We are back on July 3rd, which you may know is the day before July 4th, which you may know is Independence Day in this country. And we're going to celebrate Independence Day together. Brigadier General Stan Osserman, what, Hawaii National Guard? They get that right? Yes, National Guard. Their National Guard. Retired. Okay. And active duty, chief, Master Sergeant Westcott Lee. What did I miss? The Hawaii National Guard also. Okay, Hawaii National Guard, okay. And the title of our show is, we're going to talk about patriotism on July 4th. And we're going to try to distinguish how his patriotism changed for us, for others, in recent years. Okay, who wants to go first? Stan, you.  So you want me to focus on patriotism and how it's changed? Because I would say patriotism... What does July 4th mean for you? But for me, patriotism and July 4th talks about the basic structure of our country. And for me, the basic structure of our country starts with this document right here called the Constitution. It's the framing of how our government should be set up. It divides the powers between the leaders of the country, and it gives the ultimate power of choice to the people themselves. So it was the first document in recorded mankind that actually gave the power of rule to the ruled instead of kings and dictators. And so I think for me, patriotism is our form of government. It's a love of our form of government as a government that stands out as being controlled by the people, of buying for the people. And the whole structure is in this very small, very concise, very beautifully crafted document. I'm thinking, though, that the Independence Day is named after the, well, at least more directly related to the Declaration of Independence. Correct. How would you fold that into those remarks? Well, it's interesting, putting a slant on it like this, back in those days when we declared independence from England. The people who declared independence from England were called liberals. And the people that wanted to stay under the British monarchy were conservatives. The people who wanted to stay under the British monarchy wanted to keep things to status quo. And today it's 180 out. The people that want to stay with our Constitution and follow this as closely as possible are the conservatives. And the people who want to change and make us more of a global government, global community, globally connected government and rule, or at least part of a generally more universal experience with the rest of the world in terms of leadership and guidance and following things like the United Nations kind of things or League of Nations, that's what liberal and conservative have really switched 180 from the time the Constitution was written until now. But I consider myself a current day conservative that believes in the Constitution as written. Wes, you've had how many years in the service? Too much. Too much years. Almost 40 years. 40 years. That's some kind of all time record. Half of the time I've been an E9. So yeah, so tomorrow is July 4th. You probably have some thoughts about that. You've committed, essentially you've committed your life to the country and to defending the country. Yeah, no, it's true, isn't it? I know it's true. I have to give it a mile. You must have some thoughts about that. What are your thoughts on July 4th? July 4th, I'm spot on with you about the Declaration of Independence, 1776. July 4th. In my reflection of July 4th, I look at the 19th of April, 1775, Lexington Green, Concord, Massachusetts, Old North Creek, where brave men stood fast and started the country. Shot hurt around the world. Shot hurt around the world. That's your garden. And they were absolutely, we talk about patriots. We talk about the minutemen. We talk about the militia. We talk about the National Guard. Absolutely. So that's what I reflect on every time I think July comes around. I'm very emotional about patriotism. I always was actually, and it wasn't only because I was in the service and I got to see a lot of things, although that was a big part of it, because I monitored American history and college is why. And I got to see that whole panoply there of the 19th century and the 20th century and how the labels changed and how people interpreted the Constitution and how they built the country. And it was imperfect, of course. Humankind is imperfect and so governments are imperfect as well. But this is really special and it's groundbreaking. It was in 1775 and it is still groundbreaking in its own way. It's still part of a great experiment. I think of three icons which Haley E. K. had got for me for this discussion. One of them, and I'll tell you the sequence I think of them in terms of, one of them is Normandy. My wife and I went to Normandy a few years ago with a specific intention of looking at the American cemetery. And I knew it was going to be a powerful experience, but it was far more powerful. You know, can we see those pictures than I ever imagined? It was just, it blew you away to be there. It blew you away to see those, to see the cemetery. Yeah, it was one of the most memorable and profound experiences I've ever had. And you can see all of World War II. You can see, you know, the greatest generation. You can see, you know, Omaha Beach, which is very close by.  Imagine what would have happened had we not entered that war. Exactly. In both sides of the globe. So that's really important to me. Perhaps more than any other war, although I mentioned when I wrote to you guys that the Civil War is still, you know, probably the most profound and stark event that ever took place in the country in order to cement it together, to make it real, to, you know, to patch up the problems that had arisen over slavery in the 17th, 18th, 19th century. And then my second icon, my second icon, I have pictures of that, too. What was my second icon? Oh, yeah, no, no, that was my second icon was coming on notes, wrong show. Well, I'll go to the Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Liberty, very powerful.  