Now, a little bit more about the organization of the course. You'll see in Blackboard that the course is organized into eight modules, and each module having its topic and a set of labs that goes with that topic. And an important tool for your success in going through the course will be what we're calling here the BTC 181 course map, and it's kind of a road map through those modules. It will kind of give you instructions on what you should do first and the order that you need to go and what the requirements are for that module. And I have here just kind of a generic general kind of outline of what the road map might look like for a given module, in this case module one. Then there it'll tell you what the topic is, what's your objective, what the subject is, what your objective for this module is, what's it about, what skills are going to be in there. Then there'll be instructions for the module, how do you go through that module using these materials that follow here, and I have it here as lecture content and laboratory material. And once again the lecture content is not just so much lecture, it sees accumulation of videos, animations, and materials that you're going to use to learn the lecture content. You'll see we have here primary materials, and these are the kind of the foundation materials, the one that you're going to have to do, those will be the materials that present information. And some modules, maybe not all, there may be supplemental materials, those will be maybe some web links from some sample problems that we do on smart board or what not. If beyond just the primary materials you feel like you need some help or you'd like to go beyond what's just in the primary materials. And there may be, like I say in the primary, there may be problem sets, there may be work that you'll do and turn in for a grade or maybe not for a grade, that'll be up to the individual instructor, but that might be in order to get feedback whether or not you're understanding how this works. And then we have laboratory material. Here in this example I've shown two labs, say if the eight modules were two weeks per module, you'd have two labs for that module, and for each one there's a pre-lab instruction, so that you'll know you'll be prepared to come to the lab and do the lab before you get there. As I've indicated before, there may be something that you have to turn in or a ticket or some way to validate that you've prepared for the lab before you get there, and then there should also be some lab procedures that you're reading as to what you're going to do when you get there as part of your preparation.


صلى الله عليك يا سيد ويا رسول الله صلى الله وسلم عليك يا سيد وابن مولاحمة الله سعه ويا عبرت كل مؤمن ومؤمنا ما خاب والله انتمسك بكم وأمنى اللجاء والتجاء يا ليتنا صادتي فنفوز فوزا عضيح كم كتابه الكري وقوله الحق هو أصدق الصادقين أعوم من الشيطان الرجين بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ميسر أجل تانيبون تفلحون أحب العصري والزمان رسائد الثلاث صلوات with the loudest of your voices ماروانا كانبس or pot has been the hottest topic discussed by all sorts of people within the past year whether it is lawmakers discussing the legalization or the banning of marijuana or the joy and the rejuvelation of pot heads around the world celebrating a new era or the concern of parents that find their teen child easily be able to access and smoke marijuana this topic has become the most oftenly repeated subject in all headlines whether it's news agencies whether it is social media or the popular magazines and the past year all we've been hearing about is the legalization of marijuana and of course since this market the cannabis industry as the fastest growing industry around the world giving undeniable financial returns it is somewhere where people want to invest their money and that is why I find this topic to be extremely important for it is the concern of our Muslim community living in the West you would not believe the volume of questions the concerns and the emails that I get whether it is my website or social media people asking a simple question say it can I smoke weed a smoking weed حلال a smoking weed حرام I have anxiety can I smoke medical marijuana I have depression can I smoke pot or the concern of parents that are afraid the parents that are scared and stressed that email me four page essays on daily basis about how their children come back home with red eyes attacking the refrigerator with bunchies sometimes they end up finding my email my Twitter my Instagram and sending all their messages all at once and expecting a miracle literally expecting a miracle say it I want a miracle I'm so stressed I cannot sleep the night sometimes they're so stressed that I feel like telling them listen you need to sit there all a blunt or pack a bowl yourself I'm joking but indeed it has become the topic that has been discussed by all sorts of people and it is something that concerns the Muslim community living in the West and that is why I have decided to address the following question tonight what is the Islamic stands towards marijuana and I'm going to discuss this topic through the following points number one how serious is the issue of marijuana number two why should such a topic be addressed from the member of Imam الحسين and on such holy night number three the big question are we allowed to smoke weed the smoking weed حلال or is it haram number four the pot heads life the pot head lifestyle number five has this issue been addressed by the holy Quran and how can we relate to verses that are discussed within the holy Quran and our lives today number six finally how should we spend the most precious days and years of our lives let us examine those six points after your three loud صلوات على محمد و آل محمد I'm going to share with you please take that off I'm going to share with you some shocking numbers and polls and regards to marijuana and I'll let you decide how serious this issue is studies indicate that 90% of high schoolers have tried marijuana at least once before they graduate and I tell you you know what that means that means only the loners and the losers are not the one that are being offered marijuana everybody else smoking marijuana those who have literally nobody to talk to at school are probably the ones that are not smoking that's what those numbers mean one eighth of high schoolers by the time they graduate from high school are addicted to marijuana the marijuana industry is the fastest growing business around the world where only in the United States of America in the year 2018 they had $52 billion worth of sales $52 billion only in America and in the legal marijuana industry 250,000 people are employed it is the fastest growing business with no signs of slowing down almost 50% of adults in America are addicted to weed and I don't think those numbers are much different in Australia or Europe or any part of the West can tell you that this audience here tonight if not the majority of you many of you have been introduced to it or you will be introduced to it you know nowadays teenagers at their very early teens are smoking weed 13 year olds 14 year olds are walking around smoking weed and this culture this this culture is growing so fast so rapidly look at Hollywood movies look at the Hollywood movies there's at least one scene that makes a reference to pot somewhere somehow look at the music videos it's all about weed it's all about smoking it's all about drugs look at the social media look at the magazines if you pick up a popular magazine there's at least one or two articles talking about how weed is the most natural thing ever look at the analysts talking about marijuana they make you feel like look if you're not smoking weed then there's definitely something wrong with you because weed is just very natural there's nothing wrong with it this is not something we can escape this is not something we can ignore this is not a topic that looks like this topic does not belong to us doesn't belong to our community it doesn't belong to the member of Imam Al-Hussain it does not belong to the nights and the days of Muharram Al-Haram we should not pollute the member on the Majlis of Imam Al-Hussain with such rubbish why let's talk about Salah let's talk about Siam let's talk about Hajj if people are praying if people are fasting if people are going to Hajj obviously they're not going to be smoking weed I tell you if people can take their weed with them to Hajj and sometimes some people tell me say why are you talking about controversial topics just you know there's no need for it just a couple of days ago somebody told me that you know wow those controversies look at those lecturers some lecturers they lecture for 20 years 30 years they don't talk about controversial things let's just leave those controversial topics aside and you know what I told him I said brother you should have definitely been there in the time of Imam Ali in the time of Imam Hussain I said why? I said because they definitely needed this advice everything Imam Ali said was controversial look at his sermons in نهج البلاغة do you think he was looking to please the people? do you think he was looking to please the crowds? do you think he was looking to please the government of his time? do you think he was looking to please the rich and the famous? no Imam Ali صلوات الله وسلامه عليه realized that his community is in dire need of certain lessons and teachings and principles and ethical and moral standards therefore he spoke about them he was not shying away from controversial topics he said and did what pleased Allah the Almighty and that's it and once he was described they say أمير المؤمنين he was so compassionate he was so merciful he was so kind he was so forgiving but when it came to Allah when it came to topics concerning God and the religion of God and the obedience of God لا تأخده في الله لو ما تلائم he would say and do that which pleases Allah that's it I say you should have been there in the time of Imam Hussein because he was the most controversial man of his time nobody dared to stand up to Yazid nobody dared to stand up to Yazid nobody dared to stand up to Ben-e-Omeya nobody dared to give the sermons that Imam Hussein gave whether it was in Medina whether it was in Mecca or whether it was during his journey to Karbala he criticized the unjustness at the time of Yazid and his father Muawiyah or you should have been there to give this advice to Zain el-Abideen when he stood and he gave his sermon in the midst of the enemies that had just killed and murdered every single one of his family members or a Sayyid Zain of Salawatullahi عليها or the companions of أمير المؤمنين ميثم التمار how was Maitham killed? how was Maitham killed? Maitham was killed because he was crucified on a palm tree why? because he kept speaking the truth he kept saying what was controversial so they crucified him on a palm tree how was Abu Dhar killed? Abu Dhar was exiled be in until death أمار same thing مقدات same thing literally every one of the companions of أمير المؤمنين so you should have been there to tell those guys don't be so controversial look the member of Imam al-Hussein has a responsibility I'll tell you one thing if you speak for 30 years and 40 years and you don't talk about anything controversial there's a problem if you don't talk about what's gonna shake up the community and what's gonna wake them up there's something wrong because the legacy of Hussein means that you wake up your community the principles of Hussein means you say that which pleases Allah and that was the goal of Hussein أني لم أخرج أشر ولا بطر ولا مفسدة بالخرج ولا حي أمة جدي وسول الله لكي أمر بالمعروف to enjoy the good وأنها عن المنكر and to forbid the evil if there is evil in our community in our society are we not going to talk about it are we not going to address it are we going to ignore it and this is why we're losing big crowds we're losing we're losing an entire generation you know sometimes I get invited to places and I go there and I'm sitting and I'm about to give the lecture and I see they're all senior citizens literally they're all elders 60 plus and they speak every language besides English so I wonder was there a sign at the door that said this place serves senior citizens that speak every language besides English sometimes I actually have to go double check such a sign exists why it's because Imam Hussein and those gatherings is no longer relevant it's because the Quran and those gatherings is no longer relevant رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم when he was departing this life and he is the seal of messengers and he is the last messenger sent by God to humanity to guide us he said this to all Muslims hold on to the book of Allah and to the أهل البيت now we come to the book of Allah and we're reading the Quran but it's not relevant to my life we come to أمير المؤمنين to Imam Hussein they're not relevant to our life so you better believe we're going to lose a generation of our youth what did رسول الله mean when he said he meant it is your job and it is the job of the member and it is the job of the scholar and it is the job of the عالم to make Hussein and Ali and Hassan and Fatima صورة التوبة وصورة يوسف وصورة الحمد وصورة رلوين to the lives of people I'll tell you people are hungry for knowledge people are hungry for change people are hungry to be good people nobody's trying to be malicious by nature people just need answers people just need guidance I have a responsibility on this member to address the concern of a mother who cannot sleep the night knowing that her child is high and he's driving on the freeway and he can kill himself and people with him and people around him you may never return home don't tell me you haven't heard stories of youngsters out and about in the middle of the night and they never return home why? it's either they were high or they were drunk I have to address the concern of my dearest younger brothers and sisters in high school and college and talk about their difficulties because you know sometimes it's not that difficult you just don't smoke it's very difficult it's very difficult it's very difficult they say in the day of judgment there's no door in paradise and people are just going through that door without being questioned as soon as they arrive to the محشر they go through that door into جنة so when they get in they're not being questioned nothing the ملائك ask them who are you? are you صديقين are you شهداء are you أمبياء they say no we are the patient ones you are the patient ones what were you patient with? they say we were patient to أبي الله how so? when I can't wake up for فجر prayers it's very difficult for me I need صبر I need patience when I wear the حجاب and everybody is looking at me funny at school or at the college or at the gym or at the shopping mall it needs صبر patience when I am hungry and the only food that there is is the mac burger that everybody else is eating and I stay hungry that needs صبر so they say we were patient in the obedience of Allah but then they say we were patient not to disobey Allah and this is the greater patience this is the greatest صبر when you are patient not to disobey Allah how so? you think it's easy when you are in high school and you are in college and they approach you just once it's the big deal if you don't like it don't do it that sounds pretty convincing just attend one party come with us once it's difficult and I truly admire my brothers and sisters who practice self restraint I admire them I truly admire them whoever thinks it's easy has either no clue or didn't grow up in the west didn't attend college or high school it's clueless on the temptations out there and Allah knows though so Allah says you know what I'm going to reward them without even asking them any questions you know how you're going to for example take a flight to let's say California you have to go through TSA and all sorts of things those people don't go through TSA they're pre-checked they have a VIP status why? because of their subordinates because of their patience therefore this topic brothers and sisters is one of the most important topics and indeed it needs to be addressed here and it needs to be addressed now number three the big question smoking weed حلال or smoking weed حرام indeed it is حرام I don't really need to explain but I'll tell you that it is medically proven that weed or marijuana or cannabis contains THC THC is an intoxicant well you know say yeah even if it's a little bit of intoxication by the way some medical some marijuana some cannabis contains a lot of THC so you end up getting really high and sometimes no it contains a little bit of THC so you get really high but it doesn't matter how high you get an intoxicant is an intoxicant if you drink a little bit of alcohol this much of alcohol all you drink an entire for example bottle of alcohol it's still حرام it's still an intoxicant there's no doubts about that but I want to talk about obviously everybody knows that and it's not my job to talk about it from a medical perspective but I want to talk about the pot head lifestyle you know when I was actually preparing for this topic I looked up some books and you would not believe the bible of the pot heads that's the title of a book are you kidding me and what is there you know another book for example the complete lifestyle the complete guide that sounds funny but it's really not funny when you look back at your life 20 years from now you're going to be crying what is the pot head lifestyle it's being carefree laughing at the face of every problem not waking up on time not sleeping on time not eating properly not sleeping properly not attending to your responsibilities properly being glazy being a bum that's the definition of a pot head lifestyle not only that but it doesn't stop there if you can stop there smoking weed is not just about smoking a joint no smoking weed it's about that lifestyle it's about listening to the wrong kind of music it's about going to the wrong type of gatherings it's about parties and when you smoke you know first couple of months a year 2 years down the line then comes drinking and after drinking come hard drugs and after drugs comes all sorts of problems and soon enough you find yourself immersed in all sorts of sins there is no way for you to escape them all sorts of difficulties and I tell you this pot head lifestyle is the most unfortunate lifestyle why because it makes you escape reality you don't face reality like a man turns you into a coward every time you think about your exam well let me pack a bowl every time you think about your bills and your payments and your finals you smoke a joint and then soon enough oh who cares yeah whatever you know I can be in college for 3 years or 10 years doesn't matter they took my car away not a big deal I'll use a bicycle that's what happens that's what happens literally what happens and then those people grow up those people grow up and you tell them listen why don't you have a job you're 30 years old you don't have a job you don't have your own home you don't have your own vehicle you're not getting married say it do you think it's easy to have a job in this country with all this Islamophobia my name is Alain people don't want to give me a job he doesn't say that I blew away my youth instead of going to college instead of obtaining a job I was smoking weed and playing xbox every single day until the morning I was hanging out with my friends smoking at Gila now he blames Islamophobia now the problem is his name not the fact that he was pulled over with weed like about 50 times in the past 5 years does Allah address this in the Holy Quran yes and Surah Al-Ma'idah Chapter 5 Surah Al-Ma'idah brothers and sisters was revealed in the Holy City of Medina and most scholars of Tafseer believe it was the very last chapter revealed to Rasool Allah in Medina so this is not Mecca this is not the beginning of Islam in Medina this is all the way to the end of the life of Rasool Allah in Medina there is a community of believers that are fasting that are praying that are paying zakat that are going to jihad but Allah introduces Allah talks about how it is forbidden to drink how we should not drink and go to our Salah but here Allah talks about something else talks about this culture that we are talking about it's not just about smoking it's about the culture that Allah introduces in this ayah Chapter 5 verse number 90 Allah says يا أيها الذين آمنوا oh you believers oh you who believe in Allah and Rasool Allah حجا زكاتا and everything listen يا أيها الذين آمنوا إنما الخمر alcohol رجصا من عمل الشيطان فجتنيبوه لعلكم تفلحون الله يجب أن يجد الكثير من الأشياء في this ayah يقول أنه يجب فرنكيشن غامبل the game of chance which was something like lottery or gambling all together is part of the actions of shaitan so stay away from it why is it that Allah puts them all together it's because in madina they were homes the rich would open up their homes and they would invite belly dancers and they would bring alcohol and they would bring gambling and they would just turn their homes into night clubs and people would go there and you know I tell you not everybody was going there to drink and fornicate some people were there to go and watch some people were just there to meet their friends socialize some people were probably just there to watch the belly dancers I don't know Allah says look you need to stop you need to put this lifestyle aside this is the lifestyle of shaitan why? because it starts with you just attending it starts with you just being there but then slowly but surely you're pulled in slowly but surely you're now involved in every type of sin today that's exactly the lifestyle of the pot heads and marijuana and all sorts of drugs and brothers and sisters when Allah سبحانه وتعالى addresses this in the Holy Quran and we come across those verses we have to contemplate on them we have to make sure we make them relevant to our lives whether you're listening to me or elsewhere or you will hear this later on in your life if you're 15 years old 16 years old 20 years old 25 years old know that those are the most precious days and nights of your lives those are the most precious years of your life if you ask anybody who's 40 50, 60 years old they tell you those are the golden days don't blow them away don't waste them by smoking weed and playing xbox and hanging out with your friends build yourself a future put yourself on the ladder of success make sure you take life seriously look your parents they did everything they can for you to become successful to have a good future to make them proud Allah سبحانه وتعالى لقد أمرستك في كل أشخاص ونعمة لا تقول أني أستطيع أن أعيش في قلبي أين أصبحت 30 سنة ونحن لا أستطيع أن أعيش الحمد لله there is the welfare system this welfare system is the biggest disease in our communities it's made many people lazy and I can't believe I literally cannot believe some people are respected in our community when he's been on welfare for 20 years 30 years and when he gets into the Masjid and Husainiyah and we respect him why do you respect this guy because he goes to Haj and then he goes to Karbala and then he goes to the 40 walk and he returns so he respect him but then he's on welfare collecting from welfare being a lazy at his house tell him go work go learn go bring حلال to your family what am I going to do be a taxi driver am I going to be a gardener am I going to be a janitor والله والله a janitor is more beloved to Allah than a person sitting at home for 20 years collecting welfare because this person is collecting حلال to obtain رزق دارس حلال رسول الله says if a man leaves his home to bring حلال رزق for his family كالمجاهد في سبيل الله he's doing jihad في سبيل الله and if he dies, he dies as a Shahid one day they saw أمام الباقر working at a farm so they came to him they said يبن رسول الله look at how you're working for this dunya and pray go and read some دعاء what are you doing working on the farm أمام الباقر looked at them and he said if I were to die working on my own farm I would die as a martyr في سبيل الله I am beloved to Allah and what should I go and pray and fast so that then I would have to come and beg people like you for money begging is wrong taking money from other people is wrong and this is the mentality that needs to be washed away from our society especially the youth it is haram for you to be on welfare welfare is for the disabled welfare is for the mentally challenged people who cannot work who literally cannot do anything else it's not for us to become lazy and go to زيارة and that's treachery that's lying what is this امام حسين he taught us زيارة وبربعين and the majalis of Imam Hussein is that what we become we need to wash away the culture of laziness brothers and sisters from our community we need to become successful ambassadors of Islam in the west and I invite you brothers and sisters my dear friends my beloveds tonight join the camp the camp of Imam Hussein the camp of Imam Hussein didn't have anybody who was