So the mission of the sniper team basically is we provide precision fires at longer distances and we also conduct reconnaissance and surveillance of objective areas. We can go out forward of the line. What that does is it helps out the line companies to get an essay of what they're going into before they actually get in there. It was nice to be on dry land and shoot the guns. Our new guys got more familiarized with them. We put them to the test and they performed very well.


is the premiere set your own player of the world right and that is impressive accolade because there have been a fair few set your own through the year but dragon always seems to rise to the top and really establish himself as just that next level right not say there aren't other good set your own players but the proof is in the results and Ninja killer is just that absolute perfect example of an online players success story right for those of you living under a rock that haven't heard of Ninja killer he was just an online player back in the MKX days very young competitor very young guy here with his family shouts the family of Ninja killer obviously here in the crowd supported him as always throughout the year but he started just an online player just played online and beat everyone's ass online and everyone was like damn this this guy's really good but you know there was always that air of you know kind of pessimism from some people like you know is he really that good or is it just online now here we are about a year and a half later and he's one of the higher seeds going into the world finals just dragon is the brick wall of defense and Ninja killer just oozes natural skill there is just so many amazing small details that go behind his decision-making his reactions optimized knowledge the smallest little thing that happens in a match up with like a Liu Kang Liu Kang is his favorite character we know that Ninja killer can play multiple characters but Liu Kang really is his bread and butter it's the character that put him on the map in Mortal Kombat X the best execution we had ever seen blowing everyone away that was hard to play in that game do that the optimized oh yeah it confirms that was hard and Ninja killer just made it look like it was not it's very few players can make the hardest execution in the game look at that but that is what we're going to see Liu Kang versus etc and now Ninja can has actually been playing variation three Liu Kang today as well now that's the one thing that makes me the most interested about watching Ninja killer is again that willingness to thoroughly master a character and if that means playing all the variations so be it I mean if you're gonna have a favorite character it makes sense to at least try them out add a chat with Ninja killer yesterday said why do you pick variation three what are the circumstances he said when the low viable doesn't serve a purpose he betrayed the balance of all things okay here we go it's beast coast dragon CGL Ninja killer expect mayhem right here but so far the projectile game which is what we expect from this race century on she is going to be that character that wants to keep your arms reach she can play amazing footsies and we know dragon can but Ninja killer's gonna look to get in and establish a counter hit on the forward for but we're not going to spend the crushing blow just yet definitely worth saving that crushing blow on the forward for a rainy day spend the bar on that bicycle just make sure that you get that extra crushing blow requirement tick off Liu Kang very much a character built around those crushing blows if you fight a Liu Kang in round three and he hasn't used any yet you are in serious trouble I always use this term kind of like a win-conditioned character and Luke has definitely one of them if you aim for the crushing blows in round three then you just have this ultimate advantage which is kind of hard to beat the raw jumping those airborne projectiles do make you jump in a little bit harder to anti-air because it can stop you jump at any point but now he comes into kind of a staggered bicycle kick and we're gonna spend amplifies a tick towards that crushing blow similar to Joker three amplified bicycle kicks the next one crushing blows for damage so I always forget that that front throw has that like little extra bit of damage when you hit the flon and like oh I survived it I never mind but good first round for Ninja killer now remember since the last time we saw them play wow that knowledge get that rock out of my face Councils almost immediately just to create the forward for game and expand it further but that's gonna be a full confirm the dragon as a knockdown natural barrier deceivingly active as a mood one of the best specials in the game absolutely but push black dragon just want to keep the killer as far away as possible the rush down a ninja killer is so scary you just don't want to mess with it that's really that's really good knowledge of Ninja killer if you do hit that air fireball you go for a flying kick and still block in time almost like bait your wish because it looks like you're unsafe but you actually are completely fine escape failed on the throat music to Luke Kang's is that's a grounded confirm keep things unbreakable speaking of unbreakable nice chunk of damage into the restan situation barrier blows up the start up they all blows and play for Ninja killer that is all I really need I really commend the patience Ninja killer right here normally known for amazing anti-air but it's just not extending gets hit by a jump kick from Dragon at this health might die to be really careful like I said he has that fatal blow he still has that crushing blow throw as well oh speaking of which oh just enough all about going and now we know the scariest thing about that game right is it's so useful when characters hold on to a crushing blow and can kind of like build their offense around it that was the only crushing blow we saw from Ninja killing that whole game we didn't see the bicycle kick we didn't see the uppercut we didn't see the Ford 4 the only one we saw was a throw I mean we saw it was held on to for so long is enough you have this character just wants to get in your face and just give you a hard time it's so strong even with that one crushing blow with Ninja killer absolute surgical with using it in practical gameplay just wait for the magic moment and it takes a lot of discipline to be able to do that we're going into game number two now and there's the reversal punish you've got to watch out for some of those projectiles at range because the flying kick will punish it okay and again teleport just to get out of the corner nice little chunk of damage just to finish in the knockdown giving dragon positional advantage again that's what century on cheese plays for the range punish no car either yeah now that's actually also Ninja killer's awareness of resources you notice he doesn't really do many kind of like neutral flying kicks just like out of nowhere a lot of these like done on reactions the boulder stop and stuff like that but if he sees you haven't got resources for big damage he will take risks because we're gonna do like 12% why should he care all right neutral crouch clean finish there for dragon no need to go for anything complicated there with the life that was left and it's gonna be I really foresee this match up this is gonna be the match it's gonna be Ninja killer trying to close in the space dragon playing puts even necessary but ultimately by a range over you I don't want Ninja killer anywhere historically Ninja killer has had the best wow that was incredible has had the best over dragon in a number of the sets this year so you know dragon now this is the biggest stage dragon is gonna want to be able to really finally seal the deal in this environment you know that's what he wants no better place to do it sledgehammer he tries to reversal punish a little bit of a mishap there from Ninja killer misjudging the frames perhaps but isn't it a full punish wake-up buttons all the same Liu Kang and there's just something about this character where players can be on the money conversion as well trying to jump out we go for that recent situation fail those play for Ninja killer again if you can land a dragon is like on the cusp he's like less than a percent away from his own fatal blow oh now he's there that's gonna put him that elder guy he has the opening here oh no the roar forward for just to catch you ducking but when Liu Kang to in that position it's so scary his grabs are some of the most effective in the game thanks to crush his mid to so confirmable you know we said about going into round three if you haven't used any question blows as Liu Kang all that is exactly where we are in his party time for Ninja killer right now dragon has to be impeccable on defense well in the recent past let's not forget century on her far teleport cost two bars of defense now down to say goodbye to your teeth that's huge to get that defensive bar out of Ninja killer means that dragon for now he could be more aggressive and not worry about it just take the damage where he can scary position from this range I'd be really careful low-fibre good chunk of damage that you're trying to enjoy punish but only just a little bit to the two-shot range oh oh no the down to again other plans for that dragon is not gonna go for the breakaway try to save the bar potentially a last lifeline but that one hurts that one hurts so good Ninja killer now to zero up on Beast Coast dragon and it's a calm game it's a disciplined game and that's why I like watching these these two gentlemen players because you're guaranteed this kind of quality right you're not seeing just two guys just you know banging rocks together and hoping for the best right you have two of the smartest players in the community and you're guaranteed good games it's like I said before though that the issue is they are both so good at the game but Ninja killer definitely does and to come off better when they play so that's kind of more of what we're seeing right now right that they've been two very good games but ultimately Ninja killer is taking it again and you know dragon doesn't want that to be the case however dragon turn around right now or it's too late he's in a tricky position he has no choice but to get three games back to back on someone who's just to zeroed you very comfortably it's quite a tall order let's see if dragon's able to use as the knockdown to guarantee a teleport out and that is what I was getting out earlier on for us interrupted by