And, you know, surrounded New York is a very diverse place, probably for a long time, the most diverse place in the country, really, because all the immigrants came there.  They stayed in the Tenements and they looked out over, over Brooklyn. They looked out into the harbor and there was a Statue of Liberty. And on the base of the Statue of Liberty was a poem written by Emma Lazarus, who was actually the daughter of a wealthy capitalist, believe it or not. And she wrote this poem that sticks in my mind. I'm going to read part of it to you now, which I feel is, you know, the most touching right now. It's called The New Colossus. You probably haven't heard the title before, but that's the title of the poem. And I won't read the, well, I'll read the whole opening. Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame with conquering limbs astride from land to land. Here at our seawash sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman, the Statue of Liberty, from France, with the torch whose flame is the imprisoned lightning and her name, Mother of Exiles. That's the Statue of Liberty, Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome. Her mild eyes command the air bridge tovour. Air bridge, gutty, that twin city's frame. Keep ancient lands. You got to do this right. Keep ancient lands. Your storied pomp. Pomp's not a good thing. Cry's she with silent lips. Now, here's the, here's the, the clincher. The clincher. This is a clincher. This is the part that that takes me up the wall. Give me your tired, your poor, your huggled masses. Yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Oh, powerful stuff. 1883 or so. And, you know, that's been the case since then in the immigrant teeming immigrant city of New York then. And since then in the whole country really is, is teeming. I got to say, Canada is also teeming. But that's just his immigrants. America. Yeah, it's America. My job. My job. Yeah, everybody says really. I mean, the number of people who are not immigrants in this country is a small percentage. Yeah, no work land of immigrants. So I'm very touched by that poem. In fact, I have an emotional reaction to that as I did when I visited Normandy. And the third point, which I just remembered is this. Talk to a member of my family about this show and I want to get input. And what he said to me is what I would like to say to you is, you know, the country has had a bad time, not just in the Trump administration, but over the past 20, 30 years. We have seen divisiveness. You've seen ineffective government. We have seen all kinds of huge mistakes. The last war we actually won for an important purpose is the Second World War. Exactly. The rest of it, not so good. And all these programs and initiatives including immigration haven't worked. We haven't really attended to it. The country has had a problem. And the question is, where are we now that we should feel either patriotic, optimistic, or not? And his comment to me, which I take to heart is, we are in a time here on July 4th when all these cans that have been kicked down the road, all these controversies have been buried and marginalized and not addressed for decades are becoming addressed. They are being discussed. Who knows what action will be taken or not in the years to come. But we are now on a July 4th at a July 4th where we can see those issues emerging. We can see those issues in discussion, possibly in resolution. Among disparate groups, divided camps, if you will. And this could be the greatest moment for the country. I would say, Bravo. But I'd also like to point out that we've had a lot of tumultuous time in our nation's history. And the one big difference we have today is that the cans have been kicked down the road. And the immediate communications we have in today's world allow for a lot of knee-jerk reaction to solving problems instead of thoughtful, well-thought-out, strategically-planned solutions.  We need to be solution-oriented, not name-calling-oriented. And whether it's a media cycle, whether it's people just trying to get their minute of fame and glory and have their name in the papers or in the history books, they're taking advantage of today's technologies to exacerbate what's going on in our country. Let me point out that before World War Two, by the time the U.S. entered World War Two, how much of Europe was under Nazi control? The whole thing, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Belgium, Britain, so nightmare, literally everything but landing in Britain was. But I mean, Britain was on its knees. They were virtually at the doorstep of Nazi Germany. And the only reason that we got in there was because Nazi Germany's ally, Japan, bombed Honolulu. And that brought us into the war because Germany declared war on the U.S. There was a huge pushback from this country to enter World War Two. Charles Lindbergh, one of our most famous aviators, was a member of the American Nazi Party trying to keep America out of World War Two. You know, Radio City Musical is one of the biggest theaters in New York. Big, really big, thousands of seats. And on two occasions, I want to say, 1934 and 1938, there were Nazi rallies complete with this. Sure. In the Radio City Musical, where thousands of people came and praised the virtues of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Unbelievable, this happened in New York City, a city of immigrants. And yet, you know, there were a lot of people who would never have gone to war against Germany. They they like Germany. So you're right, I agree that had it not been for Pearl Harbor, well, but things would have been different. We entered that war without hesitation once we entered and the world was forever changed. I agree. We saved the world, honestly. We didn't make we didn't make Europe our 50 or 49th and 50th state. Well, in a sense, we did. We lent them our our constitution, our ways. They they shared a lot with us. We provided leadership for all that time. So, Wes, you haven't said anything. That's because, you