lazy and you know I am most concerned not about you folks here I am most concerned about those who aren't here those who come from broken homes those who are addicted to drugs those who are addicted to alcohol those who are behind bars those who are in bars those who are immersed in sin those who are immersed in sin this evening don't tell me well say it that's not my duty my duty is just to be here myself no Imam Hussein stood on the tenth of Muharram and he said he wasn't talking to the enemies he was talking to you is there anybody to give aid to the message of Hussein and the legacy of Hussein and the message of Hussein and the legacy of Hussein is for you to take someone out of darkness out of confusion somebody who is lost and deliver them into enlightenment this is the school of Hussein إن الحسينة مصباح الهدى وسفينة all مجات Hussein is the ark of salvation Hussein is the torch of enlightenment is the torch of enlightenment introduce people to Hussein bring them to Hussein and I tell you if they come and they're not wearing a lousy hijab or they're not dressed properly or they don't speak properly or they don't look properly welcome them do not judge them don't say well this person have you seen their Facebook have you seen his Instagram don't do that he was greater sin than the sin of حر بن يزيد الرياحي who intercepted the caravan of Hussein who caused the misery of أبا عبد الله as soon as he came and he felt guilty حر felt guilty on the eve of عشراء he came and will discuss his story he was full of guilt he came to Imam Hussein and he said Imam Hussein didn't say حر now you've come to do Toba Imam Hussein says توب تاب الله عليك three words end of story Imam Hussein knew he was guilty he didn't make him feel more guilty he was ashamed he didn't make him feel more ashamed go and find those people and introduce them to Imam Hussein let them join the camp of Hussein let them join the camp of عيون الأكبر and عون محمد brothers ask yourself this evening sisters ask yourself this evening do you want to be in the camp of Hussein the camp of Hussein and the eve of عشراء has been described by everybody بين راكع وساجد وتاليا للقرآن ومستغفر and what was the camp of Yazid it was that exact lifestyle we were talking about just now intoxication drinking alcohol which camp do you want to be on don't just carry the name of Hussein carry Hussein here carry Hussein in your act carry Hussein in your life and I tell you brothers and sisters Imam Hussein if you take a step towards him he will hold you by the hand just like he held حر he will help you he will guide you he will navigate you through the darknesses he will let you escape from all those difficulties so join his camp this evening this is my invitation to you let us go to him with all of our existence our souls our minds our hearts and say to him يا سيدنا ومولانا يا أبا عبدالله imagine yourself standing in front of the shrine of Hussein إن توجهنا واستشفعنا وتوسلنا بك إلى الله وقدمناك بين يدي حاجاتنا those lovers of Hussein everyone here present ما شاء الله your all young men and women all of us together let us raise our voice and take it to Karbala يا سيدنا ومولانا إن توجهنا brothers sisters raise your voice with me واستشفعنا وتوسلنا بك إلى الله وقدمناك بين يدي اشفع لنا this is unacceptable I want the voice of Husseinis the companions of Hussein just like they stood in front of him on the tenth of Muharram يا وجيهن عندها اشفع لنا اشفع لنا for those who have ill ones for those who have asked us for special dua for those who have special intentions special niyat we say to him يا سيدنا يا أبا عبد الله take a glance at this Majlis this evening يا وجيهن tonight usually the arrival of Imam Hussein to Karbala is discussed they say Imam Hussein reached a land and his horse was no longer moving so he switched the horse the second horse was not moving then he sat on a camel the camel was not moving Imam Hussein asked the people there he said مسمو هذه الأرض what is the name of this land they said this land is called إمام الحسين حلها اسم آخر does it have another name they said يا أبا عبد الله it is called إمام الحسين then disembarked from his horse and he raised his hands to Allah and he says أطور حالنا هاهنا تقتل رجالنا هاهنا تسبى نساءنا he says to his companions this is where we are going to camp والله I seek refuge to you from the pain and the misery of this land then he looked at his companions and he says هاهنا here is where our men will be slain here is where our women will be taken as captives they set up the camp and then Imam الحسين took his companions and he told every one of them exactly where they're going to face their martyrdom and then إمام الحسين looked at his companions his family members and he said to them whoever from you wishes to leave you may leave the people will come after me and they want me but I ask your brothers and sisters all those companions all those men when they fell martyrs on the soil of Karbala who went to them who went to them he went to them he held them he cried he buried them but when he fell who was there to come to him that is why the poets tonight they say tonight we give our عزاء because when Imam الحسين was in that last moment they say they heard the cries of a woman right next to that ditch where Imam الحسين fell بني حسين قتلوا ومن شرب المائي ظلموا منعوك بعدا لقوم ظلموك yes indeed tonight we have to give our عزاء to that special lady to his mother it is her عزاء she stands at the azاء of her son حسين أفاق أطم لو خلت الحسين مجد لد مات عطشان بشط فرات إذا للطمت الخد فاطم عنده تدمع العين في الوجناتي أفاط أفاط مقوم يبنة الخير وندبي نجوم سماوات بأرض فرات they say that فاطمة زهراء when she carried Imam الحسين in her room and it was her last month she would hear this baby speak to her and one day she cried so much until she passed out so Imam أمير المؤمنين وانت and he called رسول الله رسول الله came يا فاطمة what is it that makes you cry she says يا رسول الله أن الجنين يخاطبني يخاطبني ويقول أنا المظلوم this child in my womb speaks to me and he keeps saying to me أنا المظلوم يا رسول الله will he really be a Muslim رسول الله cries and he says فاطمة indeed he will be the Muslim the next day again فاطمة cries so much until رسول الله comes to her he holds her فاطمة my beloved what is it that makes you cry يا رسول الله أن الجنين يخاطبني ويقول أنا الشييد I am the martyr يا رسول الله will he be a martyr yes فاطمة he is going to be a martyr the third day فاطمة تزهر cries so much until she faints رسول الله comes يا فاطمة what is it that makes you cry she says يا رسول الله أن الجنين يخاطبني ويقول أنا العضشان I am the one that will be martyr thirsty يا رسول الله will he be martyr thirsty رسول الله cries yes فاطمة he will be martyr thirsty فاطمة asks this question she says يا رسول الله are you going to be there no is his brother going to be there no يا رسول الله then who is going to be crying for hussain this is the glad tidings to you brothers and sisters رسول الله indeed Allah will create generations of one after another who will come and who will establish عزاء and they will cry for the مسائب of hussain let us raise our hands to دعاء 10 times with the loudest of your voices brothers and sisters this is the time where the دعاء is going to be answered 10 times يا الله يا الله we ask you in the name of the most beloved محمد علي فاطمة حسن and hussain keep your hands up we ask Allah like beggars and we say امين to this دعاء so insha Allah it will be accepted Allah every man and woman present in this gathering with a sin forgive our sins Allah shower on to us from your forgiveness every man and woman present in this مجلس with an illness give us cure الله every مؤمنة with an illness around the world Allah shower on to them from your cure Allah shower on to the graves of the مؤمنين and مؤمنات with your mercy and compassion hasten the reappearance of صاحب العصري والزمان honor us with the visitation of hussain honor us with the شفاعة of hussain except our azaa for hussain واخر دعوانا على الحمد لله رب العالمين وإلى أرواح المؤمنين والمؤمنات والعلماء والشهداء وخدمة الحسين نهدي جميعا ثواب صورة المباركة الفاتح مع الصلوات


And we're back with the Breakfast and Plus TV Africa Self-Office Major Conversation. Our guest is already on standby. But let's quickly inform you, I'll remind you, that operatives of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, operated by government Ekbemuk Pulo, probably called General Tom Pulo, have continued to uncover illegal crude oil stealing pipelines in Delta State, South-South Nigeria. So as I said earlier, they have continued to uncover illegal crude oil stealing pipelines in Delta State, some of which have raised questions about the role of security agencies in the stealing. One of such discoveries was an illegal underwater pipeline and platform connected to a 48-inch trans-focados export trunk line in Delta State, from which bunkers, together with government and security accomplices, directly siphoned clean the crude oil into ships and exported overseas. Now the on-air thing of the criminal pipeline and platform attached to the trunk line, operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, is a major breakthrough in the renewed bid by the federal government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Limited and the Ministry of Defense and other stakeholders to stop oil theft in the country. Now this was some time ago, last week, there have been more revelations recently as well. Recently tantita security services, as we said, led by former military leader, government Ekbemuk Pulo, probably known as Tom Pulo, also apprehended a crude oil vessel used for crude oil theft in Niger Delta creeks. The vessel was, however, set ablaze without proper investigation by officers of the Nigerian Navy. Reacting to this, legal luminary Fermi Falano essay in his human rights law in Nigeria called for the immediate sack or resignation of General Lucky Irabbo, who is the chief of defense staff, over the destruction of that illegal oil bunkering vessel. Speaking after the National Security Council meeting in Abuja last Friday, Irabbo had defended the destruction of the vessel. He added that it was caught in the act and that the instrument of operation was set ablaze as there was no need for an investigation. However, citing section 111 of the Armed Forces Act, Falano said, the justification of the chief of defense staff was a criminal conduct and it is a trite law that only the federal high court is empowered to order the interim or final for feature of any vessel that was used for conveying stolen crude oil. Joining us to discuss this, I'm glad to say we have an oil and gas analyst, Zaki Bala. He's online from Lagos State. Mr. Bala, thank you very much for your time. Thank you. All right. Let's start from the discoveries ongoing right now, the scale of which has been huge and unprecedented in the history of Nigeria and some will say even in the history of the world as far as the crude oil business is concerned. What are your thoughts on these discoveries? We can see what happened. We can talk about the trans-Folkato pipeline and the trans-Eskra was pipeline. The most recent one was the discovery of a nine inch pipeline attached to a major pipeline operated by an IOC, which was very close to a security post and it did nothing about it. Your thoughts on these discoveries? Uh-huh. Personally, as somebody who is a practitioner in the oil and gas industry, these have been made. It's only the locations where these major pipelines have been tapped, you know, for this series, has nothing new about crude oil tests as far as I'm concerned because for a long time we knew that Nigeria at some point, especially in the oil and gas industry, was experiencing this climate hostility and among the major hostility, you know, was crude oil tests and it was the same crude oil test that made many of the oil and gas companies start running away from Nigeria. I know that I'm digressing, but I want to explain something here. When many of these oil companies were trying to run away from Nigeria, instead of the government to come out, we tell Nigeria that these companies are not diversified technically. They are actually running away because they are suffering from hostility. One of the major ones who was crude oil test, if they had done that, that would have probably awakened Nigeria, especially around the agglies of the Niger Delta, they've been, to make sure we collectively come in national interest to hold the situation where they will be able to do their diversification and going to US. Nigeria has been