the crushing blow was just set through the game she had to spend two bars of defensive bar to escape the corner now which means that such jump players they kind of have to look for some more quirky and innovative ways to escape a corner without spending it just don't work the same anymore that was a really important break from dragon tagged by the low a way of interrupting the gap being even trying to flawless block or press a button and this is just a mulling from Ninja killer now match point on dragon and we're one round away from the dream matchup cleanest offense in the biz and this is why it's a dragon doesn't have two bars of defense so can't physically teleport out even if he wanted to ninja killer a slowly moving in sledge hammer but I feel like in this matchup it's a game of damage dragon has the range advantage but no that flying kick was 1000% reaction and now ninja killer oh no all the confirm clean damage and a knockdown escape failed this is terrible news no ninja killer is doing Liu Kang combos that have existed before he was born insane imagine that these whippersnappers that are just so godlike but this is scary now for dragon doesn't want to get grabbed doesn't want to get hit oh no oh barely alive this is the last lifeline for dragon has to pull out a miracle now there's no time left oh he's got a fatal blow I don't want to say it's impossible teleport dragon finds the perfect moment spends the fatal blow absolutely worth it and steals the round right from underneath Ninja killer that was a needle in a haystack teleport the perfect time frames later that would have been blocked perfectly played from dragon fatal blow is gonna be gone though and that is quite the thing to lose going into a final round the fatal blow than the set twice here we go tries to check for a member grabs not so easy to deal with if you're trying to press a button to check and there's a push back dragon riding momentum tries to confirm that is exactly what we're seeing right now this is momentum from dragon he's had some big big brain reads has led into this just absolute sequence you have to watch out with a natural barrier putting yourself minus that's a confirmed again no counter hit so there's no launch have to am all the patience ninja colors ready for the teleport oh my I grab again good situation for Ninja killer here he's got so much bar he has everything ready to go and we're gonna get even more worried now fatal blows and play one single confirmed that's why he's sticking out all the launch yo the high the knowledge dragon still willing to do that full screen game the wake-up role just to get through this at the last chance ninja killer really has if he gets one clean confirm this will be a three-zero he tries he tries but remember fatal blow armor does not work the same way it used to I do feel like that's that would have worked free patch as well that was just so good from dragon to know that he didn't have to worry about just the reactionary fatal blow there before the patch armor existed on frame 5 and now I mean it's small it takes longer for the armor to become active doesn't sound like much but in those exact situations it makes a big difference count the frames baby it matters a great deal with this level of play but so far ninja killer off to a pretty good start for damage dragon oh perfect timing because dragon just used bar to teleport in place he went for another one is kind like fake outs and this is the adaptation right this is when two players are extremely high level begin to adapt to each other dragon made two massive plays off of just teleports at their perfect now you want to down to me oh okay back dragon going in for big damage here but we saw before dragon got two massive plays off the back of just two neutral teleports perfect timing dragon in the in this this game started things off by teleporting in place you know he's trying to bait ninja killer it's expecting like the exact same kind of thing right there right trying to bait ninja killer in depressing buttons because you can punish the teleport if you appear behind it if you stay in place you just make him with buttons but it's not biting button for button here how do we so careful both players the crab oh no just enough just enough a ninja killer finds himself on another match point he's having a fight for it by no means is this easy but dragon back to the wall wait for the jump in just sniffs out the over aggression but no the teleports as a county press and buttons here I was getting a bit greedy trying to press up to the teleport but I mean ninja killer hasn't been pressing every time so I definitely understand why you think it won't have a natural barrier doesn't have as much about right there but ninja killer doesn't over commit to the full string like he has these quick reactions if it's not as well as you've all know bicycle kick that's bad news dragon has no choice but to make another pretty difficult comeback in the situation it's always possible but it's gonna be tough really trying to make the most of these long-range buttons is one thing set you and does have over a leak hanging just the absolute stand up neutral standing one there's a lot further than his oh wow that was dangerous absolutely that could have been an interruption in the half right take some plus frames here comes the load of punish very punishable dragon punish knowledge remember you can duck the amplify on the low shot walking into these boulders right here slightly trying to force plug them get rid of that chip take away some of that advantage but yeah wait a second dragon dragon is fighting back mustard and then some one more round on match point time after time and dragon just refuses to die he wants that win his finals you can taste it one round away from tying things up that's it's all it takes one hell of an opponent in his way now a ninja killer though who is going through show ups he's really looking for like the hell's wrath and those arching projectiles just with nicely but the interruption unbreakable yes indeed decent chunk of damage in position there for dragon comes into a viable but that's all right with the health he's got so far an inch killer he doesn't overextend that this level of play players they rarely stick out full strings if they know wake up rolls a thing it's just not worth it stick out the individual button and confirm it if it comes out if not stay safe but now dragon again damage here in there but he will consistently be out damaged by luke hang outside of crushing blows goes for the play once more has to hold his turn scary situation back to the wall and no bar for a lot of telepations from dragon he is not pressing anything individual buttons block off the graph good stuff and sending far away which will be on dragon using it as a chance to find out the corner fatal blow it's locked and loaded oh no watch out this is scary now ninja killer one clean opening and this is game over and that's not gonna kill there's gonna be chip territory that last breath might save him one more opportunity and there's the bar spent double dragon brings it back two to two this is ridiculous come on now dragon one more game and you know there's gonna be a lot I am so happy that he brought it back because this this is a match that most of us are expecting to see it like every tournament and it's usually here right when his site top eight dragon ninja killer like yeah of course it's here but no one wanted to see this be a three zero but not only is it not a three zero we might have a robust only at the world finals final combat 20 20 come on first hit and first blood is gonna go to dragon ninja killer that's kept character variation all series long and that I think it really shows the confidence this is less about the matchup and more just about player versus player right here he's gonna get a knockdown what's the pressure getting hit individually that's an easy confirm though a bit more momentum heavy than we've seen in previous games ninja killer much better for him now dragon looking for a whip that was a huge surprise another bar spent that's now to ninja killer oh the flawless block you hate to see it but no damage to kill and dragon finds the moment I think there's surely no chance he makes this comeback maybe there's no chance don't say never he's got fatal blow I wouldn't write it off and with the button set off the mobility this is set you on she's so seen as a zoner but she has more than that her footsie is a hybrid through and through when played optimally like this absolute hybrid but ninja killer long-range buttons a good keep away only one or the other he finds himself on match point for another time but so consistently dragon has been bringing the set back kicking and screaming now they just can't come on he trade wait for each other's turn they can't lose Lou Kang's on the show and looks machine I think he heard full combo now ninja killer doesn't quite get the bicycle kick this might be a costly drop you know maybe you hate to see it but it might just happen no damage again consistently disrespect the disrespect gives a counter hit and dragon each comes out good damage there from this killer back to back oh no this could be disaster you can never count out a full screen search you're on with that fatal blow least of all dragon he's fishing for it oh that can be with punish speaking of which ninja killer fight the fatal blow and dragon goes down to the loser's bracket it is gonna be ninja killer versus winners finals at this final combat can you it's really say you expected anything that's like that was a insanely competitive match dragon really gave it all but it's just ultimately the second look hanged there's just this damage factor that is real


