Hello, good afternoon everyone. My name is Vinak Khilap and I am here to present you our topic development on Akash platform. It consists of two parts, porting of proximity on Akash tablet, presented by me, Nilesh Singh, and Pradhyam Oite. And other is peer-to-peer communication on Akash tablet, presented by Dilip Singh and Pushpak. Now, just moments ago, Vivek and Ajay has told you about the published lecture. It is an interactive lecture and all. You can distribute on pendrive, SD cards, and they all told you about the web also. But the main thing that comes in our mind is we have it on our desktop. So why do we need it on Android? Or we can say Akash tablet. So if you think in the future, you can see more and more people having tablets instead of having desktop pieces at their home. Because Akash tablet being the cheapest of all is the biggest advantage of all. So here is some of the information of Akash tablet. It is an initiative taken by MHRD and government of India. It will be distributed at very cheap rates throughout the nation. And there are some specifications like Akash tablet runs on Android 2.3 OS. It has 700 MHz processor, 256 MB RAM, and 2 GB internal storage. And it also supports 32 GB external storage. Now here are some of the media file formats supported by Akash, which is supporting Android 2.3 OS. In audio, it supports MP3, AAC. For video, it supports MP4, 3GP. Image supports JPEG, GIF, PNG, and the bitmap. As Vivek has showed us about the public lecture on desktop, this is how it looks. It consists of video, slides, JTRI. JTRI means it consists of themes, lecture topics, and information. But when we look at the Akash tablet, it's just 7 inch, which is so far to occupy entire desktop is not entirely possible. So instead of this, we are planning to build some various types of published modes. Like one is the audio lecture, where you can listen to the audio of the professor, and other is a video lecture. So here is an audio lecture. This is how it will look. It will consist of the entire information, like course name, speaker name. And it will consist of lecture slides and all. And here is an image button which consists of sliding drawer, which will be explained to you later by Niles Singh. And here is an image of professor. So why do we need image of professor there? Suppose you are watching news. Sometimes there is a phone interview. When you see the phone interview, there is an image displayed over there. So it gives the feel that you are seeing the person live. So that's why the main reason behind it was to display the image. And as obvious that audio lecture consists of an audio, professor's audio, which is extracted from a video using multimedia transquarter. And it also consists of lecture slides. Lecture slides are synchronized with audio lecture, as was explained by Vivek and Ajay. So how do we get the data across all the professor name and all? It's read from an XML file. This is always read. If you see it properly, you can see a course name. Very good afternoon to all of you. My name is Niles Singh. So I'm going to continue this topic from here. Exactly. I'm here. I'm going to explain you about video, means video publish here. When I'm talking about videos, I'm using videos in this proximity. At that time, we have to use some components. There are some components as a slide drawer, as Nino told you about the slider. I would like to show you what exactly the slider. Now, here you will see some text and all. This is exactly your slider. It's not visible properly here. So I'll show you what is the slide drawer. Look, this is exactly the slide drawer where we are going to use this in our proximity for the video or audio. Here you can see the audio. In audio lecture, this is exactly the slider. When we'll push from the right side to left side, so it will show you some components. You can see here, before that, we will get all this information on that slide drawer, index, the tree form of that index. So we will get that information on that particular slide drawer. So now, same thing we will use with the video also. This is one of the snapshot for the video. Apart from the slide drawer, we have some other components like image view. This image view we will use for the image to display image on that particular place. Any place, we can use that. Then video view for displaying video. And apart from that expandable list view, this one will be new. Here, this expandable view we will use to display the tree structure on our video slide drawer. And then text view, buttons we will use for the button, and text view we will use for the viewing some text. Now here, the video lecture published. Here it's similar to your audio lecture published. Again, now here, we will get some video lecture slides and some lecture slides. In the lecture slides, we will get some first of all, we will start with what is that lecture video. Lecture video, I can show you like that. This is the idea of lecture video. You saw this one in the very first slide, a snapshot of this presentation. Now here, we will get the slide drawer and that the video that any professor like any lecture video you can see over there. And simultaneously, this one will be synchronized based on timing. Here, we are using the timing means if we want to jump some particular topic or one particular second to listen that particular topic. So, we can directly click on that particular tree video. If we will click on that any topic in this, it will direct that video will directly jump to that particular topic or video. So, that particular tree view you will find in a slide drawer. Then synchronized video lecture and a lecture slide. So, lecture slide means simultaneously if like a professor is saying something about some topic. So, simultaneously it will show you the slides also or that particular topic. If professor will change that particular topic, it will again jump to that particular topic. Then this is the read data from XML file. Basically, this read data from XML file is similar to all in all proximity presentation. Same if we want to get some information as Nino told you about this dvms, dvms like you will find that dvms on the source here means we will get the all information from the XML file. So, here basically the here we are working on that that reading data from the XML file. Now, I would like to call my colleague Pradhna to continue this presentation. I am Pradhna and to give my introduction as project experience wise, I am the most junior person on this team currently. So, due to which I am suffering with a very big disadvantage, my colleagues sitting here, they have given me most boring part to explain. I do not have any videos to show you. I do not have any fancy technologies to explain to you. I just have some design documentation to explain it to you. So, let me understand, you are from a computer science background, I assume. So, what is the significance of DFD? Can anyone tell me? What is a DFD? Cool. What is the significance of DFD? So, for example, after a month, when you will see your output, whatever you have designed, and then your lead may come to you and they may tell you that, you know, see, this is always missing. So, you can tell them, say, dude, this is a DFD, and this has been approved by you. So, that's not my mistake. So, to put it in a good way, DFD gives you a, you know, a reporting format that what you are going to develop and whether the whole team is understanding what we are designing or not. So, right now, we are talking about a very small application of proximity. There can be, on Akash tablet, we are going to embed the proximity. There is one more project coming as a peer-to-peer communication. So, you guys will be distributed among the modules. And at the end, we want to see all those modules on the tablet. So, it's going to be a very big project. So, all of us has to understand what is the importance of each module, where does it stand, how does the data flow from one module to other modules. So, these are some important factors to understand. So, all right. So, now you have seen the application C. Now, this is the UI, one of the UI, which has been planned to design on Android. So, now tell me, with respect to DFD, what is the obvious entity, important entity in a DFD? The end user, the student who will be viewing the published lecture, right? So, OK, so the student who will be viewing published lecture is the most important person in our whole application, right? So, for them, only we are doing this whole application. So, let's go to the diagram. And one can perform with the app which is running on the tablet. And accordingly, the response will be sent back from the tablet. So, what all actions will be? Very obvious. For example, if video is getting viewed, then I would like to maybe click on next, pause, go to previous. So, even in this tree, so if you see this tree, so these trees, what we have planned is we will design it according to the theme. For example, when professor may take several topics on, suppose, data structures, that can be linked list, that can be something more. So, what I would like to just view is only a linked list part. I would like to only view the linked list slides. And I would like to hear only the linked list video. So, what will I do? I will simply navigate on the index. I will go to that particular topic. So, that kind of flexibility, definitely the student will want. So, the one of the actions will be to navigate based on index. So, if you see the topmost arrow, the start the application, first of all, obviously you have to run that application. Then the second application would be, the second action would be to show that navigation index