Section 7. Book 2. Part 3. Now Lewis, king and emperor of all Germany, of the provinces of Retia and of ancient Francea, of Saxony II and of Thuringia, of the provinces of Pannonia and of all northern nations, was of large build and handsome. His eyes sparkled like the stars. His voice was clear and manly. His wisdom was quite out of the common, and he added to it by constantly applying his singularly acute intellect to the study of the scriptures. He showed wonderful quickness, too, in anticipating or overcoming the plots of his enemies, in bringing to an end the quarrels of his subjects, and in procuring every kind of advantage for those who are loyal to him. More even than his ancestors he came to be a terror to all the heathen that stood round about his kingdom. And he deserved his good fortune, for he never defiled his tongue by condemning nor his hands by shedding Christian blood, except once only, and then upon the most absolute necessity. But I dare not tell that story until I see a little Lewis or a Charles standing by your side. After that one slaughter nothing could induce him to condemn anyone to death, but the measure of compulsion which he used against those who were accused of disloyalty or plots was merely this. He deprived them of office, and no new circumstance and no length of time could then soften his heart so as to restore them to the former rank. He surpassed all men in his zealous devotion to prayer, religious fasting, and the care of the service of God. And like St. Martin, whatever he was doing, he prayed to God as though he were face to face with him. On certain days he abstained from flesh and all pleasant food. At the time of litanies he used to follow the cross with unshod feet from his palace as far as the cathedral, or if he were at Regensburg as far as the church of St. Hemmerham. In other places he followed the customs of those whom he was with. He built new oratories of wonderful workmanship at Frankfurt and Regensburg. In the latter place, as stones were wanting to complete the immense fabric, he ordered the walls of the city to be pulled down. And in certain holes in the wall they found bones of men long dead, wrapped in so much gold that not only did it serve to decorate the cathedral, but also he was able to furnish certain books that were written on the subject with cases of the same material nearly a finger thick. No clerk could stay with him or even come into his presence unless he were able to read and chant. He despised monks who broke their vows and loved those who kept them.  If anything evil or foolish was done in his presence, or if it happened that he were told of it, then a single glance of his eyes was enough to check everything so that what is written of the eternal judge who sees the hearts of men, that is to say, a king that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes, might be fairly said to have begun in him beyond what is usually granted to mortals. All this I have written by way of digression, hoping that if life lasts and heaven is propitious I may in time to come write much more concerning him. But I must return to my subject. While Charles was detained for little at X by the arrival of many visitors, and the hostility of the unconquered Saxons and the robbery and piracy of the Northmen and Moors, and while the war against the Huns was being conducted by his son Pippin, the barbarous nations of the North attacked Norricum and Eastern Franklin and ravaged a great part of it. When he heard of this, he humiliated them in his own person, and he gave orders that all the boys and children of the invaders should be measured with the sword, and if any one exceeded that measurement he should be shortened by a head. This incident led to another, much greater and more important. For when your imperial majesty's most holy grandfather departed from life, certain giants, like to those whose scripture tells us were begotten by the sons of Seth from the daughters of Cain, blown up with the spirit of pride and doubtless like to those who said, What part have we in David and what inheritance in the son of Esau? These mighty men, I say, despised the most worthy children of Charles, and each tried to seize for himself the command in the kingdom and themselves to wear the crown. Then some of the middle class were moved by the inspiration of God to declare that, as the renowned emperor Charles had once measured the enemies of Christianity with the sword, so, as long as any of his progeny could be found of the length of a sword, he must rule over the Franks and over all Germany too. Thereupon that devilish group of conspirators was, as it were, struck with a thunderbolt and scattered in all directions. But after conquering the external foe, Charles was attacked at the hands of his own people in a remarkable but unavailing plot. For on his return from the Slavs into his own kingdom he was nearly captured and put to death by his son, whom a concubine had borne to him, and who had been called by his mother by the ill-omant name of the most glorious Pippin. The plot was found out in the following manner. This son of Charles had been plotting the death of the emperor with a gathering of nobles in the Church of St. Peter, and when their debate was over, fearful of every shadow, he ordered search to be made to see whether any one was hidden in the corners or under the altar, and behold, they found as they feared a clerk hidden under the altar. They seized him, and made him swear that he would not reveal their conspiracy. To save his life he dared not refuse to take the oath which they dictated, but when they were gone he held his wicked oath of small account and at once hurried to the palace. With the greatest difficulty he passed through the seven bolted gates and coming at length to the emperor's chamber knocked upon the door. The most vigilant Charles fell into a great astonishment as to who it was that dared to disturb him at that time of night. He however ordered the women, who followed in his train to wait upon the queen and the princesses, to go out and see who was at the door and what he wanted. When they went out and found the wretched creature they bolted the door in his face and then bursting with laughter and stuffing their dresses into their mouths they tried to hide themselves in the corners of the apartments. But that most wise emperor, whose notice nothing under heaven could escape, asked straightly of the women who it was and what he wanted. When he was told that it was a smooth-faced, silly, half-mad knave dressed only in shirt and drawers, who demanded an audience without delay, Charles ordered him to be admitted. Then he fell at the emperor's feet and showed all that had happened. So all the conspirators, entirely unsuspicious of danger, were seized before the third hour of the day and most deservedly condemned to exile or some other form of punishment. Pippin himself, a dwarf and a hunchback, was cruelly scourged, tonsured, and sent for some time as a punishment to the monastery of St. Gall. The poorest it was judged and the straightest in all the emperor's broad dominions. A short time afterwards some of the Frankish nobles sought to do violence to their king. Charles was well aware of their intentions and yet did not wish to destroy them, because if only they were loyal they might be a great protection to all Christian men. So he sent messengers to this Pippin and asked him his advice in the matter. They found him in the monastery garden in the company of the elder brothers, for the younger ones were detained by their work. He was digging up nettles and other weeds with a hoe that the useful herbs might grow more vigorously. When they had explained to him the reason of their coming he sighed deeply from the very bottom of his heart and said in reply, if Charles thought my advice were of having he would not have treated me so harshly, I give him no advice. Go tell him what you found me doing. They were afraid to go back to the dreaded emperor without a definite answer and again asked him what message they should convey to their lord. Then at last he said in anger, I will send him no message except what I am doing. I am digging up the useless growths in order that the valuable herbs may be able to develop more freely. So they went away sorrowfully, thinking that they were bringing back a foolish answer. When the emperor asked them upon their arrival what answer they were bringing they answered sorrowfully that after all their labour and long journeying they could get no definite information at all. Then that most wise king asked them carefully where they had found Pippin, what he was doing, and what answer he had given them, and they said, We found him sitting on a rustic seat turning over the vegetable garden with a hoe. When we told him the cause of our journey we could extract no other reply than this, even by the greatest entreaties. I give no message except what I am doing. I am digging up the useless growths in order that the valuable herbs may be able to develop more freely. When he heard this, the emperor, not lacking in cunning and mighty in wisdom, rubbed his ears and blew out his nostrils and said, My good vassals, you have brought back a very reasonable answer. So while the messengers were fearing that they might be in peril of their lives, Charles was able to divine the real meaning of the words. He took all those plotters away from the land of the living, and so gave to his loyal subjects room to grow and spread, which had previously been occupied by those unprofitable servants. One of his enemies, who had chosen as his part of the spoil of the empire the highest hill in France and all that could be seen from it, was, by Charles's orders, hanged upon a high gallows on that very hill.  