getting married in July. Oh, congratulations. Thank you. You'll be at that retreat, no. Yeah, I was like, I just, Bruce said, are you just not working out somewhere? I said, no, you just keep picking that same date. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What date are you getting married? July 20th. Oh, congratulations. That is the third week. I just don't want to over-kid me. No, no, no, honestly, no. Oh, oh, no. Well, I'm wondering, August, now is a board retreat, is a board retreat just the board? Yeah. Or is it a board retreat? It can be, it depends on what we're trying to accomplish. I mean, I think we have some philosophic issues that we need to talk about just as a board. And maybe you only need us there for part of it. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking, is that we need some time just to get, to talk big, bold, broad stuff. But I guess let's wait until Jim and Jim. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, and Bonnie as well. Yeah. Right. Okay, well, we're talking July 2nd is when we're gonna meet again, so can everybody make sure they have their calendars? Are we not meeting Jim? This is Jim. Yeah, this is Jim. Oh my gosh. I think it's June 4th. Welcome to the meeting. Now, as far as July 2nd, I will not be here. No, why did you be asking so many questions? Because we have to go out and come back in again right now. So we can certainly, you can certainly have a meeting without me in July or we can push it to July 9th.  You could send some dates if you do meet on July 2nd. Yeah, I can send you dates. You're gonna be gone. You're available. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be gone from June 28th through like the July, through, I might even be guy I think, and come back on the 9th, actually. Tuesday the 9th, yeah. Fun? Yeah. Seeing Julie's family in Chicago, seeing my daughter in Rochester going to Phoenix. Oh, come on, this is, I'm literally looking at the clock going by this is 10 seconds of time. That's not making a difference in your bedtime. So, okay, done. So. Public, public moment. Yeah, maybe I suggest you that public moment should be maybe. Usually. Up on the schedule. It is. Because you're all exhausted but it's still good to have an opportunity to hear from the public and taxpayers. No, no, no. It is usually in the very beginning. And also tax, okay. Well, okay, but also, you know, there's a group of taxpayers out there that aren't the parent taxpayers. They're the older taxpayers there and so on. And so how, you know, that communication and also some like May who has this issue about the carbon footprint issue. Yep. Serious that is. But before, I jump on that real quick. I just want to say that in the minutes, these minutes, I'm 11.4, you know, I was talking about the marquee. Not that you needed to talk about it tonight, but how do you formally relate to the public instead of just, I mean, what happens is it gets forgotten. It just gets dragged, you know. You're right to forget forgotten because you actually told, talked to me about it. Well, not, not, not. That was a long time ago. No, no, no, no. You talked about it actually recently. No, that's okay. I'm just sharing with you how we communicate, you know, a good thing that how to communicate. If it's in the minutes, it's probably good to put it into the next minutes. Also the fact that Stockbridge has a marquee and uses it regularly. And we do not have a marquee on this campus. We do have a marquee on this campus. Well, we have it. We do, but it's not. It's not behind the building. Yeah, well, I'm just saying, I don't know this for certain. I want to say there's something about where it was when you sold the property, about where it could go is next. And it's totally a bombing. But you know what? I'm not interested in that as so much as the process of communication. Like, you know, it's been brought forward. It was a board that people could read as they went by to find out what was happening at the school. No, no, I was actually referring more to just when I was talking about how you communicate to the public. That this was discussed. Well, I brought it up at this meeting and then this meeting, there was nobody to communicate that concern. Well, I forgot. Well, it could have been left a message. I don't know. I don't know. But hang on. Let me go. Let me just drop it. Wait, dude, listen to us. Because it's important to say, I wrote it down and then I forgot because I talked to you about it and I was like, yes, we need to put it on the agenda. And it was one of them. I was just like sitting there going, I remember the first thing somebody asked me about. What's the second? And this was it. And I forgot it. So just so you know, it was there and I've heard you talk about it and I believe in it because transparency is one of the key issues of when we all got together as a board. Okay, just history-wise, I mean, someone who did participate on the school board at one time. For an example, we used to have in Rochester in our annual report and inventory of our property. Well, one of the things that happened early a while back was having, and it took a long time to make this happen, to have an cordless electric trimmer being used on the property. I have no idea if that piece of equipment's still here, if it's gone, what's happening or the philosophy