Getting more and more fun every time. So I'm Cynthia Speelman. I'm president of the Celestrius Association. And do we have any new people that have arrived today? Wow. Could you introduce yourself please? Can you move here and introduce yourself? Wow. What part of the neighborhood do you live in? West Russell Close at Blanco. Wow. You are my neighbor. You are very close. I'm on Blanco and Woodlawn. So we'll talk. Wait, I'm taking minutes. What is your name again? Anne Weaver. Anne Weaver. She's the secretary. She doesn't need to be nosy. Okay. Who else is here? Yes, sir. I might say that we live in the neighborhood. We have a family. We own houses. So we have a house there, a grand mansion. But I can always go to the IWC association. There's a lot of concerns about that. I'll also be a candidate for city council at this point. Okay. So I'm sure you'll find our association here much more entertaining. Thank you for performing. Anybody else? I've been on to three of them. Yes, sir. Say another part. Everybody on the floor. I've been in Beacon Hill for about two months now. Off of Great Blanco. That's pretty cool. You're also a neighbor. All of your neighbors, right? Yes.  Like a good one. We have a lot to watch. Very good. Shall I do an intro? No, just, we're just happy to see you. Oh, okay. I knew all the time. Well, thank you for coming. On the agenda, please. I have a few changes. So moved. So moved. What are the next changes? I can't remember what they are, though. All I did was wonder what you think around it. We will sort of do that as a council. It's not like I added something. So are you moving? I will. Anybody have a second? Thank you. Oh, we have to say aye. Aye. Okay, so for November 14th, please. The minutes for last month were let's party. 350 people showed up for our neighborhood party. That's double what we've ever had in the past. That's amazing. That's a really testament to people loving free food. Are you all new to the meeting? Is this the first time you've ever come? Yes, ma'am. Others just introduced themselves. Would you like to introduce yourself? Sure. My name is Abby Sendit. We're invited here by Mark. I'm one of the houses here. Okay. Okay. So, can we... Move different gentlemen. All in favor? Aye. Okay. This is a sort of... In case you pick up the seat over there, I've got both December and November here. I'm going to sort of remind them to talk to you since we can have a meeting in December. Moderately expensive months for a level of fun and Thanksgiving and Christmas expenditures. But they also took in almost as much as donations and so on. For general funds, fair bit of expense on for newsletter. I usually take this on a reason, which actually just went up a little bit this month. And it's like we bought at my toaster. But we also wanted to be out. So we're taking the staple on advertising. We did also just to side note, we raised our advertising rates slightly. So it's good to go, but uncomfortable. So one of the biggest hits was part of the neighborhoods paying for that big part of the business. But they're still in pretty good shape and I'm sure they forgot that it's expensive, but still pretty good shape overall. Yes. Last item, Christmas. That's the part. That's the food for the party. The party. Christmas, that's the that one part. But she delivered baskets of food and toys for families in the school for children. Okay. I'd like to talk to you about making a micro-penis. They came last time when we blocked, blocked, the web. I'm going to start to change. Sorry. Mostly because I expect that crime is going to be an issue.  I'd like to give you a quick slide. So on 7.15 May and Michael to come to the neighborhood association meeting and present. Zudd went to all of the two block radius all the way around and doorknocked and invited people personally told them there was going to be a vote or not a vote but a presentation on that property and we also left flyers. Normally what people do is they go to Zudd first. Zudd helps them navigate what they need to know and then Zudd makes a recommendation. And they did it a little backwards and finally it's my bad but they came to the neighborhood person we didn't take a vote. They had a room that was completely filled last time in November because of all those neighbors. And they did a presentation and afterwards they seemed approving of it. I don't think there was anyone that said I don't like this and we're talking about next door neighbors, people who live behind. Zudd, they went to Zudd and met with Zudd and Zudd has a recommendation. Before Zudd talks to you about their recommendation I will come into whatever we vote today. I'll commend them that this is the way it should be done. This is the way when a developer comes into a neighborhood and you talk to people to put together a presentation to come to meetings where they can talk to specific people that wasn't easy. There must have been moments where they thought why are we doing this? And we're lucky that our councilman's office said you have to talk to the neighborhood association first but it gave them an understanding of the neighborhood and helped us understand what they were doing. And Zudd's place is not to say oh we're not going to do this it's to help them figure out the confines of our NCDs and our Midtown plan. So they did all of that. Mark Spilden's chair of Zudd he'd like to give a recommendation for the Zudd Committee. In essence I think the plan that they put together is one that is a few more meetings surrounding properties instead of being four long shotgun houses that there are a lot of buildings on the site they're asking to have a property in place so that they can put more posts on it and there's more appropriate meetings and there's design and a lot of questions about how far we can go and so we The plan is on the back of your agenda. So if you have any questions or concerns you should ask Yes sir. Remember years ago there was a property that was one big town surrounding a major and had a portion of the garage. It shows that the current building allowed for four separate houses. Mark? We're getting the hold on. Yes. We understand from DSD that they can currently build four houses. They would be similar to what was built on Hollywood because they would be narrow and they would be