Okay. Welcome back. This is the third and final panel for our 2016-2017 priorities hearing. I want to welcome for this third panel, Ms. Christine Hines from Public Citizen, Mr. Ralph Asami from the Window Covering Safety Council, and Ms. Kathleen McGuigan from the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Thank you for joining us, and Ms. Hines, if you can please proceed. Thank you to the Chairman and the commissioners for inviting public comment on the commission's agenda and priorities for fiscal year 2016. My name is Christine Hines, Consumer and Civil Justice Council at Public Citizen, a national nonprofit consumer advocacy organization with over 400,000 members and supporters nationwide. Public Citizen advocates for consumer rights and protection in the marketplace, as well as corporate and government accountability through advocacy research litigation and public education. I last presented at the 2010 priorities hearing when the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was at its peak. The bulk of my statement concerned the testing and certification requirements and the building of the online accessible searchable database, which ultimately became SaferProducts.gov. Since then, the commission has finalized over 40 CPSIA related rules. We appreciate the agency's work over the last several years. I'm pleased to be here to discuss a few activities that we support and that we urge the agency to consider. Before I start it, I wanted to comment on the testimony of the previous panelists and to thank them for sharing their experiences and to say I'm sorry for their losses, and to thank them for their various astute comments about voluntary standards and about safety. The commission's FY 2016 budget request indicates that it plans to undertake data analysis and technical review following its advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on window coverings. Public Citizen was pleased to join colleague organizations on the 2013 petition that ultimately led to the ANPR. The petition requested CPSC rulemaking to eliminate the strangulation and asphyxiation hazards to children caused by cords and window coverings. Public Citizen recently submitted comments to the ANPR echoing the petition's appeal. That is, the commission should promptly prohibit any window covering cords where a feasible cordless alternative exists. Where no alternative exists, it should require that all cords be made inaccessible through other covering devices. After the proven failure of voluntary standards for window coverings as well as apparent manufacturer disregard for the voluntary standards, it is long past time for a mandatory rule. It's in the commission's hands to prevent the census, child deaths and injuries caused by window covering cords. We are encouraged by the commission's senior safety initiative launched in 2014 to enhance protections for a vulnerable population, the elderly. Public Citizen petitioned the commission in 2013 about a serious safety issue, portable adult bedrails that impact seniors. The petition authored by our Health Research Group Division called for a CPSC determination that all currently marketed adult portable bedrails, pose an unreasonable risk of injury, and a rule declaring that the adult belt rails are a banned hazardous product. Portable bedrails are especially risky because many believe that bedrails keep the elderly consumers safe when in fact the products endanger seniors. As the commission is aware through its own research and data, bedrails can be deadly. They cost at least 155 fatalities in a nine-year period. Older adults get trapped in the gap between a bedrail and mattress and maybe too weak or frail or confused to change position. They suffocate or endure cuts, abrasions and bruises from the rails. We understand that the issue of bedrails is currently in the voluntary standard setting phase. We are not active participants in this process. We maintain our position set forth in the petition. These are dangerous products and should be removed from the marketplace. In acknowledgment of the ongoing deliberations, we urge the agency to help spread public awareness of the products dangers. The CPSIA substantially increased the amount of civil penalties that the commission is authorized to issue against companies that break the law, specifically for violations of the consumer product safety act, Federal Hazardous Substances Act, and the Flammable Fabrics Act. The commission has begun to use this expanded authority but could potentially do more. Companies have the most information about their products. They have a responsibility under law to timely report potential product hazards and safety information about their products to the agency. Further, companies failure to report incidents and defects not only puts consumers at risk, this safety shortcut also hurts competitors that play by the rules. When an entity becomes aware that its lawnmowers won't shut off or that its chairs will unexpectedly break if sat on, and the entity fails to alert the CPSC and the public of the hazards, stiff civil penalties are warranted. Significant fines are necessary in these and other circumstances. The commission's civil penalty rule says its purpose is to deter violations, provide just punishment, promote full compliance and respect for the law, reflect the seriousness of violations and protect the public. These objectives can only be accomplished with the CPSC's vigorous enforcement of the federal laws and robust application of its civil penalty authority. Finally, an important component of the commission's rule is to quickly share critical product safety information with the public. Public communication and disclosure of safety issues are important while others at the agency work on solutions to eliminate unreasonable product safety risks. For example, we've observed the recent anchorage campaign, the effort to widely circulate useful tips for consumers to ensure that their furniture is properly stabilized to prevent tip-overs that cause serious injuries to children. We support expansion of such efforts, although we note that public education cannot replace proper enforcement of the CPSA and other laws. Active recalls, rulemaking, and the agency's enforcement authority to penalize non-compliant entities are all crucial for the CPSC to protect consumers from unreasonable product risk. I will also reiterate our strong support of SaferProducts.gov, the online searchable database that allows consumers to report harms associated with products and to research potential risks. Its success has been used as a model for other federal agencies. Public citizen is a vigorous advocate of the principles that the database represents. Transparency, consumer empowerment, timely notification of safety risks, and accountability in product safety and other sectors. We were recently involved in litigation, which the commission was also involved in, involved in the database that ultimately led to the public release of product information hidden in sealed court documents. The case involved an incident report submitted for publication on the database. While the merits of our arguments ultimately centered on the use of secrecy in the court system, it was important for public citizen and partner organizations to challenge the attempt to keep buried potentially important safety information. Ultimately, we were pleased that the federal appeals court ruled in our favor and ordered the unsealing of the court records. The case signifies our strong backing of the database and its purpose. There is room for the agency to improve on how information is released. We supported last year's modest rulemaking proposal to modernize and streamline the regulation for Section 6B of the Consumer Product Safety Act. The provision that addresses the public disclosure of information. As we shared in our comments then, Section 6B has long been an unnecessary and costly drain on the agency. The rulemaking proposal would not have solved the overall problem of secrecy, that Section 6B enables, but the changes would have made the process simpler and relieve the agency from some unnecessary administrative burdens. Overall, we support the agency's good work to try to keep dangerous products off the market, to empower consumers with information and to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable. Thank you again for the opportunity to present public citizen's views at this hearing. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Hines, Mr. Vassami. Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Ralph Vassami, and I am the Executive Director of the Window Covering Manufacturers Association. I thank you for allowing me to speak here today. I know that I am familiar to many of you with my role with WCMA, but today I'm testifying on behalf of the Window Covering Safety Council. Safety Council is a coalition of manufacturers, importers, and retailers of window coverings, who are dedicated to educating consumers about window cord safety. Since 1994, the council has worked to educate Americans about the potential hazards of window cords to young children. The council has also provided consumers with free retrofit kits and child-proofing information. The council works diligently to increase cord safety awareness, in many cases through partnerships with various public and private organizations. While there continue to be differences between some at CPSC and the industry on a variety of issues, including the Window Covering Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, I'm testifying today to urge CPSC to invest time and resources on an issue we can all agree on. CPSC, along with consumer groups and industry, should work to promote only cordless and inaccessible corded products for homes with young children. Not as a total solution, but as a component of a total program. Safety Council sponsors safety initiatives all year. Through both traditional media, including television, radio, newspapers, consumer and trade publications, as well as new or digital media, our educational messaging reached families across the country and achieved approximately 1.5 billion impressions last year. Social media gives the council the ability to specifically