Thank you all for being here with us. I know it's late in the day. On Wednesday, Davos has been a long, great week, hopefully, for all of you. And we hope to make this session very worth your time. So we want it to be interactive as well. So if you have questions, there'll be instructions on the screen for how you can write them in. Basically, go to the Flido website, and then new hashtag gig economy. And I will see them here on my iPad, and I'll work them in through the conversation. But we have an esteemed panel here today. My name is Alice and Chantel. I'm the editor of Fortune. And I'd love each of the panelists to just give a very brief introduction, say your name, where you work, and how you view the gig economy in a sentence, if we can. Let's give it a try. OK, Karim van Genep. I'm the Minister for Social Affairs and Employment in the Netherlands. I come from the private world. So I started this journey four months ago in January. I think the gig economy, or self-employed, is a big part of the Dutch economy as it is in most European and other countries. And for me, it really poses a challenge, because I see the innovation that some of the platforms bring. But we struggle a lot with the work circumstances of the people riding the bikes, pushing the boxes, and their perspective on a career, their social security. So there is a real divide, at least in the Netherlands, between people who work flexible contracts and people who work fixed contracts. And that is something that is putting a lot of pressure on society and on those people. Thank you. Sharon? Sharon Borough, International Trade Union Confederation, General Secretary. So I represent the workers, and I can tell you that, despite some good and emerging legislation, of which we need a lot more, these are informal jobs. Many of them are actually dependent employees, but there are solutions. And there is, in fact, a recipe for this, negotiated with employers and governments in the 2019 Centenary Declaration of the ILO, and we might talk about that. But it's much broader than just transport. It's actually the internet-mediated platforms, largely informal businesses, are undermining almost every aspect of professional services. Thank you. Nicholas? Yeah, I'm Nicholas, co-founder and CEO of Deliver Hero. We operate in soon 70 countries. We deliver anything from food to groceries to anything you want, basically. Of course, this is a super important topic for us. We need to deliver an amazing experience, and that can only be done if you are happy workforce and making sure that we also get access to a large workforce. So, an extremely important topic. And we believe that, in general, this is a very good thing, and it's a very accessible job. It's a very happy workforce, I should say, and they make actually good money, at least at our company. So, therefore, we have a very happy workforce. We want to keep a happy workforce. And for that, I think we need to further legislate and improve to keep it that way. But, yeah. Thank you. Naenat? Hi, Naenat Ghez, CEO co-founder of Papaya Global. Papaya is a global payroll and payment platform. We are covering 160 countries, supporting all type of workers from full payroll employees to contractors and EUR employees. And mainly what we see on gig economy from my perspective, gig economy cannot be said without the word compliance. And I think that's the balance between when it's good for the employee, but also when it's a good choice for the employer, what are the risks on both sides and how do you eventually get into a place where you are covering the risks and you are not creating a future risk on this relationship is a very, very big topic. Thank you so much. So, to open, just for some perspective, the gig economy provides either full income or supplemental income for over a billion people worldwide. I think Nicholas alone, those million contract workers. So, there's a lot of scale here. This impacts a lot of people. The gig economy has existed for decades, not just since Delivery Hero was founded or Uber was founded for decades and decades. This has been a marketplace. It provides flexibility and additional resources for the workers, but it can also be hard to earn a livable wage. And the benefits and upward mobility can be a challenge and might not even exist in some instances. And then in terms of the pandemic, that has really impacted the gig economy. Half of gig workers globally lost their jobs during the pandemic and many more lost significant income. And some countries are passing laws to turn gig workers into full-time employees because there's a lot of regulation happening. Every country seems to do it a little bit differently, which I'm sure is hard for companies to scale. It's hard to get us all on the same page, but we're here to try and find some solutions. Today, the best we can to a very challenging situation that affects lots of people.  What is the state of the gig economy right now that we're two years into COVID, that all these people did lose jobs, lose income? How has the gig economy been impacted? Do you want to start? I think what we saw over the two years of COVID is indeed that a lot of people working gigs or gig workers lost their income, not just their jobs, but they lost their income, which is still a big difference in most countries. What we see now is that with the recovery of the economic growth, we see many people coming back to those jobs, but we see also many people choosing to have other jobs in other sectors, where there is harder, better pay, better social security, better schedules. But when we look long-term, it might be the case that they make good money. But the question is, when they get into disability, who's paying for that? Do they actually have a disability insurance? Are they building up a pension? Are they making enough money to actually get a mortgage for a house and buy a house? So there are a lot of disadvantages to it. I understand the innovation part, I understand that many people want to work a gig, but if you look long-term for the career of people, for the earnings that they can make, there is a real concern there, and we haven't solved that yet. And one of the things we're looking at in the Netherlands is legislation, and that's also the same that we find back in the European Commission's proposal, that you assume it's an employment relationship until proven otherwise. And then, of course, you have to write down what the criteria are and what the process is, but that would make sense from the sense that else people who are mostly at the lower side of our labour markets are in a relationship with their employer or their assignee. That's actually just a working relationship and not an independent relationship. And what we see in the Netherlands, I can talk for the Netherlands, is that most of those jobs actually, when you add it all up, don't pay enough for people to make a decent life.  Are wages livable for the most part? What does wage look like for the average gig worker? First, I think that gig workers are not only blue-collar workers. I mean, it's expanded quite drastically during the pandemic to white-collar workers that want to work from exotic places around the world and eventually they don't have any kind of employment arrangement and so on. So I think the gig economy shifted from having a very specific group of employees that was maybe more common to that to actually the highly paid employees that have the freedom and actually the power to go to their employer and say, I don't want to be hired by you. And I totally agree with what you said about... No one thinks about the worst-case scenario, right? I mean, because in reality, we never want to think what happened if we were going to need our medical insurance or life insurance and so on. But what we see on the gig economy, and this is always kind of our biggest concern, is the one that advises the employers because in reality, I mean, it doesn't matter what's the engagement that you have with this person, you are still responsible on him. And if something happened to him, you cannot say, no, I mean, this is on you because when there is a real issue on the table, somebody needs to step in and take the accountability for it. And this is where we see that all of a sudden, people understand that they have no medical insurances and bills of medical insurances can rise up to tens of thousands of dollars. God forbid, cases of disability or cases of death. And then you have the family against you that are asking what's going, how come? I mean, how come I don't have any kind of certainty here? So I think that I totally agree that eventually, the way that has been currently structured, first, it's good on the short term. So it's kind of, it's really nice when everything is good. But I mean, obviously this is the job of the governments to secure the kind of the biggest picture. Because I do think that we need to step, or to set very clear lines of what is gig economy, why someone needs to be hired as a freelancer, why he needs to be hired, or eventually to be as individual contractors. And even if I'll take Ukraine as example, I mean, half of the tech industry, or not half, 90% of the tech industry are actually working as independent contractors due to the fact that they have a very good tax regime in the country that is related to the fact that they're independent contractors. What happened now? They're not protected. I mean, if, I mean, they're solely kind of dependent on the willingness of their employer, not to dismiss them because maybe he's supportive and so on. But in reality, they're currently getting into a place where they have zero protection. Nicholas, I saw you raise your hand. Yeah, I think, and I can only speak for us. But of course, during the pandemic, we were the one actually getting people and giving jobs, who actually lost jobs and other opportunities. Well, we actually, I think we were a good help and support in the economy to drive that. So just having said that, then I think it's a very important point what we said here. Like, we should improve and see that there's social security and insurance and so on. And it needs to be legislation to help that. That it shouldn't be that if we want to support there or if there is support, there's an automatic reclassification risk because that's how it is in some countries. So I think there's lot of legislation. What we should not do, in my view, is of course to disregard what the workers want. And that is the flexibility and be able to generally earn more money in order for it to be an employment relationship when we feel like that feels better and secure. We don't have to go that way and make it worse for them. So I think in the countries that either have the option that we can choose or that it can be freelance but it can still have bargain power or they can have social security, I think is by far what we see is most beneficial. And again, we often speak about us like we all want that flexibility. I don't know, there's no difference. I don't know, they also want flexibility. And this is unfortunately not possible in practical, at least not in our industry, in that employment relationship that we're speaking of. Sharon? Well, I'm not sure everybody wants flexibility. Some do, depending on their situation in life. But I want to go back to the rules of the game. Governments have forever regulated labour markets. This part of the labour market has just escaped any kind of serious legislation discussion until now. Now it's a live topic in many countries. We've seen emerging legislation in France, in Spain, of course, on remote work, which part of again the undermining of professional... You know, you can actually earn as little in journalism as 15 euro a day because that's the going rate of an article. You can't live on 15. Even at the high end, someone who's known 60 euro an article, when you've got to do the research, the writing, the copy editing, you can't live on that either in Europe. So we've got to assess what we're really doing here and who's benefiting from what is an informal environment. Now, two things. First of all, the minister raised the issue of the employment assumption that you're employed unless otherwise proven. That's actually the ILO standard. That is the ILO standard. And there are many test cases now. The Uber agreement