IMAGIN IMAGIN IMAGIN So we will find out who is Victor Abueyo before software development happened and digital marketing. Victor Abueyo is an introverted guy who likes technology and likes reading We are very passionate about tech and the evolving technology world and it has been so for the longest time ever. The longest time ever. We won't go to that. We won't get to that. What did you study in school? So I studied software engineering in school at the Multimedia University of Kenya and before that I was in Bali High School. Alright. For someone who is watching this of course we have already thrown in the world software development and digital marketing. What sort of educational background does one require to get into the world of software development and digital marketing which is I believe it's a sub kind of product from the company. So traditionally before tech took over and digital space became a thing traditional you have to go to school take a course in software development more or less computer science or software engineering then you graduate then take a subsequent course to actually make you certified but nowadays with the emergence of technology, social media, social tools right now you can be studying software development from the comfort of your home. With YouTube there are a lot of tutorials that are offering that time span of 3-4 months if you are consistent you can definitely become a software developer a digital marketer. Alright. Interesting. One thing that you will agree with me and also most of the viewers who are checking out this particular interview when it comes to software development coding as software development just go hand in hand. So what is coding and how is it related to software development? I think most people normally confuse that most people think coding is software development So software development is actually several processes and methodologies so normally when you are doing software development it starts from something like let's say you want a software let's say an instance you want a software you come to me you tell me I want an application the whole software development process starts from the time we meet I actually gather the requirements that you want the needs that you have and then I go ahead and translate them to let's say I draw them up and say this is what Michelle wants and then I share them with you into something like a statement of work then once you agree this is what you actually want now that's when the coding starts and even when the coding ends and then we give it to you you have then to review the application you've done you have to do some testing and then there is the post development services that are being offered like maintenance ensuring the application that you've done running all of that up to the point of where the application is launched that's the whole software development quite a process there it is quite a process can one learn how to code online just through online by themselves actually one can learn how to code online and funny thing is even for the people that I work with at Madafi a few of them have software development background but some of them land software development by themselves through YouTube and they are really really good at it really? they didn't go to school they went to school and said something completely different oh my goodness so it's something that can be self taught it's something that can be self taught as long as you have the passion for it speak about passion when did you discover that you are passionate about software development and you just got into it so it's a funny story and I'm sure my mum is watching in a test to it hi mum so the first time I was introduced to a computer was around 2004 in the 2000 hours I'd gone to visit an aunt and then I saw a computer and it was super super interesting especially with the computer games it was just intriguing how you can sit in front of a screen and then play games on it and interact with it normally at the end of the day there is no one behind it that's what I normally think that people in their computers and then my interest grew over time I was so much into computers worked in several places where computers are mostly involved I think most of the places I worked there was always a computer involved that always informed well going and then the first laptop I owned it was a Toshiba ya I still have it actually it was a Toshiba given to me by my dad and that's where I really really learnt the fundamentals of software actually started doing a bit of designing a bit of web design HTML experimenting and all things and that grew over time but the first project that I did I can say actually did work for someone it was around in second year a friend reached out he referred to me because he always used to see me we always were with him he used to say to him I'm always on my computer doing things like he said what are you doing what are you writing it used to tell him I'm actually designing a website or I'm actually designing a mobile application so after seeing all that at some point he got someone asked him do you know someone can do for us a website and immediately I came to mind I went ahead with my first website for paying client and the journey has been progressive since then I'm just going to be like Tom right now I'm going to ask what does the day look like for a software developer because we always see you guys at a corner somewhere in a hoody very busy staring on your laptop or even computers so how does the day look like so also something I have to add in software development there are also different types of software developers there are ones who just sit down and do the coding that most people are normally used to those are you will find someone like a developer and android developer back in developer back in developers one who actually does how the system will work and all that and mobile developers one android applications ios applications and then there is the software tester so in the day of a software developer normally if you are hired if you are a full time software developer normally in the morning you wake up let's say there is an ongoing work you gather requirements of what needs to be done and then draw a schema a schema is more or less like a structured diagram of how the software needs to work in a way that if I present the schema to you if you don't have a software development background you will be able to understand it and then this schema I'll now take it and then start writing code based on the requirements that we need to achieve or the needs that we need to achieve okay I think we we get it now so let's look at my Davi agency you've been operating for 3 years 3 years now I would like to find out who or what influenced you to start a company of your own we had that on when you gave your background story that your parent actually supported I would like to find out who or what influenced you to start this your own business so for me initially it was never a business it was just something I was passionate about people approaching me after my first client people approaching me I used to do websites for them give it to them they pay me and then at some point around now 2017 that's when I realized this is something that can actually be grown full scale something that can actually be pursued full time as opposed to just being a passion project aside the hassle when you discover that that was around 2017 2017 September so now I started pursuing it full time because before just doing it on the side on the weekends and all that but now I started doing it on the daily so I used to balance having meetings client meetings doing the work and actually with school work because remember I was still in school you were still in school inside the company so it used to be like that and then at some point I realized this is something that I can't do it alone so I approached my friends they became part of by then it was still called Aura Tech we rebranded recently it was still called Aura Tech they became part of the company and then now we started going ahead looking for clients and executing projects and I realized now that when if you are working with a team it becomes easier to go for those full bigger projects and then you can execute them on time and then the fact that you guys are in the room everyone has an idea that at the end of the day you realize actually my way my suggestion was wrong let's follow this or bring heads together you actually come up with a better more efficient product I speak about products and having a team I'm so sure there are other certain branches that the company when it comes to the co-model agency offers custom software development by we companies approaches we approach them we try to check how they are operating let's say companies have been business for a long time and they are still doing things manually so we try to get that process and then from that try to draw up to scheme up a software that can actually enable them to ease how they do their services or their processes and from accounting to HR and all that then we design a custom tailored product for them that's one of the services and then is web design we mostly we are really really passionate about design as a team and how design influences how people use applications and software product so we do web design also for web design as a service we also do mobile application development that's in the custom software development and then last not least we offer search engine optimization rather digital marketing whereby people come to us yes we've done the products it's live now what next how do you ensure people actually see this product and how do you ensure people actually come interact with this product and still go ahead continue interacting with it in the long term so the last service the digital marketing normally comes after all these other processes are done would you say the digital marketing parts came up to you guys discover we're doing such engine optimization so we can actually get into digital marketing yes so the digital marketing service came at a later date because realized yes we offer we tell people we do design centric software websites but after that if I give you an application that's really really web design it's looking really really good how do you ensure people actually go ahead and appreciate or use that product so now that's when you go optimize it on popular search engines like google you optimize it on the social media channels facebook instagram and the rest and after that still digital marketing once people go to it you can be able to analyze and see if people are coming which services are they interacting with which parts are they interacting with and how can we make that better so it still brings about the software development process being an ongoing process makes lots of sense absolutely it does okay on products have there been a situation whereby you you came up with a product and it got rejected or it got stuck and it never came to life that has happened a lot of times it's happened a lot of times normally find a client come to us comes to us they tell us we want this and this and this and we think or really try to think this is what they want but in real sense on something else and then you go ahead and design a product then once you present it to them even our website when you present it they are like no this is completely different from what I had in mind then you have to redo there are times we have redone a website like 4 times 4 times cause there was not that clear requirements but from that we learned so normally how we do it now is before we even start the coding part we try to have as many sessions with you as possible exactly just try to understand what it is you want we try to present it to you like from our understanding give you a document like this is what you said you want is it in line with what you want if there changes we make them so by the time we are starting this actual development process everything has been cleared everything is good to go cause it really software development process a complex process as it is so if you keep on redoing it at some point you just get tired requires lots of patience it requires lots of patience that's what most software developers work at night so there is a very big drive towards pushing the young people into setting up applications that can offer solution for the society where we as a country are we making substantial headway or not yes and no yes in the sense of there has been really unimpressed people have really impressed technology as it comes and this is from cutting across all age groups people nowadays have seen the need to use technology in their day to day lives and no because no that we have that a lot of people also