target 18 to 35-year-olds, a population that especially needs to be aware of the potential hazards of corded window coverings. One example is the council's use of Twitter parties with targeted audiences on Window Covering Safety. This past October, it reached tens of thousands of Twitter users with their extended networks that resulted in millions and millions of impressions to target audiences. Through the council's website and 800 hotline number, the council also continues to disseminate safety information as well as fulfill orders for retrofit kits. To date, the council has provided hundreds of thousands of retrofit kits free of charge to consumers who, for a variety of reasons, cannot purchase newer products but want to improve the safety of their older products. Since the beginning of the Public Education and Information Program, CPSC and the council have cooperated on a variety of education programs during the month of October, which is National Window Covering Safety Month. In 2012, then CPSC Chairman Inez Tannenbaum was featured in a safety video produced by the council about window cord safety. The video was released during National Window Covering Safety Month that year and to continues to be very popular. Through this partnership with CPSC, we have been able to heighten awareness and reach millions of parents with young children. Unfortunately, over the past few years, CPSC has declined the council's request to actively participate in Window Covering Safety Month. In fact, in 2014, with the exception of a few tweets that referred users back to CPSC's courted Window Covering Safety page, CPSC decided to sit out Window Covering Safety Month altogether. CPSC refused to be included in the Window Covering Safety Month press release that is usually jointly issued by CPSC and the council. We hope for a reversal this coming year. The safety council encourages CPSC to join in enhancing the ongoing national educational effort. The council commends CPSC for the agency's Just Anchor It campaign to educate consumers about the dangers of furniture and television tip overs. The investment that the commission has dedicated to materials including videos, posters, tips and blog posts is impressive. Dedicating similar resources and effort to a Window Covering Safety campaign that closely mirrors Just Anchor It could be incredibly effective. We urge CPSC to use the $350,000 dedicated to courted Window Covering Safety this coming fiscal year to enhance its public education activity on such a campaign. We know that these types of educational programs produce measurable results. In fact, the safety council's most recent consumer survey showed that 86% of people surveyed were aware that the pull cords on certain drapes and window blinds can pose a strangulation hazard to infants and young children. CPSC should work with the council to ensure that consumers with young children understand their options for modifying or purchasing the appropriate window covering products. To provide further clarity for consumers and retailers, the WCMA recently announced the Best for Kids program. The industry's first third party certification program designed to help consumers and retailers easily identify the window covering products that are best suited for use in homes with young children. The new Best for Kids program requires that manufacturers meet stringent criteria and submit products to a third party testing laboratory. The program has three basic criteria. Number one, the product shall have no cords. Number two, the product shall have no operating cord and no accessible inner cord. And third, the product shall have no operating cord and if it has an accessible inner cord, that inner cord cannot form a hazardous loop. Products, if it meets those three criteria, it's allowed to use the Best for Kids designation. All products, all corded products today carry a label on the box or on merchandising materials that warn against strangulation hazards and they will continue to carry that label if they don't qualify for the Best for Kids program. It will be, this program will provide more clarity to consumers and retailers about which products are best suited for homes with young children. The laboratories are currently finalizing the protocols and products. We'll start being tested very shortly. A recent survey conducted by GLS Research for WCMA found that more than two thirds of respondents with children said it would be important that window covering products come with a certification label on the package, certifying that it contained no exposed cords that could pose a strangulation hazard to young children. And over one half, 58% stated they would only purchase window coverings that came with this certification label. Public education campaigns are a powerful safety tool as recognized by CPSC through its Just Anchored campaign. We know that public education works best and is most effective when there is a strong public-private partnership. We all agree on the importance of educating parents about window court safety. I ask CPSC to reactivate its partnership with the Safety Council for National Window Covering Safety Month and other activities throughout the year and encourage the commission to make public education a priority by investing more resources into a strong safety campaign. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Visami and Ms. McGuigan. Good morning, Chairman, commissioners and staff. I'm Kathleen McGuigan, Senior Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. By way of background, realist members include the largest and fastest growing companies all across the retail sector. Together, our members have $1.5 trillion in sales and operate over 100,000 stores or distribution centers in the United States. I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today regarding the commission's fiscal years 2016 and 2017 agenda and priorities. As requested in the hearing notice, realist testimony primarily focuses on the level of resources it believes the commission should allocate for various agency activities in 2016 and 2017. My testimony today will focus on the CPSC's import-related activities, three ongoing rule makings, and four additional CPSC-related issues of concerns for retailers. On e-filing requirements and import surveillance expansion, our members fully support the CPSC's mission of product safety and consumer protection and its efforts to advance its import surveillance activities through enhancement of the risk assessment methodology or RAM for targeting non-compliant products prior to importation in the United States. Rila also greatly appreciates the CPSC's engagement, including the personal outreach of the chairman and on the alpha pilot for certificate e-filing, and we have welcomed the opportunity to actively engage with the CPSC on this issue. However, Rila members remain deeply concerned about the proposed e-filing alpha pilot because despite having received significant shareholder feedback on these issues through comments, public workshop testimony, co-act working group meetings, and personal meetings with the chairman, the agency has refused to deviate from the original e-filing requirements as contained in the proposed 1110 rule. Despite continual requests for the staff to demonstrate both how the e-filing proposal itself and the required data fields would improve product safety, the agency has not clearly articulated how its import surveillance targeting efforts would directly and cost-effectively be improved. Additionally, as the agency has recently acknowledged, the technological impediments of implementing e-filing certificates to match individual line entries at import are incredibly challenging for all importers. Further, as Rila has stressed previously, the cost of implementing, maintaining, and operating such an e-filing capability would be staggering and mostly borne by companies who are following the rules and importing compliant products. Rila believes collection of many of the data fields in the proposed rules would add little value to the CPSC's import risk assessment methodology and therefore are not an effective use of resources for the agency and companies who may participate in the pilot program. Consistent with the CPSC's agenda-setting priorities, the agency should be able to articulate the link to improved import surveillance targeting for each data field it will require as part of the alpha pilot program. Rila's hopeful that some of the changes that it has recommended, especially the limitation of required data fields to only those necessary for enhanced targeting will be reflected in the federal register notice announcing and outlining the alpha pilot program. It would be a disappointing result if all the effort and extensive dialogue between the CPSC and stakeholders yielded an alpha pilot that looks exactly the same as the proposal that the CPSC outlined at the outset of this process. Additionally, Rila members strongly support the development of a trusted trader program as a part of the CPSC's overall import surveillance process and programs. We thank the commission for allocating staff resources at the CPSC's mid-year to develop a trusted trader pilot program and recommend that any new trusted trader program should include those companies that are currently participating in the joint CPSC, CBP, importer self-assessment product safety pilot program. Trusted traders should be exempt from any future e-filing requirements in recognition of having past CPSC scrutiny of their import and product safety processes, monitoring and oversight, and supply chains. In order to continue building on the progress that has already been made from the commission's funding of the pilot trusted trader program this year, the agency should devote an adequate amount of resources for the full development of a pilot trusted trader program in its 2016 operating plan. On the issue of funding, CPSC's expanded import surveillance program, the CPSC in its fiscal year 2015, and most recently in its fiscal year 2016, budget request has requested statutory authority to promulgate user fees to fund the nationalization of its import RAM program. RILA members strongly support the CPSC's efforts to strengthen