Mike absolutely incredible to have you on the call again, and thank you so so so so much for joining us and Yeah, congratulations. You got a new book coming out. Thank you excited to chat about that and and well done on Everything I see lots of great things about the happiness museum. There's lots of things that have happened since we last chatted So yeah, what an honor. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Thanks for having me Chris always always fun and a pleasure to talk with you Same same and say New book my hooker home. I've got some of your other books up here. Wow. Okay. You've got the good It's it does it bigger. I see you have the little book of who I think this is the big book It's it's twice the size actually of the of the original who the book Are you gonna they're getting progressively bigger because I can see the first they are at the same Once a bit bigger. Yeah, they're following the the size of my ego basically, right? What are you buried down to it is you're an amazing person to hang around so I think your ego is pretty When when you made this this book was there a particular reason why you wanted to make a book about the home now Um Yes, so actually the idea came I Think now six years ago seven five five years ago when when when the first huger book was published and You read it and for those that haven't there is there is an entire chapter around the lighting in the little book of The rule of thumb is the Warmer the temperature the softer the light the more hugly the lighting and who is about sort of creating a nice atmosphere and After I have published that book I spoke to a Canadian journalist and he had read about who he read my book and he read about lighting and Dane's use a lot of candles because they give up this nice soft warm lights and he said that he read that and then he went home and he bought some Candle holders and he started to light candles for dinner at home with his family and him and his wife at the time they had three teenage sons and I think two fifteen year olds and an 18 year old and And at first when he started to light the candles for dinner Teenage boys being teenage boys that you know dad you know started to tease him What's going on with the candles? Do you want to have some romantic time with mom? Should we leave? And It turned out you know over time it actually became the boys that started to light the candles for dinner and it became this ritual for the family and what I really liked He said was that you know their family dinners now lasted 15 to 20 minutes longer and You know instead of sort of sitting down shoveling down their food that the different atmosphere around the table because of the lighting put the boys in a storytelling mode a Mode and sort of though they sip their wine They talked about their day and I thought it was it was such a nice example of how a little simple Design change around a dinner table Impacted how a family interacted and that became the first sort of sort of seed in Could we look at other design hacks around your home that could sort of Stack the deck in your favor in terms of achieving happiness and I think also Another element in all this was You know of course being Danish you grew up with with design and the importance of that, but it was also sort of you know the global pandemic and also now sort of War in Europe and there's a lot of turbulence going on and our home is a zone we can to some extent control We spend a lot of time at home and we've done at the happiness research It's into different studies that show the importance of our homes when it comes to our mental health and well-being So it was sort of those Puzzles that that started to merge a couple of years ago And the working title was the architecture of happens Yeah, but that title somebody else stole Or had had written a book about So we went with with my who go home as well, so it's about yeah, it's about who it's about design It's about how to turn your home into or your house into a home and sort of sort of harness the architecture of happiness basically I'd imagine if If the candles have that effect on 15 and 18 year old boys, then that's the ultimate test It works on that demographic probably gonna work on anyone And true did did you make it with with the with the journalist at all? Is it just just based on on on your your research and the things that you've been finding? It's it's it's based on the research we do at the happiness research institute But also other research that have been done in this field So Some of the work that we have done we looked at And I think it was 13,000 homes in 10 European countries at the happiness research Institute looking at How they impact happiness and quality of life and found that You know if you're happy with your home You're very likely to be happy overall and that happiness with your home could explain I think was 15% of your overall happens We could also then see which factors in your home have a bigger impact on happiness than others for example Having good daylight having enough space Interesting part is its spaciousness. It's not the actual size of your house that matters, which I think is really important to underline So so we could see that that that homes have a big impact on a happiness and it's something that also The World Health Organization have pointed towards they find that if you have inadequate daylight in your home You are 60% more likely to become depressed There's also a super cool study at the in the UK. Actually, there's the millennial cohort studies where 12,000 kids born around the year 2000 have been followed in their childhood and then when they grow up and You can see when these kids were seven 50% of the kids had a TV in their bedroom And four years later those 50% that had TV in the bedroom Have a 25 higher risk of being obese when they're 11 years old So we can see many different ways that the way we Design our homes what we put in our bedrooms and our kids bedrooms How we interact as a family around the dinner table that is actually something that You know design have an influence over so it's I wanted to bring attention to that And help people understand the design choices they make around their home and how that sort of impact well be It's fascinating. I mean the TV thing is nuts. I didn't realize how much that yeah that affects Happiness it makes a lot of sense minutes interesting just Randomly seeing how many of my friends make an active choice to kind of either not have a TV or to hide it in another room Have it locked away for special occasions away from the kids. Um, and then you're saying it's that sort of fifth Roughly 15% of your happiness is is linked to to the home and then I'd imagine that I was again Having a conversation the other day with some friends about the difference between renting and owning I don't know whether you ever found any any research on that because we were saying that Renting is is in a way Mentally probably a lot easier and that you know if circumstances change It's much easier for you to then leave and go to a different place or if Something terrible happens to your home at least you can you can leave and get it sorted whilst if something You know terrible happens to your home if it's yours. It's it's often Catastrophic can really change your your lifestyle. Did you have any any any insights? Yeah, so actually the big study we did Around happiness at home in the 10 European markets With 12 13,000 homes we did look at whether being an owner or renter impacted your your happiness with your home and and over and We did find that in some countries for instance in the UK. We could see being a homeowner Is is a factor in in in happiness It wasn't the case in Germany for instance renters and homeowners are equally happy and What we think is a play is the sort of social comparison effect Rensing is far more common in Germany compared to the UK also compared to Denmark and Social comparisons is also it's often it's often a big theme in happiness research that People care more the more about their relative income than their absolute income. So, you know, of course, it matters how much I'm able to sort of Purchase and consume but it it matters more How I feel I'm doing Financially compared to my reference group and and that is probably also what we're seeing here with with with homes if all your friends are Homeless Then that's the norm and then if you are not owning your own home, then you feel you're sort of behind or notice if you don't feel as sort of financially secure or Accomplished as your friends and so so If we can detach ourselves from what norms are and what the sort of What we feel the right thing to do is then then then then we can sort of remove the power that home ownership has I guess those social norms are a Factor in a lot for different things in happiness Are there any kind of things that you've seen people do or Anything that you kind of recommend to people to try and Make them more aware to detach themselves from from sort of judging how they're doing compared to others That if that makes sense, I think I think we actually I think we cover this in the at least one of the happiness courses We've done with you in terms of For example, social media being aware of the impact it can have on us when Sort of social media feed is a constant bombardment of great news that happens for everybody else And instead of focusing focusing so much on what other people are doing or what other people have then sort of consider Am I in a better place today than I was one to five years ago? But of course it's it's it's it can be challenging Yeah, sorry, there's a slightly off topic, but Just intrigued to know the answer So when you're let's go back to back to the house, so you I was reading some of the Tips from the from the book previous talking a lot about the importance of creating Spaces in your home, and I saw there was one about creating a space for shelter or a space for privacy Yeah, what What's that about and I mean I'm because I'm guessing This is a great book and for now and that I mean probably would have been even more helpful two years ago But it's but it's still very helpful because we are I think all spending so much more time at home Yeah, I know having a hybrid sort of work model, right Yeah, the privacy thing. Yeah. Yeah, the privacy and the shelter thing Which is actually two two things but but in the book I've sort of structured it Around mass loves hierarchy of needs Which I think makes a lot of sense from a happiness point of view and sort of shelter Is the sort of very sort of foundation in terms of our needs and of course our homes provide that And also it's that sort of area where we do have some control over what is happening compared to the sort of wider turbulent world But you also write about the privacy element that we need our homes to retreat to We really enjoy taking part in in community and we can see what people look for when they are looking at neighborhoods is Sort of a village feeling even though they might be living in a bigger city They like to know that the names of