to the user, so that user can navigate based on the requirement. Then based on requirement, whatever the student or the user has clicked, show that output. Then with respect to videos, click on next previous pause and based on that, send the response back. And now here is the one more part of this diagram. If you see here, view the published lecture. But from where this lecture is going to come, there has to be some executable file or a jar file which may come to our mind to execute that application. So, whatever proximity people have shown you, that was a jar file which was getting executed. And that's how they have taken those snapshots. So, with respect to Android, it's .APK file, which we will be installing on the app, on the tablet, on the Akash tablet. So, that will be coming from here. So, import and install the apk on tablet and then view the published lecture. So, from where this .APK file is coming? So, it is coming from some edit and publish mode. So, initially you have seen some XML data, XML data is getting mapped to some output there. So, that is what that edit and publish mode will be doing. So, basically a proximity edit tool will import the videos, the slides, the time frame of each slide and they will prepare a XML which will have the correct data to give the output. And further that XML file we will publish and create a .APK for Android. And that further will be shown on the tablet. So, that's how the flow is. So, specifically talking about the viewing the published lecture. So, this is the part which we are currently we are focusing on or we are developing. So, what we as even Nilesh has shown you some that slide drawer. So, that's what we are exactly right now trying to give show that output on tablet. There is a video, there is a slides, the all form whatever we want. So, that's what the current design is. And what will be the future enhancement? The future enhancement will be this. So, we are planning to have the editing tool for Akash tablet. So, whatever tool the initially Vivek and Ajay had told is with respect to the proximity edit tool. Now, what we want is we want that editing tool on the tablet. Because what we are saying that we want to have every application on Akash tablet. So, there is no point on giving a desktop application to edit the XML and then import and run. So, we are getting flexibility to we are planning to give flexibility to edit the XML on the tablet. So, that process will be comprised of these all steps. So, first of all reading the XML file on the Akash tablet. So, first of all how the flow would be? The proximity edit tool will import videos, slides, audio whatever is required the time frame and they will create a XML file. So, that XML file we are giving in editable mode on the tablet. So, this is the XML file. So, I want to edit it. So, the simplest UI which I can think is I can have a left-hand side or labels like video name, course name and the right-hand side whatever the value is I will have it in text box. The simplest UI I can think of and the user can edit say whatever wants to do. So, that will be something editing of XML. Then the third that's what I told about making the data fields in GUI editable. So, I am giving those values in text box user can edit save and accordingly the APK will be generated. Then the binding XML file and the GUI so that any change in one is automatically reflected in other. So, definitely once the data is saved that has to be reflected in the published lecture then only it makes sense. So, these steps we have to follow with respect to the future enhancement of editing XML on the tablet. So, this is nothing but the XML file example. So, which we will say that we are going to edit on a tablet. So, basically on tablet we will give them a user a GUI to edit and save. So, this is nothing but talking about the future enhancement. So, a teacher or the editing team they will have an XML file coming from the proximity tool and that we will here provide. So, here our GUI will come which will contain those values in text box. So, that will edit the XML file, the further the updated XML file will be given to the publish process. This publish process will nothing but generate a .APK file for us. So, what is this? This we will soon be seeing I mean next couple of days that how to create .APK file on Eclipse how to create the Android application. So, this we will see it soon and this is nothing but a data whatever is required XML file, the lecture data nothing but videos, slides, audio whatever is required. So, this is nothing but a future enhancement and what I told this is something a current development which is going on. So, that's all from my side. Thank you. Do you guys have any questions for three of us? Development of proximity on Android. Any with respect to the flow, with respect to you haven't understood something or you haven't understood anything. Come on. Anything? All right. Thanks a lot. I will invite the lip-sync to give peer-to-peer communication development on Android tablets. Thank you. Guys, I am the lip-sync. I am MPEC here and so we want to design a peer-to-peer communication between each tablet. So, lot of tablet come here, approximately a tablet in this institute. So, we want to communication between each tablet. So, we need to design the peer-to-peer communication on a cache tablet. So, it's a scale project. So, this is an introduction on this project. So, actually, SkyP. SkyP is also available application. So, because we want to design through the Wi-Fi communications, so this application based on Wi-Fi. So, you can either text chat and voice chat with friend on in local Wi-Fi area. So, and also which allow to voice communication between two tablets without need to internet. It is basically based on Wi-Fi. So, you need to use a local Wi-Fi access point. So, that is the main goal. Why waste the money? The calling through your phones and different aspect internet also. Just use a local Wi-Fi and directly call with your friends. So, just connect your local Wi-Fi and directly access point to and start talking. So, architecture is mainly simple client server based architectures, underlying the network protocols, some voice data. And we are using VDP network protocols. So, because communication between each tablet, so these require some UDP because TCP is a connection less. So, suppose that some data lost, so communication will be interrupt and connection will be closed. So, we want to use the UDP communication in voice communication. So, it is a time sensitive applications UDP because the dropping packet, preferably warning and delay packet. So, we have to visit, we can visit and you can, this URL, this difference between TCP and UDP in voice communications. So, this is the flow diagram to overall design, how to design the communication between each tablet. So, this is the begin part and firstly, we connect the Wi-Fi network and local network and also find your IP address, what is my IP address and also available and display number of user connected and showing the number of user connected and local Wi-Fi. So, this is the overall structures to communication between each tablet, the call accepting and pick up call and call ended. So, this is a lot of application in this year. So, we need to the server application for the IP address and MAC address, also roll numbers and user name. So, we can identify by roll numbers, suppose that I want to call other person, user name. So, I know other person's roll number, so we can directly call to other person and pick up a call. So, this server get the MAC ID and IP address and between get the IP address and also application tablet. So, we can communicate connection will be established through the IP address and we can talk to each other. So, implementation we can implement because suppose that we communicate the local Wi-Fi and other person connected other Wi-Fi. So, we need to design the ad hoc Wi-Fi because suppose that I am here, I connected with QCID Wi-Fi. So, all my colleagues also connected with other Wi-Fi. So, we need to design a ad hoc Wi-Fi. So, we can directly communicate one Wi-Fi to other Wi-Fi. So, like a virtual private network and other things that trace the MAC ID, because it is a limited because suppose that MAC ID is only available, we can know only one Wi-Fi. We cannot know other Wi-Fi. But other user connected other Wi-Fi, we cannot identify what is the MAC address of hardware, ACA stable. So, this is the limitations and trace the MAC ID. We can implement how to trace the other user connected to other Wi-Fi and how to trace MAC ID. So, and other way video transmissions. Laplace tablet is a keep watching the real-time video. Suppose that I am here, class is also in video lecture and also in classroom. So, we can see directly real-time video and recorded video also. We can hold the recorded video and also implement the file sharing between each tablet. Suppose that photo and text and video, we can share each tablet and throw the server and other one is the call conferencing. And we can also implement the call conferencing on ACA's tablet. So, this is a lot of application in here. So, firstly, we have designed, firstly, we are designing a simple application. We can connect the local Wi-Fi and talking about each tablet. So, this is the overall application, what is the requirement? This is a software interface. Software interface is Android 2.3 something. And it is a based on Java applications, SIP library is also available. So, lot of application available in SIP session initiation protocol. So, API also available, we can use and other, we can back-end use the MySQL. So, it is a whole the username, problem, Mac ID and Android ID.