and expand its import surveillance program and have actively engaged with and support the CPSC to accomplish this goal. However, there are significant legal and operational issues related to the implementation of the user fee proposal, and therefore, as we recommended in our joint trade association letter submitted to the CPSC previously on this issue, we recommend that the CPSC seek funding of nationalization of the RAM program from Congress through the normal appropriations process rather than seeking statutory authority to collect user fees. RILA also believes that more stakeholder engagement and transparency regarding the detailed plans for this program must be outlined by the CPSC prior to receiving such funding. Let me turn now to three ongoing rule makings. First, the 1110 rule. In addition to concerns raised by the proposed e-filing requirements associated with the 1110 rulemaking, this rulemaking also contains many other controversial components that warrant similar stakeholder engagement. Some of the pending issues that would greatly benefit from public discussion include the shift of certification obligations from domestic manufacturers to private labelers, the elimination of password protection for certificates, imposition of new and burdensome record-keeping requirements, and the balancing of cost and benefits of the proposal. The CPSC's fiscal year 2016 budget request forecast that the agency will complete this rulemaking in 2016, and RILA believes that there is much work and engagement yet to be accomplished. RILA recommends that the agency allocate resources to re-engage stakeholders through reproposing the rule or at least engaging directly with stakeholders on these issues in the same manner that it has regarding the proposed e-filing requirements. On the proposed voluntary recall and 6B rules, although RILA has very substantive objections to these rules as detailed in our comments, in these rule makings, I will not repeat these here because the rules do not appear to be moving forward. A majority of the commission appears to believe that these process-focused rules do not warrant expenditure of resources among the commission's other priorities. RILA agrees with this ordering of priorities and requests that the agency accurately reflect whether it plans to allocate resources to the finalization of these rules as it develops this fiscal year 2016 operating plan and fiscal year 2017 budget request. As it stands now, the agency's planning documents conflict with verbally stated priorities of the commission. There are four additional concerns for retailers. First, CPSC's engagement with retailers in product-specific issues. Recently, CPSC staff held a meeting with UL where it was reported that there was a discussion of leveraging retailer requirements to speed desired safety requirements where the CPSC may have difficulties getting provisions into voluntary safety standards. While RILA members are always open to enhancing their internal requirements for the consumer products that they sell, it is important, it's critically important that the CPSC understand that retailers are not product manufacturers. As such, retailers do not possess the same product-specific design and manufacturing expertise as product manufacturers and voluntary standard committing banners. Accordingly, the changes to technical product design and performance specifications are more appropriately left to the CPSC staff and manufacturing and safety experts who participate in the voluntary standard setting process. The second issue is the retailer reporting program. RILA plans to discuss the retailer reporting program pilot in more detail this afternoon in our hearing on data sources and consumer product-related incident information, but we also wish to note that it should be among the commission's priorities for purposes of this hearing. RILA believes that before the usefulness of the overall program is judged, the commission should allocate resources to refine and evaluate the program in a manner similar to how the agency is approaching its e-filing alpha pilot. The third issue is the need for increased transparency into civil penalties process. RILA and its members have taken notice of recent civil penalties that have resulted in ongoing litigation with the Department of Justice and opposing statements from commissioners regarding the appropriateness and justification of penalty amounts. RILA believes that the current system in which companies find themselves facing a penalty demand from the CPSC that explains why the agency believes a penalty is warranted but provides no insight into how the agency calculated the amount of penalty demanded is not an ideal system, especially in light of the chairman's recent announcement regarding future increased penalty amounts, RILA believes the agency should dedicate resources in its fiscal year 2016 to efforts that would provide more clarity, guidance, and predictability to the regulated community on how civil penalties amounts are assessed. The fourth and final issue that I will talk about today is recall effectiveness. The CPSC, consumer advocates, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers all share the common goals of timely and effectively informing consumers about product recalls and quickly removing unsafe products from the marketplace and consumers' homes. All stakeholders in the consumer products arena would like to see recall effectiveness improved. To that end, RILA believes that the CPSC should dedicate resources in fiscal year 2016 and 2017 to take a scientific approach and conduct studies and or consumer surveys on recall awareness trends to determine the most effective methods of communicating recall information to consumers. RILA and our members would look forward to working with the CPSC on this important issue. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak this morning. I am happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Ms. McGligan. We'll now turn to our round of questions and I'm gonna probably spend most of my time with you, but before I do that, I do wanna note on the subject of window coverings that the commission did actively participate in Window Covering Safety Month. We just didn't do it in conjunction with the organization and for my recollection, one of the drivers of that was the fact that your organization was not comfortable with my, in my quote or my proposed quote for the press release, my honest characterization from my opinion of the hazard. And to me, that was a bizarre area for there to be a potential intrusion into my own view of the hazard. And so hopefully that won't be an issue and if we can get together in this upcoming October and I can be free to speak my mind about how I view the hazard and we can work together, then I think we can do that in conjunction. Ms. McGligan on the issue of retailers and there's again a lot of subjects that I'd like to cover with you, but I don't think we're gonna be able to do it. You're probably happy about that. Do I have it right that retailers, many individual retailers have their own green chemistry requirements that they require their suppliers to test to? Some of their retail, some retailers do. And so do they have an expertise in toxicology? How is it that you mentioned that they don't have an expertise in certain mechanical issues and that really is best left to the manufacturers, yet they do seem to have some comfort your members do, some of your members do, creating testing requirements around toxicological chronic health issues? Well, I believe that you're the retailers that you are targeting or are referencing are two of the major largest national retailers who have a large staff that they're able to dedicate time, effort and resources to that particular project. That would not be the case with all retailers across the board. Got it. And is there something unique about those two organizations, though, where they are only able to hire toxicologists or do they have the ability as well to hire mechanical engineers and others to have similar abilities to weigh in on those type of acute hazards? Well, the green chemistry that you're talking about deals with chemicals that apply across product categories, not for one specific product category. And it also includes outreach by both of those efforts. And I would certainly, as you are aware, those retailers have been on panels at Iqviso and you've had conversations with those retailers regarding those specific efforts that they do, but they do are engaging directly in outreach and in conjunction with their manufacturers to move forward in that area. Okay, thank you. And just generally, if you could help me understand how it is that really gathers information to present, for instance, at this type of forum, there's a disconnect often. And I spend a lot of time talking to manufacturers directly, not just the larger ones, but other manufacturers. And I spent a lot of time on the road visiting them. There's often, in my mind, a disconnect between what their issues of concern are and what I feel like is presented when we're here in Bethesda or what I hear is presented through your organizations when I'm on the Hill. And I'm trying to figure out why might that be the case. Is it that when I visit folks, they're not comfortable telling me things and they feel more comfortable having it pass through you? I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it because I often go there expecting to hear topics A, B, and C as it's been expressed to me and often does never come up. And I actually raise them and they say either they don't know what I'm talking about or those are not concerns or theirs and they actually want to focus on other issues. If you could help me understand that, please. Well, I just want to make sure that the information that I present and who I speak on behalf of are real and members and don't speak on behalf of manufacturers. So I just want to make sure that that's clear. And I understand that. And again, I'm talking about real and members in particular, thank you. Sure, so there are a couple of reasons why you may not be getting honest feedback. One, frankly, when the chairman of the CPSC comes to a retailer, it is a big