long. So they would be shotgun houses after they make a presentation if I can look at it. They're not going to present today because they presented last time. They can certainly answer any questions. You don't have anything. That's neat for just a minute. On this some types we're faced with a least worse decision. And I think if I had total control of this and we had to do things my way this would be a magnificent turn of the century, last century style house similar to the one that was torn down. But nobody's building those. Nobody's buying those. It isn't going to be reality. So I think what we need to do today is make a decision similar to what we considered when we did Hollywood is what are the other realities that are possible? And one is this shotgun style and you know what I mean by shotgun about 15, maybe 20 feet wide and about 50 feet long. Kind of like a mobile home truthfully. And our understanding after the Zuck committee drilling down with DSD getting over a phone is that they can legally do this today and they don't have to come talk to us about it. All they have to do is pull the permit and they can build it. But they took a look at this property and the surrounding properties and they realized that they were almost 500 years ago with the character and the style that we're all familiar with in Deakin Hill and they felt that the property really deserved something with a little bit more character than the shotgun houses that they had legal right to build. But in order to do that, they need a little bit different configuration and so they came to us with something similar to this and this has been tweaked a little bit, refined a little bit. This is, as I understand it the most recent version. I think we're going to have a couple questions for you here but so the question tonight is if we say no we're going to have four shotgun houses probably because they don't have to ask anybody or if we say yes then we're likely to have and Zuck has worked very closely with them on making sure that they're good for the work going to have some homes that fit in with the character and the style of Deakin Hill and that's really the choice that we have today do you have anything to add to that? Yes sir, Mr. Smith? Just two quick questions it looks like you guys there Could you stand up because the rest is there. Hi, I'm John Smith I'm an architect Are you guys asking for a variance for the eastern most building that's over the setback and the porch on the building now? Oh, the 21 setback right now? So, yeah what we're asking for is IDC so we're trying to it's exactly that, it's relaxing the setbacks for placing the home where they're supposed to be and what we want to do is do IDC with four residential units the setback right there there's no, we have to be within 10 feet within the building, if there's any homes along the grant we have about a 10 foot but there aren't houses on this block face so we said let's just keep it right around 25 foot setback that we have that we're supposed to add here too neighborhood conservation district so we're just going to have it for the building to start this one but some of them are over the 20s the only one that's over is the porch, right? that's the porch is over and then part of the wall and the southern wall and the grant and the southeast part of all of it on my friends that's coming, is that like a footer still? sure just curious if you can move it the second question was all of the other sort of building technology in the neighborhood all these craftsmen by the way have a sidewalk out in the street and you would be one of the few houses in the neighborhood that's great to have instead of having the sidewalk turn to go drive away after all that oh I see, instead of going straight I don't think that would be too much of a problem I mean this is certainly it shouldn't be I don't see that being a problem just always yeah, instead of going this way instead of going straight go away right right okay but this has been this is our site plan where we want to place stuff the homes and houses that we did submit into the zoning so this is pretty is this the site plan that will be submitted with your request? yes I believe with IDC this is it okay yeah that's it what is your your outside going to look like you're finished on your outside are you going to look like the rest of the neighborhood or are you going to come in and put up the board and stuff like that? yeah IDC neighborhood conservation district doesn't allow that kind yeah you have to use the project that's going up on West President's plan that doesn't look like a society that belongs in that neighborhood if we can pull it up you can see I think there's a list of what we haven't even gotten to that point we want to get through this yeah whatever it says we'll choose the material yeah whatever it is finish it on my way wait wait Celia Celia had her hand Celia? well I was wondering about the rear setback is that also going to be addressed yes the rear setback can be 5 feet 5 feet from the rear and 3 feet from the side is your setbacks with the IDC we want to get up to 3 feet on the side yeah it really lacks a little setback so you can man to answer your in the NTD we encourage the use of natural wood siding cement fiber board siding stucco brick so those would be our final options whatever it is I also want to say that I really appreciate you all working with us this is one of these cases and I promise that I was going to write an article about zoning and multifamily zoning especially but I haven't gotten the research quite down yet let me intertell why you need to this is Jerry Long, he's part of the board he's also the person that so we have 5 public meetings to come up with this NCD that the city called us right 10 years ago in some houses they didn't really mention zoning but some type were but the one right behind us is the one with the brick original that was the board that was the board but I do want to say that when you look at so we're stuck we have a historic home that was on there but it has multifamily zoning and that zoning is what I want to write an article about because that was added as an overlay for Beaconville at one point in history to kind of make the single family homes that were converted to apartments legally because