Upon this permission being given him he chose a post in a monastery, then most noble, but now destroyed. Who is there that does not know the manner of its destruction? But I will not tell the story of its fall until I see your little Bernard with a sword girded upon his thigh. The magnanimous Charles was often angry because he was urged to go out and fight against foreign nations when one of his nobles might have accomplished the task. I can prove this from the action of one of my own neighbors. There was a man of Thurgau of the name of Aisharae, who, as his name implies, was a great part of a terrible army, and so tall that you might have thought him sprung from the race of Anak, if they had not lived so long ago and so far away. Whenever he came to the river Dura and found it swollen and foaming with the torrents from the mountains, and could not force his huge charger to enter the stream, though stream I must not call it but hardly melted ice, then he would seize the reins and force his horse to swim through behind him, saying, Nay, by St. Gaul, you must come, whether you like it or not. Well, this man followed the emperor and mowed down the bohemians and wiltses and avars as a man might mow down hay, and spitted them on his spear like birds. When he came home the sluggards asked him how he had got on in the country of the Winnities, and he, contemptuous of some and angry with others, replied, Why should I have been bothered with those tadpoles? I use sometimes to spit seven or eight or nine of them on my spear and carry them about with me, squealing in their gibberish. My Lord King and I ought never to have been asked to weary ourselves in fighting against worms like those. Now, about the same time that the emperor was putting the finishing touch to the war with the Huns, and had received the surrender of the races that I have just mentioned, the Northmen left their homes and disquieted greatly the Gauls and the Franks. Then the un conquered Charles returned and tried to attack them by land in their own homes, by a march through difficult and unknown country. But whether it was that the providence of God prevented it in order that, as the scripture says, he might make trial of Israel, or whether it was that our sin stood in the way, all his efforts came to nothing. One night, to the serious discomfort of the whole army, it was calculated that fifty yoke of oxen belonging to one abbey had died of a sudden disease. Afterwards, when Charles was making a prolonged journey through his vast empire, Goatfrid, king of the Northmen, encouraged by his absence, invaded the territory of the Frankish kingdom and chose the district of the Moselle for his home.  Then, as happened of old when Holophenes was slain, none of the Northmen dared trust any longer in his courage or his arms, but all sought safety in flight. And thus the Franks were freed without their own effort that they might not after the fashion of Israel boast themselves against God. Then Charles, the unconquered and the invincible, glorified God for his judgment, but complained bitterly that any of the Northmen had escaped because of his absence. Ah, woe is me, he said, that I was not thought worthy to see my Christian hands dabbling in the blood of those dog-headed fiends. End of Section 7. Section 8 of the Life of Charlemagne. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Life of Charlemagne by Nattger the Stammerer. Translated by Arthur James Grant. Book 2. Part 4. It happened, too, that on his wanderings Charles once came unexpectedly to a certain maritime city of Narbonencian Gaul. When he was dining quietly in the harbor of this town, it happened that some Norman scouts made a piratical raid. When the ships came in sight, some thought them Jews, some African or British merchants, but the most wise Charles, by the build of the ships and their speed, knew them to be not merchants, but enemies, and said to his companions, These ships are not filled with merchandise, but crowded with our fiercest enemies. When they heard this, in eager rivalry, they hurried in haste to the ships. But all was in vain. For when the Northmen heard that Charles the Hammer, as they used to call him, was there, fearing lest their fleet should be beaten back or even smashed in pieces, they withdrew themselves, by a marvelously rapid flight, not only from the swords, but even from the eyes of those who followed them. The most religious, just and devout Charles had risen from the table and was standing at an eastern window. For a long time he poured down tears beyond price, and none dared speak a word to him. But at last he explained his actions and his tears to his nobles in these words. Do you know why I weep so bitterly, my true servants? I have no fear of those worthless rascals doing any harm to me, but I am sad at heart to think that even during my lifetime they have dared to touch this shore.  May the protection of our Master Christ prevent the accomplishment of this prophecy. May your sword, tempered already in the blood of the Nord-Astrani, resist it. The sword of your brother, Carleman, will help, which now lies idle and rusted, not for want of spirit, but for want of funds and because of the narrowness of the lands of your most faithful servant Arnolf. If your might wills it, if your might orders it, it will easily be made bright and sharp again. These in the little chute of Bernard form the only branch that is left of the once prolific root of Lewis to flourish under the wonderful growth of your protection. Let me insert here, therefore, in the history of your namesake Charles, an incident in the life of your great-great-grandfather Pippin, which perhaps some future little Charles or Lewis may read and imitate. When the Lombards and other enemies of the Romans were attacking them, they sent ambassadors to this same Pippin and asked him for the love of Saint Peter to condescend to come with all speed to their help. As soon as he had conquered his enemies he came victoriously to Rome, and this was the song of praise with which the citizens received him. The fellow citizens of the apostles and the servants of God have come today bringing peace and making their native land glorious to give peace to the heathen and to set free the people of the Lord. Many people ignorant of the meaning and origin of this song have been accustomed to sing it on the birthdays of the apostles. Pippin feared the envy of the people of Rome, or more truly of Constantinople, and soon returned to Frankland. When he found that the nobles of his army were accustomed in secret to speak contemptuously of him, he ordered one day a huge and ferocious bull to be brought out, and then a savage lion to be let loose upon him. The lion rushed with tremendous fury on the bull, seized him by the neck, and cast him on the ground.  They looked on one another with a chill at their hearts, and could hardly utter these words amidst their sobs, Lord, what man is there under heaven who dare attempt it? Then Pippin rose confidently from his throne, drew his sword, and at one blow cut through the neck of the lion, and severed the head of the bull from his shoulders. Then he put back his sword into its sheath, and sat again upon his throne, and said, Well, do you think I am fit to be your Lord?  They fell to the ground, as though a thunderbolt had struck them and cried, Who but a madman would deny your right to rule over all mankind? Not only was his courage shone against beasts and men, but he also fought an incredible contest against evil spirits. The hot baths at Ex had not yet been built, but hot and healing waters bubbled from the ground. He ordered his chamberlain to see that the water was clean, and that no unknown person was allowed to enter into them. This was done, and the king took his sword, and, dressed only in linen gown and slippers, hurried off to the bath. When low, the old enemy met him, and attacked him as though he would slay him. But the king, strengthened with the sign of the cross, made bare his sword, and, noticing a shape in human form, struck his unconquerable sword, threw it into the ground so far that he could only drag it out again after a long struggle. But the shape was so far material that it denied all those waters with blood and gore and hurried slime. But even this did not upset the unconquerable pippin. He said to his chamberlain, Do not mind this little affair. Let the defiled water run for a while, and then, when it flows clear again, I will take my bath without delay. I had intended most noble emperor to weave my little narrative only around your great-grandfather, Charles, all of whose deeds you know well. But since the occasion arose which made it necessary to mention your most glorious father, Louis, called the illustrious, and your most religious grandfather, Louis, called the pious, and your most warlike, great-great grandfather, Pippin the Younger, I thought it would be wrong to pass over their deeds in silence, for the sloth of modern writers has left them almost untold. There is no need to speak of the elder pippin, for the most learned bead in his ecclesiastical history has devoted nearly a whole volume to him. But now that I have recounted all these things by way of digression, I must swim, swan-like, back to your illustrious namesake, Charles. But if I do not curtail somewhat his feats in war, I shall never come to consider his daily habits of life. Now I will give with all possible brevity the incidents that occur to me. When, after the death of the ever-victorious pippin, the Lombards were again attacking Rome, the unconquered Charles, though he was fully occupied with business to the north of the Alps, marched swiftly into Italy. He received the Lombards into his service after they had been humbled in a war that was almost bloodless, or one might say, after they had surrendered of their own free will. And to prevent them from ever again revolting from the Frankish kingdom, or doing any injury to the territories of St. Peter, he married the daughter of Desiderius, chief of the Lombards. But no long time afterwards, because she was an invalid and little likely to give issue to Charles, she was, by the council of the holiest of the clergy, put aside, even as though she were dead. Whereupon her father and wrath bound his subjects to him by oath, and shutting himself up within the walls of Pavia, he prepared to give battle to the