Okay, so can you hear me? So thank you very much for the introduction. This is official title of my talk, but I should probably change it to, it's a wrong presentation, one second please. But I should probably change it to collective behavior in biomechanical hybrid system. So, you must ask me what is my biomechanical hybrid systems and why we are so interested in studying it. And if you go to department of energy website, you will find a few grand challenges. And one of the grand challenge is to discover general principles describing the systems far from equilibrium to enable efficient and robust by biologically inspired machines. So in other words, the government wants us to create something which combines the properties of engineered mechanical materials and living organisms. I don't know if we can see it, but this is like a Robocop. And one of the, so these systems, they can adapt to environmental changes. They can respond to stimuli. And more importantly, they can, since they're alive, they can self heal damages. And before playing with the humans hybrids biomechanical hybrids, so we decided to start with something a little bit simpler with swimming bacteria. So I'm sure that many of you have seen these movies or similar movies many times, but yeah, bacillus subtlos and many other bacteria like E. coli, they're pretty good swimmers, but at 18 helical filaments, flagella, they can swim pretty fast. And what is interesting that if you increase the concentration of bacteria, they start to swim collectively like here, which is manifested by the formation of large-scale vortices, jets, flows, and the correlation length of velocity field is much larger than an individual size of a single bacterium. And you might think that since they swim collectively, probably bacteria should be aligned parallel to each other and it should look like enigmatic material. But in reality, this is not the case. It turns out if you zoom in on a fraction of this collective behavior, bacteria are not very well aligned. So the orientation is pretty much random. So while there is like a long range of orientational order for velocities, there is no long range orientation for bacterial orientation. But we can fix it by putting bacteria inside synthetic material, liquid crystal. So fortunately, there is liquid crystal, which is not toxic for bacteria. It's a leotropic liquid crystal. Basically, it's a mixture of salt and water and a certain range of salt concentration and certain range of temperature. This material goes to the enigmatic phase and by mixing bacteria with the liquid crystal, we create what we call living liquid crystal. So it's a synthetic material combining the properties of life matter, such as bacteria, cell self-propulsion, with the properties of liquid crystal, such as long range orientational order, anisotropic viscosity and anisotropic elasticity. So before talking about the results of our work, I just want to quickly describe the technique we used. It's called cross polarized microscopy. So like long story short, basically, this is a standard technique to study liquid crystal. So by transmitting the polarized light through the liquid crystal and blocking it with the second polarizer perpendicular to the first one, you get the image and intensity allows you estimate the orientation of molecules of liquid crystal. So what we did, we put this liquid crystal inside, we sandwiched it basically between two glass plates, treat it in a special way. I don't know if you can see them, but these are bacteria. So the director field, which is parallel to the orientation of molecules of liquid crystal is uniform everywhere. And as you can see, the bacteria swim parallel to this director field. That happens because of the tourism. So first, since the viscosity of liquid crystals highly isotropic, the drag in this direction is much less than drag and perpendicular direction. That's why bacteria prefer to swim this way. But also if you immerse any even immatial object, elongated object in the liquid crystal, it will align parallel to the director field just to minimize the free energy. But you can also see that swimming bacteria flagella creates a wave, which is visible using the optical microscope. And that's quite interesting because flagella is only 24 nanometers wide, and it's not possible to see it in optical microscope without like fluorescent tricks, for example. But if we use liquid crystal, we can visualize the dynamic of flagella. We can measure pitch. We can measure frequency of the rotation. And that's quite useful tool because, for example, in this experiment, two bacteria swimming next to each other, like they swim parallel to each other. And while they are approaching, the difference in their swimming speed is reducing. But what is even more interesting that the difference in the frequencies of flagella rotation is also reducing. So this is dashed line frequency of flagella rotation. And this is an evidence of hydrodynamic synchronization between flagella and different bacteria. And this may be quite important because the synchronization of flagella may be one of the reason why at high concentration, bacteria swim much more efficiently and much faster than at low concentration. What is also was quite puzzling that in spite of the fact that liquid crystal is very viscous medium, the viscosity is by 100 or 1,000 times larger than viscosity of water, bacteria swim still pretty fast. So the blue line represents the velocity distribution. And as you can see, the average swimming speed is about 15 microns per second, which is only 25% less than the swimming speed of the bacteria in water, 20 microns per second. The rotation rate of the flagella in water is about 100 Hertz. The rotation rate in liquid crystal is 15 Hertz. So it's seven times less. But the swimming speed is only by 25% less, which means that while in water, single bacterium travels 0.15 microns per each rotation of flagella, somehow in liquid crystal the same bacterium travels one micron per each rotation of flagella. So it's like a corkscrew motion, much more efficient. And the reason why it happens is that in liquid crystal the flow created, the bacteria virtually swim inside a channel, inside a tube. So since the viscosity is very isotropic, the flow created by a single bacterium is allocated along the line parallel to the bacterial body. So the flow decays very slowly in this direction and very fast in the perpendicular direction. That's a very important result because if we have many bacteria or a few bacteria, the interaction range is highly isotropic. So they interact at very large distance if they're on the same line, on the same trajectory, and they don't interact if they're on the different lines even if they're very close to each other. And in this movie, for example, you can see that this fluorescent tracer, this white spot will be transferred by the bacteria while the bacteria is quite far, 100 microns from this particle. I don't know if you will be able to see it, but we will try it. So yeah, sorry, it's not visible. But this particle is moved by the bacteria while the bacteria is quite far from this particle, but at the same line. And before talking about the collective behavior, I just want to quickly show you a few quite interesting tricks how we can guide bacteria. For example, we can create such a configuration of liquid orientation of liquid crystal, like I don't know, star configuration. Then all bacteria, since they're swimming parallel to the director field, they will swim towards the center and away from the center. So they will concentrate in the center of this star. But if we create like a vortex configuration like here, it's even more interesting. Bacteria will think that they are fish now and they will school. And take a note that there is certain type of instability. So you can see the formation of wave like this. And the mechanism why you see this instability, well, basically you can see like three wave lengths, three periods here, or four, sorry, four periods here. So there, the mechanism is the collective interaction between bacteria. So basically this is the collective behavior. Of course, we can create a system of vortices, interacting vortices or non-interacting vortices. So here you can see like basically four different schools of bacteria. So the reason why you saw these waves is following. So remember, I told you that the bacteria, the range, the interact range of bacteria is quite large if they're on the single trajectory on the same line. So if you have one bacteria, the velocity field decays very slowly in this direction. And, but still decays. And if there isn't another bacteria here, the hydrodynamic forces created by the first bacteria acting on the head and the tail of another bacteria are different. And because of this, the first bacteria introduces a torque. And this torque hydrodynamic interaction between bacteria tends to misalign bacteria. While elastic forces and liquid crystals and hydroelastic material tends to align them back. And the interplay between elastic forces and hydrodynamic interaction defines the wavelength of this instability you saw. And in this experiment, for example, the first, we make bacteria immatial temporarily by cutting off the oxygen. So we reduce the oxygen concentration to zero, they become non-matel, and they align parallel to the director field uniformly everywhere. So their orientation is like this everywhere. And then if you use a cross polarized microscopy, you don't see anything, you'll see like a black color. But then we introduce oxygen to the system from the left side and bacteria start to swim. They start to interact and they create a bending instability. And this bending instability can be observed using again cross-parallel microscopy as stripes. And these stripes propagate to the right with the diffusion of oxygen. So if you continue to increase the activity of the bacteria or concentration of bacteria, you can create like a turbulent motion like in this movie. So it's very similar to what I showed you on the first slide, but now it's a little bit slower. But what is more important that now bacteria very well align with each other. So it's turbulence in the pneumatic material, pneumatic medium. And you can see the formation of defects here. I'm not gonna talk about it, but that's very rich system and we continue to study it now. And at the very last few minutes, I want, so you saw that bacteria may behave like a fish and now I'll show you that they can behave like ants. So before I talked to you about, so in the previous experiment, the orientation of liquid crystal was parallel to the glass plates. So it's called a planar orientation. We can also create a hematropic orientation. Then the liquid crystal is perpendicular to the glass plates. And then if the bacteria is relatively short and not very fast, it will become, it will be aligned parallel to the liquid crystal molecules perpendicular to the glass plates. It will spin the flat shell, but it will remain vertical. And this bacteria is seen from the top as dots here. But some bacteria, if they're relatively long and more importantly, if they're powerful enough, they can escape this vertically trapped state and become swimming, horizontally swimming. For example, in this video, you see that now most of the bacteria are vertical, but then we introduce oxygen to the system. They start to swim and they escape this vertical state and start to swim horizontally. What you can also notice that each bacteria will create a wide trace. And this trace is basically, you'll see in the other movie. So this trace is a disturbance of vertically, initially vertically oriented director field. So swimming bacteria creates such configuration like, I don't know, the final configuration and attracts other bacteria to the trace. And you can see in this movie that, for example, there is a few bacteria traveling next to each other free bacteria. So the first bacteria create a trace and other bacteria follow this trace. So, and you may find another example, then the bacteria, for example, here, find like a trace from the previous bacteria start to follow because swimming along this trajectory is easier than swimming somewhere else. And I think this is the end of my talk. I just want to thank my collaborators and ready to answer your questions.