they weren't legal for a long time and there were so many of them that the city had to do something so we're it's multifamily there's nothing we can do about it at this point but what these great people here have done is one of the major things in the NCD is the porches are so important for single family homes and they have taken their apartments or single family homes smaller ones and they put porches on each of them to meet our NCD on both sides the grand side and the magnolia side which I think is a really great thing that helps fit in the neighborhood even though there's four on a smaller lot is there any more questions what if they bring the price right there we don't want to yeah hopefully we can start construction yeah yeah we're going to you know put it on your city yeah whatever I'm sorry you built something and you don't know what you're going to sell this for we're trying to go through we cannot tell and we won't tell building how much we work yeah we'll see it we'll definitely let y'all know they don't know we'll just ask did somebody else have a question yes sir I think I think there's a couple we need to look at we need to look at where exactly the they have one they don't have one but we want the property to make sure that it's like we're going to be able to save I think it's grant we have a grant that's what I think I am we should be able that was one of our concerns to take the trees are there we have this configuration we can see where we're going because definitely with the shop approach the good thing I think on the trees I have to first check the driveways that come in where the trees are along the grant we're going to pave that alleyway so those trees maybe have to be out there I think they're out there they're out there did you have a question talk to them the developers on covering only 44.08% of the the law because like in carolville it's just ridiculous green space is important too it kind of goes with the neighborhood you know setbacks are are further back but I think it's important you know I was well that have green space in the front yard any other questions okay the motion is Beacon Hill supports the plan site for 715 grant which will be this one which we have labeled the one you have in front of you which was presented at the November 2016 and January 2017 they have met with the general association twice last time may we have a vote by affirmation raise your hands please aye against congratulations to the general association they've had the patience of joe and rightly so they're asking something of our neighborhood but this is the way it's supposed to be so thank you very much for your patience okay one more thing before we get to the safe report we the the board that wants to make an amendment we haven't done this for several years the amendment process is we come up with the amendment by the board we approve it by vote and then we offer it at the neighborhood meeting and we vote on it at the next neighborhood meeting so people have time this is the motion we're not voting or doing anything I'm just reading it to you the motion is to amend the Bihana bylaws to allow those property owners that have properties on the west side of Fredericksburg road that are within the Beacon Hill NCD client area but not within the boundaries of Bihana one vote for property on any actions that affect the NCD's non-residential standards that's the skeeple on either is one block on Fred Road one side of a block that is part of our NCD the city asked us to include it when we were going through the process but it's not part of our neighborhood association they have pointed out on numerous occasions how unfair it is that we make decisions about that block and they don't get a chance to vote on it so this is an attempt to remedy and we should have done this when we did the NCD but we're doing it now so we will vote on this next time one of the big issues in our neighborhood is crime I don't know if you've read the newsletter about the woman on Christmas Eve who broke her window in she came in cleaned out her refrigerator took her TV and most importantly took all the presents under the tree she had four year old son she was afraid that Santa wasn't going to come visit him the neighborhood when I wrote the article it was to show what a community we are people came on midnight on New Year's Eve brought presents from their own kids tree a big yellow truck for this kid wrapped things brought food boarded up her window brought even clothes on Facebook what are your ages or sizes of your teenage daughters I've got a couple things that are new we'll wrap them up and there's a picture of him Christmas morning this little boy just beaming with this big yellow truck it was an amazing story about what kind of community we are what underlying theme is it's also a story about the kind of crime we're having so I'd like to invite our safe officer Officer Brian Bigler I guess evidently everyone refers to as the specimen because he's so nice and cool and when everybody else is sweating he's nice and cool the specimen ladies and gentlemen I'm going to start sweating here good evening everybody and Happy New Year going over the crime reports today or for the month of December so in the month of December we had three burglary of habitations one burglary of building which was somebody's back shed four burglary of vehicles two robberies and a discharge of firearms I'm going to clarify a couple things so with the burglary of vehicles one of the vehicles was momentarily left unattended and I talked about this I always talk about don't leave stuff in your car don't want to be visible take everything out so you don't give them the opportunity to find something but also I mean it's cold for Texas it's cold people start their cars in the morning and leave them running outside to warm them up I wouldn't recommend doing that because you basically just left the keys in the car for somebody to take so it's one of those things and it seems like in this situation she just went inside real quick came back out and they had rifle to her car and they had splines so it's one of those don't want to leave it for just a second I mean we're in a great neighborhood but there's no place safe in this world anymore so you just have to be vigilant about these things two