Processional by Madison Cowain, read for LibriVox.org by phone. Universes are the pages of that book whose words are ages, of that book which destiny opens in eternity. There each syllable expresses silence, there each thought it guesses, in whose rhetoric cosmic rooms roll the worlds and swarming moons. There the systems, we call solar, equatorial and polar, write their lines of rushing light on the awful leaves of night. There the comets, vast and streaming, punctuate the heavens gleaming scroll and sun's gigantic shine, periods, to each starry line. There initials huge, the lion looms and measureless Orion, and as neath a chapter done, burns the great bear's colophon. Constellated hieroglyphic, numbering each page terrific, fiery on the nebular black, flames the hurling zodiac. In that book are which Jardine, wisdom poured and many an eon of philosophy long dead. This is all that man has read. He has read how good and evil, in creation's wild upheaval, warred, while God wrought terrible at foundations red of hell. He has read of man and woman, laws and gods, both beast and human, thrones of hate and creeds of lust, vanished now and turned to dust. Arts and manners that have crumbled, cities buried, empires tumbled, time but breathed on them its breath, earth is builded of their death. These but lived their little hour, filled with pride and pomp and power. What availed it all at last? We shall pass as they have passed. Still the human heart will dream on, love part angel and part demon. Yet by question, what secures our belief that ought endures? In that book are which Jardine, wisdom poured and many an eon of philosophy long dead. This is all that man has read. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The flame that fell on bards of old, to hello and inspire. Yet let the soul dream on and there, no less song's heights where these repose, we can but fail and may prepare the way for one like those. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Song and Story by Madison Cowine. I was destined, when a baby, for that land which lieth hidden in the moon, and wither may be at their birth all souls are bitten. She bewitched me then, and bound me, she, a daughter of Apollo, in a golden snare who wound me, and compelled me thus to follow. Once she sent a stallion, sired of the wind, a mare his mother, whom the salient madness fired, and the hurricane his brother. And a voice said, Do not tarry, mount him while the world is sleeping. He, my beautiful, will carry you, my soul, into my keeping. And I mounted, tapest whistled in my ears, and yawning auras, flame the lightning. Boom, the missile thunder, crashing far before us. On we hurled, the world was rubble underneath us, and the wonder of our passage seemed to double heaven's tempest and its thunder. With us rode the air's wild races, wisps and witches, all the brocken, stunted, gnarled, with fiendish faces, seemed around us, jibing, mocking, hate that shook the heart with hooting, humpbacked horror, gibbet-headed murder, and great raven shooting over, fear in bats embedded. All were left, were passed like water, hurling headlong from a mountain, hag and elf and demon's daughter, ere we reached that mystic fountain. There we stopped. I drained a beaker old as earth. The draft was fire. On my soul, the burning liquor acted like new desire. On again, the darkness lifted like an uproled banner, scattered overhead in points that shifted, shown the stars through tempest-tattered. Then the moon rose, slowly, slowly, of a wild and copper color, rose the moon in melancholy deeps, and all the stars grew duller. And we passed, an instant scanning, swift as thought, the spider-archers of the ray-built bridges spanning space between her lunar marches. So I reached her kingdom, olden as the god that was its maker. Where the rocks and trees are golden, and the sea and air are nacre. Where mid-ingot-glowing flowers, over streams of diamond brightness, palaces of pearl and towers, rot of topaz, loom in whiteness. Here she met me with a chalice, like the geometry ruby burning, and I entered in her palace, from the world forever turning. Centuries have passed, have vanished. Still she holds me with her glory. She, whom earth long since hath vanished. She, the soul of song and story. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. An Indian Legend by Madison Caron, read for LibreVox.org by Law An Indian Legend on a mountain by a fountain, by a faintly falling stream, where upon the moss and flowers, sparkling felt the spray in showers. In the moonlight's mystic beam, once a maiden came to dream, came to sit and sigh and dream, on a mountain by a fountain, by a faintly falling stream. To the fountain and the mountain rode a youth upon a steed. In his hair an eagle's feather, round his waist a belt of leather. One poem wrote, with shell and bead, in his hands a hollow reed, in his hands a magic reed. To the fountain and the mountain rode a youth upon a steed. On the mountain by the fountain, when the moon shone overhead, while the maiden by him wavered, low upon his reed he quavered. Biped and played and singing said, Listen and be comforted, heart of mine be comforted. On the mountain by the fountain, when the moon shone overhead, by the fountain and the mountain, so the Indian legend saith. Pailer, paler grew the maiden, paler as if sorrow laden. Frailer, paler at each breath, saying art though love or death. And he answered, I am death. By the fountain and the mountain, so the Indian legend saith. Gone the mountain and the fountain, where the maiden soul was lost. But in every stream you hear it, whispering, sighing like a spirit. Here the Indian maiden's ghost, in the foam as white as frost, whiter than the winter's frost. Gone the mountain and the fountain, where the maiden soul was lost. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. John Davis Buccaneer by Madison Cowain. Read for LibriVox.org by Sonya. John Davis Buccaneer. High time, high time, good gentlemen, to sail the Spanish Maine. Three months we've watched for galleons and treasure bound for Spain. Three months, and not a vessel, neither bark nor brigantine, no Carter-Gina play-ship, or the Deos have we seen. Our sails are idle as the wind, our ships as gulls or waves, and shall in action rot us like a gang of shackled slaves. Up Buccaneers, the land is wide and wider far to sea, somewhere between the dusk and dawn and dusk some hope must be. Some ship somewhere, or city there beneath the Indian sky, what matter whether east or west, some ship with decks built high. With treasure packed from stem to stern, some huge ship of the line, against whose ports we'll cram our ports, while all our cannons shine and thunder. Then, with blade to blade, and shouting horde on horde, swarm up her sights, and sweep her decks with pistol and with sword. And sink or swim, our flag flies there. We Buccaneers, aboard. Say what availed your patron saints, Iago and St. Mark, Lanceros, Adalantados, against Ravenous Park. O butchers of good Jean Ribaud, well might your cheeks turn pale, when Montabarros, brigantine, shook to the wind her sail. Around the coasts where New Spain boasts the haughtiness of old, her tyranny, her bigotry, her solid greed for gold. From east to west, from north to south, among the caribiles, swift to revenge the Frenchmen swept across the foaming miles. The spirit of Pierre Legrand, and of his gallant crew, who took a galleon with a boat, beneath the tropic blue, be with us now. Up, gentlemen, and Spain, oh woe to you. Prime Archibos, and Brighton Blade, and let the Calvaryne gleam burnish as the morning star, as through the foam we spin. And now be glad as when we had Granada in our hold, and stabbed the city's sentinels, and took the city's gold. New Spain's good homes and churches, I will not forget too soon, the Buccaneer John Davis, sirs, who taught their dons a tune. Such serenades of belts and blades they danced to by the moon. What helped the Latin of them monks to curse what Satan blessed? Those pieces, broad of aid and plate we counted in our chest. And now that we may double, or may travel every piece, pipe up the anchor-bosin, and before the horses cease, let every sail salute the gale, and every rope be torn. But that will take all care, and us, if jaundiced colors don't. The seagulls dip and dive and float, and swim and soar again. Be like them, merry gentlemen, high-hearted. May it rain rich galleons for us, mix a bowl and drink, the ships of Spain, be merry as the seagulls are, and as the case may go, who cares a curse for wealth? Now drink, here's to Spain's overthrow, doth caps and follow, though the price be over fat or lean. Kneel down now, give her praise to Leeds, dame fortune, our good queen. Upon our prow she guides us now. On to St. Augustine. Voyagers, where are they that song and tale tell of, lands our childhood knew, sea-locked fairylands that trail morning summits wet with dew, crimson over crimson sail? Where in dreams we entered on, wonders eyes have never seen, wither often we have gone, sailing a dream brigantine, on from voyaging dawn to dawn. Leons seeking lands of song, fabled fountains pouring spray, where our anchors dropped among corals of some blooming bay, with its worthy native throng. Shoulder-ex and archibus, we may find it past young range of sierras, vaporous, rich with gold and wild and strange, that dim region lost to us. Yet, behold, although our zeal, daring summits may subdue, our Balboa eyes reveal but a vaster sea come too, new endeavor for our keel. Yet, whose sails with face set hard westward, while behind him lies unfaith, where his dreams keep guard, rounded in the sunset skies, he may reach it afterward. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. Hieroglyphs by Madison Cowine, read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson All dreams are older than the seas, being but newer forms of change. Some savage dreamed mine, and was these daily-owned sought where seas were strange. All thoughts are older than the earth, being of beauty ages wrought, old when creation gave them birth, when Homer sang them, Shakespeare thought. If souls could travel as Ken thought, beyond the farthest arcs that span imagination, what would man not know and see at last? One would explore the stars, and one would search the moon, and one the sun, and tell us of their past. And one would seek out hell, and wise in tortures of the damned, return to tell us if they freeze or burn.  But I, on conder wings, would sweep to some new world, and soaring sit mid-firmaments, volcano-lit, and sea-creation heap its awful andes, vague and vast about its ink of people past, while deep roared out to deep. Out of it all, but this remains. I dreamed that I had crossed wide chains of Cordilleras, whose huge peaks lock in the wilds of Yucatán, Chiapas, and Honduras, weeks, and then a city that no man had ever seen. So dim and old no chronicle has ever told the history of men who piled its temples in huge steel callies among mimosa blooming valleys, or how its altars were defiled with human blood, whose idols there with eyes of stone still stand and stare. So old the moon can only know how old, since ancient forests grow on mighty wall and pyramid, who'd Saíbas whose trunks were scarred with ages, and Nisyakas hid feins mid-grade cacti scarlet-starred. I look upon its pavement ways and saw it in its kingliest days, when from its lordliest palace won a victim, walked with prince and priest, who turned brown faces toward the eastern worship of the rising sun. At night a thousand temple-spires of gold burnt everlasting fires. Uxmal, Palenque, or Copán, I know not, only how no man had ever seen. And still my soul believes it vaster than the three, volcanic rock walled in the hole, lost in the woods as in some sea. I only read its hieroglyphs, perused its monster monoliths of death, gigantic heads, and read the pictured codex of its fate, the parish Toltec, while in hate mad monkeys cursed me, as if dead priests of its past had taken form to guard their ruined feigns from harm. And then it was as if I talked of gods and beauty like a god, mid-matasumus priests who walked obedient to my nod. From Mexico-levels breezes blue or green magways, cacao fields, I stood among casics a crew with plumes and golden shields. Enraiment made of hummingbirds, brown slave girls danced all on a walk, stood grim with strange obsidian swords around the idol's rock. And up the temple's winding stair of pyramid we wound and went. The bloomed vanilla drenched the air with all its tropic scent. Volcanoes walled us in, and I walked crowned with flaming cactus flowers beneath the golden Aztec sky, lord of the living hours. Then lo, five priests who led me to a jasper stone of sacrifice, then deep within my soul I knew that prideful moment's price. A sixth priest, robed in coquineal, received me at the altar's stone. I saw the flit-blade, sharp as steel, that in his high hands shone. Oh, God, to dream that they would bind with pomp and pageant of their love, me to a rock, and never blind mine eyes to that above.  