know, you're surrounded with all these profound statements from the general. All these big ideas. Outranks you, yeah. Now for the real the real side. Oh, my God. What would you add or subtract from that? You know, I we talk about sacrifices when we signed that dot in line or raised our right hand. That's patriotism. That's that's serving. I'm part of our lot, part of what we as a veteran have a common bond. And it's amazing when you sit with the old timers and you start talking about different areas in war, World War Two, Vietnam, Korean. When they sit and they talk, there's all this commonality comes across. And so when you talk about where the country is gone or the effects that come with it, again, when I talk about the Fourth of July and independence and about why they stood on their own, why they stood back and looked for to be sovereign. Those countries, that's what they saw if there was to be sovereign from or released from Germany. And what we did as as Americans, as United States of America was freed in from that. That's what we do now. My son today is in the desert, assisting another country, looking for independence. And just before that, he was on the big island, helping with lava flows out of the National Guard Dhamma. General knows a lot about it. When you talk about patriotism, you talk about sacrifices, you talk about serving. That's that's what it's about because I can't control everything else that's out there other than my vote and my voice. But you know, you hit something on the head when you talked about today with the media, with the access of media, which increases education, which also increases this opinion, multiple opinions, through false or in different. Well, do you think our generation, by the way, that think about sacrifice is really inherent in the cemetery, both here in Punchbowl or Pacific and Normandy, of course, the willingness to go into battle and be ready to die. And that that takes me to a question I want to ask you, is do you think our generation roughly in the same generation give a take? You think our generation is more patriotic than the generations that follow? The ones who never had a cope with the draft? The ones who were never even asked to make those sacrifices? No, I'd say it's a matter of growing into it. I'd say the more you learn about history, the more you learn about the history of our country and the world, the more you learn about the military and the sacrifices that military members make and families of military members that you become to you come to appreciate sacrifice and patriotism. I think it's something that you learn and you grow into. I think some of the symptoms I see now are people who are not necessarily given a liberal education, but given a fairly limited education in civics. And maybe are even being indoctrinated, winningly or unwittingly by the professors that teach them. And don't let them appreciate the great things about our country. As our country done really terrible things, we dropped the only nuclear weapon in history, weapons in history. We didn't do it once, we did it twice. I feel sorry for American Indians and what they went through in our country. But if you look at in the context of history, United States didn't invent slavery. Slavery was common and still is common all over the world. But we certainly abolished it. We fought a civil war where more Americans died in that war than in many, many other wars put together to get rid of slavery. And I think that's something that's worth celebrating. And it was fought by soldiers. So you spoke about planning and action and all that, but I think, you know, my third point reveals that we have ideological differences. These have been building up for a long time about, you know, the social safety net, about taking care of people or not.  And of course, the Constitution is and should be a framework for all that. But the reality is we have some fundamental disagreements about how human beings get along together in the compact of a democratic state. And I, you know, before we get to the planning, what about the resolution of those ideological differences? How are we going to resolve them? Because we have to have some optimism, you know, here on July 4th that we will be able to do that. How are we going to come together in a country that is so divided on so many things, especially including ideological things? I'd say the first thing and the most critical thing is the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of speech. When you can't go to a college campus today because you're not speaking the right way and you're not only shouted down, but literally physically attacked and you start riots because nobody wants to let you speak. They've prejudged you, which is the definition of prejudice and discrimination and bigotry. That has no place in public discourse. So give me a solution. So we need to have both sides tone down the rhetoric. Quit trying to make the sound bites for the media to get your name and fortune on TV. I hear you saying it's a recommitment to some notion. What is the notion? The notion of civility. The notion of respect.  No, but they do it in the media every day. And vice versa. President Trump slams other people on Twitter, on Facebook. That's not the way to take care of things. The way our government was set up was in the halls of Congress to debate these things civility and talk about it and solve it because most of these things we're talking past each other. Many times and I've seen it over and over and over again, even in my work, that two engineers can be saying the exact same thing and be arguing to the Hill, to the Hill. Talk about listening. Yeah, they don't know how. We've lost the skills to listen. We've lost the skills of critical thinking. We've lost the skills of communication where it's listen. Listen till you can repeat back the other person's point so they know you understand and then turn around and listen to your point and your side of it, because I see that every day. Some pundit on TV makes like he's a big international affairs professional and tears apart whatever the president is doing in North Korea. And yet he I have a master's in international relations.  