of the other burglary of vehicles were Ford pickup trucks and I think I have to put on that before that these thieves and burglars would love to pick up trucks especially the 250 and the 350 but it's not red hot mail down they'll steal whatever they get their hands on so that's just something to think about the other burglary of the vehicle was actually a mechanic shop they broke into the yard and took some things out of the vehicle that were being repaired in regards to the two robbery of individuals one was an intoxicated mail that was found late at night exactly cooperative but he'd been feed over the head and so that's one thing the other one it was reported in central it didn't occur so when y'all look at the raids online if y'all have used that app or when I'm telling you what was reported it doesn't mean it actually happened here so there was only one robbery and it was an intoxicated mail that got knocked unconscious and then the discharge of firearm the only details that were given were individuals in the yard saw the vehicle drive by taking shots in the air so it wasn't directed at any person not that that makes it any better but it was just shots fired into the air I I guess I'll tell them so I know it was thank y'all for coming together on Christmas Eve we don't see that very often as soon as that sounds we're not coming together like a community anymore I guess it's just a sign of the time but it's great to hear that y'all actually did I didn't get a copy of a report or I didn't find a report for that burglary so this I'm going to touch on a couple of points with that one if any of y'all know or have her contact me or have her contact the police department so we can file that report the other thing that I'm going to touch on based on that is the fact that if y'all don't call us when crime happens then we don't know about it and if we don't know about it technically it didn't happen so if y'all are concerned about crime in the area which y'all are because it's happening the problem is if you don't call in the crime we don't hear about it it's not documented or documented with all those beat counters so you don't get more resources so if you had four burglaries but you actually had 15 that happened and y'all can post on Facebook to yell or blow in the face sorry to tell y'all that but if y'all don't call the police then I can't chief can't no one can get y'all the additional resources that you need in order to make the community actually safer so I can give you tips I can give you pointers I can tell you lock your stuff up, lock your doors call the police when you see anything suspicious but if y'all don't do it unfortunately nothing's gonna happen as usual I'm a better vet but are there any questions or so one of the concerns that we're having is it happened to us and Mark was able to get our stuff back but because of a woman who put all this stuff on Facebook Facebook's an amazing thing despite everything you can say bad about Facebook crime especially you can't believe how many postings there are there's guys walking through our neighborhood at night sometimes during the day just rifling through stuff on our porch or kicking down the doors and we've got pictures of that well somebody went on our porch stole two big cement planters and tea planters sold them went to a store on the Hildebrand and Lisa Chavez Lisa here she's been stealing stuff tells the shop owner he stole that that's from our neighborhood and you're buying stolen goods and the guy got attitude and threw off the thing she took pictures of the planters put it on the Facebook page I saw it it was our planters Mark went down there he said it was a short conversation got our planters back and we called the police we have those individuals in our neighborhood they're drug addicted there's all kinds of problems but those stores that we only find stolen goods are part of a big part of this problem if they have a customer if the guys were going on our porches and in our homes and stealing our cars they're selling it to somebody and that somebody is who I think maybe we should start focusing on we also Senator Menendez has asked us Chief McManus has asked us to have a prime point person I'm not asking for volunteer tonight I'm just saying you take that home and talk about it a little over and if you'd like to be that person and you would start by going to a luncheon with Officer McManus and other neighborhood leaders to get information about crime and homelessness in our neighborhood are there any questions you have? can you maybe talk about some of the options people have for reporting crimes maybe they're concerned about crimes or something like that the simple is the easiest one just dial 911 or even the number which is 207 7273 or SAPD you never have to leave your name you don't have to leave any contact information you can be totally anonymous if you want to or you can say that you want us to knock on your door and make contact with you you can be anonymous so that way you don't have to fear the cops showing up you're calling on your neighbors and the cops are knocking on your door like oh yeah is that him over there? you don't have to worry about that totally anonymous now other options that we have that we've made available is if you see crime in your area but you just it's not actively happening it's not going on right then and there you can do the 401-1-Tib app which is on the SAP web page it's 401-1-Tib right hand side corner of the way down you can see a little icon for it you can write the location all the characteristics of what's going on what you're seeing, the behaviors the people you're seeing and it's said directly to our intelligence unit the intelligence unit is required daily to take every single tip they get on that and distribute them to the follow-up units so if you're seeing your neighbor down the street dealing drugs and you don't want to get involved in as nice as people in the world you can document all this stuff on this form it's sent goes to intelligence, it'll go to narcotics and narcotics will follow up with it on that other options is always crime stoppers you have any information you can always call crime stoppers as well it can be totally anonymous just like the 401-1-Tib just like calling the police they can bring it up