Just God, the priest tore out my heart and held it beating to the sun, chanting, and from one burning part great drops dripped one by one. Torn out I felt my heart still beat, I felt it beat with pain divine, for bleeding at the idol's feet my heart was pressed to thine. You were a maiden like a dream who led me where volcanic dust rained in Scoriac mountain stream, where from Andean snows we thrust one crater, belching stones and steam. You were an Inca princess when I was a cavalier of Spain, who frowned among Pizarro's men, and saw the New World rent with pain. No grace of God could save me then. And it was you who led me far to gaze on caves of Inca gold. But when we came, low warrior, unwarrior, an army rolled around us, panopled for war. Fierce faces chiseled out of stone are not more stern. Down underneath I heard the sullen earthquake groan, above me red eruptions seeped, and clenched my teeth and stood alone. And then you plaid and was denied. They laid me where the lava crawled, red river down the mountainside. I felt the slow, slow hell-heat scald, and as it closed you leapt and died. In farther planets there are men who walk not with their lips, but with their eyes alone. With beaming eyes and brows that burn with thought.  Where no voice imparts thought, but divulging eye and sensitive brow, superior planets far beyond our sphere. And nearer God than ages shall combine to lift our world up with its wrangling woes. Worlds that are strange to sickness and disease of mind and body, perfect mentally, past what we name perfection here on earth, and physically morally divine as creeds have taught us God's high heaven is. Worlds where love makes no playmate of vile lust, where hope makes no companion of despair, where power cannot trample with fierce feet, and impotent the iron hand of might surrenders its red weapon unto mind, where truth and thought are wedded in one rule of far progression whose white child is love. So have I dreamed and longed to leave sad earth, and live anew on some divine sphere, a world so higher, lovelier than this, so spiritually perfected and refined, that should an earth-born mortal suddenly translated thither, unprepared behold dazed with divinity before the feet of its inhabitants, he would fall prone in worship and astonishment, and all the exaltation of celestial peace singing within cry out, Ye this is heaven, how long O sinner has thou dwelt in hell, in iron despotism the days, a brutal anarchy the nights, what hope for hope when day betrays and night in death delights. For once I prayed for gulfs of gold, and mourn pooled heaven with somber blood, for skies of stars and skies behold, malignant with the scud, and so I marvel not that he gray-haired and toothless hugs his stove, while I in my youth which once was she had buried with my love. All thoughts of nature are but forms of life and death, with which began love, love that swept the heavens with storms, evolving worlds to perfect man. Thoughts are the forms of mind, and come and go, assuming every shape, science and art through which we clump and climb to angel from ape. In the poem this recording is in the public domain. A Legend of the Lily by Madison Cowain, read for LibriVox.org by Sonya. A Legend of the Lily.  The face of a girl whose brow was worn, to whom the kind sun spoke at dawn, and the star and the moon when the day was gone. And oft and often the sun had said, o fair white face, o sweet fair head, come talk to me of the love that's dead. And she would sit in the sun awhile, down in the garth by the old stone dial, when never again would he make her smile. And often the first bright star overhead had whispered, sweet, where the rose blooms red, come look with me for the love that's dead. And she would wait with the star she knew, where the fountain splashed and the roses blew, when never again would he come to woo. And oft the moon when she lay in bed, had sighed, dear heart, in the orchard stead, come dream with me of the love that's dead. And she would stand in the moon, the dim, where the fruit made heavy the apple dim, when never again would she dream with him. So summer passed and the autumn came, and the wind-torn boughs were touched with flame, but her life and her sorrow remained the same. Or if she changed as it comes about, a life may change through trouble and doubt, as a candle flickers and then goes out. It was only to grow more quiet and one, sadly waiting at dusk and at dawn, for the coming of love forever gone. And so, one night, when the star looked in, it kissed her face that was white and thin, and murmured, come, thou free of sin. And when the moon on another night beheld her lying still and white, it sighed, Tesswell, now all is right. And when one morning the sun arose, and they bore her beer down the garden-clothes, it touched her, saying, at last, repose. And they laid her down, so young and fair, where the grass was withered, the bough was bare, all wrapped in the light of her golden hair. So autumn passed and the winter went, and spring, like a blue-eyed penitent, came telling her beets of blossom and sand. And, lo, to the grave of the beautiful, the strong sun cried, Why art thou dull? Awake, awake, forget thy skull. And the evening star and the moon above, called out, O dust, now speak thereof, proclaim thyself, arise, O love. And the skull and the dust in the darkness heard, each icy germ in its seraments stirred, as Lazarus moved at the Lord's loud word. And the flower arose on the mound of green, white as the robe of the Nazarene, to testify of the life unseen. And I paused by the grave, then went my way, and it seemed that I heard the lily say, Here was a miracle wrought today. End of poem. Disrecording is in the public domain. The End of the Century by Madison Cowine Read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson There are moments when, as missions, God reveals to us strange visions, when within their separate stations we may see the centuries like revolving constellations, shaping out Earth's destinies. They have gazed in time's abysses, where no smallest thing Earth misses, that was hers once, mid her chattels. There the past's gigantic ghosts sits and dreams of thrones and battles in the night of ages lost. Far before her eyes, unholy mist was spread, that darkly slowly rolled aside like some huge curtain, hung above the land and sea, and beneath it, wild uncertain rose the wraths of memory. First I saw colossal specters of dead cities, Troy once hector's pride, then Babylon and Tyre, Karnak, Carthage, and the gray walls of thieves, Apollo's lyre built, then Rome and Nineveh. Empires followed, first in seeming old Caldea lost in dreaming, Egypt next, a Bochmanomian staring from her pyramids, then Assyria, Babylonian night beneath her hell that it lids. Grease and classic white, sidereal armored, Rome and dark imperial purple crowned with blood and fire, down the deeps, barbaric strode, gall in Britain stalking by her, clad in skins tattooed with woe. All around them, rent and scattered, lay their gods with features battered, brute in human stone and iron, caked with gems and gnarled with gold. Temples that did once environ these in wreck around them rolled. While I stood engaged and waited slowly night obliterated all, and other phantoms drifted out of darkness pale as stars, shapes and tyrant faces lifted, sultans, kings, and emperors. Man and steed in ponderous metal, pen of bleed, they seemed to settle Condor's gunt of devastation on the world. Behind their march desolation, conflagration loomed before them with her torch. Hummets flamed like fearful flowers, chariots rose and moving towers. Captains passed, each fierce commander with his gauntlet on his sword, Agamemnon, Alexander, Caesar, Alleric, horde on horde, Huns and vandals, wild invaders, Goths and Arabs turned crusaders, each like some terrific taunt rolled above a ruined world, till a cataraca born seemed the swarming spears up hurled. Banners and escutcheons kindled by the light of slaughtered, dwindled, dyed in darkness. The chimera of the past was late at last, but behold another era from her corpse rose. They conversed. Demogorgon of the present, who in one hand raised decrescent, and the other with submissive fingers lifted up across, reverent and yet derisive seemed she, roved in gold and dross. In her skeptic eyes professions of great faith I saw, expressions Christian and humanitarian played around her cynic lip. Still I knew her a barbarian by the sword upon her hip, and she cherished strange idolons, pagan shadows, Plato's salons, from whose teachings she indentured forms of law and sophistry, seeking eye for truth she ventured just so far as these could see. When she vanished, eye uplifting eyes to where the dawn was rifting darkness, lo behold the shadow towering on earth's utmost peaks, round whom warnings Eldorado rivered gold in blinding streaks. On her brow I saw the stigma still of death, and life's enigma filled her eyes, around her shimmered folds of silence, and afar faint above her forehead glimmered, lone the light of one pale star. Then a voice above our under-earth, against her seemed to thunder questions wherein was repeated, Christ or Cain, and man or beast, and the future shadowy sheeted turned and pointed towards the east. In the poem, this recording is in the public domain. The Isle of Voices by Madison Cawain Red for LibriVox.org by Campbell Shelp The wind blew free that mourn that we, high-hearted, sailed away, round for that island named the blessed, remote within the unknown west beyond the golden day. There we were told each dream of old, each deed and dream of youth, each myth of life's divinest prime in every romance, put on a mortal truth. The love undone, the aim unwon, the hope that's turned to despair, the thought unborn, the dream that died, the unattained unsatisfied should be accomplished there. So we believed, and undeceived, a little crew set sail, a little crew with hearts as stout as any yet that faced the doubt and tore away its veil, and time went by and sea and sky had worn our masts and decks. When though one mourn with canvas torn, a phantom ship we came forlorn into the sea of wrecks. There day and night the mists lay white and pale stars shone at noon, the sea around was foe and fire and overhead hung thin as wire a willow-wisp of moon, and through the mist a white and wist gaunt ships with seaweed wound, with rotting masts upon whose spars the corpusin's lit spectre stars sailed by without a sound. And all about, now in, now out, their ancient holes was shed, the worm-like glow of green decay writhed and glimmered in the gray of canvas overhead, and each that passed in hole and masts seemed that wild ship that flees, before the tempests semen tell, deep cargoed with the curse of hell through roaring rain and seas. I, many a craft, we left a baffed upon the taunted sea, but never a hulk that clued a sail or waved a hand or answered hail and never a man saw we. At last we came where, pouring flame, in darkness and in storm, fast the volcano westward reared in awful summit lava seared like some terrific arm, and we could feel beneath our keel the ocean throb and swell, as if the earthquake there uncoiled its monster bulk or titans toiled at the red heart of hell. Like madmen, now we turned our prow north towards an ocean weird, of northern lights and icy blasts and four-ten moons with reeling masts and leaking hold we steered. Then black as blood through streaming scud and isle of iron gulfs and crags and cataracts like wind-tossed rags and caverns lost in gloom and burning white on every height and white in every cave, and naked spirits like a flame now gleamed, now banished, went and came above the windy wave. No mortal thing of foot or wing made glad its steep or strand, but voices voices seemingly fake voices of the sky and sea peopled the demon land. Yea, everywhere in earthen air and went, that gathering strength above below, now like a mighty wind of woe around the island swept. And in that sound it seemed was bound, all life's despair of art, the bitterness of joy that died, the anguish of faith's crucified and love that broke its heart, the ghost that seemed of all we'd dreamed of all we had desired. That turned a curse and empty cry with wailing words went trailing by in hopes that robes attired. And could this be the land that we sought for soon and late, the island of the blessed the fair where we had hoped to ease our care and end the fight with fate, whole lie that lured, oh pain and dirt, oh toil and tears and thirst where we had looked for blessed ground, the island of the damned we found and in the end were cursed. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. The Watcher by Madison Cowain read for LibriVox.org by Campbell Shelp. Young was the dream that held her when the world was moon-white with the may. She watched the singing fishermen sail out to sea at break of day. Soft as the morning heavens then, the eyes that watched him sail away. Old was her grief when summer filled the world with warm maturity. Far off she watched the nets that spilled their twinkling foison by the sea where on the rocks she sat instilled with song his infant on her knee, who to her love would make them lies those vows his sea slain manhood swore beneath the raining autumn skies the fishing vessels put to shore. She watches with remembering eyes for the brown face that comes no more. End of poem. This recording is in the public domain. At the Sign of the School by Madison Cowain read for LibriVox.org by Campbell Shelp. It's gallop and go and slow now slow with every man in this life below, but the things of the world are a fleeting show. The post she's time that all must take is old with clay and dust. Two horses strain its rusty break named pleasure and disgust. Our baggage totters on its roof of vanity and care as hope the post boy spurs each hoof of heavy-eyed despair. And now a comrade with his rides, love happily or remorse, and that dim traveler besides gone to memory on a horse. And be we king or be we curn who rides the roads of sin no matter how the roads may turn they lead us to that inn, and to that inn within that land of silence and of gloom, whose ghastly landlord takes our hand and leads us to our room. It's gallop and go and slow now slow with every man in this life below, but the things of the world are a fleeting show. End of poem this recording is in the public domain. Doom Vivimus by Madison Cowayne read for livervox.org by Campbell Shelp. Now with the marriage of the lip and beaker let joy be born and in the rosy shine the slanting starlet of the lifted liquor let care the hag go drown no more repine at all life's ills come bury them in wine room for great guests yea let us usher in philosophies of old anacreon and Omar that from dawn to glorious dawn shall lessen us in love and song and sin. Some lives need less than others who can ever say truly thou art mine of happiness death comes to all and one today is never sure of tomorrow that may ban or bless and what's beyond is but a shadowy guess all all is vanity the preacher sighs and in this world what has more right than wrong come let us hush remembrance with a song and learn with folly to be glad and wise. There was a poet of the east named Hoffees who sing of wine and beauty let us go praising them too and where good wine to quaff is and maids to kiss of life's grey garb of woe for soon that taverns reached that inn you know where wine and love are not where sends disguise each one must lie in his straight bed apart the thorn of sleep deep in his heart and dust and darkness in his mouth and eyes end of poem this recording is in the public domain failure by Madison Cawain read for livervox.org by Campbell Shelp there are some souls whose lot it is to set their hearts on goals that adverse fate controls while others win with little labor through life's dust and din and lord like enter in immortal gates and of success the high born intimates inherit fame's estates why is the lot of merit oft to struggle and yet not attain to toil for what simply to know the disappointment the despair and woe of effort here below ambitious still to reach those lofty peaks which men aspiring preach for which their souls beseech those heights that swell remote removed and unattainable pinnacle on pinnacle still yearning to attain their fair repose above life's stress and strain but all in vain in vain why hath God put great longings in some souls and straight away shut all doors of their clay hut the clay accursed that holds achievement back from which immersed the spirit may not burst were it at least not better to have sat at Cersei's feast if afterwards a beast then I to bleed to strain and strive to toil in thought and deed and never more succeed end of poem this recording is in the public domain the cup of joy by Madison Cawain read for LibriVox.org by Campbell Shelp let us mix a cup of joy that the wretched may employ whom the fates have made their toy who have given brain and heart to the thinkless world of art and from fame have won no part who have laboured long at thought carved and toiled and all for not sought and found not what they sought let our goblet be the skull of a fool made beautiful with a gold nor base nor dole gold of mad cup fancies once it contained that sage or dunce each can read whoever runs first we pour the liquid light of our dreams in then the bright beauty that makes day of night let this be the must wear from in due time the meddlesome care destroying drink shall come falling next with which mix in laughter of a child of sin and the red of mouth and chin these shall give the tang there too effervescence and rich hue which to all good wine are due then into our cup we press one wild kiss of wantonness and a glance that says not less sparkles both that give a fine luster to the drink divine necessary to good wine lastly in the goblet goes sweet a love song then arose warmed upon her breasts repose those bokeh our drink now measure with your arm the waste you treasure lift the cup and drink to pleasure end of poem this recording is in the public domain la jeunesse l'amour by madison coain read for livervox.org by cambell shelp unto her fragrant face and hair as some wild bee unto arose that blooms in splendid beauty there within the south my longing goes my longing that is over feign to call her mine but all in vain since jealous death as each one knows is guardian of la belle allaine of her whose face is very fair to my despair a belle allaine the sweetness of her face suggests the sensuous scented jack in minnets magnolia blooms her throat and breasts her hands long lilies in repose fair flowers all without a stain that grow for death to pluck again within the garden's radiant clothes the body of la belle allaine the garden glad that she suggests that death invests a belle allaine god had been kinder to me when he dipped his hands in fires and snows and made you like a flower to ken a flower that an earth's garden grows had he for pleasure or for pain instead of death in that domain made love the gardener to that rose your loveliness oh belle allaine god had been kinder to me then me of all men a belle allaine love and loss by madison covein read for libra vox dot org by lorry wilson loss molds our lives in many ways and fills our souls with guesses upon our hearts sad hands it lays like some grave priest that blesses far better than the love we win that earthly passions leaven is love we lose that knows no sin that points the path to heaven love whose soft shadow brightens earth through whom our dreams are nearest and lost through whom we see the worth of all we held dearest not joy it is but misery that chasens us and sorrow perhaps to make us all that we expect beyond tomorrow within that life where time and fate are not that knows no sin that world to which death keeps the gate where love and loss sit dreaming in the poem this recording is in the public to me the end of all by madison covein read for libra vox dot org i do not love you now oh narrow heart that had no heights but pride you whom mine to whom yours still denied food when mine hungered and of which love died i do not love you now i do not love you now oh shallow soul with depths but to deceive you whom mine watered to whom yours did give no drop to drink to help my love to live i do not love you now i do not love you now but did i love you in the old old way and knew you loved me though the words should slay me and your love forever i would say i do not love you now i do not love you now end of poem this recording is in the public domain arose of the hills by madison covein read for libra vox dot org the hills looked down on wood and stream on orchard land and farm and o'er the hills the azure gray of heaven bends a live long day and all the winds blow warm on wood and stream the hills looked down on farm and orchard land and o'er the hills she came to me through wild rose break and blackberry the hill winds hand in hand the hills looked down on home and field on wood and winding stream and o'er the hills she came along upon her lips a wildwood song and in her eyes a dream on home and field the hills looked down on stream and hill locked wood disordered hair fair in the wild rose tangled there a sudden while she stood o'er the hills that look on rock and road ungrove and harvest field to whom God giveth rest and peace and slumber that is kin to these and visions unrevealed o'er the hills that look on road and rock on field and fruited grow no more shall I find peace and rest in you since entered in my breast love. In the poem this recording is in the public domain The White Vigil by Madison Cowine read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson Last night I dreamed I saw you lying dead and by your sheeted form stood all alone frail as a flower you lay upon your bed and on your face through the wide casements shown the moonlight pale as I who kissed you there so young and fair white violence in your hair oh sick with suffering was my soul and sad to breaking was my heart that would not break and for my soul's great grief no tear I had no lamentation for my heart's deep ache yet what I bore seemed more than I could bear beside you there white violence in your hair a white rose blooming at the window bar and glimmering in it like a firefly caught upon the thorns the light of one white star looked in on you as if they felt and thought as did my heart how beautiful and fair and young she lies white violence in her hair and so we looked upon you white instill the star the rose and I the moon had passed like a pale traveler behind the hill all her sorrowful silver and at last darkness and tears and you who did not care lying so still white violence in your hair end of poem this recording is in the public domain A Study in Grey by Madison Cowine readforlibrebox.org by Larry Wilson a woman fair to look upon where waters whiteened the moon around whom glimmering along the white moth swoon a mouth of music eyes of love and hands of blended snow and scent that touched the pearly shadow of an instrument and low and sweet that song of sleep after the song of love is hust while all the longing here to weep is held and crushed then leafy silence that is musk with breath of the magnolia tree while dwindles moth white her drapery let me remember how a heart wrote its romance upon that night God helped my soul to read each part of it a right and like a dead leaf shut between a book's dull chapters stained and dark that page with immemorial green of life I mark it is not well for me to hear that song's appealing melody the pain of loss comes all too near through it to me loss of her whose love looked through the mist death's hand hath hung between within the shadow of the you her grave is green a dream that vanished long ago o anguish of remembered tears and shadow of unlifted woe a thwart the years that haunt the sad rooms of my days as keepsakes of unperished love where pale memory of her face hangs framed above this olden song of love she used to sing is now a spell that opens doors within the deep of my heart's hell in music making visible one soul assertive memory that stills into my sight to tell my lost to me in the poem this recording is in the public domain At Vespers by Madison Cobine read for LibriVox.org by Larry Wilson high up in the organ store a girl stands slim and fair and touch with the casement's glory gleams out her radiant hair the young priest kneels at the altar then lifts the host above and the psalm intoned from the salters pure with patient love a sweet bell chimes and a censor swings gleaming in the gloom the candles glimmer and denser rolls up the pale perfume then high in the organ choir a voice of crystal sores of patients and souls' desires that suffers and adores and out of the altar's dimness and answering voice and its swell of passion that cries from the grimness and anguish of its own hell high up in the organ store one kneels with a girlish grace and touch with the Vesper glory lifts her Madonna face one stands at the cloudy altar a form bowed down and thin the text of the psalm and the salter he chants is sorrow and sin end of poem this recording is in the public domain end of the poems of Madison Cowling volume 4 by Madison Cowling