So we all need to sort of reinvent the way we deal with controversies, the way we deal with people that do not agree with us. Exactly. Yeah. But I mean, how how do you ask your chief? How do you do that? How do you how do you start that up? If I made you governor, president, if I made you both houses of Congress, both of them. We'd go to the beach. What would you do? We'd go to the service. We'd go to the service and talk to you. Come away and find some aloha. Aloha, you know, this is really an important concept that we can share with the world. And maybe that's why we get it. Find aloha. It's aloha, you know, because General General Hossam and Mint talks about is about the fact that true or false, it becomes fact. True or false, it's fact. It's said. And I believe in the three C's, character, competence, courage. Those are the three things that we live by. Character, not knowing the difference between right or wrong, that's education, but character is choosing right from wrong and understanding that when you're standing there in public, understanding that difference. Competence. You got to be confident to be up there and standing on behalf of the people. If I'm speaking on behalf of the people, I must be confident at it. And if I'm not, then you might want to choose another career. And the third courage, the courage to stand up and speak. And even if you're beat down, they'll get back up with that courage to say, I'm going to move on. I'm going to continue because character was in play. Competence was in play. And I've got the courage to say it. Yeah, I'm going to talk about education. I think we all agree completely that education has not been up to the task, not only in the free speech on the campuses, but on educating people about American history. I mean, how can you understand the Constitution? How can you understand the trouble we've seen as a country, the lessons we've learned unless you know about American history? And sadly, I don't think it's taught in the school, but I do want to ask you, and it should be, but I do want to ask you about the draft. And I say the draft, I not only mean the draft as a military draft, I mean, Vista and, you know, some of those other programs. Say it again. Peace Corps. Yeah, Peace Corps. Good example. Good example. Yeah. You know, because I think what's happened and see if you guys agree with me is that we have shoved off from the national government. We we don't see ourselves as part of it, except paying taxes, maybe and not getting indicted for federal crimes. But, you know, really, we've shoved off the national government. We don't see it as representing us and we don't see, you know, us as indebted or involved with the national government. We don't want to participate. A lot of us. And that goes to the draft. And it goes to Peace Corps and Vista and all that stuff because most kids coming up now, I should say kids, but generations younger than we are have not had federal service. They have no real understanding what it is to be connected with part of the federal government. Wouldn't you support a reinvigoration of the Peace Corps? Wouldn't you support a reinvigoration of the draft? Wouldn't that be good for this conversation that stands talking about? Absolutely. You know, it's unfair because we, being veterans, look at it in that perspective. However, I absolutely believe that everyone should serve. I think they should bring back the draft. I was asked that question by some young NCOs in application to do you believe that someone who joins the Guard of the Reserve must have prior service experience? And I said, I don't believe that. I believe should bring back the draft, multiple reasons. One is that foundation, establishing that foundation is very difficult for an understand looking outside in. But as a veteran, as some of the common bond, there are education, there is experiencing, there's wisdom from the experience that comes about. And then on your way following, do I choose to my career as a military member or do I go out and do I serve my country? Do I serve my community? So I absolutely, in that retrospect, as you believe that, I like to see a draft. However, very difficult to this time because you talked about the young kids of today. I'm going to give you credit for brilliance because you basically brought us back around to the main subject, which is patriotism. You can't have patriotism without pride in your nation. Yes. You don't have any ownership in the nation by a great number of people because they don't feel part of this country. When you become part of the military, you know you're part of this country. Your life is on the line for anything that the executive branch says happens and Congress approves, you're going. And you could pay for it with your life.  You learn commitment. You learn self-sacrifice. You learn self-discipline. And I'd say all the things that we're really lacking in our society today, self-discipline is one of them.  And then on the other side, you've got people selling stuff that you don't need, and they're forcing it on you and taking advantage of your gullibility. Well, discipline in the military is everything. When the world generates into chaos and combat, it's training and discipline that gets you back on track. Ask any Marine. Ask anybody that's in that situation.  It was my discipline that kept me going. It was my partner's son left and right. That's what did it. And that's what builds that common core of national patriotism that you need. Yeah, to recognize, on July 4th, tomorrow, to recognize that we are the government. The government is us. We are inextricably intertwined. And we better remember that and guide ourselves by that. Thank you very much, Chief. Great to talk to you. And, General, thank you very much. Aloha, you guys. Aloha. I beat your life for it. Very much for you, too. Independence Day.