lost and didn't bother, but now it's been. What is happening is, the way the government said that they were losing, Nigeria was losing about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. A lot of people will not understand what the government was saying, because the people would think the government was just talking about some buckets of crude oil test. But if you do the necessary conversions, because the unit of crude oil is barren, and you have 42 gallons to the barrel, and in one barrel you have 42 gallons, then in a gallon you have four liters. When you do the conversion, we are talking about 60-something million liters of crude oil per day, and that is equivalent to 2,000 tankers, 33,000 liter tankers, 2,000 of those tankers being stolen per day. From that angle, you will know that that was not tested by the ordinary police, OTC. It was very clear that it was a well crafted, a well coordinated, and a well coordinated criminal. And it is now clear that most activities were carried out through well crafted, and well well done, and well do, to the major trunk line, apart from the ones that are connected to other smaller parts. So it is now clear that it is not the limited usage within the Niger Delta, Oval Delta, OTC areas that were the criminals, but it is possible that the well crafted pre-unality is a clear invitation and collaboration of the people within the communities where these pipelines are passing through, security agents, staff within the oil and gas companies, and probably the refugees, and other collaborators. So from that angle, you know, people like me who are practitioners, I was not surprised because oil companies have always been using in terms of production. You will measure the fuel, oil, and gas, and water, and gas at the well head, and at the separator. At the point of putting them to the oil terminal, the exact conditions that you want to see do not appear. That simply means they are being done along the trunk line, or along the delivery pipeline, and it is now clear that this and well-coordinated pre-unality was responsible for all these shortages and theft and vandalism. Do you think that approaching the court would also be a solution? We've also seen people who are saying, for instance, the likes of Faleno, who's been very vocal with this particular issue, has been, you know, some people saying this is ranting, Nigerians are ranting with the situation, especially with the fact that the vessel was burnt. Do you think that approaching the court will, you know, yield any positive result? Your question is not very clear, but I don't know if you're talking about vessels. I'm talking about the vessels that was burnt. What? In the course of this old theft. The vessel that was burnt. So my concern is, do you think that approaching the court, whoever approaches the court, would yield any kind of result, especially you have said that old theft is not a new issue, but we have a current situation where vessel that was apprehended was burnt. So my question is, do you think that approaching the court will yield any result whatsoever? One can say it's a new issue.  So generally, when activities like this happen, or activities of spirituality, because Nigeria is supposed to be a democratic country, we expect that things will be done in a civil manner or civil order. So whichever way this happens, it will always be good that we don't consult what many Nigerians technically are, jungle justice.  It's always good to allow the due process of, you know, safe effect. All right. Mr. Bala, do you agree with those who are fingering the chief of defense staff in all of this, General Lucky Rabbo, in saying that he should resign or he should be fine? Because of what has transpired so far, like we said, the destruction of that oil vessel, which Fermi Falano said is evidence that should have been preserved for the prosecution of whoever is responsible for this. For that singular act of burning the vessel, do you think that is enough to demand for the removal of the chief of defense staff who justified that? Personally, an oil and gas practitioner, that shouldn't happen.  The way you take it to the court, I mean, interpretations are different. I want to draw a kind of relationship both ororally with what was happening with Shekau and Boko Haram. I mean, there was a time when Boko Haram and Shekau were really, I mean, killing Nigerians, causing destruction. At some point, some of the comments that were sent to the war front became so aggressive that if they come across some of Boko Haram and they kill them outright, we remember that the international community was human rights started coming up and saying, no, no, no. I mean, they wouldn't want to that way. There should be judicial process. But personally, I didn't feel bad. I didn't feel the action of those commanders were bad. It was because of what Nigeria was experiencing.  But the international, I mean, suggestions stop coming. Infections have run away. And if you look at it, before even the culture was given to Boko, I mean, it was assumed that the security agents were not working. So and the chief of defense of this country is, as I thought to say, is generally not irreversible. All those statements and those two were indictment on the offer and other military statements.  But I mean, Falano has raised some important points. And he says that Lucky Rabbo's response when he was asked about this issue at the end of that Security Council meeting, he described it as a deliberate attempt to cover up the involvement of military personnel in the serious crime of oil theft in the Niger Delta, as there is no provision in the rules of engagement that authorizes a military personnel or security operatives to set fire to or destroy vessels loaded with stolen crude. In fact, he says that the chief of defense staff is not unaware that under the service laws of the country, the burning of a ship of vessel by military personnel is a serious offense which attracts life imprisonment without an option of fine. So he says this is a deliberate attempt to cover up the involvement of the military in crude oil theft in the country. Destroy the evidence. Nigeria has a lot of educated people. You guys are energy journalists. Even if we were not to have local energy journalists, you guys can investigate and know the things, whether there was a cover-up or not. So I'm not really bothered on whether there was a cover-up or not. The investigation is carried out, not even by lawyers or even the energy journalists who have done the investigation and come out with the truth. But please, we should lose focus of what we want to achieve, what we intend to achieve to make sure we stop our criminality, especially this well-created criminality that has made oil companies to be using so much in terms of their investments that has caused Nigeria to have a bad image of international business and that has made investors to see Nigeria as a very bad situation. Quickly, Adam. Oil has gone into the world today. So we already know that the federal government says that with the destruction of the vessel, there's no need for investigation. I'd like you to share your thoughts as an Nigerian, as an individual in this case now. Do you think there's no need for investigation? And those who have actually asked that anyone that feels very aggrieved with this should approach the court. Others are saying evidence has been destroyed. What really is your thoughts on this? Government is government as far as I'm concerned. I mean, the fact that government says there must be no investigation does not mean that an informal investigation will not succeed. It does not mean that energy journalists will just suspend everything and assume that it should be business as usual. Energy journalists like you will always dig to the bottom of what happened. Official statements by governments are different. You are positioned as energy journalists and other interested Nigerians and the international community and other people that are interested in the activities of the Nigerian oil and gas in the food chain carriers regardless of what government sees. At the end of the day, we just want to ensure that things are stabilized but it's ramped up back so that Nigeria will be able to reach a successful production. Nigeria will be able to reach up with our internet production and make sure we generate so much. Can you talk about, I mean, the fact that some of these pipelines that have been laid, these incisions to the major pipelines like the trans-Focardos pipeline, trans-Escarvos pipeline, some of them are as little as nine inches in diameter. But they are not hidden. You know, you see a case where a pipeline stretches four kilometers and goes directly to a platform owned by an oil company where a gigantic vessel comes into the waters of Nigeria and then loads crude oil that is stolen and takes it out. Now, I asked myself what about the complicity of armed forces in all of this because we have them patrolling the nooks and crannies of the Niger Delta. Also, on the high seas and high waters of the country. So I want you to speak about the culpability and the cooperation of our military forces with this theft that is going on because I don't know, Mr. Zakabala, if an aeroplane can come into the Nigerian airspace, land people in this country, take them away without the Nigerian airspace agency or authority knowing about it. You know, without the aviation regulatory agencies knowing about it, at least the airspace authority, it should be somewhere on the radar. Now, can a ship a crude oil vessel, a tanker get into Nigerian waters and spend hours loading the product and leave without being seen by the security agencies? Is it possible? No. And that was why we said it was well crafted a well-sindicated and a well-coordinated criminality. You know, Joe, he said in heaven that small things, big things. But in the context of crude oil theft in Nigeria, we can separate it into small thefts and major or bigger thefts. What we are seeing is a big theft or bigger theft because let us not forget there was a time and everybody was blaming criminals within the Niger Delta especially those who are involved in activities that had to be illegally, finally. We were thinking there were those who were responsible for all the loophies apart from the environmental degradation. What they are doing is criminality I don't support it but it is not very clear that you explain when you have major problems like that with other types of stealing carefully and intelligently and technically well-deserved and those wealth are technically ways that can only be carried out by experts. The only way that can happen is way-claring cooperation. Those stakeholders are involved in the criminality so the best way I can describe them is if some of them are Nigerians then they are lawyer-disloyal but also they can be described as economic vampires economic marudas and economic theft because there is no way anybody can get to such point and be able to carry out activities. Before we go Mr. Bala who should pay the price who should be held responsible if we see that soldiers are manning a security post just a few inches a few meters from a pipeline theft point like we saw two days ago in Delta state they have a post there they have guns they are wearing they have a phone Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a theft point pipeline in session stealing oil from the major pipeline just in front of them who should pay the price who should be held responsible since you are saying the chief of defense staff should not be held responsible then who should be held responsible is the chief of army staff chief of navy staff maybe deputy chief of military without without among the military corporate they will be not told just because they are controlled by this pressure drop lies at a lot of defense if somebody is held responsible you said it all that they need to investigate some more but how can you investigate when the evidence has been destroyed, but you've said it all, you've said all that more investigations need to be conducted and you said Irabo should not be sucked. Yes. Zakabala, thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time. We have to go. All in gas, only Zakabala joins us, join us from somewhere in Lagos state. We'll be talking about the political space as INEC has worn political supporters and parties against hate speech and violent activities or acts. We'll be right back after this break. Please stay with us.