think every problem we have as a country, as a society it can be solved by technology and doing the technology thinking about the software and the rest so you normally find nowadays in the market there has been a lot of applications put out there has been a lot of systems put out that are solving problems for lack of a better word that don't exist this is a problem then immediately I think I need to come up with an app for this but how we do as Madavi how Madavi plugs into that whenever we meet with someone who wants to come up with a solution we try to understand what they need and then we also advise advisory services is also one of the biggest things we do we also advise based on the problem that you have the solution that you need to provide this will not work for you based on 1,2,3 and this will not work for you we also give them the merits and the demerits so at the end of the day someone might come to us they want a mobile application for doing solving a certain problem but then we tell them the best solution for you is not a mobile application but rather something like USST and they outline why they need for that exactly I am almost sure that you will agree with me majority of international organization they seek to work with software developers in Kenya just to come up with a groundbreaking technology and do you feel like in our country this deficiency will come to promoting or just holding hand our software developers that is that has been the challenge for the longest time but I feel it has been slowly changing but now it is still fine yes it is very hard to get help it is sufficient to have something like our financial advisory kind of help from institutions select the government the conversation is still not yet there but the good thing is there have been other institutions that are coming in Kenya to actually help that process like for instance if I may give an example we recently got contacted by these are Poland agency from Poland it is a Polish agency it links software development companies from Kenya with software development companies in Poland because right now Poland is actually the best software development hub in the whole world there are products for all even this big tech company so you find something like that you find as Madavi if we get access to that it is easier because you are being introduced to world standards world practices how you need to develop software what guidelines do you need to follow which means at the end of the day you can come up with a better software that is just not for Kenyan people but for the global for the global world alright you run a company that you build from scratch looking back would you say that we have a good ecosystem that nurtures innovation yes we do and I know a lot of people disagree with me but yes we do for me we find that when I started out I thought it is something bad that I will do alone I realized having a team behind having a people that you work with people you can consult is actually one of the biggest achievements you can have not even clients if you have the best team working with you it means even getting certain jobs it becomes easier and then something we also realize when I told you like nowadays Kenyan companies have started embracing technology internal technology nowadays the kind of companies they get approach to for work for consultancy work for development work they mostly focus on the team so like who do you have on board how do you communicate do you have an enhanced relationship just after after work like how do you guys engage and all that so yes we have that ecosystem I can say that you just need to know where to look to look to where to focus on what has been the experience when it comes to offering solutions for the local market that is two things actually first of all it's pricing this most people individuals in the country blame it on them having yet understood for software projects or made for software in their operations to use the operations and the ones that do actually think because people just see developers as something you're doing as a passion project so they normally assume you can get paid peanuts for it right so you'll find someone you give them a quote and then their counter proposal is like a tenth of that quote you're like how do you even start this conversation exactly someone will actually tell me this was quite cheap I didn't know it was expensive which is the services I'll be offering it's just not software development or coding at the end of the day I'm offering you these other services because my biggest achievement is not getting paid by you but actually seeing I've done a product for you that actually helps and the rest of the people so pricing as it is it's still a big big challenge and the other thing I will say collaborations they still that in the view dualism especially even in software development if we are doing this you're another company it's very hard for us to collaborate with you and tell you these are the services we offer you can do this and this because people still think we will get your clients or something of this sort and speaking about pricing and all that I was reading a book it was a book so I saw a video somewhere it was a book and they were stating that they still in Kenya can say that there is no proper strategy when it comes to pricing for software developers and my question was what happens if I'm a software developer and I offer the same similar services that you would offer as a cheaper price so how do you guys curb that because now I'm offering the same products as a cheaper price and your client may decide otherwise I think that's also a challenge because at the end of the day if a client gets 5 proposals he needs to get done and 3 of those proposals charging is something like X amount of money and then 2 of them are charging 10X definitely he will feel for the 2 companies he's being overcharged but the real sense is that's actually the market price but you'll find for these other people because software development is so digital marketing is so easy to get into most people get into it but they don't take time to actually see how much do I need to charge and when I'm charging am I offering quality service so that's what you'll find for most companies even sometimes they get approached for people to redo their applications after they've gone live because the first person undercharge them and then did very bad work so they need to get it done again you'll find especially now in the market bad products done people don't follow those software development guidelines we don't follow those design guidelines on how we need to design a product just that you want an application I can do it for you for this amount of money pay me I deliver it to you so does that mean that we lack in the software industry does that mean that there's lack of IT policy that can provide a strategic direction when it comes to matters of IT yes at the moment there lacks that comprehensive framework that actually covers software development how it needs to be done, what's the pressing you need to get and all that and due to the different kind of work we do I've interacted with lawyers and I've also seen there's actually a framework that is imposed in place so like a lawyer will be told if you're doing company registration don't charge below this but in terms of software development there is no that there is nothing like that at all so I will charge you first of all if I'm a freelancer I will think okay how much is my rent how much is my food and then I do a total and then I charge you that amount because I'm thinking it's something that my turnaround time is quite quick okay we have multinationals and also Kenyan corporates who tend to buy software internationally and they shy away for just believing in Kenyan talents what has been your challenge in this particular situation by most of corporates in the country tend to seek help from international organization when comes to software development we've had a couple of this so this one time a client approached us he needed a software to automate his processes we gave him a quote and then he didn't actually on board because he told us first of all you're expensive and then I don't feel comfortable with your capabilities as a company because he looked at us Madavi Madavi team is quite young I think the average age is around 27 is quite young so he looked at us like I don't think you guys are capable of doing this mind you we've been doing it for quite a while and he went ahead and got the same software for 10 times surprise from he outsourced from India and later he started having challenges with the software some parts were not working and because the support was not as fast from the other end he came back to us like can I engage you on this and this so in totality most companies still haven't yet appreciated most companies still feel software outsourced goods are still of better quality and all that and not remembering probably those economies have been mature for longer than us but for us to get to that level there needs to be that support there needs to be that consistency there needs to be that local appreciation of local goods and it's so easy when you actually get to work with someone from home they get to understand your custom made custom made whatever you want for your product exactly for us you'll find Madavi in something that we really really pride in for the clients that you have for the people you've worked with our relationship goes beyond the work that you do we try to establish a cohesipulation because I know if you're a client it becomes easier engaging with you even when you want to add other features on the product that you have it becomes easier having with us a conversation because we've cultured that relationship so which is not offered by most external companies and we are not yet there let's look at companies achievements three years down the road Madavi agency actually just looks like yesterday so we've had challenges and achievements achievements we've did something really really good we've been referred a couple of times and we've worked on projects we've worked with companies that we never thought we would work with within the three years that we've been in business we've worked with some huge companies I won't say the names but we've worked with some big companies and also that exposed us to a different kind of environment to a different kind of interaction because these companies are used to working on a standard level so within our interaction you realize we need to change our processes we need to align this we need to become better at this it's been really really good multinationals and provided services for them and it's something we are hoping Madavi will be the epitome of that in the near future when it comes to digital marketing apart from the search engine operation what are the services on that landscape of digital marketing so we also do paid media by ads for you to actually improve your ranking we also do community management we are on top of your pages we do the posting we check on people who are interacting with their pages what queries are coming in how can we be able to engage them with that and just push out your services as a company get more people to know about you and streamline that engagement with your prospective clients on your socials in our timeframe what are a couple of the challenges that the company has gone through and how did you and how are you guys manoeuvring through the biggest challenge I would say sometimes it becomes really really hard to get projects done and it was a challenge you had initially because you are desperate for work you come to a result let me do it 50% halfway in before you make a deposit and as a business that really affects your cash flows because you realize that other things that business or company does aside from service delivery that needs to ensure it's running so once your cash flows are you delay your cash flows to move on these other things and then you can do a project halfway initially we didn't used to have contracts so you come to us you are hyped about the product that you want to do let's do it, start doing it halfway in you are like na I've changed my mind it's our loss because you don't have any legal agreement that governs the work you are doing the conversation just ends there so learning on the job that's something we've been doing and knowing how to align processes apart from the work that you're doing how to ensure this thing doesn't affect us if things go haywire another major challenge you've had although it was something initially but you managed to get over it the cohesiveness of the team they say the team is a very fundamental aspect to it the cohesiveness of the team the team we have we