Welcome to Art of Awakening. I'm going to do something a little bit different today, where we have a very special guest. This is Wasimah. And I am so sorry.  So I'm just going to let you speak your own name. Yes, my name is Wasimah Isra. So Isra is another spiritual name. And yes, I was born in North Africa. So I have an Arab name. That's nice, sometimes it's difficult to pronounce. OK, so welcome to Wasimah, correct? And I just thought it would be wonderful to have Wasimah on because Art of Awakening is all about finding your genius zone and really living your purpose through the gifts and talents that you were given by spirit and finding that zone of genius in order to really live your purpose. And Wasimah just strikes me as somebody. She's an example of somebody whose creative expression is in full power. She's fully expressing her creative power to bring light into the world in so many ways and helping others to do so as well. So I'm so excited to have you here. I just want to introduce you a little bit about to tell the audience who you are and what you're doing in the world. Wasimah is a modern spiritual guide. She's an author and creative, intuitive, and cosmic messenger therapist. She provides care and shamanic energy and provides multiple courses and programs on my. She also has her own Oracle deck, which she's going to bring out in a moment. She is inspired by nature, magic, and the stars. I just love that. Known for her creativity and her sweetness, she creates different tools to help in everyday life. And she shares teachings to support the process of ascension. At the spiritual level, her role as white lady and guardian of the temple of truth is to help star beings to remember their origins and rebuild their pillars of light. Wasimah currently resides in Portugal and loves to travel, draw, photograph, smell flowers, and play tarot. Welcome. You're welcome to my staff here and welcome to you. And I'm so, so happy to be here. I'm so honored to be here. And yeah, I'm happy. I'm so honored and happy for sure. Happy to get in my fashion and talk about many different subjects. And yeah. And I love that the happiness, your joy just shines through. And I love that you're wearing yellow. It's just such a joyful color. Yes, yes. And it was raining today. When it is raining, wear colors. So that's people remember the light. That's right.  How you found your own unique voice. And I'm sure for all of us, there's always a path that comes into when you find a person who's actually stepped into their power in the creative expression. Just before every time I speak, there are some messages that come through. And I can choose mentally and with my left brain, why I need to say. But when I get the inspiration, I like to follow it. So just before I was in Lisbon, the city of the big city in Portugal, and I live in a small village, like 30 minutes away from Lisbon. And while I was coming, I got that memory from my childhood.  Oh, I love it. Yes. And I got that image. And I used to create clothes when I was young. I was like five years old, six years old, and I was creating clothes. And we had a neighbor that used to make clothes for people. And she had a gift for that. And I learned a lot from her. And I used to make clothes for myself as a queen. Oh, lovely. Yes. And I used to have that image. So I got that memory just before I come. And other aspirations that started coming on the card when I was driving. But I am a queen, as everyone among us is a queen or a king. And during our lifetime on this planet, we forget that. We forget that we are that queen or king or princess and prince, not in a naive way, in really a wise way in a way. And as we forget it, we get away from our essence through nature. And the more we get away from it, the more we disrespect our nature, we disrespect that spark we have, we disrespect that life, the spark of life we have. And for me, Awakening is really the journey back to that, to that belief of we are a sacred being. Yes. Because when we say we are queen or we are king, we are talking about that wise aspect of us, but also that's sacred and mystic because in the past, queens and queen were connected to the gods and goddesses. That means two masters. And we are talking about in a session way, they had that DNA brain that was really very, very advanced in a way. And they had that responsibility that they needed to take care of their people, of their place or they needed to take care of a lot of things. But first they need to take care of their own spirituality and connection to that mastery or to that beings or to that goddess or god or the oneness. And I believe this is really our goal on this time is to get back to that position of queen and king and get back to the connection with the oneness or the spiritual side, whatever we can call it. And also at the same time, living in the plane and the earth plane. So it's not one or another, it's both. And we are that DNA that allows that experience of merging these two together. Yeah. So I don't know if I answered your question, but that's what came. Yeah, so this is something that really, you have retained that essence, that all of us are born with, right? So that we have a lot of us retained as children. And that's when we go out and we do the make, the leave and we're really living our truth through the creative pretending, right? And it's not really pretending. I mean, it's pretending, but it's, we're really tapping into our essence when we do that when we're, and you see little kids and they're like, I'm Superman. I mean, they are really accessing and developing their superpowers when they're doing that. And you have retained that through it. Is there any time where you lost it? Where you felt like you didn't have that? Yes. I don't know if I lost it or I would say I stopped believing in it because we all, all of us live and get some traumas during our lifetimes. I got traumas of violence, of sexual abuse, of a lot of things during my life and harassment, even in work spaces and a lot of things during my lifetime and every experience brought two things in me, the shock and an opening. The shock and an opening. Yes. It's like the same seed, but it has like these two sides, side that was emotionally really heavy and bring a lot of questions about why is this happening to me? Why am I not feeling like the others? Why am I not acting like the others? Why? And bringing all these questions about our personality or the persona or how we identify ourselves in this society and all these things. By the same time, it brings another, other gifts among these gifts is to push us forward, to say our truth, to reconnect to the compassion, to forgive ourselves before and forgive the others. It opens us to share these experiences and understand others because I understand people when they come and talk about this, I feel them. I understand what they are feeling about what are the thoughts that come to them. It becomes every experience. I mean, I'm really amazed by that because at the time I leave the experience, I don't realize it. But just after that, I understand that, okay, I got this experience because I need to share about it. I need to talk about it. Even sickness, separation, a lot of experiences that are a bit hard. For me, they were a source of inspiration to share with others and yeah, bring teachings and all this. Right, right. You speak a little bit about that compassion because that came through a couple of different ways in what you just said. Yes, compassion, oh my God. People always, like when we talk about that, people always think about compassion towards others. But the first connection we need to make is compassion towards ourselves. And there was a shamanic journey I did and that was really when I felt the compassion. And I reconnected to the queen I am. I'm looking so beautiful. Yes, I connected to the queen and the queen side of me and she showed me what it means to be compassionate. And she didn't show me that in a work environment or she showed me that in a nature place in the forest. Beautiful. So I was like, oh my goodness. Compassion, we don't need to talk about it. We need to connect to it as an entity or as a being in a way. Like we connect, for example, to, you know, at the moment we are having a training in like three weeks with Cass. And we connect to Sekhmet. We connect to our best dad. And we didn't identify them as God or goddess. And compassion is an entity for me, is a being, is a consciousness, unity, you know? And we can take to it. We can ask her to meet with us. She can meet through the queen or king you are through teaching, through omens, through science. But we need to feel it more than talk about it and perceive it with our left side. You know, we need to feel it through our heart. And as soon as you feel that compassion, you transmit it to others. And there is something coming in now. So I might connect with that compassion and maybe just channel that for the moment. Two, please two. Okay. I'll just bring my rattle. Yeah, a lot of angels at Archangels came too. And I saw that the compassion came and she was holding us and she made a bowl and she put all the suffering that people who will be watching. And I just like wanna cry. She put all that suffering into that bowl and she brought it with the Archangels and angels up to the light so they can work it and transmute it. A beautiful bridge of light. Compassion is a bridge of light. It is so beautiful. Yeah, I can feel it too. I'm starting to cry. Okay, I'm wondering if you could speak to that element of nature that you mentioned because many of us come from a tradition in our culture where nature is vilified or there's a lot of fear around nature. Wild nature is thought of as the bared fangs and the claws and the driving snow and the difficult things. But you're connecting to a whole different side of wild nature. They want me to talk about something specific today. Okay. About nature, I was suspected to have the Lyme disease. I don't know if you know about it. It's like a small insect that gets you without sometimes noticing and it affects the immune system and many other functions. And some people have it for long, long time before knowing that it is the Lyme disease. And the Lyme disease is coming from this tick and it is found in forests. And now that I connect with other people who have this disease because I know a lot of things about it and I know how to direct people, not really medical care things, but just as a suggestions and all this stuff. And this disease and all the other things brought that fear more. Okay, okay. Yes, from nature, from being in nature, from the forests. And if you notice through all the stories we know, even fairy tales talking about queen and queens today, we have that fear that appears from forests in their stories. And as much as we fear nature, we are cutting it, bite by bite and putting a lot of boxes, like buildings all over the places. And then there is small forest, we call it then a park, a national park to protect it. Because we know we can't do without it, right? So you find all that, like in Portugal, I was really surprised to find buildings all over the place and there are just a few parks, national parks that are protected and now they are trying to control more, they call it urban development, but I call it urban destruction because, yes. And we call it nature, but in truth it is us. We come from nature, we know that we are water, we are earth, we are dust and we come from the earth and we go back to the earth and even in the spiritual path, which is interesting, especially in the ascension path. Okay, I say that I'm queen, I'm king, I'm coming from another planet or another star system, but I am coming to this planet as a choice, I have chosen to come here, to come to experience the material sides, experience the limitations of a physical body, experience the beauty of taste, the beauty of colors, the beauty of light, we have chosen to come here. So why don't we embrace, it's really fear from nature, it's really for me, not embracing all our parts and all our existence. So, and from regard to this Lyme disease, I see it really as a big sign of get back to nature, get back to us because in the homeopathy system, we treat by the same, if you had the problem, we treat by the same problem, as we say, the same venom, we use the same thing. And I find really this interesting as a system of thinking, why don't we think that the problem is the solution, is inside? Right. Yes. So the Lyme disease, for example, many diseases we get from insects or other things, are a call, a call from nature, get back to us. There is an imbalance in the planet at the moment. And you are nature, get back to yourself in a way. Remember that as in the Matrix movie, we are all the oneness, like you, me, this computer is an entity. Yes. And in shamanism, I love really practicing shamanism because it's a direct experience. It's a direct dialogue. You don't need to have an intermediate or teacher.  