their neighbors. They like to be able to borrow sugar and milk and so on But they also really need to retreat And I thought it was super interesting we we recently did a another study where we looked at row houses in Copenhagen and in the in in the UK Birmingham I believe it was and and in Copenhagen some some of the most coveted Houses in Copenhagen is 11 streets in a neighborhood called the potato rose and Long story, but but So so these row houses. They have a small front yard and A backyard and in the front yard That's where people sit and drink coffee and read the newspaper and talk to the neighbors and so on in The backyard even though they're really close and even though they might even be able to see the other neighbors The culture is that there's a consensus around we don't talk to each other in the backyard Because we want to give this sort of illusion of being private So this is where we retreat to in our garden. I thought that that was an interesting thing But I think that's a sort of common human Desire to be able to retreat to places to sort of re-energize and realize So I think that's also something we need to keep in mind when we are designing our homes Where can I be in sort of complete peace? Either from the sort of street, but perhaps also sometimes, you know We need even though we have part of a family to sort of just be ourselves and have quality alone time and I Also in the book talk about sort of the importance of of Preparing for winter if we want to go sort of a game of thrones, right? That that that sort of who be is also about sort of Expecting winter who is about sort of finding shelter in turbulent times in Sweden there's sort of a national advice that you should have I think it's seven days worth of food and water in your home And that's also something I advise people to To do in the book to sort of be more mindful of their pantry and sort of have food prepared Consider what you would do if you were snowed in for five or seven days, you know, what would you do? What would you live off? And there's a lot of joy in cooking And it's it's it's a super important element I think in how to create a figure home to focus on the family meal and cooking in general and Interestingly when you ask people in the UK, what makes a house a home? The top five has nothing to do with things. The first thing we see is on the seventh place. That's a sofa But the first things are love laughter belonging the smell of home cooked food and family dinners and And unfortunately family dinners in a lot of countries including the UK is on decline A lot of people the majority of people say that they had more family dinners when they were growing up than they do now So that's that's something I would really like to change and That's also why I thought that Story from our Canadian reader was so interesting that he did a little Design hack around the dinner table and now their family dinners last longer And I'm really curious to sort of understand how can we You know, how can we spend less time at the kitchen table but more time at the dinner table? And one of the suggestions in the book is to eat artichokes which Which is a great food But it's basically one hour of prep time. So It's boiling water salt in it half a lemon and then boil the artichokes for 35 45 minutes and I'm Being a nerd and being a numbers guy I measured the average length of our family dinners and then so what's the average impact in terms of length when we have artichokes?   That's a very good starting recipe for happiness. So that's that's also what the book is about How can we sort of have more really good quality dinners with our family and friends? That's fascinating It makes so much sense when you think about it that the occasions and things like the smell of food would work and Wow, there's probably very good news for a lot of those companies that are coming out now That you care this one called mindful chef. There's lots of them where you sort of, you know, they they give you the meals and you have to make them Yeah, I think it yeah, we've been trying that ourselves. It's actually really nice It brings us both together because I don't know about you We always find that quite often one of us will keep working and then we'll take it in turns to make food And then we're ready. Okay. Okay, then it's the quickly together and then you know go off or spend a bit So it's I think you're absolutely right sort of when you make something together. It's Yeah does make it if you feel so much and better Another study said the majority of people in the uk wish they had more family dinners and say it's it's the most Important quality time to have they have together as a family or as a couple I think that there's so much happiness to be sort of harvested from that activity And also, I mean with the sort of cost of living going up in terms of you know eating out and so on eating at home is Cheaper it's it's healthier. So there's a there's a lot of benefits benefits from it And also on that in the book I talk about how huge is also The good life on a low budget. It's it's it's using what we have or make do is that how you say it in in english and I think it's it's It's a shame and that happens in denmark as well. There's a lot of of food waste going on I could see that the average uk family throws out 750 pounds of food each year, which is is Unfortunate, especially these days the cost of food is going up maybe a thousand pounds now And then I think there's actually some simple hacks to to counter that So in our fridge, we have what I call the hospice shelf or the retirement shelf So there I put the the the food the ingredients we have to eat in the next day or two And it's the most visible shelf in the fridge. So every time I open it. I'm just confronted with okay Uh, that salad that leaf are going a little bit brown. We need to eat it soon And that salmon we need to work that into lunch or dinner or something. Um, so so simple hacks like that minimize food waste also Keep a list of what you have in the freezer on your phone And um, and and and write down When you put stuff in the freezer, what's in the what's in the box? um, I think to quote Brad Pitt in seven what's in the box, but uh Or in in a container or if you put it in a plastic bag because You might have some left left over You know bolognese if you had spaghetti bolognese and you know You put it in a in in a bag and you think okay, I'll going to remember that this is bolognese And then three months go by and you put in five other things that are sort of brownish in color In your freezer and you have no idea what it is and then you end up either having spaghetti with doc agoo or you you throw things in the fridge, right? So so think simple things like that that can help us You know make do with what we have reduce food waste have more family dinners Um, that that's what I've been trying to do with the book as genius It was also way for me to sort of uh, to sort of write about what I'm what I'm passionate about privately Yeah, I'd imagine that I The out of sight out of mind thing of the freezer is is genius like I Almost makes me think that they should invent a some sort of a A screen like an LED screen that's uh for your freezer so that you can see what's actually in there because it's uh Yeah, right at the grocery store and you think What should I have for dinner tonight, right?  Okay I have some leftover red curry. Uh, there's some chicken. There's some peas. Okay We already got something going there those three ingredients and then you can add Whatever you need for that price Um, so yeah, I think it just helps And and make every day a little bit easier and hopefully happy That's amazing. Were there any other occasions apart from sort of meal times that they that that you found that that were kind of key? Um, I mean I There's also sort of an entire chapter around lighting again, right? Um, because we can see that has a big impact on on people's mental health You know having access to daylight Like the whos that well that reduces your your risk of depression, but also how we use artificial lighting in Uh, uh home has an impact. There's some really really cool studies that have been done in danish schools Whether instead of having this sort of uniform white bright light in the ceiling have I think we call them Pendles that's sort of sort of uh Downward-facing lights Tables and that sort of brings the kids Up to the table and do their work there instead of rolling around on the floor In in in the classroom And there was a there was a phd student who did a study on it I can see that the the different lighting in the classroom reduced the Disable levels of the the noise in in in the classroom significantly So so this is like spotlights Um, yes, um down lights down lights. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's that's amazing. That's fascinating and it was color or warmth of light So I noticed whenever I've been lucky enough to come to Copenhagen um, you know, everyone seems to all be uh, you know singing from the same The same song that the the lighting is always amazing And if you look in someone's house, it's sort of almost like a glow an orange glow It looks like a warm a warm fire and Whilst if you you know walking around london, you'll often look up and it looks like someone's got a A blue white light You know shining in there. It looks like a hospital or something. It's uh, yeah Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a big thing I think in in in Denmark and Danish design and you're right in a lot of homes You'll find what we call huger lighting, which are like you describe this sort of orange warm Lights or sort of islands of light around the living room Which is good for sort of relaxing. It also makes people look nicer. We call it looking grotto fabulous um But there's also moments for that blue white light you you you describe from you said from nondon or from Because if you're doing the dishes You don't want huger lighting because then you're going to have that left over a red curry that you have That's that right so so I think the the the the the key is to have options for different kinds of light That you need within that room. So if you're doing When you're doing the dishes, you need a different light when you're working You need a different light compared to when you're in Relaxing mode or when you're having a romantic dinner with with your wife or when you're having friends over for drinks So so so so understanding what the function are of the different rooms and understanding how you need different lights for different functions I think that's that's the first step So it's a great advert also for philips you light bulbs But um, can can you turn them up and down in terms of sort of warmth and uh Yeah, I mean I've I've got them. I've turned my phone off. But uh, yeah All the lights in here that can go from Yeah, whatever color you want. Um, but uh, I mean what when you said, uh, there was there was a better color for working Was did you find out what that color was? Is it more of a bright white? Yeah, yeah, right? Okay, is