It is the 22nd of October 1994 and a number of reporters and photographers appearing off the edge of a bridge, down to a river, some 20 metres or 66 feet below. The river is the Han, the body of water that weaves its way through South Korea's capital city, Seoul. The area of the men are rather wearily looking over was once a cohesive structure. Instead what they are observing is a section of bridge that had just suddenly fell off. The collapse would be the demise of 32 people and rather wearily for a plainly difficult video would result in 17 convictions. Today we are looking at the Songsoo Bridge disaster. My name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult. It starts with a river. So we have to start with the River Han, the lifeblood of Seoul. Don't worry we won't go too deep diving into the city's relationship with the river, but I will say like all large metropolitan sprawls with a big river running through it, there is a need for bridges. And that's the case for the one to cross the Han to link the districts of Gangnam to the South and Songdong to the North. The plan for a crossing was set out in the late 1970s by a channel semi-regular Park Chung-hee. You see the area south of the Han River was actually a rather new addition to the city, only being incorporated in 1963. Towards the end of the 1960s Park Chung-hee sought out to develop the area for a modern Seoul. A ban on construction north of the river resulted in many businesses moving to Gangnam, where as the career held would say in the 2011 article, no taxes and regulations existed at the time. Understandably this situation would drive development of the area, where the population would explode during the 1970s and 80s. So with a new cultivated part of a new city, it had to be connected to the old. The late 1960s would see a new bridge called the Hanam, soon enough more crossings would be required, and this leads us on to today's subject structure, the Songsu Bridge. So by the mid 1970s a new crossing over the Han was needed. This would result in the plans for the Songsu Bridge. It would be a four-lane bridge with a width of 19.4 meters and a length of 1160.8 meters. It would be a cantilever design, using steel, with a central seven trusses sat atop concrete columns. Anywho the builder was Dongha Construction. They won the contract to build the bridge by promising a cheap price and a quick construction time. As noted in disaster risk management in the Republic of Korea by Kim Yong-kyung. The political and social environment was more concerned about time than quality. This is not surprising. It was very common with many projects during South Korea's modernization. For example, in a Taegu subway fire, important safety features were overlooked in order to build the network quickly. Now the suspended sections of the bridge are held in place by pins, which run through a gusset plate and a pin plate. In order to hold these parts to the vertical cords, they're all welded together. All good, right? Well the area required a weld that would have contact with all parts of both sections. This would cost time and money. Something Dongha Construction didn't want to spend. A Japanese manager who had been hired to oversee the welding during fabrication was fired due to insisting on checking all welds, as a Jongdae news article would state. Needless to say, this will become important later on in the video. Construction began in April 1977 and would last two years and six months, coming in at a cost of 11.58 billion won, or in today's money around 73 million dollars. Don't hold me on that low as I may have worked that out a little bit wrong using an inflation calculator. But as far as the bridge was concerned, at least initially after completion, the cut price construction had delivered. Upon opening, the June Gang Daily newspaper led with a front page saying, the Songsoo Bridge opens, slender and beautiful. Park Chung-hee praised his new bridge. No doubt the impressive structure was a great advertisement for South Korea's storming into the modern era. It had a speed limit of 60 kilometers an hour, roughly 37 miles an hour, and a maximum vehicle weight limit of 36.3 imperial tons, as stated in the New York Times. As the years went on, the Songsoo Bridge became one of the city's busiest crossings, testing its structural integrity, and to rather literally add salt to the wound, around 8 tons per year of calcium chloride was poured onto its road surfaces to prevent icing up for motorists. Now this would leave the structure to deteriorate if unmaintained, and surprise surprise, this is what happened. Bugger, I should have gone out my bingo card already. The bridge lacked proper inspections, as it was considered new, something you won't want, especially with the risks of corrosion that yearly road sorting brings with it. Over the years, the pins began to degrade, increasingly making the structure reliant on its poor welding, which in cracks everywhere, how the Songsoo Bridge collapse changed Seoul's urban personality by Ji Hyuk-moon notes that the welds were only 8mm thick instead of the required 10mm. But what is just 2mm between friends, hey? Well, quite a lot when they began to degrade on the unexpected and maintained bridge. This would continue for 15 years or so, until, but disaster. Our fatal day starts actually with the day before, when workers are installing a plate over a gap on one of the bridge's joints, on the evening of the 20th of October 1994. Reports have come in of severe lateral movement of one of the suspended sections, this is rather worrying, but over the evening's traffic, which soon turned into the morning of the 21st of October, the plate would begin to become loose. Now I should say that the bridge was very much beyond capacity by 1994, originally envisioned for 80,000 cars a day, but now, by the 90s, the structure experienced over 160,000. The traffic had really jumped over the past year, when the bridge was connected to the Dongbu Expressway. As the morning's commuter traffic began, the steel plating stalled the day before had become loose. More reports were received by city officials, however they fell on deaf ears due to the assumption that the plate had fixed any immediate problems. By 7.30 in the morning, and as traffic increased over the bridge, disaster was just a few minutes away. At 7.38 a.m., a 48-metre long section of the bridge plunged into the river Han. Six vehicles fell into the river some 20 meters below. Among those sent was a number 16 bus, which fell and landed on its roof on the fallen bridge section, crushing it. 31 were aboard, and 29 of which would lose their lives. A police van was also one of the vehicles involved in the collapse, but luckily those aboard survived and helped with the first response, and two cars actually did end up going into the river. Amazingly, the fallen section of the bridge allowed rescue workers to help drag victims out of the water and act as a platform for rescue boats. In total, 32 people were killed in the disaster, with a fair of 17 that were injured. The wounded were sent to hospitals throughout the capital city. Divers were used to recover some of the bodies, however, poor weather hindered the rescue workers. The disaster initially clogged up a major artery through the city, but as the traffic subsided, the true shock began to sink in throughout the day in Seoul's residents. A major and vital bridge had collapsed, so how could it happen? Well, we already know, it would be the usual causes, cost-cutting, poor maintenance, overlooked risks, and the age-old classic of general neglect. But of course at the time, this wasn't known, and thus an investigation had to drill down to the root cause. Aftermath and investigation. So the condition of the bridge wouldn't be ignored after a portion of it had plunged into the river Han. The next day, on the 9pm news, KBS released an expose on the state of the structure, but not only on the Songsoo Bridge, but other crossings of the river Han had also been neglected. The South Korean government would arrest some city officials, as reported in the New York Times on the 23rd of October 1994. Seven city officials were arrested today in connection with the collapse of a bridge in Seoul that killed 32 people. An official at the district prosecutor's office said, investigators said today that they believed that the collapse occurred because of rusted expansion hinges broke under heavy loads. The head of the city office responsible for maintaining the bridge, and six of its employees were charged with failing to check the safety of the bridge, whose central span collapsed into the Han River on Friday. The same day, KBS publicly apologized for the disaster. Official investigators would put the bridge under a microscope, and its sorry state was easy to find. Rust all over key components, and the substandard 8mm welds were discovered, which then led to a theory of failure being zeroed in on. You see, the 20% smaller welds had fatigue and had cracked under the stress of the popularity of the bridge. Post-event radiograph inspections found a significant portion of the welds to be showing fatigue cracking. The investigators released their findings in the white paper on the activities of the Songsu Bridge Collapse incident investigation team. The construction was the main target, although the design in itself was let off. Understandable, as the builder, Dongha Construction, clearly did things on the cheek to get such a low bid in on the project. The disaster poisoned the wealth of Korean modernization in the minds of many throughout South Korea, as stated in Jikook Moon's paper, Cracks Everywhere. Before this happened, people's one and only concern was how fast and how big the country could build something, just like other advanced countries. After the accident however, Korean citizens began to actively worry about their safety in a new urban landscape of Seoul. Now, at being a disaster in South Korea, rather refreshingly, some did meet criminal repercussions from the part they play in the collapse. Seventeen were convicted, which made up a mix of Seoul Metropolitan Government officials, Dongbu Corporation officials, and Dongha Construction Industry Company officials. The sentences ranged from six months to three years for criminal negligence, with some even being convicted for fraud. Now, within just a matter of months, Seoul would be hit with another disaster, the Sangpung Department Store collapse, which I've actually also done a video on. Oh, I should also say that the bridge was demolished and rebuilt, opening to traffic in 1997. So, disaster scale time. I'm going to rate it as either a four or a five. It had death, which was albeit limited to just one area. But it did send shockwaves throughout the whole nation. And here is what I have for my bingo card. What did you cross off? Let me know below. This is a plainly difficult production. All videos on the channel are creative, comments, attribution, share or light licensed. Plainly difficult videos, but you can find me, John, in the currently wet and windy corner of Southern London, UK. I have Patreon and YouTube members, so thank you very much for your financial support. And I have a second YouTube channel and Instagram and Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it, so check it out for other bits and pieces. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching. And Mr Music, play sale please.