So this is the same principle, go and meet nature as an entity, as a being and ask her, what do you need? What is it that you want to tell me today? Not just like, why do you exist? Or seeing it as like a medication or a problem or a thing, but exchanging with it. It doesn't have nature, trees. I made this small workbook, with some of the trees.  We have a different language. We don't talk with words, but we have other ways to talk. And it doesn't mean that we are not smart. It just means that we are different. This is one of the messages of nature for today. That is beautiful. And it's so funny that you're mentioning this because I was just, I was thinking this morning about plants and how we tend to think of plants as lower beings, but man, they're really not like, they are spiritually so far above us. These are creatures that eat light, right? And they've prevented the flower. And they have so much wisdom to give. So I think it's so beautiful that you're connecting with them in that way. Yes. And I know that you are connected to, I'm bringing here it's coming. I'm making an oracle deck. I know that you consider nature like this too. Because you have an oracle deck with animals. Right. And I want to hear about your deck. So yeah. Yes. Well, this is, this is so funny. Okay. Okay. She wants to be spoke about. Okay. Because I got my parents are foresters. They worked with, you know, nature farmers and all this. And I have always been connected to plants, but I go so much fed up with the names of plants, identification. This plant is good for this. This plant is not good for that. And I wasn't feeling connected through that way. So I was like, okay, you know, I really don't want to know all about that. But during my healing sessions, plants and flowers, especially flowers kept coming in and talking to people and healing them. And I was like, okay. So there's something to that. So I started writing down all teachings I got about, you know, some flowers. And sometimes it was a headache because I see the plant, I see the flower, but I don't know the name.  Because I didn't have all the names and the roses. It was, oh my God, there are so many names for roses. I was like, oh my God, I just need this rose. So I finally managed to find names and some names I invented because it was really headache to discover them. And today I was in Lisbon. I talk a lot, right? I just took it in the tire. Yeah, we're talking about some stuff that are interesting. Today I was in Lisbon, crowded city. And I was just making a round, you know, and I just noticed that there is the chicory. The chicory flower was there.  It is October, it is November. And I felt great. So I had to stop and go meet her and ask her if I can extract some of her presents there, to make tinctures and all this. And she agreed and she was really happy that, you know, of course, when I do that, I take just like few, I don't like taking like, for this year and the next year and the year after. Right, yeah. Like the end of the world. You know, and I just picked the card from this stack I am creating and this is the chicory again. Yeah. Oh, beautiful. Yes. But she's okay. So this is, hold up your deck so that people can see. Yes, this is a new deck I'm making. And I didn't print it yet. I'm just using it for now and preparing to be printed. And it's pictures I have taken from the flowers and others I have looked on the internet because the flower comes to me in spirit. I sometimes don't have it in my environment. And this chicory is a star being. Is a star being. And she brings that light from stars and bring it to our, how do we call it? They call them? The, the, the spine or the, the spine. Yes, the spine. Thank you. Friends, she's more easy for me. She brings it to the spine and she reverberates all the organs and all the systems. And she gives more energy and more light. She's, she's beautiful healer. And we know about her that she's a good for our stomach to heal stomach and ulcers and all this. You know, all what is related to the intestines and all this. And we know her as a coffee replacement for coffee and all this there are so many things into this flower. Healing, healing everything in nature is healing. Everything in nature is healing. That's so beautiful. Awesome. I want to, like, I want to talk to you for like all day. But I just wanted a couple of things I want to make sure that we touch on is one, I know that you have, this is your new deck and it sounds like it will be out pretty soon or? Yeah, maybe the end of the year, the beginning of the year. I'm working on and printing it alongside with this Oracle deck, the Cosmic Laws Oracle. That's what I wanted you to bring up, the Cosmic Laws deck and tell us just a little bit about that. Well, this one, I will show you pictures of the paintings while I'm talking about it. Oh, look, and this is nature. Beautiful. I had this teachings coming in about spiritual laws. I have already read about them, but there were some teachings different in a way. So I was like, okay, try to recording them, writing them. And then they evolved into a system. So we have this Cosmic Laws, but we have the environment in which they play. And then we have the way they communicate with us. They communicate with us through emotions, through principles. So I was like, okay, this is too big. How, what should I do? So I got this inspiration to make an Oracle deck and the paintings I did, look at this being. Wow. So the paintings were made with watercolor and they were wet. So I had to make these paintings with the eyes closed, picking the cards with eyes closed. And as soon as I did that, I had to take the pictures straight away. It has to click the right moment, taking pictures while they were wet, because the water element- Oh, beautiful. Yeah. The water element was important to transmit the Cosmic Laws. Talking about the spine. This is the physical body. So yeah, so the idea is to transmit the Cosmic Laws, but to show people how to apply them, how to understand them in our physical life. There is always this thing on the teachings I get and I transmit between bringing teaching and applying it on the physical plane, this balance. So yeah, so I had the first print in February or April and it went out of stock really pretty quickly. So now I'm printing it again by the end of the year and this is the heart. Oh, is that beautiful? Yes, she appeared like a dancer. The heart appeared like a dancer. Oh, for sure, she looks like a flamenco dancer. And I love the nature card too, because it just, I looked at that and it was like, it looks like an embrace. Yes. May, so yeah. And this is the law of love. Oh, beautiful. Yes, so yeah, so there are 68 cards inside and they came with a guidebook that is in French and in English and we can find it in Lulu or on my website. Oh, beautiful. So talk about how to find you in just a little bit. I just wanna ask, is there anything else that you felt like to bring forward or do you wanna do a little reading deck or I'll give the platform to you? Well, there is something that came up for this talk and there is this vigilance or prudence or cautious. And there is that mask that came, we put like a mask in the theater just here. Yes, I see it. And there is that suspicion card that came too, which are two cards and here, this suspicion for me, everyone will see something different in these cards and this is really beautiful and creative. I mean, if you are creative and intuitive, this is really deck for you. Yeah. And there is this being that is close over himself. So I was like, what is going on at the moment? You know, and they were saying like, there are some things that are regarding this. So I would pick a card to bring healing to this aspect of us at the moment, who are many events, political events and economical events coming in and in United States in the UK. So yes, and this is interesting and we got the card of mental concept or egotic concept, ego, mind concepts. That means for me that we need to really get out of that identification we talked about earlier. And there is this dog I see and for me, a dog is really faithful, but sometimes we stop following what people say to us or what all these big things that are happening say to us, this is not the truth. Get into nature, go to nature and you will get the truth. You will have your heart that will beat with the same beat as the earth, that is slower. And when it is slower, you can really take into a different consciousness. You can understand things in a different way. And from that place, you can decide about your life and decide about who you vote for, who will take that company, who can take responsibility for you, whatever. But take into nature, this is really what is coming for today and get out of all this mass, all these things happening around you. Heartbeat of the earth. Beautiful, thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, that was so timely. It's such a beautiful message. Yeah, it's a beautiful message. So how can people learn more about you? Where can they find you? And I just want to mention right away that you do have a YouTube channel and I will post that link below. So it's a good place to start, but beyond that. Yes, they can find me in my new YouTube channel in English because I had one in French. Oh, okay. Yes, and I started the one in English just to meet with my English community because I found that they were growing. And you can find me on my website, www.ouassimagik, I'll put the link to that below as well. Yes, please. Yes. It's bit not common. And check out her website and check out her shop because she's got a ton of really awesome stuff on her shop and her own deck. She's got also decks that she's curated, various playwork, workbooks, I'll check it out for sure. Thank you. Thank you, Ona, for... It's such a pleasure, it's been... Yeah. Thank you for inviting me. It was really a pleasure. So, now to stay, I really honor and really enjoy the queenly beauty and joy that you bring everywhere you go. So thank you so much. And just have a lovely week and lovely week to everybody.


You, I think, are one of the more innovative IT operations that I've seen. I mean, a lot of that is you're driving EMC innovations, particularly the journey to the private cloud. I mean, that's something that your CIO, Sanjay Merchantani, who we've had on theCUBE before and will have him on later this week, has talked about. But I wonder if you could talk about your journey to the private cloud, where you're at, and we'll dig into it a little bit. Yeah, so we've been on a journey for a long time. So it's kind of not one of those things that happens overnight. So first of all, we set a target of 100% virtualization. So virtualization is key to getting to the private cloud. We're a huge believer in leveraging our existing core assets and virtualization has really allowed us to look at legacy applications, consolidate onto ERP like SAP and others, but virtualization is only one step, right? So the private cloud is all about enabling the business and driving results. So that's kind of the end state. IT is a service as an end state. So virtualization, job one, which we've done. App tier, middleware, database, reporting. So you think about SAP, not only does it include ERP, it includes reporting with business objects and we're virtualizing every tier in the stack. And so that's step one. Once you get virtualized, great. So what? Well, you drive a lot of benefit. You drive savings with respect to hardware, with respect to labor, with respect to energy and so forth. But again, the big value add is accelerating our ability to enable the business, right? Getting capabilities out there in short and timeframe.