I am happy to be sitting on such a well designed chair, now tell us what makes for good design as against bad design. Something that does not serve the purpose it was intended for is surely bad design. Have a look at this elevator switch, how would a user know which button to press to go up? Look at this helmet, it gives protection of course, but it is so uncomfortable to wear in the summer. It also cuts the angle of vision which is very important for driving and it cuts the surrounding sound which is very critical for turning left and right and making it very very risky. So how do designers ensure that they avoid these pitfalls? One way is by understanding their end users as well as they can. Designers have developed methods and processes to learn about the needs of users in their given context. That brings us to the topic of our next module. We will be introducing you to the concerns of users and their context. In the meantime, visit the course platform and read the materials in the reference tab of module one. You will also need to go to the assignment tab for the exercise of this module. It is due within a fortnight. And those of you registered for a credit on this course, we urge you to get in touch with your mentors to discuss your project topics. And here is something I want you to remember, a little design goes a long way. See you next time.


Hey everyone, welcome back to the cubes continuing coverage of snowflake summit 22 live from Caesars forum in Las Vegas I'm Lisa Martin here with about 7,000 plus folks and this next cube segment Two words girl power. Please welcome one of our alumni back to the program Colleen Copsey SVP Worldwide partners and alliances at snowflake and Pornima Rama Swami EVP of global partnerships and chief of staff to the CEO Ladies welcome to the program. Thank you very happy to be your amazing event Isn't it? It's it's so great to see this many people yesterday the keynote we got in barely Standing room only I know there was at least one overflow room Maybe two people are chopping up a bit to hear what snowflake and its ecosystem has been up to the last three years since 2019 It's been phenomenal since the last time we met Together is is humans coming together and then seeing the step function growth three years later I don't think you know, we didn't grow gradually We just jumped three years ahead and it's been I think and people have just been hungry for the information and Sharing in the joint education. So it's been a phenomenal show. It has been Pornima. Talk to us about the click partnership with snowflake What's it all about? What's your joint vision your joint strategy? Give us all that good stuff sure, so Speaking of three years This relationship has been in existence for the last three years We were at the last snowflake conference in 2019 and I liked what Frank said even though we were not in person and live The innovation has continued and our relationship has strengthened over the last three years as well. So it's interesting that Everything that Frank and everything that was mentioned at the keynote yesterday is completely in alignment with clicks vision and strategy as well We are focused on making data available for quick decision making in a timely manner for in the moment Business decisions as such the world has gone topsy-turvy in the last two years So you want to know things that are changing as they happen and not one day late one month late or one quarter late Because then the world's already past you that business moment has passed you that's been our focus We've got a dual product strategy and portfolio We collaborate really strongly with snowflake on both of those to make the most amount of data Made available on the snowflake platform in the shortest amount of time so that it's fresh and it's timely for business decision makers to get access to it to make Decisions as they are dealing with supply chain challenges and you know people challenges and so on and can make those Make those moments count as such they have to we've one of the things that we've learned in the pandemic Is access to real-time data is no longer a oh, that's great. Nice to have it's table stakes for businesses in every industry Consumer expectations have risen to a level we've probably never seen and let's face it. They're not gonna go down Nobody's gonna want less data slower Colleen talk about the click partnership from your snowflakes perspective. Yeah, you know It's been fabulous and we started on the bi side and keep evolving it frankly with more technology More solutions making that real-time access Not just you know the the bi side of having the business intelligence and seeing the data But moving beyond that to the governance side and that's such a huge piece of the relationship as well And the trustworthy that executives have with the data of who seeing it and how are we leveraging it?  I know you guys have been making some Acquisitions talk to us about what's going on a click and some news today as well acquisitions news. What's what's the deal? Yeah, so like I mentioned, we have a dual product strategy a click data integration platform and a click analytics platform And we are strengthening making sure that we align with with snowflakes vision of all workloads SAS only and governed so the announcement today was We do provide real-time data using a click data integration platform into snowflake But that real-time data has to make Make its way into the hands of the business decision makers as well So we launched what we call as direct query into snowflake So as and when data gets into the snowflake platform now customers for specific use cases Can choose to access that data data as it comes in by accessing it directly on snowflake And there are other use cases where the data is already being prepared and so on and they'll continue using the click analytics platform But this direct query access will make a world of difference in terms of that Active intelligence in the moment decision-making the second announcement that we did was the SAS first and You know going all into SAS. So we are doing our data movement in Data movement investments in our SAS platform and one of our first investments is on the snowflake platform going direct into snowflake and Our data ingestion now or data replication real-time is going to be available natively into the snowflake platform Through our SAS data transformation, you know investment that we've made So those are the two big announcements and governance has been the cornerstone for our platform end-to-end right from the beginning and that Strength continues and that's again completely in alignment with the vision that snowflake has as well I couldn't agree more that native integration, you know We used to think about bringing the data to the work and now it's bringing the work to the data because that's the secure environment the governed environment And it's that's what we're seeing with our product roadmaps together and where we're going and and you know gives customers Just peace of mind you when you're bringing the work to the data. It's more secure. It's more governed And that real-time access it's speed to because boy so many executives have to make real-time decisions quickly You know the world is moving faster than it ever has before And I've never had an executive say I'll just wait and get That's not a conversation they have I need it and I need it now And I need it at my fingertips and I need more of my entire organization to have access to that data What I feel secure and safe to share with them and so having click make that possible is just fantastic The security piece is is absolutely critical. You know, we've seen such changes to the threat landscape in the last couple of years It's no longer now a If we get hit by a cyber talk It's a matter of when yeah, and the volume of data just keeps proliferating proliferating proliferating Which obviously is not going to slow down either so having that the governance factor the ability to share data securely leveraging powerful analytics across To customers and partners an ecosystem is it sounds like to me a pretty big differentiator of what snowflake is delivering to its customers And the ecosystem it is and I would say one of the things that has held folks back from moving to the cloud before was governance Like who's gonna have what is this just gonna be a free-for-all Lisa like I'm not feeling secure with that And so having the ability to extend our ecosystem and work on that governance together Gives Executives peace of mind that they can easily determine who's going to have access to what which makes the transition to the cloud Faster and you know, that's what we're looking for because to have our customers experience The benefits of cloud and the moving up and moving down from a data perspective and really getting access to the data cloud Like that's that's where the nirvana is and so you guys are helping make that possible and provide that peace of mind So it's amazing you talk about peace of mind and it's one of those things we think oh It's a marketing term or it's it's a it's a soft term. It's actually not it's completely measurable And it's something that I talked to a lot of C-suite and and the statement of I sleep better at night is real There's gravity with it knowing that they can trust where the data is the access is governed is So it just keeps getting more and more critical every day. Yeah, it's a it's a newsworthy event Absolutely, nobody wants to be a hotline if things don't go right That's people's jobs on the line. That's reputations and that's careers So it's that is so important and I think with a lot of our customers That's our conversations directly of how can you ensure that this is going to be a secure experience? And it's snowflake and some of our superpowers and frankly some of our partners superpowers to together. It's better I Can bring this home with a customer example a couple of customer examples so Urban Outfitters, I think they're a well-known brand. They've got about 650 stores to your point on governed autonomy is what I call it Right, but then it's not just about helping with decision-making at the top You want to be able to make decision-making at all levels? So we speak about data democratization, right? It's about not just strategic decision decisions that you make for a you know a two-year time frame or a five-year time frame It's about decisions that you want to make today in the first half of the day versus a second half of the day So Urban Outfitters is a common customer and they used during the pandemic They had to change their in-stores into distribution centers They had to look at their supply chain landscape because there was supply chain bottlenecks that are still happening today, right? So with the power of both click data integration Antlick analytics, but then the combined power of click and snowflake the customer actually was able to make insights available to their in-store managers to their distribution centers and From a time perspective what used to take them days or in fact sometimes even weeks they're not able to get data in 15 minutes Refresh time for their operational decision-makers their distribution centers and their you know their order-taking systems So they are able to make decisions on which brands are moving not moving Do they need to change the product position in their stores? Do they need to change their suppliers today because you know For what's going to be in their inventory one month later because they are foreseeing they're able to predict the supply chain bottlenecks That are coming in they're able to do all of that today because of that power of a governed autonomous environment that we've built but real-time data making it making fresh data available through snowflake