invincible Charles, who, when he had received certain news of the revolt, hurried to Italy with all speed. Now it happened that some years before one of the first nobles, called Otger, had incurred the wrath of the most terrible emperor, and had fled for refuge to Desiderius. When the near approach of the dreaded Charles was known, these two went up into a very high tower, from which they could see any one approaching at a very great distance. When therefore the baggage wagons appeared, which moved more swiftly than those used by Darius or Julius, Desiderius said to Otger, Is Charles in that vast army? And Otger answered, Not yet. Then when he saw the vast force of the nations gathered together from all parts of his empire, he said with confidence to Otger, Surely Charles moves in pride among those forces? But Otger answered, Not yet, not yet. Then Desiderius fell into a great alarm and said, What shall we do if a yet greater force comes with him? And Otger said, You will see what he is like when he comes. What will happen to us? I cannot say. And behold, while they were thus talking, there came in sight Charles' personal attendance, who never rested from their labours, and Desiderius saw them, and cried in amazement, There is Charles! And Otger answered, Not yet, not yet. Then they saw the bishops and the abbots and the clerks of his chapel with their attendance. When he saw them, he hated the light and longed for death, and sobbed and stammered, Let us go down to hide ourselves in the earth from the face of an enemy so terrible! And Otger answered, trembling, For once in happier days he had thorough and constant knowledge of the policy and preparations of the unconquerable Charles. When you see an iron harvest bristling in the fields, and the Poe and the Ticino pouring against the walls of the city like the waves of the sea gleaming black with a glint of iron, then know that Charles is at hand. Hardly were these words finished when there came from the west a black cloud which turned the bright day to horrid gloom, but as the emperor drew nearer the gleam of the arms turned the darkness into day, a day darker than any night to that beleaguered garrison. Then could be seen the iron Charles, helmeted with an iron helmet, his hands clad in iron gauntlets, his iron breast and broad shoulders protected with an iron breastplate, an iron spear was raised on high in his left hand, his right always rested on his unconquered iron falchion. The thighs which with most men are uncovered that they may the more easily ride on horseback were in his case clad with plates of iron. I need make no special mention of his grieves for the grieves of all the army were of iron. His shield was all of iron, his charger was iron colored, and iron hearted. All who went before him, all who marched by his side, all who followed after him and the whole equipment of the army imitated him as closely as possible. The fields and open places were filled with iron, the rays of the sun were thrown back by the gleam of iron, a people harder than iron, paid universal honor to the hardness of iron. The horror of the dungeon seemed less than the bright gleam of iron. Oh, the iron, woe for the iron! was the confused cry that rose from the citizens. The strong walls shook at the sight of the iron. The resolution of young and old fell before the iron. Now when the truthful Otker saw in one swift glance all this, which I, with stammering tongue and the voice of a child, have been clumsily explaining with rambling words, he said to Desiderius, There is the Charles that you so much desired to see. And when he had said this, he fell to the ground half dead. But as the inhabitants of the city, either through madness or because they entertained some hope of resistance, refused to let Charles enter on that day, the most inventive emperor said to his men, Let us build to-day some memorial so that we may not be charged with passing the day in idleness. Let us make haste to build for ourselves a little house of prayer, where we may give due attention to the service of God if they do not soon throw open the city to us. No sooner had he said it than his men flew off in every direction, collected lime and stones, wood and paint, and brought them to the skilled workmen who always accompanied him. And between the fourth hour of the day and the twelfth, they built, with the help of the young nobles and the soldiers, such a cathedral, so provided with walls and roofs, with fretted ceilings and frescoes, that none who saw it could believe that it had taken less than a year to build. But how on the next day some of the citizens wanted to throw open the gate, and some wanted to fight against him, even without hope of victory, or rather to fortify themselves against him. And how easily he conquered, took, and occupied the city without the shedding of blood, and merely by the exercise of skill. All this I must leave others to tell, who follow your highness not for love, but in the hope of gain. Then the most religious Charles marched on, and came to the city of Friuli, which the pedants call Forum Yuli. Now it happened just at this time that the bishop of that city, or to use a modern word, the patriarch, was drawing near to the end of his life. Charles made haste to visit him, in order that he might designate his successor by name. But the bishop, with remarkable piety, sighed from the bottom of his heart, and said, Sir, I have held this bishopric for a long time without any use or profit. And now I leave it to the judgment of God and your disposal, for I do not wish, at the point of death, to add anything to the mountain of sin that I have heaped together during my life, for which I shall have to make answer to the inevitable and incorruptible judge. The most wise Charles was so pleased with these words, that he rightly thought him the equal in virtue of the ancient fathers. End of Section 8. Section 9 of the Life of Charlemagne. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Nicholas James Bridgewater. The Life of Charlemagne by Notker the Stammerer, translated by Arthur James Grant. Section 9, Book 2, Part 5. After Charles, of all the energetic Franks, the most energetic, had stayed in that country for a short time, while he was appointing a worthy successor to the deceased bishop, one festal day after the celebration of mass, he said to his retinue, We must not let leisure lead us into slothful habits.  Now the day was cold and rainy, and Charles was wearing a sheepskin, not much more costly than the cloak which St. Martyn wore, when, with bare arms, he offered to God a sacrifice that received divine approval. But the others, for it was a holiday and they had just come from Pavia, whether the Venetians had carried all the wealth of the east from their territories beyond the sea, the others, I say, strutted in robes made of pheasant skins and silk, or of the necks, backs, and tails of peacocks in their first plumage. Some were decorated with purple and lemon-coloured ribbons, some were wrapped round with blankets, and some in ermine robes. They scoured the thickets, they were torn by branches of trees, thorns, and briars. They were drenched with rain, they were defiled with the blood of wild beasts of the filth of the skins, and in this plight they returned home. Then the most crafty Charles said, no one of us must take off his dress of skins before he goes to bed. They will dry better upon our bodies. Then everyone, more anxious about his body than his dress, made search for fire and tried to warm himself. Then they returned and remained in attendance upon Charles far into the night before they were dismissed to their apartments. Then when they began to draw off their dresses of skins and their slender belts, the creased and shrunken garments could be heard even from a distance cracking like sticks broken when they are dry, and the courtiers sighed and groaned and lamented that they had lost so much money on a single day. They had received, however, a command from the emperor to appear before him next day in the same skin garments. When they came, it was no longer the splendid show of yesterday, for they looked dirty and squalid in their discoloured and rent clothes.  It came quite white and perfectly sound, and Charles took it and showed it to all those who were there and spoke as follows. Most foolish of mortal men, which of these dresses is the most valuable and the most useful, this one of mine which was bought for a piece of silver or those of yours which you bought for pounds, nay for many talents. Their eyes sank to the ground, for they could not bear his most terrible censure. Your most religious father imitated this example of the great Charles all through his life, for he never allowed anyone who seemed to him worthy of his notice or his teaching to wear anything when on campaign against the enemy except the military accoutrements and garments of wool and linen. If any of his servants, ignorant of this rule, happened to meet him with silk or silver or gold upon his person, he would receive a reprimand of the following kind, and would depart a better and wiser man. Here's a blaze of gold and silver and scarlet, why you wretched fellow, can't you be satisfied with perishing yourself in battle if fate so decides, must you also give your wealth into the hands of the enemy, which might have gone to ransom your soul, but now will decorate the temples of the heathen. But now, though you know it better than I do, I will tell again how, from early youth up to his 70th year, the unconquered Lewis delighted in iron, and what an exhibition of his fondness for iron he made in the presence of the legates of the Northmen. When the kings of the Northmen sent gold and silver as witness of their loyalty, and their swords as a mark of their perpetual subjection and surrender, the king gave orders that the precious metals should be thrown upon the floor, and should be looked upon by all with contempt, and be trampled upon by all as though they were dirt. But as he sat upon his lofty throne, he ordered the swords to be brought to