that because I always try and keep mine still on warm lighting. So that's probably why I sometimes feel quite tired When I'm working All right, I'll remember that there's also time of day, right that that you need some light for for certain times a day Basically also because of electric prices going up, you know harness as much daylight as you can um, so I have really good lighting in the uh in the morning down by my work desk So I try to stay there now. It's a it's a great day in Copenhagen. So there's no daylight anywhere But but in the evening, uh, we'll be on the other side of the house So basically think like you're a cat, you know, go where the daylight is That that that's also a way to to achieve When I mean, I wonder when you were making the book did you find Were there anything was there anything that you found that you're going to use to change in your own house? Or that you have already changed in your own house um, the the um The hacks around uh food are really used a lot and and I obsess over now What I have in the freezer and what is on the hospice shelf? Um, and also I enjoy cooking but I I enjoy eating more So so so finding good recipes where um I can quickly create a a a nice meal Uh that that can get then be worked into other meals. Um So for instance, uh, you know, I like to do a roast chicken, uh, and then you could have like the the um The drumsticks and then a couple of days later, we can use the the the the the chicken breasts in in in chicken burgers We got guacamole some some pickled onions on top um, and then once you've done perhaps four Chickens you have a lot of of chicken bones in your freezer You know that from your phone, and then you can you can you can cook a good chicken stock on on sort of four sort of chicken bones Do you call them carcasses? Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah carcasses work. So so so so uh stuff like that. Um I've I've I've I've I've tried to harness, uh, even better than and I've done So you've not totally redecorated yet changed the the color of your walls and uh, um, so In Denmark, it's it's I mean now I have a yellow, uh wall behind me, but it's quite typical to have uh A lot of white walls because they reflect Lighting better. Um, and Dan's quite obsessed about getting daylight Maybe it's because we are without it for a majority Of the year. So so that's something we've been we've been we've been mindful of um And then also having uh, what I call this sort of Viking proof seat Sort of a chair with with with with my back to the wall Uh, so so no Viking can come up and sneak And an attack on me that that's that's what I need when I read and when I write Oh, wow, that's amazing. That's brilliant. Um, and I I was um, I was thinking the other day Another thing that seems to come up a lot recently in homes is is plants um with Are there any particular plants that you should or shouldn't have? And the ones that you can see live the ones that you can keep alive, but you're right And and there is um There's a chapter around that in in the book as well because we can see from different studies that plants are being In contact with nature Has a positive impact on well-being. There's also plenty of studies that show that people recover from Searchery faster if they have a view of green areas compared to a to a boring wall Um, so there's a lot of of benefits. Uh, there's there's a whole sort of research area in Biophilia as as as it's called. All right. Um, but I see we have similar taste in in in plants more or less the same there Yeah, anything unkillable, uh, it's the it's the way for us. Otherwise, otherwise we end up stressing about it probably more But I mean, I guess that thing on natural materials must be quite important. So plants are nice because they're you know, they're green and part of nature So is it did you find it's the same with sort of using more natural materials like wood and things like that? Yeah, I mean, but that's a that's a big sort of trend I would say in Danish design That sort of basically bringing nature into your living room Uh, sort of, you know, think what would a biking squirrel decorate his home like so So so wood material is is is big But I think, you know, going back to what we talked about the sort of Maslow hierarchy of needs It's Yes, the shelter and yes the love of belonging Um And sort of self-esteem and also the the very top of of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a self actualization So it's also understanding how we can create a home that inspires us to do what we would actually like to do um and reminder Remind us of what we want to be reminded of Now I see you in the background have the the wonderful books by Mike Viking Uh, and you have you have Legos and you have uh Yeah, you have a Lego spaceship and is it a What is that the one on the top of the shelf? That's a space shuttle a space shuttle. Um, yeah, I've got a satin five rocket a space shuttle I've got a mini greet from uh from the Avengers film. Oh, right in the bookcase Um back to the future car Um, but I think that's great because I think We need to understand that that what you see is what you are reminded of um, and I have At the desk where I'm writing a lot of sort of mementos that remind me of some of the great times I've had in my life and some of the important lessons that I've learned um And that helps me for example when when I write uh to sort of dive into those stories and and and you have sort of things that Evidently brings you you joy And I think that's also what we need to understand that our homes can help us with You know use mementos as memory triggers of the good times that we have had or what actually brings us joy Um, and that helps us I think with with the whole sort of self actualization level of of mass loves hierarchy of needs Yeah, I think it's it's it is interesting. It says it you I know one of your tips in the book Again, I was reading from zooming into a picture was surround yourself by the things that make you smile Um, I guess that's a sort of similar thing. I find it interesting that in some rooms I want things to be very clean and clear Uh, like the kitchen noise has to be pretty tidy Um, same with the living room If I want to be able to walk in there and that's just Not too many distractions. I can lie down and be comfortable. But then my my study for me I guess being slightly wacky and creative. There's always bits all over the place. Yeah, it's not it's not super messy But there's I'm surrounded here on this table by books and little photographs of things and little notes But uh, yeah, it makes me feel comfortable and happy. It's like my little More resting places a little whoo-ho Yeah, yeah But um, I I uh, I thought the two things I I don't want to keep you for too long. Um, but I thought um It would be lovely to to chat very briefly if we can just because Since we last chatted you you've opened up the happiness museum as well So if anyone is traveling anywhere near Copenhagen or if someone is looking for a new country to go to um That a good a good place to go to is now Copenhagen even more than it was before Because you can go and visit the the happiness museum. Yeah It looks amazing. It is. I mean, it's it's it's it's really fun um To visit for me as a as a happiness research also because we we ask people questions uh, and I get to see their answers so so The reason why we did the happiness museum was that we we got a lot of letters mails from people who wanted to come by and see the happiness research institute And it's a boring office where we sit in front of computers and it you know, it's not it's not boring He lied. It was there was like when I last went there were just puppies rainbows unicorns. It was amazing Um, but we thought why don't we create an exhibition where people can come and explore some of the questions and answers that we are we are working with and and we put The the sort of knowledge we have into books and courses and with teacher universities and we do reports And we thought a museum is also a way to communicate findings and So in the midst of the pandemic, uh, we we opened The happiness museum and we like to say it's it's a small museum about the big things in life And we created different rooms Or we have different themes in the different rooms. So there's a For instance, there's a room around the history of happiness So how have the perception of the good life evolved over time? There's a room with the science of happiness. So how do crazy researchers like myself and my team try and and quantify well-being Um, and before you hit record, we also talked about my my favorite room Which is where we have asked people to write down on post-its what happiness is to them And now we have thousands of post-its And it's really fun as a researcher to go in there and see what what do people define happiness is or what is happiness to people and Um, you know, we we see a lot of people writing relationships I know why sister husband brother son, etc. We see a lot of people writing about food Um Which we Yeah, I told you this before you hit record My favorite post-it is somebody who wrote that happiness is a good quality lawnmower and a big lawn to mow So I and I'm sort of original original answers We also have in a different room around happiness The politics of happiness. We've asked the guests To write down which law they would pass if they were happiness minister And I was This week and I saw somebody had wrote that everybody should get a pair of corgis Which I thought was a was a was a nice policy proposal So it's it's it's it's about happiness. Um, hopefully people leave a little wiser around Happiness research and hopefully also a little happier And and our biggest hope is that that people become motivated Even more to to make the world a little bit better Yeah, amen, and I I mean, I remember when when we first met you I think I asked you that question Which was what what would you do if you could If you could pass the law and I think you said it was that you would want everyone to have a best friend Uh, which I thought was absolutely incredible, but I don't think I ever asked you the question Which was what is happiness to you? He said that you asked that question of your visitors. Yeah, so so And I I stand by my policy proposal that that everybody should get an additional Good friend or best friend and two corgis um My definition of happiness is is of course, uh Bias because of my work, but I think the the sort of best definition we have is um That happiness is the feeling of contentment of joy Of positive emotions combined with the sense that your life is meaningful and worthwhile Which is a horrible definition because it's it's so so long so wide and so complex But but that is what happiness is it is complex and it is about sense of purpose and meaning and it is about joy it is about, you know Having a delicious burger with pickled onions And it is about contentment and I think we need to build all those things into the definition of happiness We need to sort of Acknowledge that happiness is a dish with many different