and easy to use dashboards and visualization through the analytics platform that we've got right and another customer ABB 37 different SAP source systems being refreshed every two minutes Worldwide for B2B transactions to be able to make all of those decisions and what you're talking about there That's especially with their urban outfitters example I think that's one that everybody is a consumer of clothing and apparel that what you just described what click and snowflake Enabled there that could have very well saved that organization We saw a lot of retailers that were not able to make that pivot. Yep No, and it did you are exactly right I think the differentiation on a lot of our core customers together of coming through the threat Not just surviving but thriving through the pandemic Access to data and supply chain management and it's these types of solutions that are game changing And that's why snowflakes not being sold just to the IT department is the business decision makers Where they have to make decisions and one of the things that surprised us the most was we had the star schema COVID data up on our data marketplace and the access to that that we had our customers to determine supply chain management What's open? What are the rules per state per region? Where should we put supply? Where should we not? It was phenomenal So when you have tools with quite quick click offers together with that data coming through the community I think that's where a lot of executives experience the power of the data cloud And that's what we want to see and that's we're helping real businesses We say we want to drive outcomes supply chain management was a massive outcome that we helped over the last two years And that was that that was critical. Obviously, we're still in that from a macroeconomic perspective It's still a challenge for a lot of folks, but it's it is Was life and death it was that initially how do we survive this and to your point Colleen? How do we now we've got this foundation now? We can thrive and we can leave the competition who wasn't able to move as fast in the dust behind us a forcing function for Change really and then that change wasn't just different. It was better. Yeah, it is better and it now Sets the foundation for the next stage of innovation, which is Auto ML and AI ML, right? You're looking back You're saying, okay, this is all the data So these are the decisions I had to make in the moment But then now they can start looking at what are the you know the midterm and the long-term strategic decisions I have to make because I can now predict, you know What are the interconnectedness or the second secondary level in the tertiary level impact for worldwide events? There's you know pandemic You pass the pandemic. There's floods somewhere. There's fire somewhere China shuts down every every so often you need new suppliers How do you you know? How do you get out of your way in terms of making daily decisions but start planning ahead? I think auto ML AI ML and data is going to be the foundation for that and real-time data at that, right? So what's no flakes doing in terms of the investment in that space? And click is acquired companies in the auto ML space and driving more automation that time to business value and time to predictive insights It's going to become very key Absolutely key and and also really kind of a lifeline for organizations to be able to do that And I have to say it's a source of pride for us to see our partners Growing and thriving in this environment too like some of these acquisitions. They're making Lisa and the machine learning space It's awesome. I mean this is where customers want to go. They've got all this fabulous data They now know how to access it real-time. How do I use queries to make me smarter? How do I use this machine learning to look at a vast amount of data in a very real-time fashion and make business decisions from? That's the future. That's where we're going. So to see you guys expand, you know from BI to governance to machine learning We're really Lisa watching companies in our ecosystem grow as we grow and that's the piece I take a lot of personal pride in and it's it's the fun part of the job frankly As you should take part in that and that's something to that's been thematic the last We were we were covering they showed yesterday and today that the growth and the substance of the snowflake ecosystem Yeah, you you see it you feel it and you hear it Well we in Frank Sluteman's book amp it up There's actually a section that he talks about because I think he has some amazing, you know lifelong Advice and on his journey of growth and he tells us that hey You can attach your company your your personal career energy to an elevator going up and a company and a high-growth story or a flat or Declining and it's harder in a flat and declining space and snowflake We certainly see as an elevator skyrocketing up and these organizations Surrounding us with their technologies and capabilities to have joint outcomes. They're doing fantastic, too I've heard this story over and over again this week I love seeing this story too with click and it's just amazing I bet ladies Thank you so much for joining me talking about the snowflake click partnership the better together power and also you're just scratching the surface that The future the momentum is you can feel it. Yeah, I love it We appreciate your insights on your time and good luck. Thank you. Let's let the girl bosses go exactly For my girl boss guests. I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching the cubes coverage of snowflake summit 22 live From Caesar's Forum in Las Vegas. I'll be right back with my next guest


it looks like we are at the hour. So I think we can go ahead and kick it off. So again, thank you all for being here and happy fair use week. We, it's the 11th annual fair use week. And so we're very, very excited to be celebrating this fair use week with the US Copyright Office. So just a few housekeeping notes really briefly. We're gonna hear from George for about 30 minutes or so, and then we'll save about 15 minutes for Q and A. So we might be a little bit flexible with how that works out, but please use the Q and A function at the bottom of your screen to submit any questions that you have for George while he's speaking. And then at the end, I'll read them aloud and we'll hear from George's expertise. So George Chironi is deputy director of the Office of Public Information and Education with the fund acronym PI. At the United States Copyright Office. And George, we are really honored to have you with us for this 11th annual fair use week. So that's it for me. I folks are here to hear from you. So thank you so much and please the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you very much and welcome to fair use week. So we're talking about fair use. It's part of that whole life cycle of copyright. So I thought I'll start out with talking about copyright in general and then getting into where fair use fits into that. So let us begin. By the way, I'm not an attorney. So I'm not going to give you any legal advice today. Maybe the only legal advice I'll give you is that if you need legal advice, seek an attorney. Today I'm going to be giving you resources and information that you can use for your own decision making for your own research. So let us get started. What is copyright? You've seen the little C symbol, right? And you know what it is probably, but just to remind you, copyright is a protection that's grounded in the US Constitution. The Constitution talks about promoting the progress of science and useful arts to writers and inventors for a limited period of time so they can have the rights to the writings and discovery. So here we're talking about those authors and those writings. Of course, things have come a long way since the Constitution and the first copyright law. So it covers a lot more than just writings. It covers published and unpublished works. And there are different kinds of intellectual property that you hear about and that get used interchangeably sometimes. And there is some overlap between them. Copyright is what we're talking about today. I hear a lot about trademarks. Trademarks identify a business or a process and usually have to do with business entities, you know, the Coca-Cola or Nike, even the Coca-Cola bottle covered by trademark because it is identifying the product that it's associated with. Patent tends to cover useful items, engines, light bulbs, things that are invented and that are mechanical or electrical or even agricultural. These are products and utilities and they have that kind of function. Trade secrets are another little niche in that and that is having to do with the process behind creating things that has kept secret to a company. There is some overlap between all of these, but today we're gonna be focusing on copyright. The first copyright law was passed in 1790. It was two pages long. It covered maps, charts and books. We have a lot more now, right? Then just maps, charts and books and it's been amended and it continues to be amended quite often. Today the copyright law is 460 pages when printed out. So that's a lot to digest, right? But there are just some basic facts and basic concepts which we'll go over today. So you don't have to read all 460 pages, but if you want to, all of this information, by the way that I'm giving you today is on copyright.gov. Copyright.gov is where you're gonna find all of this information. I'll mention that a few more times. So I mentioned the law continues to be updated and the latest big update to copyright law was the passage of the case act which established a small claims tribunal within the copyright office. And we're really excited about this because it gives opportunities for people whose rights are infringed to go to a small claims court instead of the very, very expensive and very long process of federal court. So this is for smaller claims for less than $30,000 and we've been doing this coming up on two years. We've had about 600 claims go through the system in various stages. So that is really an opportunity for people to process their infringement cases in a way that is a lot more accessible. User friendly and cheap, it's only $100. So here's our first trivia question. Let me make sure that I can see the Q and A, yes I can. Okay, so A, B, C, or D for work to be protected under copyright, A be original, B include a copyright notice, C be a professional quality, or D have a value of $35. Go ahead and put your answers in the Q and A. Let me see what your guesses are, okay. All right, I see some guesses coming in so far. And a lot of you know this stuff, I knew you would, but I just thought it'd be a little fun to go over it. It is, oh, look, everybody's got it right. It's be original, okay. Be original and have some level of creativity. You know, I'm gonna go back in seconds just to, it doesn't have to have a copyright notice. It's a good idea, but that's not required. Quality is not a factor at all, nor is the value. Basically be original and be created in a tangible form of some way. That is very important. So what kinds of things are covered by copyright? It's more than just the maps, charts, and books of 1790, because we've come a long way since then and the law has been amended. So it does still include literary works and the types that you would think of, books and magazines and newspapers, newsletters, software because of an interesting little quirk and copyright law is considered a literary work. The actual code is a literary work. Of course, the musical works with accompanying lyrics, dramatic works, pantomimes and choreographic works. Those are not social dance, but actual choreography. Of course, pictorial graphic and sculptural