Felly, wrth gwrs, rydyn ni'n bwysig yw'r portfoliol yw'r cwestiynau cymdeithasol a'r cymdeithasol a'r cymdeithasol. 1. Sandra White Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how full fiscal autonomy would impact on its strategic planning for areas that fall under the infrastructure investment and cities portfolio. Secretary Nicklas Sturgeon. The control of Scotland's resources would allow the Scottish Government significant greater flexibility to invest in strategic projects with the aim of boosting economic performance, enhancing opportunity, providing better public services and improving the environment for the people of Scotland. 1. Sandra White I thank the minister for that reply. Given the role played by the society in a number of grassroots groups in shaping public debate around the new powers and how they can be used, how does the Scottish Government plan to include groups from across civic Scotland in the upcoming negotiations with the Kelvin commission? 1. I want to take the opportunity to welcome Lord Smith's intention to engage with civic society and the grassroots groups who played such a key role in the referendum campaign. The importance of doing so was something that John Swinney and I stressed to Lord Smith when we met him last week. The Scottish Government also intends to engage fully with civic Scotland and grassroots organisations as proposals for further devolution are developed. We will be encouraging and do encourage all organisations across civic Scotland to play a full role in Lord Smith's commission. He set a deadline of the end of this month for groups submitting proposals to him, and I would encourage all those with an interest to do so. 2. Drew Smith To ask the Scottish Government how it will introduce the Glasgow and Clyde Valley city deal. 3. Nicola Sturgeon Glasgow is our largest city and forms a key part of Scotland's economy. The Scottish Government has signed a city deal for Glasgow and Clyde Valley that will deliver significant benefits for the region and I believe for Scotland as a whole. As the member will be aware, we have committed over £500 million to that deal, which will run for 20 years until the financial year 2034-35. The intention is that funding will be released in five-year tranches. The release of funding will be subject to gateway reviews and is contingent on Glasgow and Clyde Valley adopting satisfactory governance and assurance processes. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. Probably the biggest barrier to Glasgow's economic growth that the Government has created remains the issue of an effective surface transport linked to Glasgow's airport. What steps will the Scottish Government now take to ensure that the opportunity of a city deal is maximised and to finally take forward a practical solution for a fast connection by rail between Glasgow city centre and Glasgow airport and does she now accept that the Scottish Government's decision to scrap the previous girl scheme resulting in the land on which it would have been run being sold off at considerable loss to the public purse now looks as short-sighted as it was misguided? No, I do not accept that. The reasons for that particular Government decision have been well rehearsed and I think are well understood. I know that the member was accusing the Scottish Government of being short-sighted, not the people of Glasgow, but I take the opportunity to say that I think that the people of Glasgow demonstrated anything but short-sightedness when they voted yes in the referendum a couple of weeks ago. In terms of the specific question that the member asks, he will be aware that the city deal makes clear that improvements in terms of surface access will cover the projects emerging from the Glasgow airport study and our work on a tram train will inform those Glasgow city council and Renfrewshire council are to take forward delivery and the feasibility study in that respect is being finalised. However, all of that said, as a signal of our on-going commitment to improve rail travel in the Renfrewshire area, we have already provided enhanced passenger services and, indeed, 38 new-class trains, providing 130 additional carriages through the Paisley corridor improvements. This Government remains committed to ensuring that we continue to improve rail transport and I have no doubt that the commitment that has been demonstrated by the city deal will allow the local authorities involved in that city deal to continue to make progress as well. The feasibility study that the cabinet secretary referred to has been on-going for some time. Can she confirm when that will be completed and when work will begin on a timetable for introduction of the airport rail link, including budgetary implications? Can she also state whether she has had discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance about provisions for city deal funding that has been included in the budget, which will be published next Thursday? In relation to the second part of James Kelly's question, I am sure that it will not surprise him to hear that I have frequent and regular discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance. He will present his budget to the Scottish Parliament next week. I will not say any more about the budget than that at this stage, except to say, as I said in my original answer to Drew Smith's question, that the Scottish Government's commitment to the city deal has been made absolutely clear. In terms of the feasibility study, as I said in response to Drew Smith, we are finalising the feasibility study. It is important that that work is done thoroughly, robustly and properly. The work has highlighted some challenges to the delivery of any rail link and we will continue to work with the councils to address them. Of course, Glasgow City Council and Renfisher Council will take forward the delivery of any project. The Government's commitment to work with the councils here is well understood and we will continue to make progress. To ask the Scottish Government what road transport projects it plans for South Scotland. Minister Keith Brown. The Scottish Government continues to invest in road transport projects in South Scotland in accordance with the motorway and trunk road programme and the infrastructure investment plan. I thank the minister for that response. The minister will be aware that freight traffic through Scottish ports has increased significantly over the past decade, with the majority of traffic going through Stranraer and Cairnryan. That means that the A75 is experiencing greater volume of HGV traffic. That is particularly affecting Spring Home and Crockettford, as there are only two settlements left on the A75 that have not been bypassed. Does the minister share my safety concerns over the continuation of HGV vehicles thundering through the heart of two villages that are simply not designed to take such vehicles? Will he agree to meet me in local campaigners to find a solution to those safety concerns? Of course, I am happy to meet the member to discuss that, but it is worth pointing out that the work that we have done already on the A75 has been hard-grove to Kinmont, a construction cost of £9 million involving the construction of a new 3.6-kilometre section of wide single, two-lane carriageway trunk road, and other works on the A75, for example the Dunraget bypass. There are a number of bypasses and a number of works that have been undertaken on the A75 to make it safer. Works that could have been done quite some time ago, but this Government has taken those forward. As I have said to the member, I am more than happy to meet the member to discuss the particular issue that he has raised. To ask the Scottish Government whatever it would provide in updates on the proposed Aberdeen harbour development. The proposed expansion has been identified as a national development in the national planning framework 3. Aberdeen harbour boards are currently undertaking preliminary environmental impact assessment work, along with consulting with stakeholders and the public on their proposals. I thank the minister for the answer. Could he please tell us as well for other north-east harbours? I know that the Scottish Government has greatly helped Frezibyr harbour and Peterhead harbour, but what kind of assistance can the Scottish Government be planning to give to other north-east harbours, giving the ever-increasing demand from different sectors, such as energy, tourism and fishing? I think that Christian Allard makes a good point, because Aberdeen harbours' huge success and the demand that it has there has led to a positive impact on other harbours in the north-east. If we can help, we will help. We have engaged with those harbours. I visited, for example, Montrose harbour, where we have funded additional works to help to take on that additional demand that they have seen. We stand ready to help harbours in the north-east, not least through European fisheries funding, where that is applicable in the Scottish Government's emergency harbour scheme. Already, in excess of £16 million has been awarded to fisheries harbours in the north-east of Scotland under those schemes, and that supported harbour improvements and emergency works that have directly aided fisheries sectors. As Christian Allard suggests, there has been a huge increase in demand for many of those harbours. Some of them are related to fisheries, some of them are related to the overspill, if you like, from Aberdeen, and we will continue to engage with those harbours so that they can make sure that they meet that demand and encourage further demand. Will the minister confirm that the planned development of Aberdeen harbour will further support the growth of offshore renewable energy in the North Sea? Does the Scottish Government agree that the offshore wind demonstrator project in Aberdeen Bay is of importance not just locally and nationally but to the European renewable sector as a whole? Of course, the two developments that Lewis Macdonald mentioned are very much in the minds of the harbour authority. That is why they are taking forward those improvements. He also knows around the harbour that he can see a number of sites that have been taken over by those companies involved in those sectors that he mentions. Obviously, that has led to a huge increase in demand. That is why the harbour authority is trying to address that. We are very supportive of that. I have been to the harbour three times now to talk to the people there to make sure that we can help them where they can. Of course, the potential for renewables in particular is huge. However, they are also seeing a huge upsurge in demand for oil-related activity, as the member knows. We are aware of those. We are supportive of what the harbour is trying to do, but it is for them, in the first instance, to talk to local partners to bring forward their plans. To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the impact on child poverty in Scotland of any UK Government freeze on child benefit. Minister Margaret Burgess Scottish Government analysis estimates that freezing the child benefit rates for the three years from 2011-12 to 2014-15 will reduce child benefit expenditure in Scotland by around £290 million. That will affect those families with children where no one in the household earns more than £60,000. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that an additional 50,000 children will be living in relative poverty by 2020 due to the UK Government welfare reforms. The figure could be as high as 100,000 children after housing costs are taken into account, and this is simply unacceptable in a country as wealthy as Scotland. Many thanks. I thank the minister for her answer. Does she share my concern that, whether it is Tory or Labour who get in it Westminster next year, the real losers will be the hard-pressed families of Fife and across Scotland who will be hit in the pocket by the real-terms cuts to child benefit being proposed by both of those Westminster parties? I share the member's concerns that continued real-term cuts to child benefit and other working-age benefits and tax credits announced by Labour and Conservative parties will result in reductions in household incomes for families in Scotland who are already struggling to make ends meet. The mantra of making work pay has clearly failed. Six in 10 of our children in poverty now live in working households. Those households are reliant on tax credits and other benefits to raise their household income. Reducing their income in real terms only pushes them further into poverty. Jackie Baillie I think that levels of child poverty are going the wrong way and it is a concern for us all, but it was a most interesting exchange because it might also interest the chamber to note that there is not one word in the white paper or the expert group on welfare that sets a different course from that of the UK Government. Of course, if the minister disagrees, could she perhaps point me to the page of either document that says otherwise? I think that there was a number of things in the white paper regarding child poverty to reducing child poverty. We also had the expert working group talking about raising the minimum wage to be the living wage. We had our childcare package. There is a number of issues because child poverty is not just simply dependent on an hourly rate of pay as Labour parties seem to think. It is a whole combination of rates of pay, numbers of hours' work and the tax and welfare system, childcare and getting people into work. All of those were addressed in the white paper and all remain a priority for this Government. To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to ensuring the continued viability of local bus services that have hospitals and other essential services on their routes. Generally, the provision of local bus services and routes is a commercial matter for individual bus operators. Local transport authorities can choose to subsidise socially necessary services, not provided commercially, and some health boards already work with local authorities and RTPs to help with supporting socially necessary bus services that provide access to local health facilities. The Scottish Government provides an annual bus service that operators grant currently £50 million, which aims to help to keep fares at an affordable level and support the overall bus network by enabling bus operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable. I thank the minister for that answer. As she will be aware, not all bus services are profitable, but they are essential for many people in rural and remote communities in reaching vital services such as hospital outpatient appointments. If irregular or unreliable services mean patients from remote or rural communities miss their appointments, does the cabinet secretary believe their scope to take a different approach to planning for and funding those vital public services and seeing them as an investment in those other services rather than a cost and perhaps promote a little bit more partnership working and looking at the core sectoral benefit analysis of the cost? That is why, as I have suggested in my initial answer, both local authorities and regional transport partnerships and some health authorities take that approach to provide services that do not make a commercial profit. If the member is aware of individual services that are unreliable or late running, there is a specific remedy for that through the traffic commissioner. I am happy to provide to the member with more information about that if she wants to seek redress from that. I also mentioned £50 million bus service operators grant, and the idea behind that is to try to make sure that some services that might not otherwise be commercially viable can run, and we can bear down on the cost of fares as well. There are provisions in place and more than willing to listen to further suggestions because there is a review going on with the bus users group to look at how we can better co-ordinate those services that are currently there. I am happy to discuss that with the member, but also to provide her with more information about the role of the traffic commissioner. To ask the Scottish Government what conclusions it has drawn from the funding for the help-to-buy scheme being fully allocated within three months. The Scottish Government continues to consider the impact of all our home ownership and industry support schemes, including help-to-buy Scotland. What is clear from recent experience is that the scheme has been very successful in achieving its stated aims of stimulating demand, supporting home ownership, supporting industry and encouraging wider economic activity and growth. I thank the minister for her reply. I am sure that she will also be aware of the dismay and disappointment that is felt by many potential applicants and among those in the housing industry the funds running out so quickly. If any analysis has been carried out, in particular on unmet demand for the help-to-buy scheme, does the minister have a view to amend the criteria used to decide on applications under the help-to-buy scheme? The help-to-buy scheme is monitored on a monthly basis by our partners in industry, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Homes for Scotland. We are also looking at now that the scheme has been running for a year. The demand did well exceed the expectation of both the industry and the Council of Mortgage Lenders. It initially anticipated £220 million for the scheme, and it has been significantly higher. We did top it up by a further £50 million this financial year. However, it is currently under consideration all the issues that the member raises are under active consideration at the moment. Yesterday, during the housing supply debate, the minister stated that the budget for help-to-buy for next year is £100 million, which is £40 million less than this year, and applications are being sought now. Can the minister tell the chamber when she expects that pot to run out? This is a demand-led scheme, as we said earlier, that is primarily set up to stimulate the housing industry, and it has done that to create wider economic activity. What we have said is that £100 million has been set aside for 2015-16 applications that are currently being made. Nobody has been refused to make an application, and we are still monitoring it on a monthly basis. I refer to the answer that I gave Ken Macintosh a few minutes ago. 8. Colin Beattie To ask the Scottish Government how an extension of the 1 per cent cap on child benefit to 2017 would impact on its poverty strategy. Our analysis suggests that extending the 1 per cent cap would reduce child benefit expenditure in Scotland by around £10 million in 2016-17. As outlined in my earlier response, our efforts to tackle poverty in Scotland are already being undermined by the current range of welfare and benefit changes being imposed by the UK Government. Our most recently published statistics show that the reduction in poverty in Scotland, seen in recent years, is now being reversed. Overall, those changes threaten the success of our preventative approach to tackling child poverty and the actions that we are taking to improve outcomes for children and deliver the welfare and fairer society that we aspire to. Colin Beattie, I thank the minister for our response. Does the minister agree with me that Westminster should agree to devolve welfare powers to allow the Scottish Government to protect its citizens from those cuts? The UK parties have made much of their commitments to devolve other welfare powers, yet in their proposals they refer only to limited powers. In order to tackle poverty and protect citizens from these cuts, we want to deliver new powers for Scotland, capable of making a real difference to people's lives. We will therefore work with the Smith's commission in good faith and strongly argue the case for more powers for Scotland. On that basis, can I ask the minister what she would do on child benefit and give her a second chance to tell me what page of the white paper, or the expert group on welfare, points to a different approach to child benefit than that taken by the UK? Minister Margaret Burgess, I think that what we have seen is that Labour Party has signed up to the austerity cuts that we already have from the coalition of Westminster. We made it very clear that we would not be part of that, and we covered all of those in the white paper, and I explained that in my earlier question. However, what is being said here is that clearly Labour are embarrassed by the position of their Westminster masters. I am moving swiftly on to culture and external affairs portfolio questions. I will give one second for the cabinet secretary and invite Gil Paterson to raise question one, please, Mr Paterson. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what the positive incomes are of the international culture summit held in Edinburgh in August 2014. Cabinet Secretary, Fiona Hyslop. Second, Edinburgh international culture summit at the Scottish Parliament was held as great success by participants and delegates. The summit brought together 25 international government delegations from six continents with speakers, arts leaders and culture experts from across the world. It was recognised as a true global collaboration on the current day role of culture in the arts and saw a call for culture to be placed at the centre of government policymaking and for a more unified voice for the arts across the world. The meetings that I had with other culture ministers helped to deepen and strengthen our international links. For example, the Japanese Minister is particularly interested in the Commonwealth Games culture programme and legacy as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games. In total, during the summit, we received requests from 16 Governments to work further with us and we continue to explore those opportunities. Many thanks. Gil Paterson. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the Edinburgh international culture summit was a unique opportunity for culture ministers, artists, thinkers and art leaders from around the world to come together to share ideas and discuss the power, position and profile of the arts, culture and creative industries, which has greatly enhanced the global reputation of Scotland in the area of arts and culture? A strong global reputation for arts and culture, the opportunity to be seen as world leaders in taking debate forward has particularly enhanced the reputation of Scotland itself, of this Parliament. Of all the participants, there is a unique opportunity to bring together not just ministers but to have direct dialogue and creative thinking taking place between artists from across all the different parts of the world. Big challenges to Scotland were made, but I think that celebration of Scottish culture, the 10 exhibition was held here and also the great Scottish tapestry was on show at the time, and the Presiding Officer may be interested to know that the delegations had the opportunity to make their own mark upon the Scottish tapestry and they stitched a special commissioned summit panel. I am sure that that will be something that the delegations will remember, the challenges that they had not just in thinking but also in stitching. To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent in 2013-14 on renovating historic buildings in west Scotland. The Scottish Government supports the conservation, repair and restoration of historic buildings through historic Scotland's work. Historic Scotland's building repair grant provided grant support totaling £974,000 in the west of Scotland region in 2013-14. Scottish Government regeneration funding has also contributed to the restoration of two historic buildings in the west of Scotland in 2013-14. Trinity Church in Irvine and the former police station within the Addrossan health centre facility with grants provided totaling £895,000. Historic Scotland also provides expert advice and support and is responsible for properties and care in west Scotland, carrying out conservation work maintenance and sympathetic repair. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Can the cabinet secretary tell me what strategy the Scottish Government has to encourage local people and local community groups to get involved in looking after and promoting historic properties? I am particularly keen on that. Historic Scotland has programmes in place to help to bring communities together as some very good examples. I know that I take part in one in my constituency. I also refer to our place in time strategy, the new and first-ever historic environment strategy for Scotland that has brought together all the different agencies. It is not just Historic Scotland but I had a meeting yesterday with Ken Kalman from the National Trust for Scotland and all the different agencies and organisations that are involved to help to identify how we can support volunteers that are working to help to promote their local sites and to adopt a monument to something that, for example, the archaeology services have been supporting. We are very keen to help to support that as well. There are different avenues and, if she has any particular examples, she is interested and I am happy to provide her with details later. Question 3, Michael McMawr. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to analyse the impact of its 2014 major event strategy. 2014 has been a year in which we have extended a welcome to the world. Interim results have confirmed the anticipated positive impacts of what was widely regarded as the best commonwealth games ever, and record numbers of visitors to events forming part of the Homecoming 2014 programme. The Ryder Cup, along with Scotland's second year of Homecoming and the Commonwealth Games, will all be subject to independent evaluation, and the findings for each of the signature elements of Scotland's major event strategy will be published by spring 2015. We have just witnessed a very successful Ryder Cup competition, showcasing yet again that Scotland is the perfect stage for major events. I am sure that the chamber would want to join me in congratulating all those involved with its delivery and the European Ryder Cup team for their victory. Absolutely. Mr McMahon. The Secretary for her response, and I certainly would welcome joining the congratulations to all involved in the Ryder Cup for the success that last weekend clearly was, not just for the tournament itself but for the whole of Scotland, as was the case with the Commonwealth Games. However, does the cabinet secretary accept that a lot of community-based events, festivals and other undertakings that occur in relation to the year of Homecoming, also require support to continue with the success that they have achieved throughout this year? Can the cabinet secretary give us an idea of how much attention is going to be paid to the development and continued support for those community-based organisations that certainly made a major contribution to the year of Homecoming also? I share the members' appreciation of all the festivals that take place in supporting our events. Obviously, the question was on some of the major events, but in terms of our festivals and our community festivals, we actually had a debate in Parliament during the summer precisely to recognise, yes, the Edinburgh international festivals, yes, the cultural legacy and programme of the Commonwealth Games, but also all the other community festivals that take place. Just last week, we announced funding for the winter festivals and some of those festivals are based on existing smaller community festivals. I think that that is one of the strengths that we have in Scotland that, at different times of the year, we can come to Scotland and our festivals are exploding all over the country. I think that that is part of the legacy of recognising years of Homecoming, but it also seems years and how we can capitalise on that very warm welcome that I talked about in that debate, but also the fact that we are the perfect stage not just in the summer but throughout the years for people coming to visit Scotland. Excellent. Any thanks? Question 4, Hanzala Malik. Thank you and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. I declare an interest in visiting Kurdistan regional government at the invitation of the Ministry of Interior. I asked the Scottish Government whether it plans to use the international development fund to provide support for the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to provide financial support to the Kurdistan region of Iraq through our international development fund. However, we are closely monitoring the situation. We remain very concerned about the plight of the people who have been affected by the recent violence, which we condemn, of course, in the strongest possible terms. Hanzala Malik. I am glad that the minister shares my concern about the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The region has not only bore the brunt of the humanitarian crisis caused by the violent process that is made by incel, ISIL militants, but also has been severely underdeveloped through generations of oppression. In his comments yesterday, he stated that the region of the Kurdistan region of Iraq requires a long-term strategic solution, which I agree with wholeheartedly. I am also glad that he is taking that view. Given these circumstances, will he take steps to actually ensure that the long-term strategic view takes into account the international development fund does include Iraq and the Kurdistan area and also will he support the new organisation formed called KISS, which is called Kurdistan and is supported by Scotland who are fundraising to send doctors from Scotland to refugee camps in Kurdistan, which I visited myself. I look forward to his support in encouraging military and medical aid to the Kurdistan region. Let me recognise the work that the member has done in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. I am more than happy to meet the member at any time to discuss ways that we can support the Kurdistan region, including the new organisation KISS, which he called the new organisation that has been formed. I am meeting with representatives of the KRG, the Kurdistan regional government, next week at an event that he will probably be at and happy to discuss further ways that we can support. However, the crux of his question is, of course, the fundamental point. There must be a long-term strategic vision that protects the rights and freedoms of the people of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. I am happy to give support in that Briefly, Bob Doris. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I made a similar declaration to Mr Malik yesterday about the topical questions on a similar point, in specific to the question at hand. In providing support for the humanitarian need within the Kurdish region of Iraq, would the Scottish Government consider using expertise within our own NHS but appropriate to assist if we can, as well as drawing on our pharmaceutical sector who may be able to help with access to vital medicines in refugee camps? I would also like to put on record and note the member, Bob Doris' own work in Kurdistan, both in Iraq and Syria. In a meeting with the member, he knows that those issues were raised in terms of NHS support in Scotland and support from the pharmaceutical industry in terms of medicine. I am more than happy to explore them. I think that the member is going to write some correspondence to that effect from our meeting last week to engage with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Well-being, but I think that any assistance that we are able to provide on the humanitarian side, you will not find this Government coming short at all in terms of doing that. The progress made by ISIL in June came as a big shock to the international community. It is clear that the group's advance was facilitated not just by the unrest in Syria, but by the inability of the Iraqi army to successfully fight back in the north of the country. It is therefore very important to be sure that alongside airstrikes, Iraq has the ability to make progress on the ground. Will the minister join me in welcoming the announcement earlier in September that the UK had agreed to supply heavy machine guns and half a million rounds of ammunition to the Pershmurga fighters in northern Iraq? That is not a question on international aid and you do not need to answer it, therefore, Minister. I will move to question 5. Richard Simpson, please. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support traditional Scottish music and dance. Secretary Fiona Hyslop. In recognition of Scotland's vibrant traditional arts and their importance to our cultural heritage and to our national identity, the Scottish Government provides significant support to ensure that our traditional music and dance continue to flourish and shape Scotland's culture for future generations. Alongside promotion and support through event Scotland for major events, including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Scottish Government supports the traditional music and dance sector primarily through Creative Scotland, which disperses more than £2 million each year to organisations, individuals and festivals that directly form part of the sector. Those include activity in the year of Homecoming, the 2014 cultural programme, as well as the Fesh movement, the traditional music and song association of Scotland, Hands Up for Trad, BBC Alipa and Piping Live. Richard Simpson. I thank the minister for that response. In terms of traditional dance, some 18 years ago, the previous funding arrangement through the council said that the dysfunctional system of traditional dance, which was made up of very small groups across Scotland, really required an umbrella organisation. That organisation was set up and funded by the arts council for some years, but some three or four years ago, the grant was halved and then terminated completely with the closure of their office in Allawa. Traditional dance no longer has a professional small umbrella organisation focusing its activities. I wonder if the minister would care to comment on the fact that that has actually occurred. I cannot comment on what happened 18 years ago. He was talking about an event a few years ago. I might not be aware, but all the different aspects of Scottish traditional culture arts have come together under one body called Tracks. That brings together dance, music, storytelling. Indeed, only this morning, I launched the 2014 storytelling festival and supported by that the new organisation Tracks, which brings together the traditional arts sector in Scotland, and that has taken forward the collaboration between music, dance and all the different aspects of Scottish traditions. I am happy to write to the member to perhaps give a wider explanation of where dance fits in that umbrella group that now exists. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and what matters were discussed. Minister Whomza Yousaf? The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs last met the Minister of State for Europe, the right hon. David Linington MP, and a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee of Europe on 16 June 2014. The read-out of that was provided to the convener of the European External Relations Committee on 13 June 2014. We correspond often with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on other matters on a frequent basis. This week, I have been in touch with the FCO on the case of Mohammad Asghar, the Scot, on death row in Pakistan. I thank the minister for that answer, specifically on that point. I ask what specific representation has been made by the Scottish Government on behalf of Mohammad Asghar, the 70-year-old Scot, sentenced to death in Pakistan over blasphemy charges. As the minister will be aware, it has been reported that Mr Asghar was shot by a prison guard in the jail in Rolpindi, where he was being held. Additionally, Mr Asghar has said to have a history of mental illness. Does the minister share the concern of the chamber for this individual's health and wellbeing? Yes, we do. We are extremely concerned about the plight of Mohammad Asghar. We have been for many months. The First Minister himself has directly intervened in this case. He has spoken directly face to face with Governor Mohammad Sawa, the governor of the Punjab, where Mohammad Asghar is being held. I spoke to the FCO this week as well as speaking to Governor Sawa, as well as speaking to other Pakistani authorities and the family lawyer and the family themselves. The immediate priorities are twofold. First of all, to ensure that Mohammad Asghar is kept safe and secure. That means not being returned to Adiala prison where he was shot. Secondly, of course, ensuring that Mohammad Asghar gets the appropriate medical attention that he needs. He is severely, mentally unwell. He needs that psychiatric assessment, but, importantly, the medication to help to improve his health. Those are the immediate priorities, as well as working with the family, the legal team and the Pakistani authorities to secure Mr Asghar's return. However, let me assure the member that we are extremely concerned and that the Scottish Government is doing absolutely everything that it can within its power to ensure Mr Asghar's health, safety and security. Does the minister agree with me that the security and prosperity of Hong Kong is underpinned by the fundamental freedoms and rights as stated in the Sino-British joint declaration? Does he further agree with me that those freedoms are best guaranteed by the transition to universal suffrage? I agree on both those points. I saw the FCO's statement from a couple of days ago on the 29th and it reiterated absolutely those points, and we agree that those freedoms are best guaranteed with the transition to universal suffrage. We hope that that upcoming consultation period will produce arrangements that will allow meaningful advance for democracy in Hong Kong. We encourage all parties to engage constructively in discussions to that end. I agree entirely with the two points that the member raises. To ask the Scottish Government what figures it has on the closure of museums and libraries over the last five years. The Scottish Library and Information Council advises that, from 2008-9 to 2012-13, 22 pubic libraries in Scotland have closed, reducing the total from 628 to 606. That equates to 3.6 per cent in Scotland compared to 7.9 per cent in England, 11.1 per cent in Wales and 11.5 per cent in Northern Ireland for the same period. In 2013-14, a further four pubic libraries closed, reducing the total to 602. Figures on museums and closures are not held centrally. It is estimated that there are around 400 museums in Scotland. I thank the minister for that answer. Given that budgets are so tight, many councils are considering cuts to culture in arts budgets during consultations with the public. As a result, many more museums and libraries could be put under threat in the future. What is the Scottish Government doing to make sure that local libraries and museums are sustained because they make such a valuable contribution to civic life and they are often the only opportunity that the less well off have to learn about their local history or access books and computers and hence their opportunities in life? I support for our local libraries to such a extent that, in the joint meeting that we have with COSLA, with all the conveners of culture services across Scotland, libraries have been a frequent and recurring discussion point for us. We, as a Government, will do what we can to help support the growing and developing role of libraries. Despite the severe restrictions that are placed upon us by the Westminster budget, local authorities have relatively been in mind that they have no responsibilities staturally for arts and culture generally, and have generally not reduced cuts in culture budgets more than any other areas. We will keep that dialogue going and, with the support of our local authority colleagues, we will continue to support our local libraries. We now move to the next item of business, which is a debate on motion number 1130.