ingredients on it. A good life is about building silly lego space Toys and and and reading good books and having good conversations with your friends and your spouse and and doing meaningful work Um, so so we need that I think wide uh definition of of of happiness. Um And that of course makes it challenging when we're trying to quantify because then exactly what part of the happiness definition Are we talking about now? Um But I think we we we have answers to that challenge as well Yeah, it's good to strive for those and and and happiness is also having a conversation with you You're amazing. So thank you. Um, I got one last question before we we we leave Um, so I've started asking silly questions to everyone when they come on Um, and I thought thought the one that I thought might might work well for you Says would you rather be able to teleport any way you want to any time? Or would you rather be able to look at a book and instantly absorb all the knowledge inside it? um teleport It's you do a lot of traveling right so I do and I have I have friends and family in in in in places, uh, that are far from from my home. Um and It it would mean I would get to see you more often and and one of my my a couple of my good friends are uh, john and milley who uh Living in Vancouver and that's a long flight. Um And and and and my dad lives three hours away, uh in a car and you know, I think that would I'm I'm coming from this from a happiness point of view Yeah, I think having access to my friends and family members at an instant Uh would have a bigger marginal impact on my happiness than being able to download the knowledge from from every book I know I should say the other being an author Uh, but I think there's also some pleasure in reading. Uh, so just being able to sort of download the knowledge is is is You know, if you know You could also, you know, down a protein protein drink and then get the protein you need Uh, chicken burger just tastes better So I'm I'm going to go with option a Yeah, so get option. I think I'd I'd take the same Okay, I'm gonna ask It would I For pretty much the same reasons. I think it's I the one I would add is I think it would also allow me to sort of get a break really quickly Yeah, be able to sort of just instantly go to the middle of a forest and Just be around nature Is is is also pretty amazing and sometimes it's quite hard when you're in a city to do that. Yeah But um, yeah, I agree.  Um, I agree. Maybe maybe scientists can get working on that I'll I'll see what I'll see what my team can do Yeah, that'd be great. Okay But I'll look for that one last thing, uh, Chris. I actually wrote about legos in in the latest book. Um, because um One one thing, you know can I think it's quite rewarding to do For example legos or puzzles, you know that the sort of feeling of the last lego or piece of the puzzle So that that sense of accomplishment Or you know being the guy with the quality lawnmower and a big lawnmower I think that's the sort of sense same sense of accomplishment we get from from building legos, but I think there's also I think there's also an additional Value in having that analogue play Uh with friends or with with family and you know, also if people have teenagers um I think it's good to to build legos with them or do puzzles or board games Instead of only having screen time together Because you you will then be building something your spaceship for example And you can build and you can also have a conversation that then doesn't sort of entail Awkward silences that you might be having with your teenage sons. Um So so I think that's another Sort of design hack because I think that can give you a different sort of a different sort of conversation Compared to sitting in front of your teenager or sitting next to them when you're watching telly So so bringing out the legos bringing out the board games bringing out the puzzles. I think that that's another Hack that we just wanted to share But I agree that it's super important and very very valuable Um, and thank you very much for sharing your valuable time We want to thank you because we need to get working on that kind of travel machine Yeah, yeah, I can't wait. Well, I I still can't wait to come to Copenhagen. I've still got a flight It's still still in credit with the with all the shareways. So hopefully I can Come over and say hello seeing and and They'll give you a tour of all the very best for the book. Um for anyone's listening go to amazon.com or your local bookstore Uh, you can buy it right away. Um, it's coming out on the September 29th September 29th. Okay, marvelous. Fantastic. So if you're listening on this to this after September the 29th Good news. Just go to the bookstore. You'll see it and it's bigger than the other ones. So you'll find it easily. Um But uh, Mike you're amazing. Thank you so so much. Um, thank you so much and the family and yeah That's what's chatting against you likewise. Thank you. Thanks right


Hello, hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel, Laura's Little Library, and welcome to today's video. It is my December bullet journal. Doing this video a little differently. All year long, I've done the traditional style bullet journal video of the camera overhead and me just sitting there and doing it. Normally I listen to audiobooks while I do it, but I just really didn't want to do that this time. I was like, I don't, it takes me a long time. I don't enjoy the process. So I just didn't want to do it. So instead I am going to sit on my couch and do it relaxingly and probably watch something. And I just kind of do that way. I'll still do like a flip-through and a voiceover of the different pages and whatnot, but I just, um, I'm giving this a try. So, I hope you like it. So I decided to go with a Christmas tree theme and some of it is realistic and some of it is more cartoony. I really like how it ended up. It's still kind of the simple style that I had been doing, but I think it's very fitting for December. It was just a little more Christmassy with my color choices for some of the decorations to accompany the Christmas trees. A lot of my pages are the same format as they've always been, having checklists to do on Mondays and a shelf TBR. I organize my books read by star rating of star on top of the tree. I kind of liked that idea quite a bit. But my Instagram and YouTube is a lot more structured than normal just because I will be having so much more happening. But yeah, that is my December spread. I hope you enjoyed it.


Young people in society are often times the people who are able to drive the greatest amount of change or able to think about long-standing problems in new ways.


Crypto is going to crash and could take your savings with it. In June 2022, Bitcoin dropped over 30% to its lowest value since December 2020, and Ethereum, the second most valuable cryptocurrency, fell about 35%. TerraUSD, a so-called stablecoin, also collapsed when its underlying cryptocurrency, Luna, lost 97% of its value in just 24 hours, apparently destroying some investors' life savings. The implosion helped trigger a crypto meltdown that erased $300 billion in value across the market. As cryptocurrency prices plummeted, Celsius Network, an experimental cryptocurrency lender, announced it was freezing withdrawals due to extreme market conditions. Now these crypto crashes and freezes have fueled worries that the complex crypto banking and lending system is on the brink of ruin. But this crash shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with the industry, or anyone who remembers the financial crashes of 1929 and 2008. Let me explain. In the murky world of crypto-decentralized finance, known as DeFi, it's hard to understand who provides money for loans, where the money flows, or how easy it is to trigger currency meltdowns. There are no standards for issues of custody, risk management, or capital reserves. There are no transparency requirements. Investors often don't know how their money is being handled. Deposits are not insured. It's a Ponzi scheme. Like all Ponzi schemes, getting rich depends on how many other investors follow you into it, until somebody's left holding the worthless crypto call. Why isn't this market regulated? Well, follow the money. The crypto industry is pouring huge amounts into political campaigns. It has hired scores of former government officials and regulators to lobby on its behalf, including three former chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission, three former chairs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, three former U.S. senators, and even former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. In the past, cryptocurrencies kept rising by attracting new investors and big Wall Street money, along with celebrity endorsements. What do you think? Are you in? You know what? But all Ponzi schemes topple eventually, just like the Wild West finances of the 1920s. Back then, Americans were getting rich by speculating on shares of stock, as other investors followed them into these risky assets, pushing their values ever upward. When the toppling occurred in 1929, it plunged the nation and the world into the Great Depression. The great crash resulted in the Glass-Steagall Act, signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. Glass-Steagall separated commercial banking from investment banking, putting an end to the giant Ponzi scheme that had overtaken the American economy and led to the great crash of 1929. It took a full generation to forget that crash and allow the forces that caused it to repeat their havoc. By the mid-1980s, as the stock market soared, speculators noticed they could make even more money if they gambled with other people's money. As speculators did in the 1920s, they pushed Congress to deregulate Wall Street, arguing that the United States financial sector would otherwise lose its competitive standing internationally. The final blow was in 1999, when the Clinton administration succumbed to intensive lobbying and ditched what remained of Glass-Steagall. With its repeal, American finance once again became a betting partner. Inevitably, Wall Street suffered another near-death experience, when its Ponzi schemes began toppling in 2008, just as they had in 1929, while the U.S. government bailed out the biggest banks and financial institutions. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their savings, and their homes. But only a single banking executive went to jail. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a new, but watered-down version of Glass-Steagall was enacted, the Dodd-Frank Act, which brings us nearly a century after Glass-Steagall to today's crypto crash. If we should have learned anything from the crashes of 1929 and 2008, it's that regulation of financial markets is essential. Otherwise, they turn into Ponzi schemes, leaving small investors with nothing and endangering the entire economy. It's time for the Biden administration and Congress to end the crypto Ponzi scheme. In the meantime, share this video so your friends and family don't fall for it.