around how we use this stuff around the kids, because it's a science thing. It's education when they see the staff using appropriate technologies. And we make, in the SU, sorry, the issue's not here, you guys have the ability to communicate to the SU our collective desires. When they're paying for the contractors to mow, trim, or the staff, is the staff being trained about a carbon footprint, even in the kitchen, wherever it is, and all this going on with the Black River situation and how you're looking at it, what is number one? And for me, I'm concerned about the children's needs. It's not gonna do us any good to educate them if we're not focusing on the situation. And I'm sorry, but the situation was talked about. April 15th, we saw it again on the building back here, you know? So, I don't know what you mean by that. Flooding again. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is, we're seeing it almost monthly or whatever, it's our new reality. And we need to, it needs to be the kids. You can't just tell, you don't wanna scare the kids, but we sure can't give them what we're responding to. And if it means the guy out there using an electric leaf blower instead of a gasoline one, that's education. What is our carbon footprint? When you start looking at all the plans, how do you evaluate a carbon footprint? How do you, how does the issue, you should be providing that information. The question I really have though is by switching over to a lot of electric, it doesn't do us any good if it's not a renewable source of electricity. Well, you can have a solar panel and you can do it. It could be a science project for the kids. I mean, it's not, it's, we're beyond, we're beyond that conversation at this stage of the game. I mean, that's where we're at. But a lot of electricity does still come from non-renewable sources. Oh, well, we can get a steam going with some wood chips and make electricity with a generator with the kids and charge the battery for the leaf blower for the maintenance person to use it. And we can't completely hear you, but we also have kids who can't even read. I don't know, I don't understand that, but it doesn't do any good if they're dead. Right, so that's like our way of using the right option. Answer your question, our way of using kids to compost correctly. I understand, I understand. We did this 40 years ago. Well, the guys- This is 40, we're recycling the process again, but we lost 40 years. And now we don't have the same type of luxury that we had. So I'm just saying as a taxpayer, I don't mind passing a $4 million budget, but. You wanted to be going, I think- I want to know that we have a mission statement. We certainly have always had, and then still do an environmental and a wellness focus at our schools. And yeah, it's perhaps not as a line item, we're checking all these boxes off, but we do, that has been our philosophy and I think it still is. I think it's important to, you're absolutely right, we need to be drilling down and focusing more on what I'm really hopeful for is as, to piggyback this on to what Lindy was saying about the idea that now they've had a year as principals to kind of go through and understand the buildings and deal with the staff and they can start looking at things around professional development and start thinking about things because that's a very good point. Should the SU, I mean the SU's focused on reading, but at some point in time there's science and STEM that our communities have said specifically is a big priority. So, you know- The school buses are in the SU. Looking at, looking into those things and trying to align things more and more with some of those initiatives is important. I think the Black River people made a really good point. You know, a barrier fuel service which used to be have an oil burner and a propane burner. You know, maybe put in one, you know, put in one new furnace and keep one of the oil ones and put in, because it'll cost us more to put in a pallet system than it will to put in just another oil one. But maybe that's something we should be thinking about and doing. I know they put, there's pallet fuel at Sharon Elementary. They've got a big silo right out front, big silver silo. Part of it is encouraging new parents to come into the school and there are new parents out there looking at different states, going, what type of school? And a lot of them are looking at schools that are dealing with these issues. No, Mason, I hear you and I think it is, this is why it's great you keep coming back and you keep focusing on this issue because it isn't something we really take on. You know, we talk about literacy. We talk a lot about literacy and that's very important. We talk some about math. I do personally believe that the climate is the biggest issue that faces the world. I totally believe that as an individual. But I don't believe that it has suffused the curriculum and maybe it's a philosophical thing we talk about at the Board of Retreat, is that what, you know, because it can be, it doesn't have to just be STEM. It can be part of reading. Sure, absolutely part of reading. It's like anything else. If you really believe in it, that it becomes part of the whole philosophy of how you look at things. And I think that's, we are a barometer and of everyone's awareness of that. Amazon, talking about Amazon, that's part of this discussion. How we order things, how we, I mean, everything can be looked at through this prism of are we doing the most environmentally conscious thing we can right now? So I think we'll do better. You know, I feel like a little bit like the annual meeting, you know, I hear you and I think we'll, and you're gonna have to keep coming back. Oh, I think they're gonna be guaranteed of that. Yeah, no, no, no. And I don't, and I, but I welcome you because I welcome that you push this issue, which I think is very important. And that it's going to take that kind of continual reminder to get it into our bottom. And I totally agree.  