works, paintings, photography, sculptures, all of those and motion pictures, other audio-visual works, sound recordings, which are different from musical works. Okay, so music with the lyrics and music and sound recording is the actual recording of that. Can be two separate copyrights involved and architectural works basically for buildings that house people on like homes and so forth. Although interestingly, Bill, was just introduced last week to extend that to golf courses, but not mini-golf, which is interesting. We'll see if that gets any traction in Congress. Although I think mini-golf should be included, right? There's a lot of creative work there, but anyway, we will see. So what's not covered? Okay, what's not covered? Ideas, and why not? Because look, copyright is meant to encourage creativity, right? And if every idea were locked up by copyright, that would be a monopoly that would just stifle creativity. Procedures, processes, systems, the reason they're not covered is because they're more likely covered by patents, same with methods of operations. Concepts, again, with ideas, principles, discoveries, these are ideas until you fix something in a format that's not covered by copyright. So that's an important distinction that you have to have some sort of fixation in some form. Okay, so I mean, I already gave you an answer here, but take a guess, the work is protected under copyright when, A, the author mails a copy of the work to herself, B, the work is created and fixed in any format, C, the work is submitted to the copyright office, or D, the work is published or displayed publicly. So let's see your guesses again in the Q and A. Thank you for answering those. And I see some good guesses, any more guesses? The answer is created and fixed in any format. Okay, so has to be created, has to be fixed, what is fixed in any format mean? Well, no, it's not just a quill pen like you see here, but your phone is basically a good way of fixing something in a format, right? Either recording, you take a picture, or any other software that you're using to create something that is then protected under copyright, as soon as you create it, then you can register your work, and why would you do that? Well, so copyright exists as soon as you fix it, the original work in a tangible medium, but if you register your work, then you get the added benefit of creating a public record and being able to take somebody to court or our new copyright claims board in case of infringement, and you got to register your work to do that. So that's really important, it's cheap, it's easy. So we encourage people to register their works, it's not mandatory, but it is highly encouraged. So here is another trivia. The first work registered under federal copyright law, I have four things mentioned, by the way, these are all real books. So take a guess and guess which book was the first work registered under federal copyright law in 1790. In those days, works were registered with district courts, that was before the US Copyright Office even existed. So it didn't come into play until 1870. So take a guess. I see some guesses here, very good, thank you. And the answer is spelling book. Yes, that was the first book registered under copyright, the Philadelphia spelling book. And here's another, here's another, because I love the trivia. What's the largest thing the Copyright Office has registered? Not actually the object, but a picture of the object, because we don't have room to store these things, right? So what do you think it is? Brooklyn Bridge, St. Louis Arch, the Statue of Liberty, or Disney Castle? Take a guess. Put your answer in the Q&A, please. Let me see what you are guessing on this. Okay, all right. And the answer is Statue of Liberty. So yes, that was registered by the architect who designed the Statue of Liberty. All right, one more, because I love the trivia. What's the first motion picture registered with the Copyright Office? These are also real things. And up until two years ago, we thought it was one thing and then we had a researcher discover it with something else. So up until quite recently, we thought it was the sneeze, but it's not the sneeze, it's the blacksmith shop.  So it's also considered the first movie to include actors because they're not really blacksmiths, but that's what it was. And now that was when motion pictures were registered as a series of photographs, because of course that's really just what a motion picture is, a bunch of photographs. All right, so how long does Copyright last? So for the most part, the duration of Copyright is an author's lifetime plus 70 years, that's that part in the middle there. Okay, it's a little bit different for things earlier and for a work made for hire, that is something done for a company in the course of business, it's a little bit more, but for most of works by individuals, author's lifetime plus 70 years, that is a duration. And if a work is in the public domain, what does that mean? A, it exists on the internet. B, access to the work is free of cost. C, it's available at a public library or D, the work can be freely copied or used. Let's see your answers in the Q and A. Want to see some answers here. All right, thank you, okay, good. And yes, it means it can be freely copied and used. And so every year a whole bunch of works come into the public domain. So this year works from 1928 came into the public domain. We've got to have things like the Great Gatsby, Winnie the Pooh, when I was young, the Winnie the Pooh book when that came into the public domain, someone immediately made a horror film based on Winnie the Pooh. So you're free to do what you'd like with it. This year, of course, is Steamboat Willie, who was the first appearance of Mickey Mouse and the Mickey Mouse kingdom, so to speak. So that got a lot of press this year as well. And so when we talk about copyright, it's a right, but really it's a bundle of rights, a whole bunch of things. The right to reproduce, to make a copy, that's part of the bundle of rights, to distribute, to prepare derivative works. You've got your great screenplay, you're making a movie, that's a derivative work. Performing or displaying the work publicly, public performance of digital audio transmissions and proper attribution of visual arts works. And when you're the copyright owner, you have all of these rights and you can do things with those rights, you can lease them, you can license them, you can bequeath them, either all of them or parts of them, you can let people use them freely if you so desire. They're your rights and as an owner and you can do various things with them and they have some value. So when Sony wants to make a new motion picture, they will sometimes use these rights as collateral for a loan for a motion picture so that they have value. Now, so the concept of copyright, it's meant to be a balance, right? And Congress and the courts try to achieve this balance so that you have those exclusive rights, which I just mentioned, reproducing, distributing and so forth. But at the same time, copyright is not meant to stifle creativity, it's meant to encourage and aspire it. So at the same time that there are rights, there are also limitations on those rights and that's covered in sections 107 through 122 of the Copyright Act, we're gonna define that, copyright.gov. So there are several of them, Fair Use is one we were talking about today, but there are some others that are very important and relevant as well. For example, section 108, I'm just gonna mention that briefly here. Section 108 is a part of the Copyright Act that's specifically geared toward libraries. It allows libraries and archives to reproduce and distribute certain copyrighted works without permission, limited basis for preservation, replacement and research. It can make copies of works that are under copyright protection to send to other libraries, permits some copies for personal research and in the areas of preservation. So I would encourage you if you're using this to read carefully what it says in section 108, which you can find where copyright.gov, right? And there have been a lot of discussion since section 108 was made part of the law in 1976 to upgrade and revise section 108. Copyright Office has done numerous reports on this and so have others, but as it stands now, it does have certain provisions in it. And I should mention that all of these provisions with the exclusive rights, limitations on exclusive rights, 107 through 122. Sections 108 through 122 are very specific and they're written in a way that you can read it and understand and there's a bright line to explain what those exclusive rights are. But fair use is written in a different way. Fair use is an affirmative defense in court to using a work. So it's not, it doesn't have that bright line. So copyright lawyers will often say it depends and that's true because fair use is considered in courts and also in the copyright claims board on a case by case basis. It's very, very case specific. So that makes the job harder for people who are using certain works in fair use because you gotta do some research and analysis and think about whether or not that would be an acceptable affirmative defense in court if it ever came to that. It talks about reproduction for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research. These are examples to why it says such as. So that doesn't mean that every time there's news reporting or teaching or criticism that that's fair use. These are examples. So that's important to understand. And the way the courts look at this, this is spelled out in the law and there are four factors that are analyzed, okay? The first is the purpose and character. I'll read this out first. The purpose and character of the use including whether such use is of commercial nature or is nonprofit educational purposes, okay? Looking at different cases, courts are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and non-commercial commercial uses are fair. Not that all of them are. It's not, as I said, a bright line but it's more likely that a court will see that as a fair use than not. And they take this factor and balance it against the other factors as well. Transformative uses are more likely to be considered fair. And those are cases where something is added new to something, making it different. Here are two examples of transformative use, okay? In this first one, libraries that provide Google with books to scan were protected by fair use when the libraries later used the resulting digital scans for preservation, full-text search engines and electronic access for disabled persons. And they were considered to be transformative. The court didn't find any evidence of financial harm in that case. Now you contrast that in the case where in an anniversary tribute on Facebook, Fox News producer posted an iconic unmodified photo of firefighters wasting a flag after the 9-11 bombings causing it, causing it raising the flag at ground zero. And that photo was juxtaposed with an image of soldiers raising the flag at Iwo Jima. The photographer sued and Fox claimed fair use arguing the posting of the social media by its nature was transformative. But the district court said, no, the posting itself was not a fair use. That was not a transformative use. So that just shows you it's very, very fact specific. And you have to look very closely at how the court considered these factors when they made their decisions. The nature of the work, okay? This is also very important in consideration with fair use. Relate to the purpose of using a creative or imaginative work is less likely to support a claim of fair use than using a factual work or news. And why is that? That's because facts in themselves are not protected by copyright. Like there are 50 states in the United States. That's