deal. And... I would quibble with that, but sure. It is an event that is prepared for significant staff resources internally are advocated, are devoted to that process. And staff, the staff that you meet that retailers try to provide to you are targeting, may be targeting their product safety programs, their QA programs, what they may do as part of their recalls. You may be meeting with, and I'm not sure who specifically you have met with, but you may be meeting with different merchandise people who may not be aware of the whole wide array of issues that their company has or potentially and how they're regulated across the board by the CPSC. There is some comfort, and there's a whole reason why trade associations exist. There is some comfort at times for members to have really be the face for certain positions. But I would say probably in most instances, the issue is really more, they are very proud when you go to visit a company. They're very proud of the processes that they have. They really are looking for it as an opportunity to engage with you in a very positive way rather than to address potential issues that where there may be differences between the company and the CPSC. Thank you for that. And I do value the role that you've played and the interactions that you've had with me in my office. It's actually made a big difference. And as I close, I'll just ask one more request on the issue of the e-filing pilot, which is the constant struggle that we have to understand better the costs associated with that, particularly you mentioned the data elements, and we're not quite there yet. And so my request of you is if you can please go back to your members and ask them, and they can obviously can come through you to provide to me and to my office just more detailed information as to why it is that 10 data elements, whatever 10 they might be, why that pose such a challenge. We really do need that information. We need something to help break this logjam. And to me, at least that's critical information. And you have in me and I'm sure and all four of my colleagues a very open and willing audience to understand better. But I can say speaking for myself, I still don't have a good grasp of that. And even the little bit that I've heard when we've had those meetings, some of the comments made from the software developers, for instance, that it was not per data element charge, it was just a project. And so the more that you can provide, I really do need that.  So if you can please provide that, that'd be great. Thank you, commissioner Adler. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Ms. Hines. I'm not sure this is a question, but it is a chance for me publicly to express, I think not just on behalf of the commission, but at the public at large, our incredible appreciation for the litigation that you pursued in what I call the company dough, the database case. This was one where a company had sued us and obtained what I would call suffocating injunction against the commission releasing any information whatsoever about the company, the company's name. And at the end of the litigation for a variety of entirely legitimate reasons, and I think I even joined in that, DOJ and CPSC decided not to pursue the appeal, but the public interest community did, and they made brilliant arguments in front of, I think it was the Fourth Circuit, and prevailed in a way that has maintained the integrity of the database and promoted public awareness and public access to incredible safety information. So we can't thank you enough. At least I can't thank you enough. And Ms. McGuigan, I also just wanted to say something about an observation I made about RILA because when I came back to the commission after 25 years of being away, but following it closely, one of the big changes I noticed was the growth in the power and scope and influence of retailers. And retailers always have to balance between their suppliers and their customers. And it's least a personal observation that you've done a great job in doing that balancing, but to the extent that you have to choose to break a tie, you've almost always broken it in favor of your customers, which means that you've been a great partner for us, and I can't thank you enough for that. We still do have some disagreements on various issues, and I look forward to your testimony about the retailer reporting program. And Mr. Vasami, I just wanted to ask you the question that I asked the folks this morning about window coverings, and that is, when it comes to the issue of addressing the hazards of window coverings, to what extent do you think the issue can be solved through education campaigns, and to what extent do you think that it still requires some sort of redesign of the basic product? We believe that there's a three-pronged approach to addressing this issue in the short term. Obviously, as I've mentioned here, education and awareness is a key component of that. And we have also believed that a robust standard development process is required, and we will continue to do that. And I know that WCMA is committed to reopening the voluntary standard process, and is in the process of filing the paperwork to get that started now, because we think that's an integral component as well. And I noticed in your testimony, I think it was on page two, you suggested that we dedicate roughly $350,000 to a window cord safety campaign, and that's a number that corresponds to a $350,000 figure I've seen that CPSC was gonna dedicate to doing contracting for window cord safety, but it wasn't for education. Are you saying that you're urging us to stop doing the research that we're doing on window cords and take all that money and spend it on education, or where did your number come from? I'm urging you to take some of that money and start to enhance the public education and information program. Okay, well, I appreciate that. And I guess you did talk about the Best for Kids program and maybe you can't pin it down more explicitly, but can you give me an idea a year from now where you think that program will be? Well, I believe that we've gotten universal acceptance and enthusiasm. Major retailers, smaller retailers, manufacturers have all felt that the program was a major step forward. It allows for the retailers to actually promote on the positive side of things and allow them to promote products that are best suited for homes with young children. It allows for manufacturers to display their innovations in a way that is not posed with a negative in terms of labeling. But it also keeps the requirement that for products that have cords that don't meet the Best for Kids criteria, they will continue to have to have the warning labels on the outside of the package and on merchandising materials and on the product itself while we are moving forward in the standard development process. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, thank you, Commissioner Adler. You surprised me that you're done. I appreciate it. Trying to be succinct. I appreciate that. Commissioner Robinson. Thank you all for coming here. I've got five minutes, I've got so much material, so I'm gonna move as quickly as I can. Ms. Hines, thank you so much for all that you do. I have a quick question for you. You brought up our long-stalled rulemaking on 6B, and as everyone knows, I'm very much in favor of this rule moving forward. Do you believe this rule is directly related to consumer safety, and if so, why? You need to turn on your microphone. I do that all the time. It is connected to consumer safety because it will just be, 6B gets in the way of transparency. While we have the database that's helped that issue a lot, 6B can get rid, well, and it also wastes the agency resources. So there's that too. And so, which means that there are resources that the agency can use to directly affect consumer safety issues versus having these long exchanges with the regulated community over what should and should not be publicly available. So it is directly available. Thank you very much. Mr. Vassami, I am so disheartened at so many levels at the efforts that have been made on window cords. I start with the testimony we had this morning from Dr. and Mrs. Thomas with respect to the educational efforts, and we all know that the efforts, I'm obviously we don't stop making them, but they have been very, very limited effectiveness. The Thomas has said they've talked to hundreds of people who have had children who've died who are highly educated that have been, we're talking about a couple today who tried to childproof in every possible way, and kids just keep dying. And I'm very discouraged about the standards process. I've only been a commissioner for two years, but I've never heard of another voluntary standards process where the consumer groups have walked out. We talked to ANSI about that, why in the world they would still let you call it a voluntary standards with the requirements that they have when the consumer groups walked out. They did not have a good answer. The best for kids program, I'm glad you're doing it, but all it does is change marketing, and it doesn't do anything with respect to the product. And you look at, I mean just an example, you come back to the standard is just a huge problem. First of all, I've seen the products that are still acceptable under the standard, and they're incredibly dangerous with all sorts of cords that kids can hang themselves on. And a micro of this is that the voluntary standard require that all window coverings have a warning label even if it's cordless. It's very confusing to the consumer. I've looked at these boxes and they're, I am not a stupid person and I am focused on this issue and I wouldn't have a clue as a parent how to make a choice. And so I just want to, I'm delighted. The one thing I'm delighted about is that you're reopening the standard, but I implore you to please in this process, follow the ANSI process, let the consumer groups have their say, and I hope that what we're going to end up with is a voluntary standard that eliminates or makes cords inaccessible whenever possible. And Ms. McGuigan, I turn to you on recall effectiveness and I really like to believe that we do have the common goal of making these recalls effective. We've worked very hard on trying to do this, but I am always puzzled when we're looking at a cap and I see retailers and manufacturers, I know you're just retailers who don't want to put recall in a recall. I mean, it's just mind boggling to me. I mean, would we have a sale without putting sale in it? I mean, if indeed we want to get unsafe products out of the hands of consumers, why would we be fought on that? And why are, I mean, we've had a study done and the kids in danger of done a study on recall effectiveness and it's abysmal. It's embarrassing for all of us and if that's our common goal, it should be embarrassing for RILA as well as the Consumer Product Safety Commission. So we're trying to figure out how we can make that different and one start is with social media and we just had a recall that I won't mention the company, but one of the most sophisticated companies out there when it comes to social media and they didn't do anything on their social media. So I'm just puzzled by all of this and I am so hoping that you as an organization when it comes to recall effectiveness will do something, whether it surveys, I mean, we have limited resources.  