But I think there's no but. There's some things, it's not a question of if you do them. It's a question of when you do them. The same thing like we have to set priorities with the buildings or we're gonna do this. And this is the right time to be, as we're doing the buildings, it has to be a face of the puzzle. We're dealing with a building that is. I was gonna say with Lindy, we have kids, we have generations who have not read through these schools. We have generations. They're gonna read. Oh, no, they're not Mason. No, they're not Mason.  No, you're not. And we have to do something about that at risk. Right, work with the parents. No, you have to work with them. Well, I mean, that's just my personal opinion is that the more we do with the parents, the kids will read better. But that's not the big piece of it. I mean, but the night's getting late and I don't want to take it up.  But that's another story for another day. Well, we can have a little one of that. Thanks. Absolutely. Thank you. I'll go back to my job. Thank you.


What's up everybody, once again, this is Brain Man Sean and I'm back with another episode of Inside the Network where we share exclusive content from Inside of Brain Man Network dot com because I signed myself. Now for this clip right here, there's a snippet from an artist by the name of J.O. You might have seen me have conversations with J.O. before a really dope interview and perspective. How he blew up on TikTok actually using his nine to five job and he has a ton of tips and perspective that I think is worth hearing. Check it out. I actually am everybody that like comes and asks me because literally I posted one day I said, wow, I post on my Instagram, I said, wow, thank you guys for 30K on TikTok. This is crazy. The next day I had 45,000 and literally after that, like I got like five, six texts from actual friends like, hey, I'm serious now. Can you help me out? And it's like, some people wanted to listen. Some people were just like, oh, I'm not sure. But first thing I did was send your videos like I'm like, start off with this.  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know we serious. Yeah. And of course that's definitely attracting people. Once they see you moving, they're like, okay, hold up, hold up, hold up. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of people posting and they're like, yeah, I'm doing this. I'm posting every day. That's Gary V says or whatever. Like, I'm doing this on TikTok and they've had a TikTok longer than me. And I'm like, well, you got to post content that's shareable. It's not just about being consistent. Consistency is important, but consistent and shareable is even more important. Let's go deeper into that for a second because, man, I've had people that listened to me just not even seen the videos, just like, yo, I say, yo, get on TikTok. And then when I say that, they'll be like, well, I tried maybe even before I told them and they'll be like, yeah, you know, I posted some videos and they didn't really do anything. I couldn't really fill it out. And I'm like, what'd you post? And they're like, oh, yeah, I posted a promo for my video and I'm like, bro, you can't start there. You can't, you can't just start. Yeah. That's actually crucial. So the first thing I do when I try to help people out, stop posting Instagram stuff, stop posting YouTube stuff on TikTok. Each entire app has its own entity. Make content for Instagram, make content for YouTube. Make content for TikTok.  And you haven't done those three days of research at all. Like I was watching the app, I was seeing what was trending. I was only liking stuff I liked, so that only more trending stuff will come up and see like, okay, this is how people shoot. This is how people direct themselves. This is how things look on TikToks, that way I can match that look. The first thing I did when I did hop on, after those first two videos, I have three tanks of videos and actually they're still up where I posted just like my old covers from YouTube and Instagram. I literally just shared the same cover on there and it's not full screen. So you know, it has a full screen format and I have like these little box videos in there and those didn't do well. I mean, people were commenting and stuff and like, oh wow, these are good songs but it's like it wasn't viral material at all. And then right after I hit it with a video like, hey, I was literally in my classroom during my free period. I usually do this during my free period if I get one. And I was just like, hey, I'm a substitute teacher. I actually didn't even say words. I wrote this all out on the screen, like I'm a substitute teacher and I'm stuck in this classroom. Help get me out. I was like, I'm actually making music, like go check it out.  