Gastric disorders are affecting more than 60 million people and creating a medical burden of over 98 billion dollars every year. Our research is trying to utilize electrical stimulation at the vagus nerve to control for various gastric disorders. SPARC at Purdue is an NIH-funded program for developing treatment of gastric disorders. My lab is a part of a big team and we bring expertise in imaging. The team also has nine other investigators and they bring expertise in physiology, neuroscience, device, instrumentation, biochemistry. The long vision of the work at the Purdue is trying to see the stomach under precise control. So it is very hard at this point for doctors to pinpoint what kind of drug or what kind of dietary treatment is best suited for your condition. You feel pain, you abdomen, you have problems in the gastric emptying or you feel bloated, you have reflux diseases but the stomach is a very coordinated organ. It receives signals from the brain. It has its own mind. Some people even call the stomach as a second brain. Not every patient would have a positive outcome when they receive the same drug or the same dietary treatment. But by using vagus nerve stimulation, everyone has a vagus nerve. We can actually try to parametrize the stimulation setting that is optimal or that is the best for each individual. We can do personalized medicine, individualized medicine. So with the use of MRI, since it is non-invasive, we can potentially ask a patient to undergo multiple scans of MRI with different stimulation settings while we stimulate the vagus nerve. So by doing so for a number of times, we can potentially figure out what would be the best stimulation setting for these particular patients to alleviate their gastric symptoms.


This might be a good place to land. Beginning rain countdown. Enough linemen around. We're dropping. Attention. First blood.


Lisa Savage, welcome to Pathways to Progress, glad you could join us tonight. I'm here with Councillor Victoria Pelletier. We expect Councillor Roberta Ruggeri to get us to slide into home here in a minute. And we have a lot to talk about this week, so thank you for joining us. We have a podcast now, if you're a podcast person, we're on Spotify as Pathways to Progress. The whole archive of our live shows and our recorded shows is on there, so check us out. And so, Victoria, thanks for being here. You have just really had a couple of weeks, haven't you? Yes. How do you feel about being here? I mean, is this okay? It feels weird. It feels like I haven't had an in-person thing since the last Monday's council meeting, which was a really challenging meeting. So it feels weird, but I'm glad that I'm here because I certainly want to get back to doing the regular things that I was doing prior to Monday's meeting. But yeah, I was thinking about my council tenure, and this has probably been the lowest point for me so far. This has been the most challenging part of it, definitely. I know that you were just reading the coverage in the Bangor Daily News that just came out about it. It was interesting. Like last Friday, your supporters, the people who said, I'm out here because I can't stand the way people are treating Victoria, and it's horrible, and it's not fair, and I don't agree with it, a lot of people there today, for that point of view, I would say it seemed to me like about 50, although the Bangor Daily News had the count much higher, the people that have been harassing you and using hateful language were not very numerous at all, very small group standing in front of the Art Museum. And I thought the Bangor Daily News made it sound like the two groups were roughly equal, which wasn't true at all, and also that there was a lot of exchanges of projectiles. One guy came up with some tomatoes, threw one or two of them from the side with the Black Lives Matter signs, and the hate is not welcome here, and the crowd immediately said, dude, that is not okay, we are not going to let you do that. Yeah, I think the whole thing really for me personally is, I'm glad that people are speaking out about what's been happening with the banners, and this isn't the first time, this has been happening for a really long time. And I think the thing for me personally is that I don't want people to make it about me, like I want individuals, because when I see that sign, I had to walk past it every single day, but so did the kids at King Middle School, so did the kids at Reiki, so did the kids who go to Portland High School, and so do older adults that are existing in Portland and are Black, and so like when I walk past something that says that it's okay to be white, it has never not been okay to be white, and I think that that's the biggest thing that I want to put forward is it's never not been okay to be white, so we don't actually need a huge banner saying it's okay to be white, especially on the first day of Black History Month, and it was really hurtful, it was really offensive, and it was really insulting, and I spoke up about it because I felt like I couldn't ignore it any longer, and I know people have been saying like ignore things like that, and like just, you know, like don't bring any attention to it, but it's hard for somebody like me and so many other Black people we have that live in Portland that have to walk past that every single day, and I think that it's incredibly insulting and incredibly unfair to people who deserve to live and work in Portland and not have to walk past a sign that says it's okay to be white as a non-white person. It's often referred to as a dog whistle, those type of, because you know people will say well isn't it okay to be white? The dog whistle part being the reference to the fact that it hasn't been okay and still isn't okay in many places to be not in a white appearing body and be safe, like you can't be safe unless you appear white, and that as you point out that affects old people, it affects children, that someone like you who is an elected official, strong in your community, a lot of support, you're one of the people that is are acting on behalf of the more vulnerable who either can't speak up or are afraid to speak up, but you drew a lot of really hateful communications by speaking up. Yeah that was that's the part where I keep thinking about you know because naturally you do something and then there is gonna be a reaction which I was I was prepared for not not as much as that I think as much as I received, so I was going back and forth like oh my gosh should I not have said anything and like I was playing it out in my head but in any scenario whether I was a city councilor or whether I was an activist with no elected official title I would have spoken out about that because that's just who I am that's always been my character is to speak out on these issues especially when so few people are because again I think it's important to say this is Portland this is a city that tries really hard to be inclusive and tries really hard to be progressive and celebrate all different identities and three years ago we were you know doing eight hour protests for Black Lives Matter people were laying on the ground for eight minutes at a time trying to say I am here and showing up for Black Lives and it felt really it just felt really disappointing and like heartbreaking to see like that sign is now up and we're just I'm just I just have to walk past it and like say nothing and I hate that for myself and I hate that for so many others who have been silenced for being Black and who have been silenced for speaking out for being Black and I'm very aware of that you know people have been like harmed for less than what I've done like I spoke up I have a platform and I spoke up and the the feedback was really significant and the death threats which were on this like anonymous fortune page or whatever that's where the threats came from and it was it's just a really surreal experience reading an entire thread about how awful of a person you are and all the things that should happen to you because you spoke out and you know I sent all of that information to the city manager until like it's it's out there now and I was posting about it on my council page as well of saying like here's the feedback here's what I'm getting but yeah it's it's been though it's been by far the the worst month that I've had it's a typical intimidation tactic toward people of color and women of color in particular to threaten you know sexual violence of violent death that kind of thing so in one on the one hand you've got a platform now where you would have said something anyway but now when you say something it's it has such broader reach because you you know you have that platform but on the other hand because of the platform you know I've seen this many times in other you know race anti-racist movements it's just really a horrible thing to live through it's hard to feel safe it's hard to feel okay about going to work and thanks for joining us so good to see you this is what this is great we were like you're gonna walk in mid that's all right and I like TV I think it's just very very real now they know it's live TV so we're just checking in yeah Victoria has quite a check-in as you're aware how are you doing let's go on on with you I'm good I'm reminding myself that I'm neither built for running nor in shape for running in the snow well I parked a couple blocks away I hustled my way here thank you here we'll do kind of guess I should have reminded you earlier today so that was my bad I should be moment I was like oh yeah I kept remembering like I have this thing at six that I have to remember to go to but it's been a weird month so this is I feel like this is really shaky today all right we checked out all the chairs all right I feel like this is not a prank it's on you were saying something really serious and I walked in no I think that I was just talking about this has been the worst month I've ever had on the council and it it's definitely a thing of like back and forth like should I have said anything or should I have not said anything but I was saying that I couldn't imagine an avenue where I wouldn't have like just because that's how I'm built it has nothing to do with being on the council or not I just know that I would have and the same the same things would have resulted because you know I think when you do something and you get a lot of feedback it's it's a lot of like should I have even said anything like maybe it would have been better if I didn't say it but I one like again that's not how I operate and two I think in my history there have been people that have spoken out on really scary harmful racist things and because they did that I am now awarded these seats that I wouldn't have had before I'm awarded the privilege of being on city council I'm awarded the privilege of being able to vote I'm awarded the privilege of being able to walk into the same store as a white person all of those things resulted because somebody spoke up and said like I'm gonna say something and it might result in me getting harmed but I'm gonna speak the truth and be unapologetic in that and so that's really how I have to align my existence here and while it's not exactly the same because we are in a society we're on paper black people and white people are equal it's still a terrifying thing to do but I always think about who's coming after me