they're scared to call the police now mostly for that reason you may have a burp or you may have drugs going down the street you may just have a drunk in your backyard you know, a nearby who's giving you a hard time that you don't want to necessarily confront or have it be known that last Friday when I passed by that guy I had a whole bunch of stuff a whole wire fence it had taken off somebody's property and believe me it has been a problem I've known about it since before I came to this unit two years ago I've known about it the entire time I've been on central my problem is can we just say what housing is? I will, nobody else 1045 West Summit I didn't say she said the problem is you got to get familiar with the guy who writes the pipe that way when you see him in your neighborhood you know what he looks like and you can keep a better eye on that doesn't mean he's necessarily going to do something at that moment and he might be at least your where and that goes back to if you've seen some suspicious activity then call and the biggest problem we're having with that is just like I reported four burglaries that's all that was reported to the police department and were there more than that? I can almost guarantee it so what's happening is especially courts burglaries or court staffs is what they're technically what they are people don't call those in all they stole my planters went off that you know I'd stink but what am I going to do there with some planters or sometimes it's a bicycle people don't have well with planters and other items like that there's no way to identify them there's no serial numbers or anything like that or people don't put homemade markings on there to identify them so it makes it very difficult to ID after it's taken bicycles people actually have written down the serial number on their bicycle one, two, okay that's more than I expected because bicycles get stolen right and left Alphabista just had several and I don't know I don't know all the information on that one but if you don't write down the serial number they take that bike, they take it to a punch up it's gone or he sells it in this front yard it's gone and I can't prove that that merchandise is actually stolen but if you wrote down a serial number or on the bottom of the planter you just have to even use a marker or something and write you know or like these burgers they're not going to take the time to wipe it off and he takes it to a takes it to any shops and they flip it over hey I got everything I need in order to pursue a criminal case on this person whereas before and like everybody's seen it you see the bikes in front of the yard you've seen lawn mowers or god knows what else if you don't have a serial number to prove insurers there's no way I can say well that's mine because I've had the dent and the scratch on the side and as much as I believe you that's not going to hold up in a court you understand what I'm sure it is why do you say that I'm not I'm not you know I can't she knows what her earns look like and you arrest them and take them in and they go into a court what do you think is going to happen you don't think the judge is going to say this is a totally different thing so I don't think so I think that you know we can agree to disagree but I don't understand why you're if we've known about it for a year and nothing's happening I don't understand y'all may have known about it for a year and I know it's a dirtbag house but I don't have any proof that that's what I was doing now I've got one case one possible case and I've given everybody information I have about the history of the person history of the house, history of that street every golem's on that's happening there and the detectives in that unit are going to follow up on everything now does that mean they're going to get a conviction does that mean they're going to get a charge from I don't know but if people aren't calling in and people don't make those safety measures to safeguard your own property or you can just like I said steer them you're going to steer them down to your lawnmower and that individual takes it and he has it and I can say that person there that person stole that and I can send that up it's like in her case visual person sees it notices guys not nice takes pictures of it, updates it so we have pictures of the guy with the planters in front of the store that's what I need now that's what I need you understand what I'm saying? don't get me wrong you want to say the law like right wrong is black and white the law is so many shades of gray is nothing so that's what makes everything so difficult so officer Bickler is here on his night off so oh I'm sorry now I've heard a report about suspecting an operation on Kildevren I'll take that the question is is the police department going to open up a case an investigation case? there is an active case that's why I can't mention names, addresses anything of that sort there is an active case I would if I had had a little bit more time I could have possibly gotten the detective assigned to the case to come and talk to you all about how the process goes after a patrol officer sends a report about I'm working on that maybe at the next meeting I can have the detective come because once the patrol and the rights report it starts a whole new process and if I could get an action perspective about here to go through with Yelp it might help y'all to understand how delicate it is to actually get a criminal case Madam President, you may want to bring such a person over to our next meeting well I'm thinking we'll do a little meeting where maybe we just talk about it'll be a crime scene you can invite the guy from the the store owner I was the last one I know this is quite well outside the box since we have a picture of this individual would it be too much to ask that you carry that picture of that individual called the other empty dealers in our neighborhood and let them know have they ever seen this guy that are bodied at least that puts them on notice that hey people are watching and we're not accusing anybody of doing this stuff but everybody needs to know it's not right I think that's one of our jobs too I think that's something where in the neighborhood we're going to do is go to the local stores and say please get on I had to