Bird Mr. Bird Look knock second six three third Fourth air the fifth so but no No prize got a golf club or something So tell us something you found out dad one question one one sentence like this anything Doesn't have to pay Oh very nice You don't have to pay a Okay, good Can't not on the headphones Oh right and can doesn't have to pay for drinks Good job Very good, and what does what is something a doesn't have to do Which was something a doesn't have to do Okay, very good, um can good Nice We got look not Well lots of people don't have to pay for drinks Who I'm And doesn't have to okay Who yeah nice, I think that's everyone is it All right, thank you very much. So the winner is Mr. Bird close second It's look not and third boy You beat your friend. Thank you very much. See you next time


Many ancient sites found all over the world can no longer be explained away with currently attested academic opinion, who they say built them, why, or when they were created. The most popular of these anomalies are the ancient monuments that can be found upon the Giza Plateau. Currently explained as having been built by our copper-tool-wielding ancestors a mere 4,000 years ago, somehow successfully creating some of the most precisely built and indeed enormous ancient structures found on Earth, decidedly choosing to use granite blocks many tons in weight as their building material of choice. Ironically, although these sites are somehow exclaimed as having been built by the ancient Egyptians, any actual literal explanation of how this was actually done has never been provided. Not only is academic opinion severely lacking any logical understandings as to the construction of these sites, they seemingly attempt to ignore and in some cases conceal additional controversial anomalies they simply cannot understand. Enormous stone megaliths are hidden all over Giza and especially around the base of the Great Pyramids, and not only were these buildings adorned with incredibly hard granite but also basalt, a similarly tough stone, and another which would be near impossible to have hewn with mere copper implements. Known as Giza's basalt floor, it is what many people now see as the smoking gun for evidence of advanced engineering having once been responsible for the construction of the site. Amongst the remaining fragments of the basalt floor is overwhelming evidence of ancient machinery telltale precision signatures left on many stones, suggesting high technology was responsible for the shaping of Giza's enormous stones. Cut marks that could only have been left by high-speed disc cutting, striations, precise ridges and countless other curious features have been thankfully left upon these stones, and these surviving tool marks could one day be used to actually identify the technology once used to build the site. We now feel that the evidence to suggest that the modern attested and massed published theories regarding the origins of the Giza Plateau, its age, and indeed its creator's past capabilities is currently incorrect and is now overwhelming, and that it is only a matter of time before a revival of this past knowledge and indeed understandings again begins to flourish. We have long stated that there is considerable evidence to suggest that not only the Great Sphinx, but also its accompanying pyramids found dotting the plateau are far older than currently attested. We have shared the premise that many of the ancient hieroglyphs found all over Egypt are a mere 4,000 years old, while the pyramids and the Sphinx, both conveniently absent any of these same illustrative writings, are far older than this age. Why are there no hieroglyphs within the Great Pyramids? Additionally, why were there never any steps or stairs built into such awkward of structures? Is this a clue to the past function of the Great Pyramids? Were they never intended to be entered by humans? Not only is this absence of Egyptian art a compelling clue, but it also indicates that these structures were not constructed by the same people. If indeed they were constructed by the same people, why did they never document this task? There in fact exists an artifact within Giza, once quoted as a must-see artifact by Zechariah Sitchin. This inconspicuous stone, known as the Inventory Stella, amazingly, is an authentic inventory left by King Khufu. It not only supports most of what we have now come to suspect regarding the plateau, a theory concluded from many different avenues of research, but it is a written description of the Egyptian civilization's activities upon the plateau, including what happened to the Sphinx or, more accurately, Anibis. We have come to suspect that many of the most popular alternative researchers who have spent their careers researching these specific subjects have, just like academia, ignored patently evident materials surrounding the ancient past. Giza's inventory Stella, Zechariah Sitchin wrote in his book Journeys to the Mythical Past that the Stella was irrefutable proof, provided by Khufu himself, that he did not build the Great Pyramid, and that the Pyramid and Sphinx were already there in his time. Predictably, the Stella is simply ignored. However, some, like James H. Breasted, commendably included the inventory Stella in his official list of Fourth Dynasty artifacts, stating that, regardless of opinion, that it, quote, bore all the marks of authenticity. Also, the French Egyptologist Gaston Mesperot, whose most famous book, The Dawn of Civilization, stated that the Stella was indeed a factual record of the life and deeds of Khufu. Regarding the Sphinx, the text states that lightning once struck the head, destroying a large portion. Khufu then re-carved the head into what we see today. He then built his temple in the vicinity of the House of the Sphinx, and, interestingly, renovated the Great Pyramid. The Stella inventory not only confirms many things we have already come to suspect took place within Giza, but additionally, this mounting evidence is indicating to us that other suspiciously popular, supposed in-depth investigations, often accompanied by expensive trips to said sites, are deliberately used in the Great Pyramid. They are deliberately inaccurate works of controlled opposition. Regardless of other opinions regarding this matter, we will continue to present what we always have on this channel. Truth and honest opinions. As always, thanks for watching. When asked what are the largest, heaviest, and indeed the once most difficult stones to ever have been cut, transported to, and precisely placed within the great structures of the Giza Plateau, we would have previously stated that the granite ceiling blocks found within the king's chamber in the Great Pyramid were the largest known, with some of these stones weighing as much as 100 tons. However, it turns out that there exist many other stones upon this mysteriously created plateau which far exceed the pyramid's inner megaliths. Unsurprisingly, these discoveries are rarely shared academically, or indeed to the many people who pay to visit the Giza Plateau each year. The Valley Temple is but one example of these other, less mentioned, marvelously enormous stones, eight of which are still present within the structure's ruin, the largest of which still being roughly 3x3x6 meters in size. Furthermore, the same similarly sized stones can also be found within the Kefren Pyramid Causeway Temple. This structure is also rarely discussed or shared by Egyptologists or archaeologists alike. It seems that academics who fear a loss of funding from particular bodies tend to merely ignore that which they are confronted with which they simply cannot explain. Again, the same enigmatic megalithic blocks can be found in the Causeway Temple of the Miserinus Pyramid. One finds the same highly eroded, thus extremely ancient stones. It seems that these huge stones seemingly litter the Giza Complex, and amazingly, they are successfully ignored merely due to their controversy. Yet, the largest to be found anywhere upon this man-made plateau are to be found hidden in plain sight. Ever looked for many millennia, the still remaining foundation stones upon which much of the east side of the Kefren Pyramid once stood were not lifted into place, but were indeed transported to this location and precisely placed into position. These stones are so massive and so perfectly dropped into the surrounding landscape that thousands of people have walked right over them every year without ever realizing what they were standing on. Although the true depth and thus complete scale of the block is currently unknown, if it is of a cubic shape, it would appear to be roughly three-quarters the weight of the pregnant woman of Baalbeck. She weighs around 1,001 tons, which would make our foundation stone anywhere from 500 to 750 tons in weight. Clearly, a controversial yet incredible discovery, one which takes our understandings of the sheer undertaking that was Giza, are still at an early stage. Nonetheless, such discoveries move us one step closer towards finally understanding just who could have built the Great Pyramid Complex of Egypt. There are many places upon our planet that were once home to the many ancient cultures that we are yet to unravel. A large number of these places clearly showing the erosion of an enormous antiquity, with some even rendered unrecognizable, slowly slipping back into the geological features in which they were once placed amongst. However, some of these civilizations were seemingly aware of this fact of time, deciding to create the largest stone structures to have ever graced the Earth. These monuments, predictably outlasting the many smaller sites, which have slowly been reclaimed by nature. These surviving sites can still reveal to us some astonishing things regarding our past and indeed our future. One begins to wonder whether these monument's size was a planned strategy for their apparent longevity, or whether their size served another, perhaps more profound purpose. Nearly all of the unexplained or seemingly impossible ruins which dot every continent on Earth are almost always attributed to a civilization incapable of such feats and often attributed to the same mundane purpose for creation, with rock-cut structures, this almost always being a tomb. Tumulus Hill being a good example of this. Also known as the Hill of Costa, this enormous feature is not a natural formation. Amazingly, this hill, long thought to have been a natural feature, is actually a massive man-made structure. Additionally, the original stone structure once buried beneath millennia of strata is actually a 500 meter long, precisely constructed stone boundary, forming an almost perfect circle. Encapsulating what has indeed been explained away as a tomb. Many pyramidal structures all over Earth create compelling alignments, and although these mysterious structures, mounds and monuments, have been explained away as mere burial chambers. The truth is, we just don't know. And the question remains, what were these enormous triangular structures used for? Guarded by Sphinxes, most probably Anibis, amazingly the size of Giza's pyramids are relative to the distance of each of Orion's stars. Is this a mere coincidence? Along with our recent research into clues left regarding an ark, be it Noah's Ark or the Ark of the Covenant, a theory we touched upon previously has begun to present some rather compelling leads connecting these structures, the alignments, star constellations, and a possible purpose for the pyramids. If one pursues past postulations regarding star gates, gateways to an apparent godly realm, etc. etc., you begin to notice links between many ancient beliefs, ancient structures, ancient covenants, and possibly interstellar travel. The double hexagram, now largely recognized as the Star of David, is also the shape realized when connecting many ancient sites upon our Earth. Is this shape also an illustration of an ark? Connecting or visually overlapping two pyramids into one point? What was the Ark of the Covenant? Did it power the pyramids? Did it once reside within the Great Pyramids? Many questions left still remain unanswered, although we finally may be on our way to answering them. In Mystery History's opinion, the ancient ruins found upon the Plateau of Giza are some of, if not the most, heavily debated, heavily guarded, and most academically protected ancient site on Earth. But it remains one of the most talked-about, mysterious, intriguing, ancient stonework of them all. Many people are now aware of the anomalies which were once tightly controlled secrets surrounding the exterior features of the build, and more importantly, the achievements that these