Hi, I'm Chris Lewis, I'm President CEO of Public Knowledge, and I'm excited that I'm going to be attending the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 this week here in Las Vegas, Nevada. I leave tomorrow morning, I'm here in the Public Knowledge Office right now, and it should be an exciting show, and they haven't had one for two years. And so there's all sorts of new technology to see, and lots of interesting policy to discuss about that technology. Awesome, so what are, what new technologies are you most excited to see this week? I think the most interesting technologies are ones where we see how they work with other types of technologies. So, think for instance, smart home technologies, they all talk to each other, they're often integrated with larger platforms. And that's really interesting from both a user perspective, because it lets you learn about what you need to buy to make work and just how easy it is for a consumer to use the new technologies. But it's also interesting from a policy perspective, because then you wonder about how well do these devices work with other services that you might want to use. Does that mean you're locked in to a walled garden? Or can you try devices that are made by the different companies and still make it work on your home network, or on a variety of network devices that you use? Maybe you're in the wearables, maybe you're into devices in your home, devices in your car, everything is connected these days. So figuring out how those connections work to the advantage of the user is very interesting. Yeah, absolutely. I know you're on two panels this week, one on Thursday, one on Friday. So, yeah, I'll be speaking on two panels. The first one will be on privacy and looking at the expectations of public as states and the federal government are looking at how to create privacy loss. So that'll be interesting. The second one will be on looking at if there's competition in the digital platform marketplace in the tech marketplace. And that's hard to find because there's so many different parts of the technology market. There's so many great small companies. So it'll be interesting to see how small companies react to the dominance of a few big tech firms in things like search and social media and marketplace or app stores. So we'll be talking about the impact of those big companies and how policies to counterbalance that power impacts smaller companies. So that'll be interesting conversation as well. I hope that there are others there from Washington traditionally, there has been guest speakers like the chairperson of the FCC, or FTC commissioners or others who are dealing with technology policy. But these days with the on the front variant. It's really unclear that much of Washington is going to make it this year. I'm playing it very safely up in Vegas so you'll see me messed up on camera probably messed up. But I do hope that some folks make it and we have some interesting policy discussions with policy makers. If not, I'm sure there'll be great conversations among the vendors and the many companies that are participating as well. Awesome. And that kind of leads into my last question. So obviously, CES hasn't kicked off yet, but it starts tomorrow and with the omocron variant things are kind of in flux but is there anything you expect to see this week on the panels. Do you expect to kind of be in the showroom a lot. What do you expect your schedule to look like. Right. So, I'll arrive on Wednesday and I hope on Wednesday to get to walk part of the floor. But I'll probably spending more of my time checking out all the vendors at the convention floor on Thursday and Friday in between the panels that I'll be participating on so a number of companies have pulled out. It's understandable to be as safe as possible. They didn't want to participate with the omocron variant out there. But there's still thousands of companies that are participating and so I hope we'll be able to find some interesting new technologies show some upgrades or advances in technology. And, you know, I'll do my best to be as safe as possible, but to walk you around and show anything interesting that I can find. And it's interesting at consumer electronics show. A lot of times the most interesting things come from the smallest companies. So there's usually an innovation zone with very small companies doing interesting things. Just trying to think outside the box. I'm sure it'll find some interesting stuff on that part of the convention floor. Awesome. Well, it sounds like you're going to have a great week seeing a lot of new technologies and we'll be excited to check in. See how it goes. Thanks, Anna.


Mae'r Elliot has used her own experiences to actively campaign for better mental health services for young people in Wales. On her suggestion, ITB Wales produced a BAFTA winning programme on mental health services for young people. The programme aired in Welsh and English on prime time television. After consulting with over 500 young people and their families, Mae'r puttogetha'r report with 10 recommendations to improve services. Mae'r campaigns to remove the stigma of mental health issues in young people and has made other young people feel that it is okay to admit that they are having problems of their own. Martin David Martin David is passionate about equality and diversity and human rights and uses this passion and determination to spearhead change. Martin is a vocal activist for young people and specifically those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. At 17 he set up an LGBT youth forum with the aim of helping young people on their journey from isolated and confused teenagers to proud and well rounded adults. Martin has worked with Barnardo's company to produce a leaflet, sex, secrets and lies to his awareness of sexual exploitation of young people.