And it was like, oh my gosh, like it was crazy. I'm going to say this right here if anybody is listening. It's actually not alarming. It's amazing to me when it comes to TikTok. It's the best platform I've seen in a long time in terms of converting people from TikTok to another platform. It's hard to get people to go from Instagram to YouTube, Instagram to Spotify, even if you're running the ad, like people will go to your YouTube page from TikTok, they will go to your Instagram from TikTok, it will go to your Spotify, whatever. It's crazy. It's a different space. It's directly there. You could put your Instagram or YouTube. I honestly just put my Instagram because if you put your YouTube in Instagram, it just has the YouTube logo over it and people have to tap it. So I just put the Instagram, that's my own thing just so people can go there. And also, I'm not consistent on YouTube right now. I'm going to get back into it probably really soon, but yeah, I just did that. And Spotify, I don't even have a link. People just went and searched me up and people were commenting like, what's this username? It's like, oh, it's the same as his ad, they're all helping each other out to find my music and we're going to help him out. That's how you do it. It's a weird space, man. And look. Yeah, especially middle schoolers, middle schoolers, they have not seen anything, especially because all the millennials are hesitant, right? This is all Gen Z right now. So Gen Z's on there. And all the middle schoolers are just like, oh my gosh, this is talent. Like, you could be pretty average and they'll still love it if you just got like semi-talent like because it's like something new they haven't seen honestly. But even with amazing talent now, it's like, wow, like I really haven't seen this like, you know, so. And it's crazy like I, because I'm a sub so I'm over at different schools and I didn't realize the TikTok cloud till I got to one of the middle schools I sub at because I usually do high school and man, they were, it's that jail, oh my gosh, jail, Mr. Jail, jail. I thought it was just a one day thing. I've been at this school for like a long term assignment, 20 days. Every single day, I'm like, I'd be feeling like the man when I walk through. All these kids, all these kids just like running like, can I get your autograph like, that's hilarious. Crazy. That's, that's crazy. I believe you, man, the high school is probably recognizing too, man, they're too cool at that age. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I might have a high school assignment after this and I'll see how it is, but because I recently loved like cross-platform. So that's really what like took me off. So what do you mean by that? What do you mean you say that? What happened? Oh, so I posted a video of, I did a funny veil video like POV, you're the barber and I don't lose eye contact. So like someone, oh yeah, I saw that one. So I did that and I honestly didn't expect it to blow up. I was just doing a trend. Everybody was doing POV at the time. So let me think of some POVs and that was one actually what I'd done that's helped me. I literally go to my phone and write like when I come up with an idea, I've write it down and just have a list of TikTok ideas. So anybody that wants to start do that. All right. Now, if you want to check out that entire interview, you can check it out on brandmannetwork.com. Man, this entire interview is extremely worth it. His perspective and the entire story is extremely worth it. I encourage artists not to be afraid of TikTok or look wrong at TikTok thinking that it's all about the kids and that there's no back-end benefit because I can tell you there is a groundswell of maybe sometimes with some of the artists that I've worked with, it'll start with like this, these lower range or these younger people, but then that'll help it get in front of older people because of how these algorithms work on Spotify, right? So it's something to consider. I've seen a ton of results at artists that I've been working with now. They probably had 20k plus listens on Spotify in just a few weeks. In a short period of time of just running a TikTok campaign where we have maybe about 6,000 views right now or 5,000 videos, not views, videos created to the actual song snippet of hers at the time. So really consider that because there's real results outside of TikTok. I can't stress that enough. There's a lot of real results outside of TikTok. People are so caught up and not wanting to be on TikTok or oh, that's not me and no, there's real results that translate right back to your music in ways that does not happen on Instagram, does not happen on Facebook, YouTube and almost has never been able to happen so transferably and so easy without you having to pay money and if you're interested in getting any type of consultation with TikTok, we actually have access to that that you can check out in the link in the description below. Have a ton of knowledge from all the campaigns that I've been doing with me and just some other people that I know, but other than that, as always, if you liked this video, go ahead to like, but if you like it, you might as well share and if you're not subscribed, you know what to do. Hit that subscribe.