I mean, if indeed, and I have to think it's in a manufacturers and retailers, best interest to get dangerous products off the market. It enhances their credibility and if you can do something with your membership to try to figure out more effective ways of doing that, getting recalled products off the market, that would be a huge help primarily to consumers but certainly to your group and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Commissioner Robinson, absolutely I agree. We share the same goal. The concern that we have is that retailers alone can't do it by ourselves. So what I have recommended in my testimony today is really just the start of a process, the start of a dialogue. What I would envision, what I would recommend is that there be essentially a coalition of the CPSC, manufacturers, retailers, consumer advocacy groups, consumer stakeholders themselves that we can really try to focus on this because I do believe that it's in the best interest of all of the stakeholders to improve communication to consumers, to make sure, I mean, it's not necessarily an issue regarding communication to the retailers and manufacturers and trying to get those items off of our shelves. What we're really trying to target is the consumers. Precisely. And for that, I think there is a need to understand how best consumers want to receive recall information and receive it in a format that will actually cause them to take action and what format that could be. And so that requires some scientific empirical study and we're happy to engage in discussions with you and any of the other commission. Maybe even undergo the study since we have limited resources.  Thank you, Commissioner Robbins and Commissioner Birkel. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Again, this is our third panel and thank you very much for being here and for all of your compelling testimony and it's very informative for the commissioners. Ms. Hines, I just wanted to use the phrase empower consumers. And I'm trying to, I guess it may be very basic, but when we say consumers, when you say empower consumers, who are you talking about? Just regular ordinary people. Okay. Americans, not Americans, yes, everybody. Thank you. I often say when I'm out speaking that we're all consumers. If you're, whether you're working for a business or a trade organization, we are all consumers. And so I think it's important that we all recognize we are all consumers, we all have different perspectives, but, and I think rather than divide it, I like to put us all together as consumers. Thank you. Mr. Visami, I am not so disheartened and discouraged as my colleague. I am hopeful that the industry recognizes and you sat through the testimony this morning. And I thank you for being here. The testimony this morning was heartbreaking and heart-wrenching and I think you understand that. And thank you to the industry for putting together this program. I am hopeful that it will move forward, that there is a way that the agency can work with you because CPSC has when we are behind something, I think the American people listen and it's so if we can work together on this, I'm very hopeful and really do hope to work with the chairman on this issue to advance this, the education campaign that you're proposing. And I understand and I think you understand you've made it clear it isn't just one thing that's gonna correct this problem. It is a multi-pronged approach and I think we all recognize that. So thank you for being here. And Ms. McGuigan, as it's no surprise I have concerns about the 11-10 pilot as well. And I am grateful to the chairman for his engagement and for what he has done to this point. And I'm hopeful that the dialogue with the commissioners as well as with the stakeholders will continue and we can get to a pilot that's manageable, that's effective and really gives the commission the information they need without overtaxing them. And I look forward to that as well. Thank you, we appreciate it. Thank you all very much. And again, thank you to the chair for today's meeting. Thank you, Commissioner Buerkle, Commissioner Mohorovic. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was moved by your remarks in questioning Ms. McGuigan about the reality and the juxtaposition between what you hear from the association as opposed to what you hear when you go and meet and have these visits and you expect to hear pushback, et cetera. And I've experienced the same thing. I've had those kind of meetings where I've reached out, I've had a speaking engagement and identified some major stakeholders in the area and reached out. And I think the reason comes down to what I've found, we have put the absolute fear of God into the regulated community.  And I understand why you wonder, why is it that when I go to X manufacturer or Y retailer, I'm not getting the straight dope. And I think because we've created a culture of hostility and aggression against regulated community that they are scared to death, even as much as you try to allay any of their fears. Anybody watching this hearing today can see and feel the venom that is often comes forth from members of the commission too. So I have that same surprise when I reach out, I think my goodness, I've got a career, I've got reputation, I've got relationships with many of these people that have lasted past decades. Why would they be scared to death when I wanna visit with them on a subject? And that's because of the culture that we've created. I think we need to be careful of that because we get that question quite often. I've been in, I've been into congressional hearings, observed a third of almost one year in the commission and we get that quite often from Congress and we don't understand it because of the way we think but I think we have to understand that the policies, the rule makings and create that kind of a culture and you've created such a positive culture among your colleagues and I'm one of them and we often talk about it and I think in terms of promoting a positive culture it's important to reinforce it so I'm doing that here but I think we also have to be cognizant of what the rule makings and some of the efforts that we've done as an agency, how that creates an entirely different culture with our regulated industry and I've found that they are feeling incredibly put upon and I think in some situations it's interesting. Ms. Hines brought up the, and we'll call it the Company Doe case and Commissioner Adler referenced it as well. In many cases I think regulated industry feel, God help you if you exercise your rights to push back. God help you if you push back against the agency. Many feel that with recent events and circumstances that the CPSC will go after you, they'll go after you personally, they'll try to bankrupt you, they'll try to bankrupt your business and I think the Company Doe situation is a great one because I often say I'm the only non-lawyer on the agency. I read the testimony and it was very clear that in the core of the case was about whether or not this particular incident should be on the database related to the product and the product manufacturer didn't want their name tarnished because as it says in the act the reports of harm have to be related to the use of the consumer product and two different courts looked at that and felt that in no way should that report have been included in the database. But yet think of what that tells the agency, we're plotting the fact that that company's name got exposed but when in fact the courts decided that in no way that should have been included in the database because that incredibly unfortunate fatality related to the product with regards to the fatality had nothing to do with that product in question and two courts found the same thing. So we've publicized the name of it and maybe we should publicize the unfortunate apparel maker that made the clothing that that child was wearing or the sneakers that a child is wearing when they pedal a bicycle into traffic and become an unfortunate terrible tragedy and incident and a statistic but that's the core of that case. So I think in terms of why we have developed the culture and developed the reputation that we have today look no further than our rule makings. I think our six B rule and our voluntary recall rule are two obvious examples of that but also the way that we exercise some of our compliance discretion. I think that there has been a time at the agency where regulated industry felt that they had a great shot of getting a fair shake, getting an honest look and in many situations I think we're losing that fine reputation while you've done so much personally to develop a great reputation among the commissioners. Thank you. Thank you Commissioner Mohorovic and I appreciate those thoughtful comments and thank you to the panel as well as the two prior panels. This concludes this public meeting of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. We will resume at two o'clock with an additional meeting of the CPSC focusing on data. Thank you very much.