him that he might make trial of them. Then the ambassadors, anxious to avoid the possibility of any suspicion of an evil design, took the swords by the very point as servants hand knives to their masters, and thus gave them to the emperor at their own risk. He took one by the hilt, and tried to bend the tip of the blade right back to the base, but the blade snapped between his hands, which were stronger than the iron itself. Then one of the envoys drew his own sword from its sheath and offered it, like a servant to the emperor's service, saying, I think you will find this sword as flexible and as strong as your all-conquering right hand could desire. Then the emperor, a true emperor he, as the prophet Isaiah says in his prophecy, considered the rock whence he were hewn. For he, out of all the vast population of Germany, by the single favour of God, rose to the level of the strength and courage of an earlier generation. The emperor, I say, bent it like a vine twig from the extreme point back to the hilt, and then let it gradually straighten itself again. Then the envoys gazed upon one another and said in amazement, Would that our kings held gold and silver so cheap and iron so precious? As I have mentioned the Northman, I will show by an incident drawn from the reign of your grandfather in what slight estimation they hold faith and baptism, just as after the death of the warrior King David, the neighbouring peoples whom his strong hand had subdued for a long time paid their tribute to his peaceful son, Solomon. Even so the terrible race of the Northman still loyally paid to Lewis the tribute which through terror they had paid to his father the most august emperor Charles. Once the most religious emperor Lewis took pity on their envoys and asked them if they would be willing to receive the Christian religion. And when they answered that always and everywhere and in everything they were ready to obey him he ordered them to be baptised in the name of him, of whom the most learned Augustine says, If there were no trinity the truth would never have said, Go and teach all peoples baptising them in the name of the father, son and holy ghost. The nobles of the palace adopted them almost as children and each received from the emperor's chamber a white robe and from their sponsors a full Frankish attire of costly robes and arms and other decorations. This was often done and from year to year they came in increasing numbers not for the sake of Christ but for earthly advantage. They made haste to come not as envoys any longer but as loyal vassals on Easter Eve to put themselves at the disposal of the emperor and it happened that on a certain occasion they came to the number of fifty. The emperor asked them whether they wished to be baptised and when they had confessed he bathed them for with be sprinkled with holy water. As linen garments were not ready in sufficient numbers he ordered shirts to be cut up and sewn together into the fashion of wraps. One of these was forthwith clapped upon the shoulders of one of the elder men and when he had looked all over it for a minute he conceived fierce anger in his mind and said to the emperor I have gone through this washing business here twenty times already and I have been dressed in excellent clothes of perfect whiteness but a sack like this is more fit for Claude hoppers than for soldiers if I were not afraid of my nakedness for you have taken away my own clothes and have given me no new ones I would soon leave your wrap and your Christ as well. Ah how little do the enemies of Christ value the words of the apostle of Christ where he says all ye that are baptised in Christ put on Christ and again ye that are baptised in Christ are baptised in his death or that passage which is aimed especially at those who despise the faith and violate the sacraments crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame oh would that this were the case only with the heathen and not also among those who are called by the name of Christ now I must tell a story about the goodness of the first Lewis and then I shall come back to Charles that most peaceable Emperor Lewis being free from the incursions of the enemy gave all his care to the works of religion as for instance to prayer to works of charity to the hearing and just determinations of trials at law his talents and his experience had made him very skillful in this latter business and when one day there came to him one who was considered a very acutiful by all and tried to deceive him he gave him this answer following with courteous mean and kindly voice though is some little agitation of mind most wise and Selma he said if I may be allowed to say so I would venture to observe that you are deviating from the path of rectitude from that day the reputation of that legal luminary sank to nothing in the eyes of all the world moreover the most merciful Lewis was so intent on works of charity that he liked not merely to have things done in his sight but even to do them with his own hand even when he was away he made special arrangements for the trial of cases in which the poor were concerned he chose one of their own number a man of small bodily strength but apparently more courageous than the rest and gave orders that he should decide offenses committed by them and should see to the restoration of stolen property the requital of injuries and wounds and in cases of greater crimes to the inflection of mutilation decapitation and the exposure of the bodies on the gallows this man established dukes tribunes centurions and their representatives and performed his task with energy moreover the most merciful emperor worshipping Christ in the persons of all the poor was never weary of giving them food and clothing and he did so especially on the day when Christ having put off his mortal body was preparing to take to himself an incorruptible one on that day it was his practice to make presence to each and every one of those who served in the palace or did duty in the royal court he would order belts leg coverings and precious garments brought from all parts of his vast empire to be given to some of his nobles the lower orders would get frisian cloaks of various colors his grooms cooks and kitchen attendants got clothes of linen and wool and knives according to their needs then when according to the act of the apostles there was no one that was in need of anything there was a universal feeling of gratitude the ragged poor now decently clad raised their voices to heaven with a cry of Kiria Elason to the blessed Lewis through all the wide courts and the smaller openings of a which the latins usually call porches and all the nights who could embrace the feet of the emperor and those who could not get to him worshiped him afar off as he made his way to church on one of these occasions one of the fools said ingest oh happy Lewis who on one day has been able to close so many people by Christ I think that no one in Europe has closed more than you this day except at all when the emperor asked him how it was possible that at all should have closed more the gesture please to have secured the attention of the emperor said with a grin he has distributed today a vast number of new clothes the emperor with the sweetest possible expression on his face took this for the silly joke it was and entered the church in humble devotion and there behaved himself so reverently that he seemed to have our Lord Jesus Christ himself before his bodily eyes it was his habit to go to the baths every Saturday not for any need there was a bit but because it gave him an opportunity of making presents for he used to give everything that he took off except his sword and belt to his attendance his liberality reached even to the lowest grades in so much that he once ordered all his attire to be given to one stracholf a glacier and a servant of st. Gaul when the servants of the barons heard of this they laid an ambuscade for him on the road and try to rob him then he cried out what are you doing you are using violence to the glacier of the emperor they answered you can keep your office but here the manuscript ends and the further adventures of strachulf are left to conjecture end of book 2 end of section 9 end of the life of Charlemagne by not Kerr the stammerer


The 25th annual Big Sandy Women's Business Symposium is returning to downtown Painesville Tuesday, April 30th. The event will feature networking opportunities, breakout sessions, and keynote speakers from throughout the region. It's an event for women where we just celebrate everything that women do in business, the empowerment of women, the successes of women, and everything that we do in the business world. This year our theme is unveiling authenticity and we have some really great speakers lined up this year. For the past handful of years we've had speakers from all throughout Kentucky and it's something we should be really proud of that we are able to find such powerful, very driven and women that lead our state in such roles. Outpatient medication assisted treatment for addiction, adult and youth behavioral counseling, and now psychiatric services accepting Medicare and all major insurance. Recovery is hard, regret is harder. Appalachian Community Care, LLC in Pikeville and Weizberg call<PHONE_NUMBER>, find us on Facebook. In honor of the 25th anniversary registration will be $25 and includes lunch and light refreshments. Celebrating 25 years you know that's something really symbolic that this event has been going on for 25 years. We have sponsors who have been with this event since the inception, so that just gives you a little bit of ideal of how important this event is to the big sandy area, how followed it is, you know, it had sold out for the past couple of years, but you know it's really followed. It's a great day of leadership and breakout sessions and just great networking with women coming together and to just celebrate. They really leave the event energized. To register or for more information go to WBS2024.Eventbright.com. Reporting for Mountaintop News, I'm Brianna Robinson.