Massive massive twitch news. This is insane. So twitch announced the partner plus program This literally just came out. Oh twitch is live. Hey today. We announced the partner plus program this new partner Program benefit will offer a 70% share on net subscription revenue to streamers who need to qualification criteria So how does this work streamers in the partner plus program will receive 70 30 net revenue share on recurring monthly and gift subscriptions Up to a cap of okay, because he's because he's reading the thing I maintain at least 350. I think he's reading the article right for three consecutive months Once that happens partners will be automatically enrolled, but like the next We plan to launch this program on October 1st 2023 so they have a phasing issue they have audio coming in from two sources is Starting from July 1st and extending through September 31st If you qualify you will be automatically enrolled in the program and you'll be notified in October So I'm sure many of you are wondering why are we launching this program right now? So we created this program because we wanted to give streamers a benefit as they continue to grow their communities First of all, I want to say as we thought about this We wanted to make sure we were offering a benefit that would have a meaningful impact on Those people that meet the criteria in terms of their lives and their ability to keep streaming target has been Trying to support streamers given our resources that We're getting to be or full-time creators so that we can help them in terms of sustaining their career So Mike follow up So why are prime subs and gift subs treated differently? Prime subs are a benefit of prime gaming, which is a program operated by Amazon Prime It's a great benefit for Amazon Prime members and the prime sub Allows viewers to receive subscription benefits and support streamers But a prime sub is not a substitute or replacement for recurring subscription It's funny like we're focused on scripting so by twit which is recurring paid subscription and you know, it's funny The other question that's related to that is why don't gift subs count? Well, we considered setting a higher threshold which would have included gift subs, but at the end It would have made it easier to game the system which we didn't want we wanted the fairest possible Way for streamers to get the benefit and then there's a bit of a gamification concern Dan is so much better on camera than like any other twitch employee world, etc So like I said as an employee any other like twitch executive is that's often the foundation of your community Your string because Dan it just like says like just talks and just says things And I feel like everybody else is like PR mode all the time So Laura question for you. Why doesn't this include other metrics to qualify such as our swath streamers would have made more money Thanks, Dan. So we wanted to keep the qualification as straightforward as possible We thought it would be way too complicated to put multiple criteria in so that's why we're focusing on this one once I qualify What do I need to do to become a member of the program and start earning more money? He's also youngest S-fan sub. He's not so some of you Received our new agreement. It's called the monetized streamer agreement or MSA That's a mouthful and you'll need to adopt that in order to receive the payout So essentially if you want to be able to receive the benefit in October Then you should accept the MSA no later than the end of September talk now about once I qualify What do I need to do once you qualify? You're automatically enrolled You don't have to do anything. It's better remember that you do have to accept the MSA in order to receive the payout once you qualify Great. All right. Thanks, Laura and Mike. Wait, how's it not better? How's it worse and give me an example in terms of of the Qualification criteria and what does the 12 months mean and what happens if I dip below? 350 and how that works this program won't go live in October Start the qualification July August and September. So if you hit 350 during those months as Laura said you're automatically in now if you step away, let's say Some time away Nation etc. You know your subcontinent dip you're still in the program You're in the program from can't wait for critical to make a video on this So I know how to feel about it beginning of the year January February March You've reset the 12 months So now I will extend it out from 12 months after you hit those next three consecutive months So we're trying to create a program that is flexible and accommodates You know situations that may occur and you're always pushing it forward 12 months every time you get three consecutive months at 350 Great. All right. Thanks. Thanks, Mike. And now we're taking some of the questions from from chat Why do you have to be a partner to receive this split saying affiliate is being gifted this many and has above the threshold every month Thanks, and much love to everyone at twitch. Thanks the architect. So Laura, why don't you answer this right now? You do have to be a partner in order to qualify for partner plus And so you also have to as we mentioned beforehand except the MSA so you can receive the payout Yeah, but one thing that's key to note is basically the partner qualification criteria Anybody that is gonna satisfy this threshold will qualify for partner And we've really, you know worked as you know We eliminated the exclusivity clause in the partner contract. So now in terms of the differences for you in terms of partner It's not called Philly because we didn't Call it now anyone who meets the criteria you can go ahead and apply for partner And we're gonna be on top of that to make sure that gets processed. So it doesn't negatively impact So if you qualify for this you'll qualify for partner and it'll be easy for you to get the benefit Why wait until October launch already have the data look back three months enable 70 30 for everyone that qualifies Mike Yeah, we thought a lot about this and one thing we didn't want to do is launch something and have people say Why didn't you tell us and then maybe you know, we would have done some goals We would have rallied the community around this. So we wanted to ensure that again fairness We're announcing an uprun of alive in October and something community can rally around if they want to do that That's funny to which still makes more money because you have to try You know, we have the prime sub-benefit which is a meaningful benefit for many of our creators Also, the adorates are better on Twitter on YouTube if I mark my sub as cancel auto renew Because I like manually renewing does that not count for the streamers 350 Mike? Yeah, that would count. It's still a page subscription. You've chosen to not renew it But that would count on the qualification and actually since you give me the mic here Dan They did that that's kind of cool. I missed So there's two things here that the trade-off for us was announcing in October when we were ready to launch the program We have some work to do and part of that work is sharing a Improving the way for you to understand how far you're progressing toward that qualification right now You can do with the dashboard and go look dig in find your paid subs go look at it for the previous three months We really want to improve that experience We have some work to do on a qualification side So the timing wasn't necessarily can we start it now because we're obviously not ready to but to be able to announce it Get you guys in there in terms of thinking about hitting those goals and it ultimately rolling it out when we're ready to pay out the What about your more prominent streamers who make it much more than a hundred K from subs alone any fear of them leaving? Platforms so dude 100k sub revenue is crazy a big part of their revenue comes from ads and commerce I mean ads and sponsorship We were very intentional earlier to improve the rev share in ads Yeah, he's right that and we've talked about this before where when we first came out with the CPM based Approach for ads that actually was a good deal over time. We've gotten better at running ads The only people that's like not good for us like like even for me I mean, I don't even think shift if you're part of the AIP program is a meaningful shift and for big streamers it actually makes a Significant difference in terms of the money that they can make from twitch We ultimately think we the 100k sub revenue challenge, but also our platform if somebody moved to somewhere else We still greatly value them. We appreciate all that they've done on our platform One reason why we remove the exclusivity is because we did not want to feel like Everyone has to stay here that creates more opportunity for other streamers as they can grow So this is one thing that we've been very intentional about and again We thought a lot about it when we removed exclusivity because we thought like it was important for our streamers to be able to Explore other opportunities and develop their career and that's very true for our big streamers So we're comfortable with that and we feel very good about our offering and our ability to service them And I think many of them love the community that we have here And that they're so my sub revenue is less than half of my revenue with the new partner plus program Also, will it also be ongoing for streamers that will reach the requirements after the launch of the program? So let me just use an example. Let's say your community is growing You didn't hit it in July or August, but September you hit it You finally hit your 350 you hit it again in October November December 1st You would start receiving the 70 30 net rep share of the first 100k for the next year So the rolling ongoing thing will be evaluating streamers If you happen to miss it for the first qualification period It'd be brought just from the drip king Do people need to have the minimum of 350 subs every single day of the three months or only on the last day of the month Mike? Does not need to be every single day. This is a short answer. Yeah, it can be just total during the month Laura will there be a twitch partner plus parties which con? Yeah, I guess no, I'll give a slightly different answer I think the answer to be clear I think the answer I would say is no The reason for this is we're very conscious about not Having this be a status Okay, we thought about this. In fact, this was one thing we talked about and got very good This is not this is your business You make the decision about who you tell about this or not Like we do not This is not equivalent to a different like a another group of partners that we're trying to distinguish together Which con and how we do that obviously we're always trying to create events that will Dan is actually a very natural and that create a great experience But this is about you and what you decide to do with that information All right, Switzerland Do you plan to make more comfortable such as payouts quality of life security overall? Welcoming environment, so I think there are a number of pieces here Mike you may talk about payouts, but Laura, why don't you talk about some of the other aspects in here? Because I think this is