have night olds people who work at night we have people who work during the day so getting these two people together to work at the same time and still meet deadlines it was a huge huge challenge but it's something we got over it as time went by so far so good so what makes Madafi the partner of choice when it comes to offering software development solutions we are really really focused on giving you top niche services and more or less like we focus on as Michelle Michelle's company what is it that you really really need to get out yes you are approaching us on a development perspective you want us to do a product for you but we think long term we think if we do this product for Michelle and then you give it to her how will she push it out so we normally try to handle the process from the word go and ensure whatever we do for you just doesn't benefit us in terms of being compensated but it also benefits you in terms of how you use it in terms of how people engage with it and in terms of how it will be relevant in the next 2-3 years down the line so our customer engagement our customer service that we really really try to focus on so your niche is on the service position exactly what does the future of Madavi agency look like in a long time in a long time space our vision is in the next few years to have done to have streamlined the software space in the Kenyan market in the NSS streamline the software space in the Kenyan market a lot of companies in Kenya are still using outsourced and most of them are still having challenges because you normally find you bring in a system from India from the US and then you have to take like 3 months just to take your stuff through it to get them to on board and learn and for them to actually use the system it's so much work so with Madavi what you're planning what we've been doing and based on how we deliver our services is streamline the software space in the terms of whatever software systems that people use to automate the business processes align with their company culture when I say that I mean we come in we look at how your stuff works how your people work and then try to make a system that fits into their daily routine without changing anything about them and sure as their performance their work processes are being more efficient and done faster and the plan is within 5 years to have gotten like a 70% market share Great I would like to find out as a founder and you being a leader and just having people who you get to work with and I'm so sure you didn't have a clear roadmap when starting No one has What are a couple of lessons that you have learned along the way while starting this particular business that is for I have actually have 3 So the first 3 is be good at what you do when you say be good at what you do you don't mean the type of service you deliver just be good at what you do in terms of communication how do you communicate to the people that you provide the service to how do you ensure whatever needs to be done is done on time how do you ensure you give feedback on time how do you ensure you enhance that relationship between the people that you are working with between you and your clients between you and your partners just be good at what you do and understand people you actually can be able to rely on because we find at times I'm not in the office and there needs to be work to be executed but I know if I call someone he's reliable at least he'll be able to get it out of the way without me delaying the time that needs to be delivered and the last thing is have mentors people who can guide you tell you this is the right direction to take this is the wrong direction to take how people you look up to how people you normally consult with on a regular basis and people who have been there before you because it makes the journey so easy it makes you avoid some loop holes that you have gotten into but you don't because you learn from other people's mistakes looking back 3 years now do you regret it not a single day have you been have you been hit by the COVID-19 it has hit all industries definitely but how has COVID-19 affected this problem? so with Madaivi initially when COVID-19 came I think everyone freeze the assets everyone put everything on stand still so we also got affected by a huge impact on us we realized some clients offer them services on a regular intervals month to month basis some of them do consultancy services to them but because their businesses were affected it meant also businesses had to be affected in one or another because some discontinued services and all that but 3-4 months down the line people realized they need to go online they need to be digital especially for businesses that are fully operational away from the digital space so people realized the need for that and we started having a lot of queries coming in people interested in how as a company how to ensure I still offer my products and services in the digital space so it picked up progressively and so far so good so in every chaos there is an opportunity what's the future of software development in the Kenyan market it's going to be revolutionary going to be revolutionary as I look right now each and every other day people realize businesses have been operational for the last 34 years realize whatever we've been doing it's so time consuming so it takes a lot of time takes a lot of resources and there is need to be automated so within the next 23 years everything we do will be automated everything will be automated and that for the software development it means there is opportunity to tap into and also there is need to learn because one thing I did notice software development is a very proactive and dynamic field so whatever works today in the next 2 years will be outdated so you need to be always on the forefront getting to know what's new and whatever is new will it work for us or do you just need to disband it away so it's quite dynamic so as a software development company you find your challenges are not just acquiring clients but also remaining on the forefront of using the latest tools and technologies to ensure your service delivery is the best among your competitors or you'll be outdated what would be your advice for someone who is watching this could be a young person who wants to get into business or a young person who lost their job or they are just out of school and they are looking for to just start their business what would be your advice it doesn't have to be in the software industry it could be in any other industry what would be your advice to that person so for me and I notice especially even my parents for me I would advise if you are passionate about something try it out go for it try it out see how far it goes if it culminates into something big full time well and good if it doesn't at least you took the time to do it and learn and not have regrets as you normally find a lot of people if it could go back in time I'll say this is something different but they can't do that so as a young person especially in your early twenties in your teens if there's something you're passionate about this is the time you have you can be able to make mistakes don't shy away from making mistakes this is the time go for what you want if it works out well and good if it doesn't at least you try and share it thank you very much Victor I look forward to share your social media handles for the company and also the website on how people can reach out to you so for us you can reach us at Madavi our social media handle rather across all the channels Instagram Twitter Facebook is Madavi agency our website have two websites either get us via Madavi.co and also via Madavi.co.ke I would really suggest to check out our website because we normally provide a lot of insights on our blog we normally just give insight from our team on how you can use design to enable you to have better mobile applications how you can make your business business processes easier so check it out even if you want to buy it right now it will really really help you


Greetings, fellow colonizers. If you happen to be a colorless cave beast like me, also known as white people, then take out your list of things you're not allowed to do and get ready to add another. According to the regressive demagogues at MSNBC, if you're white, then you have no say in who isn't isn't a racist. You get no vote. MSNBC host Joy Reid has a long history of promoting hate and racism towards colorless Americans and this show was no different. However, guest Eli Mistel let it be known that he doesn't believe white Americans should have a voice when it comes to racism and his logic for this was his people were held in bondage for 400 years. Mark Meadows. I know why members of Congress can't say this because they have to work with the man, but I don't have to work with the man. Mark Meadows is so racist that he needs to be put on display at the African American History Museum as an artifact, alright?  White people don't get a vote. White people have been held in bondage and oppression in the new world for 400 years. Okay, so first off, what happened 400 years ago has no bearing on white people's right to express themselves now. African slaves were captured and sold by other Africans and they were sold to people all over the world of all colors. The slave trade was not exclusively black and white and that goes both figuratively and literally.  Take for example the Barbary slave trade, right? I know white people always bring up the Barbary slave trade in discussions about slavery, but why wouldn't they? 1.25 million Europeans were caught up in it and sold in North Africa. What does this have to do with now? Nothing. And just forget about the context of worldwide slavery over the course of history. How insane is it to punish white people in America for today for something that only a very small percentage of white people in this country had anything to do with?  And what about the hundreds of thousands of white men that gave their lives to end slavery? My only point is that this guy is trying to limit what white people can and can't express in this country based on something that happened hundreds of years ago that people today in this country had nothing to do with. How ironic is it that he's telling a group of people what they can and can't say based on nothing but their skin color? My own counsel will I keep on who is to be called racist. Alright? So when these people... These people? White Republicans try to tell me and backer vans stand behind them.  What this gay Don King doesn't seem to get is that nobody really cares what his opinion is on who is and isn't a racist. People like him have been using that word as a weapon to silence and censor people for a really long time. Look, sometimes it's justified. There are real racists out there, but a vast majority of the time it's completely misplaced and they're just using it as a weapon to destroy their political opposition. Hilariously, he then goes on to say that he doesn't care who gets labeled a racist. All he cares about is people's actions and their policies. So Eli, please explain which policies or actions from Donald Trump or Mark Meadows have been used to hurt or target black people. As far as I can tell, not a single one. Making jokes about Obama being from Kenya won't cut it, unless of course you plan on calling Michelle Obama a racist as well for saying that her husband's home country is Kenya. Barack has led by example when we took our trip to Africa and visited his home country in Kenya. Gee, I wonder if Michelle Obama is saying that the president's home country is Kenya had anything to do with the conspiracy theories. At minimum, Mark Meadows is willing to utilize birtherism for his own political advancement and is willing to use the physical body of a black woman as a rebuttal against the idea that Donald Trump is racist. This is like a problem a lot of people have with the Republican approach on race in general. What do you think? Yeah, well no question. By the way, note to self, don't follow Ellie Mastell on something like that. Whoa, he's one of the good whites. You can tell by how he accepts blatant racism against them with a smile. I want you to notice how Joy Reid uses this hyperbolic language of using her black body as rebuttal to the idea Trump is racist. What actually happened is an aide that happens to be black and works with President Trump wanted to stand up for him because she's never seen him do or say anything racist. Which is actually no different than Joy Reid using the exact same black body to prove that Trump is racist.  It seems that the left will never relent in dividing this country along racial lines and it's coming up with sets of rules that are only to be applied to people with a certain skin color. How ironic.