and who's next do I want the kids at King and Reiki and Portland High School endearing to have to walk past that that banner every single day as black people absolutely not so if there is something that I can do to speak on that issue and to speak on my experience with it I feel it is within me to to have to do that I don't really see another avenue we're so much more comfortable with people that did that back a long time ago right we just like lionized the Rosa Parks or whoever that said you know took the stand and but it makes people very uncomfortable and someone actually does it like right here and now yeah because it's a big reminder that like well things are still very unequal and there's still a lot of you know danger and vulnerability in standing up for just your basic human rights if as a person of color as a young woman of color especially very vulnerable place to be so can I can I say something about that though because yes what you said is true but there is and we have acknowledged over the last I mean we've been getting warned about this for the last 20 years and we've seen it manifest in the last eight years there has been a resurgence of like really far right conservative groups that have started to gain more momentum and so it's not just something from the past it's something that's getting augmented in our and in the reality today so I think again the fallacy and how we call this out and it's part of what I commented on I'm still in that evening is you know that's not our past and neither is a comment of that doesn't reflect us necessary quite the opposite it's time to say yo this is the reality in which we live in this is the reality that a black woman in the city of Portland in 2023 is experiencing like we really got to be careful with the whole exceptionalist you know perception that that's not how it should be that's not how it is anymore or that's how it used to be it 100% is what is going on I mean these folks were out here in front of city hall this morning having a it's alright or it's okay to be white rally I mean it's what it's what's happening it ain't the past creeping up on us it's today just reminding us that it's still here and the kids that are coming up through school know it they totally know it they don't think they don't think racism is over or that they you know can speak up and feel safe about speaking up if they have a classroom or they have a school where they can then that's a wonderful thing but just to come out on the streets and encounter you know that kind of racist dog whistling for lack of a better word that you know that's a scary thing but as economic conditions deteriorate I'm sure that you know again history will suggest that people start looking for scapegoats they start looking for reasons like oh we're you know it like if a rising tide lifts all boats thinking tight drops all boats and everybody's dealing with difficulty paying their bills and staying warm and it's not a not a good situation that we're in I think as white people get more frantic and you know desperate about hanging on to their privilege they become more and more loud about there is no such thing as white privilege I have I cannot tell you how many low-income white people have tried to argue with me that there is no such thing as white privilege I always say to them well when your kid was a teenager did they ever do stupid stuff that like brought them into contact with the police and of course yeah go were you afraid they would die as a result of that contact then you have white privilege than that right there alone is yeah yeah I think I think it's hard with with like the specifics of how like whiteness has manifested itself in in these like kind of covert ads of saying like it's okay to be white and like the response I got a lot was you're racist against white people if you're calling that out and I've said it to exhaustion that it has never not been okay to be a white person especially in a place like Portland and it's it's it makes it hard to to feel like we can have a collective dialogue about it when it's just like well you're racist if you don't like that sign then you must be racist against white people because if you did like that sign then you would say it's okay to be white and like my whole thing is like when is it ever not been okay I'm trying to figure out ever not been okay yeah favors some people those skin is a certain color over others so it is impossible for the people that are disfavored under that system to be racist might they be prejudiced they might but that is not racism racism is systematic inequality that's like baked in and you know based on something as trivial as your skin color and I think we're all aware that black people in this country have never had the opportunity to account or to you know get together enough power to be oppressive towards anybody right I think that you know I we talked a little bit in that evening about you know economic growth and and financial freedom right like and coincidentally that same week we had this monopoly game Portland edition come out and I think you know monopoly this is a this is a gentleman Dr. Claude Anderson he uses this example quite often when he talks about you know economics in the black community he says you know picture you know the game in the mouth the game in the monopoly as the history of this country where we're all sitting out getting ready to play you're a white person you get a full bank and you get to start the game ahead of time and you get to roll and then I show up halfway through the game I get half the bank and I get to roll Victoria's a black woman shows up you don't get damn and you get to roll when wherever you land rents gonna be due or you're gonna end up in jail so you're either gonna go in debt or you're gonna end up in jail I might have a little bit of a chance because I'm a little bit lighter in my skin I have a little bit more privilege you got the whole bank you get to tell us how we're going though my dad got his GI bill after he went in the army did did black people get their GI bill after they went you know they went and did the same thing never got 40 acres of them you either federal support for mortgage help federal support for their college education like people don't realize this stuff so the whole this whole thing of you know black people being able to to be racist or to oppress other people that's just a fallacy and we that's that needs to stop right away and again you know even the whole idea of like we need more black people in government or we need black police officers of black no what we need is our communities to be able to get economically advantageous positions where we're reinvesting money in our own economy you know every black dollar eventually ends up in the white economy every Puerto Rican dollar eventually ends up in the white economy why can't that money be circulated amongst ourselves why can I have my dollar bounce back and forward between black and brown people why does it always have to go back to the white economy because that reestablishes that place of support and power that allows them to be oppressive towards others but if we create economic growth and financial opportunities for our communities and we create our communities like to really live within communities and advance each other then we'll be able to make these political positions more advantageous because we'll have money to put the candidates into the offices that we need them to but right now what we're doing out here is suffering we're out here suffering because we are in a position to be advantageous but our communities don't have the economic power that that they need to drive themselves forward in this country and you're drawing a lot of hostility and I mean it's obviously an attempt to intimidate and silence people by being so nasty and so threatening that you know somebody less brave than you might go whoa I just cannot I cannot get through my day and do my job and deal with these violent threats popping up on my phone yeah like I just took a full I'm still taking a break because I wasn't feeling like safe I wasn't you know you're looking at this online anonymous messaging board and wondering how far is it gonna get when people are saying these really awful things and it just I mean I'm I'm still like processing and I'm not really sure like where I'm gonna go I loved being able to use my council page to connect with people I was really proud of the page that I've built but that page now makes me so visible every single thing that I put now is being screen grabbed and like dissected and then I'm getting like it's just like cause and effect of like me posting and then somebody takes it and then I get a bunch of messages and DMs that I don't want to read so I feel like I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going I'm I'm I just I haven't like I haven't fully processed it because it's just as bad as it's ever gotten that I don't really know like trauma lies how to move forward because like this is the first time I've talked about it since like Monday's meeting so yeah yeah I haven't I haven't really talked about it so so yeah I mean but I will say to change gears a little bit the support from Portland has been overwhelming like just beyond anything that I could have been prepared for and I've gotten really great messages from the Kings the kids that from the Deering Black Student Union I got a great care package of these amazing messages from the kids at King Middle School I visit with a lot and you know educators and people in my district reaching out and saying you know we appreciate you speaking out and like thank you for that we're sorry to hear what's been happening so the the support has been really great and beyond what I was even prepared for at the meeting on Monday we had a lot of public comment of people coming in and sharing and that felt really good so I need to remember that that part is a lot more impactful than the the negative part of it but you know that's that's like that's really hard because the negative comments get in and you know they're meant to scare you know it's not just like someone criticizing your point of view and saying no I agree with you or whatever it's threatening yeah that's what makes it hard is that so much it's beyond like how we vote on stuff like we get that all the time of course people disagree with our votes that's like part of this role but I think the me feeling unsafe going on a walk in Portland because I'm worried like is this message board which is anonymous gonna come to life and manifest into the point where I don't want to die over in this job of being a Portland City Councilor so you know yeah but it's like we have elected officials that are like consistently like under attack and then different parts of of the country we see it happening obviously at the national level too of you know like somebody going after like Nancy Pelosi's husband who broke in with a hammer like just it's it's just getting so scary and violent and it it definitely makes you think like where is the line and how how much of an impact am I gonna make versus taking care of my own personal safety and personal health so you have to take care of yourself because if you take care of yourself you can't do yeah any jobs or City Council yeah yeah be a parent or I that was a big lesson for me and you know teaching