in the UK arose because of a test case around whether they're employees or not. They're the same with Deliveroo and many other companies depending on the country. But if you go to the global rule of law, what the Centenary Declaration says is that all workers, irrespective of their employment arrangements, are entitled to four fundamental pieces of rights. One is fundamental rights, which of course are the right to join a union, to bargain collectively, to be free of discrimination in terms of forced or child labour. And now occupational health and safety, which was the second one, will become a fundamental right at the ILO conference starting right now. And then you have an adequate minimum wage or income. And we have to figure out what that means, frankly, because you can't have people without living incomes. And some control over, well, it says maximum hours of work, but we say some control over working hours. And that actually is in fact a labour protection flaw for all workers. Then in addition, you need social protection. Now, if those things are in place, then let's have a look at what it means in terms of flexibility. For freelancers, genuine freelancers, who register as freelancers, whether the tax regime's fair or not, whether they're forced into it by the fact that it is indeed more beneficial, there are many, many independent contractors or freelancers. They are starting to again form cooperatives, which have always had a long history. So it might be your sort of service, but there are smart cooperatives, which are providing business services. But even then, some of them want to be recognised. And again, there are court cases for employee status. So this is a big debate in the EU. It will continue to be a big debate in Europe, but it's a debate everywhere. Because if the business sets up on this basis, simply to avoid the employment relationship, then that's as bad as the dehumanising exploitation through our supply chains, where you simply contract out layer upon layer until you have a hidden workforce, of which we actually have in the formal economy, 94% of workers in our supply chains are hidden workforce. In many ways, this is an addition to that, but it's even worse because it's on an informal basis, where the bulk of those billion people don't have a minimum wage, any form of rights, no rule of law, no social protection. We have to fix it. And we can only do that by having a genuine dialogue that is in the interest of secure work. Yeah, and I agree. We should make sure that we can enable a lot of the things that Sharon mentioned there. And I think what, again, going back to my main point, and what we should avoid is that we add other things to it that actually people do not want. And again, I think there are cases, if you look at Norway, we have a collective bargain agreement there, great, I don't know, great work with the union on that side. But the legislation and the agreement also allows those who wants to be on a freelance basis to be on a freelance basis. So therefore, it gives, I don't know, and we don't care actually in the sense that we just want what's best for the riders. It's actually more expensive for us to pay a freelance than an employee if you take an example there. It's just that if the majority wants to be freelance and we say, no, you can only be employee, we will not have enough riders in that case. So that's the problem. So therefore, having an openness on either or, that's a good solution. If there needs to be one or another, then we should look at what do the majority prefer and then have that as a basis and build upon that. And we have seen a lot of legislation that's been very good. I don't know, we have seen, I don't know, France is improving legislation, it's self-employed regulation, but it still adds so that more safety, security, Greece implemented recently that it can add bargain agreement to it. The social security shielded the similar. So we see a lot of legislation going in that direction that enable in that self-employment. Then of course, we also have one or two cases where it had taken that direction. I don't know, we have Spain, we have Geneva here in Switzerland took that direction and that did not turn out well. I don't know, that turned out on lower income. A lot of people lost their jobs and most people didn't want that setup. So of course, we have, I think in Geneva, I think there was a job loss of 60 or 70% that never recovered. So again, it gives lower pay because it often comes to minimum wage then. And so I think ideally they can choose. In that case, I think our standpoint is that we should listen what the rider wants but we should add what both of you said. It's like, how can we add social security? How can we add, I don't know, protection, safety and other rights and bargain agreement if represented well? And what do, I assume you've done surveys of your riders. What do they want? Like you say they want the flexibility but what do you have stats? So, I don't know, of course, we measure a lot of happiness and generally the happiness is high, I don't know. So generally, because that's important, otherwise we cannot keep them at the job. But the best case, and of course, if you ask our riders, of course, they want flexibility because they came for flexibility and that opportunity opens up and easy access to a job. So the only cases that we can offer both, and here we have a case that's between 70 and 75% choose to self-employment and 20, 25, 30, then we'll choose the employment set-up approach. And the problem there is, of course, if you can only address 25% of the population, then it's very hard for us to attract people to come. If you can address 100%, that's the best case. We can offer both. In the second best is that we can at least offer it what 75% want. But I think the question is, if you let them choose, do they understand what they're choosing? Because they might choose a flexible job because it pays better. But if that flexible job does not offer disability arrangement, does not offer a pension, then they're actually worse off. Or you say, well, maybe the rider doesn't care, maybe the company doesn't care, but then the society has to pay for it. So either the cost is with the employer, the cost is with the rider, or the cost with the society. But as an employer, if you decide you don't want to bear the risk, and the employer has to bear the risk, and the employer decides not to bear the risk, then it goes to the society. But the employee in the middle is still the one who gets disabled, long-term ill, who wants to buy a house, or has to have a pension later on and doesn't have it. And I agree there. And of course, social security, and either it's paid by us or by the employee or the self-employed. But I think that's the legislation we have to bring forward to make it better, to make sure that the case, if you get ill, sick, something happened, injured, I don't know, that they are covered. But why do you think flexibility, which presumably means hours, is actually not possible within an employment relationship? So first of all, those who are flexible, they might actually work for many companies and they might actually work here. And I would also not assume that, and it was almost hidden that they don't understand what is best for them. I would say that they are very smart. They're very educated. So I think they are very capable of knowing what is best for them. That's my belief. I didn't say that they didn't understand it, but they might make a choice that's more short-term than long-term oriented. I agree. Right, but to the other points, so I lost a little bit of a second point. Flexibility. Right, right. So of course, they will work when they can make the most money and it will go like, maybe I go Uber and here I can get there and now maybe the delivery hero, my delivery or now it's not good enough. Now maybe I do something else or maybe I want to pick someone up and just make the decision now. Now it's not good enough or now I want to meet with a friend, now I want to pick up my kids, now I have schoolwork, I have an exam tomorrow and instantly making that decision. If you have an employment relationship, we have to exactly know when they're working at what point in time because we can just quickly get them out there and the good part is that when there is that, is that they out when they make the most money, which is aligned with us because that's when we need the most. So of course, it helps us that it helps, they are making that. If we have to be the one steering when they should be out, then of course have to making sure that they're out at the times that we say they're out. I'll add to this maybe, I mean, I think when we see flexibility and you ask what workers want and we saw it during COVID, it was actually the digital normat flexibility is completely different. We had people following the sun, so they were all following wherever there are less COVID cases and more currently freedom and no quarantine periods. And what we see actually is, I mean, when you're looking on those people that are working remotely, in many cases you are paying their taxes in one country and in reality they are, I mean, around the world in tons of other countries at the same time. And from my perspective, this is much more concerning on kind of the economy because first what happened, and as you said, I mean, yeah, they are smart. People understand already where they have tax benefits, so maybe they are paying a taxes on specific country where they have kind of favorable tax benefits, but in reality they live on another country if something happened to them, obviously, I mean, they will go to the hospital near where they live. In reality, employers don't know. I mean, there is no knowledge sharing and data sharing on employees, even within Europe, which is always kind for me very, very kind of interesting. And I think that, and maybe, I mean, I'll just raise a radical kind of thinking that we have, but I really think that this is the place where everyone need to have one digital identity because in reality I think that, I mean, I might earn my salary in many, many countries. I mean, the same year, you can see digital nomads that are moving from one country to another and eventually, I mean, if you don't have one data or one identity for them and one data sharing, I mean, payroll, I think, needs to be rethink because in reality, payroll currently, it's very, very local. If you are starting to have two or three countries all together, it's becoming very complex in the majority of the cases. I mean, people will say it's not worth the risk. I mean, the accounting and the auditors and all of the tax structures will cost me more than just, I mean, eventually kind of do whatever I think and live by the odds that I'm gonna be audited. And I think, I mean, looking kind of in the global perspective, this is something that really needs to be addressed on in terms of a global kind of trends because we will see more and more people that no one knows where they live. No one knows who they work for. Who they work for, yes, but I mean, where do they pay their taxes and if it's in relation to where they live? But that's only really possible within Europe. I mean, that mobility, or if you happen to have dual citizenship, but then somebody who's got dual citizenship, one of which is the US. I can't. A young person will end up paying tax in two countries. No. And they will. I mean, I have people who are on consultancy contracts because I can't actually hire them in Belgium if they live in the UK or somewhere else. They've got an American citizenship and a UK citizenship, for example, they end up having to pay a fortune rationalising taxes. Now, no young person, I'm sorry, without representation can figure that out. So they get to 30 or 40 and suddenly they're in the site of the IRS or something and that's a disaster. So we do need to figure it out. But my point is here that you've got, you know, we've let this escape, the normal regulation of the labour market. And unless we actually sit down and work out, doesn't matter about choice, people can have choice, but how do we work out that flexibility? Many people work two or three jobs. There's no difference in that, but there are rules of the game and there are rules for employers and there are responsibilities