Great. Okay. It started recording now. Welcome again to the praise and worship session. Great to see all of you. Everybody online from Benny, Anusha, Divya, Sam, Lucy. Good to see you. Thanks for joining in. Again, good to see all of you here as well. Okay. I hope you all are doing well health-wise and everything. Let's pray, shall we? Okay. Father, we thank you for this opportunity. Lord, we thank you that your mercies are new every morning. We thank you that you are good. Lord, how wonderful and how beautiful are you, Lord? How majestic is your name and all the earth to Jesus. Father, we see the Holy Spirit that you are the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. And so even as we learn from your Word today, Lord, I pray that you would pour out your wisdom and that there would be a revelation of who you are, God. So open up our hearts, open up our minds. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Isn't it such a wonderful opportunity just to learn from His Word? Yeah. Such a privilege to just be able to hold the Bible and open the Bible and just read and be blessed. Isn't it? Yes. A lot of people have died trying to save the Bible. A lot of wars have been fought just to preserve the Bible. A lot of men have tried to completely destroy the Word of God. There are so many rulers who burnt part of the Scriptures to ashes, but still God has preserved His Word for you and for me. Amen. Amen. And today we have so many different versions of the Bible. And so I'm always grateful for the opportunity that I have, that I get to share what I've learned on this topic of praise and worship. And I'm always very grateful for the Word of God. Right? John 1 says in the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He is the Word. Amen. And verse 14 says, He became flesh and dwelt among us. Isn't it? And then in John chapter 6, Jesus says, every word I speak is spirit. And there's so many things to learn from the Word and I hope we learn together. Okay. So in the last class, we looked at the posture of worship. Does anyone remember anything from last class? Nothing. What do you remember from last class? One point at least. By the way, all of you have access to the online classroom? All of you? Okay. So I have shared the PDF notes for, you know, for the session I took last class. So please feel free to download it. Okay. So yeah, what did we learn very quickly? Okay. What did we learn last class? We learned about worship. Yeah, because it's praise and worship class. Sorry. Hebrew word. Okay. All right. So what's the Hebrew word for worship? Shaha. Yeah. That's one Hebrew word for worship. Everybody say Shaha. It's very nice and clean. Isn't it? There's a little bit of phlegm there. We'll do more. Okay. Get ready. Okay. So we learned about a good posture of worship. Isn't it? A good posture of worship is surrender, is laying down everything. Yes. So if there is a good posture, that means there is also... Everybody say bad posture. Okay. And so what is that bad posture? Pride. Isn't it? Everybody say pride. Okay. Look at the person next to you and say pride. Say don't be proud. Don't just smile at him. Just say don't be proud. Just give him a nudge.  Okay. Just... Okay guys, I'm just doing some things here in class. Okay. But I'm very sad that I can't do all of this with you online. Okay. Just stand up for a second. Okay. So just hold the person next to you. Hold their shoulders and wake them up. Just wake up. Say wake them up. Shake them. Shake them. Yeah. Not so violently also. But you can give them... No, I'm just kidding. Alright. Now do that with the other person. Yeah. You are so nice. Such a good boy you are. You're only smiling. We have some amazing people in the class guys. Okay. They're just so good. They don't want to shake the other person. They don't want to be violent. They want to be silent. Okay. Just sit down. Alright. Thanks, Elder. Okay. Sonya says worship to bow down. Posture is surrendered to God. Yeah. All of that. Thank you. So just refer back to those notes because it's very important to understand the basics of what worship is all about. But today what we will look at is the different postures for praise. Okay. And how it's expressed in different Hebrew words. Okay. There are seven different Hebrew words for praise. Okay. Like if you remember in the last class I said in English for love there's only one word. Boring. Right. But in Hebrew there are different expressions of praise and hence we have seven different Hebrew words for praise. Are you excited to learn a little bit? Yeah. Can we learn a little bit?  Okay. Cool. The first Hebrew word for praise is Yadah. Okay. Everybody say Yadah. Okay. Good. Alright. In other words, I've titled it as the hands of praise. So the meaning of this word Yadah. Okay. And the spelling is all there. Now it comes from... Now we know where we get the word Judah or the name Judah from. Isn't it? We get the name Judah or Yudah. Is that right? In different languages it comes from this root word of Yadah. It means so D-A-H-Dah or A means cast out. Okay. The spelling of that is what? Y-A-D-A-H. So A-H the last part of that word A means to cast out. And Y-A-D-Yadah means hand. That means to praise him with your hands cast out. With your hands stretched out. Okay. Or the lifting up of our hands. That is what Yadah means. Okay. Depending on the translation of the Bible or the version of the Bible, it's this word is used at least 120 times. Okay. So it means to give thanks with loud praise to river or worship with extended hands. Okay. And another root meaning of this was also it was meant to throw something, to throw stone. How many of you have thrown a stone? Yeah. Very good. Okay. Very proud. I throw a stone. Right. So in other words, it's saying the imagery here is let's throw up praises at God, like lavish him with my praise. I'm going to praise him with my hands stretched out. And that is a posture of praise, isn't it? Like in worship and singing and what we lift up our hands, isn't it? We spread out our hands and we worship. And this is the meaning of it. It is biblical. It's not just based on your feeling. Okay. I feel like raising my hand. So I will lift my hands. I don't feel like raising my hand. I will not raise them by lifting up my hands. Right. We have two emotional beings, isn't it? Like everything has to be based on our feeling. I don't feel like going to college today. Right. I will come to college, but I don't feel like paying attention in this class. So I will physically be here, but mentally be in Switzerland. So again, you know, when we learn about praise and worship, the more we learn about praise and worship, the more you learn that it is very less about the way you feel. Okay. So it doesn't matter how you feel. You still continue to praise. We are commanded to praise him. Okay. Let's read a few scriptures in our Bible. We're going to be very fast. Any fast Bible turners here? Okay. So keep the mic ready. Have your mic ready? Okay. So let's read Psalm 28 verse 2. Psalm 28 verse 2, your hands have got to be really fast. Okay. So we're going to go through a lot of scriptures. Yes. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry out to you, when I lift my hands toward your Holy sanctuary. Okay. So Psalm 28 verse 2, it goes on to say, when I lift up my hands towards your sanctuary. Okay. The sanctuary, everybody say sanctuary. Okay. That's a word used in the house of God or the temple of God. Okay. So the house of God or the sanctuary was on a high mountain. And you would have read some Psalms that say, I was glad when they said to me, come let us go to the house of the Lord. Do you remember that? Was it only in my Bible? Okay. There are Psalms that is called as songs of ascent. Say songs of ascent. So that means ascent, ascending. That means going up. Okay. So there were songs that people would sing as they climbed the hill of the Lord. Okay. That's the mountain of the Lord. And so the Psalmist is saying here, I will raise my hands towards the sanctuary. Okay. What is he doing? Yadda. Okay. Let's read another verse. Psalm 63 verse 4. Psalm 63 verse 4. Thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. Okay. Do you mind reading that one more time, please? Thus I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name. I will lift up my hands in your name. Okay. If someone online can keep sharing these scriptures in the chat section, that will be great for all of us as well. Okay. Thanks, Elder. I see that you've already done, but yeah. Does anybody have a Hindi Bible? Okay. So can you read that same verse? Psalm 63 verse 4. And I want you to tell... Can I read that again, please? Yeah. Thank you. Hello. So does it say lift up the hands? That's what it means again? Yes or no? Okay. Any other languages we have? Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu. So the thing I want us to do is, different languages would choose very interesting words and I want to see what they say. So any other language? Telugu? Okay. Anusha, I see your hands raised. Just one minute. We'll come to you. Yeah. We all need to hear. Okay. How do you say a little loudly in Telugu? Kettiga. Kambiralu. So is it saying the same thing as the English language? Lift up your hands. Is that what it says? Oh, you're comparing the... You know the language, no? Psalm 63 verse 4. Correct, no? Sounds different. Bible only, no? All right. So I will give thanks as long as I live and I will raise my hands to you. Okay. That's again Yadda. All the scriptures that is mentioned in the notes will speak about this word Yadda. Okay. Let's read some more scriptures if that's okay. Psalm 141 verse 2. I love this verse. Psalm 141 verse 2. Let my pair be set before you as an incense. The lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Yes. Thank you. So may the lifting up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice. Okay. That's again talking about the same word that we are learning Yadda. I see Daniel has shared something in Hindi. Daniel, I was the worst student of Hindi in school. So I couldn't read Hindi properly in school. Also, I can't read Daniel. Sorry. Okay. But thank you. Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Okay. So if there was evening sacrifice, that means there was also morning sacrifice. All right. Let's continue to read some more scriptures. Let's go. Let's go a little out of Psalms. Go to 1st Kings chapter 8 verse 22. 1st Kings chapter 8 verse 22. Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands towards heaven. Awesome. Thank you. Anusha, can you share what you wanted to share? Feel free to unmute and speak. Yes. Sorry, the audio wasn't clear. Okay. 1st Kings 8 verse 22. It says, Then the Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands towards heaven. Okay. So this is the first Hebrew word. Yadda. It simply means hands cast out, praising the Lord with an outstretched arms. Okay. There are more scriptures that is mentioned in your notes. We're not, because of time, I'm not going to go through all of them. But is this clear? What does Yadda means? Praise Him with the cast out hands. Okay. Let's go to the 2nd Hebrew word. 2nd Hebrew word, we're calling it as the expectation of praise. Expectation of praise. The Hebrew word for that is, is what? Todah. Okay. Not Todah. Okay. It's not little, not Hindi. Okay. Todah. This Hebrew word or this expression of Todah is mentioned at least 30 times in the Bible. Okay. Now this word Todah also comes from the same root word as Yadda. But this is with the intention of giving thanks. Okay. So you are stretching out your hands and you are giving thanks. And the definition goes on to say, you are giving thanks to the things you are yet to receive. Are you with me? Right. You are giving thanks to God for the blessings yet to receive or breakthrough that you're praying for, but you are yet to receive. And that's what Todah means. Okay. So in your know, it says, Todah comes from the same principle root word as Yadda, but is used more specifically. It literally means an extension of the hand in adoration, affirmation and acceptance by way of application. You're thanking God for things not yet received. You are thanking God for the things not yet received. One of the famous songs in the Old Testament was, God is good, His loving kindness endures forever. Did you know that song? The famous song in the Old Testament had only two lines. It didn't have verse one, verse two, then chorus, verse three, bridge. It says, God is good and His love endures forever. That means they were declaring that He is good, regardless of what their situation was or what their circumstances was. Are you with me? So in my bad times, you are good. Your love endures forever. When I don't feel like it, you are good and your love endures forever. When I feel like it, you are good and your love endures forever. In my good times, you are still good. In my bad times, you are still good. So that's what hoda is. It's the same expression of lifting up of the hands, but with the more specific intention is, I'm going to thank you for the things I have not yet received. I'm praying for this miracle. I still haven't received it, but I will give you thanks anyways. Are you with me? I'm praying for a financial breakthrough. I'm waiting on it, but while I wait on it, I'm going to give you thanks. Are you all with me? Yes. No. Okay, good. So that's the second Hebrew word for praise is hoda. Okay, let's read a few scriptures. Psalm 141 again, verse 2. Some of the verses are repeated. Let's read Psalm 88, verse 9. I see that Elder has already shared that. Psalm 88, verse 9, it says, I mourn by reason of affliction, Lord, I have called daily upon thee. I have stretched out my hands unto thee. There's a combination of prayer and praise and expression of praise there. That is Psalm 88, verse 9. See, because of the lack of time, I'm not going to read all the scriptures, but there are a lot of scriptures mentioned in your notes. Go into your Bible, highlight it, write it down, read it again until it ministers to you. Okay, so that's the second Hebrew word for praise is hoda. Let's move on to the third Hebrew word for praise. We're calling it the celebration of praise. Everybody say celebration. Okay, how many of you have celebrated something in life? Anybody celebrated anything? Okay, very quickly, what have you celebrated? My birthday, sir. Christmas, okay. Anybody online celebrated anything? Okay, what have you celebrated? Birthday, you celebrate every day. Dindas, celebrate, okay. All right, what have you celebrated? Sorry, Easter, okay. All right, you? Graduation, high school graduation, okay. Yeah, holiday, any holiday celebration, okay. Birthday, yeah, cricket, victory, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've either celebrated or we have seen people celebrate. Isn't it, right? I watch a lot of football. I'm not going to say which is my favorite English, which is my favorite football team because they're really bad at the moment. Sam knows what I'm talking about. It's horrible. But when they score a goal or when someone hits a six, or when someone takes a wicket or whatnot, you see the entire stadium celebrate, right? They just erupt, isn't it? Like everybody and there's an, it's not just an expression, but they're also putting up their hands. Like, yay. Right? They're doing it for someone else. We are doing it for God, isn't it? And so that's what this third word for Hebrew for praises is halal. From the root word, we get hallelujah, right? Hallelujah is praise Yahweh, but we get this word hallelujah from the root word called halal, which simply means the definition. Now this word is mentioned at least 160 times in the Bible. So look at the definition of what it is. In the notes, it says to shine or to boast, to make a show, right? To put on a show, to rave and to rejoice, to be clamorously, is there a blank over there? Yeah? Okay. It means to be clamorously foolish. And so you remember David's phrase when he brought the, brings the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem, his wife, Mikhail, thinks he's a fool, right? Nachanga, Gauganga. So it doesn't say that you have to become mad.  They will not understand it. But the Hebrew word for praise, halal, it says your praise and your worship should be like that.  We celebrate God's faithfulness once a year on our birthdays. Lord, thank you for being faithful last year. Continue to be faithful this year. But every day or every moment of our life should be a celebration of who he is and what he has done. Amen? One of the words here for halal is to boast. Bost means to show off. My daddy is the strongest. You remember that ad, a very old ad. What is the kid doing? The kid is boasting or showing off that his or her father is the strongest kind of thing, isn't it?  Do you remember the spy stories where Moses sends 10 spies into the land of Canaan? Yes? There were 10 spies. Moses goes to the promised land and they come back. There are eight people who say, it's like, you know, we can't go. There are giants in that land. But there were two people who saw very differently. Who are they? Joshua and Caleb. Right? They were boasting. Yes, there are giants. Yes, they are big. But my God is bigger. Isn't it? What are they doing? In a way, they are expressing, they are boasting. They are showing off who my God is. Right? So there's a question to you is, do you boast enough of your God? Let's read a couple of scriptures. We'll see, you know, let's read Psalm 22, verse 23 and 26. Do you fear the Lord? Praise Him all your descendants of Jacob glorify Him and fear Him all over, of spearing of Israel. Yeah, thank you. See, of Psalm 22, it says, you who fear the Lord, praise Him. So the word used there for praises Halal. Okay. So the Hebrew word used there is Halal. That means to celebrate, to rave, show off, boast Him. Okay. You who fear the Lord, halal Him. All your descendants of Jacob glorify Him. Verse 26, it says, the afflicted will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Again, the Hebrew word used there is Halal. Okay. Let's read 1 Chronicles chapter 23, verse 30. 1 Chronicles, not Corinthians, chapter 23, verse 30. The son of Arman, Aron and Moses and Aron was set apart. He and his son forever that he should sanctify the most holy thing to burn incense before the Lord to minister to Him and He give the blessing in His name forever. Thanks, Asaf. Okay. That's 1 Chronicles chapter 23, verse 30. But I want to read as a scripture that is not in your notes. I want us to go to 2 Chronicles chapter 5. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 5. Okay. And wait, hold on a second. So 2 Chronicles chapter 5, let's read. Okay. 12 to 14. I'll read it for us. Okay. Is everybody there? Yeah. 2 Chronicles chapter 5, verse 12 to 14. And this is what it says. And the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaf and He-Man and Jirathan with their sons and their brethren stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having with them 120 priests sounding with trumpets. Okay. Before going to verse 13 and verse 14, couple of things. Let's notice there. The Levites, the priests and the sons of Asaf, He-Man and Jirathan, all of their sons and their brethren stood at the east end of the altar. Okay. So one of the important things on how you can study the Bible is, if there is a specific detail, if there is a specific detail that is mentioned, you have to ask why. Okay. So for example, I'm not going to go into that, but it says they all stood at the east end of the altar. Why not north? Why not south? Why not west? I'm not going to give the answer. You figure that out. Okay. So it says they all stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen. That means they didn't wear whatever they felt like. Okay. I'm going to church today. I will wear whatever I feel like. No, they did not. They were all clothed in white linen, having symbols of the instruments and 120 priests. How many? How many? 120 priests with which instrument? 120 priests with trumpets. Okay. All right. Indeed, it came to pass with the trumpet ears and singers whereas one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and symbols and instruments of music and praised the Lord saying for He is good for His mercy and yours forever. What they are doing there is halal. The Hebrew word used. Now, see the result of what they did because they did that. The house of the Lord was filled with the cloud so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. Okay. All right. Again, there's so many things that's happening. 120 people. Now, how many of you have seen an orchestra? Not the ones we see in our cities in the roadside and all. Okay. But you know, like with all the violins and the drums and flute, so the biggest orchestra will have at least 140 people. So there's the string instruments. The string section will have all the violin, viola, cello. The woodwinds will be to the right with all the flute and clarinet, oboe, all these different instruments. There's the percussion section at the back with all the drums and the cymbals and the vibraphone and all of that. And then there's the brass section at the back. The brass section will have all the trumpets and the French horn, like the one that is called and trombone is, you know, you've seen people play like this. Yeah, that's a trombone. Now the brass section of an orchestra is the loudest. So a brass section will have maximum of four to five trumpet people, just four or five, and they can easily sound louder than all the other 110 people.  You know, he's called as a conductor. He will always tell them to be soft. Just five people playing the trumpet, five. Here, how many of them are playing the trumpet? 120 people in praise. The whole city of Bangalore would have heard them. Right? It would have been loud. It says that all the singers also came. The recurring word there. Okay. The one word that's repeated is one accord, one voice. That means they were all in unity. Right? In one voice, they lifted up and they sang. In one accord, they praised him together. When they did that, the cloud and the presence of God came into the temple that even the priests could not stand. What they were doing is halal. Right? Okay. Oh, wow. Time is going fast. Okay. But are you all following what I'm saying? Are you all with me? Yes? Okay. Everyone? Okay. Cool. Awesome. The fourth Hebrew word for praised. I love this. This is my second favorite Hebrew word. Okay. Are you ready? It's Shabbat. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Say Shabbat. Oh, no. I'm very nice and I'm very decent. I'm going to say it as Shabbat because I'm cute. Guys, it's not Shabbat. It's Shabbat. Yeah. Okay. All right. What about you guys online? All okay, right? Yeah. In your rooms behind your screens with the camera off, you can say it to yourself. Okay. You want to say it again? Everybody loudly? I'm not hearing the phlegm, guys. Okay. So Shabbat simply means a loud adoration or a shout of praise. Right. To commend, to adore, to triumph. Shabbat means to address in a loud tone. That's what that blank is there for, right? To address in a loud tone. That's what Shabbat is to praise him loudly. So how many times in the Bible says shout for joy? Right? Psalm 95. It says shout for joy all the earth. Shouting doesn't have any specific word. Isn't it? You can shout whatever you want. Like, yeah, yeah. You know, it's not saying have a specific word. It's just say shout. Any stories that comes to your mind? Wall of Jericho. Right. They went seven days on the seventh day. They went seven times and they did not say, what's up? Let the walls come down.  