call the non-emergency on my neighbor because there was horrible domestic violence going on living a really old blue flex and the walls are paper thin and so they responded probably within five minutes there were four units that came the only thing that I would suggest is to come in dark because they came in with their lights flashing and it caused them to shut down and it made me look like an idiot because you know you could almost hear them through the phone that's how loud it was and he was obviously choking her and so I don't know the result of it I did talk to the police officers but you know I've already got a plan next time you know please come in dark don't say anything but you know but it did make me look like a nosy neighbor that was just making things up and so I did get a text the next day from my neighbor that apologized for me hearing them fight so I knew you know whatever but it's just those things if we did call in report you know are there ways to assure that you know they're not just going to knock and say oh nobody's home do you hurt things or whatever but I really I did call back and say thank you for responding very quickly I appreciated that so I did do that it's very complicated when we get a call for like domestic violence especially if it's actively going on we almost always go lights and sirens because we need to get there we need to stop it he was choking her this time he could have been here with the baseball that next time and there's and trying to think it's complicated because there's time when we have like a burglary going on and we'll be going lights and sirens but then we'll shut everything off so we can cruise up quietly and hopefully catch them in the act but when there's an assault going on typically we're going as fast as we can and we're going very safely at a high rate of speed with lights and sirens so that we can address the problem immediately without you know so it's to answer your question it's it's complicated because I've been on the force over 10 years now and every situation is unique every situation is different so you could call trust me most officers love nosy neighbors because we can get information because it's like okay so you called in and he was beating her up she texted you the next day saying sorry about that well the next time there's going to be a history okay there was a call there for violence domestic violence nothing came of it but any any cop who's worth assaults knocked on the door and say hey is everybody okay do you mind if I come in and talk to everybody no I don't want you to come in and if we don't have exigent circumstances to enter that house and everybody's telling us they're fine if we don't hear anything we can't go in now next time we get a call and we walk up to the door maybe she comes to the door and you can you can see that look over her face like hey everything's fine but you know come on in anyway that's what I'm saying nosy neighbors are the best neighbors call the police if you have to call can you talk to them for domestic violence so a diagonal of if they're strangulation so that's one of the side things or that from a trader's more might be to think of and that's the thing a lot of domestic violence and I know I'm going way over a lot of domestic violence can be it most of the majority of women but in certain circumstances they're afraid definitely afraid of the person sometimes they need that extra little help to call out we have officers specifically trained to help in those situations but I can tell you from experience I've been to houses over and over where I know I've even caught the guy in the act and looked them and either they don't testify with a victim doesn't testify or the case just gets dropped because no one wants to talk so it's nosy's better don't feel bad nosy's excellent they type of warrants they sit down, they interview photographs rcrt on top well thank you officer vickler the praise for the law I'm thinking an offensive theory I'm just going to hug it because I'm a hugger speaking of crime vietter has helped figure out what to do about the crime on rosewood and blanco or rather blanco star one of the things that we've met with the councilman's office and in partnership with the city we'll have another meeting before this happens but february 18th from 9 to 1 p.m. we need volunteers to help us figure out that alley nefarious activities are happening there and the neighbors have been cited by co-compliance most of those neighbors hardly have the money to fix their roofs much less and I'm sort of paraphrasing what Mr. Yatter said a lot of her elders and we need to be able to help them clean out that alley and stop that crime on rosewood and blanco that will go a long way it's one of the steps but I hope you can attend february 18th the city is sitting out a big bin people are volunteering from city departments to come work surely we can also meet the demand in our own neighborhood if city employees are willing to give a saturday morning to come help clear that alley it's on february 18th but it will be in the next newsletter it will be at the next neighborhood meeting I'm just kind of putting it out there so we have committee business and that's about it benevolence mrs. Eller would you like to give a report first I would personally pay a deal and I want to say thank you I want to say thank you but I want to say thank you to the police officers because they have just contacted me they called they come to my house when I leave so we need to continue to be involved and do our best chapter 1, chapter 2 this christmas was the most exciting christmas it is a joy to be able to supply toys, food, hams to 22 seven families who were out and we delivered the baskets with toys we gave them bread packs with good supplies to the children and the community so this was truly a miracle on language 3 and I want to thank each one of you they have so beautiful supported our benevolent fund thank you so much thank you community garden there is a garden work day on the 21st from 9-11 that is at Gramercy and Capital and for those of you that are new we have a community garden on Gramercy and Capital there are I believe still plots available that holds $10 a year to have a plot what you do is once twice a year you are required or required like you to come and help and keep the garden clean and weed and that kind of stuff it is right across the screen from the playground so it is great for the kids in that area too