and being a parent like you've got to do the self-care because then you can't help anybody yeah well should we switch gears do you have do you have more that you'd like to say on this or I had a funny quote I have some comic relief for you so I was standing out there with you know a supporter today and saying hey do you have any questions for the Councillors tonight and and she said yeah I want to know why they voted unanimously to allow a developer to build a huge housing complex from City Hall down to Franklin arterial with and they've and the developers already paid the fine so they don't have to put any affordable housing in and I said the entire City Council voted for that and she said yes where are you guys laughing at that's not very funny did you did you know that's not not us that was not us that's the planning board that's happened a couple times actually I will say since I've been on the council I've experienced just like I see stuff that's like unanimous vote by the council and I'm like wait do we I'm like did I miss a meeting and then it's it's most often the planning board and I think with those types of because I recently saw that too about the the hotel that's now been approved yeah that was that's the planning board and I'm curious to see if what level of public comment happened at that meeting because I think that happens often where things are voted on to the planning board level and people find out later because they're just I'm not sure if they're you know it's sometimes it's tough to find and like our agenda center what's happening there's just a lot going on it's hard for people to make meetings but I encourage everybody to go to the planning board meetings and get it be in the know with what they're talking about and what they're voting on because that sometimes I read things and there's one or two people that make a comment and that's it and it's the same with us it's like that type of public response we need that in order to really make sure that we are being accountable with what we're voting on and the jobs that we were elected to do but if we get two comments it makes it really hard so so yeah but to answer your question that was not us that was the planning board and and to Tori's point you know like every every every step or every phase that a developer has to go through you know there's always opportunities for public comment but the process itself is the moment is there's multiple stages it is complicated even a year into the council there's still stuff that you know we're learning about what the planning boards you know what their role is and what the council's role is and certainly the difference between like a soul map map amendment versus like a site plan and all the different things that should be taken care of under each step so you know there's certainly a lot of like education that needs to happen there's a lot more public engagement that needs to happen when you said that this usually like two people at each of those meetings it's usually the same two people right like we have like this I'm not saying that the same thing wrong with that but there are some folks who are just always there and you hear the same voices and some of them are immensely valuable right like there's some of these folks that they do so much work and they provide so much insight into what we're doing that I'm like we should be paying them but but again you know you're hearing from a really small group of folks I I I also I think I just very slightly differently from from what Tori said I think that people it's impossible to really ask people to be in all those meetings so it kind of falls on us and we've been we've taken some really difficult votes that are opposite of what the planning board has suggested for that same reason because we know that there's people that we're hearing from that weren't at those meetings that hold really strong opinions about another luxury hotel and downtown Portland so we kind of have to bring those voices in and we do when we vote and in lieu of there being like a whole community showing up that that's kind of what we do so if they don't show up they let us know that's a yeah that's a good point because I remember it was was it like a year ago that but we had the 58 4th Street vote and that was a unanimous planning board vote that was not unanimous on the council actually failed in the council and that was that was a tough one because I don't think that happens very often where the council and the planning board are not in alignment because naturally the planning board does all of that work and is essentially like here you go this is our recommendation and yeah I think that's a great point was that we were we were hearing from constituents who weren't at the planning board part of it and so that makes it really hard as well because then we're like well we yet we're accountable to the constituents and but then the planning board's kind of like we that wasn't a unanimous thing and you just kind of like I don't want to say like killed our work but kind of you know like back to the drawing board a little bit and that makes it challenging in terms of just trying to make sure that we're being representative of who elected us but also listen to the planning board might irritate the planning board but I know my friend who posts the question is going to be really thrilled to find out yeah I have a more I was asked a more serious question while I was out on the pavement today by someone who is very active supporting the homeless community and their question was warming centers seem to be very hastily last minute why is that why was that particular timing so rushed and and just in general it's main it's winter why aren't we having warming centers that are just can be counted on and it's not a scramble to provide them so I'm bringing that question to you as well I know you were a little salty on your on your counselor page about okay we can finally tell you about the warming center so reading the lines it seemed like you were also well I did put I did post a story about it because I I want to always be just like really transparent about like how it's going for us because I think sometimes people think because we're counselors we get like the secret information before the public and when it's confidential stuff that happens but with the warming center like we were being told the same thing as the public which is like we're working on it and we hope to have an announcement this afternoon but it's not like the council was made aware of the warming center at 10 and the public was at 3 like we had I didn't know until the press release came out and I will say the good news is in health and human services and public safety we have prioritized for one of our goals for to really dive into at next month's meeting what's the plan around the warming said warming centers and how can we put a plan in place so that depending on the degree that it is or whatever we have something ready to go for next time because that was a that was an all-day scramble people were terrified it should not ever be like that where we were kind of putting stuff together as you know what is that saying the planes like crashing we're like putting them together building the plane while flying it so we do have we are going to work on that in HHS because we did notice that that was a huge need but yeah I mean it's a lack of room it's lack of staffing I think that was the hardest part to was trying to find people to operate the warming center for a two-day span which made it really difficult we're already really short staffed at the city level and it's again I think it ties in a little bit to just like our huge crisis with like housing and asylum seekers and all of this lack of just space and room and shelter and so that manifested itself in the warming center issue but I am glad that we're gonna well I'm happy to prioritize it yes taking taking that yeah realizing the timing believe it or not our time is almost up it's a fast really fast half hour for you I don't want to end without thanking our great director Warren Edgar here at Portland Media Center we could not do the show without you tonight we're helped in tech by Shailen O'Brien so thank you for that we are a podcast now that was right that was your brainchild saying you know we'd get more audience if we were a podcast and we're on Spotify the whole archive is there so that's been positive growth for us and you know thanks for being with us tonight we couldn't do it without you the audience and thanks for caring enough about your city government to tune in and here from Roberto Rodriguez and Victoria Pelleteer our progressive city counselors thanks for being here guys


Thank you very much, Catherine. Thank you very much. I'd like to thank the IAEA. RSAID is delighted, as ever, with the opportunity we have to support this development series seminar and we're very glad to welcome President Nonzi here to talk to us about inequality. Poverty is a major issue, particularly in this year of 2015 when we're in the process of developing and agreeing the Sustainable Development Goals, and we know that at this stage that we will be agreeing on a goal number one, which will be about eradicating extreme poverty, probably by 2030. And I think in terms of inequality, we need to recognize that the experience since we agreed on the MDGs and indeed since the decades before is that equality is not a natural outcome of development processes. Actually somewhat on the contrary, as economies and states develop, people who are poor and who are marginalized from economic activity and marginalized from political power, the people who lack capital, lack access to productive assets, they do disproportionately badly out of the benefits from development. And I think we've seen where public policies, the experience over the last 15 years has showed us that where public policies fail to address these inherent disadvantages in the starting points which people have, if you fail to have active public policies in place to address people's difficulties in accessing the benefits of development, well then inequality will increase with levels of development. And I think we've seen that. We know that at aggregate level, MDG1 on reducing poverty by half has been reached at aggregate level globally. But we also know that that has actually come about because of very good performance in a relatively small number of fairly large countries. And there are many countries actually where progress hasn't been so good. And where those policies and actions by government haven't been in place and where you have had significant rates of economic growth, actually poverty hasn't reduced and inequality has increased. And I think that, when we think about it, at one level that increase in inequality that we're seeing with very high rates of global progress, I know we've slowed down in the last five years, but high rates of growth in the overall global economy, inequality increasing, it is something that is morally unacceptable, but it also really extracts a high price in terms of exclusion, marginalization and exploitation. And those kind of things, marginalization of people and their exclusion actually affects the sustainability of the economic growth that we have, but it also affects social cohesion, it's a driver of conflict and it's a threat to long-term