a good change I'm gaming the quirky one great name there Why don't you give creators different ad pools to choose from IRL streamers will have a vastly different audience Then track mania speedrunners having the creators be able to choose from pools will benefit both the streamer and twitch because you get more Traction for this is a good question. I want to like yeah, there's a lot packed in here And I'll try to give you a short answer So I think we recognize that they can send the content different types of advertisers But I want to hear their answer your audience and so we are actively working to figure out How do we take your you know what you're telling us about your stream be able to connect that to the ad tech So that advertisers can then you know find you know support those types of Streamers the other part of this too is a little bit about a question that comes up often Which is can you give me more control of the ad experience that may be formats? I prefer more stream in display ads or I prefer more audio ads and then there's also a common question about You know There's certain categories where I may not want to see ads from and so I think as we continue working to improve The ad incentive program now building on that in terms of giving streamers even more options and controls How are you gonna help the very small streamers who want to reach affiliate It's just something we're always thinking about working on. All right, Mike another question. Is it 350? Great question and it is individual subs now we've heard this feedback that perhaps oh, it should be some points I should count more again. We'll it should be some points not making a change right now But it is based on unique subs a.k.a. People and not so points. Yeah memory Why you know why I know why it's not sub points It only applies to a small percentage of all streamers coming out because people will give a bunch of tier three jobs And here's give like and we think it's really important for us to come out be forthright I'm right about how we thought about this at a five doing but we fully understand so I appreciate That for many of you this doesn't impact what you're doing and so that give a bunch of trees And they can need to do back down to help you as a streamer in particular as we talked about before I think that's why it should be a point helping you grow. No, this isn't a rich get richer situation I'll be gauged with you as much as better for the middle tier. Here's deeply about streamers Well technically helps everybody but helps the mill tier more just echo some of the things that Mike was saying Absolutely as you could tell there's a reason that we are not full-time professional streamers I think it's big to our day jobs, but we really appreciate And one of the things that we are trying to do better for you Aside from being a lot more thoughtful about how we can continue to help you along your creative journey Is trying to have more real-time interaction with you after this Break and then we'll talk I have a lot to say about this Let's go ahead and read the article right just to make sure everybody under today We're announcing the partner plus program. It's a new program for streamers To build toward as they continue to grow their businesses this new partner program benefit will offer 70% share on net subscription revenue to streamers who meet the qualification criteria Streamers in the partner plus program will receive a 70 30 revenue share on net subscription revenue Revenue recurring revenue from recurring monthly subscriptions and gifted subs For 12 months up to us $100,000. I thought it was no gifters. No, no the gift The gifters I'll explain that in a second to qualify partners must maintain a sub count of at least 350 recurring paid subscriptions for three consecutive months That was the thing that was no gifters Once that happens partners will be automatically enrolled for the next 12 months Even if you dip below the subscription threshold during the 12th period The partner plus program will launch october 1st 2023 streamers that meet the qualification criteria in july august and september Will be enrolled in the program and notified in october Our focus has always been on inspiring growing and sustaining twitch streamers all around the world And we hope this new program demonstrates that commitment for more information. Please visit our fact And for feedback, let us know your thoughts on userless. Okay, uh, and it's mike mitten and laura lee Who are the two people that were with dan clancy earlier? I'm kind of surprised Then i'm seeing some negativity to this because I feel like this is a hugely positive thing Okay, I used to have a 70 30 split right people always talk about like the old 70 30 split and and whatever Most people the overwhelming the overwhelming majority of people had 50 50 pretty much any new streamer within the last couple of years, right? I mean, yeah, you need 350 paid subs. That is actually a lot more subs than people think Like for example, I'll tell you how many paid subs I have right now. I have I have 1700 I have 1800 paid subs That's a lot for beginner streamers. Yeah, sure. I mean, it's it's a lot for for a lot of people But I have 1800 paid subs by paid you mean not twitch prime. Yeah, by paid I mean, uh, not twitch prime and not gifted. I mean like tier one, tier two, two, three A lot of big streamers have mostly prime subs Yeah, a lot of big streamers have a lot of prime if you reach that threshold of 350 paid subs for three months Your sub revenue will then go up To 70 30 split essentially right at least for monthly and gifted. I don't know if it's prime Like usually gifted and primer Categorized together whenever they talk about it. So this is interesting But I also understand why because these these are paid and prime is free So technically they're paid because gifts are just still technically paid even though they're not considered paid subs Because paid subs are like the recurring subs. Uh, I have 412 paid subs. So, uh, I like barely even qualify It's funny. I was going to say that's probably about the uh, the range that I was going to guess I was going to guess that like If you're like a 1k andy if you're like a 1k andy Then that's you're probably looking at 350 paid But also when when you have smaller community A higher percentage of people in a smaller community will typically be more, uh, they'll be more generous Right people will sub more people gift more all that stuff Uh, now a lot of that comes from gifting more so than tier subs because there's like a finite amount of people that can Tier sub because it's one person one tier, but one person can gift as many subs they want, right? Anyway, long story short. I see this as something positive I think it's interesting that people are complaining about it because the people a lot of the people that are complaining about it Or well, they don't have 350 recurring or they're saying up to 100k is is not enough when 100k sub revenue is a lot Second off The people that won't qualify for this. We're already getting a 50 50 split So the old 70 30 split this is not like an official stat This is not like this is not anything that was ever like on paper or whatever Like estimation for getting the 70 30 split was if you had a thousand subs if you held a thousand subs for three months That's what it used to be but like that wasn't official or anything But that's just kind of like what people thought it was like that's what it was for me Like whenever whenever I whenever I had a thousand subs like three months is whenever I got 70 30 Well, you know what proper pushback is usually good I'm a big believer in this when people push back on something or they get angry or up on arms about something that that is Uh, not grounded in logic. It's actually worse Because what ends up happening is people stop listening to you because you're not being you're not being intellectually honest You're not acting in good faith when you're giving feedback Now it's not as good as the old 70 30 deal was but in some ways this actually drops the barrier of entry The old 70 30 people thought it was like a thousand for three months But like that wasn't ever official This is like an official and they mentioned it on the broadcast They said we wanted something that we could write down and say hey, this is exactly how this works I'm being very honest. Just just this is straight up if you cannot make rent Only live streaming You should not be only live streaming. I'm sorry like you should stream stream as a hobby stream as a side gig Do that But you have to find a way to make a living like you have to find a way to pay rent It's it is not your career.  It's not healthy because like even for me. It's okay to have to get outside resources It's okay to have to get another job when you're streaming most streamers They do not just start streaming and that is their only thing that they do unless they are Like very privileged to the point where they have their families Paying for their streaming setup and they're sitting in their in their parents home And they're just like they start streaming and and they don't have to pay rent You know and for like adults who are on their own they have to have outside outside resources I had to have outside. I out. Why don't you say outside? I'm Irish outside resources and I had to have that until you know I think until I started getting like 1k viewers. You're hitting the nail on the head. Like even for me I was Now I had just graduated college. I was like a hundred thousand dollars in debt And I was streaming on the side. I was out of a job. I was in between jobs I was looking for another job in college football. I literally started playing on this vanilla private server and making videos because I was Trying to stay in practice and I knew a lot about rep paladins and I was just doing it for fun Right and I was like, yeah, this is you know for video editing and stuff like that just kind of kind of Stay in practice with the tools of like adobe premiere and all that next thing, you know channel starts doing well I start streaming but again, I start streaming just again. It's it's more than anything it's like just for fun and it's like I'm trying to figure out the tech and stuff and then Next thing, you know, my channel grows to be the the big private server stream and all that that was great but that doesn't happen if I First off I was only streaming two days a week. I was doing other contract work I was doing video editing graphic design all kinds of stuff like contract work on the side streaming two days a week Making youtube videos as well. And I made in my first year of streaming $10,000 in a whole year The the my first year of streaming. I made about $10,000 That is not enough at all to to survive but My parents were very supportive And they let me live at home. They're like, yeah, live at home. Whatever take care of your stuff I was streaming out of the guest room. Oh, yeah I was working on my teaching certificate because I was like, okay I want to be able to go I was trying to look for a job in college football basically I had a bunch of doors open and I and I try to kick all of them open Depending on which ones are open and which ones are locked Right, then you