Hi, everyone. I wanted to take a moment to explain why there was no video that was posted yesterday and why we were silent across most of our social media platforms. Unfortunately, over the weekend, one of our deputies took her own life, and out of respect for April, we did not feel that it would be appropriate to post a video as we normally do. I did want to share with all of you the Sheriff's Media Availability that he did yesterday in regards to this tragic passing. Obviously, all of us are heartbroken, as April was one of the most kind and loving individuals that you could ever hope to meet. Remember that you are not alone. The National Suicide Hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The number for them is 1-800-273-8255. Again, that number is 1-800-273-8255. I will see you all tomorrow. It's with great sadness that we announced that Deputy April Rodriguez died yesterday. She was a member of the Pasco Sheriff's Office for approximately four years. Our condolences go out to April's family, including her three children, two of which are minors. We ask that you keep them all in your prayers, respect their loss, and allow them the ability to heal on their own terms. I promised her husband one thing I told him I would do at this beginning of the press conference. To tell everyone how special April was, and that she was deeply loved, that she was a good person, with a great heart, and loved her children very much. If there's one thing that you take away from me today, please let that be it. The completion of suicide affects so many in our community, and so many communities, including Pasco County, and in law enforcement. Every day our members continuously go out to calls where people attempt suicide and complete suicide. This is not just a law enforcement issue. This is a community issue. As of yesterday, April was supposed to report to work early in the morning. She failed to report to work. Our deputies tried to make contact. She never responded. They went to her apartment. At the apartment, they saw her foot, and they thought it was a medical emergency. They made entry into the apartment, and they found that she had committed suicide. The recent suicides by law enforcement is sadly not new, but it's something that has more focus on it. I know one of the things that many people will ask, you know, how do agencies respond in such a situation such as this and yesterday? Yesterday our victim advocates, our chaplains on a critical incident stress management team, were available to the deputies that were on April's squad and to her family. We as a command staff, we spoke to April's squad. It's probably one of the most difficult things you'll ever have to do. Our critical incident stress management team, a tenant read-offs beginning this morning, and we're going to do it on Wednesday also on the other side of schedule. And the Tampa Bay Regional Critical Incident Stress Management Team is available to all our members. The other thing is, what have we done as an agency in the past several years? Because I can tell you, as a community, as a law enforcement, there's a more focus on this issue, which is very important that we discuss about it. Several years, beginning several years ago, we sent members through crisis intervention training, and this block of instruction was expanded in 2018 titled Officer Wellness. We have had multiple trainings, an emotional survival for law enforcement, not only for our members, but for our members' families. We developed a post-traumatic stress app that is on the phones for our members so that they can resource 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We continuously inform our members of the confidential services provided by the Employee Assistance Program, the Chaplain Corps, and the Crisis Incident Stress Management Team. Mental Health First Aid is also taught at new member orientation. We also have a unique situation that our Chaplain Corps started several years ago. It's called the Family Support Network. It assists our families and loved ones who serve in law enforcement.  And so as I stress here, and I stress there this weekend, it's, you know, we tell them that there's resources available. We keep it confidential. There's a reason it's confidential, because if it's not confidential, people won't seek help. And so we have those resources available, and so we plead and we beg. If people need help, the resources are out there for them. Going forward, we're going to continue to provide more training, more resources, and more opportunity for help for our members and their families. And we'll continue to stress that in seeking help, it will remain confidential unless a member themselves publicly come out and say they need help. As I told her husband, April's death will not define who she is. Hopefully from the sadness of her death, someone will seek help. That her life may save other people. Whether you're in law enforcement, military, a first responder, a student, a doctor, retired, it doesn't matter where you are in life. If you need help, obtain it. There are people that want to help you. Don't believe that a permanent solution will fix a temporary problem. And to everybody out there, this is not just a Pasco Sheriff's Office issue today. This is a community issue. We are dealing with a health problem, an epidemic of suicides. It affects all of us. If you need help, please seek it. Because people are left behind that are grieving. People are left behind trying to pick up the pieces. People are left behind trying to answer why. In law enforcement, we always think that we can solve everything and we can answer every why. We have every piece of evidence. Unfortunately in suicides, we can't do that. And so we ask everybody, if you need help, please seek it. There are resources available. Is there anything I can answer at this time? I'll try to answer. Were there any traumatic particular incidents or cases that she'd been involved in or we don't know what led her to this? Yeah, I mean, as to how she'd been through anything very extremely stressful, I would say everybody has in law enforcement. Everybody, day in, day out, when you're on your ship, deals with stressful situations. We have those resources available. If somebody does, and that's what we say, it's confidential, resources are available. Like everything else, it hits home with everybody. I remember about a year or so ago, I was backing up April on a call. And she's a good deputy. She did a great job out there. And so I shared that with her husband. And he goes, oh yeah, she told me about that. And so those are the types of things that everybody is special. But in law enforcement, we see the worst of society. And so those are the types of things that weigh in on us. And I wish everybody wishes, we can say specifically why she made the decision she made. But unfortunately, we can't. Do you know if she took advantage of any of the resources to share us office? That's going back to confidentiality of all members. We keep it confidential because that's the only way people will seek help. And we want to make sure that for all our members they understand we do not know who asks for help. We do not know who calls the EAP line. We do not know who reaches out to the SISM team. We do not know who reaches out to our chaplains. And you know what, I don't want to know. I don't want to know because I want them to seek help. And seeking help, if they find out who's seeking it, that's a good thing. I do not need to know about it because it's more important that they get the help they need. Sure. If you think there's anything in the culture of law enforcement or first responders who think of people as being tough, is there anything in the culture that needs to change in order to protect people from suicide? The military has done a phenomenal job over the years to talk about post-traumatic stress. And so it's one of those things that I think first responders were catching up. You know what, you talk to the professionals in the military and they talk about post-traumatic stress and how hard it is to change the culture.  And you know what, being able to talk about post-traumatic stress, having those issues, it's not weakness.  I got scraped. I got stitches. But you know what, seeing what law enforcement officers deal with every day, it's not an illness. That's when we get bruised. And bruising sometimes is mental. And so people can be overcome. And unfortunately, there's been a stigma that once you admit or say that you have an issue, you want to deal with something, people think it brands you for your career. And so we have to continuously move forward to say, no, it doesn't brand and identify who you are. In the midst of your human being.  And we talked about this with the squad yesterday. You know, there's times you can let it out. Because if you don't let it out, you do not talk about the issues in your life. It's going to destroy you from within. And so yes, I think we can continuously get better. I think as a profession, as a society, we need to change the stigma. You know, mental health is an illness. It's a health care issue. And that's the only way we're going to address it going forward. Sure. If you're aware of how many times this may have happened, this tragedy, may have occurred with your agency. We had a discussion about that and we do not remember the last time that somebody completed suicide or attempted suicide recently. And so those are the several things, you know. Everybody wishes we can, you know, either look forward and say, hey, this person has issues that we need to address, or we want to look back and say what were signs that we could have done something better, which can help us in the future. And so we're like everybody else. We are constantly asking that question why. Sure. If we clarify, you said that you think suicide is an epidemic. And I think you said across the community. Did you say the first responder community or the community as a whole? And the one thing I want to make sure that we stress is that it's getting attention today because April was a law enforcement officer at the Pascua Sheriff's Office. And it's getting media attention, it's getting out there. But there are so many families at home right now that have lost a loved one to suicide. And their tragedy is just as important to us. It just affects us differently because April was part of our family. But everybody who has lost somebody to suicide, those deaths, those lives are just as important to us. And as a community as a whole, we want to stop this epidemic that affects everybody. But in particular, what we are trying to do within the Sheriff's Office is help those because we know the stress of what detention deputies and law enforcement officers see every day is very, very painful a lot of times. And when they go home, they take those scars with them. And we have to tell them those scars, they're not scars that you get sewn up with stitches. They're scars that you get healed up through our chaplain corps, EAP programs, and for the family members. Because these scars affect those families, our children, our wives, our husbands, boyfriends and girlfriends, just as much as it affects us. The Sheriff's Office at which department are you supposed to watch for? Yeah, she's been with us for approximately four years. She started in January of 2015. She was in District 3, Trinity District. Trinity Holiday 54 corridor, 19 corridor. Was she prior military? Well, I don't have her full back at all with me. How's her squad doing today? Well, yesterday was their last day on. And so as soon as we could, we were able to get them all off the street. We brought them in. We had our chaplains there. As a command staff, we went down there to address them. They were heartbroken. Absolutely. This is not just somebody to work with. This is a friend.  