How many of you are parents? I'd like to begin with a story that should resonate with many parents. It's a story about a mother who has just gone into labor. She gives birth at her local hospital, but she quickly experiences complications and begins to bleed heavily. The medical team that's caring for the mother works to stabilize her, but they soon realize that they will need more blood than their hospital blood bank has in stock. At that moment, this mother's life would be at risk in any health system in the world. She's experiencing severe postpartum hemorrhage, which is most simply defined as excessive bleeding following childbirth. This obstetric emergency is one of the leading causes of death for health systems around the world in both high and low income countries. Accounting for over 25% of all maternal deaths. As many as 7 million women suffer from postpartum hemorrhage each year. And this obstetric emergency often requires massive transfusion of more than the total volume of blood in a woman's body to help stabilize a patient. Fortunately for the mother, she lives in Rwanda where the hospital immediately placed an order for delivery of blood with zipline by drone. She fully recovered and she's now raising a healthy son. This is a video of the first delivery of blood that zipline made to a hospital in Rwanda. Zipline is the automated logistics company that I co-founded.  This may sound like science fiction to many of you, as it does to the women in the foreground of this video. But drone delivery has become commonplace in many of the countries where zipline works. So why deliver blood by drone? The short answer is this was the government of Rwanda's vision. I first traveled to Rwanda in 2015, searching for a launch partner for the technology that we were developing. When I arrived, I was interested in delivering a whole range of medicines and vaccines by drone. However, when I met with the Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Ben Aguajo, she was adamant that while many products would benefit, drone delivery of blood would be most impactful. The government of Rwanda unsurprisingly understood the needs of their health system better than my team and I ever could. And their guidance was essential to the early success of our work. So in partnership with Dr. Ben Aguajo and her team, we worked to design the world's first national-scale drone delivery system in Rwanda. We established zipline's first distribution center in late 2016 in the southwest of the country. From this location, we can serve a radius of about 80 kilometers, covering an area of over 20,000 square kilometers. That area includes the first 21 hospitals that the Rwanda Ministry of Health contracted zipline to serve. After establishing our partnership with government, I lived in Rwanda for almost three years, working to support the launch and growth of our operations. During that time, I came to understand what gave Dr. Ben Aguajo the conviction that we should start by delivering blood. Every day, having timely access to blood of the right type and insufficient quantities is literally a matter of life and death for every health system in the world. But blood products are also challenging to manage. There are many types. They have short shelf lives, and it's difficult to accurately forecast demand for each blood type before patients need transfusion. This is a complex problem. Traditionally, health supply chains struggle, balancing the trade-off between increasing access and reducing waste. This trade-off is one that hospitals have encountered every day for centuries. Now, if you want to maximize access, you stock lots of products in large quantities at every health facility so that patients always have the medicine they need. But a consequence of this is that you end up throwing out a lot of expired inventory, which can be unaffordable for most health systems. If you want to minimize waste, you stock fewer products and less of each product at health facilities. But then health workers sometimes don't have the product they need to treat a patient. Just-in-time delivery by drone allows us to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of health supply chains. The Rwandan health system now stores blood regionally at zipline distribution centers and uses drones to make deliveries on demand to hospitals in the average of less than 30 minutes from the time they place an order. This is a video that can give you a sense of the process for just such a delivery. Just-in-time delivery by drone has allowed Rwanda to achieve something that was previously unheard of. The health system has simultaneously eliminated stockouts and waste for a vital medical product group. Because hospitals know that they can rely on quickly receiving a delivery whenever needed, they hold less blood in stock. However, this does not mean that demand for blood products has gone down. Better access has led to a significant increase in the use of blood. Use of common products is increased by around 10%. While