for employees. So, you know, I think we've just let it escape. We need now to say what are all the vested interests, including the worker and the responsibility of the employer and let's make these formal working environments. Otherwise, the 60% of the world's workers who are now informal with absolutely no guarantees, as you said, from a societal point of view. Is that what you really want for your children and your grandchildren? I don't think so. So a bunch of companies are trying to work on this as a charter of principles for good platform work, which wants to establish a benchmark for job quality. The CEOs of Uber, Postmates, Grab, Deliveroo, Cabify, MBO partners all got together and they came up with eight different points. One is diversity inclusion, safety and well-being, flexibility and fair conditions, reasonable pay and fees, social protection, learning and development, voice and participation, data management and platforms. I mean, how close to reality is this? Is this just a pipe dream? Are we so far away that we can't even imagine it or is this a work in progress? Can we all get on the same page? What they avoided there was a legislative framework because I was part of those discussions and unlike, you know, your kind of attitude like the Norwegian environment, et cetera, absolutely opposition by the US companies to freedom of association or collective bargaining. So we're far. We are. We're a long way. I mean, it's not impossible to solve. It's simply a matter of will and if companies want to deny workers fundamental rights, they haven't got a problem. But if we want to work out how to make it work for everybody, provided the employer is not trying to escape, you know, and we would argue that employers have to have a social licence to operate. They have to pay tax. Therefore, they have to figure out what the relationship with the employee and tax is. You know, you can't just freelance the entire labour market and pretend that people are going to have any kind of security in terms of pensions or in terms of medical benefits and so on, let alone broader social protection. It's just not humane. I think in general what we also have technology is that the world has changed, technology has changed. The way we want to work has changed. What the younger generation want has changed versus when we grew up and so on. So trying to also fit it in to kind of a box that we thought was the right is also wrong. And there are changes to how we want to operate, how we want to work today versus in the past. And I think we're also a little bit stuck in that framework. So I think, again, I want to come back to what they said. I think that's great and we should enable that. And maybe there are one or two points that should come there as well. And maybe bargain power, collective bargain agreement could be one of them if that's not part of it. So I think it's more like we have to also realise that there is a difference in how we work today versus what we've done in the past. And we have to make sure that that comes into the legislation. We also have to make sure that we listen to what the people want. And not what we think that they want, but actually want. And I agree. We have to make sure that it's not what they want now short-term and then there's a negative consequence at long-term research and security and other things. That should be solved. That should not be the problem. So I think there are two developments at the same time that come together now. One is, yes, we live in different times. After Corona, technology developments, another way of, if you talk about future of work, another way that people want to work. They want to work more in networks. They want to do more longer-term gigs, I think. But it's different from working for the same employer 30 years and you do it step by step. That's really changing. That's one big development. I think the other big development that I've seen as an employer myself is that we, at least in Europe, we have developed our labour market laws so far that many contracts are pretty fixed. It's difficult. If you want to restructure a company, it's difficult. And that's why you get a big insider-outsider discussion, also led by the unions who often were, it's changing, much more on the side of the insiders and the outsiders. But you get a big divide between insiders and outsiders. So what happened in the real economy, in real life, is that people found creative ways when they were an outsider and companies who wanted to use those outsiders. And that's one of the reasons that the gig economy started. Because employers saw these fixed labour agreements that were too fixed for their needs. That I need more flexibility. Some people wanted more flexibility. And that's how a whole kind of second labour market that came into existence developed itself but without a lot of legislation. And that's, I think, the point where we are now. We have this development in technology, in wishes for how you want to work. And we have a labour market that's at one side very fixed and at the other side very flexible. And there's a saying that we use in Dutch politics now. We want to make the labour market the fixed part less fixed and the flex part less flex. So make fixed less fixed, make flex less flex. So that comes together again. But those two developments come together. And that's why we negotiated with employers and with governments the centenary declaration about what are the basic labour guarantees for all workers. And my question would be, is this way of working really decide by workers, I'm totally committed to talking about flexibility or multiple jobs. I mean, we've dealt with this forever. I can tell you how the entertainment industry bargains for a fair contract. We've done it for decades. And they work for different gigs, literal gigs, where they do actually work for different venues or if they're on films, different companies, etc. It's not an impediment to giving people the dignity of work. My question is, is it really the employers who want this to happen? Or is it the employees? Because none of the benefits you raise for me as a negotiator of more than 30 years are impossible. They're difficult. And yes, sometimes we run up against the fear of other workers, but they're not impossible. And I think there are both to it. Speaking also of the younger generation, I don't know, they stay two, three years at a job. I don't know, it's not this what we had in the past, and they stay 30 years now. I don't know, they don't want, many don't want that. And the same comes also, and I speak with our case, I don't know, when it comes to writers. Yeah, some of them might have another job. Maybe they're bartenders, but they also want to work more than just bartender because that is just in the evening. Or maybe they're DJs and they want to have some extra. Or maybe there are studies and they take university, but they need a little bit extra income. Or maybe they just lost their job and they want to have a amount to bridge and access. And so there are different needs and different, I don't know, so it's very hard to say like, what do all of them want? As the gig economy grows, doesn't some of this almost take care of itself? Like don't you, Nicholas, have to have good benefits to be able to recruit and retain a million drivers? And that I think is the key and the core here because the perception is that we want it because we don't want to pay social security. And social security is paid and it's used to happen by the self-employed or that we don't want to, that there's some tax or something. No, not at all. And we are happy, and that's not the reason why we would prefer self-employment is because that's what they want. And we need to hire as many as we can, and that's what they want. And that's why we have to provide what they want. And if you don't provide what they want, including if they want to pay benefits, the flexibility, all the wishes that had, the more wishes we can fulfill, the more we can attract. And that's 100% what we want. And I hope that we can improve legislation such that we can also add certain benefits like social security that we can cover that, or that pension. And we spoke before about the kind of French model, which is a good example because, I mean, everyone that did business in French know that it was one of the hardest country to employ someone or to dismiss someone and so on. And a few years back, they made this model that is really kind of intent to the gig economy. I mean, you have those institutional, I mean, licensed by the government, you can register as a self-employee, part of a kind of salary. They will make the deductions. They will assure that you pay disabilities. They will take, they will be the responsible parent for your, eventually, for your taxes, but it stills give you the flexibility. I think those type of arrangements are the one that we need to see more and more, the one that eventually does not go to the employer because in reality, I think that what governments are doing, it's like going to the employers, telling them, check if he's really kind, he can work as a contractor or not. I mean, do some, do some tests, take the liability if you did a mistake, or if we will find it's working with specification. It's a huge responsibility that, I mean, that eventually employers is taking and taking and taking, and you see, we see what happens with Uber eventually and so on. Yeah, they get tons of fines because somebody decided they haven't employed people correctly.  So I think that, yeah, I mean, currently the model of employing gig economies and assuring that they have this structure, they are self-employed by themselves or they are, but you don't trust them, okay? So you're sure that, yeah, they need to deduct everything they need, they need to, as well as you don't trust people to contribute to their own pension, right? This is why, I mean, most of the government currently have mandatory pension to their employer. So I think it's really doable, but it really needs to be in a way where governments are starting to move forward and to understand that they need to support this. Is it financially viable for a lot of gig economy companies like in Uber? I feel like the world is better because Uber exists. My life personally is better because Uber exists and because that category exists, and I think for a lot of these delivery companies, people would feel the same way. So they're innovative, but if they had to employ everybody full-time, they'd be out of business, they couldn't afford that. So where is the line between innovation and, yeah? I would disagree on that. I don't know, the challenge is rather that most of them might not want it, so they will have hard to find riders that, yes, you're right. Maybe the service would lack because they don't have that, but it's not that it's cheaper for us to have the gig. We have to pay more for it than if we would pay... Can you explain that a little bit? What is the cost for employing someone kind of on a freelance basis then versus full-time? Why would that be more expensive? So generally how it works is that when a rider is freelance, they are very good entrepreneurs. They go and making sure how they can maximize what they can gain and what they can make, and therefore, generally, they make more money. And then, of course, some of that money goes to pay social security and other things and tax and other benefits that it would have as an employee. So but not the cost for us is slightly more in the cases where we can compare. But because of their innovative spirit, they also generally are better at optimizing when to be out, how to make money, how to game the system, or making sure that they make as much money as possible. As when we try to tell them, like, now you have to go out in the car and here's your moment and here's the street you need to stand on, we are not equally good at that. No data in the world be as good as them to know exactly where to be, when to be, how to be. And that's why it's favorable for Uber in this case, to make sure they give that responsibility to the riders. And therefore, you have a good service because they know where you are and when you want to be, not you particularly, but they know where to be at the right time and place. And they share intelligence. So they know peak