When they were back in each other phone calls, they were there together. And it's the same thing for them too, you know, the why. And what's even harder is the guilt. People have the guilt that I have done something. And that's the one thing we told them is that as we go forward, we're going to be there for them. The chaplains, everybody's going to be there for them. But you can't hold that guilt.  And we know they did. Everybody reached out. Everybody talked to her about her friends with her. You know, that's the one thing. They have to recognize that they did everything they could to help her out. And to our family and our children, know that your mom loved you so much. Always live with that.  And I just continuously ask those two of our children and minors, please respect them. Because it's going to be, I can't imagine what they're going through right now. There will be, if you go into our site, April, it's ironic. She had done some tweet-alongs. So on our social media site, there are pictures of her available. Thank you all very much. So to answer your question, one of the favorite parts of my job is working with kids. I try to interact with them as much as I can. And let them know that cops are not somebody that they need to be afraid of. And that we're always there to help them. And also try to show them that we are positive role models.


so let's have a look at an example and here we're going to have a right coset because A is on the right of H so I'm going to define this as H binary operation with A so A on the right side the right coset of H remember H is a subgroup of some G I'm going to define H as this permutation this set of these different permutations on the symmetric group s4 so I have 1 if I just write it in this notation it means 1 goes to 1 2 to 2 3 to 3 4 to 4 the identity and this goes 1 goes to 2 2 goes to 1 3 goes to 3 and 4 goes to 4 and this one is 1 goes to 1 2 goes to 2 and then 3 goes to 4 and 4 goes to 3 1 goes to 2 2 goes to 1 3 goes to 4 4 goes to 3 and I have this composition of these permutations as my as my group operation and I have this A is an element, it goes one goes to four, four goes to three, three goes to two, two goes to one, that's an element of the symmetric group on four elements. So I'm suggesting now that HA, that is going to equal, this must go on the right, so it's going to be one composed with one, four, three, two, and I have one, two composed with one, four, three, two, and I have three, four composed with one, four, three, two, and lastly I have one and two and three and four composed with one, four, three, two, and that is it. So how do we do this composition? Remember, if I have this composition of these permutations, what happens on the right happens first and then on the left. And if you've got some experience, you can do this all in your head. So let's just try that first one, just if we can. So one goes, just imagine that is one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, so one goes to, so we start with one, one goes to four on the first side and then four, four goes to four. In other words, one goes to four. If I think of four, four goes to three and on that side three goes to three, so four eventually went to three. Three goes to two and two goes to two, so three actually went to two and two goes to one and one goes to one, so two goes to one, so that's done and that's exactly as I would have had with my identity permutation there. Let's do this one. Let's just do this one the long way, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. Again, I'm going to start with one. Remember what happens on the right is first. So one goes to four, four goes to three, three goes to two and two goes to one and on this side one goes to two, two goes to one, three goes to three, three goes to three. If I start with one, one goes to four. One goes to four, four goes to three, three goes to one. So I'm back there and eventually two is just going to go to two, so we just leave that out. It's just for simplicity's sake we leave that. So let's look at this one. I start again with one, let's try and do this one in our heads. So if I think of what happens on the right-hand side first, one goes to four and four goes to three. In other words, one goes to three in the end and then what happens to three? Three goes to two and two goes to two, so three goes to two and then two, two goes to one, two goes to one and one goes to one, so two goes to one. So two goes to one, so we are done with that one and that just leaves four which goes to four and on this last one, let's see what happens to one and this last one, one goes to four and four goes to three, so one goes to three and now three goes to two, three goes to two and two goes to one, so three goes to one, so we are done with that one. That goes nowhere. Let's see what happens to two, two goes to one and one goes to two, so two goes to two, so two just goes to two, we leave that and four will go to four because four goes to three and three goes to four, in other words, four goes to four and we just left with that. So that's our right coset of H with this A being this one of these permutations on the symmetric group of four elements, that would be AH. See if you can work out what the right coset of H is going to be with this same element A.


And I'm delighted to welcome Ambassador Luchman Faley here, he's the ambassador of Iraq, to talk about the Iraqi elections taking place on April 30th. Ambassador Faley has been here for about nine months. Prior to this, he served as Iraq's ambassador to Japan and spent many years in the UK studying to be an engineer when it was not safe to be in Iraq. Speaking of not safe, Ambassador Faley is a veteran. He ran the Boston Marathon two days ago. So when he comes, and he completed the Boston Marathon two days ago, so when he comes up, please give him extra time to make it up the stairs. But he will make it up and we're delighted to see when we look forward to what you have to say. After Ambassador Faley talks, he and I will have a discussion for about 15 minutes and then we'll open it up to the group for questions. So please join me in welcoming Ambassador Luchman Faley. I'm just to have an opportunity to chat among friends about the situation in Iraq. I will talk about 10, 15 minutes if that's okay and then we'll have the Q&A session. I think to start with, let me say that I'm privileged to be here today. First, because of the new magnificent facility and building which CSIS have acquired and B for talking about Iraq, an area which may have not been talked about for some time in DC following the troop withdrawal. But I think it's important that we provide some opportunities to discuss among friends as to what are taking place in Iraq and the region and more importantly, where the United States sees itself as a key player and partner in Iraq. And within that context, I think the CSIS has played an important role and John, thank you for chairing that part of the CSIS, the Middle East program. And there I think you all guys are in a safe hand. So we appreciate about that. Only two days ago, as John mentioned, I ran in the Boston monathon in honor of the and in support of the victims of terrorism from Baghdad to Boston. I'm proud that I've finished. I'm relieved that I've finished as well. And I have the tremendous respect and appreciation to those who completed the race following last year's tragic terroristic act. Iraq's journey from despotism to democracy is also a marathon. Only one week from today, or actually on the April 30th, the Iraqi parliamentary election will mark a milestone of on our progress and serves as an attribute to the sacrifices of so many Iraqis and Americans and other countries that helped us to stay in the course of democracy. This will be the fourth parliamentary election since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein back in 2003. And the first since the US withdrawal of troops at the end of 2011. Amidst regional turmoil and stability and sectarian polarization, this election offers us the opportunity to consolidate democracy, nurture greater stability and strengthen national unity. Democracy means that the people can elect leaders on their own choosing. In this election, Iraqis will be able to choose among over 9,000 candidates from 117 political entities competing for 328 parliamentary seats. Let me repeat that, 9,000 candidates, 107 blocks, political parties actually, or entities, forgive me, and 328 seats. We want the composition of the parliament to represent the diversity of the people. 25% of the seats in parliament are allocated to women. Christians and other minorities are guaranteed a certain number of seats in order to ensure their representation in parliament. 60% of the 21.5 million eligible voters are expected to turn that, around 60%. Out of country voting will take place in 19 nations. Here in United States, the process is being administered by the Independent High Electoral Commission and Independent Body of nine commissioners nominated and approved by the parliament. Throughout the nation, only 15, 1,5 candidates have been barred by the commission. There has been much less controversy than in the past elections about excluding candidates and about debatification. To ensure accountability and transparency, electronic voting cards are being used in order to eliminate or to reduce voting frauds. More than 650 credentials have been issued to foreign monitors. These improvements help to explain why 75% of Iraqis are more enthusiastic about this election than earlier elections, according to recent poll commissioned by NDI, National Democratic Institute. As the campaign enters its closing week, Americans would find some features familiar. The campaign are better organized and more professional than in the past, reflecting increasing the numbers of Iraqis who are online. The candidates are making greater use of social media to reach out to constituents and debate core issues. What are the issues?  