Good evening everybody and welcome to this celebration of ANU research. My name is Margaret Harding and I am the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for research here at the Australian National University. I would like to commence by acknowledging and celebrating the first Australians on whose land we meet and pay my respects to the elders of the Ngunnawal people past and present. A very warm welcome to the ANU community, to the Canberra community and especially to our higher degree research students here this evening for one of our showcase events of the year, the three minute thesis competition. Universities are places of higher education and learning and we often tend to focus on the building and the physical present which are important but really what we are about is our students. We love all our students but we have a particular soft spot or I do I should say for our research students who are my responsibility in the university. We are really proud of all of you, you are great ambassadors for the university, we expect great things of you and we know you will deliver. A very warm congratulations to all our finalists this evening. The opportunity to stand in front of an audience of close to a thousand people this evening is part of your PhD journey to be able to communicate, to defend, to enthuse, to excite an audience and explain what you are doing as part of your PhD research. We are enormously proud of all of our students who will be presenting here this evening. With those few words let the show begin. I am pleased to welcome to the stage Will Grant who will be your emcee this evening. Thank you Margaret, good evening everybody, welcome to Three Minute Thesis. Yeah! This is as Margaret said a celebration of the research that we are doing here at ANU, a chance for us to explore, to hear, to wonder what it is that our research students are doing and to revel in it just three minutes each speaker. As Margaret said my name is Will Grant, I am from the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. To begin I would like to welcome our audience here in the room and our audience going out live on Facebook. Join us, send a tweet, enjoy what is going on tonight. I would like to begin by thanking the team of the research skills and training team, Associate Professor Inga Mubern and Victoria Fir Smith who have done the hard work of putting all of this Three Minute Thesis together this year. Normally Inga would be in this spot tonight but unfortunately she had a bit of a cough and was not able to do this but I get to do this instead and I am very glad to be here tonight. The Three Minute Thesis was developed at the University of Queensland. It's now a vast international, not a conspiracy, vast international competition, 170 universities in 18 countries worldwide. All of our finalists here tonight have been through a grueling process, semifinals in their colleges are now here to be here tonight and one of them, the winner tonight will go on to the Asia Pacific final at UQ at the end of the month. Now, some reminders. First of all, could you put your phone not on off but on silent? We'd love for you to tweet about this awesome research that's coming here tonight. So 10 years, 10 years that we've been running the Three Minute Thesis from the University of Queensland and here. In 2016, we've had big winners. Joshua Choutan from the John Curtin School of Medical Research, won the Three Minute Thesis Asia Pacific final in Brisbane. And in 2014, Rosanna Stevens from the College of Arts and Social Sciences here, won second place in people's choice in the Trans-Tasman final at the University of Western Australia. What is the Three Minute Thesis?  That's not what we're doing here tonight. The Three Minute Thesis is a compelling oration on their thesis. Oration is their words, not mine. It talks about its significance to a non-specialist audience and it's a test of communication skills. The job of the thesis of the Three Minute Thesis, sure it's to explain that thesis in three minutes, but it's to showcase the amazing research that we're doing here at ANU. Now to win that prize of going off to Brisbane to compete for ANU, there are of course rules that our participants have to follow. You can judge them on the rules too, audience. There is a People's Choice Award and I'll tell you more about that in a second. So what are the rules for our speakers? One slide, one stage, one person, three minutes, that's all they get. They have to tell us what they're researching, how they're doing it, why it matters and they don't sadly get to use songs, raps, gimmicks, props or magic tricks. Was magic tricks really explicitly ruled out? Wow. You will get a chance to vote later. Now, I said there would be a three minute warning, not just a warning but we will cut people off if they go over three minutes, that's a hard rule. You will hear this sound. We very much hope for our speakers' sake that we won't be hearing that sound because they would sadly be disqualified. But you can still hear how awesome their research is. So judging tonight, obviously you will all be giving the People's Choice Awards, but giving us the formal awards are our wonderful panel of judges, lit up in that beautiful lighting in the middle of the auditorium just there. We have, please thank them for their time, Professor Mike Kalford, provost here at ANU. Yes. Elizabeth Lee, MLA, member for Kura Jong here in the ACT. Professor Tom Kalma, co-chair of Reconciliation Australia and Chancellor of the University of Canberra. Lish Fayer, broadcaster at ABC, triple six radio. Dr. Matthew Trinker, director of the National Museum of Australia and Diane Cargas-Bray, philanthropist and 2018 ACT citizen of the year. So judges, unfortunately you don't get to make up your own criteria for which is the best. There is criteria that you need to follow. Did the presentation help you understand the research? What's the thesis topic and its significance that communicated in the language appropriate to you? An intelligent but non-specialist audience. Did the presentation get you to want to know more? Also think