So, what is C 2 V? C 2 V has symmetry which involves C 2, C 2 V has elements identity C 2 then C 2 then sigma V and C 2 sigma right. Essentially it is made of E and C 2 right and you take a product with sigma V with that right, you take it as a product with E and sigma. So, this product also turns out to be a direct product in the context of C 2. Why? You can show that whether you write C 2 sigma V, you can show that it is same as sigma V C 2. V is the vertical mirror. Sure, all of you have synced the notation following the earlier lectures absentees or miss some lectures you should please go back look at the previous lectures otherwise the notations will be continuous like whatever I have followed in the previous lecture will continue ok. I am not going to specifically again define the notation. So, the vertical plane mirror the operation is commuting. So, this commuting property will imply that it is a direct product ok. So, this is a direct product group. This will not continue when you do it for C 3 V. This also I spent lot of time in the class, still I see lot of errors in the paper. So, C 3 V what are the elements? Identity C 3 C 3 squared sigma V sigma V C 3 sigma V C 3 squared. Can write the elements as if you are doing E C 3 and C 3 squared you can multiply with E and sigma V ok, but you can show that C 3 sigma V is not equal to sigma V C 3. So, which means the C 3 V is not a direct product. So, if C 3 sigma V is same as sigma V C 3 you would have got C 3 equal to C 3 is like a self conjugate element right. You could have, but now you also know because this is a bilateral axis C 3 is a bilateral axis whenever you have a mirror containing the axis you know that C 3 k sigma V sigma V will give you C 3 minus k. So, also implies C 3 and C 3 inverse which is nothing but C 3 squared belong to the same conjugacy class. So, this is true for a principal axis which has a vertical mirror plane then it becomes the bilateral and you can use the condition that the conjugation sigma V inverse is same as sigma V the conjugation will take the element to the inverse of the element. So, that is why C 3 and C 3 inverse belongs to the same conjugacy class. Using this also you can show sigma V C 3 is. So, this is another way of validating that it is not equal to, this is not equal to this. Once it is not equal order matters then this direct product which I am writing like I can find the elements by using this that set will be a complete set whichever order you take, but the claim to be a direct product group is that you have to get the same element whether you do C 3 with sigma V or sigma V with C 3. So, that is not happening it is not a direct product group. In fact, you can show this to be a semi direct product. This also we discussed how did we discuss? We said that this is like a symmetric group right of degree 3 it is isomorphic to it. This group is isomorphic to this and then in that symmetric group you can have alternating group which is a subgroup. This is a subgroup of the alternating. Alternating group is a subgroup of the symmetric group and the elements of this are nothing, but the 3 cycle which has even permutations right am I right. If you remember the elements here will be E 1 2 3 1 2 3 squared and that is isomorphic to E C 3 C 3. So, you can show this to be a semi direct product of what is the notation? This is the way we write and times the. So, the 3 elements will get multiplied with this and that is a semi direct. This also we discussed. So, the next thing which we were trying to write is a matrix representation. I said let us do a matrix representation where we take x y z and operate C 2 on this. You will get x prime y prime z prime and you can write the 3 dimensional representation. So, that is being displayed on the screen. So, C 2 will be C 2 will be what? It will be taking x 2 minus x y 2 minus y because it is 180 degree rotation z to z. So, you will have minus 1 0 0 that will be your C 2. So, as shown in the screen I have put it in identity element is identity looking at the how it operates on your x y z components of your position vector. C 2 will be the diagonal elements x component will be minus x y component will become minus y and z will not change. If you do the mirror just the mirror if you take the mirror to be in the x z plane which components will not change sign a mirror in an x z plane will not change x component or the z component, but the y component will change sign clear. And similarly C 2 sigma y can be written as if it is a mirror in the y z plane both are equivalent. So, the mirror in the y z plane will change the x component alone, but not the y components and z component. Is this clear? How I have written a matrix representation for the C 2 v group? I have tried to find the same these matrices when you multiply it will satisfy the same multiplication table ok. Matrix multiplication if you do the multiplication table of C 2 v will be satisfied by these 3 cross 3 matrices clear ok. So, now what you see here is that these are you know already diagonal this is what you see here, but if you are done a 120 degree rotation that also we did in class right. So, if you want to write C 3 element it will be cos 120 what is cos 120? So, this will be the matrix which you will have to write right cos 120 is sin 30 right sin 30 is half and then minus half this one will be root 3 by 2. So, it is already in a completely diagonal fashion there, but here you see a something where it is a block diagonal. So, that is the first observation C 2 v all the matrix for all the elements there are 4 elements in C 2 v all the 4 elements are diagonal and C 2 v is also an abelian group or a non-abelian group. The direct product groups each one is abelian the product is also abelian. So, it is an abelian group C 3 v is isomorphic to the symmetric group of degree 3 which is a semi direct product and we have seen many times that it is not an abelian group ok. So, I am just taking these two simple examples whatever I am doing for the simple examples you can extrapolate for other groups ok. So, it is completely diagonal and we saw this definition of what is reducible irreducible representation is what is my aim today ok. So, instead of working with x y z basis. So, this one is acting on x y z giving you x prime y prime z prime ok and you see that the z component is never changing you could also work with these matrices acting on the x y plane ok. So, you can do things like what is the C 3 maxes which takes x y to x prime y prime that is nothing, but this 2 by 2 block. If you just take the 2 by 2 block you can say they are two-dimensional matrix representations for the same group which group symmetric group of degree 3 or C 3 v. This is one element I have written you can write it for sigma v also you can write it for C 3 times sigma v you can start writing those matrices right. How will you write C 3 sigma v is what? So, let us take the sigma v to be the y z plane for example, if suppose I take the y z plane then this is supposed to give me and then write the matrix form for this. So, the matrix form for this will be x goes to minus x y y remains same and this is a 2 by 2 matrix sorry this is a 2 by 2 matrix which you have to write and this is a two-dimensional representation for the sigma v. And if you want to find C 3 times sigma v you just multiply you can do the multiplication and write what happens. Similarly, you can write C 3 square times sigma v and you can write all the matrix elements you can write the 2 cross 2 matrix elements. So, this will be 1 0 0 1 this will be minus 1 0 0 1, but then there are elements which are minus half root 3 by 2 minus root 3 by 2 minus half for this and there will be the inverse element which is like rotating by minus 1 20 degrees. So, you can write all the matrices which acts on the x y coordinates alone and it gives you another representation which is a two-dimensional representation for the C 3 v group correct. Why it is a representation? The product of this with this will give me identity I can see that the multiplication table is satisfied by this matrices. So, in that sense it is a 2 D representation. Can I say whether this 2 D representation is reducible or irreducible? That is the next question. What is the definition of a given matrix?  First of all you have to find. So, can we find a matrix S such that you can further break it into. So, if it is two dimension I should see whether there is a matrix S. S let us take half S inverse it is two dimension. Can you break it up into a 1 cross 1 and a 1 cross 1? Suppose you find the matrix S which breaks it into 1 cross 1 and 1 cross 1. What will happen to the identity element? Identity element will not be touched right. Identity element is already in a complete diagonal form. So, this S which if suppose it diagonalizes it, it will automatically diagonalize this as well as probably this right. It is not really going to matter. What can matter is the other elements? Can all the elements be diagonalized by the same S matrix? The same S elements ok. If suppose you find the S. So, find S then check S sigma v C 3 I am not writing the matrix you write the 2 cross 2 matrix here. Whatever 2 cross 2 matrix you find here you put the same matrix S inverse question mark. Can you make it into a diagonal form? By this I mean the off diagonals are all zeros ok. That is the meaning of writing it in this short end notation. Yeah in this case of 2 cross 2 there is nothing called block diagonal, but in general if you had a 3 cross 3 or a 4 cross 4 you could break it up into sub pieces ok. So, in this particular example of a 2 cross 2 matrices can you find an S matrix with simultaneously the similarity transformation with this S matrix from all the elements should give me diagonal matrix. Can you achieve it is the question? I am telling you the answer the answer is no ok. One is you can do it by brute force and check it out. I am trying to tell you that simultaneously making all the elements to be diagonal starting with this 2 dimensional representation is not possible ok. So, one is to do it by brute force another one is to try to understand from a set of lemmas theorems and postulates you know to get a feel for it please try it out. I would ask you to I will strongly urge you to try out doing this find an S first this diagonalization is trivial for you you can do it. After you do that and find the S I am sure all of you have done diagonalization of matrices. After you find that S try to see whether that S when you employ on the sigma 3 V or sigma V C 3 or sigma V C 3 inverse check whether what happens. Other two elements are trivial identity and the other one, but non-trivial elements which involves of diagonal elements is this same S which you are going to find going to diagonalize it. If you can find that out then you can say that the 2 dimensional representation suppose you find an S. So, let me write it if we find S which diagonalizes all the elements of group G