use of rare blood products that were previously less available has increased by over 175%. This leads to faster turnover and inventory. And over the past two years, virtually zero units of blood have expired at any of the hospitals that zipline serves. We have completed over 16,000 deliveries of medical products. Over 4,000 of those deliveries were for emergencies. And of those 4,000 deliveries, behind everyone is a patient like the mother in our story. Rwanda is rapidly expanding drone delivery. The health system launched a project earlier this year to put almost every health facility in the country within range. And they've expanded the list of products available for delivery by drone to include all essential medicines, vaccines, and blood. The government of Ghana similarly recognized the value that drones could bring to their health system and launched a partnership to establish the world's largest drone delivery network, serving over 2,000 health facilities. Soon, almost every medical professional in both Ghana and Rwanda will be able to receive any product they need to treat a patient within 30 to 45 minutes, no matter where they're located. We plan to do for the entire health supply chain what we've already done for blood. So to put in perspective the importance of this, let's consider what's happening at a global scale. Over 1 billion people lack reliable access to essential medical products, which is closely correlated with outcomes in key areas like child health. Over 3 million children die each year from conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to essential medical products. Many people might assume that this challenge around access might be limited to low-income countries in places like Africa. However, this is a global problem. I come from a medical family. My father's a doctor and my mother's a nurse. My parents were some of the only medical professionals practicing in their specialty in the rural part of the United States where I was born. Many communities in the U.S. struggle with limited access to health care, and the disparity in access between urban and rural areas is a common challenge for countries around the world. Most of the people in this room probably live in cities. So consider how would your experience of health care be different if you lived in a rural part of your country? Just last summer, newspapers in the U.S. were running headlines about drug shortages and stock outs. A recent survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that over 90% of emergency doctors in the U.S. said that they lacked access to some vital medicines. And over 40% said that that lack of access had negatively impacted the health of their patients. I'd like to share another patient story with you. This one is about a 47-year-old man who was recently diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. Between his job and a child in school, both he and his wife lead busy lives. He could order his medication by mail, but it's so valuable that he worries what would happen if he wasn't at home to receive delivery. And at best, parcel carriers, delivery windows are several hours long, which means he would need to take time off work if he was going to receive the delivery at home. So instead, he spends hours driving every month to a pharmacy to pick up the specialty medication that he needs to manage his health. Like many patients with chronic diseases, this man is frustrated. There isn't enough time to both properly manage his health while also working and spending time with family. Sometimes he doesn't refill his prescriptions on time, and he was recently hospitalized as a result of an incident that was related to a gap in treatment. Everyone, even those living in rural areas, should have instant access to any medical product they need. Drone delivery can provide patients like the man in our story with that access. We can deliver medications directly to patients' homes, either on demand or scheduled for the exact time that's convenient for them. At best, that level of access exists in only a few major cities today, and that lack of access leads to all kinds of hidden costs, and in too many cases, tragic human stories. We can do better. Logistics should no longer be a barrier to accessing health care. For the vast majority of communities, if a health facility lacks a product to treat a patient, a drone could affordably deliver that product in time to provide the best available standard of care. I envision a future where doctors will never lack access to essential medical products, and individuals will never struggle to manage their health while also leading full lives. This future is within reach, and our team is working tirelessly to achieve it, but it's too big a vision for one company to realize alone. We need help from the people in this room. I hope that you will cast aside old ways of thinking about these challenges, and join me to radically reimagine how drone delivery can help enable equitable access to health care. Thank you.