So we're behind but it's fine. It's wonderfully fluffy. We do love that. I will just keep re-reading Leo Cruz books. Thanks a lot guys! I smell like I'm busy in January. Happy New Year! It has been a minute since I posted a video. I intended to maybe try to do some filming over the holidays but I just couldn't be arsed. I just wanted to enjoy my holiday. Not worry about creating or posting content. So we're behind but it's fine. So starting the year off with a TBR that is quite late. I've already read some of what's on this TBR but we're still doing it. And yeah, first TBR of the year. See if we remember how to film videos. The first book on my TBR is Ludd in the Mist by Hope Merlis. This is the Blades and Bodice Rippers book club pick, my pick. And if you missed the announcement, if you missed the decision, it was actually during our last Blades and Bodice Rippers book club meeting that we decided this, that we are now the book club that dresses up. So we've been dressing up for Halloween, for when we do our Halloween book slash live show. But we just have so much fun dressing up. We were like, why don't we just dress up every time? And we only do it quarterly now so dressing up four times a year is not that much. So anyway, the live show for this will be on my channel. And because this is about a sort of like fairy land that's on the border of a normal town, we're all dressing as Faye for the live show for it. I've got my stuff ready to go for that. I'm excited to see what the ladies will wear as well. But yeah, this is a pre-Tolkenean fantasy. And that's the main reason I've picked it. Because I like to pick kind of like genre progenitors and kind of like history lessons for the genre. Whether or not they end up being enjoyable is a different matter. But that's what I like to do. And I believe the ladies are also doing that this year with different genres. So this is a kind of the history of fantasy pick. I think we're going to be doing a history of mystery, history of romance. So we tentatively made some choices, but I don't know that they have pinned down for sure the books they want to do for their quarters. So I'm sure we will come to some decisions during the live for Let In The Mist at the end of January. Next up is the book that my patrons and I, it was the runner up to our official buddy read. So I was like, let's do it too, because I want to read it. And it was like off by one vote. So we're just doing both. And that is Northern Lights or the first book in his dark materials or The Golden Compass. I primarily have UK copies. I have several editions as I am what to do. Yeah, so we're reading Northern Lights, Golden Compass January, then February, we're reading The Subtle Knife, and in March we're reading the Amber Spyglass. This is a reread for me. The whole of his dark materials is a reread from me, but I am excited to re-experience this lovely little series. And then the other patron buddy read read along is the Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwall. So in January, we are reading The Winter King. And then in February, we will be reading Enemy of God. I think it's called and the next caliber in March. I think I have the titles and order correct on that. So the Winter King. I was going to say that this will be my first Bernard Cornwall and it should be my first Bernard Cornwall, but I may or may not have started reading a Bernard Cornwall book that is not on my TBR already this month. Then for the year of gay men that I'm doing, the first book we are reading or I'm reading or that is being read in January because I'm reading them in publication order is Neverware. And yeah, this will be my third time reading Neverware.  Then the book that my patrons have chosen for me to read and vlog for them is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I've read Guns of the Dawn, and I think that's the only Tchaikovsky I've read. I own The Tiger and the Wolf that series. I haven't read it though. So this will be my second Tchaikovsky. Pretty sure. Yeah, I don't think I've read. I'm fairly certain I've not read any other Tchaikovsky. This is, I think, his most famous, best known. And it won the Arthur C. Clark Award. All I know about this is spiders. Spider people. I'm pretty sure. I might be wrong about that, but I believe this is about aliens that look like spiders or something like that. It's also very, very long. So thanks a lot guys. It's not like I'm busy in January. So yeah, I mean I've heard a lot about this despite the fact that I know very little about the details. So I'm looking forward to this, but we'll see how it goes. Then my stack is in size order to make it a stable stack. So this is, the next book is like part of another book that's lower down in my stack due to size. But Queen Amid Ashes is the short story collection, the second short story collection in the world of the Sun Eater. The first short story collection was The Last Year Devil and Other Stories. This is Queen Amid Ashes and Other Stories. So Alex and I, the other book in the stack is Ashes of Man, which we are reading and doing a live for in January or the beginning of February. But we're also reading this bind up because this also just came out. So Queen Amid Ashes. But next to my stack is Not Ashes of Man. It is another Patreon read-along buddy read thing. We are doing a read-along for The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. And we are doing patron only live shows for them as well, separate from the regular Patreon buddy read. In January, we are reading Shadow of the Torch fur. Then in February, we'll read Claw of the Conceliator, etc, etc. This is the first three will be rereads for me and then the Citadel of the Autarch and Earth of the New Sun will be new for me. So I'm very excited to be rereading and finishing The Book of the New Sun. Next up I have another read-along buddy read. Erin from Bookton Busy, as I mentioned in my read-along plans announcements video, invited me to read with her the Five Warrior Angels series. So the first book is The Forgetting Moon. And the text is pretty big, so that's something. And it is wonderfully floppy, so we do love that. But yikes, it's a very long look. Anyway, I am excited to read this and I'm excited to chat about it with Erin on her channel towards the end of the month. I actually, if she has told me the exact date, then I don't remember. But we will chat about it. And yeah, next up is another read-along. That's all I do nowadays. So on Chapter 3 podcast this year, we are doing a semi-year-long Witcher read-along. So in January, we are reading The Last Wish by Andrea Sapkowski. And we are doing live shows now instead of pre-recorded videos. So the last Tuesday of every month, we're doing our live shows for the Witcher read-along. So we'll be chatting about The Last Wish, the last Tuesday of January, and then in February, the last Tuesday of February, we will be chatting about sort of destiny. These are all rereads for me. The only Witcher book that I've not read, and that we are going to be reading for this read-along is Season of Storms. That will be new to me. These are all rereads for me. They are mostly not rereads for Bethany. I think Bethany might have read The Last Wish already, at some point before. But for the most part, this will be all new to Bethany. So it's just like first law. All rereads for me and all new to Bethany. So anyway, do come and join us if you've read this before. If you plan to join us for reading it now, it should be good time. Next up is Ashes of Man by Christopher Akiyoth, which I will be reading and chatting about with Alex from Alex Pnevus. I think we are back to my channel because we go back and forth. So I think we did Kingdoms of Death on Alex's channel. So I think it's my turn to host for Ashes of Man, which will be chatted about soon. Well, not that soon, end of January. But that's pretty soon. I did actually start reading Kingdoms of Death, rereading Kingdoms of Death because I was like, I don't think I remember the details. So I am glad that I decided to do that because even I've been about like probably like a third of the way through Kingdoms of Death right now. And I was like, oh, thank God I did this. I forgot like half of this. So soon as I finish Kingdoms of Death, I'll actually read Ashes of Man, which I am very much looking forward to. And then last are my Book of the Month Club books, one of which I actually already finished. So at the end of the year, Book of the Month Club subscribers get they like vote on the best book of the year. And then there's like, well, the top five and then of that top five, the best book of the year. And then in your last box for free, you get a copy of like one of those like finalists. And among the finalists, the only one that I had not already read and possibly hated, the only one that I had not read that I was actually like possibly