In Iraq, the economy is one of four, four overriding concerns. Security concerns are inescapable. Most Iraqis believe that security can improve if Iraqi forces are better armed and trained. Regarding the economy, surprisingly, most Iraqis don't see the oil sector as a major driver for growth and prosperity. Instead, Iraqis believe that the two things our nation needs are loans for small businesses and incentives to businesses owners to hire more employees. Rounding out their major concerns, Iraqis want to rebuild and improve our education and healthcare systems. Now, it is no secret that the election is being held amid the rising threat of terrorism, groups such as so-called ISIL or Daesh, that that is why it's more important than ever that the elections are held on time. When they participate in the election, the voters will take the striking, will be striking a powerful blow against the terrorists who are trying to frighten us away from the polling places in order to prevent the consolidation of democracy in Iraq. Making no mistake, every vote that is cast will be a vote for hope and not fear, ballots and not bullets, and democracy and not dictatorship or divisiveness. When the final results are released, which is expected to be by the end of May, the democratic process will continue. Since it is possible that no single party gains a majority, the conversations will continue about how the competing parties can come together to form a coalition government. An inclusive government will keep Iraq moving forward towards security, stability, and democracy. And we want all three. Having been ruled by one man and one party and the Saddam regimes, Iraqi understand that no single faction, whether political, ethnic, regional, or religious, should control or can't control their country. When every segment of society has a voice and no community feels excluded, the new government will gain legitimacy. Let me repeat that. When every segment of society has a voice and no community feels excluded, the new government will gain legitimacy. This will deny the extremist, the political support they need for their violent tactics. Inclusiveness isn't only the best way to building democracy, it is also the best and only way to beat terrorism. As we succeed at holding elections and forming a new government, we will be better able to make progress on the security, political, economic, and diplomatic fronts. In the seven provinces throughout the election campaign, there have been no reported security incidents in Muthanna, Dewania, and Najaf. In the western provinces, improved security will depend on the speed of process of forming the new government. Despite the current difficulties in Ambar, the government is committed to ensuring conditions for a strong vote to turn out. Displaced persons will be able to cast their votes at secure sites. On the political front, the process of forming a government will be conditioned on reaching an agreement with key segments of our society, such as the Kurds over the oil revenue and the scope of federalism among other issues. We are hopeful that following the election, the odds will improve for breaking that block. This in turn will pave the way for a greater focus on trade and investment. On the diplomatic front, successful elections will improve Iraqis standing in the international community. This will enable us to play a greater role in the region as a force for moderation. Forming a new government will also re-energize the implementation of the strategic framework agreement which was signed between the United States and Iraq. We want to build what President Obama has called a partnership of two equals. As part of that endeavor, our embassy will continue our efforts to promote institutional and people-to-people exchange between Iraqis and Americans. When you visit Iraq, you will find an energetic and educated people committed to building our democracy, securing our country, stabilizing our region, and rebuilding our roads, highways, and airports, restoring our water and electrical systems, and improving our education and healthcare. We welcome American partnership, friendship, and investment. The marathon we are running is long, but we are determined to cross the finish line despite the challenges we face. Let me thank you again for giving me the opportunity to be here, and I will be more than happy to take any Q&A question. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. One of the things that is curious sitting in the United States watching these elections is I haven't seen any coverage of alternatives to Prime Minister Maliki winning reelection. There don't seem to be other political personalities that are being reported on. There don't seem to be political movements that have a reasonable chance of winning a plurality. Could you just help us understand? We all know Prime Minister Maliki. He's been there. He's been to Washington. Who are some of the other candidates who are either likely to be serious contenders or likely to be the ones whose decisions will shape the consequences of the elections. Okay. In Iraq we have somewhat of a strange or a stranger system of government. We're not like the British system in the sense that the member of parliament will become Prime Minister, keep their parliamentary seats, and every party put their candidates forward. That's not the case. We also have a situation in which the dynamic of electing the Prime Minister is totally different to the dynamic of voting. Let me explain this to you. For example, you have the populace elect their parliament, representation of parliament. However, once the parliamentarians are there, the formation of the government is on whose best able to collect the votes of the parliamentarians, not of the people. That's so you have two different dynamics altogether. For the premiership to be elected than for the parliamentarian to be elected. Because the parliamentarians choose the premiership. You have also a culture in which there are very few red lines between the blocks as to what to give and not to give. And which makes it a bit complicated for the formation of the government, a prolonged process, and more importantly, candidacy will not be paid forward until the election is complete. So you don't have even blocks, forget about the, within the state of law, other blocks. I'm not aware of anybody putting a name forward and say this is my candidacy. Although they have said we will secure or we will endeavor to gain the premiership or lead the Prime Minister government formation. Why? Because they think that they will undermine the candidacy by declaring the names between now and the election. For, primarily for tactical reasons. That's a key issue. Although, I mean, one way to read that would be that putting a name forward if they think that the Prime Minister is likely to be re-elected. They'd rather be in the coalition rather than against it. I mean, I just remember in the last election. That was the same, John, that was the same scenario in 2009. Well, we had, he had done that, right? Who won more seats than the Maliki coalition. And he was clearly running and he clearly didn't win. Yes. Because exactly that's my point. The point is the formation of the government following the election is different than electing your representative. Because the challenge each party have can they gather enough votes? Can they entice other blocks to form up a coalition to form the government? That's a key challenge. So speaking politically, it seems to me that gives tremendous advantage to incumbency, because the incumbent Prime Minister would have tremendous tools at his disposal to build the coalition. And the dynamic outside that coalition would be how do I get in rather than how do I assemble an alternative coalition? Is that a fair reading of the? I think you're right to a certain extent that however, you also have an issue of no premiership is secure. So halfway through the last government there was a challenge to the Prime Ministers. No confident vote. And they were more or less there. So in a way it said that's what the democratic process of Iraq is. People have been talking about moving on to the presidential situations and others. I think we're somewhat far from that. But also Iraqis have historically used to the presidential system. So you have a cultural issue as well. So that's the problem. Let me give you another example. The Prime Minister's position according to the constitution is head of the cabinet. And his vote is won. And he has no authority of laying people off or whether they're cabinet members or others. He has to go to the parliament. So his power is different. The actual people who voted for the constitution were sure about separating the powers in a way. And this is what's taking place in Iraq. So at the cabinet level the Prime Minister's vote is won among many. He has no veto. He has no extra weight or anything else. So we're going through a new dynamic of Iraq, Iraqi democracy. And this is the key issue which I think I hope people appreciate. The Dexter Filkins article in the new New Yorker. Which I'm yet to finish reading. So. Well wait, let me give away the ending. The ending is this. I saw Dexter before so I know what the ending is. The ending is that they quote Emma Sky saying that one of the tragedies of the Iraqi political system is the Prime Minister's ship is too weak. I'm sure maybe it's too strong. Anyway, she and Ryan Crocker are opposed. And one of them says. Yeah. The Prime Minister's ship is too strong. The other says the Prime Minister's ship is too weak. Yeah. I think, let me, I know both, I've spoken to both extensively about these issues. Let me project to you my analysis of it. You have a new political process forming in Iraq. You have a new dynamics taking place. You have a culture which is not known to democracy in the whole region, not just in Iraq. You have three or four generations of militarization of the society. So there the issue of what is the perceived power versus actual power is very important. The issue of symbolism in Iraq is very important. So that's another issue. For example, people were saying, well, the president is no longer there because of his illness was that the president position. Many people have now saved something. The presidency, should that be occurred because the previous president was occurred? Or no, the previous president has the oar and has the personality to bring everybody. And that's why it's unique. You know what I mean? So it has to do with the personality impact of us. And in our own culture, the whole Middle Eastern culture, the personality is very important. It's not the actual power authority or the legitimacy, it's a personality issue. And we're trying to move away from that to save God us. And this is what I was talking about. Okay. The Hausa, the sort of clerical establishment in Iraq has traditionally urged people to vote and traditionally tried to keep the Shia community unified to protect Shia interests. And it's not been active in this round of elections. And your judgment, is that a good thing or a bad thing? They have actually been very active in their weekly summons in which they focused primarily on the caliber of the candidacy, their displeasure with services provided to the people. So they've tried to keep away from personalizing the issue because they were labeled that they intervened in the first government formation. And therefore they thought that they should not take the baggage of that any longer. And they disassociate themselves. Historically, Hausa, especially the Sistani school of thought, the Sistani school of thought have never been involved in politics historically. But following the 2003 situation following the lack of visible leaders, following the dynamics, the challenges of Iraq, they start being, people ask them to promote that in more guardian role. And which I think they have played a very positive role to be honest. They have been very stable, very mature, totally opposite end of sectarianism, totally opposite end of polarizing the society, inclusion has been they've seen. So they have been a very good player there. Now in this election, they have been advocating for participation, they've been advocating for the caliber of the parliamentarians and they're kept away from personalizing the issue. Which I think is a very nice position, very healthy position for a major religious or I can't even call it a cultural institution to promote. One of the really troubling things we've seen in Iraq in the last six months seems that sectarian violence is ticking up again thousands of deaths this year. Can you paint a picture of an electoral result which actually helps address some of the sectarian divisions or is it outside of electoral consequences? Is there a way that this election could or is likely to lead to a decrease in sectarian tension, sectarian violence? The election within democratic systems are the reboot button for resolving and re-energizing societies and we are certainly looking for that. Nobody is saying the election is coincidental or marginal, they're saying it's essential for the serious discourse, serious discussion, sorry, serious discussion to take place after the election. To address core issues which is to do with centralization, decentralization, power of provinces, disbursements of the budgets, oil, law, and so on. So in that sense, the election will provide us or will re-energize us in having that discussion. A fresh view with people who are just being given the mandate by the vote of the people. That's one aspect. The other aspect