So experimenting with mods, I accidentally stumbled upon something fascinating, something which I'm not sure if it's a bug, a glitch or is intended, but either way, it's pretty epic. How's it going guys, my name's DPJ and if you enjoyed the video leaving a like really helps out, and if you like what you see and want to see more outriders on a daily basis, be sure to subscribe. So playing around with mods, as you do, I was testing something out on my bulwark, applying deathchain to it, which is a great mod as we all know. I wanted to apply some that gave me extra single target damage, this one for me is one of the best. So I was running a expedition solo and I was being chased down by a bunch of adds, I quickly turned around and sprayed a couple of shots at the enemies. Lo and behold, I noticed from a single shot about 6 enemies had the deathchain effect on them. This piqued my interest, so I tried it a few other times, and figured out something interesting. Full auto shotguns which shoot multiple pellets within a single shot, each of those shots will apply that deathchain to the target it hits. This means if one shot from your full auto shotgun hits 5 enemies, all 5 of those enemies will get that deathchain effect, and it's absolutely potent in add control. But guys, it doesn't end with deathchains. Any mod which applies any effect to an target, when being hit works here, mods like ultimate stone whip, claymore, and many many others. Now after playing around for about an hour I found a pretty incredible mod to use with this method, the mod is called strings of bars. It drops under this integrator as well as the bolts on thunder pistols. This basically chains lightning up to 5 enemies dealing 75k damage on a level 50 weapon to each of these enemies. You hit multiple targets with this mod, the results are absolutely incredible as you'll see it on screen now, and while in reality what else can you pair this with? Some amazing combos I know you guys are thinking about. I also checked out to see if this works on any other shotgun which shoots multiple pellets, and although it does, it isn't anywhere near as efficient as the 20 in the mag full auto. I will however state that this method does work with two mods on the same weapon, as you can see in the background now. Under area master we know it has that weightlessness. This is one of those mods that I can trigger on a target hit. I went ahead and applied ultimate stone whip to this weapon at the same time, and well you can see what happens here people. Although this thing spread isn't massive, we can see it does land on multiple targets, lifts them up, and strikes those targets with that lightning, which is absolutely incredible. So yeah guys, quite some crazy things going on here like I said, I don't know if this is intended, all I know is it works amazingly. So yes people, have fun, play around, and tell me what you find out down below. And on that note, the end of the video has arrived. If you enjoyed it leave me a like, who the helps out, if you're new around here and want to see more outriders on a daily basis be sure to subscribe, and if you never want to miss a video upload you can turn notifications on by hitting that bell button. But guys thanks as always for stopping by, and hopefully I will see you on that next one.


Welkom back to the breakfast and plus tv afrika and we are going to off the present joining us this morning is the chief lecturer at the Nigerian Institute of John Lezema Gidey Johnson. He will be looking at all of the issues on the front dailies of the papers this morning. Mr. Johnson, good morning to you. Many thanks for joining us on breakfast this morning. Good morning. Good morning Justin and good morning to you. It's a pleasure to be with you. Yes, happy Friday. Yeah, it's Friday and we're thinking that. Thank God it's Friday and work has days tomorrow so let's go for life. Yeah, that's true, work has days tomorrow, May 1st. All right, we'll kick it off from the from the puncture newspaper this morning with the banner headline this morning. Send it to someone's minister at the hero over 199 billionaire anti-terror fund spending. Now we're two writers there. National Assembly Committee chairman berate Ahmed for shunning invitation. Soldiers lamenting lack of weapons to fight insurgents alleges panel. All right, across above the masthead recovering 94 trillion naira unremited fund solution to economic crisis that's according to Falano. Also just beneath that force bank directors fired to protect customers minority shareholders that's according to the central bank of Nigeria. NSA dismisses threats to airport NSEDC 45 internal security just beside that India experts one of lumen danger US director citizens to leave. Okay, we have more stories on the front page of the punch in this paper this morning. Okay, let's see fraud allegation. Second is the man's apology. One a billion naira from ex or shumalism aid. All right, painter or painter in person. Okay, I can really see that. Okay, painter in personality writer or by a legacy or impersonation writer. A painter impersonate or by a legacy the fraud Facebook lover of 51 million naira. God has directed me to prophesy against Uzodema. That's also on the front page of the punch newspaper. Mr Johnson, I'm sure you'd want to comment on the. Yes, just after we go through the rest of the papers. NNPC. This is on the nation newspaper NNPC memo. Governors seek end to patrol subsidy. The writer reads federal government not moved by oil firms letter. Labor awaits invitation for meeting above the headline. It's time for local government autonomy says Jonathan and back as slams political leaders over insecurity. How relatives others exposed amputee hawker 11 suspects arrested by. Oyo amoteku and OPC. We also see the story here. CBN Saks first bank chair awashika otudeko others and ade Dutton back as MD and CEO below the headline on the nation newspaper. Buhari sad over attacks by autumn. We need cooperation not antagonism and still the stories here on the front page of the nation newspaper. Court reopens in Lagos as Justin suspense strike. And Monday is public holiday. So you take the next newspaper. I will move on now to the nation newspaper. Okay, you just read that. Okay, we'll go to the Guardian this morning. Look beyond military in war against insecurity EU tells the federal government that's making barn headline here on the Guardian this morning. As Africa faces COVID-19 resurgence. WHO wants. All right. A whole lot of stories are making headlines on the Guardian newspaper. Okay, let me take the rest. CBN Saks first bank board rein state outside MD. We saw the story below the headline on the Guardian newspaper. Senate demands arms expenditure from Ahmed Akabwazi at Ahiru. Still below the headlines on the Guardian newspaper. Gone men abduct two students in Plata state. And lastly fire kills four in just seven in Rivers illegal bunkering site. All right, Mr Jida Janssen. Let's bring you back in here. Thanks for still staying with us on off the press. We've seen quite a number of stories on the front page of the newspapers this morning. And one we've seen recurring is the one where the central bank of Nigeria, you know, sat the chair. Basically this band in the whole board and reinstated the former MD and CEO. What do you take of this move? Well, that's within the purview of central bank and their control over the monetary and financial sector Nigeria. So I'm sure it's it's an internal thing that requires central bank supervision. They said they are trying to protect minority shareholder. In my own opinion, I think would order the anti-shila fund. And then in new management, it should have put it place to solve that particular particular problems. You have a crisis between the management on one side. The board on the other. I think what if you are sucking the board of directors are not appointed by central bank. They are appointed by the shareholders, but the central bank wants to win the big stick. I think both the MD and the and the board of directors should go at once so that you have it on first week. And then you start all over on a fresh on a clean slate. And then you can look at the issues dispassionate. But if you are bringing the empty back in, I'm not going to create for a crisis within within that system. But that's something that has to do with one of the major operators in the banking sector in Nigeria. But let's look at something that affects every every every one of us because when you have peace that you have nation is when security plays that you can do businesses. And you see the story in the guide and one striking story is the story in the guide and then the punch needs to find which it is sending someone members of people in charge of the security apparatus of of the nation, the minister of defense and the service and the service chief. The punch story goes sending someone's minister at Iron 199 billion anti terror 199. And the punch needs people give us a financial implication why the guide and just talked about demands explanation of expenditure. I think the power of the post belongs to belongs to the National Assembly. One of the failures we have had since 1999 is and to a large extent we just present National Assembly. To a large extent with this present moribund few less National Assembly is that they have failed to do their own due diligence. When it comes to one, their invitations are not honored. I saw one, one, one people on TV that there are time when the chief of the newly appointed chief of the minister appeared before descending and he was talking with Arudans. And he situates that with the way military chiefs in United States of America where they appear before the Congress in America the kind of respect they give to the senators because he true representative of the people at the legislature. And that's why at the, at the, at the, at the, as of rep it is based on the population in the Senate it is it is based on equality of states. That's why three senators per state so that the people are highly represented and you have a situation whereby even the Senate that owns the power of the post when it comes to the appropriation being it does not become a, it does not become an act until it is done. It is passed by the National Assembly and ascended to by the president. That's when you can justify that you can spend, you can spend money. Now we have spent $199 billion on agiterro and we have been terrorized. If you look at another story in the punch newspaper communities in Niger state embatu Niger communities negotiate with Bukwara to pay $20 billion. Some parts of Nigeria are no longer under Nigeria as we speak. I listened to during the course of the week, I listened to the governor of Niger state where he was complaining that some local governments have been overrun by Bukwara. And then you have won a $99 billion and then you have been people in charge of spending this particular money north not up there before the Senate committee.  