Hi and welcome to Learn WordPress. Today we are going to take a closer look at the site editor and template editor. If you have installed a block theme such as 2022, you will notice that the customizer has disappeared. But when you make your way to appearance, you will see an option, namely the editor. And when you click on the editor, you'll be taken to the site editor. And here you are able to modify templates, template parts, and also customize the style of your entire site. The site editor provides a template list view, as you will see on the left, allowing users to navigate between site, templates, and all the different template parts. This is an important piece of the site editor puzzle. You will essentially be able to edit the design of your entire site. In order to switch what you are viewing, click on your WordPress icon or site icon top left. You will then be able to select between going back to your dashboard, site, your list of templates, and your list of template parts. If you click on the three vertical dots top right, you will notice there are some settings and preferences. For example, spotlight mode, which will help you focus on one block at a time. And if you scroll down, there's another option called keyboard shortcuts, which might come in very handy. And then right at the bottom, if you click on preferences, there are some options to take note of. Spotlight mode, the option to show button text labels, instead of icons, and lastly, always open list view, which basically means that the list view for blocks will always be open or visible. How to edit styles. When you click on the styles icon, you have the ability to change the style combination of your theme, and you can change the typography, colors, and layout of your entire site. And if you look down further below, you also have the option to customize the appearance of specific blocks for your whole site. Global styles, therefore, helps users change the style of their site without having to edit individual blocks or pages. Let's see how it works. If you click on typography, you'll be able to manage the typography settings for text, links, headings, and buttons. And you can also change the colors for these elements. And when you make your way to layout, you will notice you even have control over elements such as padding and block spacing. How do we manage templates via the site editor? Click on the WordPress icon, top left, and make your way to templates. Templates are groups of blocks combined to create a design for a webpage. Here you will notice there is a range of templates that come with your theme, built-in templates. For example, the page template that displays a single page or the index template that displays posts or the 404 template that displays when no content is found. And when you click on add new top right, you'll be able to add a variety of new templates. Even a custom template that can be applied to any post or page. Let's open the page template to gain a better understanding of how a template works. A page template usually includes a header, a content area, and specifically the post content block that pulls in the content from the page it is assigned to, and then a footer. When you create a template, you get the best use when you separate the reusable parts from the dynamic part. The dynamic part is the content part that will change for every page that uses the template. Remember therefore, you don't add content to the page or index template. The content from a page or post will be pulled in by the post content block or the query loop block. The reusable parts are the static parts of the template that will stay the same. For example, the header and the footer. So let's go and visit a page that has been assigned to this template. So I am happy with my footer and with my header. But I would like to remove the post title, post featured image and the separator block, as well as the spacer block above the post content block. And once I've clicked save, we wanna make our way to the front end of the website. But before that, let's open up the page that we want to view from the front end. As you will notice, I have added some dummy content. And on the right in the sidebar settings, we can see this page has been assigned to the page template, which is the default template. And now, if we make our way to the front end of the website and open up this page, we will see the structure that we have created with our page template. Let's also talk about template parts. As mentioned, a template usually has a header and a footer and these are called template parts. When you make your way to template parts, we will see template parts that we've created ourselves and template parts that have been provided by our theme. And if you see a dot above the template part icon, you will know that this template part has been customized. To create your own template part, click on add new top right. And when you add a new template part, you have an option between general, header and footer template parts. General template parts are not tied to any particular area. And remember to give your template part a descriptive name. Let's see how we can change the template part that the template is using. So I'm going to make my way to the index template, which displays posts. I'll open up my list view. Select the header. Now we can edit the template part header that has been provided by our theme in template editing mode. Or we can go back, select the header again, click on the three vertical dots and select replace header. And here you are able to select an existing template part or a pattern. To end off, let's talk about the template editor. The template editor lets you edit, create and assign templates to individual posts and pages. So let's say for example, I created a custom template for a landing page that I wanted to use on my site. I can name it appropriately and then click create. And now I have updated my landing page template with a new header and a new footer. But let me show you how the template editor works. By making our way back to our test page. Now, as you would have remembered, this page has been assigned to the page template. But the template editor will allow you to assign this page to a different template if you wish to. You can also create a custom template in the template editor by clicking on add template and following the same process as we did before. Let's see how it works when we assign a new template to this page. In this case, I'm going to select the landing page template that I just created. Once I've updated, we can make our way to the front end of the website. And when we open up the page now, we will notice the new template with the new template parts have been assigned to this page. We trust you now have a better understanding of how to use the site editor and template editor. Visit Learn WordPress for more tutorials and training material.