Brought to you by penguin the every or at last a sense of order or The final days of free will or Limitless choice is killing the world by Dave Eggers Narrated by Dion Graham for V Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact Will a kathar if At first the idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it Albert Einstein Is there not also perhaps besides the innate desire for freedom an instinctive wish for submission Eric from note This story takes place in the near future Don't try to work out when any anachronisms of time and physics occur on purpose All errors pertaining to technology chronology or judgment are intentional and Exist to serve you better Delaney emerged from the dim subway and into a world of sterling light The day was clear and the Sun struck the bay's numberless waves and through golden sparks everywhere Delaney turned away from the water and walked a hundred feet to the every campus This alone taking the subway making her way to the gate unaccompanied without a vehicle Made her an anomaly and confused the gates to guards standing in their booth Their domain was glass pure middle like the tip of a crystalline obelisk You walked here Asked one of the guards Rowena by her badge was maybe 30 raven haired and dressed in a crisp yellow top snug like a bicycle bib She smiled revealing an endearing gap between her two front teeth Delaney provided her name and said that she had an interview with Dan Faraday Finger, please Rowena asked Delaney put her thumb on the scanner and a grid of photos videos and data appeared on Rowena's screen There were pictures of Delaney. She hadn't seen herself. Was that a gas station in Montana? In the full-body shots.  Can you get closer? Delaney got closer Ah pretty Rowena said I'll call Dan While Rowena was contacting Faraday another snafu occupied the second guard a gaunt and sullen man of about 50 A white van had pulled up and the driver a red bearded man sitting high above the guards window explained that he had a delivery Delivery of what? The gaunt guard asked The driver briefly turned his head toward the back of the van as if to be sure of his impending description It's a bunch of baskets gift baskets stuffed animals chocolate that kind of thing. He said Now Rowena whom Delaney assumed was the alpha of the glass obelisk took over How many baskets? She asked I Don't know about 20 the driver said And is anyone expecting these? Rowena said I Don't know. I think it's for potential clients. Maybe The driver said a sudden exhaustion in his voice This was evidently a conversation already far longer than what he was accustomed to I Think these are just gifts with some people that work here He said and reached to the passenger seat where he found a tablet and tapped it a few times It says these are for Regina Martinez and the initiative K team and who is the sender? Rowena asked her tone now was almost amused It was clear to Delaney at least that this particular delivery would not be consummated Sample complete ready to continue


And this is John Presley with you on Around the Northwest, just to remind you by the way that on the road between Lifford and the Manor Roundabout just to be careful at the moment there's been a very bad oil spillage and the advice is to take extra care there. Now let's talk nature because Ingus Kennedy of Nature Northwest joins us and is also joining us live on Facebook. Ingus, good afternoon to you. Good afternoon John, how are we doing? Good, good. Now the weather is taking a turn for worse and you know that obviously affects what's out in the round and affects things in nature. But up until about the last week or 10 days it's been a very mild winter overall and evidence of that it can be seen all around us. It can yeah, it's been a very mild autumn and then a very mild winter. I am particularly mild actually the last few weeks up until the recent bit of stormy weather and it's tricked a lot of nature. So it's a lot of the grass is still growing as the farmers will still tell you in a lot of places, especially the further south in the country in the country that you go. And a lot of the flowers are starting to appear a little bit further south of us, perhaps not so much in Donegal but a little bit further south of us. A lot of flowers are starting to appear very early actually and some of the birds are starting to sing. Now at this time of year you get the first few of the brave ones starting anyway and they get the see the longer day the more light availability. But definitely it's pronounced this year. I mean for centuries flowers have been blooming like clockwork and you know just things then come into life around about to May or June and it all looks fantastic. But since the early 1980s it's been revealed that a lot of plants have actually grown out of sync with the seasons. And that's due to climate change. It's due to the plants sort of being tricked into thinking that this is a different time of the year to what it is. Yeah that's it. Because of our climate change, because of our warming plant, it's completely, it's doing exactly as you say, it's tricking these plants. There's been a lot of study of this done in Ireland and a lot more again done in Britain. There's a science or a branch of science called phenology. And phenology is the study of bud burst of when things pop out and when things start to start to grow and when birds start to arrive and that kind of thing. So there's been phenology going on in Ireland for for the last 30 years or so. And this project has been going on in Glenvey National Park and a few other places around around the country. And they study when the birch tree for instance, when its buds burst and when the leaves fall off then in the autumn time they record this in various different places. And they're seeing that the growing season is just increasing and increasing the whole time. And in Britain what they have found is that the average flowering day is normally or well used to be the end of April. So when most flowers will have will have popped up right across the whole season, it's the end of April is when the average flowering time is. And that's now the beginning of April. So it's shifted by a whole month. And a lot of our flowers are starting to pop up earlier. And that gives us a bit of joy and a bit of hope with this time of year because February can still be a dark and stormy month. But it's not so good for the rest of nature because an awful lot of bugs come out specifically to feed on certain plants and certain flowers. And then an awful lot of birds will nest specifically to feed on those bugs. So it starts throwing off balances in the ecosystem. Yeah, and if the buds are coming out too early, then the harsh weather hits and they can be destroyed. Yeah, completely. So if we get some very cold frost in the next few days now, any little bugs that are out will be gone. And any little leaves that come out because when leaves start to come out in the next few weeks, they're that beautiful light, light green. And we'll talk more about that now as spring rolls on. But they're very vulnerable at that stage. Whereas a little bit later in the year, they're a bit tougher. So that first stage is when they're at the most vulnerable. But one thing that has started to come out now, and for anybody that's looking on Facebook, I'm just holding up a few of the little catkins. The little catkins, or a recently be told kittens they're called in in France are like little fluffy tails.  