People should be held accountable. This is not a military regime. This is a democracy and in democracy civilian, military hierarchy must be sub-servient. It's a requirement. Military hierarchy must be sub-servient to democratic control. It's required. So Mr. Jide Johnson, in the light of these issues you don't think it's justified for Rowan Fadambaka to say that what he's been saying that God has directed him to prophesy against Bukwara and Uzodima asking them to resign? There's no need for you to do what God has required you to do. You are trying to practice witchcraft. That's what the procancellor of Covenant University said. He said for man to expect God to do what he's supposed to do by himself, then he's practicing witchcraft. What do we expect God to do for us? He has given us the brain, he has given us the mandate, he has given us the power to do that. We have the institution so we expect God to run the National Assembly. Do we have to wait for Fadambaka for the National Assembly to commence whatever instruments they have to bring about checks and balances in governance? All right. It is actually very uncertain. Let's get to explain or to start impeachment process or whatever is required for them or whatever they think is appropriate at this point. It's time to hold the executive account table. The president, governors and the National Assembly swung an oath using it as the Bible or the Quran. So you don't expect God. It's not God that created fan. It was man. It was God that created AC. It's not God that created the technology we are using. It was man. So God has given us capacity to do what is required per time to solve our problem. So let's leave God out of it. When people begin to bring God into it, the bottom line is clear for everybody to see. God does not need to tell Fadambaka for us to know that something is wrong with this nation when it comes to secret. All right. All right, Dr. Johnson. It is really worrisome that we're talking about 199 billionaire anti-terror fund that went so just actually lamenting lack of weapons. One wonders where all of these monies go to. But let's also talk about another issue that made a headline on the front page of the punch newspaper, which is a fraud allegation that Uche's second is demanding apology and asking for one billionaire from X. Or Shamola's aid. Litiku dramas. If you expect that, those are political dramas. Second was demanding compensation from demanding one billionaire from the former age of the APC, and former governor of Agustin. So those are required. Let them take those issues to cause. The body of proof lies with him. And when the cause was over that beyond the rhetorics and the reportage we have in the front page of the newspaper, I think that's left for the cause to be knows the appropriate step to take. And I don't think the media needs to play much emphasis. With the issues affecting us, talking about secondos, issue with what's the name of this guy from Agustin. I can't recall this guy that worked. There used to be a spokesperson for the prime of Angila. I can't recall his name now. So those are. As far as I'm concerned, if I'm the editor, I wouldn't complain this issue into the front burner. I won't even keep it prominence in my mind. But these are political dramas. Let them engage in their political drama. And let's look at serious issues that affect all Nigerians. All Nigerians. All right. One of these very important issues really is. The president said, there's a story in the delison. The president said to Autumn, I am disappointed. I am disappointed in him. The nation needs to pack up the same suit. If you are in Autumn's position, how would you feel? Practically the state has been made ungovernable for him. There's not been a single prosecution. And I started to be corrected on the manners and the reign of terror that has been unleashed on Banuistit. Why should the president decide? Why should he be angry? In actual sense, the president himself should be sad about the situation of things in Banuistit, not to be sad with Autumn. In actual sense, the president should commiserate with Autumn. On this matter. But the president is saying, I'm sad. Let Mr. President also know that Nigerians are sad with the situation of security of this nation of security in Nigeria. Nigerians are sad. Mr. Ajida Johnson, actually beyond the headlines, reading the full statement of the president, he actually said he was pained by the violence and all of that. But we know that these are statements signed by his media and all of that. That's one of the reasons why Nigerians have been persistent about the president speaking for himself in addressing the nation. Moving on to another big story we've seen. We know that the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigerians have been protesting. They've been on a strike saying they demand judicial autonomy. The president signed the executive order but this has not been implemented. But the good news is they caught off their strike after 23 days and it seems that courts in Lagos can now reopen. Your thoughts on that, please. Justice delays, justice denied. And the situation whereby you have the habitat of justice going on strike, that means that people seeking justice too are in common. They are on strike. So cases that should have been attended to people that should have been prosecuted and people that should have been released don't know their fate during the last 23 days. But thank God they've caught off the strike. We don't need rocket science to solve this problem. Judicial autonomy. Look, there are three organs of government. The executive, in fact, first the legislature because the first organ of government is the legislature. The second organ of government is the executive. The third organ of government is the judiciary. You look at the structure, the arrangement in the constitution whether Nigerian constitution or the American constitution because without the legislature there wouldn't be any society because it is the legislature that comes over the constitution and it is the constitution that determines the shape of government. But we have a situation whereby the executive have become too powerful for other organs of government. We have villages at the state level whereby the state governors have turned to a program the legislature is an extension of the office while the judiciary is also an extension of the office. But I said, the president could solve this problem not by going to an executive order. The national assembly is controlled by DEPs. Just this executive order turning into an executive P put it before the national assembly let them debate on it and pass it as a bill then if it comes an act you solve the problem. Executive order is laziness in terms of coming up with instrumentality of how to govern the state it is laziness on the part of the executive to the right to go to the process you control both chambers. It is the same thing with the story we are hearing concerning the listing or not the listing of the local government where the former president was advising the national assembly not to delist the local government to give autonomy back to the local government after how many years of democracy the local government in Nigeria which is the first year of government as no constitutional bearing the 1999 constitution as amended did not make exclusive provision for local government administration in Nigeria what we have is that the national the 1999 constitution gave that power to the state as a assembly that's why at the local government level we don't have democracy alright Mr. Johnston another story that caught my attention on the state of Nigeria's economy it was captioned the 2.1 billion naira that shrinking a FAC allocation creeple state with the right idea finance minister Amichif to face sanita and panel my issue right now is that there's been so much talk about the nation's economy which the revelation made by the adostate governor and right now we have in 2.1 billion naira that shrinking FAC allocation creeple in the state economy where are we having economically in Nigeria? when the adostate governor made that statement what did we get from the national assembly? what did we hear from the we have 37 governors 37 governors in Nigeria one is a governor general the others are governors of state the governor general is a governor of central bank that's what we use for the governor the person I first responded to adostate governor was the governor of central bank what did we hear from other governors they didn't say anything either to validate or invalidate the assertion or the claims of the adostate governor it's very clear you don't need rocket science to solve this particular problem and to know that the economy is in a state of comatose all you need to do is to get commodity price index and to get product index do a comparative analysis of what it used to buy a bag of rice and a bag of rice a bag of cement a kilo of sugar you do all of that or to buy household utility products or to buy fast moving consumer goods all you need to do you don't need to go through common data just gather your own baseline data your baseline study just go into the market then everyone will tell you that the economy is in shambles I can tell you how many people have send you text messages have required you to help them which are stalking us 2,000 naira which are stalking us 5,000 naira people that in this aspect to ask you for money because the economy is in shambles so let them deny them now they are saying we have 2.1 billion naira debt and last this month the governor of adostate told us that they had to create money which is lying with the CPU the economy is in shambles and the economy will continue to be in shambles 1. because 1. we don't know we don't know the number the amount of oil good oil that has been taken out of Nigeria 2. the other sector that supports that we make money from which is the agrarian sector which used to be the main state of our economy in the 60s and before the discovery of oil that sector is also affected by insecurity is affected by insecurity whether you like it or not people can go to their farm people have been kidnapped left and sent we are having issues with edas and farmers so food prices will rise up next year they don't need any rocket science to tell you that and if you look at the inflation inflation is an indication of something wrong with your economy but too much money in the economy for sure less goods and that is a clear indication so the minister of finance or the minister of economic planning can come and talk drama and use economic terms to deceive him or herself but you can't deceive it's only fools that argues with proof the evidence is what is an evidence an evidence is a verifiable fact these are there for an average Nigerian to see that these are hard these are difficult for an average Nigerian so the economy and what steps has government taken to stimulate the economy the governors are saying that government should remove petroleum subsidy if they should remove petroleum subsidy what happens to the economy we saw that story on the nation newspaper it's the headline so they are saying that they are opening discussions regarding the NNPC letter signed by the GMD Millicari that we saw just a few days ago and they are saying they will back the