feats once were. These inexplicable factors, the size of the megalithic exoskeleton, the vastly different ages of the casing stones, are now thought by many as the defining motive for a cover-up regarding the pyramid's true age and original purpose. Media blackouts, counterintelligence, and many other outlandish conspiracies now rife among the research of the site. From giants to UFOs, the ideas and theories people have put forward for their function or indeed what could be hidden in voids constantly discovered yet to be penetrated, these hidden rooms, along with their ancient entrances, remain a complete enigma even in recent years as advances in penetrative radar become a reality and accessible to self-funded individuals and research teams, more and more voids, unexplained heat anomalies, and even air shafts not known of before continue to be discovered within these enormous mystifying structures. Yet, as mentioned, the subculture, many genuine yet misguided in their investigative method, yet also many funded individuals involved in many other hard-to-deny subjects, has successfully swamped the field with dis-and-or misinformation, creating opinionated followings with a successfully corrupted impartiality deceptively manipulated into becoming said misinformation's advocates rather than whence they came, an open mind, a skill for discussion, and an unbiased critical approach to subjects whose true nature are actively being protected. The predictably far fewer articles, books, and other logical critical, impartial to all but fact, unwavering competent research done by many capable individuals, although a drift within an ocean of fallacy, shines much light upon some highly compelling, yet albeit highly controversial features of the Plateau of Giza. Features which may one day lead us to ultimately unlocking the Pyramid's secrets and allowing us to finally understand what these structures' past functions truly were. Not only in detail, but perhaps in an attempt of replication. During our own research, we have found some interesting similarities between Giza and Bosnia, among other lesser-known pyramid structures, and this curious yet continually reoccurring feature is now being more frequently discovered all over the world. The Great Pyramid of Bosnia, for example, a site discovered by Samir Osmanogik, has an ingenious river, which, after three years of research, was confirmed by him and his team to have had an artificial current. The reason for this is currently unknown, but it seems water was a significant factor in the past function of these ancient structures. Water is a curious thing, and in many situations acts just like that of electricity. It runs in currents and travels through tubes like electric through cables. But no one seems to know what electricity is. We hypothesize that these water features are of tremendous significance when it comes to understanding the true function of these incredible structures. But I digress. The plateau has always intrigued me, although buried by a desert sand, the solid sandstone below is of an unimaginable size and seemingly level over 40 feet deep in some places. But no one truly understands its origins. Indeed, structures as large as the pyramids would need impressive foundations. But the plateau, it seems, is far too large, and if man-made, bafflingly sparse of any ruins, structures which one would have presumed would have been the reason for its enormous construction. There is, however, another hypothesis. A legend that told of a lost labyrinth, a secret underground layer as big as a town, a secret underground structure so large and thus so easy to get lost within, it became known as the labyrinth. Long spoke of but always dismissed as mythological, this due to a lack of any substantial evidence for its existence. That is, until a few years ago, when a groundbreaking rediscovery was made, yet unfortunately it seems, this groundbreaking event was somehow masterfully stifled, not shared by mainstream media, funded institutions with their armory of literature and magazines alike. Thus, it merely becomes an observational exercise in yet another display of the influence our currently controlling institutions have over public opinion, preventing an underground city of gigantic proportions buried beneath Giza never successfully achieving public notoriety. The Sand of Harara was scanned by a Belgian-Egyptian expedition team in 2008 in an effort to research something known as the Quarry Theory, suggested by Petrie in 1889, following his finding of a great artificial stone surface measuring 304 m by 244 m. Petrie interpreted the enormous artificial stone plateau as the foundation of the labyrinth, concluding that the building itself, although long believed to have been totally demolished in the Ptolemaic period, had in fact survived and lay hidden for millennia. The surveys proved its foundation remained unpenetrated and still laid undiscovered beneath the sandstone, never lost, the possibility of the results being that of the roof of the labyrinth, all but proven true. The following is an excerpt from the dig's official report. Quote, Underneath this upper zone below the artificial stone surface appears, in spite of the turbid effect of the groundwater, at a depth of 8 to 12 meters, a grid structure of gigantic size made of a very highly resistant material like granite stone. This proves the presence of a colossal archaeological feature which has to be reconsidered as the roof of the still existing labyrinth. Are the legends true? Does the labyrinth of Giza still lay hidden, unexplored beneath the sands of Egypt? We find the evidence to suggest such highly compelling.  Not only are such readings and results regularly scoffed at, and any subsequent finding, all stemming from their honest admittance that their data showed evidence of inhabitation, with quote, Underestimated prehistoric dates. Many of these artifacts and ruins, claimed as being a mere few centuries old, we have, due to extensive research into similarities and differentiations at many of these sites, managed to locate signature stonework within the structure's outer walls, clearly submerged and perfectly preserved for untold millennia. Indicative of many inexplicable sites around the world, which some even claim are upwards of 300 million years old. The Great Pyramids, along with their great sphinx, we feel, with the substantial evidence we have previously put forward, is a treasure trove of examples, for when one becomes aware of Giza's anomalies at least, can expose those fed a lie, the impossibilities within said conspiracy theory, and begin to realize more and more unexplainable anomalies, helping others to realize just how impossibly difficult these structures would have been to create. A feat when considered by many, especially those with a good idea for the sheer size of this place, find the reality that the plateau was possibly man-made, very hard to conceive. Subsequently, still concealing many secrets, which we feel, is the purpose of the plateau being created in the first place, and although it seemingly spans far from the feet of the gigantic pyramidic trio and their accompanying sphinx, we feel this was deliberate and not naturally formed. According to computer engines, the stresses within the Great Pyramid itself were perfectly calculated. However, the main strator lintel in the Grand Gallery is cracked, indicating polycytins or other heavy technology was still atop the structure once built. This extra weight has been hypothesized was an oversight. Furthermore, any attempts to reconstruct these incredible buildings by using computer systems to simulate supposed slave attempts, we still to this day cannot find a valid working technique. However, if one ups the size of the being, their strength, and indeed their intellect, not only were the pyramids within reach, but also many other baffling megalithic areas, such as polygonal masonry, all could be explained. Additionally, along with this hypothesis, many giant-sized sarcophagi have been found throughout Giza. Yet we feel, covered up, dismissed as clearly what they are, tombs, in favor of explaining them away as storage cases. Who built ancient Egypt? When did they build it? How did they build it? Questions which need to be answered. Questions which we find highly compelling. The Pyramid of Mancura may be the smallest of the three main pyramids of Giza, but some find this site to be one of the most intriguing to be found upon the Giza Plateau. Not only does the pyramid still possess casing stones of a polygonal style, nearly identical to that found throughout ancient Peru, and indeed now discovered globally. But it also possesses gigantic ancient megalithic blocks exposed for all to see. These impossibly huge blocks of stone are clearly of a tremendous age, leading up to a once immaculately carved inner chamber. On the 28th of July, 1837, Howard Weiss rediscovered the upper anti-chamber of the pyramid. Within, the remains of a wooden anthropoid coffin, inscribed with Mancura's name, was found. This tomb did indeed contain human bones. However, this is now considered to be a substitute coffin. Radiocarbon dating on the bones also claimed to have determined them to be less than 2,000 years old, which, according to certain researchers, suggests an all-too-common bungled handling of remains from another site. Furthermore, along with polygonal masonry, an inner chamber and three tiny accompanying pyramids, known as G3A, G3B, G3C. The age of this pyramid has also not been hypothesized or narrowed down to any specific era within the ancient Egyptian Empire, making it an obscurity, and also, predictably, a lesser-known site within academic study and mainstream reporting. Who built the pyramid? Are the megaliths within the outer temple walls the same as those of the exoskeletons of the larger ancient Great Pyramids? An ancient anomaly which has been exposed mostly upon the east wing of Cheops by the removal of outer casing stones, which we have in the past reported on, along with their clearly much younger age. In AD 1196, Al-Aziz Uthman, Saladin's son and the Sultan of Egypt attempted to demolish the pyramids, starting with Mancura. However, and rather predictably, eight months in, they found that it was nearly impossible to destroy. Not only could they only remove one or two stones each day, when a stone fell it would bury itself in the sand, requiring extraordinary efforts to free it. Wedges were used to split the stones into several pieces. Despite their efforts, workmen were only able to damage the pyramid to the extent of leaving a large vertical gash at its northern face. It is undoubtedly a highly intriguing pyramid. We have often postulated as to the precise age of the great monuments of Giza, undoubtedly the most astonishing structures left by the ancient world. There are many questions which persist regarding this ancient site. Who built these extraordinary buildings? Why did they build them? And of course, when was this unimaginably enormous task undertaken? Interestingly, there exists an enigmatic statue, which it seems, although predictably little shared by academia, actually predates this astonishing time within Earth's history. Quoted as, possibly one of the rarest finds of its kind, according to Dr. Clarence Epstein, Senior Director of Urban and Cultural Affairs at Concordia University, where this remarkable item is housed. Not only can no one date the object, but there also exists a language etched into its form, which is yet to be deciphered. As Dr. Epstein acknowledges, no expert among the countless he has personally consulted over the past decade can identify the sculpture's age, artistic tradition, or indeed recognize and decipher the ancient language found etched into its base. Dr. Epstein believes the statue is of a pre-dynastic age. It was originally taken from Alexandria by the Deniacopolis family. It was then shipped with 20 crates of antiquities from Egypt and the Middle East to Canada, where it still resides. However, its whereabouts prior to this shipment are unknown. The statue is of two nude subjects standing 67 cm high, one male and the other presumed female. This figure is also noted as possibly holding a child. They are depicted in a sitting position with noticeable elongated skulls. Now known as the Starving of Sakura, this due to the figure's emaciated frames, just what could this statue represent or indeed be trying to tell us? How old could it possibly be? And most interestingly of all, what could the enigmatic writing upon its base actually mean? As more research is undertaken, it is only a matter of time before we know its true identity once and for all.