of it is no single party, no single block is saying I need to dominate or I need to have a full authority of the formation of the government and at the cabinet level or other representation issue. So everybody's saying we need to get the buy-in of the Kurds, we need to get the buy-in of the Sunnis, we need to get the buy-in of the majority of the Shi'a. If you're looking at it from that binary way or we need to get the majority of religious establishment or we need to get moderate voices involved or we need to get the professional involved in the government. So they're talking about, for example, the ministers. They're saying we need to move away from leaders of the parties being their own minister. We need to get professional people involved in it. Or we need to bring people in who can work with each other and the prime minister or others need to have a bit more power or say in who his team should be. We should all to do with effectiveness and efficiency of governing. And these are all good news. The election is the only way we're approaching it. I'm not aware of any specific party saying it has to be us who gets 51% plus to form the government. That's not possible. Although you certainly have Sunnis who feel systematically excluded from the process. But they have representation in the government. They want to have representation in the cabinet level. So let me address the issue we talked about before, which you just mentioned, which I think will address this question as well. What you have now is not the scenario of 2005, 2006, 2008. You don't have turf war. You don't have a neighborhood fighting each other. You don't have the ethnic cleansing you had before. That's no longer the case. You have people who believe in rule of law and you have people who say this democratic process of Iraq is not working for us. This is the key issue. It's the governor of Ambar who stood with the government who was elected, by the way. And he's as Sunni as anybody can be who stood by the government against the Daesh and others in Fallujah and Rumadi is a Sunni. Surely him or others should have a say in governing in future Iraq. And we will welcome that. Nobody is expecting to dominate or to exclude other. It won't work. The constitution will not allow it. It's actually, it's not the 51%. It's 60% or 63% because of the presidency requires for the government, for the process to kick in, you need to select a president. And that won't take place unless you are more or less confident about the premiership because you have a period of 30 days, which means two-third of the parliament have to agree. It's not the actual 51%. It's two-thirds of the parliament have to agree to kick start the process again. I hope you have an easier time being two-thirds of your parliament to agree than we have with our Congress. Tony Cordesman put out a report, which I'm sure you've at least glanced at, which had, I thought, some very surprising numbers right up front. Said the World Bank ranks Iraq as having extremely low quality of governance, 178th in the world in accountability, 201st in political stability and violence, 182nd in government effectiveness, 205th in the quality of rule of law, 189th in the quality of government regulation, and 193rd in the control of corruption. He's my friend. Tony tells it straight. But what, I'm interested in your explanation of why that set of numbers can exist alongside with the fact that we see a prime minister who most people think is going to be re-elected. I mean, if there's a democratic process and everybody is looking for inclusion, nobody knows how it's gonna come out. How does that set of numbers not create the sense that there's going to be any alternative to the current government rather than, despite these numbers, the prime minister seems likely. These numbers are elite numbers. Democracy is about the populace. The numbers are not disputing them. However, one thing I know about these numbers, and I work closely with the World Bank and others, we provide full access for those numbers to be known. A lot of other countries don't even allow those numbers to be known. So in that sense, we, our ministry of oil, announces every month how much oil we sold to whom so transparency. Tell me other countries you do that. So we don't have an issue of understanding our weaknesses. We go to the World Bank. I was there two weeks ago with our minister of finance. We said to the World Bank, we, the governor was, the bank of governor was there. We said to them, please give us more numbers. Tell us exactly where we're getting wrong. Because we want to build that country. The prime minister issue is again, to do with the populace whom they think is the right person, candidacy for it. That's one aspect. People have been telling us for the last 10 years, Iraq will be divided and Iraq is going through all kinds of troubles. And I think we are proving them wrong enough for them to start thinking twice about the basic assumption of this. That's the second. Third point, which I fully agree with these numbers and we're working, we're trying to do that effectively. We know we have a coalition government in which there is no opposition party. Technically speaking, there is no opposition party in Iraq. If you have five or seven parliamentarians, you're eligible for ministerial or at least senior officials at one of the high commissions and others. And therefore you're part of that. That's not very effective. I would even call it inefficient. But that's the system we have chosen. And now we're trying to say, okay, let's try to be more effective and not get everybody, literally everybody, maybe get majority of people in. That's what we're trying to do. I think this is where we're going with it. As to why the prime minister is popular or others is, I suspect is that individual Iraqis look at this election as what is the only issue of importance to them? Not what are the issues of importance? One issue, which is to do with their nationalism, to do with their ID, to do with their security, for example. And they see, in that perspective, they see a prime minister who is focused on security. Whether that's right or wrong, that's for our historian to tell. But what we have is we have to expect and accept these democratic processes. It may be painful, but I think that's what we're choosing. Last question before I go to the audience. As reading up all the press on Iraq and the elections, why do you think you get such a hard treatment in the press? Why do the people who seem to know Iraq seem so disappointed in what's happening? We are still a story in the making in as far as democracy is concerned, in as far as adhering to a constitution is concerned. You know, for the last, prior to 2003, the last constitution we had was in there during the Hashimid Kingdom, 58. After that, we had all transitional constitutions. So we are somewhat new for having a new social contract. That's one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is the complexity of Iraq, and forgive me for saying that, I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything, I would say I doubt very much, a lot of people can understand it. It's complicated because of the fourth line theme of Iraq, whether it's sectarianism, NAG, nationalism, having two big neighbors who are non-Arabs next door, in that aspect of it, it's difficult to understand. You also have a pride, a key theme of the people where pride is important. However, time is irrelevant. So people try to pigeonhole us and say, how could a formation of government take nine months? Well, it has taken nine months. Is it right or wrong? We don't work based on the American concept of a project, which is to do with time, resources, and scope. These are the three elements you always have in mind. We don't have those correlation in a similar manner, and therefore we are complicated. And sometimes I would say we are even contradictory to our character because of that complexity. That's why people are somewhat disappointed. What we say to them is, look at us as a theme. Don't look at us as individuals. Look at us as a theme. Over the last 10 years, we have evolved. Even those who are in opposition are saying we need to be opposite to the political process. I'm not just saying you get to Prime Minister Maniki. We need to be involved in this democratic process. They are saying that democracy is the only way. Nobody is advocating dictatorship any longer. So in that perspective, it's an issue. Even the Prime Minister, who's been accused with dictatorship, he's saying, I need the provinces to have better displacement rate for their budget so that we decentralize more. And that call for decentralization has come from the governor of Basra, or the previous governor, who was in the same party of the Prime Minister, who's calling. So you see the complexity of that? That's something that people have to appreciate. It's a long history. And with history, you get complication. And that's what we are. Unfortunately, we're not binary. Says the engineer. The mathematician, actually. Happy to open it up to questions if you would do us all a favor by introducing yourself and perhaps asking just one question until there is a chance to ask. Sir, all the way back. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. My name is Dan Tavana from the Project of Middle East Democracy. To follow up on John's comments with the numbers that Tony Coorsman cited in his report, I think we saw for the first time, especially with Iraq earlier during Prime Minister Maliki's visit, an attempt by members of Congress to condition assistance, particularly security assistance, on progress on meeting some of these indicators or responding to them at least. Can you tell us a little bit more about how the Iraqi government viewed that effort and maybe even how it's responded to some of those impulses so far? Thanks. We do need to keep talking and communicating with our American friends at all levels. Historically, the majority of discussion has been between the White House and the government. The embassy's role, the primary role for us, we do less work with the White House and more with Congress and others because we think there's an urgent need for it. We've got good communication and understanding with the White House. So that was the key issue. And that was what the Prime Minister took back with him, that he, as a representative of the government, needs to work with the embassy to strengthen our relationship with the stakeholders of the United States. In the United States, the decision-making is not one single party or person, and therefore we need to have institution-to-institution relationship. Based on that, the security issue became clear to all people or parties in the United States that the danger of Daesh, the safe haven of the Ambar province and others will be a significant risk to US as much as it is to Iraq and the regional instability. In that sense, I think the Congress and the House and the Senate could see now that they need to work with us. We may have our own inner politics to discuss with them, fair enough, as friends, we're willing to do that, but to make it conditional, I think they know that we need urgent assistance, and we have been getting that, and we're thinking we're on the right track. So right here on the aisle. Phoebe. Phoebe, that would be you. Phoebe Maher, independent scholar. Thank you very much, and congratulations on the marathon. I would like to get back to the election if I may, and sort of follow up on some things you said about the inclusiveness of it. I have not heard much about how the election is going to be run in areas that are presumably almost at war, such as Fallujah, Ramadi, and so on. And how do you assess, first of all, how is the government going to doing in terms of keeping security there for the election, and how would you assess the ability of the Sunni population there to participate in the election? That's one of the key challenges, Phoebe. We had as to where does our responsibility and the safety of the people lie. Responsibility of government of providing election and opportunity for people to participate, and the safety of the people in us not barging in Fallujah or us not using indiscriminate sort of, or being ganho, that's the right way to use, in our approach to that. And that's why we've been patient, which is not in our nature, by the way.  