a fact plus DC where I am now. And territories, these are facts. These are not copyrightable in any way because they're just facts that anybody can use. And that's sort of what's behind this. Also use of an unpublished work is less likely to be considered fair. So these are all factors. Another factor is the amount and the substantiality of a work. If a large portion of the work is used, fair use is less likely to be found. There's no magic numbers, no magic number of pages or no magic number of minutes in a song or seconds. Because think of it this way, look a child's book, children's book might only have eight pages, right? Might be very small. But it really gets to whether the heart of the work is used, that's what courts have looked at. And lastly, this is an important one, not necessarily more important, but courts do look at this, the effect on the use of the market and whether someone's using a work is going to affect someone else's livelihood in essence, right? If person A is taking the work of person B, modifying it slightly perhaps, but it's really damaging the sales, the livelihood of the owner, then that would be less likely to be considered a fair use. We have a lot on our website, copyright.gov and this circular 21 has 24 pages long of a very detailed analysis of different kinds of situations for libraries and archives. So I encourage you to read that. I can't go over the whole 24 pages now because we don't have time for that. But I encourage you to read that and you'll get some more insight into that. And now I'm going to stop sharing this and start sharing our website, copyright.gov, fair dash use, okay? And on our website, we have an index, this is really useful, okay? We have an index of fair use cases that have been adjudicated all the way back I think it goes way back. What was it first year in 1841? Okay, well, we have a lot of cases. I didn't even realize we went back that far. So these are different cases and you'll see this is kind of fun to use. The first part of it, you can choose which courts were involved. Do you wanna look just the Supreme Court cases or do you wanna look at cases in circuit courses to the courts where you live? That's very useful too because you'll see that as you look at this, not every court and not every circuit court follows exactly the same path. There are some nuances and some differences. You can also select the type of work or the type of use. Is it a parody? Is it a textual work? As you click and unclick these buttons, the different cases will change. So you can take a look and decide which ones you wanna read. And when you click on one of the cases, this is a famous case. This was adjudicated quite recently, the Andy Warhol case. And when you look at this, you can see a nice one little over, one page summary of the key facts, what the issues were, and how the court held in that. It's a little bit of reading, but it's much, much easier to read than looking at the entire case file, which can be many, many volumes of pages. But this will go through the facts of the case and outline that for you. So it's really useful to take a look. I gotta spend some time on this to look and see, hear the different parody cases. You know, here are ones having to do with education and scholarship. So there are a lot of different categories you can use here and take a look and see how courts ruled in those particular cases. It's not going to definitively sort of answer the question for you, is my use of fair use or not? But it may get too pretty close to getting an answer that will help you make a decision. So we have that for you. We keep it up to date and it's there for you, for you to use. So, and just to sort of like take one back step about permission, is the use a public domain? You know, the works, as I mentioned, if it's in the public domain, you don't have to go any further. You can use the work for whatever you'd like and that's it, finished. If you can use any of the other exemptions, if you can use section 108, you don't have to worry about fair use. So you can just use that and go on your way. So keep that in mind. If one of these other exceptions applies, you can just go ahead and use that and not have to go any further. Thinking about fair use or permission, but if you do have to ask for permission, there are ways to do that. You first need to find out who owns the work and what sort of rights they have and get in touch with them. Now, some creators have a Creative Commons license and they've asserted that it's okay for everybody to use their works. Other people want to negotiate a license, really depends. You can look through our catalog online, copyright.gov, look through our card catalog and you can also contact different licensing organizations, especially for licensing music to see who owns a work and what sort of rights do they have and what sort of rights do you need, what would you like? Do you want to use, that's an important thing too when you're asking permission to make sure to ask exactly what you need. Are you just using this to make a copy that you're going to use in a presentation or classroom or are you going to put it on a website? Is this going to be a recorded performance or some sort of live performance? Be very specific so that you are asking for the rights that you actually need and that they can give you. Many people will be happy to give them to you. Other people might want to issue a license. You can negotiate with a rights holder for licenses or you can go through a licensing organization if they hold the licenses to whatever works you're interested in. And here are other ways to make things easier if you're in a bind, provide a link to something, list titles, listing sources. So creating your own content, these are ways that you can mitigate this if you are finding difficulty in getting permission or clearing rights for something. I already mentioned this but another trivia. So what is the Copyright Claims Board? I think you all will know this one right off because I just mentioned it and it is the A3 member tribunal with extensive expertise in copyright matters and providing the streamlined alternative to federal court. Our website, copyright.gov, has a lot of videos. There's one on Fair Use. There's one on the public domain.  I encourage you, there was one that has cats in it so we love that. I encourage you to watch these videos and learn a little bit. Just mentioning this, this is not directly related to Fair Use but we are getting a lot of attention, a lot of focus in our office on artificial intelligence and how that intersects with copyright. We asked members of the public for comments. We've got about 10,000 of them and we're reviewing those and we'll be issuing a report in various parts very soon to Congress to advise on what we think Congress should do or not do in regard to AI and copyright. Copyright.gov is where you find all this. I've mentioned that before and now it is time for me to stop sharing and answer any questions that you might have. I've whizzed through a lot here so feel free to ask whatever you would like. Thanks, George. That was really great and I think every fair, I'm just gonna, as we wait for questions to come in, I think every Fair Use week, we sort of reinforce the importance of kind of going back to the fundamentals and the basics of Fair Use because there are people that come into the library profession or in grad school or whatever and might not have misperceptions about what Fair Use is and how it can be used. So I just really appreciate this and I think it will live on. I didn't see any questions. I did see a comment. Someone said they love the Fair Use index and recommend it all the time. They really like the one page summaries and I'll second that, you know, especially for folks that like myself who are not attorneys, like it's really useful to be able to go and dig in and kind of get that synopsis and that summary. So that's really useful. So thank you. Yeah, I like the one page summaries too and I don't have to read the whole case file. I also, you mentioned, I know, hey, I was top of mind and I thank you. We chatted about this a little bit ahead of time too. So I appreciate you mentioning the copyright office study. I don't know if there's any, if folks have seen the letter that came out from Shiro Perlmutter, the register of copyrights today but encourage you to take a look at that. But George, if there's any, I mean, you already said sort of the report will come out in sections, but anything else you want to sort of say to that kind of breaking news, I think we're, yeah, open to it. Yeah, so with our AI study, I'm gonna just let me put a link to the letter. Okay, well, I'll look for that. So with AI, we're looking at a couple of different, couple of different themes. We're gonna be talking about, advising Congress about the rights of publicity, having to do with using a likeness of a person, whether a celebrity or not, in some way, using AI. We're gonna talk about copyright ability. And then of course, which is what parts can be protected by copyright and what can't. And then also the training models, using copyrighted materials to train AI and where does that fit in? So all of these are factors that are of a lot of interest to everyone. And so we're gonna be, we've had to go through these 10,000 comments with, by the way, there was some discussion about whether we should use AI to read the comments, but no, no. We're reading them all with human beings and so that we can categorize all the comments and we're really grateful that people have submitted that, but we did not use AI to read the comments. We get that question a lot actually, or we're using human beings, so. That's interesting though, because I know there was a hearing on sort of legislative branch use of AI and the Library of Congress, you know, testified, Dr. Hayden testified and talked about like the very cool ways that, you know, the library is using AI and opportunities for the copyright office as well. That's right, and we, you know, and that's a distinction also that was made in that hearing about the use of AI tools in the workplace and in different research settings versus generative AI, which is really the core of the issues that we're studying or generative AI and how that falls into place with copyright law. We issued guidance last March, so almost a year ago, on how registrants can register works that contain some AI-created material. For example, a comic book where the words are written by a person and the images are created by AI. We issued guidance explaining how you can register the work and exclude the AI-created content in your application. That's actually not a new kind of feature. There's always been an opportunity to exclude content from a registration if it's not something you created yourself. Thanks for digging into that a bit. I'm gonna give one more chance for folks to put questions in the Q&A. If you have them, and I will mention my email address is in the chat, so if folks have any questions or wanna follow up on any of this, we're definitely having in-depth conversations in the research library community about many of the issues that George touched on, and particularly all things AI, right? And so that's my email address. Don't hesitate to reach out. And so I think what we'll do is we will grab these links in the recording and we'll make sure to kind of share this and make sure it lives as a resource for this and future fair use weeks. And yeah, I don't see any more questions. So I will just express our gratitude, George, for your time and your expertise and your knowledge and the resources that you shared. We really appreciate it and hope that we can do it again next fair use week. So thank you. All right, thank you and happy fair use week. Fair use week. Thank you.