interested in was The Lincoln Highway by Amor Tolles. I don't think that's what you say. And this is the book that I've already finished. This is the first book I read in 2023. And I really, really liked this. So yay, I don't know that I mean, maybe I would have picked it up without that being the reason but certainly wouldn't have picked it up that soon. So I did really like this, but I'll talk about it more in my wrap up. And then the book that it was like my book of the month in December was The Circus Train by Amida Pari. And we'll see how this goes. I have seen the Canadian cover because I think Book of the Month also has the Canadian box. And the Canadian cover is way better. Why are US covers always shitty except for because except for a Sun Eater. Sun Eater US covers are pretty fantastic. A War of Forbidden Love One Girl's Survival 1938. Lena Papadopoulos. Aw, they folded my dust jacket. Crooked jerks. And those are all the books that I will be reading in January, or at least those are the books that I will for sure read in January. As you know, I've already, I'm reading Kingdoms of Death which is not even on my TBR and a Bernard Cornwall book that is not on my TBR. But somehow I will also get through all of these books. And I don't have it in my stack right now but in theory I'm reading The Spider and the Cuckoo again per the read-along. I don't know exactly when and where I'm doing these live shows. I will just keep rereading Leo Kuru's books until such time as people are ready to do live shows about them. So like kind of also on the TBR are The Spider and the Cuckoo, which I just read in December, but I will read them again, no problem. So yeah, let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about the books that I will be reading. If you'll be joining, me slash us slash whoever on any of the buddy reads, read alongs, things that are happening, whatever you all, you know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random times as well, lovely Saturdays, so like and subscribe, join my Patreon if you feel so inclined, and I'll see you when I see you.


Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasebreaks.com, coming at you with 2019-2020 Panini Mosaic Basketball. Cellopack Break No. 172, I don't have a cello pack. Wait for it. Eenie, meenie, miney moe, catch a tiger by his toes, y'all is gonna go Eenie, meenie, miney moe. This is the one right here. That's the one, folks. That's 172, the last cello pack to unlock that basketball mixer, which is coming up with Nick after this, Nick and I. Big thanks to all of these folks for getting into it. There are the teams right here. Let's roll it. Let's randomize it five to two, seven times for each list, one. So as always, we're gonna do the break itself first. Three, four, five, six, and seventh and final time. Nicholas down to Sean. Man, I love KJ Hernandez. All right, seven times for the teams. Miami Heat down to the Wizards. All right, there's the first half of the list right there. Wait, what happened to the teams?  Seven times for the teams. Done for the day, folks. This is it. It's my last thing of the day. All right, and I got Nicholas down to Sean, right? Nicholas down to Sean, that's correct. Can't trust me with this machine anymore. All right, Patrick Pelicans right there in this quick little pack break. And Mike Gris, is it possible? Yes, probable. Yes, let's print, let's rip. That's not so bad, the Braun James. If it was a silver, you'd see these go for kind of a lot, but it's pretty cool, all right. It's cool, Alan Iverson, and an autograph. Rookie, Scripps, Jalen Horde. Autographs are pretty rare in these solo packs. Nice, Timberwolves, Trailblazers, Patrick. And NBA debut, Hachimura, Sean. Sean Maddock with that one, and the solo exclusive, Pink Camo's, not a bad pack. Aaron Holiday, Jimmy Butler, and, wow! Pink Camo, NBA debut, Zion Williamson. Patrick Katzik. There you go, Pat. Not too shabby at all. All right, well, let's see. He still has a shot at the mixer spots, too. All right, Hawks down to Sean. Let's get all those names in there. So it's gonna be top three after seven. Top three after seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven in final time. After seven times, big thanks to four down to 30. I appreciate you getting in. There'll be other ones like this. I'm gonna give it a try next time. And congrats to Sean Maddock, Michael T. and Asa. Nice. Congrats to the three of you. You're in that basketball mix. I think that's $250, $300 a spot. So there you go. Save yourself a little bit of money. Thanks for watching. Thanks for joining. I'm Joe. I'll see you next time for the next one. Bye-bye.


I'm William Bullington and I work for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research and Extension. I'm the FCS educator and I work with new agents. Jessica is one of our relatively new agents. Jessica introduce yourself. Hello everyone my name is Jessica Angel and I'm the family consumer sciences agent in Cleveland County. Great well you know we just are fortunate that we live in a state that we have so many different things that we grow and you know we're really pretty well known for our cattle production and our beef production and so with grilling season coming up I think it's a good idea that maybe we talk some about grilling some beef. I think that's a great idea. Well you know I think it really starts when you when you go out to shop and when we purchase it. So what are your tips for purchasing beef? So my tips are when you go to the grocery store and make sure that your beef is always a cherry red or just a red. A lot of times if you see a discoloration that usually just means that it could be bad but more or less it's actually the fact that it has less oxygen. So it's best to choose this and if you want to you know store it at home right you can put it in the freezer for up to two weeks and or you can just use it within the next couple days. Right okay so if I bought that at the store I would just take it home and if I was gonna use it pretty soon I could just put it in the fridge. Absolutely. Okay that sounds great. Yes ma'am. All right so what kind of steak do you have there? So today we have the blank steak and a lot of people kind of shy away from this just because it can it's known to be a tough cut of meat.  I understand that you know a lot of times we really like some sirloin or some rib eyes or something but that blank steak when I've been looking at them they're usually less expensive. They are. This is a great cut of meat if you were really trying to you know budget you know with grocery store prices nowadays things are up and so this is a great I wouldn't say substitute but this is a great way to have a nice cut of meat that will fit within your budget. Great. Yes ma'am. Well you know some of the ways that I remember that we're gonna that we can tenderize and really get a lot of flavor is that we can use things like a marinade and so marinades are usually they have oils in them and they have some sort of acid and it may be lemon juice or lime juice and your oil you could use olive oil or any type of vegetable oil or whatever type of oil that you really like and that that acid is really going to break down those muscles sure is and then that oil is going to add that the moisture to it that we really need and so then the third thing that we want in that marinade is whatever our aromatics are going to be so whatever spices that you really want to put in there so you can really make your own marinade you can have all kinds of different recipes but if there's something that you really like you can make it your own flavor. Yes and we're not using the marinade today. No we're actually going to use a dry rub seasoning okay this is actually one of my favorite dry rub seasonings that I use at home okay and so it's super simple to make and you pretty much have all these ingredients in your pantry already. That makes it great that way we don't have to shop some more for it. Exactly yes and so today what we're going to have is we've got some chili powder we've got some ground cumin we've got some oregano we've got some cayenne pepper some ground thyme yeah some garlic we've got some black pepper and we've got a little bit of heat today is going to be some red pepper flakes sounds wonderful you can use any type of you know you can do a marinade you can also add different flavorings that you choose you know if you don't want all the heat you can just add a pinch of red pepper flakes or you can omit those as well but it's really what you want to make it so this steak is actually it really takes on the flavor sounds wonderful yes it's fantastic see how you're gonna do that right absolutely so what I'm gonna do here is I'm just gonna you know I've got it here in a bowl and I'm just gonna sprinkle just like so mm-hmm and I really want to get a good coat on it so can you