There has been a lot of urging for them to just go in, especially after the Daesh tried to close the dam and there was an issue of water flow to the south. So that's a challenge for us. So we know there is an obligation on government to provide safe environment for democratic, to take place, for democracy to take place. And also we have an obligation for the security of the country as well. So that's the key challenge we've been trying to get. What we have been trying to do is those who are in displaced in Karbala, in Mosul, in Diyala provinces and others, and there are quite significant numbers there for them to be able to vote, for representative of the Rumadi province. So if you are in Karbala, you can vote for Rumadi. That's the idea of it, rather than just to vote, because currently each province votes for their own representative. So that's one aspect. The cards we've been giving these smart cards or sort of electronic cards, so not smart cards. Electronic cards, we're trying to disperse it better. We're still working on that, to be honest. Even a week before the election, we're still working on that. We know there will be less representation as a result of that, unfortunately. However, we're eager not to go to the 2005 scenario where the whole communities are excluded. That's an issue as well for us. So there we're trying to get the right balance between true representation versus security and safety. And it's not an easy formula. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for your presentation. My name is Becca Smith, I'm a fellow here at CSIS. This is maybe following on John's reference to how the media treats Iraq, covers Iraq negatively. My impression is that there's a sentiment in the United States, there's a strong desire to see Iraq succeed. And Americans may feel some responsibility for success in Iraq, understanding that we pulled back and now it's your responsibility. And yet we spent a decade there and we want to know that it was worth it, both for U.S. objectives and for Iraqis themselves. So I guess I would ask you what is, was it worth it to you to have the U.S. intervention? Was it worth it to the average Iraqi citizen? What are the benefits that Iraqis may experience now despite all the challenges that came with intervention? As you may appreciate, when you evaluate, historians talk about evaluating situations. They try to move away from the binary element of it. Is it right or wrong? And was it worth it or not worth it? There are mirrors of issues which Iraqis went through prior to 2003. The popular slogan at that time was, forgive me for saying that, we say, let us have Sharon rule us. And to the Iraqis, that's a different perspective than anybody else. That's what I'm saying. That's one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is that the people used to have pride in their country. Now they were alienated internationally. More U.S. sanctions than anybody else. Chapter seven and everything else. Middle class more or less were no longer there. More or less like evaporated the middle class outside the country or internally. You had the university professor doing taxi service in the evening to earn up and to supplement it. That was the extent selling their households. So that was one aspect. The question I think is more for American historian than Iraqis to answer that specific U.S. dimension of it. But for the Iraqis, we now have an opportunity for democracy. We have challenges. Nobody's underestimating that challenges. But we have a big project ahead of us. We have extremely ambitious project ahead of us. To achieve that, people want to do it in their lifetime. I think it will take generations rather than lifetime because of the legacy to generations. It's always harder to build than to demolish. In that sense, I think the United States provided us with the opportunity. Was it worth it or not to the Americans? I think I would leave that to our American colleagues to answer that and so on. But I think for Iraqis, we have a chance. We have a reality we have to work with. And also the legacy didn't help us to sustain. So even now, people are saying, well, let me give you an example. At worst case scenario in Iraq, people say, we need to be more effective. Let us have a just dictator. A just dictator. So even the dictator they had, they want them to be just, which is impossible to do. So I think this is what, so people are somewhat educated better at a cost. And we're going through that painful process. But as I said in my talk, it's a marathon. It's not a, for someone who's done the marathon, I know it's not an easy right. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. Daniel Sirward from Johns Hopkins SICE. I wonder if I could ask you to solve a problem for me. You've emphasized inclusivity as the outcome of the election. The prime minister's made no secret of his desire for what he calls a majoritarian government. And his campaign has frankly been a campaign of law and order, security, but very heavily focused on an appeal only to Shia. That will be very few Sunni and Kurdish votes for the prime minister. So how do you reconcile his campaign and his interest in a majoritarian government with what you have emphasized here, which is the importance of inclusivity? The prime minister is at the end of the day, he's a politician and he wants to be voted into power. So I don't see any contradiction or any anomaly there. And he also is fully aware that the formation of the government, you have to have the inclusivity and you have to get other bodies into it. So he's coming from that direction as well. You also have a situation in which people are saying, we need to have a better sense or pace for decision making. And we can't have pull and push and between the various institutions of the government. Let me give you the anomaly, which told me, let me reverse it. You have a cabinet which is more cohesive and at the same time, a mirror image of that cabinet at the parliament, which is very dysfunctional. So at the end of the day, the system depends on parliament for legislation and monitoring. If that's somewhat dysfunctional, how would you expect the government to be effective? I think the prime minister is coming from that point. And it's not just the prime minister, I have not seen anybody who says we need to have a government in which every segment of Iraq and no opposition party should be forming it. Nobody's calling for that again. Because everybody knows that they need to get more votes so that they have more power so that they can become more effective in governing. Because the key question we have now is we've tried for the last 10 years to be inclusive, but also not to have anybody excluded. And that do mean that nobody. Now we're saying this is not working for us because of the challenges, because of the pace, decision making, security, regional issues and so on. And we need to be more effective in our governing. However, the prime minister at the same time is a politician and he wants to get more votes. I don't see any surprises there. But can he form the government by his own block alone? I doubt if he even promotes that. I don't think he is aware of that. And he's saying we need to get more parties, but we need to get some of the Kurdish parties. We need to get some of the provinces parties such as from Anbar or Musil or Diyala or others as much as I need to get parties from Basra to be involved in the government formation. I think this is where he's coming from. If you look at it from a pure binary way, it won't work. But if you look at it as two stages, one for the election and one for the government formation, I think it can resolve the issue for. We only have a couple of minutes. Let me just pick up on that if I can. One of the large goals the United States had in 2004 or 2005 was bringing people together. What I might take from your last comment is actually if there's less solidarity in the Shia community and less solidarity in the Sunni community and less solidarity in the Kurdish community, that may actually lead to better outcomes. And it goes to what you were saying with the party formation that there have to be people in opposition. Is perhaps one of the outcomes we should hope for out of this election is not that people come together into blocks, but that none of the blocks prove sustainable and there is a process by which people of all variety come together. There are lots of Shia in opposition. There are lots of Sunnis in the government and we move into a post-sectarian organization for Iraqi politics. Is that something you hope for? Yeah, that's what I'm saying in a way. It's necessary for us to evolve into one in which the policies are the issues, not the background or the color of your skin. That's essential for us because we also know that the, let me tell you why the reason behind that. Team building or teamwork is not a core characteristics of our people because of various other regions and therefore for them to form the government in bringing everything, like what we call national, national, that won't work. That no longer is a case because we have tried it. It may have been a painful process for us. It may have been a necessary process for us. Yes, but for us to be more effective in governing to address the core issues of providing better services. The country is rich, but we need to move away from these numbers, up the numbers which Anthony Cozman mentioned before. People are realizing that and they're saying we need to address these issues and that's where we're coming from. Mr. Master, you have a busy week ahead. We've got a tiring week behind you. A bit of busy week ahead as you get ready for the elections. We wish you luck. We appreciate your coming to join us and we look forward to hearing more about Iraq in the years to come. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.


anything where autism is, you know, there's just so much misconception and, and it's just very few supports for adults, especially if you are seen as, you know, quote functioning from the outside at all, meaning you finished school or you need it okay in school, or you can keep a job. If you have either of those things, people are just like, Oh, you're fine.   Yeah, possibly that you're really excel in certain areas, but not in others and need support with others. Yeah.


Okay, so let's try this one. Calculate the weight-weight percentage of platinum in a gold ring that contains 14 grams of gold and 4.500 grams of platinum. Okay, so this is the one that we gave in class, right? And we were talking about weight-weight how it's best to do weight-weight percentage when you've got a solution of two solids, okay? Because you can get both the solution weight and the solute weight, okay? So the first thing you want to do is figure out which one is the solute, okay? So in a solution, of course, the solute is the one that's found in the least amount, okay? So like a solution contains two or more things, right? In this case, you've got gold and platinum, gold being 14 grams, right? And platinum being 4.5 grams, so platinum is the solute, okay? Because it's in the least amount. So the mass of the solute is going to be 4.500 grams. The mass of the solvent is going to be 14.00 grams, okay? And then that means that the mass of the solution equals the mass of the solvent plus the mass of the solute, right? 4.5 plus 14, so that's 18.5. So now you've got to remember the weight-weight percent calculation equals mass of solute over mass of solution 100 percent. So now all we've got to do is plug these numbers in. So of course this is the mass of the solute, this is the mass of the solution, so these are the two numbers you're going to use. So 4.500 grams divided by 18.50 grams times 100 percent. So the one thing I want to caution you about is if your calculator has a percent button, don't use it, okay? Just think of the percentage sign as another unit, okay? So go 4.5 divided by 18.5 times 100. So here grams will cancel out, right? So we won't have that unit grams anymore. And if I read this correctly, it's a four-sig fix. It's going to be 24.32 percent weight-weight of platinum in this room. So that's a nice, extensive thing for you.