sustainability. And as we go forward with the new set of goals, we really need to seriously address it. Inequality constrains the constructive and productive base, sorry, the economic and productive base of any society. It limits the spread of growth across sectors, it limits the spread of growth among people, less people are involved in the generation of wealth, less people have access to it. And that reduces both the rate of growth, how well it is sustained and the extent to which it reduces poverty. So inequality in itself is a huge problem. Gender-based discrimination and the inequality that comes out of that is perhaps the most pervasive and persistent form of inequality that there is. And it's particularly pernicious because people who are already extremely poor are further disadvantaged in their own households and in their own communities. And addressing that issue, actually addressing the inequality within poor communities and poor households, inequalities that women face is critical for addressing inequality on a wider scale and for addressing poverty. Just going back to the post-2015 agenda, the expectations are really high around it. And if we are setting ourselves a target for achieving the eradication of poverty within the next 15 years, that kind of the thinking is that it's kind of based on the reasonable progress. We've got halfway with the MDGs, so we'll make the rest of the way. But it doesn't work like that, because in effect the poverty has reduced in a relatively small number of countries. And those countries will not contribute to the further significant reductions in poverty because they've already addressed the issue in a very significant way. It really needs to be addressed in countries where inequality is actually getting worse. And the ability of those countries to reduce their inequalities and to address poverty is actually what's going to determine whether it is possible to get to a zero extreme poverty by 2030. So it's a transformation that's required in countries which have been doing pretty poorly up until now. That's what we need to address. Otherwise, you know, we talk about the unfinished business of the MDGs. Well, we don't want to be in 2030 with the unfinished business of the SDGs. And unless we do address this, we are likely to face that, to be faced with that context. To address inequality, it does, I've talked about public policies and actions. It requires decisions over public resources and policies at global, national and at local levels. And decisions are actually ones that would favor the interests of poor people over the interests of other people, favor vulnerable and marginalized people over well-connected and powerful people. So it's a difficult thing to do. It really requires a lot more work on kind of inclusive governance and governance institutions at all levels. And we need to focus on these aspects of empowerment and inclusion in policymaking and resource allocations as we go forward. And I think it's really great that we have President Nonzi here to talk about how to address inequality because EFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, it's really a unique organization in the multilateral system, in that it focuses specifically on rural poverty, on rural communities, on poor and excluded people. It makes EFAD a really good partner for us and for Irish aid, EFAD has always been an important partner both multilaterally but also very importantly when we sit with governments and talk about what's going on in the rural economy and what's going on in agricultural policy in country. And EFAD is a strong partner for us. I'd just like to quote, you know, EFAD had this governing council in February where it agreed the kind of the funding model and the policy priorities for the next three years. And I just quote a couple of things from what the governing council decided. EFAD's strategic vision is one of inclusive and sustainable rural transformation. This requires the emergence of a productive, commercial, sustainable and inclusive agricultural sector, which on the one hand delivers high quality foods for a growing population, agricultural products for further processing and a range of critical environmental services and global goods and on the other offers decent incomes to small holder farmers and in particular to youth and women. EFAD's specific task is to support those rural households and communities who may otherwise be excluded from economic opportunities and unable to move out of poverty without targeted public support. Those groups typically lack assets. They're often marginalized and excluded from mainstream processes of economic development and they usually include women, youth and in some context indigenous peoples. EFAD's goal is to enable them to gain increasingly remunerative, sustainable and resilient livelihoods and help them move out of and beyond poverty. So that's a very specific mandate, a very specific focus. So I'll now give the floor to President Wanda to talk to us about how EFAD addresses inequality. Thank you very much.


In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful, respected viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam, salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Today we will continue our discussion regarding women in Islamic history. Today we will discuss the life of Sayyid al-Fatima bint al-Assad, the mother of Imam Ali al-Salam. Fatima bint al-Assad was the wife of the Prophet's uncle Abu Talib and the mother of Jafar ibn Abi Talib and Ali ibn Abi Talib. She also had two other sons, Aqeel and Talib ibn Abi Talib. In previous episodes, it had been mentioned numerous of times the great effect a mother has on the outcome of her children's beliefs and behaviors. And if one takes a thorough look at the life of Fatima al-Assad, one would notice a great effect she had on the way her children turned out to be. Sayyid al-Fatima al-Assad's biggest role in the religion of Islam as a female role model came into place after the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandfather. She and Abu Talib took Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and traced him. Many sayings by the Holy Prophet and the members of the Ahl al-Bayt al-Assad prove and ensure that Sayyid al-Fatima had a large role in the expanding of the religion of Islam. Once she and Abu Talib had taken the Prophet peace be upon him in, they treated him with love and kindness and cared for him more than they cared for themselves and their children. Fatima bint al-Assad looked after the Prophet all the way until adulthood. He would say that he remembers she would go hungry to feed him and he respected her so highly. He would say that he remembers she would go hungry to feed him and he respected her so highly that when she walked into a room he would stand up to greet her and address her as mother revealing the amount of love and respect the Prophet has towards her. Fatima al-Assad's role in the religion of Islam as a female role model came into place after the religion of Islam was revealed at the hands of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Being among the first to believe in the Prophet and the message he had come with, Fatima endured many of the hardships that came with standing by the Prophet's side. She endured the three-year economic and social boycott in Mecca and migrated to Medina with other Muslims. Being a powerful woman at the time because of her superior personality and remarkable characteristics, Sayyida Fatima al-Assad strove towards spreading the truth about Islam and her love towards the new religion. Did not only expand within herself but it also seen that this love grew and bloomed in the hearts of those who surrounded her. One of the main reasons as to why Sayyida Fatima al-Assad is remembered and looked up to as one of the greatest women in Islam is the fact that she was the mother of the greatest men Allah swt has ever created. Created from divine light before the creation of mankind, Imam al-Aliya peace be upon him was a source of truthfulness, wisdom and was the perfect embodiment of justice and equality. When Sayyida Fatima was pregnant with Imam al-Aliya peace be upon him she would occasionally hear the child inside her womb speak to her and would always pray that he would be born safely. On Friday the 13th of the blessed month of Rajab, 12 years before the ordainment of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him as Allah's messenger, Fatima al-Assad felt that she was about to give birth to her child. She came to the sacred Ka'bah and began to circumambulate praying as she walked, Oh Allah, I believe in you and in the messengers and the scriptures you have sent. I believe in what has been said by my grandfather, Abraham alaihi salam, who built the ancient house, the Ka'bah. For the sake of the builder of this house and for the sake of the child in my womb who talks to me and who is my helper and friend, I implore you to make my labor easy. The child I am caring is a sign of your greatness and power for. The child I am caring is a sign of your greatness and power. Because of her piety, love and the amount of sacrifices she had given for the sake of Islam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not turn away her prayers and granted her what she had asked for. Fatima bin Tassad leaned against the wall of the Ka'bah to rest. Miraculously the wall opened, Fatima bin Tassad entered and the wall closed behind her. Some of the Prophet's companions attempted to open the place where Fatima had entered from. However, there was no use and they instantly knew what had happened was a divine miracle. One of the greatest proofs that Fatima was one of the greatest women alive was that she was blessed with what no other woman had been blessed with. She was the first of all people to enter into the Holy Ka'bah and was chosen to be the mother of Imam Ali. While she was inside, she heard a voice tell her to name the newborn Ali where no one before him has ever had that name and no one will ever have the honor of giving birth or being born in such a holy place. This clearly reveals the greatness of Sayyid al-Fatima's character and the position she had in the religion of Islam as a female role model. Also, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him attended her funeral and gave his cloak to being with her at her grave to him to decrease the spiritual pressure of the first night of the burial. If one were to look at the role of women during that period of time one would notice that the role women played in the society was very minimal. Having such a powerful and great impact, Sayyid al-Fatima alayhi salam revealed that the role of a woman is not limited. In fact, one of the greatest role Allah SWT created was the role of a woman. In addition to her role as a mother and wife a woman is not limited to specific things as others have put in mind. This is revealed to the holy life of Sayyid al-Fatima alayhi salam as she not only was a dedicated and preserving mother but also played a crucial role in society as she assisted in spreading and defending the holy religion of Islam. Because of the holy legacy Sayyid al-Fatima alayhi salam had left behind she has remained and will continue to remain as one of the greatest female role models to have ever existed. Thank you dear viewers for tuning in and we hope to see you next time.