hours, that's the point. And peak hours, they're going to earn more. But Uber for you is a nap. It's just a nap. You pay in the middle of the day if there's no business, maybe half the price you'll pay at peak hour, but you still pay it. If you want to really travel at that point. So for you, it's a nap. Why would it matter that the worker wasn't being exploited? When you feel better, if they actually did have pensions and social security and so on, they're actually offering a service to you. I'm not just worried about the transport people, can I say? I think that'll be resolved by courts and by legislation because the employment relationship is a live issue. What I'm really concerned about is, we've got young professionals, go to university for four years, come out with professional careers in everything, in legal services, in medical services, in journalism, in content information, pick a service. It's now being undermined by internet-mediated platforms. There's nothing, again, wrong with the technology. It's really about how you ensure those people, like we have done for generations, get a fair contract price. So if they only want to take one job or two jobs a day or a week or a month, then at least you know they're getting a fair contract price for that work and people aren't being exploited by undercutting each other at the base. They can bargain above that. But they can also join a union between governments and employers' responsibility. They can earn a pension. They can get access to health. And indeed, if they're injured or they're sick, you know, payments for the normal things you get with a work guarantee. So that's what we have to figure out. And it's not impossible. Many countries are starting and have done it, some of them, but it is really going to have to take employers who put those principles together in good faith, but they're going to have to accept that they can't simply allow the model of the work to benefit them at the exploitation of the employee. And it's got nothing to do with choice of hours. We do have a question in the audience as well. Can I still respond on that? Because I often had a word of exploding and I can only really answer for delivery. And the thing is that if we would exploit, we would not have any workers because they would not do it. And the more we have to hire, the more people we have to get, the more we have to pay. And the thing is that it's not that we can pay, oh, that person is willing to work for five euro and that person is willing for seven euro. If you need two jobs, both will get seven euros. And if you have a thousand people in an area, we have to pay what the thousand person want, the minimum what that thousand person want, for everyone. So even if someone would have worked for less, at least that doesn't work in the delivery space. It's not just about wages.  Well, they are secured. And so they have security. By whom? By whom? Well, we are giving and making sure that they are safe and secure. Okay, so you're a decent employer by choice. That's not the case in many countries. And so then they can't earn any money at all. And so that's exploitation. They get, you know, sick in some other way. Everybody else can go to the hospital, but they can't.  So I mean, they can eventually kind of set the rules, right? I mean, if in order to be a freelance, I need to have a personal medical insurance. This is a very easy request that eventually you can enforce on the individual, on the gig worker. And in reality, I mean, I think that government are not setting those clear rules for the gig workers. They are going and saying, okay, you're the employer. You know that this guy is young and he's probably irresponsible or he doesn't care about that. But I mean, it's very easy. It's a very easy structure. They're paying taxes. I mean, they have relationship with the government. They have relationship with everything that is related to. So this environment needs to be created. And I think that it hasn't been created properly. Okay, we have to stop right here and do the audience question, please. Yeah, just an observation. It kind of sounds like we're talking about worker exploitation. So we're also talking about digital technologies facilitating a marketplace where that exploitation is happening. So if we go back to forget, like go back to pre-internet to the point that exploitation has been happening for decades, centuries, wouldn't we just go to the source of demand for that exploitation and begin there? In other words, if we break the marketplace to say employers of these workers, not the platforms, employers of these workers, whether it's the consumer side, like would you feel to the point on convenience when in the mid 90s, when you were buying clothes and you figured out that those clothes were being manufactured by child labor somewhere in the world, you made a conscious decision as a consumer to say I'm not up for that. This is the same issue based on what I'm hearing. I'm not in this day-to-day. But do you guys mind responding to...? I think it's both true. I think there is a role for governments to legislate more of the head, make flex, less slacks and make fix less fix. I think there is a role for the governments and especially on that whole gig economy that starts to exist next to the hardcore economy, so to say. So that's one. The second one is that if you really want this to work, then indeed the consumer has to play a role as well. And some consumers do, but there is a problem there because the concerned citizen that you are now might be somebody else and the calculating consumer. If you buy a t-shirt and you think it's too cheap as a concerned citizen, you say I won't buy it. But if you can't make and meet at the end of the month, you will still buy the cheap t-shirt. So yes, you're right. There is a role for the consumer, but that only goes also that far. So you have to do it both. You have to be a responsible consumer. The government has to step in and do more legislation on both sides. The fixed house has to be less fixed and the flex house has to be less flexed. But also the employers need to take up their responsibility and be responsible employers. Because I find it difficult to understand that there are still employers out there that put people on the bike without the proper insurance, but it does happen. All three have to play a role. I agree here and I totally agree on everything you said. Final comment and then we're out of time. Sorry, but I think to take your kind of comment, I mean, in a different comparison to kind of how do you produce or manufacture clothes?  I mean, the gig economy, they have the power. I mean, we need to ask them to come work for us on this and these terms. And this is a completely different kind of mindset. I think that, I mean, and you said it very clearly. I mean, this is how you need to employ them in order for them to work for you. It's not the right way. It's not the other way around. So I think it's a huge difference. Thank you. So clearly a lot of work to do, a lot of passion though. So I think we'll get to a solution eventually with all these smart minds working on it. So thank you for your input. Thank you for the great conversation. Thank you for all of you for being here.


Over the weekend, motorists and residents in the Belgrade-Urgun state capital felt the heat of the fuel scarcity at major Nigerian cities as a majority of the fuel in stations had their gates closed, refusing to dispense fuel to customers alleged adulterated fuel. Even as some stations opened for business this morning, residents and motorists lamented the challenges faced to get fuel as their daily income relies on it. I've been here since 5.30, I've been queuing for 5.30, there's no fuel at all, all over from Obantuku, I drove all from Obantuku right down to NNPC now. I was just about to tell you, they are selling hair, but people are not finding it easy anyway. My car is over there, I've been having issues with some of the bathfruits that I bought. So even right now, I'm skeptical of where to even buy from. I don't even know the kind of where we are going to get from here. I don't know if it's the right one or the wrong one. So I just think we get the right fuel. What we just discovered is that those who went in with kegs always come out, while those with beku have been here all along. But I guess probably there are extra charges on those with kegs, that is why they do have their attendance very fast. But we are hopeful, at least with time, maybe it will be a privilege also to get our hope. They however advised the government to find the lasting solution to it. They want government to help us and then let the situation come back to normal, because the suffering is too much. The government should pump out fuel. We just have them saying that they don't have fuel. That's why they keep on working their sessions. The refineries, actually the refineries in the south-south, even in the north, the one in Cardona, I mean, they are all not functioning. So if they could be functioning and they are doing things right, then they are befoiling around the nation.


the chat going on. Nice. And we should be coming in live. Awesome, awesome. There we are. Good morning, everyone. Hope you're doing well. Today, today is July 25th, 2021. I'm Chico. And we're doing a opening up a care package. And I believe it's a comic book. And if it is a comic book, we're gonna do a reading. Okay. We'll see what it is. Hopefully it's acceptable to read during a live stream. If not, if it's mature, not mature adult oriented, if not, I got a bunch of comic books here. What I've started doing is I've been reading a lot of comic books. What I've started doing is reading comic books and highlighting just certain pages, pages or panels that I think are interesting or they have something to say, more philosophical and stuff, maybe politics, maybe economics, maybe whatever it is. Okay. So if that's more adult oriented, x rated, then we'll do some highlight readings, but we will do some highlight readings in the future. Love out loud box. How are you doing? I saw you on this score. You're like, what is the start? What is the start? Doing the time conversion is funny. So I've messed it up myself a few times, a few times. But welcome to another live stream. This is just a set of two that we set up. We'll probably end up doing another two later on this week. Because I'm getting caught up with the previous live streams and trying to load up certain segments to SensorTube and to the other video for sharing platform, the truth, Rumble and Odyssey, just some important stuff. I might just start loading things up complete without taking segments out, which means there's going to be less stuff being loaded onto SensorTube. Love out loud box. Yeah, I live in Scandinavia. You're nine hours ahead? Ten hours ahead. So right now it should be seven. So you're either eight or eight or nine o'clock. Yeah. Are you like eight PM right now? If you're eight PM, you're nine hours ahead. Right? Tristan, how are you doing? Hope you're doing well. Welcome. Welcome to another live stream. Fun. Nice chill Sunday. Love out loud box. So eight PM? Eight PM won't type much, but I'm watching. Okay. Awesome. Enjoy the watch.  I'm curious to see what we end up getting. This is the package right away. This is it. It's nicely packaged. Okay. And I believe it's supposed to be Golden AGC. We'll see if the person that sent it, Max, thank you very much for the care package. So we'll see if they show up. Crack afternoon everyone. Let's see some comics. I picked up a few great books yesterday myself, including Daredevil 111. Nice. The last one I need for my run of nine to 300. Serious. Very cool. Very cool. Nine to 300. You have it. That's good. Wanted to see the last stream, but that was so early here. When did we do it? Oh yeah. That was like, we did it at eight PM. So it would have been four AM, five AM your time. A little too early. Even though I do wake up at that time. I'm usually up by five, five 30 AM, but I sort of do my thing, you know, check my emails, check out my news, put on the team, put away the dishes, sort of a little meditative routine in the mornings, right? Watching a live stream, open discussion on curl events a little bit, even though I do check out the news in the mornings as well, which is fantastic. Really nice starting the day off that way. Actually, I love it. And by the way, gang, I'm going to do my little intro while we wait for people to roll in. If you want to know what this work is about, I am on Patreon. Patreon.com forward slash chico. Elder God, how are you doing? I went to bed at 9 AM this morning after the last stream. It was a heavy lot of discussion. A lot of things going on. A lot of things going on. I saw the stream replay. Oh, you watched it. Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. I hope you enjoyed side night for dinner. How are you doing? What's up chico? My movie's homework is going good. Going to watch Akira tonight, dude. So good. Akira. Have you ever seen it? I don't know how many times I've watched Akira, multiple times. A fantastic movie. Fantastic movie. Jingle bells. Hello, hello. What's up chico? Great to catch you live while we all continue enjoying the ride. Indeed. Indeed. All over the place. If you're in amusement park, don't stick to one ride. Just go around, enjoy all the rides. Right? We jumped from current events from 12 hours ago to 11 hours ago. Oh, 13 hours ago to care package and comic books. And if you want to follow this work, patreon.com forward slash chico chico chico. I don't put anything on paywall. Everything's great of common. Share and share like and for those of you that are supporting this work on Patreon gang, thank you very much for the support. It is in large part because of your support that we're able to do this and care packages and the support we're getting on all these platforms. I've only watched Akira once and it was in 1988. Seriously. Wow. I watch it every few years again. I must have watched Akira like, I don't know, six, seven, seven times, eight times. I plan on watching again. Home work is good. Nope. I've never seen a dude sign I for dinner after you watch anybody that's never seen Akira. And if you've seen Akira, the movie is fantastic. It was, it set a new standard to a certain degree for anime, right? When you watch the movie, if you love the movie, read the manga, the full story, the movie is only hour and a half. It cannot cover everything in the manga. Okay. And there is so much in the manga. There is like a three second, five second scene in the movie that takes multiple chapters occurs over multiple chapters in the manga. It is fantastic. Fantastic. I still remember the gut grabbing scene though. Is that the, that's all. A crack. Such a good movie. I have a limited edition steel box type of release. The bonus features are fantastic. The books are absolutely essential. Absolutely essential. I actually had a friend. I read a friend had a collection of Akira, the graphic novels. And I borrowed it from him to read. And I returned it to him. And he was like, okay, Chichou, we're moving. We're leaving country. So this is a gift to you. And I refuse to accept that gift. Right. He was like, oh, okay. You know, we got to move a lot. We got to go look, man. I can't take this from you. Okay. I appreciate the gift, but this is essential to having in your library. Even though I don't have it, I need to get it. I said, thank you for the offer, but I can't take Akira off of you. It's not, it's not going to happen. Jingle Bells. I hope to catch the next movie club. I have to nominate shallow soccer. What a great movie. Jingle Bells. I've seen it. Shallow and Soccer is one of the funniest movies you'll see. And it's a soccer football lovers movie. Shallow and Soccer is amazing. So funny. So funny. Sign up for there. Have you guys already seen Castaway to the moon? I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen it yet. And gang, if you want to know what we're live streaming on, we're live streaming on twitch.tv for slash chicholive. C-H-Y-C-H-O-L-I-V-E and gang. Thank you very much for the support on this platform and mods for taking care of business. Allergaon. Allergaon. And thank you for the follows and the subs. Emo the rapper. Emo the rapper? I was into too much darker manga back in the day. Akira could be dark. It has its dark moments, but it's beautiful sci-fi. We do announce, Anuj, how are you doing? We do announce these live streams 30 minutes before we go live on Mines, VK Gap, Parler and BitCloud. And we do have a Discord page. You can come to our Twitch channel anytime you want and type in exclamation mark social or even exclamation mark discord and the discord link will pop up in the bottom here. So you're definitely welcome to join us on Discord and talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. Sign up for dinner. My love is for movie, movie Kung Fu Hustle. I've seen it too, which I'll try to nominate. Kung Fu Hustle. A long time ago I watched Kung Fu Hustle. That's from, is it 80s or 90s? I can't remember now. I can't remember. And for live streams, when we don't have any visuals, see death. How are you doing? The audio will be uploaded to SoundCloud.com. Chicho, forward slash chicho as a podcast. And those podcasts should be available in your favorite podcasting platform, including Spotify and iTunes. I watched Invincible recently on Amazon. It's based on comics. Yeah. Invincible is really good. Super good. And we will be uploading this live stream onto YouTube, Bichute, Rumble and Odyssey. I can't see us doing anything that the sensors on sensor 2 will not want you to hear. How did you like it, Anuj? Invincible. Invincible. I was assuming Anuj loved it. And gang, I want to take these guys down. Should we do the comic book haul or the care package haul? Let's do the care package haul. It's awesome, crack Anuj said. Gang, we got a little care package that came. Okay. And Max, again, thank you for sending this. Okay. We got a little love coming from Cali. And from what he mentioned, this is supposed to be golden age, easy comic, I believe. Dr. P, how are you doing? What's in the box? What's in the box? Oh, that's in the box. Let's crack it open. Let's crack it open again. I'm not sure if the person that sent this to us will be able to make it on the string, but I'm sure they will most likely at least wash the reading of it. Let's see what it is. Let's see what it is. Oh, you can just pop it out. Okay, let me crack this open. Let's make sure we're not going to do. Oh my God, no way, man. You sent me this. That's crazy talk. That's crazy talk. That's crazy talk. What? What? You want us to know what we got as a care package? Golden age, you see? Very nice. Very nice. We're going to read this right now. Okay. Bad ones are coming, Marshall. But as long as I hold you, I am not afraid for I know you are not afraid. Funny, too funny game. Check this out. Oh, it's graded and very good. Mad magazine or mad comics. Tales calculated to drive you mad. Number nine. What the f? We got mad. Number nine. Crazy. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. There's a girl. Awesome. I was laughing. The bad ones are coming at the sheriff's like scooting on out. We're going to do a reading of this right now, gang. We're going to do a reading of this right now. Phenomenal Max, brother. Thank you. I don't have this. I do not have this. Kurtz. Look at this. Let me tell you who's on here. I opened up. Who are the artists? That's an amazing care. That's an amazing care package. That's an amazing care package. Hold on. Let me type this in. Number nine. Let's check it out. Let's check it out. Come on. Come on. Find it for me. So check this out. This is an amazing care package. Contents. Contents. What do we got? We got Harvey Kurtzman that covers for this. Pencils and the inks. There's Jack Davis, a one-page fan edit club promo ad. Page promo ad. We got Wally Wood is in this. So the first story is scripted as Harvey Kurtzman and Pencils and Inks by Wally Wood. Oh my god. The second story is scripted Edgar Allan Poe. What the f? Edgar Allan Poe's in this? Edgar Allan Poe wrote the second story. It's called Oh, the Ravens in this. Oh my god. The first story is called Little Orphan Melvin. The second story is the Raven. This one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems, man. Even The Simpsons has done an episode on the Raven. Pencils by Bill Elder and Inks by Bill Elder. Colors by Mary Severn. And then there is Jack Davis again with a one-page ad. The third story, Bob Jokes. Harvey Kurtzman and John Severn Pencils and Inks. Harvey Kurtzman's story. Look at this. Look at this. The fourth story is Ha Noon. Harvey Kurtzman scripted and Jack Davis, Pencils and Inks. Okay. And then we got photo ads. Photo. Wow, wow, wow. Very, very cool, man. Very cool. Very cool. Seriously. Holy Kamolis. Edgar Allan Poe's story. Wally Wood. The Wally Wood did the Edgar Allan Poe? Wally Wood did the Edgar Allan Poe, I believe. Yeah. Oh no. Wally Wood is the first story. Little Orphan Melvin and Bill Elder did the Raven with Edgar Allan Poe as the writer for it. Super, super cool, man. Super, super cool. And gang, don't forget Free Assange, Free Assange, Free Assange. Julian Assange is a publisher and journalist that is being crucified for trying to bring transparency and accountability of capital's power to humanity. You want to have further information on that? See wikileaks.org, defend.wikileaks.org or our Julian Assange and Wikileaks playlist on censor tube. Gang, are we ready? Should we do a reading? I'm going to change the angle on this. Should we do a reading? Look at this. Sacramento.   Brother, respect, respect. Should we do this? It's created it very good or very good plus, so we'll take a look. We'll decide. Okay.   I don't have the little angle here, but we're going to turn off the screen. We're going to go straight to the screen. Chico with the unexpected reading. What a reading. What a reading. What a reading. Starting the day off with Mad from Golden Age of Comics and it came out. This thing came out in 1950. What's the date on this? This 1954. 1954. Fantastic. Fantastic. Gang, I'll turn on this angle after the reading. We're going to read the first two stories and we'll flip through the rest. Okay, so let me turn off this camera angle. Let me have a sip of tea. This is going to be our second mat that we're reading. Awesome. Awesome. I'll see you guys in this camera after the reading. Let's have a look at this. And I'm going to give my little high and just on this angle say what this is about. But hello, everyone. I hope you're doing well and welcome to another comic book reading. And what we're doing today, we're doing a reading of Mad from 1954. Mad number nine from EC Comics. Graded at very good and this sticker, it says graded very good and it's got a $20 price tag on it. I'm pretty sure it goes for a lot more than this right now in very good condition. Okay, we've got Wally Wood in this. We've got Harvey Kurtzman in this. We've got Bill Alder in this. We've got Jack David in this. And the second story is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. And this comic book is a care package. I'm assuming the person is okay if I just say their first name. But Max ended up sending this to us because he mentioned that he loved the work that we're doing here. So huge respect. I was not expecting this on this level to be on this. So Max, brother, thank you very much for the love. Thank you for sending this to us. And I'm sure everybody's going to love this reading. Okay, now let's crack it out of the bag. Take a look at the cover and we're going to go straight into the readings of this. There's four stories I believe and we're going to read the first two at least. Okay, now the cover of this and we're doing a live stream of this. And there's a little intro to this in the first 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I'm going to load this up the full live stream. I'm pretty sure I'm going to load up the full live stream and just put a time stamp in this thing. So you're probably hearing this twice. But let's take a look at this thing. Let's take a look at the cover first. This cracked me up. Look at this. Look at this cover. The bad ones are coming, Marshall. But as long as I hold you, I am not afraid. For I know you are not afraid. Here's the bad ones coming. They look like pretty bad guys, but they're like nasty. Look at that. They got death in their eyes, right? The two of them that you can see. Here's a little lady. Here's the sheriff jumping out of the suit. He's out of there. He's gone. He left his boots behind too. Look at that. Too funny. And his Harvey Kurtzman cover. Again, Harvey Kurtzman. He's got a little cowboy dude sketch on there. Super fun. Man, working for Mad Magazine would have been what an amazing period. A golden age of comics for Mad. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Right? As far as the grade for this goes, there's a huge split on the spine. Check that out. Right? So I wouldn't grade this as very good. Okay. This, the spine split would definitely kick it down to maybe good, very good. Okay. There's no chunks missing. Or I wouldn't grade it very good plus, that's for sure. It's a huge spine split, but we don't care. The Mad comics or some of the golden age comics we've read have been in pretty rough shape. Phenomenal. It's a pretty very good grade. Very good grade. Like super cool. Super cool. Harvey Kurtzman. Harvey Kurtzman. The spine is really good shape. Right? Like there's no chunks missing. Nothing. Oh, we got our kitty guys rowing around now. That's Sal. He wants a little food, I think. He's got to stick with the dry food. He's got to stick with the dry food. Check this out. Let's check with the back cover. What does this say? The new way to enjoy sports, movies, plays, television. What is this? Say eight dollars. Now get close up views all day without fatigue. Oh, what? We never seen this thing. Now 190. What? FTI. What is FTI stands for? Now get close up views all day without fatigue. Here for the first time, Germany's famous spectroscopes. A revolutionary concept in binoculars. Wear them like ordinary eyeglasses hour after hour without fatigue. Feather weight only one ounce. You'll hardly feel them. Yet here is a new truly powerful optical design that gives you greater range than many expensive opera or field glasses and a far greater field of view than some selling for many times more has individual eye focusing for clear sharp viewing. Whether you're looking at a play in the first row, oh, I guess for plays and stuff, concerts, you could do this first row or a seashore scene miles away. Skeptoscopes are ideal for indoors, outdoors or distant scenes or close by viewing special low price $1.98 a saving of $8 or more. Wow, Germany. So this is 1954, right? Available exchange rate. Mix this value possible. Try, what does this say? Try at your own risk. No obligation. Enjoy at our risk for five days. You must be delighted. Otherwise, your $1.98 will be refunded with no questions asked. Limited supply focuses us to place a limit of two per customer. Wow, imported from Germany. Let's take a look at this thing, gang. What are the words in that thing say? What does that say? Last chance. Oh, last chance. Hard luck saloon. Last chance. Last chance. Something in Perium. Free pretzels. Haha. Hi, gang. We've got a bunch of people popping into chat right now. Let's take a look. The staple is intact, by the way, gang. Take a look. The staple is intact, but the spice split is there, right? So we're going to try to be careful with this, giving this a read. And again, Max, dude, whoa. This is, oh, wow. Look at this hanging cover. We're hanging at, look at the artwork for this. Wally Wood. Phenomenal. Let's take a look at this thing. What does this say? Look at that hanging. Gadzooks. My joy knows no bounds. I have just received my EC Fan Attic Club membership kit, which includes a full color, seven and a half by 10 and a half illuminated certificate, a sturdy wallet identification card, an attractive embroidered dirt shoulder patch, and a stunning antique bronze finish bass relief pin. So what? Look at this guy. He's reaching in. Oh, he must be the torturer here. Right? Frankenstein. Looking in. Jack Davis artwork. Look at that. Beautiful. Look at the mailbox. The mailbox is a coffin with a shovel that sticks out. They usually back in the day, they, I don't know if they still do not, they probably still do. They lift up the shovel or lift this up. When it's down, there's no mail. When the mail man puts something in, they pull this up so you can look from your window from your house to know if there's mail or not. Right? Mushrooms on the ground. Tentacles coming out here. Very cool. So what? So you too can join the club. EC Fan Club Attic. Attic Fan Attic Club. For an individual membership, fill out the coupon and send it in together with 25 cents or five, 25 cents. If five or more of you wish to join as an authorized chapter, enclose each membership name and address along with 25 cents for each name and indicate the name of the elected chapter president. We will notify each president of this chapter number. Every member, chapter or individual will receive this kit directly by return mail. Very cool. It'd be a shame to cut this out. And no photocopiers back then, right? Let's read the five print game. Let's read the five print. Matt, February, March 1954, volume one, number nine, published by Monthly by Educational Comics Incorporated at 225 Lafayette Street, New York, 12 New York, William M. Gaines, Managing Editor, Harvey Kurtzman Editor, entered as second-class matter at the post office at New York, New York, subscriptions, eight issues. For $1 in the U.S., elsewhere, $1.25, entire contents copyrighted 1953 by Educational Comics Incorporated. That's a good guy. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be returned. What does this say? Unless accompanied by staff return envelope, no similarity between any of the characters, names or persons appearing in this magazine with any of those living or dead is intended and any such similarity is purely coincidental printed in the USA. Oh, the cover staple just came undone. Oopsie. It is what it is. This is the sacrifice we make. Okay, it just popped. It did a little click and it just popped out, right? So that kicks the great down by the way again. But it is what it is, right? We got to do the reading. We got to do the reading. Wally Wood signed. Wally Wood signed. Curb you dog. Curb you dog. Ours. Wally Wood adds so much detail in his work. Like, look at this. Look in the background. Look at that. Lady throwing out the dirty dish water into the alley or into the gutter from the top, right? Which is something that happened back in the day. Clothes hanging, people looking out the window, people pointing, little orphan Malvin. Look at the person in the garbage can. Look at that guy, my kid. Ah, the comic smells like the golden age of comics. Hotel Ritz. Look at this guy's outfit. Hotel Ritz, doorman.  Always got a gun. Oh, look at that. The doorman's got guns, too. Sword, grenade. Load it. Load it. Load it. What does this say? She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless clips, climbs, and starry skies, climbs, cloudless climbs, and starry skies, and all that's bad, beat, beat, all that's beat, all that's best of dark and bright meets in her in her aspect and her eyes Byron.  That's how I read through this. Girl and dog type story department.  And you have a comic strip that'll tug at your heart strings and loosen your purse strings. And so we present a girl named Malvin and a dog named Gravel in Little Orphan Malvin. Here she is again. And there's the doggy. What's the doggy's name again? The doggy's name is Gravel. There's Gravel. Looks like a happy dog. Why is she having her hair? Fork? Rake? Ah, it's a rake. Little mini rake. What do these guys say? The doorman. Hark? Shahib? Daddy? Peacebucks? It is Little Orphan Malvin. Observe the little princess talking to herself as usual. Speaking profound philosophical thoughts, the doorman says.  Looking for a grub steak, no doubt. But we cannot help her. Panjok? Panjok? We have important things to do. Places to go. There's a new hair tonic. I must track down. Haha. He's bald. Funny. Let's check it out. Let's see what Malvin says. Yes, Gravel. Looks to us simple folk like the worlds in a powerful mess. To quote a simple philosophical idea, a stitch in time saves nine. A stitch in time saves nine. Not that that has much to do with the story, but that's downright good philosophy. Orph, the doggy says. A stitch in time saves nine. Of course, a simple folk don't know much about philosophy, but as Plenty, the younger, once said. Impersa monumenti supervaxia es memorial memoria nostrata durabet si vita mervemos. That's Latin. It's got to be Latin. I have no idea what that says. Orph, Gravel says. Of course, simple folk like us don't know much about politics either, but peers to me that if the currency values in the world monetary fund were deflated to meet spiraling revenues, economic collapse would be averted for the four slugner fiscal year. Orph and Orph, the doggy agrees. She's got a little duck and an egg in her hair.  Let's check it out. Orph, here comes that Malvin child again, the old lady's grump. The old lady's got a lot to say. Talking to her dog again as usual. Rocks in the head if you ask me. A crazy mix of emotional kid if you ask me. The old lady's grumbling all over this one.  I say ought to be hung, I say. The old lady's jumping up and down ought to be hung.  Hark, Gravel. The town gossips are talking about me again. Talking about how I talk to a dog. What's wrong with me talking to a dog, she asks. And further, more gossip. The old lady's continue. And dogs reply, yeah, yeah. You think having a harmless conversation with a little old dog is a crime or something? What's a matter? I got fleas or something? Come to think about it. I have. Haha. Gravel replies. There's a little bunny poking out of Malvin's hair. What's going on, the bunny? Oh, what does she get? Look at these gangsters. Of course, the way folks ease living now, the way folks is living now, they need their gossip, their fancy clothes, and their automobiles. Folks has lost sight of the important things in life. The one thing dearer than anything else. Money, she says. Look at her. There's a pool in the background. Someone's swimming. Good housebreaking. Look at these guys. Who are these gangsters? Hark, fellow crooks. Look. Look there. Oh, sharpening his teeth or taking something out of his teeth with a knife. Isn't that little orphan Malvin and gravel? Boy, wouldn't it burn daddy peace bucks up if we kidnap them? Wow. That kid Malvin can put up a good fight, so we'll split up to capture little orphan Malvin and gravel. You take little orphan Malvin, we take gravel. They're splitting it up. All these guys going out to gravel. Axel spoke. That's Axel. Axel, Maxel. What does a scythe say in the background? Wanted, greasy Axel. So he's on the wanted poster. Post no bills.  So we hate him and despise him and detest him. In fact, him we don't like. So naturally we are going to blast you. Also the car in the can and all the dogs there too. Weeping wizards the dog says. You crooks will never blast me because my daddy peace bucks will save me at the last minute as usual.  Oh, that's nasty. Oh yeah, she doesn't have the eyeballs. No dots in there. They blasted her. But stick me in the can and my daddy peace bucks will come at the last minute. Last minute. Put in the fuse. My daddy peace bucks will come at the last minute. Put your finger in the trigger. My daddy peace bucks will come at the last minute. Well, maybe a second after the last minute. Ha ha. Her daddy peace bucks sure didn't show up at the last minute. Is this daddy peace bucks? What is this guy? He's got a cigar in his mouth. The crooks are laughing. Wait, wait. It's not being shot out of the can and 15,000 feet into the air. That'll hurt little orphan Malvin. It's not falling 15,000 feet down through the sky. That'll hurt little orphan Malvin. He repeats what's going on. It's at the point where her head shall contact the ground. That'll hurt little orphan Malvin. They're just laughing right. That makes sense. Hey, he's clearing all the rubble from the ground or from Malvin hit the ground. Look, the stranger with the bushy, uh, toast, toast lead head of hair, that stranger who is fixing the ground where little orphan Malvin is about to fall. Do you know? Do you know what about that stranger? No. What about that stranger? He better use wild root cream oil, Charlie. Singing it for little orphan Malvin. Daddy peace bucks. Daddy peace bucks. I knew you would come at the very last minute. I had to come back. I had to come. I was worried sick. I just had to come back and see how you were. I will never leave you again, gravel. Oh, I came for the tongue. Is daddy peace bucks quick? While he is still blinded by the tears in his eyes, his empty white eyeballs get him. So I put on a wig. Look at them. They got bayonets out. They're coming charging towards them.  