I have just arrived in Prague. I am in our Airbnb and I cannot be more proud of myself. This place is huge. We have our own kitchen. We have two bedrooms and she even left a bottle of wine and some coffee for us. And just around that corner is downtown. So I'm about to head out, try to catch sunset because I'm alone for the next two hours and I'm waiting on two of my friends to get here. I'm here in my grovy Sadie park which is a park with beautiful views of the city. It's near my Airbnb. I sprinted here so that I could get the back ends of a beautiful sunset as you can kind of see behind me. This is definitely a good spot for a full view of Prague. We are walking to Old Town now. It is the first morning in Prague and my friends have arrived. So we are going to Old Town because there are a lot of spots to visit there and first things first we need to find a coffee shop and then second things second we're going to go see the astronomical clock. We have made it to Old Town and everywhere you look there's a beautiful building. It's all colors. Behind me is the astronomical clock which is a famous tourist spot of Prague. It was installed in 1410 and it's actually the oldest astronomical clock that's still working and it's absolutely beautiful. I'm currently sitting at the top of Prague next to the castle and this is the view of the city behind me with all the colorful rooftops and a bunch of tourists to my right and we are also tourists but that's okay. I don't know if it works when I press my seat. Okay maybe I take you one on Oh shoot it's recording. So we are currently inside the St. Vitas Cathedral which is huge and it was reconstructed in 1560 because of a fire years before. We're at the John Lennon Wall made by John Lennon himself. I can't believe John Lennon made this whole thing. We finally made it to the actual Charles Bridge after the Lennon Wall and after being on that bridge way over there it's got a beautiful view. We were hackled to take a boat ride but um we're not gonna do that today because it's too cold. This is a specialty in Czechoslovakia it is called a chimney cake or otherwise known. Thank you. Otherwise known as the tritone. I think that's how you pronounce it but yeah they're these sweet treats they kind of look like churros but I got one with chocolate inside so oh I should have gotten napkins. Yeah 100% right behind me kind of high up if you can see that is Sigmund Freud hanging seven feet tall above the streets of Prague and the artist of that sculpture is David Cerny. So this is just a representation of his depression. According this is all facts from Kat but yeah apparently he was depressed and killed himself. Back at the Charles Bridge for sunset. We're about to leave Prague and our flight's late so we were able to sleep in this morning all in all it's a huge city with a lot of things to do really colorful and the people are super friendly. I don't know what I'm saying guys but how do I conclude this? Peace out. Peace out Prague. That's my ending.


We have the select board, we have Vic Dwyer, we have Bill McManus, and we have George Longenecker and Elias Gardner. So welcome everyone. Any amendments to the agenda? Sarah? No, not really. We're just bringing that thing up about the building efficiently from the Energy Committee. We're bringing that up under correspondence and Mitch has something to say about that. But it's not going to chime in. Okay. Mitch is not here though, is he? I am. Sarah, by the way, I'm really delighted that you weren't sick with COVID and we just see we're fatigued from doing such a great job with the elections. Well, thank you, Mary. I guess I'll start the recording now. You could start the recording then you can, then we could say we're glad to see you back, Sarah. Right. Yeah. The recording's on so you can say it again, Mary. Oh, Sarah, I'm so glad you don't have COVID as you were just exhausted from doing such a great job running the elections. Very well said, Mary. Thank you. So with that, we'll move right into our budget workshop and up at the head of the line is the highway department and Sarah is going to put that budget document up on the screen so we'll be able to see it. Well, okay, just it doesn't work as perfectly really the person who should be putting it on the screen is the person who is explaining the budget, but I'll tell you what I've done. I have emailed this budget to everyone. I've also put it on the middle sex website and so that there are links so everyone can see those budgets and I sent one copy to Vic Dwyer. So as far as I can see everybody here should have a copy of the budget. Does anyone not have a copy of that? Okay. Okay, perfect. Perfect. So Steve, you're up. I am. Okay. So I prepared the budget. These percent change numbers may be off a little bit one way or another. I didn't readjust those after I went over it again today, but overall the budget increased by $7,000, which is like less than one percent. Less than a half a percent, I think. But anyway, 0.9. Thank you. You've got it right handy, didn't you? Yes, I did. Okay. So starting off with, you've got the sheet there. We'll just, we can go down item by item, but winter maintenance decreased on the overall budget because of the sand. We still have sand to do and I've got that in there. We're going to have this sand screened and then we'll have some trucking in there also, but we're taking on a third of the trucking. Normally we haul about a thousand yards when we're hauling it from other places, but this time we're hauling it from our pit to shorter haul, but I've got our two trucks and hiring four trucks. So overall that, that budget went down by 20,000, 25,000. Don't get too excited yet. Wait till the next line. I'm just talking that Dorinda's making comments. Making comments. Oh, I thought you went, whoo. So next we have the summer maintenance. Going down the sheet, I mean, let's see. Stone line ditching, I increased that. I increased some of our hay mulch and netting for some of the work that we'll be doing, so that increased a little bit. Road gravel. Are you still on the page? I'm lost. Summer maintenance. We're on page three. It's marked page three. Page three of the detail there. They're all marked in the upper right. Yep. Are you with us? Yep. Okay. So on the road gravel, we've got a lot of resurfacing to do, but so anyway, I figured out some stuff for road gravel. Our road gravel increased substantially, and I'm up at 27,000 for road gravel, buying it from two different sources. One of the reasons for the sources, McCullough has some really good gravel. This is a little more expensive, and I've got barons in here also. Their gravel is pretty good. It's very clean, but it's not good for hills. It's good for the flatter areas, so that's why I've got two different gravels in there. Roadside mowing went down from what we had budgeted last year, but also last year, we only used one mowing, and I've got it in here for two mowings. That's what we had been doing before, which is quite a bit better. Chloride. Increasing with putting the stuff on the roads, we're going to end up using more of the chloride, so I've increased that. That was an increase of 36%. Went from 16,000 to 21,840. Rental equipment. Last year, we had a miscellaneous thing in here for 1,500. I've got it in here this year for a saw, and when we're doing some of our work last year, we rented a light base. I don't know, Phil, you might have seen it. When we were working up here under the guardrails, we had that light system. That means I can use the whole crew. It was cheaper than hire and the flaggers, so I've got that in there for that. Tree service. We've got several trees that we need to have down. Something we can't or I don't want us to do it. We need that professionals to at least take them down and then just leave everything bulk right there and 10-foot lengths and whatever. We can take care of that, so I've got an amount in there for that. It was a substantial increase from $1,000 we had last year to five this year. Greenup is the same. We have our stormwater discharge fee. Emergency road repairs. It was in there as emergency. I put it as unforeseen, and I put a $5,000 figure in there that takes care of these little things where you're not going to get reimbursed for it. You've got a quick little storm, wipes out a culvert or two or something like that. Okay, so that the summer maintenance increased by 36.9% and as I said, some of my percent figures may be off a little bit, but Durando will correct me on those. Then we're on to equipment maintenance sheet five. I left the equipment repairs the same. The parts and supplies the same as last year. The Plough and Sander equipment the same. The bulk oil and the DEF for the trucks the same. Inspections went up a little bit by $100 and then tires. I bumped that up by $1,000 for the tires that we're going to have to get. That took care of that. On the equipment maintenance was a 2% increase. Then we come to the specialized services, which we haven't used. That's at $40,000 for truck rental, renting an excavator, and wages for hiring somebody to run the excavator. We will be using a portion of that. I don't think we'll use it all. We may, but I don't think we will. We'll be using a portion of that anyway for some ditching once we get through mud season. So in this same category. So you're talking about using what's in this year's budget that we haven't yet spent. That's correct. Right. This is for. Well, I was just explaining what was there for last year and then for this year, for this budget that I've just prepared, I put ditching in there, but I put it in as a subcontract instead of doing it like I did before and just doing, excuse me, a small amount. So my intent would be that we start sometime mid-June or so, do some ditching and then let it go right through and do some more ditching, which would come into this budget. So that would be my plan on that. And then I also put a little mud mitigation in here of $20,000. And also I put that under subcontract. So anyway, from last year to this year, it was a decrease by 18.7% in that category. So I'm sorry, I just have a question. So you're, you're saying ditching includes mud mitigation and no, I got it. If you look at that sheet, Liz. Yeah.  