just take the one that is the best fit ad revenue is not that much if you're trying So see for me like I try to run as minimum ads as possible so that I can grow my audience But because a lot of people will try to do the opposite, but I'm a big have different We have different perspectives on what ads do for audiences Who is great since you're two guys guys guys guys guys guys guys. I think 350 is too much Dude, I I for instance, okay. Yeah, it's just a little flex here. I have almost 4000 subscribers Yes, and I have only 400 and like 10 Month to month and that's consistently streaming every single day for four years Well, what's your yeah, okay. Well Grayson Like what's your ccp? Uh, probably like 1400 no like before when you were getting Those numbers because now you got like four to like 700. It's like random depends, but four to 700 Yeah, but you're like you have like a buff right now Probably 350 you have a buff right now because you have mcconnell. He just forms up for you That's true. But also it's like I I've I'm usually always like 2k plus subs Right even but that's before the last month. I'm 2k plus subs Which is that's more than enough to pay rent right. I've been paying rent For like three years now Have you been paying rent? Yeah Yeah, I yeah, well anyways guys. Uh, well, let's just talk about that. I think I pay more than you for rent This is what I was thinking New game plan. I'm thinking about doing a scaling rent system where you pay one dollar Per monthly ccp an apartment guys. Yeah, so one dollar per monthly ccp So if you average a thousand viewers a month, it's a thousand dollars But if you're pumping off that month, hey, that's the best me if s fan ever hosts me I just go offline. Yeah, literally.  Hey, no That's the plan.  So they have to pay more rent Yeah, I don't know. I think it's a good plan to be fair You can be a full-time streamer before a thousand viewers now for me I was not I I didn't consider myself full time until I moved down to austin in august of 2018 And I think I was averaging like 1500 then so that's one of my eyes was like, okay I felt like comfortable and like let's do it. We're gonna move out of the house So we're gonna we're gonna come down here. So to be fair. I I went like what I would consider to be full-time Uh kind of late Subs or viewers uh viewers. I don't remember how many subs I have I think I had three thousand subs actually because I was still working. I was still working in football and stuff I just I wonder what a lot of people have been. Oh, you can look actually. Can't you twitch tracker? Yeah, but it's not accurate at all. Is it really? Yeah, it doesn't show people subs also unless um like that to share them. They're changing the name of uh affiliate They're gonna call it the partner minus program because they thought separation between affiliates and partners was offensive to people That's not I saw this on twitter. They were complaining. It was really bad. So they decided to change the partner minus


Hello everybody. Andrea here. I want to talk to you guys about when is the best time to start studying for the board exam. This is for dental hygiene students so I cannot tell you earlier enough you know you guys should honestly be studying for the board exam as soon as you can. But I was a student too. I remember being in dental hygiene school and the board exam is truly the last thing on your mind, hopefully, because you're so focused on passing clinicals homework projects assignments, all of that. But when I started studying for the board exam, I would say was likely. I want to say six months before. Okay, and that's what I tell my students to do. I want you guys to study at least six months prior to you taking the board exam. You can study a year before I say why not, because you can do a little bit at a time and not feel overwhelmed and while you're studying, even if it's a year before, you're learning things that will help you in school anyway. A year before the board exam can be very difficult for most students to kind of prep for because you have so many other projects, assignments, homework, all of that but six months prior for sure. If you are taking the board exam next month and you're just starting to study. It's going to be really difficult for you but it can still be done, as long as you're studying every day I'm talking six hours every day no breaks, no days off. It's something I recommend I tell my students to study six months before so you can take breaks because your brain can only retain so much.  You can't be studying 10 hours every day you need to take breaks so I talk about that a lot with my students where I say study a minimum of two hours every day and then study up to six hours every day. Six hours is preferred, but let's say you work full time you have three kids you have a husband you have a wife, you have life things to do it's impossible for you to study six hours a day I get it. When I had a job in dental hygiene school I couldn't study six hours a day because I was in school, and then had to work. So what I did was I studied on the bus I studied on the subway. I studied just before work I studied at work I used to work at subway. I studied at work. I studied when I got home, but six hours was impossible so I don't want you to get stressed out if you're saying Andrea I can't study six hours you know I just had a baby. I'm surprised I'm in school whatever the reasoning is, but study at least two hours every day with a maximum of six hours. Do not study eight hours 10 hours 12 hours a day. There's only much.  When you realize oh I, I just studied for eight hours and I don't remember half the material. That's not a good feeling is it it's not so these are kind of ways to help you guys study for the board exam. I do offer a full dental hygiene board exam prep academy this is the course that I suggest it doesn't matter if you're taking the board exam for the first time, or you've taken it before, and you failed. The course is for those who are taking the board exam. I say that because a lot of people who have taken the board exam already and failed. They think that if they just go back and study what they feel they did wrong they'll pass the board exam, the second time. That's never the case. If you've taken the board exam once before, and you failed, I want you to restudy everything as if you haven't taken the board exam before. I'm not going to forget anything and it's a good review for you. If you've taken the board exam before definitely do a search on this YouTube channel for you know if you've taken the board exam before so type in board exam second attempt. I've taken the board exam before you know type in those things into the search bar, and you'll see more videos where I specifically talk about how to study. If you've taken the board exam before, but doesn't matter so I'm going to share my screen here. This is the course that I suggest for all of you so this is a sneak peek. When you guys click on the link that I'm going to put under the description here of the video, you won't be able to see all of this you'll just see kind of like the sales page. This is what you get when you are a member of the dental hygiene board exam prep, prep Academy, you register and get all of this right away. You also get access to a private Facebook group, where all of the other members are a part of where I do videos often. I talk about updates I talk about mock exam questions, all of that. And we have live classes online as well. If you can't attend live that's okay. All the classes are recorded and those classes consist of lectures on every single topic. I talk about mock exam questions so multiple choice and case studies and I go through every single time how to pick the best answer because two are always going to be the most correct you are sorry two are going to always be correct. You have to pick the most correct so I'm constantly preparing all of you guys. And one of the nice things is, you have full access to all session recordings so all classes that were live. You have access to all of those recordings for the past two years so it's 2021 now that I'm doing the video, you'll have full access to the 2019 videos and 2020. So let's say you sign up today, our next live class is on Sunday well you probably want to get started now, you have full access to everything inside the course so you don't have to wait. So you guys so when you log in it probably looks like this, you have to click the upper left hand side where you see these three lines. Look, look at all of these you guys so look at the different topics. I always forget to zoom in I apologize you think I know by now. I've been oh my goodness on YouTube for, I don't know, seven years now I don't know. Anyways, so you guys so look so there's different things here. You can download each one and then you can download the file to your computer so you have full access. A lot of students ask me how long do I have have the course for you have the course until you pass the board exam. Within reason, if it's taking you five years to pass the board exam and there is a refresher fee that I do charge because videos PowerPoints live classes are always changing. Within two years to pass the board exam, you have full access to this and all the updates for two years I'm not here to make things difficult for you guys I'm here to make things easier. But look, look at all the topics on the side, you get full access to all of these you just click download the file. There's quizzes, there's videos there's all kinds of things. Okay, so check it out for sure. This is what you get when you are in the board exam prep Academy, and you might be wondering well what do I study how do I study, go from the first topic to the next. Every time you download a file, you see this sort of like line through so you know where to move on, and then you know when new things are going to be updated. So this is what you get there's so much here, but not too much I only have here what I want you guys to study for the board exam so I try to make it as easy as possible you do not have to open up your textbook anymore if you don't want to. This course is made so that you don't have to open up a textbook because who wants to study from a textbook nobody right this is a lot more exciting. So let me know you guys if you have any questions. I've been teaching dental hygiene students for 16 years now, and I love what I do this is my true passion. I'm here to help so thank you guys so much for watching if you have any questions comment below. Click like if you liked this video that does help my channel, and please click subscribe if you haven't yet. I upload, I upload videos often free content, all the time, you know, click subscribe, click like, I love to talk to all of you guys so thank you so much and I'll talk to you guys very soon.


What's going on guys, it's your boy DPJ here today with another Destiny video and in today's Destiny video we have Top 5 Warlock Storm Collar Plays of the Week. Now if you have anything badass to send in, send it into the email just linked in the top of the video description. Hope you guys enjoyed the video, do drop a like, I do appreciate the support, subscribe for daily Destiny and I'll catch you on the next one.