Stand back. Stand back with, with stand back. Stand back. You fur, shillen, jinner, grunks. Stand back. Else I open this box and you'll never guess what's in this box. Kleenex? No. Uh, locomotive? No. Cigars? No. Blintzes? Blintzes? No. Do not open till Christmas. The box, top secret. What's in the box? Oh, look at this.  I have in this box my special assistant, formerly of Murder Inc. The Grasp.  Sick of him, Graspy. Kill. Kill. He says. Oh, the bad guys, the crooks. Yay. Yay.  It's this guy. Daddy peace bucks. This guy. Daddy peace bucks. Oh, the guy brought out a bazooka. Oh, what? Look at this man. What's going on? Kill. Yay. Blows up one of a machine gun. Look at that. Kill. Yay. Cut some down. Kill. He's got an axe. Yay. Okay. Gasp. He's pulling a bug. Daddy peace bug saying enough. Kill. Yay. What is that? Oh, it's a kraut little, what do you call it? Okay. Okay. Gasp. Stop. He's trying to stop a boink. Crossbow. Not crossbow. Oh, no, he's going after a little orphaned Melvin. Oh, he's got a little air thingamajiggy. Blow, blowgun. Yay. Okay. Gasp. Stop. Gasp. Whoa. Enough. Down. Boy. Down. Down.  Shot the doggy in the head. Look at that. Look at all the bodies in the back. Oh, what do you mean? Kill. He's shooting through the coffin. Gasp. On that gas. Gasp. Once that gas. Gasp. Kills gas. And gas sees his victims. Gasp. Gasp. Out there. Last gas. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp. Can't stop killing. Gasp. Gasp. Can't gasp. Knives, arrows, grenades, bricks, dynamite, dart. All of it flying out. Oh, no. Little Melvin hark. Little gravel bark. Lie down. Arf. Dead dog. Little orphan Melvin. The gas didn't mean to shoot, shoot you. He's a good employee of mine.  But it'll take care of, it'll take care of you. I'll get you the best medical aid possible. I'll spare no expense. Nothing is too good for you. So here's a Band-Aid. See? The plastic kind, colored like skin. This is best kind Band-Aid possible. But daddy, peace box. What is so important that you have to leave us like this? And now I must be off. I should read that first. And now I must be off. Important things to do, places to go. Little Melvin says, but daddy, peace box. What is so important that you have to leave us like this?  Sit up. Why? A few plastic new hair oil. Why? A fantastic new hair oil I heard of that I must track down. Off he goes. I guess he wants his hair back. This is chaos. Melvin. Of course, daddy, peace box has got lots of things on his mind and can't pay all his attention to a simple folk. He got many things on his mind. Mainly on his mind. He got his scalp. Ha. Get it? Gravel? Scalp on his mind. Haha. Joke. Melvin, do you really need me hanging around? Pass, press. Dot your eyes. Haha. Hark, fellow crooks. There she is again. Axel, marxels, pool and porium. Carl Marxel, freelance spy and crook. That's the guy right there. Look at these guys. It's little orphan Melvin again, boy. Wouldn't it burn daddy, peace box if after spending so much time, effort and money in beating us up we blasted that orphan Melvin anyhow? That kid Melvin can put up a good. This is like a repeat. That killed Melvin can put up a good fight. So we'll split up to capture little orphan Melvin and gravel. We hold your coat and you take orphan Melvin and gravel. Look at this. They're all beat up. They don't want to get involved in this no more. I wonder if this guy had the tooth lost in the first part. Did we see? Is it? No, it doesn't show. It's over here.  Oh, they're tying her to the train tracks.   I don't know what that is. So naturally, we're going to let a train run over you.  The dog says you crooks will never let that train run over me because my daddy peace box will save me at the last minute as usual. Excuse me. Does anyone have the time? Ah, that's he is. That's him right there with cowboy hat on. He's got the big Stogie. Does someone have the time? I want to know how close it is to the last minute I'm supposed to save little orphan Malvin. Yeah, it's daddy peace box. Get him. The gangsters say daddy peace box. Malvin yells out. I knew you'd come at the last minute. Now let me loose. Let me loose. The train's coming closer. Stand back crooks because here comes my second special assistant. Panjok on his magic flying carpet. Let me loose. Let me loose. She says Panjok. Yay. They know Panjok. Sleeping scissors. Panjok is the big gangster we saw at the beginning, right? The magic carpet. Something's wrong. You're coming in too low. Panjok pull up, pull up. Let me loose. Let me loose. She's yelling Malvin in the background. Panjok is coming in with this magic carpet. Let me loose. Let me loose. Malvin's yelling in the background. I'll see how bad this crash was. Magic carpet. Panjok. Panjok. What do you mean by such reckless flying? I'll have your flying lices revoked. Please Shahab, observe. This is a hooked rug and somebody unhooked one of the hook's sabotage. We'd better call a tow truck to take this wreck in. Is that the magic carpet? It looks like it. It's been unhooked. No, wait. Panjok. First, use your strange inexplicable oriental power to get rid of these crooks. Ah Shahab, you want me to send them away. It is well. I take my magic rug. I throw it over them. I say the magic words for full shlug dinner. Is that the word? For shlug dinner, full shlug dinner. Turkish bath on his hat. Yay. Oh, he's got them all in the bag. Going. He's got a little yo-yo. Going. Yay. Gone. Real gone. All disappears. Zip. By Jove Panjok. How did you do it? Where did they go? Shahab, when one intends to sell a comic book, it's well all swear words to expel. However, you impel this servant. You to tell what land these crooks now dwell. If tell I must, I shall. I sent them down to Shahab. Little Malvin's yelling in the background. Let me lose. Let me lose. Careful, Shahab. You almost dropped into it yourself. The place I sent the crooks down into a well. Phew.  What time is it? I've got to save little orphan Malvin at the last minute. Let me lose. Let me lose. She says. Oh, he's falling into a well here. See that? Panjok grabs him in the last second. What's going on here? Observe, Shahab. The smoke of the train is in the distance. Right. And I shall save little orphan Malvin at the last minute because the train is just coming. Wrong. You shall not save little orphan Malvin at the last minute because the train is just going. Oh, no. She's in little pieces. Little orphan Malvin in gravel. Cut to pieces by the choo-choo train. Here, I make the supreme sacrifice. My whole tin of band-aids. Now, let me out of here.  But, Shahib, have you forgotten my strange inexplicable oriental powers? Observe, I take my magic rug and throw it over this mess. Ha! For shlug jinnur. Jinnur. Full shrug jinnur. Arf with a little orphan Malvin. It's tail here.  The pieces are all together again. So welcome. Oh, no. The heads. The dog heads on Malvin's head. Look at that. Panjok. Panjok. Something's gone wrong. Little orphan Malvin. Somehow she's different. She needs a shave. Yipe. Leaping. Gizzards. She says. Look, look. Another hook unhooked from my hooked rug. No wonder it didn't work. Well, if you don't succeed, try, try it. Try again, I say. Daddy peace bucks. Daddy peace bucks. I'm afraid. Malvin says. Afraid? Afraid my child? You should not be afraid. You will play the violin again. Only thing to fear is fear itself and maybe sometimes danger. Look at me. I fear nothing. Boy, am I brave. Arf. Ha, you worm. Found you at last. Now he's like, yipe. Oh, daddy peace bucks. I love you so, Malvin says from under the rug. Oh, daddy peace bucks. My show of affection embarrasses you. You move away.  Get your cotton picking hands off me, the old lady says. Kapooing. He's out of there. Come on, pun joke. Let's go hunt for hair tonic. Come on, punch. Oh, come on, punch. Get this rug going. Bawah. Give it the old strange, inexplicable, oriental powers. Bawah. Shout. I can't find the ignition key. The lady's chasing her. They're sitting on the rug. Why am I on the hat now? Oh, here she comes. Come on, punch. Contact, contact. Flaps down. Runway cleared for takeoff. Bawah. Hark. There she goes. He did a little pull. Brom poke. Vava vatabom. Chook. Come on, punch.  Let's get this braided rug into the air. Braided rug, Shahab. I have no braided rug. I have only hooked rugs. He's out.  Careful, I have a new hair. That I have managed to grow one hair was so careful. Oh, he's pulling on his hair. He's got one hair. Daddy peacepucks. Every time we find each other, you go away. Is it, is it because of A, your business? B, the political situation? C, my B.O. Malvan's asking. Creeping blizzards, the dog says. It is because of neither, the old lady says. The reason that daddy peacepucks always goes away is because D, I am mommy peacepucks and this worm's been dodging me for years. By the way, I don't know you. How come, how come you call daddy peacepucks daddy? She asks. Ah, the dog's got his fighting stance on. Daddy peacepucks smiling with a cigar. What's she doing? She's changing her clothes. Well, if you'll just give me a chance to tidy up, tidy up and change into something fresh, I'll tell you, you see, I've been around a long time and a girl doesn't get any younger, you know, but my public wants me as the child they always remember with those ridiculous cotton stockings. That fantastic hairdo and my eyeballs turned up, so is only the what shows. Of course, a simple folk like to change into our normal outfits after a day's work like this. So, she's changing up. This is what she changes into. So what's wrong with me calling him daddy peacepucks? Look at that. What's the dog say? D and he's got a big smile on his face. Lady in red, last little orphan, Malvin, holding one of those cigarettes with the smoking thing on there. That was a weird story. So difficult to read. What the... just randomness. Chaos. Absolute chaos. Absolute chaos. Here's Edgar Allen Poe, the Raven. And we're gonna do this one justice. I'm bad at reading out Edgar Allen Poe out loud. I don't rhyme it well. Let's look at the artwork. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Bill Fingers the artwork. This is from Mad Comics, number nine from 1954. This comic is sent to us as a care package by Max and Max. Thank you very much for the love. I hope you're enjoying this reading. Let's have a read through the second story of this comic, The Raven by Edgar Allen. Classical type comics department, once upon an evening, dreary. While we pondered weak and weary in the public library on a comic story plot, while we nodded nearly nappy, came at a tendon attappy.  We howl, we raved, and that's what this story is about. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.  Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, while I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping. As of someone gently wrapping, wrapping at my chamber door, this sum visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door. Only this and nothing, clunk clunk bash bam. Distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, and each separate dying amber wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished tomorrow, vainly I had sought to borrow, for my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore, for the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore. Nameless here forevermore. And the silken, sad curtain, rustling of each purple curtain, thrilled me, filled me with fantastic terrors, never felt before. So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood, I stood repeating, clunk clunk clunk. Tiss sum visitor entering and treating entrance at my chamber door, sum late visitor and treating entrance at my chamber door. This is it and nothing more. Presently my soul grew stronger, hesitating then no longer. Sir said I, or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore. But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came wrapping, and so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door. That I scare was sure I heard you. Here I opened wide the door, darkness there and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing. Doubting, dreaming dreams, no mortal ever dared to dream before. But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave me, gave no token. And the only word there spoken was the whispered word Lenore. This I whispered and an echo murmured back the word Lenore. Merely this and nothing more. Back in the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning. Soon again I heard it tapping, somewhat louder than before. Surely, said I, surely that is something at my window lattice. Let me see then what threats is and this mystery explore. Let me let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore. This the wind and nothing more. Open here I flung the shutter, wind with many a flirt and flutter. In their step a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obedience made he, not a minute stopped or stayed he, least obeisance made he. But with mine of lord or lady perched above my chamber door, perched upon the dust of palace just above my chamber door, perched and sat and nothing more. Then this ebony bird be guilting my sad fancy into smiling by the grave and stern the quorum of the continents in lore. Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, though I said art sure no raven. Gasly grin an ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore. Tell me what thy lordly name is on the night's plutonian shore. Quoth the raven, nevermore. Much I marveled this ungainly foul to hear discourse so plainly. Though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore, for we cannot help agreeing that no living human being ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door, bird at least, bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, with such name as nevermore. But the raven sitting lonely on the placid dust spoke only that one word as if his soul in, that one word he did outpour. Nothing further than he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered, till I scarcely more than muttered. Other friends have flown before, on the morrow he will never, he will leave me as my hopes have flown before. Then the bird said, nevermore. Startled at the stillness, broken by reply, so aptly spoken, doubtless said I. What it, what it utters, is his only stalk and store, caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster, followed fast and followed faster till his song won burden bore, till the dirgs of his hope that melancholy burden bore of never, nevermore. But the raven still beguilding my sad fancy into smiling. Straight I wheeled the cushion seat in front of bird and bust and door. Then upon the velvet sinking I betook myself to linking fancy onto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of lore, what this grim ungainly ghastly gaunt and ominous bird of lore, meant in crock-croaking nevermore. This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable no syllable expressing, to the foul whose fiery eye now burned into my bosom's lore. This and more I sat, divining, with my head at ease reclining, on the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight cloated oar, but whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating oar. She shall press, ah, nevermore. Then me thought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censor, swung by saffrin, saffrin whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted, tufted floor. Wretch I cried, thy god hath lent thee, by these angels he hath sent thee, respite, respite, and nephepen, from the memories of Lenore, quoth o quoth this kind nephepeneth, and forget this lost Lenore, quoth the raven nevermore. Prophet said I, think of evil, prophet still, if bird or devil, whether tempter sent or tempest tossed, thee here ashore, desolate yet all, undaunted, on this desert I land enchanted. On this home by horror haunted, tell me truly I implore, is there, is there balm in Gilead? Tell me, tell me, I implore, quoth the raven nevermore. Prophet said I, think of evil, prophet still, if bird or devil, by that heaven that bends above us, by that god we doth adore. Tell this soul with sorrow laden neph, within the distant aiden. It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore. Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore. Quoth the raven nevermore. Be that word our sign of parting, bird or friend, I shrieked on starting, starting. Get deep back into the tempest, and the night's plutonian shore, leave no plank plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken. Leave my loneliness unbroken, quit the bust above my door, take the beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door. Quoth the raven nevermore, and the raven never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting on the pallid bust of palace just above my chambered door, and his eyes have all the seeming of a demon, demons that is dreaming, and the lamp light, or him streaming, throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted nevermore. Wow, that was brilliant. Each one of these panels. Wow, wow, wow. This one, with the bust, it, uh, yeah, this one. Check it out. It breaks apart, turns into skeleton. Crazy cool. Crazy cool. Crazy cool. The dog getting bigger. Very cool. Let's just, uh, flip through the rest of the comic gang and see the pages. This is an advertisement. Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a big bowl, um, bowl game here? Bowl game here today? Melbourne? So where's all the people? So, so haven't you heard Irving? The first issue of EC, EC's new humor mag is out. The people are down at the newsstand buying panic. Haha, panic. We read panic number three, right? I think we read panic number three. It was fantastic. Bop jokes. Bop dictionary. This one. Bop, bop dictionary. Crazy, odd.  Up kid. Cool. Real nice. Much like gone. Gas and groovy. Q, a 3D square. Dig to be hip. To understand. What does Hollywood Eyes means? Cute girls. Hollywood Eyes means cute girls. Hubcap.  Autist. A way out. The best. Pin. To look at. As in, pin them crazy diapers. Stone. What does stone say? Joyous. State of mind. Crazy cool. Flipping and kicks rolled into one. Haha. Wow, beautiful artwork. Look at that. Beautiful artwork. Man. Man. Will you pin them gone Hollywood Eyes in the window? Model school. Oh yeah. They put books on their heads and walk straight. The girl in the green is not doing it right. Very cool. Look at this. Look at this. Very cool. Very cool. Check this hip guy out. Water, water. Man, water. Man. I don't pin. No water. But dig the crazy beach. Man, this is the end. Ha, noon. Ha, noon. Ha, noon. So Ha, noon. Check this out. Ha, noon. Oh, this is the story of the cover. This is the cover story. The three bad guys. Ha, noon. We'll have to read this one another day. Let's just look at the first paddle. Oh, look at that. No. Forsake me. Oh my. Dolink. The guy's teeth is popping out. Yep. Man, the guy just shot himself in the head. There's a horse looking up from the roof. How mean do these three look? They look pretty mean. They look pretty mean. They look like Frankensteins. Very cool. Play guitar. Get shop method home training. Cool. Cool, cool. Max again. Thank you very much for the care package. Wow, wow, wow. I'm going to put it in a new bag. So I'm just going to leave it out. I have golden age bags that I'm going to bring out. I got mylar, so I'm going to put it in mylar golden age bag. Aside from that game, I'm going back to the live stream. I sort of caught some of the chat going on, but not much. So I'm going to turn my camera on. Super crazy cool. Edgar Allen Poe. Here's the chat. Super cool. Super cool. Very cool. So what is the raven? Some dark depression he has? Possibly his fears? Bitstorm? What is the raven? What do you guys think the raven is? Nevermore giant saucy dog food. The dog kept on getting bigger and bigger. Bitstorm loved the way even the similar panels, they swapped things out and changed wording. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was wearing a Christian Dior apron. Cool. The giant cigarettes on the table in the last panel changed to a bong with a skunk in it. Oh, I saw the skunk. Yeah, yeah. It was like a, was it a bong? I thought it was a perfume. I thought it was a perfume. Was it a perfume? Bottle? Or was it a bong? Yeah, I think it's a perfume bottle. Take a look. Oh, sure. Yeah. It's like one of those old school perfume bottles. The new God's cigarettes. Actually, they got feet on them and stuff. I didn't notice that. Right. Matches and new gold cigarettes. And then changed to a skunk perfume bottle.  I don't know. There's so much in this. So much in this. Could be. I thought it might be a reference to skunk weed. I don't know if that, that time they, they would have had the skunk for you, but perfume makes sense too. Yeah. Skunk weed is, I know the name was, has been around from the 80s anyway, when I was around. Uh, sort of learn a lingo. Lingo. Fun. That was a great reading. Thank you, Max, again, for sending the superior package. Uh, fantastic. For sure, I'm going to snip out that Edgar Allen poll one and upload it individually. And we'll upload the whole stream. For some reason, Bichu is having a hiccup with the personal finance one, not uploading it and not processing it properly. But we'll see what we can do. Aside from that game, let's call the stream. I'm going to keep on uploading stuff. We're way behind on the platforms. And, you know, I'll have these up probably in a week's time, maybe earlier, the comic book stuff, this reading up earlier. It doesn't require too much snipping, just the snipping of the uh, the Edgar Allen poll one, I believe. Okay. And fantastic. Man, number nine from 1954. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. One day I'll have this full set. One day. One day we do. One day we do. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Sahib. Sahib. This guy here, right? What was his name? Sahib, wasn't it? Peace bucks. Daddy peace bucks and grub steak. Sahib. Crazy. Wally Woodart in the first story. Gang, aside from that, just a quick outro. I am on Patreon. If you want to follow this work and want to support this work, for those of you that are supporting this work, gang, thank you very much for the support and the support we're getting like this. Amazing. Amazing. We are live streaming on Twitch and thank you for the support on Twitch gang, mods, elder god, whatever mods that are here right now. Thank you for being here and taking care of business. Thank you for the followers. Thank you for the subs. Thank you for the discussions gang. I do announce these live streams on Mines, VK, Gap, Parler and BitCloud. And we do have a Discord page that you can join where there's a lot of people sharing a lot of discussion. For live streams, when we don't have any visuals, we do upload the audios to SoundCloud.com forward slash Chico. C-H-Y-C-H-O is a podcast and those podcasts should be available in your favorite podcast and platform, including Spotify and iTunes. And we will load this live stream up on all the platforms, SensorTube, BitShoot, Rumble and Odyssey. And for sure we're going to pull out the Edgar Allen post story, the second story and have that up. It was very cool. Very cool. The first story was just chaos. It was just like what is going on? It was random. And maybe we'll pull that one out too. Wallywood, Wallywood, Wallywood art. Right? Aside from that gang, I hope you guys have a fantastic Sunday. We got our emotes up. We have a fantastic Sunday. Cheers and truth, always. Mr. Hezekiah just went to a Chicago comic, comics display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Very nice. I'll post some pics in this. Oh, awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Did they have the original art and stuff or the comic books? They would have had everything, I'm assuming. Super cool. Yeah, for sure. I would love to see those pics. Aside from that gang, I hope you guys have a fantastic original art and comics. Very nice. I hope you guys have a fantastic Sunday. And I'm just going to expect a whole bunch of videos. Just keep on being uploaded on all the video sharing platforms. All of them to BitShoot, Rumble and Odyssey. Most to SensorTube. And I'll have these ones up yesterdays and todays up probably within the week. Hopefully, fingers crossed. Bye everyone. I hope you have a fantastic Sunday.