I got two different areas there. I put down a ditching subcontract, $12,500 mud mitigation subcontract, equipment only of $20,000. The two combined comes to $32,500. But you're saying, are you saying, but the $40,000 that is from last year is that special $40,000 that we talked about at town meeting, right? That's correct. And I put this stuff in that same special services. Okay. So this is special. So I'm using that header for ongoing and it may come back to this same thing that we had last year or may not, whatever, but that's where I put it. Yeah. Okay. Grudge maintenance, shop supplies. That went up a little bit, a couple of hundred dollars. Waste disposal went up like 3%. Air gas services stays the same. Fuel tank maintenance. I put $2,500. We had $1,000 for maintenance last year. I put $2,500 in here. We need a roof over that thing. And I think we can get part of that roof done with that money or at least all framed up for that money. And garage door maintenance, I left the same. Office supplies, miscellaneous, I left the same. Small tool purchase. Okay. Small tool purchase. Besides the small tools that we use normally end up getting, I put in here building a table for the chain repair. Right now, the guys do the chain repair on the floor. They've been over. And they'll spend a whole day doing it, more than one day, but they'll spend a whole day doing it. And then for the next two days, nobody can really walk around very good. It's really hard on the back and it's not good for us. And we're going to end up in a workman's comp thing. Anyway, they talked about a table. They do have those tables out there. You can't find them anywhere. However, I've got somebody that I think we can build one. And so that's what I have that money in there for. The next one is utilities. That one here is pretty straightforward. No changes. I left everything the same. Electricity, heat and the phone internet. Gas and diesel. I'm at the same place I was last year. For the money, the way we had figured this stuff and the price on the gallons of fuel, it's down right now. I don't know what it is going to do. It's down right now from what I've got in here, but I think we're covered for the fuel. Anyway, so that stayed the same. Wages and benefits. I went over everything with Derrinda and it's basically a 2% increase over everything. And I think all the figures that Derrinda might will be checking some of these figures for the FICA and all of that stuff. We went over a couple of them changed it, but it's an increase of 2% overall. Highway miscellaneous. I don't know how I got that category, but it did. Culverts. I increased our culverts. We've got a few more culverts that we need to change. And so I increased that budget by a couple of thousand dollars for culverts. Signs. Increase that just a little bit. We've got two more years of signs to get. And to get everything back up to the standards they're supposed to be at. Bridge fund stayed the same. Put 6,000 in the bridge fund. Put 30,000 in the paving fund. Equipment purchase. I had put here the purchase of a cutoff saw with the blades. It would end up being a diamond blade so that we could cut or like on cut a piece of guardrail out or cut in the concrete. Whatever we need to do there. So that was an increase. I went from 1,500 to 2,500. Then there's the last item down there is building fund, the town garage building fund of $5,000. This will be the third year we've done that. And so that overall budget was an increase of 5.6%. And then I went into construction. This construction can cover various different things, but we've got gravel in there. Again, it isn't a huge amount of gravel, but there's gravel in there, ditch stone, hydro seating, ledge removal, erosion matting, and the mud mitigation. Now that's where the mud mitigation was in before, which we had done. I put that mud mitigation is in that special services area. So that went down. So this overall budget of the construction went down by 27%. We went from 23,250 to 16,930. So overall, all those figures, the render will correct me, I'm sure, but we went up, like I said, about $7,000 from $7,029,81 to $7,027,501. Very nice job, Steve. Very well broken out. Thank you. I only have one bad question. Go ahead. Chairman, that we have a big truck. We're purchasing this next year. Okay. That's a good point. And I know we are not purchasing a large truck this year. We just, that's one that needs to be replaced is the one we just put $70,000 in and we bought a three-year service warranty on that. So that truck would end up being in, I don't have that sheet in front of me, but that truck would end up being fiscal year 23. That's what you wrote on it. Yeah. This fiscal year, thank you. fiscal year 23. We do need to do a greater, but that will end up being in fiscal year 22. Am I correct on that? Well, it depends when you buy it. So if we were to buy it in after July one, then it wouldn't go in until the 23 budget. So anything you buy after July one, you don't pay on it until a year later. So if we were to buy it after July, it would be the following year. Yeah. That's assuming we don't make any kind of a down payment. Right. Right. Is the existing greater worth anything? Um, it's, it's worth something, but we won't get a lot for it. That's for sure. It's too worn out. Right. And so anyway, on the only thing that I didn't talk about was we've got to replace the pickup, a pickup, one large truck and a greater. And the way I did this, and Dorinda, you can correct me if I'm wrong, because I don't have that paper in front of me, but it's, we'd do this in three different years. And what my intent would be, the pickup was going to be this next year, but what I'll do is we will do that in this fiscal year. I think we can do that with that $30,000 extra that we got from our highway fund or, or whatever. But that would be my proposal is that we could replace the pickup this year. The greater would go into the following year. And then the following year would be the big truck. And then from what I looked at in the thing, we don't have two units to replace in any one year. So we're thinking just going on the conversations you and I've had, we're thinking that net cost to that greater is going to be roughly $250,000, right? $250,000 to $300,000, yes. Excuse me. The plan would be, I believe, to do that over 10 years. Yes. So, you know, we'd be looking at a $25,000 payment a year from this July, something like that. Yeah. Not in this, not in this year's, not in this year's budget. And that's, and that's assuming we get $40,000 or $50,000 for our existing greater, right? Yeah, I don't think you'll get $40,000 or $50,000 for our greater. Well, I heard, I heard Dorinda wanted to buy it because she wanted to use it to go get her groceries with. Yeah, but she was only offering $100. Oh, she's not listening. I am listening. She's not paying attention. I thought we just got that pickup truck. Has it been that long? Yes, it has. How many years have we had it? Six. No kidding, huh? The only reason I said I wasn't going to do that, but after looking at the equipment schedule, it made sense to be able to get that vehicle and then get every, so that we're not trying to purchase two items or two pieces of equipment in the same year. So you're saying pick up in this fiscal year next year, greater and next year, greater in the budget we're talking about now, and then a year after that, the big truck? No. Well, yes, that's when we would get them. The payments wouldn't be for the following year. You also, one of your 2018 dump truck, the last payment is in FY24, and that's when I believe you would be starting to pay for the greater if you were. So that's one payment would be dropping off and you would be picking up another one. The other big truck does not drop off until FY26. So you would have a couple of, and that's when you're scheduled to replace the loader. We're off for a year. Well, we may be able to. I mean, the loader's in good shape. I mean, it's been a good loader, but it is what it is. I mean, you have to use it just so much and we just don't want to get, you know, what scares me is when we have a situation with that, like we did with that truck motor, when all of a sudden we have a $65,000 or $70,000 bill. Yeah. Well, I mean, that truck is older. I'd like in a way, but we paid for that warranty on that thing.  Great. Questions? Select Board Budget Committee? Well, actually a couple of things. We really haven't had a discussion about wage increases. And I know Steve used the two, but I get a little concerned about whether or not that's enough for us to retain people and kind of the same discussion we've had, you know, in other years about, you know, not churning through staff, but we can talk about that as we get along here. The other question I have, and I guess I'm thinking back to, you know, last spring, is there any way that we could consider starting to peel up some of this tar off of the center road? I've got that in my radar because I think that if we can make it through this spring without having to put gravel on top of that black top so people can get through, my intent would be that sometime during this year, we'll probably take it up on the other side of the culvert pass Kroll's house and rip it up all the way past the farm here. Okay. Because that is the worst part and just put that back to gravel, at least we'll be able to maintain it. Yep. I mean, if we got our paving grant, we'd be doing that anyway, but yeah. So yeah. This is really bad. Yeah. Okay. That's good news. Yeah. Steve, can you hear me? Yep. I just deleted it, but I shut down the budget. But the section, could you repeat again where you were saying how you had to buy like sort of twice as much gravel? One was from McCullough and one was from another company. And why you had to buy twice as much? Why increased? Because we need to resurface roads. And that's what I thought. All right. Yeah. We need to resurface those roads and that gravel isn't going to go very far. Right. I know. We bought quite a bit of gravel from McCullough for McCullough Hill Road this year. And we went over our budget substantially, but we couldn't just stop there in the middle. And we didn't do the entire road. We got up past Vicks House, almost to the top of the hill. And we did the upper Barnett because we were working on that road too. So anyway, that's what that budget is for, is to increase that gravel. Hey Steve. Yes. Yeah. I just curious, do they still have the prison culvert program with the state and the paving program? The grant programs? They do have some grants. We've applied for the grants. Yeah. I just wondered if they still had those programs. I used to be in charge of them. That's why I asked. Oh. Yes. And we've applied. Yeah. Okay. Liz, did you have something? No. I started mumbling to myself. I'm sorry. When you mumbled, the paper comes up. Too many Zoom meetings. You don't even know. So Steve, I had a new record the other day. I had six Zoom meetings in one day. That's horrible.  