all the matrix all the representing. So, let me write it this way representation of the elements of group G. Suppose you find an S and if you take that matrix representation. So, let me denote that matrix representation as some n cross n matrix for a group element G suppose you find S S inverse if you can break this into a piece which is n 1 cross n 1 n 2 cross n 2 and so on such that the n 1 plus n 2 should add up to n ok n cross n matrix for every group element ok. So, let me call this as. So, gamma 1 for the same G gamma 2 for the same G and so on. So, these are lower dimensional matrices. So, this you should do it for all G this is not dependent on G should be the same as on all G. If we find an S which satisfies this then gamma n cross gamma n of G is reducible yeah. Now, given a representation I am not saying that this gum yeah. So, I am just saying in an abstract fashion take an n cross n matrix representation take that representation matrix entries also and then work it out. If you take another n cross n with some other entries that is a difference to it. So, I am not saying that it does not depend on the elements of the group it does not depend on this, but it depends on what is the entries of this matrix ok. So, in some simple cases there is only one unique matrix which you can write, but there are some complicated situation where there will be two different 3 cross 3 matrices which you can write. I will come to it some examples I will tell you, but right now you take that just like this example where I have taken a 2 cross 2 matrix or a 3 cross 3 matrix you can try to see whether you can find an S which satisfies this. That is another way of arguing it for simple cases higher representations also it is possible to argue this way yeah ok good. So, as he is already saying, but that is not really a postulate because I want to do it in general for a n cross n matrix what are these blocks in which it can break that you cannot generally answer from your just an abelian or non abelian ok. So, the question that it is abelian or non abelian will not really help me, but what I want to drive upon you is that there is going to be some kind of an orthogonality theorem which is called great orthogonality theorem which plays a crucial role in saying that we can find an S not that I am going to find S, but that theorem tells you that yes I can find an S which does this job in which case I can say that this one is a reducible representation. If I cannot find an S yeah if I do not find an S if S is not found then this element itself what does it mean? If you do not find an S I cannot break it up like this which means this one will itself be a irreducible representation ok. I am using the shorthand notation r e f n, but representation we will start using further I will shorthand this and call it as irrep. So, I am only claiming to you that this one is an irrep this two dimensional matrix representation is an irrep or in other words I cannot find an S which will block diagonal has no meaning in a two dimension it should become completely diagonal and one of the ways to see it is that it is non-abillion you can show that you can not simultaneously diagonalize all the elements of a non-abillion group that is another way of. So, good, good, but that is what is happening in your if you see that earlier representation that is a good point. So, you do see that a billion is trivially a block diagonal form and you can pick up the irreducible blocks out of it ok. So, here let me also say that if this these are what we call it as a irreducible blocks representation or irreps ok. So, gamma 1, gamma 2 are all different each of these blocks block diagonal are called the irreducible representation for the same group. What I mean by that is that you can play around with gamma 1 of G alone and write the group that is what happens in C 2 B. In C 2 B I can say that 1 minus 1, 1 and minus 1 ok. So, let me write that here it is a 1 cross 1 matrix ok. So, this is a 1 cross 1 matrix with the elements which is 1, 1, 1 and 1 that will trivially satisfy any group actually ok. In fact, here for the C 3 V you can still take it on the z axis E C 3 C 3 squared sigma V sigma V C 3 sigma V C 3 square you can apply it on the z axis. If you do it on the z axis that is what happens identity nothing C 3 also is the z axis itself. So, here also you can have a representation which is acting on one dimensional z coordinate and what will that element be 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. It is a 1 cross 1 matrix right because it is acting only on the z axis. For C 2 B there are only 4 elements right this is for C 2 B. This is a matrix 1 cross 1 matrix 1 cross 1 matrix is just the number 1 it is like a trivial representation which is going to be there for every group ok. So, this is a trivial sometimes called unit representation irrep for every group. So, the number of elements is the order in this case it is 4, this case it is it cases is 6 that representation is there.


Digestion is a complex process that our bodies carry out using a variety of chemicals. In this video, we're going to focus on the role of bacteria in digestion. Many different types of bacteria are found in the gut. In fact, scientists estimate that the gut contains between 300 and 1000 different types of bacteria, and the total number of bacteria in one person's gut could be anything between 100 and 1000 trillion. It's a lot of bacteria, so what are they doing inside our digestive system? The most common and important bacteria is the lactobacillus species, which lives in our small intestine. When undigested, carbohydrates enter the intestines. Lactobacillus helps digest them, otherwise they would be lost from the body and unused. Lactobacillus also helps digest sugars found in dairy products. When lactobacillus bacteria anaerobically respire, they produce lactic acid as a waste product. Although lactic acid in our muscles hurt, lactic acid in our gut is actually very useful because it keeps the pH of our gut acidic, which means pathogen bacteria, so bad bacteria cannot thrive. This helps protect us from bacterial infections. Lactobacillus also helps prevent too much yeast growth in our guts, which if it spreads out to the rest of our body can cause yeast infections. Too many yeast cells can also cause problems with our digestive system. As well as aiding digestion, scientists have discovered that the bacteria in our guts can also influence our immune system, metabolism, and the production of essential bio compounds. There's even research showing that some cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and obesity are associated with changes in our gut's bacteria. But back to our gut bacteria and digestion. What happens if our doctor prescribes us antibiotics? Antibiotics work by killing bacteria or preventing them from reproducing. Does this harm our digestion and all the other wonderful things that gut bacteria do? Some antibiotics are targeted at specific types of bacteria, and so our doctors will try and target only the nasty pathogenic bacteria. However, often antibiotics will also kill our good digestion bacteria too. But if you're ill and you need the antibiotics, then this is just a side effect that we have to handle. There are a few things we can try and do to help our good bacteria re-establish healthy gut populations. Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are found in some foods. It is thought that eating probiotics can help restore the natural balance of good bacteria in our guts that we lose from taking antibiotics. Only certain types of live bacteria make it through our acidic stomach and they need to be in very high doses. Prebiotics are essentially food for bacteria. They stimulate certain bacteria populations to multiply and survive in the gut. Probiotics can be found in these foods amongst many others. So while our bodies are brilliant at digesting food, it turns out they need a little help from friendly bacteria to get the job done, to catch any undigested food and to maintain a suitable pH that we stay healthy amongst many other great things. Until next time.


You talk about saying even keel when the hit the streak was almost 70 minutes as that's 16 and 3rd longest since at least 1961. I think so it was a block when you're going through that. Does that feel like a test for that mentality that you guys you guys talk about that a lot saying you feel? Yeah, it's a little adversity, you know, I'd rather have it now, you know, in June and, you know, October 1st or 2nd. You know, so get a chance to go through this now. You know, you don't want to go through it, but you know, every team needs a little bit of head to kind of, you know, keep them in check that, you know, this is a hard game and everything's going to roll your way. And, you know, these guys, you know, nothing, they never waver this stuck to their plans, stuck to their approach and continue to just grind it out. And then Big G hit one about one 20th center and it was all good. So how does this feel here when you play another top team like this sold out weekend series all four era close to sell out? I mean, how is this how is this atmosphere different than maybe a lot of other games?  Probably down the road, we've seen each other a lot in years past in the postseason. And, you know, anytime we play is always going to be a good ball game. So I think the fans just anticipate that and they bring their energy from the first pitch on. And, you know, that's what you love. You look forward to these weekends and, you know, playing good teams and just kind of seeing where you stack up in the air. Your agreement seems very reflective of somebody who's very confident in himself that you took the compromise. And then the incentives were to win the MVP of the whole league and the MVP of the World Series. I mean, you know, that's, that's a bad a lot of people wouldn't make. Just feel just so confident that just that you, is that you? What do you mean? I mean, you just, you just feel very confident about what you can do today. Oh, yeah. My confidence lies in my teammates, you know, that's where it comes. You know, we got one of the best, you got to be the best team on the planet. And, you know, show them to work every single day with these guys who are ready to work and ready to grind.   So when you got that time of, you know, team chemistry and it makes it fun every single day. Aaron Boone talks a lot about this team's resilience. What do you think is so special about this club this season, especially after a series like this?  You know, it could be anybody one through nine on that line. I'm going to do something big for you. And, you know, for me, that's where it shows up in October. You know, it kind of reminds me of some postseason games.  It's just, you know, you never know what's going to happen. You're showing someone's going to do something special.  I can't really describe it. It's just, it's been fun.