get too much on it I don't think so you don't think so I know I bet not either no I think it would make kind of a nice crusty oh yes yes absolutely so it is a fantastic seasoning I'm just gonna kind of rub it in here just kind of pat it yeah and that way we don't lose all the seasoning and then I'm just gonna flip it over and I'm gonna do the same side okay there's other side with the same seasoning so I just want to sprinkle it on here so I'm actually yes thank you I've actually got my grill pan and we've had it you know heating up so next I'm going to spray it with a oil and today I'm using avocado oil because of the smoke point okay usually you know with all of what has a lower smoke point than this but this way and we'll spray it on here and so we're cooking about medium heat today so I'm expecting between 300 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit on our grill and so that way we don't have any burnt taste to from the grill from our right that's great because I know sometimes it can really smoke oh yes and then you'll get that kind of charred taste it's not very good and you can also use sunflower oil that also has a high smoke point so I'm just gonna make sure that my grill pan and as you can see it's already starting to smoke which is fantastic it's great yes ma'am so what I'm gonna do here is I'm just gonna place it season side down on the grill pan okay kind of shake off the excess if we need to because I've got like patting there ooh we hear that sizzle yeah yeah so we're just gonna let this hang out okay about how long does it cook it really just depends so with charcoal it's usually between 11 to 16 minutes but with gas grilling it's 16 to 21 minutes okay so we're going to let this get up to temperature about 145 with an internal temperature and then we're gonna take it off the heat sure and we're gonna let it rest hang out and it's going to roughly we're gonna we're trying to get a medium warm pink center so great that's exactly the way I like it just kind of pink in the middle but we want to make sure that it's our food safety is we're that's very important and so we'll pull this from the grill flip both sides and let it rest and then we'll sauce it so this is a great alternative that we're cooking inside on the grill instead of outside yeah so if the weather's bad or whatever or maybe you don't have a big outside grill so this is a great way to do it it sure is so we're just gonna kind of let this hang out cook it for another five just until we kind of get these edges you can still see here it's still a little bit paint for us like an internal temperature and then we'll let it sit and rest that sounds wonderful so my goal is to reach an internal temperature of 155 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 and that way we'll have that wonderful looking piece of meat that sounds great yes are you ready to take it off I think yes ma'am yum yes so you can just set your timer delicious and then that way you can you know roughly three to five minutes is usually the rule of thumb and then we will slice into it sounds great so I think we've got a really good sauce that we're gonna put a toss there so let's talk about the ingredients for that sauce what is that sauce again this is called a chimichurri sauce yeah and it is fresh because you know we're like I said we're getting into the summer months and grilling season and what better way to use those herbs in our garden so today we're gonna have in a regular chimichurri sauce you're gonna have some parsley and today we have Italian parsley right and you're also gonna have some red pepper flakes for that extra kick yeah but of course if you're not a spicy person you can always and you know just do a little pinch and you're gonna have some olive oil some vinegar today we're using white vinegar okay and we've got some but you could use some apple cider if you want you could you sure could okay red wine vinegar oh yeah vinegar it's just really okay you want to make it okay and we've got some fresh green onions you know those are in the garden yeah and we've got four cloves of garlic and you can chop this if you want to like I did today it's gonna all go in a food processor right so it'll get chopped up right and we also have a pinch of salt and some black pepper and some fresh lemon juice right so if you don't have one of those great big fancy food processors can you use like just one of those little chopper thing you sure can you can really make this the consistency that you want to if you really want it to have bigger pieces in it you can totally do that but if you want it you know more puree like we have today here we have a really good combination I think I think it's gonna be really smooth and really nice it's gonna be really delicious and so it's just really whatever you want to do but it could be chunky you wanted kind of a chunky it's kind of like salsa you know some people like chunky salsa with the big great tomatoes in it some people just like it really smooth right so I think we have a good combination here today but it's just really your preference okay so you've gotten it off the grill now yes it's been resting for about five minutes now so I think we're ready to slice wonderful now flank steak you slice it a little bit different than you do other state because of the grain of the meat is that right that is correct so my rule of thumb is to kind of look and see where the meat you know the striations of the meat are and so of course you're gonna need a sharp knife so it's actually going this way so I'm gonna cut this way so you're gonna cut diagonally I'm gonna cut diagonally yes absolutely in that way it just makes it for a really tender slice right and so we're looking for a warm pink center yes that is correct so I let this sit we pulled it off the grill as you can see at about 145 degrees Fahrenheit and so it's had an internal temperature when we before we sliced it of about 155 to 160 which is exactly what we were sure to achieve you can if you like your meat to be well done you can always and cook it to and have an internal temperature of 165 degrees or 170 and if you like it a little bit of a medium rare 145 internal temperature would be the correct temperature for that right that looks great I like mine just that little bit of paint I feel like the moisture it still has a lot of moisture it does sometimes when you cook it more than that it draws out a little bit to me but because you've let it rest it we're not gonna be losing that moisture on there now you're getting those nice thin slices I love thin slices you can always cut this however you know if you want some thicker strips you can do that as well but just for you know I prefer thin sure and if you're gonna use it like for a fajita or something along those lines yeah you can always you know cut it you can always when you do this you can always you know slice it into strips if you wanted to it's just kind of really however you know you want to whatever you're making will fit best just like what we have over here yeah yeah we've just gotten nicely you can see we have that nice warm pink center right and so I'm just gonna take some of our chimichurri sauce we still got some nice juices coming through I'm just gonna kind of just drizzle yeah yes and so you can always keep this table side too as well sure you know some of your guests want some extra sauce on it mm-hmm it's just really you know however you want to make it so but yeah it's yeah green just really pairs nicely with that flavor it really it's gorgeous yes it is and then so if you wanted to do like fajitas or something then you can just use pretty much anything you want to you sure so we've got some avocados mm-hmm and some nice long wonderful I think these are going to be delicious yes and the fact is is that you know so many steaks like a ribeye all the times it has a lot of fat to it doesn't it yes and we wanted all marbled in there that's the reason that's so tender and so good but yet this is a very lean piece of it is it's actually one of the leanest ones on the market so flank steak is actually right underneath the sirloin right of the cow so you know it's it's a pretty lean kind of meat it's great has less fat so it's good for heart health you know heart health and it's you can marinate it and make it super tender great well I sure hope that everybody enjoys doing some grilling this summer don't you yes I think it'll be a great time yes I think so too


It was man versus machine at the National Museum of Mathematics. The Harlem Globetrotter is along with the museum's computerized ball bot showed kids that math exists all around them in everyday life. For a basketball player, it's about calculating spur of the moment, the best angle, the best distance, the best velocity. And so they need to have an innate understanding of mathematics to be successful ball players.