What did they do? Shabbat. Okay. Guys, I hope that we are not just gaining information as in just learning about the Hebrew words, but then for every word that we are learning, that there is a power, right? That the Spirit of God gives it. So as in faith, we step out and we lift up our hands and shout for joy. God does something that you cannot see in the natural, but something is being moved in the spiritual. Are you with me? Right? So that's the fourth Hebrew word for praise is Shabbat. And the fifth Hebrew word, this is one of my favorites, is Tehila. Tehila. Everybody say Tehila? Yes. Some of you are thinking Tehila. That's the wrong spirit. Okay. Tehila is one of my favorite words simply because it says, in simple words, it's saying, let your heart be a library of praise. So it simply says erupt in a spontaneous song. What is it saying? It's like breakout in spontaneous song. Okay. Let's go to a Psalm 18 very quickly. Fast, fast, fast. Okay. We're all there. Psalm 18. Now, if I asked you to start reading Psalm 18, everybody would start reading from verse one. I have done this exercise many times. I'm not going to do this now because I don't have time. But every time I asked anybody to read Psalm 18 verse, you know, just start reading Psalm 18, they will all read from verse one, which is fine. It's okay. Right? It says, I will love you, O Lord, my strength, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation.  So, so shall I be saved from my enemies. But before verse one, there's something that is written. Yes or no? It says, David wrote this Psalm or sang this Psalm spontaneously when God saved him from his enemies who were trying to kill him.  No one. No. It's a good thing. Anyone online? So we don't really fully understand what David is going through. So David has just been saved, right, from being killed. Now, we have to remember so many things about David. David was a shepherd, right? He was a king. One of the things we tend to forget is David was a warrior. David was a warrior. When he killed Goliath, when you looked at this Goliath, he says, like, who is this uncircumcised guy, you know, profaning against the name of the God of Israel. Something burned in him. He was a warrior. When a lion or a bear came, took his lamb and went, he went after the lion, right? The one verse says, he held the lion by its beard. How close do you have to be to catch a lion by its beard? Yeah, face to face. So now that we understand that David has just been saved, you know, from being killed and that he is a warrior, he is not going to sing, I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, the healer. He erupted in this spontaneous song. In the forest where there was nobody, he would have shouted. He said, I love you, Lord, my rock, my strength, my shield. Are you with me? Right? So when your heart becomes a book of praise, your heart erupting in a song will not become difficult. Are you with me? Are you with me? So, you see, the answer to this question, you know, can you praise him? Does not mean can you sing? Okay, worship or praise does not mean can you sing? The question is, does your heart have a song? That's what it is. Are you with me? All right, so that's the fifth Hebrew word for praise is the healer. And the sixth Hebrew word for praise is Barak. Okay, it simply again means to kneel or bow down. Now you might ask, what is the difference between the Hebrew word for shahar? Shahar is again is to fall face down on the ground. What is the difference between that and Barak? So the praise, the Hebrew word for praise, your Barak is, it's a more military term. That means you're kneeling down.  Have you seen that?  So that's another posture of praise here is Barak. It's like, I bow down in your presence and I acknowledge that you are my king. And finally after the six words of Hebrew was for praise. The last word for Hebrew word is Zamar. Now he talks about music. Finally at the end, towards the very end, the Hebrew word Zamar is to play the instrument, to praise him with a stringed instrument, with a lyre. Right? Psalm 144 verse nine, it says, I will sing a new song to you, oh God, on the harp of ten strings, I will sing praises. When you read through the book of first chronicles and also the second chronicles you see, David invented musical instruments. Why is David such a big deal in the topic of worship is because he was not an ordinary guy. So he built, he made instruments, right? When nobody knew what a guitar was, he made a guitar. He built a guitar and said guitar, right? In music college, when I was studying music history, we had to learn who made the piano and who invented the piano. There's this guy in the 17th century called Bartholomew Christopheri. He is the guy who built the piano. And so building one instrument itself is a big deal. Bible says David made instruments and we don't even know how many instruments. One day he woke up, he must have said, let's make drums. You know, let me build a new instrument. Let me figure out a new way of praising my God. Are you with me? Right? So let's very quickly go through all the seven words, Hebrew words for praise. First one is what? Come on, we're done. First Hebrew word for praise. Jada, second one. Fast, fast, Torah, okay, third one. Halal, halal, okay, fourth one. Hey, hey, yeah. Okay, fifth one. Tahila, sixth. Barak, and finally, Zamar. All right. So those are the seven Hebrew words for praise. Thanks for logging in, joining in. God bless you and see you on Thursday. God bless you.


Spacecraft, a spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transportation of humans and cargo. All spacecraft except single stage two orbit vehicles cannot get into space on their own, and require a launch vehicle carrier rocket. On a suborbital spaceflight, a space vehicle enters space and then returns to the surface, without having gone into an orbit. For orbital spaceflights, spacecraft enter closed orbits around the Earth or around other celestial bodies. Spacecraft used for human spaceflight carry people onboard as crew or passengers from start or on orbit space stations only, whereas those used for robotic space missions operate either autonomously or tele-robotically. Robotic spacecraft used to support scientific research are space probes. Robotic spacecraft that remain in orbit around a planetary body are artificial satellites. Only a handful of interstellar probes, such as Pioneer Kemp and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizons, are on trajectories that leave the solar system. Orbital spacecraft may be recoverable or not. By method of orientation to Earth they may be divided in non-winged space capsules and winged space planes. Humanity has achieved spaceflight but only a few nations have the technology for orbital launches. Russia are SA or Roscosmos the United States. NASA the Member States of the European Space Agency. SSA Japan. JASA China. CNSA India. IFRO Taiwan National Transition Institute of Science and Technology. Taiwan National Space. Organization and Espio Israel. Israel. Iran. Israel. North Korea. NATO.


So we went on this recent trip to the USA for work and we thought we'd share the adventures and the stories, the highs, the lows, the ups, the downs. We know some people like to know the details of the journey and we thought it was a very interesting journey. Maybe this is warranted this time. We don't usually do this but let's see, maybe you'll enjoy it. So the reason we went there in the first place was for an organisation in northern Michigan who had enquired much earlier in the year about coming out to their all staff event to upskill both their managers and then all of their staff as well around resilience and how to stay strong obviously. In healthcare services they've had a really rough time over the past few years and they're getting everyone together for an in-person event to feel good but also give people some tools and some skills and prepare them for the next chapter moving forward. Which is great because this was the number one, or is the number one mental health organisation in Michigan, a government organisation and they called us to come over and train the people. So that was a very big privilege for us to be invited and then we had to go to the States. Yep. So the normal things of turning up to the airport, going through customs, which here in Malaga is not too bad. No, easy. It's very easy. And then waiting for the plane, taking off. We left late actually, we were leaving late which meant that we had a very tight connection in Heathrow. Yes.  And we literally were already meant to be boarding our next plane when we got off. Yeah, we had to run a lot. We ran. We got through security and the guy goes, ah, you'll never make it. And I thought, well, thank you very much. But nobody was hurrying up. No, no, no. Because we were late. This is the start of a big adventure. We need to get there. It's positive thinking. We went through and of course I left something in my, you know, a bottle of water in my bag so they had to stop, security, but long story short we ran 27 minutes actually. It wasn't a bottle of water. It was the bottle that we bought as a gift in the duty free, which was sealed in the duty free and they still took their time to open it up, making sure, check it, even though it's their own stuff. But yeah, everything seemed to work against us. Yeah, that was the very start of the journey and it was a sign of things to come. So that was very interesting because there was a lot of things like that in the journey that was trying to undermine our attitude and our spirit. Even though when we turned up to the event and the interview later, everything went better than expected. But it was interesting. I mean, we landed in... We were being tested. So in one week we had three different cities that we visited in the US for different reasons. So we landed in New York and that was a day or two just to acclimatize to the time difference and I've never seen New York so I wanted to see it. And New York has a reputation for people being direct and abrupt and whatnot, but that wasn't my experience. We had met so many really nice people. Really nice people, really helpful people too, especially when we went to Central Park. Yes. You know, we go into Central Park is a fairly big place. So they've got this information, drawings, maps, and we were just standing there working out where to go and a few people came over and said, how do you need help?  And they're giving extra information, it's like so many kilometers around, like really lovely people. But nowhere outside of the park did anyone just come and offer assistance for no reason. It was like as soon as you go into nature, as soon as you go into the park, everyone just turned lovely. Very nice. I went to a lot of delis. New York, I found you could get pretty much anything from anywhere in the world, which was really cool. Yeah, it was very good. There's a lot of variety, at least in Manhattan, there was a lot of variety, but people are lovely. That was very nice. So really just... We also did the Chicago show and by that time I was so tired, I fell asleep two or three times. It was a 7 p.m. show and you were like... I know, by 7 p.m. here is very late at night. My body was all over the place. It was a great show, really professionally done. From a professional aspect of production, it was brilliant. Really good. Yeah. And it was the first time I've actually seen that show and there were some really interesting themes, like the psychologist in me is always like analysing and there were really interesting themes about crime and justice and punishment and responsibility and men and women and very, very interesting and relevant and still relevant. Even though you couldn't understand what they were saying with the accent. They didn't have subtitles, so I couldn't understand half of it. But it was well produced, the acting was good too. Like seasoned actors, they were not young, but they had a lot of skill. Highly recommended. So then the next day, I think we only had a day in New York to pretty much do everything and then we landed in Michigan late at night, so just went straight to the hotel but beautiful area, Traverse City. Very nice. Gorgeous and... Very nice. Worth visiting. Yeah. One of the staff... And we didn't even have really