Welcome to Asian Review. I'm your host Bill Sharp. My guest today, Mr. Wendell Minick, joins us from Taipei, Taiwan. We're his senior Asia correspondent for Shepherd Media Military. He previously was Bureau Chief for Defense News and worked for James Defense Weekly. Hey, Wendell. Good to see you. Welcome to Asian Review. Well, thanks a lot, Bill. Appreciate it. My pleasure. My pleasure. Well, let's get right into it then. Now, every year you go to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and this year you were there again. So what was your take of this year's Shangri-La Dialogue? Well, every year you go, it's a little different. This year there was a smaller Chinese delegation. There were some angry words expressed by the Chinese delegation members who were there, regarding General Mattis's comments regarding Taiwan arm sales. That was pretty much all the excitement that occurred at this particular one. That's interesting. Now, was anything said about Admiral Harris? Because it's pretty well known that the Chinese don't care for him. And in fact, there are some rumors that the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., Swayi Tiankai, requested to have Admiral Harris replaced. Was there any talk about Admiral Harris at the Shangri-La Dialogue? I don't understand the full reason why they feel like they have the right to tell anyone that we have to replace someone. That myths me too. I have to admit that one kind of gets me boiling. The Chinese are becoming a little more aggressive in what their demands are like. For example, recently they demanded that the South Koreans allow them to inspect the bad missile batteries. That is very strange. That's very cocky to tell another country that is technically your enemy that you want to inspect their missile batteries. It doesn't make much sense. No, I'm right with you on that. I think that is terribly arrogant of the Chinese. When they demand that the Pacific commander be replaced, and they demand an open inspection of the Thad, or what they call it, the Sada, in South Korea, I do hear the U.S. sort of countered and said, yeah, okay, fine, let us inspect your strategic missile forces or something like that. Yeah, they don't really understand quid pro quo. When you talk to the Chinese about reciprocal relations, they don't really understand it.  So that's a huge problem. They break the rules that they don't want to use, and they follow the rules that give them some advantage. I would agree with that wholeheartedly. Well, what's the talk in Taiwan about a new U.S. arms package to Taiwan? Now, when Obama, in the closing days of the Obama administration, it was said that the U.S. had put together an arms package and was going to get it delivered to Taiwan before Obama left office, and then that didn't happen. And Trump came in, and supposedly the arms package was still on, but now we don't hear anything about it. So what's the story around Taiwan? What are people concerned with defense issues in Taiwan saying about this arms package? They're looking at mid-year, which actually it is already mid-year. Chronically, I've been saying this for a while, but the problem is that many of the folks that that are supposed to be appointed to post have not been appointed yet, deputy secretary, under secretary, all these positions are vacant, largely for political reasons. And until some of these positions are filled and policy is made, there's going to be a hold up on a whole range of issues, not just Taiwan. But on items that they want to sell Taiwan, one of them is the M1 Abrams tank. This one has been going on for 20 years, the request. And the United States does have a large arsenal of M1 Abrams tanks. They continue to build for no reason at all. So I suspect that that will go forward. It's the wrong tank for Taiwan. Taiwan, as you know, is a high mountain range with low wetland coastlines. And the bridges are old, some of them, and they have earthquakes and mudslides. And a big tank like that doesn't move around very easily. And they use a completely different kind of ammunition, which costs more money. So what they still want them on Abrams tank, they're still pushing forward and it'll probably be released. Yeah, I agree with you on that. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, because as you suggested, the Abrams is really heavy. And probably Taiwan's bridges after being weakened by so many earthquakes and typhoons really probably can't hold them up, can't support them. And I think Taiwan needs a medium sized tank. Well, they have them 60s and then 48s they built here. And they switched turrets on them and they've done all kinds of things with them. They're not going to have a land battle here with the Chinese when they invade. And that's not going to happen. So why they want these M1 Abrams is unclear. You know, I can certainly understand why they would want Paladins or something, you know, a mobile artillery force in that range of 105. But a tank is a whole different matter. You have to have a lot of maneuverability. And they only have one or two places left in Taiwan where they can maneuver. They have tank bases. A lot of land is being scooped up by developers. They only have one artillery range now. Artillery places along the coast and for the water, but they only have one land based one. So the military here is sort of falling apart in terms of where to go to train. Singapore has sent troops here to train. But Taiwan still needs more room. Well, let me ask you this about this arms package. Rumors that, well, I guess it's more than a rumor is Taiwan really would like to have in the F-35s. Is there any chance of them getting the F-35s? You know, my crystal ball is broken on that one. You know, I have some of the original paperwork from the Defense Security Corporation Agency. And the ones who handle the FMS, I have some of this material. I probably shouldn't have it, but I have it. And it talks about 120 F-35s and 60 F-35Bs. So that's an A and a B. And that was 20 years ago. So they certainly have a requirement because we expect the runways to be destroyed by China's service short range ballistic missiles. And Bunker Busters will knock out a lot of the what was thought originally as impenetrable bases like Wall-In air base, which is all inside a mountain. You know, Taiwan's a very interesting place. A lot of their bases are inside mountains. It has a very James Bond sort of feel to it. You expect to see a guy with a white cat in a wheelchair will roll around the corner. But they have a pretty good defensive mindset. Unfortunately, technology is offsetting that considerably. You know, I was reading something the other day, and it was an evaluation of the F-35 and was a pretty dim evaluation. It was saying that really the plane is way overrated. And if you take an F-35 and you compare it to an F-16C, an F-16 Charlie, that actually the F-16 Charlie comes out a lot better. Now, I know Taiwan only has the A's and B's, but it wasn't too long ago, they were really screaming for the C's and D's. 51's, yeah. Yeah, that was a really sad story, too, because they could have had those CDs before. Well, what they got was a refurbishment package for their current A's. And that's going to take a long time, five, something like five years per squadron. So, you know, it's going to be 20, 20 years, 25 years before they'll have all the refurbishments done. That's a terrible waste of time. And China's coming, so you don't really have time to mess around with refurbishment of these aircraft. The F-35B, the problem with the F-35B is that it's really an untested platform in combat. Since it first came out, technology has advanced, and our ability to see these aircraft in the air has advanced. And the F-35's, you know, they're built all over the world, the parts manufacturing, and I have countless files in my file cabinet of F-35 spy stories that involve the mainland Chinese. So, I suspect the platform has been completely well acquired and may very well be flying around as the J-31. That's an interesting comment, because when you see pictures of Chinese combat aircraft, they have a striking similarity to either the F-22 or the F-35. The J-31 particularly, the single-engine was the original design, and there it is, flying around. I've seen both aircraft fly in China. The bigger one, the J-20, doesn't have much maneuverability, and they're most likely what will be used for strike, long-range strike missions like Gwang or maybe Hawaii. They can get past the air defense, I doubt it, but definitely a long-range strike weapon system. Yeah, Hawaii is really becoming more and more in adversaries' gun sites, isn't it? North Korea, as you're suggesting, possibly the Chinese. We better hunker down here. Be careful. Well, you know, something, I gave a talk at Paycom recently, and talking about some of the research I did at Academia Seneca Institute of Taiwan History while in Taiwan last year, and talked somewhat about military affairs as well. And the big question the folks out there had for me was, what is Taiwan's will to fight? So what's your take on that? How would you respond to that? What is Taiwan's will to fight? Well, I would have to say that it is nothing like the American perspective. Taiwan has a Marine Corps, and Taiwan has a special forces group. Army, Navy, and Marines have special forces. And though they're very proud of their tradition, they have no experience. And you have to have some experience, and you have to have some training with other nations. And there's very limited training opportunities for these units with America. That's a big problem. If you get down to the regular infantry, you might as well just forget it.  