withdrawal of oil subsidy to end fleecing the country so the removal of subsidy you see on this particular matter of subsidy or no subsidy you remember how many proofs you remember the proof of NNPC by the national assembly that involved them these as of rep member from Kano I remember his name Lawan I can't recall his first name now that involved the Tegola and the rest of it concerning private or no private what happened that proof what has happened with NNPC Niger data commission proof what has happened to it the governors whatever will give more money to the governors they will support it because we don't owe them accountable the status of assembly are mauribun they don't provide any checks and balances to the governors the governors will own the state as if is a private enterprise if you look at what is happening between the former governor and the present governor even if they are from the same party even if they are from the same the same party so the governors will always find the opportunity to keep them money because we don't owe them accountable nobody knows the budget nobody knows the budget of Nigeria nobody knows the budget of NNPC nobody knows we use government government government nobody knows government spending money without such money being appropriated for it's illegal it's an impeachable offence but what do we see if you raise that issue we bring religious sentiment into it we bring ethnicity into it we bring other things you see poverty does not know the color of your skin does not know where you come from insecurity does not know whether you are an APC member or whether you are political like most Nigerians are so we begin to bring those issues in when some people begin to ask questions or you call them at you in the opposition you begin to raise just before we wrap this about one final story that caught my attention is the stampede in Igbo State and many feared dead over that and not the police station heat in Abia the insecurity in the southern eastern part of Nigeria is becoming very alarming and where do we head what are the preferable solutions if I may ask the solution the solution is look as the president addressed us as a nation concerning the security issues we have they call a council of state meeting concerning the security issues that is the essence of that institution the council of state to provide is an advisory body for the president they have been abetted between the president and all the governors for them to look at how they can tackle the security the only essence is that we need to collaborate like the president said but what steps has the president taken when we respect to collaboration we see the issue in Igbo State started as a small strike of imagine it has no ball into a firestorm that police stations have been attacked now people there was a stampede the country home of the governor cars in this country were set ablaze policemen were being killed in police station is that not enough to declare a state of emergency is that not enough for the president look, just imagine if they should kill one American what happens in America what is the value of the life of an hybrid Nigerian we don't value life because we value life we pay much prominence we give much much prominence to it because this issue the president cannot afford to sit in aso rock he needs to go around Nigeria and see the situation of things in Nigeria this is happening in Lagos we leave Lagos to go to aso rock and show the president picture when things happen in Igbo State the Igbo State the Igbo State governor will leave Igbo State and go to aso rock and show the president the 19th state governor will go to aso rock and have meeting with the president he is not the president of aso rock he is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria the president can go anywhere so let the president take a tour of Nigeria and see the situation of things he does not need his age to bring him issues some of the issues they waited it alright Mr Johnson alright Mr Johnson that's as much as we can take off the press for today we really need to address the issue of security in Nigeria yes thank you very much and have a wonderful Friday and make sure you enjoy what's said tomorrow as workers take it now first but we would actually be back here no holiday for journalists thank you you have your time so didi you have time to spend time with your family alright thank you Mr Johnson we'll show you ok so we'll take a break here and return with today in history not very great news 2012 and 1966 just stay with us


Local Geometric Structure Fisher Analysis, LGSFA, is a novel dimensionality reduction technique, designed specifically for hyperspectral imaging, HSI. It takes advantage of the intrinsic structure of HSI data by using interclass reconstructions of neighboring points to improve the intrinsic manifold structure and interclass separability. This allows for more accurate classification of HSI data compared to existing techniques. This article was authored by Fulin Luo, Honghuang, Yilduan, and others.


Infections mediated by broad host range entomopathogenic fungi represent seminal observations that led to one of the first germ theories of disease and are a classic example of a co-evolutionary arms race between a pathogen and target hosts. Insects have evolved a number of mechanisms to keep pathogens at bay that include the production of AP, cuticular antimicrobial lipids, proteins, and metabolites. This article was authored by Nimat Okihani and Almydina Ortizarquisa.


From London, England, it's theCUBE. Covering Discover 2016 London. Brought to you by Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Now, here's your host, Dave Vellante and Paul Gillis. Welcome back to London, everybody. We're here on the banks of the Thames River. This is theCUBE, the worldwide leader in live tech coverage, HPE Discover 2016 in London. Probably about 10,000 people here, milling about kicking the things on the floor, checking out these amazing, I don't know really what they are, but we're seeing all kinds of IOT action going on the floor and Duncan Campbell is here. He's responsible for the IOT ecosystem and partner management at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Duncan, good to see you again. Great to see you both. New role for you, new role for HPE. Absolutely. Tell us about it. Yeah, you bet. So my previous time in alliances was time well spent because right now I'm all about the IOT ecosystem. And one of the things that we've learned in IOT is no one can go alone. And so it's really incumbent upon us how to use those partnering skills and really how to bring together that full ecosystem for IOT. So why HPE, why now? I mean, the types of partners, we were talking off camera, usually you sell the CIOs, IT directors, IT management, whole different ballgame here. What are you learning? Why is HPE successful? Why should we believe they'll be successful there? Yeah, you bet. So one of the things that is so interesting about IOT, it's a big industry, depending on which analysts you talk to, you know it's big, it's growing. You talk to IDC, they're talking about 1.47 trillion dollars by 2020, big, growing fast. So there's a lot of excitement in people trying to figure out, okay, well, what is this? But the industry's learning. And from our standpoint, really one of the areas that's really driving this is actually industrial IOT. So the people that have been in the business making like jet turbines, locomotives, different high value assets, they see the benefits immediately of IOT. And it's one of these things, you're either going to figure out ways to save money or ways to make money. Last month, there was a big distributed denial of service attack involving mainly webcams and certainly brought attention to the security issues that are inherent in arming all of these devices with internet access. Has the conversation changed? Has the security issue become more prominent in the discussions you're having with partners? And is this an impediment to broader adoption of IOT? Yeah, yeah, so one of the things that was interesting for those of us who are downtown London coming on out on the Tube and the DLR. Cameras everywhere. Yeah, cameras everywhere. So you go by the new financial district in London and that is one of the areas that has probably the most cameras doing facial recognition, security type of identification. So the answer to your question, that actually is one of our key use cases that a lot of specific cities and countries are very concerned about. Great actual use case for IOT. And from our standpoint, it's really exciting because people are learning. It really brings to bear some of our foundational IOT assets with our Aruba family. It's really kind of, I would say kind of at ground zero for us for IOT. They're all about the intelligent edge, but they also have these beacon technologies for kind of location-based services that are really fundamental to your point around security and surveillance, things like that. Yeah, so I mean, that was an interesting example. Basically it was a college kiddie script. People were using to attack DVRs and internet cameras. So I guess the question is, it's a two-edge sword. I think Duncan, what you're saying is, you can help with security, but the flip side of that is it increases your threat matrix. So how, in your conversations with partners and customers, how are they dealing with that challenge? Yeah, yeah. So part of this is, to your point, is people are learning. And one of the things that we have is part of our IOT program. We got a really awesome CTO office. So we have some people who go very deep in terms of the reference architecture, very deep in terms of the partners that actually have credibility and experience both by vertical and by use case. And one of the things we've learned in IOT, which is so important in a new market, you got to really kind of go to market both by vertical and by use case. Who are some of the players that you're sort of interacting with now? Some of the new alliance partners that you're entertaining or engaging with? Yeah, so some of these are household names and some of them are new names. So a great example for us would be people like PTC and National Instruments. So that's a great example of an ecosystem as well on the show floor. And you guys are in the perfect spot here because you are in the IOT zone. We got connected cars. We got pump demos. We have a wind farm. So I mean, it's just a blast being on the show floor right now. But good examples, like I said, PTC, National Instruments, we're doing something with a pump flow demo there, kind of as I mentioned, industrial IOT. Another great example is GE. And we're doing some fabulous things with them on a partnership demo. This is GE Digital, which makes the pre-dix family of software offerings. And then, of course, that allows us to open doors in terms of some of the different OT opportunities there, whether it's in locomotives, jet engines, things like that. And then you have other great examples like around power and energy management like with Schneider, who's here and one of our sponsors. And again, they're