And a lot of trees will flower before their leaves come out. And we don't think of trees like hazel trees having big showy flowers. And they're not particularly showy flowers, but they have those very, very beautiful bright yellow catkins.   They're a deep scarlet color. And they're the size of a little match head. Think of those little red match heads that you see. And they're that kind of size, and they are there ready to receive the pollen, which will be wind blown, but they don't have to rely on bees, these guys. And those little flowers will turn into this year's crop of hazelnut, if it doesn't get too cold, if they don't get hammered by frost in the next few weeks. It was all dependent on on the weather so much depends on the weather and their climate. Yeah, very much so. And unfortunately, and climate change, of course, such a big topic at the moment and fuel costs and fuel heating and people feeling the pressures economically at the moment with all sorts of inflations. But one of the talks is, is the carbon taxes. What do we do about it? How do we tackle this climate change? How do we change behavior? And do we change our carbon taxes or not? And one thing that's for sure, I don't have the right answers for that. But one thing that's for sure is the climate is changing. And we do need to change our habits dramatically. We need to put in a huge amount of effort to do this, because we can see this, this change that's happening already. The phenology, the studying of that bud burst has shown that both in Britain and here, that it's knocking an awful lot of our nature out of the sink. Something else is synonymous with this time of the year is frog spawn. And the, you know, it starts to become a more common place. And I was just reading that the, the common frog is actually the only species of frog found here in Ireland. I thought we had different species of frogs, because you see different colors and obviously different sizes. But there's just the one. Just the one, they're amazing little creatures. And they've an amazing life cycle, the frogs. We've three different species of amphibians that are native to Ireland. And an amphibian, people often get confused with what an amphibian is, and they mix it up with reptiles. Reptiles are different, different types of animal, a different class of animal to amphibians. Amphibians are cold blooded, much like reptiles, but they've the ability to live in both water and land. And in fact, the word amphibian comes from amphibious. It's two Greek words, amphibious, which means living twice or the ability to live twice, because they have a unique little way of living that when they're young, when they're in their larval stage, that frog spawn, it turns into the little tadpoles. And then they turn into a very different kind of animal that is able to come up onto land, even though it still needs to be damp. But yet we've only the one species of frog, even though they vary in size, of course, depending on their age, and they can very much vary in color. And can they can vary in color because they can change their color to suit? They can slowly, but surely they can change their color to the kind of the kind of habitat that they're on. They're amazing little creatures.  So you'll often see so the frogs will grow to six or seven centimeters, people will be familiar with them. But you'll see half size frogs, which are last year's frogs. And then you'll see little fellas in another few weeks, you'll see little fellas the size of your thumbnail by kind of April or May or so. And that's the brand new frogs that have just emerged from from their tadpole phase. So they can live to be three years and more. Yes. Well, three years, they're sexually mature. So that's when they start to breed. But frogs can live for six, seven years on average and sometimes even more, sometimes 10 or 12 years, which is kind of amazing for such a small creature. And they're hugely important. They're really important. It's bad for the frog now. They're really important food source for all sorts of different animals, lots of different birds, some of the mammals as well. But then also they play a big role for us because they eat a vast amount of pests, a vast amount of midges and other other little bugs that come out of water, come out of damp places. And we think and we know we've a lot of midges we would have an awful lot more if it wasn't for creatures like frogs, exerting their pest control for us. So they're breeding around now. And this so it'll be a bit early yet to expect to see any frog spawn. For us a little bit early and it'd be interesting to see if any listeners spotted any as yet. I'm already down in Cork and further down the country they've been spotted. In fact, if you go on to and any sightings like this you ever see, record them on Biodiversity Island. Biodiversity Island is a wonderful website and you can easily pop your records on there. And already they've had thousands of records so far this year. And the top three that they've had are are Robbins and frogs and well at least the top two they've had a huge amount of frogs already starting to record it down south of the country. Cork, Waterford places like that, where the spring comes around about two weeks earlier than it does for us. You'd expect to start seeing them by the middle of February for us. What happens is that the males will wake up and they will start to head from their slumber for the wintertime and they will start to head to the same pool that they bred in last year and for years and years they think it's by scent that they're able to find this and drivers in particular will notice this at night time they'll suddenly be but three, four, five nights or so where there'll be loads and loads of frogs crossing the road, crossing the ditches, crossing everywhere just trying to make a beeline to that pool where they were where the waiting females will have arrived there and the males will then arrive they'll croak and croak away calling the females and they'll try and breed with them. And just explain the cycle to me it goes from the spawn into tadpoles and then the tadpoles grow until about when? And the tadpoles grow then takes them around about 10 weeks so it's an amazing little cycle so once they've been hibernating pretty much or in a torpor all winter long underneath piles of logs piles of sticks that kind of thing because we often talk about having messy bits in your garden it's one of the many many reasons that you should because those frogs might still