And then, you know, they'll say, well, I'm one or two of them are in the Army. And they'll say, actually, though, I'm AWOL right now. Let me break in here a second. I'm being told we need to take a break. Let's take a break and we'll come back and we'll pursue this topic, because I think this is a topic of interest to a lot of people. Sure. You're watching Asia and Review. My name is Bill Sharp. My guest today is Wendell Minick. He's the Senior Asia Correspondent for Shepherd and Media and Military. He's been living in Asia for over 20 years, especially Taiwan. He is a real expert on military affairs. And we'll be right back. This guy looks familiar. He calls himself the Ultra Fan, but that doesn't explain all this. He planned this party, planned the snacks, even planned to coordinate colored shirts, but he didn't plan to have a good time. Now you wouldn't do this in your own house, so don't do it in your team's house. Know your limits and plan ahead so that everyone can have a good time. Well, okay, we're back. Welcome back to Asia and Review. I'm your host, Bill Sharp. Our show today is Taiwan's Will to Fight, and our guest is Wendell Minick. Wendell is the Senior Area Correspondent for Shepherd and Media and Military. He is a real specialist on military affairs. He's lived in Taiwan for 20-some years and travels all over Asia reporting on various military affairs. Just before the break, we were talking about Taiwan's Will to Fight, and so let's pick it up from there. And I think I know where you're going on this, because a big question I asked people when I was in Taiwan last year is, well, tell me about your military service. And I heard so many times it was a total waste of time. I wasted whatever period of my life that I was in the military. It was boring. The living conditions were horrible. And it just kind of went on and on and on. And then I asked people, well, now let me see. You served in the military nowadays for four months, and you're supposed to go to reserve training. So have you gone to reserve training? Oh no, they never called me. And I've been told by other folks, and these are retired flag officers because they're a little more talkative, right, that even if Taiwan mobilized all its two million plus reservists, they probably, their training probably won't be up to standard, and they probably won't have enough equipment to equip them all. Is that your take as well? I'd say that's a nice way of putting it. The rude way to say it is that China would rape Taiwan in a war. It does not have the will to fight.  There is open talk that everyone has cell phones now that when the flag goes up, that parents will just go drive to the base and tell their kids to get in the car and we're going home. There will be a lot of no-shows. There will be a lot of AWOL. People will simply not show up. They'll just disappear. That's pretty grim. That's really grim. Well, they don't expect to. There's no nationalism here. It hasn't yet transformed to an independent Taiwan identity. It's certainly moving in that direction, but they still use the same flag in the KMT, and the uniforms still have KMT symbolism on it. We're talking about the sun. I know. It's a target not here. It's other symbols. They need to remove these names and things on there and put Taiwan symbols on their flags, on their patches, stop naming their ships after some river in China. And start thinking in terms of what it means to be Taiwanese and try to develop a military culture that is Taiwanese-based. Part of this area might be the Aborigines here. They could certainly introduce some new symbolism. The Taiwan Special Forces is full of Aborigines, mountain peoples that are about the only ones who can handle this kind of training, and they don't look Chinese. They certainly look more Philippine, Indonesian. They have a joke amongst them that the first Chinese that they would shoot during an invasion would be their own officers. Gosh, that's telling. That is really telling. So let me ask you this. I think that you indirectly answered it already, but just so we don't make any mistakes here. What's the morale level in the military? I think people are comfortable.  They don't have a lot to complain about. I don't think that people, you don't hear the horror stories that you used to hear of people being abused unnecessarily. You have basic training where you have people coming to you and making sure is the food okay.  Can you tell us what it was so we can fix it right away? You hear a horror story after a horror story of parents interfering in the training of their children in basic training and later infantry school, which is absolutely mind-boggling. There's something else about the culture here. If you go to Korea and you meet a young man, it's about to go into the Korean boot camp system.  You're not friends anymore or something. Something has changed. The boot camp that he goes into has changed. The guys are going to boot camp here come out angry that they had to go to boot camp and they don't feel particularly they don't feel more nationalistic and that's what boot camp should at least try to instill is a different kind of nationalism pride. That's really something. Now let's let's move on here because time always races on here and as we were a couple more things we really want to touch on the Ministry of National Defense's QDR comes out every year. I guess it is this year. I went through it in preparation for our talk today and they seem to put a lot of emphasis on improving living conditions. Are there living conditions on Taiwan military bases? Well, how are they? I mean, you've seen them. Yeah, I've been in them. I've slept in them. Look, come on. Everyone has the internet on their phones. Everyone can use wireless and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And when you go into these dormitories, you're stacked bunks. You have no air conditioner and you have one of these mosquito coils. I don't think she would like them with a match and there is no internet and you're basically isolated from your family and friends. Well, that's okay in boot camp, but that's not okay in regular army. There is no married housing. If you get sent to Punghu and you're from Taipei, your family doesn't go with you to Punghu. You don't get to see them, but every few months. So the military here really is just destroyed families. And who wants to join the military when their buddies are working for computer companies here in Taiwan and they're having fun and they're enjoying their lives? And then you say, well, I'm protecting Taiwan from something. And they say, well, Taiwan will become part of China. Don't worry about it or be an economic integration of some sort. I think I see where you're coming from. But since time is always an issue here, let's move on because there are a couple of things I'd like to talk about before our time's up. We have about four minutes left here. The Hanguang, the annual military exercise. Now you attend every year, right? Yes, I try to. And sometimes they do this all on computer and sometimes they have a computerized portion and mixed it up with a live fire portion. It's divided into two. Okay. I read some comments someplace. I wonder if this was something you wrote that this year's Hanguang was more or less a dog and pony show for the benefit of President Tsai Ing-wen. Did I say that? Well, if it wasn't you, I'd take that back by then with somebody else. But if you want to own up to it, I'll let you right here on air. All of the press and media shows that attend the Hanguang are basically just shows, a dog and pony shows. That doesn't mean that they're not real. They are certainly real. They fire their weapons. They demonstrate their helicopters and their all their abilities are there. It's quite a show. It's just like watch a movie. And that's what you have to sort of remind yourself that this is a choreographed attempt to impress the media. And the media takes all this footage and they put it on the wires and they show the world that Taiwan is ready to fight. But Hanguang is actually a much larger exercise that expands all over the island and involves a computer simulation. It involves a live fire and involves all kinds of different kinds of drills. It's a nationwide drill basically. So my making fun of the once again, here we are again back here. Oh my God, here they do. You can basically set your clock to the next event. So yeah, they have exercises every week that I simply just don't go to. They'll have a drill or exercise. I'm just, I just don't want to get up at four in the morning to go to. So yeah, they work very hard to impress people with these Hanguang. These are the media shows, not the overall effort. Think of a Hanguang as a larger effort, a larger program, island-wide basically. Now, I know that you wanted to talk about, we've got about a minute left here, so we're going to get this in. How will China might use Su-au, port city on the east coast of Taiwan, to dominate the Asia-Pacific region? Well, real quickly, let me explain what the problem is that people in Washington don't understand. China is expanding its influence. South China Sea is pretty much gone. It's got some land chains, it's building bases, it's got air defense ID, ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone there. East China Sea, they have an ADIZ there that encompasses Sanctuary Islands, that's the Japanese islands. Our time is just about up here. I think I could sum up what you're saying here. If China controls Su-au, a port on the eastern coast of Taiwan, it has an ability to exercise great control into the western Pacific. Because of the depths, the water depths or submarines. The evil clock has caught up with us again. It does this every week, unfortunately. We're just going to have to have a slow that clock down one way or the other. But hey, thanks for joining us.  I wish we had some more time to talk. We'll have to invite you back here real soon just to continue this conversation because I think we're just getting started. I always enjoy talking. Please tell me when this will be on so I can watch it. I will send you an email with the link and we'll be in touch. Thank you very much for watching today. It was great to have you with us. We'll see you again next week. Thanks, Bill. You bet. Thank you.