sunny days, but I imagine in summer that would be a gorgeous area to holiday in. Absolutely. And they went out of their way because we got in late, we couldn't get any food, nothing was open, but the staff went out of their way to find something that we could eat at night and then the next day one of the staff from the organisation we're working with came and picked us up and took us on a little tour of the area, which was lovely. They've got lots of fresh produce and fruits and wine, etc. She was lovely, she is lovely. And then we went straight into an afternoon, like a half day workshop training the leaders for this organisation. Yeah, that was the first workshop, the one for leaders, which was three and a half hours, half a day. That went really well. I had a couple of issues with the sound a couple of times and some people couldn't hear what I was saying, but otherwise I think the content made a difference and got everybody thinking on the right way for the next day. The big event. The big event. Yeah. So this was more contained. It was a small... Yeah, pre-event. Yeah, 40 people, 30, 40 people only and then the later event was 300 people. To the event, the big event was at the same hotel that we were staying. Yes. Right. Yeah. It had a great gymnasium too. The gym was great. Yeah. It had a lot of machines. Yeah, we managed to get... Actually, the whole way through the trip, it was only a week, but we managed to get to the gym. Some exercise. At least every other day through the trip, which was good. It was good. But yeah, then big event day, we had all of our facilitators from different parts of the US flying in, ready because 300 people for the big event. So we needed a team to be able to make sure everyone was supported through the event and so they all flew in and it was all go, all day. Yeah. You know? It was good. It was good that I just went into the zone for some reason. I just was in the zone and I said, you're in charge of all the logistics, don't bother with everything, just make sure nobody gets in my way. Yeah. Fantasticly because I just waited for it. And the venue, I have to say, the organization and the venue, both of them had everything really well set up. Really well set up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Best that we've ever experienced. Cynthia, Stacy, everybody, Ryan, they had everything so well organized. So when we come in and said, oh, it would be better if this table was there. No problem. We move it. We need a chair here. We need this set up differently there. We had two IT people taking care of us. At least. I've never had that before. You know, people, they really solve problems. They were on to it. And that's important because so often minor details can make such a big difference to the experience of the participant in the room that people wouldn't think about. But you know, just things like the way the room set up and the stage is set up and those sorts of things. They play a big... And the microphone was perfect. It never failed once, it never gave any problems with a little Britney Spears type of microphone. And we'll see all that in a video that will be, is already being edited and that. But it was good to have everything nicely organized, really professionally done, a professional venue, two projectors on each side so people could easily see the slides as they came up. And we had people, because the training is always really interactive. So we had people as mic runners to run around and get feedback from the groups when they did different activities and people were standing up and moving around. And then we had, like you said, the camera crew there as well, capturing bits and pieces. So I think it's going to be good videos that come out of that and people will be able to see that. They invited us, they took us out for dinner as well one night. So hospitable. They really were. That really stood out. And it was really nice to deal with. So after that we took off, we had to share our goodbyes, which I'm sorry because I didn't get my bottle of extra virgin olive oil from the area, because I know they make very nice extra virgin olive oil, but I missed out on getting it, we'll have to get it next time. But it was very interesting because we had been thinking how this is going to go over. Obviously, we both have the Australian accents and we're talking about things like well-being. And there are a lot of organizations actually ask that around like, well, we've got staff in different areas and there's different cultures. And it is true that obviously different cultures have different ways of doing things. What we found was that at the end of the day, and we've said this many times, humans are humans and fundamentally our brains kind of all work more or less the same in the same ways. While we're very much open to people are diverse and we encourage people to respect diverse ways of viewing the world and diverse, even when it comes to resilience, different tools, people connect with different tools differently. And that's fine. But in psychology, the beauty of our psychology, true psychology is evidence-based psychology, it looks at how the brain works and how it helps us function. So that's a commonality to that. It's not that diversity. My brain doesn't work any different than yours. I may have a different thinking patterns, but specifically the mind works pretty much the same. But even if you are neurodiverse, for example, I mean, that's a new term, that term's come up more and more lately, it's kind of a new term out there in the psychological world. But even so, I mean, everyone's neurodiverse and everyone's the same at the same time. I understand what they're trying to say, but I think it's the wrong term. There is no such thing as a diverse neurology. We all have pretty much the same neurology is how we use it. It can be different. Yeah. The software and the hardware. Yeah. That's right. You know, you have the same hardware, pretty much the same hardware. And then how do you use the hardware? The software can be very, very different between one human being and other. But the principles that work.  Everybody has stresses sometimes, everyone is well sometimes, everyone suffers at times, you know, we all have common experience. My phone company stopping my service in the middle of the trip, for example, just when I needed it the most. The printer, when we urgently needed things printed and then the printer broke down, the cartridge exploded inside of the printer. We had to come up with plan B at the last minute. So we were tested. Right throughout. And if we had focused on those things, it would have, it would have impacted the results. But we didn't. Well, we're there teaching resilience, you've got to practice what you preach and be okay. Stay calm. It was a good lesson. Plan B. And plan B. Like personally, it was a good lesson. Like how we both reacted to things. It was brilliant. Yeah. And the team as well. They are brilliant. I'm really, really happy with our team, both in the U.S. and in other places around the world too. We've got a very strong team. Very happy. We had four people there. Yeah. From the U.S. come in and help from our team. Yeah. And it was very nice to meet them in person as well. Yeah. Lovely people. We don't always get the opportunity to come together in person. Very nice. It's good. It's cool. And in Nashville, the third city. Yes. We headed off to Nashville and... This is my third time in Nashville. I love Nashville. Yeah. This is your second time in Nashville. Yeah. I didn't try the grits this time. You didn't need to. I didn't need to. But I didn't try them this time. And I'm just trying to remember Nashville, straight to the hotel, which was actually a little bit outside of the city. And then we went into the city because it was a Friday night. Yep. Friday night. Let's go. Downtown Nashville. Downtown Nashville. Everybody's out partying. And we were just like... The reason we were in Nashville is because we're being interviewed by Joel Roberts who's an ex-number one radio host in L.A., so brilliant, brilliant man. And we had that interview on Saturday morning the next morning. So Friday night, everyone's out partying and we knew we needed a quiet night. So we took a few photos in the main street and then headed off to a nice restaurant to have something to eat. But people... It was very lively. Yes. It was the country music capital of the world, Nashville. And almost every bar has got a stage with live music. So you're walking on the street and you can hear all this music coming at you and you can just stop in wherever you like. I think it's probably the loudest area in the world ever that I've been to. Yes, probably. You've walked down that street. But that's not typical. Yeah, that's good. Dinner, home, get an early night's sleep and then the next day, the interview. And the whole day went by with the interview. You know, the makeup and the setting up of the cameras and all that stuff. Yeah. Again, a very professional production crew that came in. I was just brilliant to see Joel and his wife Heidi, who we've known for, gosh, a decade at least. Probably. But haven't been able to see in person over the past few years. So that was great to see them in person. And Heidi being a producer. She had a lot to say and to direct the camera. Workout outfits, what are you wearing, the colors. She was brilliant. She was brilliant. And then, of course, Joel is the master at getting things out of people. So that was a very good interview. I think we'll have a very nice video for you guys with lots of topics that are relevant in today's society around mental health and wellbeing. But what was also really interesting is this trip to the States, you could really see the change in their understanding about workplace wellbeing. Absolutely. Because when we first used to go way back and we would tell people about the Institute, about what we did. Six years ago, not so long ago. They didn't really understand, like, what is that? And in Australia, we've been doing it for 20-something years. They didn't compute. They couldn't even grasp what we did. Now you tell, this is what we do. Oh my God, we need that. The change has been night and day. But that's what I was saying. Back then in the beginning, people, what is workplace mental health? What is that? I don't get it. So you're counsellors? No, we do education. They didn't get it. Now, every workplace is either they've got it, they've had training or they want it or they say, we need it. Yeah. Definitely. But I think what's going to be interesting as well is, as I said, Australia and the UK have been doing this for quite some time, quite a lot of over 20 years now. It's been part of our workplace health and safety. It's a lot newer for a lot of other organisations. So there's kind of a journey that people go through from the beginning saying, oh, we need to, for example, raise awareness about this. We need to start the conversations and make it more comfortable for people to talk about it. And that's great if that's where you're at. But the next step that you see organisations need is, well, okay, now we're aware of it. Now we're talking about it. But now we need skills. Like what do I do? What do I say? What do I not say? And that I think is crucial.  