be asleep under those messy bits in your garden right now and when they wake up they've one thing in their mind and they make the way to that to that pool you'll you'll hear if you get to those pools just for the couple of weeks it's an amazing sound but it only lasts a few days really and you'll hear the males calling calling calling calling and then they will attempt to breed with the females the females will lay at least two thousand eggs the frog spawn and the males then fertilize those immediately at the same time and then all the males all the females they scatter they distribute and they go out about the damp parts in our gardens the damp parts in our forests in our fields and they eat up the bugs for us but meanwhile those little eggs and that's one of the things that makes amphibious creatures amazing a little bit different because they're the egg is effectively an embryo it's a free formed embryo that is living in the water and it starts off this tiny little egg and has to develop utterly on its own and develops into the little tadpole creature of course that we know with the little with the little tail and it becomes carnivorous it will eat other bugs that are in their midgy larvae things like that they've even been known to feed on tadpoles other tadpoles if there isn't enough food and after about 10 weeks but that can that can be slower and considerably slower if the weather is cold if we get a cold spring but after about 10 maybe 12 weeks or so those tiny little froglets will emerge the tails will start to shrink back into the body and the front legs first common in the back legs and then they hop out size your thumbnail and they'll start to spread around and we're used to seeing them hopping around but they're they're good swimmers as well really good swimmers really good swimmers so again one of those things for that amphibious nature is that they have gills under the water so that stage when they're that little free free formed embryo swimming around the place they have gills that the ability to to take oxygen out of the water a bit like fish but then once they emerge out of the land they developed very basic little lungs and they're able to breathe they're a little bit like we can but they can also take air in through their skin they can take oxygen in through their skin and so they'll be in damp places and we think of frogs in pools all the time over the next few weeks they will be but they're not necessarily in pools the rest of the time they are in damp places in wet places and but they'll be scattered all over the countryside and it's one of the problems that things like frogs have things like nutes have which look like tiny little lizards but they're actually water creatures or damp creatures as well is that we drain so many areas and in our kind of quest to try and drain out and clear up our gardens or clear up our fields and not leave those little damp areas we're wiping out these creatures and we're wiping out their habitats basically and then of course we're wiping out their ability to be able to eat those pests for us Texas says could you please ask Ingus why crows circle around in hundreds these days in the one place Crows are very social creatures and at this time of year they're already starting to think of the breeding season like quite a few of the birds actually quite often younger birds in particular last year or the year before his generation will be the ones that'll be starting to sing now and starting to try and practice their their breeding rituals I suppose and crows are no different they'll communicate with each other all year round oftentimes in the evening time where there's big flocks of crows you'll hear them it can be very dramatic can be thousands of them gathering together and they believe that they're exchanging information about where dangers were where good feeding grounds were but also at this time of year of course they're starting to form their bonds as well and they're starting to pair up with their partners they're starting to rebuild nests that they've used in the past so it's an optimistic sign I think when you see that because and watch out you'll start by if you're looking for the crows you'll start spotting them with little twigs in there in their beaks from now on and that's them starting to get ready for spring which we're all looking forward what about birds smaller birds in our gardens how is that at the moment I mean you know we're still not out of the woods with you know in terms of harsh weather and possible snow and frost so what is all the numbers been like this year yeah well those numbers have been good the Irish bird watch Ireland garden survey did very well there's a lot of participants actually took partners which was great and I haven't seen the final results from them but the numbers of visiting birds are still high so you look at the birds that your bird feeder hopefully most people listening now are feeding birds leaving out some peanuts and some other food for the bird and you'll get great rewards by all the chaff inches and the blue tits and the great tits and whatnot that come but a lot of those birds in particular the little chaff inches which have the little white wing bars they'll have come from possibly different countries altogether they'll come from quite far away to hang out in your garden and to feed in your garden and they're not pairing up quite yet but anybody that's really been watching them over the last week or two might start noticing now that the colours on a lot of those small birds are starting to become a bit more brilliant and in the next few weeks the fighting that they'll have they're always little tussles for the food of the bird feeders or wherever you see them in your garden but the fighting will become a little bit stronger a little bit more pronounced as they also the hormones start to kick in and they start to think of pairing up but at the moment they're still very much in survival mode and they have to be don't be kidded by the song trust that's singing at the moment the blue tits have started singing most of the other birds haven't as yet and of course our migrants haven't arrived as yet very soon the swallows the willow warblers will be making their way back up across Africa to head up towards us but at the moment it's still winter time for those birds okay brilliant well more information online at your website wealth of information at naturenorthwest.ie Ingus Kennedy as always thanks so much for joining appreciate it thanks very much John do you currently have vacancies that need urgently filled have you tried various ways to find new thanks Ingus thanks Amil all right sure we'll uh you didn't come on the screen there in the end didn't didn't have time to set it up actually um I see Porek's name up there so uh I'll get that get that sort of for next time so uh you had mentioned before about um maybe doing a little video or beforehand to promote only a second when we say all job listings will be available online