I didn't know which meeting I was in. George. George grant applications pending for paving or culverts. We have grant applications out there right now for either paving or culverts. We've got an application in for paving out there right now. I think this will probably be the third year we've applied for this section of road. So I don't know where it's going to go or what's going to happen. But I'm kind of going in the direction that we probably won't get any grant this year again. And if that's the case, then we'll have to do a portion of this road like what we just talked about. Rip it up and put it back to gravel so we can maintain it. I mean, it is when you when you think about it. And I know we've had this discussion before. Having that one little whatever it is 1.2 mile section paved on all the rest of our roads or gravel is a little crazy. It's one thing. It's one thing if the state is helping us maintain it, but if they're not helping us maintain it, I mean, we could spend we estimated what Steve to redo that road properly to dig it up and get the good sub base under it'd be over a million dollars. Right. I would think so. Yeah. That's almost our entire town budget perspective. So I don't think we're going to be doing that. No, we can't do anything with it without without a grant. Any questions? Okay Steve, thank you very much. That's a really good job. And I do agree with I do agree with Phil. I'm just I'm just presuming that we're putting the discussion off until our budget discussion in January. Yeah. And I'll also add because we just put in as a placeholder like Paul's wages because we don't have anybody there. So we just left that number in place. So there is a whole discussion needed around not just the highway department, I think several departments. Right. So I think that that's just a placeholder. Right. Okay. Those and just on that, I had done something a little different on on wage increase for the highway department. But after I went over everything with Dorinda, I mean her just putting that 2% and took care of everything that I was talking about anyways. So that can be of a discussion for another day. But as far as budget is concerned, this figure should cover everything right Dorinda. Well, it wouldn't it doesn't cover if you're trying to do the wage increase you were talking about it doesn't cover it. If we add on back in the other person, it only covers it if you keep that you know the way it is now because Paul's Paul's figures just in there as a placeholder. So you're using right. I think that but overall those figures when I had done my original figures and then after you and I went through the thing, you were pretty near the same figure I was at. Yeah. Okay. Any news on that front though Steve? No, not not yet. Okay, so conservation commission. I'm here I had to step away to take care of the dog. I'm taking off my budget hat and putting on my conservation cat. Pretty small request compared to public works $500 the same as last year and and the same basic categories. We did finish the kiosk with last year's money and and we'll be working on trail signs this year assuming that assuming things get back to normal and we can get out and do trail work and the other money is the as we noted is the special article. We're not sure how much we're going to request for that but that doesn't come under this budget. But this is probably the time you're thinking $5,000. We have to discuss it at our next meeting. We might ask for less. Questions for the conservation commission. Can I just quickly just give an update from the last meeting we had about the fire department and that I got in touch with some representative of the FEMA grants for for fight for volunteer firefighters. And he said there's another round of grants opening at the end of the end of November where the fire department or I guess us on behalf of the fire department can apply for those air tanks. So it's kind of a pain because it's a FEMA grant but I can't I mean we have to do it. Is that the way we have to do it the town applies and I don't know. I think probably I mean the thing is is the fire department is their own nonprofit aren't they Sarah don't they are number and stuff so you know maybe technically they should do it. Do they have the expertise do you think to do it? No I mean we'd have to help them. I'm just saying you there's just a couple things that need to be in place before they can apply like they have to have an account with FEMA and they have to you know have a Duns number and all that and if they don't have that kind of stuff it maybe they can get it but maybe the town applies. I mean I can ask the guy what normally happens in those circumstances. Well I wouldn't and I'm just playing the devil's advocate why wouldn't the town on the air tanks we own the trucks we own the building we own. Yeah so maybe we do own the air tanks and maybe we are the grantee. For having the fire department rolled into the town as a department as opposed to a standalone. Well it gets back it gets back to that whole question but to you know it doesn't make sense to me I mean for one thing I don't trust the fire department to do the grant correctly just to be just to be fine and to administer and submit the proper paperwork and all that so I agree it's a pain but uh you know I think we can do it and especially especially if it's real money it's well worth uh it's well worth doing. Well the guy made it sound like he's like you should get that you know figure out if you have this stuff and then get back to me ASAP so we can talk about this application like he sounded like he wanted to be helpful I'm just not sure who you know I'm happy to sort of get the ball rolling on it I'm not sure who in the fire department except maybe Eric. I think Eric I think Eric lives and I think you should get in touch with Eric and I think you'd be more than willing or unhappy to just work with you okay on that because I think he's got the wherewithal to do it.  Well I think you need some things you're gonna need. Well we got we got that report from uh from Jeff which is a pretty good pretty good indication. We need to have the air tanks nobody's gonna dispute that I don't think I can't imagine. Yeah right. It's a you know a safety issue so anyway thank you for joining that Liz and let's whatever the next step is let's let's do it. Okay you want me to reach out to Eric? No I can um I mean I know I know I'm from my firefighting days. Oh yeah. He was my he was my team lead. So Liz we're waiting we're waiting to see in the budget your air pack and your turnout gear Liz. Great um what's his last name uh Steve? Mateevir. Heavier. Mateevir. Okay we can send you his email. Send me his email. Peter. We'll get it for you. Yes. Now Liz Liz I bet there are neighboring cities and towns who have done these FEMA grants and could give you help I think so too. Show you show you what they did. Yeah they just are you know FEMA grants are notorious for you have to cross every i that needs every t and every i needs to be dotted or else you have to return the money so you have to be really careful. Yeah if you cross your eyes and dot your t's you're out of luck. Right. Yes. They're fussy. That's true. Oh yeah every mistake you make just scream COVID as loud as you can. Right. Okay any any further budget discussion for this evening? Okay thank you everybody. So what what do we have left Sarah? We have you left right? Are you talking about budget wise? Yes. Well we have the zoning left that's kind of a little up in the air considering our zoning situation is a little up in the air um but uh so we have that's that's still to go in the town offices and I can't think of anything else can you Darinda? Yes we have cemetery to go. Oh right. I've asked the listers they're supposed to have something for the first week in December um let's see what else have we got um I think that will take care of it uh well we have the rec committee but nope we already got that right. I think so. Yep I already got that one so we're all set there so yeah so we're down to the cemetery and the listers. Did we have anyone present on the on the rec committee? Usually Mitch just submits a little memo it's not a big deal. Oh okay and we can we can make him come but would it be good if he could if he could zoom in just to talk about what projects he's got in the offering but if he can he can't. Okay I'll just put it in. Perfect. So it's going to be town office uh or the office um the listers rec committee and maybe maybe uh zoning. What about the cemetery? All right for some reason I keep forgetting the cemetery. This COVID thing comes up we may need our cemeteries. Watch out. That's a little depressing. Yeah what's the number in Washington County 239 or is it higher? It's 233 in the last two weeks. All I know is we in Orange County are now in the red having been bragging that we are the lowest now the highest. Thanks to those Halloween parties in Marshfield. Well thanks to hockey. I think the hockey is the big deal. Yeah the Halloween party in Marshfield is pretty bad too. It's awful. It gives us one of the highest rates per million in New England. You guys I'm sorry what are we talking about? This isn't on the agenda what are we talking about the budget for the government like for the um the track we're talking about the cemetery budget needing to get this cemetery budget I'm sorry we got a little off okay I'm just we but we're not talking about like Sarah and Dorinda and all that next time okay that's what I thought okay that's what they were discussing what's going to be for next oh okay okay you missed the transit okay so I think we are uh we've completed our budget discussion for the evening thank you uh thank you budget thank you George and uh Elias thank you yeah thanks thanks okay it is you're right I mean is uh what's this you know the third person on your committee ever gonna show up or is a bill could bill has a con but he'll he'll meet with the budget committee we won't be making them okay there is there's some strange sound coming through here is that Dorinda yeah somebody came somebody came on and I don't know if they went off well there's someone called Dorinda and you know that's Dorinda I have a feeling have we been have we been I think you might have been hacked yeah just delete it I think it might be Susan well well there's another Dorinda that's what I mean and they were making the noise they were making a terrible noise it's scary I thought I thought it was Elias talking to his baby now it's another town of middle sex okay you can delete that one right yes the other town of middle sex it's right next it's another town of middle sex Dorinda's going and it's town of middle sex now I'm town of middle I think it's Susan someone will just jump in I don't know if you can keep them out now it's Vic okay we need to get out of this meeting and sign back on okay and the meeting okay