very skilled in terms of the whole energy management, power management. And actually, they're pretty strategic in terms of the convergence of both IT and OT as well. You hear a lot about demos of IOT. You don't hear a lot about real field practice. Are you seeing, and we're still in an early stage market, are you seeing examples or can you cite examples of companies that are doing things with IOT in the field right now, particularly industrial IOT that really are paying back dividends? Yeah, yeah, you bet. So example, yeah, it's a lot of excitement, a lot of demos, but in fact now what we're seeing is industrial IOT kind of leading the way. A good example would be somebody like Airbus, where one of the key use cases we have is around your predictive maintenance. So instead of pulling a high value asset out of circulation, out of making revenue, you kind of pull it out with doing it smartly based on where the actually asset has been actually, we have the type of sensors and information that says, yeah, now is time based on the usage model or something getting fatigued. So Airbus is a great example of Rio Tinto for mining like with self-driving vehicles. And that's also a very, you'll see on the show for both connected cars and connected vehicles as something that's very important, both not just from a cost, but from a safety standpoint as well. One of the things in the conversation with cloud, if I go back a couple of years, and it still continues today, but a big conversation was around sort of where you could put the data, regulations were here in Europe. Germany was always an example where you had to be very careful about where the data was. And so my question is with regard to IoT, of course, you see Brexit happening now, you're seeing more nationalistic sort of trends, but with IoT, that data location, I mean, how do you control that? I mean, with the cloud, you say, well, the data center's in Germany or it's not, so you have to make sure that with IoT, data is totally distributed. Is that a discussion in terms of regulation? Compliance seems like it would be a nightmare. Give us the update. No, no, very savvy question. So one of the things that we've done, and actually is one of our, I think our key focus areas is around the intelligent edge. And that has benefits to your point, to your question on multiple fronts. So one is you actually, you do the computation and you get the analytics actually right on the edge, right kind of where that high value asset is. So you're not moving data around to the cloud in every case. So there's performance cost benefits for doing that. And there's also compliance reasons for that as well. So you're only sending up to the cloud the information that's required. But some of the, then there are some specific examples like in financial services and healthcare, where actually you do need to be resonant to a specific country and domain. So in that particular case, you may not go to a cloud. You may go do something on premise for regulatory and compliance type of reasons, but what you need then is the type of architecture that HPE has and we're going to excel at, which is really kind of a hybrid architecture. So you actually have a focus on the edge and then a focus on the core, which is kind of the cloud to your point. Is there any debate anymore though over the importance of having intelligence at the edge? I mean, it's not really practical to send all of that data back to a cloud or a data center, is it? Well, you'd be surprised. So I would say that people are still coming to grips with that. But I think, especially on the industrial IoT, people get that. So I think they are over that. So you talk to some of our customers here, like ABB, Bosch, you know, these type of folks here, they totally get that. But there are big implications of that. You're talking about, we've spent the last five years re-centralizing IT and now we're talking about massively distributing it again with all of the control and the security issues that are involved there. I mean, are we going back to decentralized IT? Well, it's maybe in a new way and it's maybe with some, hopefully some greater intelligence and maybe a few more gray hairs to go with that. So from our standpoint, yeah, I think it is more distributed but with the lessons learned. And actually your cloud example is quite good. This has some similarities in terms of an industry that's learning, like what cloud was all about, the right mix of the app and the workload. Similar here, it's like finding those right use cases, having the right architecture with the right security. And actually the security piece is pretty key because it's so important to authenticate, okay, this is coming at you from the queue. And so we know that you've been authenticated and so we want to make sure to get all that information out. And it's also important in terms of how people may want to hack the device. So security as a consideration upfront is very, very key. And that's why we need actually different partners from the security standpoint, both within the older HPE and the new world. And that's why the partner ecosystem is so key. Who's going to crack that nut? Is it going to be the device makers, the partners, the channel partners? Is it going to be companies like yours? Is it going to be industry standards? The whole security problem. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of that is working on kind of what's been, what the industry has learned and what's been proven. So from our standpoint, there's a lot of work both in the standards community and the ecosystem. And that's from our standpoint, again, when I think about IoT, no one can go alone. It's really bringing in the experts, the cream of the crop that we have right here and discover whether, again, it's like, you guys guys like OSI soft, you have all sorts of security and analytic experts we want to bring in to the overall IoT stack. I wanted to sort of follow up on something that Paul said, you know, you're right, there was this sort of recentralization of IoT, but I feel like Hadoop sort of broke that model because it's all about, you know, shipping compute to the data and leaving the data where it is, and it seems like IoT continues that trend. But, and I wanted to come back to the spin merge with the software group. One of the things that's getting spun out is Vertica, which is big data and analytics. And so as we talk about all these analytics, is that a gap now in the portfolio? Do you have to partner to fill that gap? Of course, you're still friendly with Vertica. What are your thoughts there? Indeed, yeah, so I think the spin merge is something that actually opens us up to be easier to partner with. Now, specifically to Vertica itself, that is a real key asset for us in terms of the real-time analytics, especially in the core and the data center where it's a perfect fit. We are looking for more type of analytics for people who excel at the edge. So a good example is like this, as I mentioned, like in Texas, since we have our IoT innovation center in Houston, we actually have some key leading edge, like ISV analytic guys who come to the innovation center. We have one in Grenovo, we'll also one in Singapore and India to actually test out their analytics software at the edge. Good one is like Lone Star. So they actually have analytics for oil and gas at the edge. And that's a great example. But for the spin merge, we're actually easier to partner with. And from our standpoint, we want to have not just the most, but the right partners as part of the ecosystem. You mentioned off camera, the IoT hub. I know you wanted to give that a plug. What is that all about? You bet, okay, my favorite topic. So the IoT partner hub is a new sales enablement tool we have. It's all about speeding up the sales cycle and in fact, featuring our partners to giving them more business opportunities. So when you think about the whole IoT stack, it's saying, okay, I have a fleet management opportunity in Washington, DC, okay, who has the right services? As I mentioned, both systems integration partners are key, like Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG and CAP and Techman are great examples in TCS. Okay, we bring them in. They have a validated type of practice there. Okay, then we need, okay, who has the use case software to do fleet management? We go and say, okay, in the partner hub, we attract them in. So if you're an end user rep, you say, I got this deal, what is the partner ecosystem I need? And so we have this incredible tool that actually pulls in partners based on their vertical expertise and their use case. And then we do that matching, give them business opportunities and allow everybody to accelerate and to deliver business outcomes. So it's a marketplace of sorts or is it more of a market map? It starts out more as a kind of a market map and it's going to be both a marketplace. It's going to be a matchmaking service, a tender for IoT. Exactly, exactly. We are in fact, we are doing the type of matchmaking initially. But it really, where it starts to get very interesting is where you start to pull in different type of ecosystems, like from farm to table. You can think about that. And what also this model does, it actually allows co-creation too. So when you actually say, okay, I'm going to have something I just want for myself because that's my own intellectual property. Or you can say, I'm interested in co-creation and going a little deeper and innovating within that partner hub. So it's totally cool. Can you give us any preview of tomorrow? Tomorrow's general session is going to be devoted to IoT? Yes. Can you give us a preview of anything new we're going to learn about there? Is there going to be something exciting? Yeah, I would say tomorrow you're going to get some real deep type of insights on the edge, on why that's important and really our focus there from an HPE standpoint. And we're going to announce some new partnerships there as well. And so it's just going to be a very target-rich area for us. It's going to be where we want to excel and lead. So you've mentioned some of the demos around the floor. There was, I think, a national instruments demo that I saw, I've taken pictures of it. I had no idea what it was. I didn't have time to stop. But what's the buzz in the floor? What are people saying about some of these demos? We're in the IoT zone? What are you doing? Well, yeah, to your point. I mean, the buzz is getting to the point where people say, A, it's similar in CloudOK. I'm starting to get it. How do I get started? And what is the POC that we need to define? And one of the things that we have here that we're actually really helping define these demos, is that we have a reference architecture that really then allows and gives more definition and more confidence to our customers how to create these solutions to deliver those business outcomes. All right, Duncan Campbell, we got to leave it there. Thank you for helping us authenticate the signal from the noise. This is theCUBE. We're live from HPE Discover. Great to see you again. Great pleasure. All right, we're right back right after this short break.