What's our overall well-being strategy? And so there's lots of different elements. And that's just the mental health side, then you've got the resilience side of things as well. So, yeah, every, we see differences in different locations, but also different organisations are at different points in their journeys, and it's important to match where they're at with what initiatives are being offered in the organisation too. So the interview went well, and then we got invited by Joel and Heidi to go and have dinner at their house, and we're travelling towards their house in the Uber, and then we get a text saying, your flight for tomorrow has been cancelled because of bad weather conditions. And we look out the window and it's fine. It's brilliant. It's great. And I check on Google what's tomorrow's weather. Fine. Okay. Well, that's weird. Because we needed, that was from Nashville back to New York with one airline where we had a completely separate booking with another airline to get from New York back to home in Europe. So we needed to go back on to the next thing. And it was critical. We've got family waiting for us, like the little family who needs us there. Yeah. And so we had a lovely dinner. So we just, you know, but that was the moment in the taxi or the Uber it was. And I went, all right, I'm going to deal with this after dinner, right? I'm not going to panic right now. We're here for dinner. We haven't seen them in years. Like we're going to enjoy it. And we did. We had a nice dinner. Yeah. It was great. Lots of interesting conversations. You always have interesting conversations with Heidi and Joel. And as we go to places, very few people go, I think, so that's always fun. I like it. I love it. I wish we were close that we could do that more often, really. But after dinner, we went out to the hotel and you got onto the laptop. Okay. How do we get from that? And this is, again, the resilience thing. All right. We're going to find a way to get to New York in for our 8pm flight tomorrow. So how do I do it? How do I figure it out? It's 14 hours to drive. Yeah. Even if we hire a car first thing in the morning, there's no way we're going to make it in time. You know, even if we didn't stop for 14 hours, there's no way. So that's our question. Are there other flights out of Nashville to New York? No. Can't do everything sold out. It's the next day. You know, what if we went to, we fly to Atlanta and then we, but can we fly if the weather's bad? Well, it looks like other airlines still have flights available. So what was the solution? You came up with a good solution. It took me two hours, but eventually I found a route that worked. So I had everything booked in and that was midnight. I went to sleep. I was at the alarm for 3 a.m. I, he didn't know anything about this cause he was already asleep and I didn't want to disturb that. So I just set the alarm at 3 a.m.  Down to reception and we called the Uber cause we're a little bit out of the city. We're away from the airport. So it took about 20 minutes for the Uber to come, but we got to the airport in Nashville to check in. Our airline that had canceled the flight had nobody lined up outside the desk. No one was there. Every other airline, no problem. They were all operating. I don't think it was weather. No, something else. I think it was something else. But it was major for them to do that cause everything was closed. Staff issue, maybe. But anyway.  Maybe, maybe. Well, they didn't need it before. They needed now after that. Then we went to Washington. So we flew Nashville to Washington. Pick up our bags, catch a taxi, go to a different airport in Washington. An hour away. An hour away. Check in. Do the same process. Catch another plane, go to New York, pick up our bags, get another taxi. Two JFK, wasn't it? With a JFK. Yeah, a JFK. But we made it there in time. We didn't make it. So flight, taxi, flight, taxi. And then we finally checked in for our international flight back on time. We made it. Did a good job there finding that. Cause it would have been terrible to delay it. And exhausted. But we made it. There was one of those times like, well, it's just going to do whatever it takes to find a way. We've got to get home. Cause if not, it would have been a delay of another two days by just the way that they had the scheduling done. And are proud of us that we didn't hold on to the negativity energy around these events. It was almost like we were being tested. We're going to throw another ball at you. We're going to throw another thing at you. See what you do with this. That's fun. It's like tennis. I'm just going to keep hitting it back. Just bring it on. Cancel flight, no problem. No problem. Oh, and then when we landed eventually back home, our bags didn't make it. Yes. That's another one. Until the next day, we didn't have our bags. So everything was like that throughout the journey. Like say, are you real about this resilience thing or you just preach it? But you know what? The event, the interview, those things were amazing. They were the things that were perfect. And that's what's important. And I think it's because we were in the zone, we had made a decision. We knew exactly what we wanted, what the outcome was and how we were going to perform it because we prepare beforehand. We go through that mental exercise and then we say, nothing is going to stop that. We had that attitude. So well done. Yeah. From that regard. So that was a trip to the States. And then it took me about a week to get rid of the jet lag. Pathetic with jet lag. But that was probably the hardest thing for me. It took me about a week to catch up on emails and check in with our team. Our wonderful team who holds down the fort all the time when we have these commitments to do. But we're very excited because we think that the camera crews that we had in Michigan and in Nashville will be doing a wonderful, wonderful job with what they've got. Coming soon. Content. So we'll be able to show you with more detail what happened at those events. And also you'll be able to watch the interview. So that's us. Thank you. Hope you have enjoyed yourselves. Leave us some comments or questions. Hi, I'm Amy Golding, Director of Psychology for the Workplace Mental Health Institute. We hope you liked the video. If you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. We have more and more videos being released each week. So when you subscribe, you'll get a notification letting you know when a new one's just been published. So make sure to hit that subscribe button. And don't miss out on this vital information for yourself, your colleagues and your loved ones.


This paper presents a new building extraction approach called Building Extraction from LADAR Last Returns, BLLR, that uses LADAR point cloud data to automatically identify and map building footprints with high accuracy for hydrologic applications. The BLLR model includes an absolute difference in elevation, aid, parameter in the local vertical difference filter, VDF, that compares the difference between mean and modal elevations of last returns in each cell. The model is calibrated using building locations compiled by photo analysts and validated using independent building reference data. Performance results indicate that the BLLR model is highly sensitive to concavity in the last boundary tool of LA's tools registered trademark symbol, cell size, and aid threshold values. Properly calibrated, the BIA for two residential sites could be estimated within 1% error for optimized experiments. The BLLR estimated bias were tested using two different types of hydrologic models and found to provide more accurate results than the use of the National Land Cover Database, NLCD, 2011% developed imperviousness data. The VDF developed in this study could be applied to LADAR point cloud filtering algorithms for feature extraction in machine learning or mapping other planar surfaces in more broad-based land cover classifications. This article was authored by Chen Ling-Jee Hung, L. Allen James and Michael E. Hodgson. We are article.tv, links in the description below.


And the federal government says it has commenced a move to meet one of the demands of the Academic Staff Union of universities. The ministry announced these in a statement issued on Thursday. The move by the government to inaugurate a white paper drafting panel came almost a year after the visiting panel to tertiary institutions constituted by the president, Mahmada Bohari, submitted the reports of their findings to the Education Ministry. The visiting panel, which was inaugurated by the president, was to look into the lapses in the administration of universities. One of ASSA's demands is the release of the white paper panel report. The ASSA president, Professor Emmanuel Oshadeke, could not be reached for his comment as of the time of filing this report.


Hello Columbia and welcome to This Week in the City. Highlights brought to you from the public relations, media and marketing department with the City of Columbia. I am your host, Alicia Utsi. Hello Columbia. We're starting off this week in the city on a very busy note. On Monday, March 14th, Columbia Animal Services will kick off their pet adoption special in honor of St. Patrick's Day from March 14th through March 19th. Columbia Animal Services will host an adoption special. All pet adoptions will be $17 from March 14th through the 19th at Columbia Animal Services located at 127 Humane Lane. If you would like more details visit our website at ColumbiaSC.gov or you may call Animal Services at 803-776-PETS that's P-E-T-S. The Bipodestry and Advisory Committee will meet on Monday, March 14th starting at 4.30 p.m. at the Main Richland Library located on Assembly Street. For details, visit our website at ColumbiaSC.gov. On Tuesday, March 15th, Joint Chief Skip Holbrook and the Columbia Police Department as they partner with Benedict College for an Anti-Gun Violence Walk. The wall will be held on the campus of Benedict College starting at the Swinton Center at 11 a.m. Also on Tuesday, March 15th, Columbia City Council will hold a meeting starting at 4 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall located at 1737 Main Street. For agenda items, please visit our website at ColumbiaSC.gov. This meeting will be a hybrid meeting which means that you can actually attend in person or you may watch the meeting via live stream on our website and the City's YouTube channel. The Columbia Parks and Recreation Department along with Mayor Daniel Rickerman and City Council members will be holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 16th Wednesday at 12 p.m. Please join Mayor Daniel Rickerman, members of City Council and the Parks and Recreation Department as they announce and celebrate the conversion of three tennis courts into six pickleball courts on Wednesday, March 16th at 12 p.m. at 951 Hazelwood Road. The new courts will accommodate more use of the park and it will also provide a positive impact for the citizens of Columbia. If you have questions about this new amenity, please call Parks and Recreation at 545-3100. On Thursday, March 17th, the Design Development Review Commission will meet at 4 p.m. at City Hall in Council Chambers. This meeting will be a hybrid which means that you can actually attend in person but also if you would like you may choose to view the meeting via live stream on the City's website at columbiasc.gov or the YouTube channel for the City of Columbia. Also for those seeking agenda items, please visit our website at columbiasc.gov. St. Patrick's Day is back, live and in person, in five points. St. Pat's in five points is back. Mayor Daniel Rickerman will be the grand marshal of the parade this year and City Council members will also participate in the parade on a float as well as other local organizations. The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. which actually kicks off the Daylong Festival in five points. Please join us this year as the Five Points Association is glad to welcome the return of the St. Patrick's Day Festival back live and in person after two years of COVID which actually canceled the festivities. While Columbia that wraps up a very busy week here in the City, please reach out to us at Public Relations Media and Marketing if you need more details about any of these highlights or any other information regarding the City of Columbia. You may call us at 545-3020 or email us at pio at columbiasc.gov and don't forget 24-hour information is available on our website at columbiasc.gov and make sure that you are social with us by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest information, news and highlights from the City of Columbia.