about their stage presence. Are they connecting with us? Is their vocal range excellent? Is their pacing good? Are they confident? At this point I just wanted to say that the research that we do at ANU often deals with confronting topics. Some of the topics tonight may be confronting and some of the images shown on screen may be confronting as well, just a warning in advance. So what do they win? Everyone gets a prize. Because speaking on this stage is a hard task and they've already competed through the semifinals to get here. Everyone who speaks tonight will win a $250 research support grant thanks to PASA. Yeah, a special prize will be given to the key academic supporter as nominated by the ANU winner, which hopefully is their supervisor. If not, it's kind of, I don't know. The PASA People's Choice Award, that's what you will all be giving, $500 research support grant. The runner up, $1,000 research support grant. And the winner, $4,000 in research support grant and the opportunity to represent ANU in the Asia Pacific final in Brisbane on the 27th of September. So one final thing, we have a hashtag. Hash, ANU 3MT, send the tweets out, make this viral, and let's get the show beginning. To begin, from the School of Archeology and Anthropology in the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, speaking on Seeing the Forests for the Trees, Primate Habitats on the Brink. Please make welcome. Kirily Apthorpe. It's Ba Langer, one of the most critically endangered primates in the world, found only on the island of Cat Ba in Vietnam. Over the last 40 years, thousands of these monkeys have been hunted, caught to be kept as pets, or poached to be used in medicinal teas. Their forests have been logged, demolished for farms, cleared for development, and continuously encroached upon until their habitat, once covering over 280 square kilometers, now covers a few fragments, totaling the size of Lake Billy Griffin. The Cat Ba Langer is on the brink of extinction with only 60 left in the world. And to add to their problems, this tiny population is split into two main groups, which have reproductively isolated from one another and facing serious genetic problems as a result. As a biological anthropologist, I study human and primate evolution and behavior, specifically focusing on the conservation of critically endangered species like this one. Right now, we know very little about the habitat of Vietnam's primates, but we do know that if species like this disappear, their entire ecosystems could collapse. So my project is the first ever study of the Cat Ba Langer's ecology. It is important to know though that there are no simple solutions to saving these monkeys or their habitats. So our team is out there collecting as much information as we can to try to solve this complex problem. And to discover more, I went out into their habitat in Vietnam. I climbed limestone mountains, clung to cliff faces, and got caught in rock slides on summits, all the while counting thousands of plants, measuring their vegetation and modeling their distribution. And it was worth it, because now I have the first ever ecological profile of the Cat Ba Langer, helping us to understand their habitat needs. Now, we might never fully understand why these monkeys sleep on cliff ledges over the ocean, why their babies are bright orange, or why they drink seawater using their tails. But I have discovered that they can adapt to less than pristine forests. And I've confirmed there is a viable vegetation corridor that could be used to unite the two groups. This would dramatically improve our ability to plan for their ongoing conservation and reduce their genetic problems, which is good news for all of us. Because by preserving species like this, we're safeguarding the world's biodiversity for future generations. So, while the plight of this monkey might seem dark at first glance, bit by bit, tree by tree, I'm working to bring the Cat Ba Langer and its forests back from the brink. Thank you. Yeah, we think that was worth it too, Kirillie. All those hard yards, all that hard work doing that research. But research is important. It's important that we're out there doing these things to try and make the world a better place. Kirillie's work really fits into that. But there's a lot of research at ANU that really fits into that paradigm of making the world a better place. Next up, from the ANU College of Law, looking at how to remove offence, equality of outcome and anti-discrimination law, please make welcome, Alice Taylor. Some people, society is filled with fences, which prevent them from living the lives they wish to lead. Those fences may relate to their gender, their age, a disability, or their race. The image behind me represents the classic approach to those fences and equality of treatment, where everyone is treated the same regardless of circumstances or need, where everyone is treated the same, even where this leads to unequal outcomes. But that's not our understanding of equality today. Today, we expect something more. We expect that barriers will be removed, that fences will be lowered, and that ramps exist. But does anti-discrimination law currently achieve this equality of opportunity? That, in essence, is the subject of my thesis. In my thesis, I have analyzed and compared over 600 anti-discrimination law cases from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. And I did so to determine whether and how courts are interpreting anti-discrimination law to achieve an equality of opportunity. And what I discovered is the answer depends on where you are. So whilst these countries look outwardly similar, their approach to matters of equality and discrimination are different. And it's different not because the rules are different, because the rules are the same, but because of the way in which the courts have applied and interpreted those rules. So what's the difference? In essence, what happens to the fence in each of these countries? Well, in Canada, the existence of the fence is challenged. The fence builder must justify that fence or it will be removed. In the United Kingdom, we might give someone an additional box to stand on or cut a hole in the fence for them to see through. The fence remains, but the person is individually accommodated. And in Australia, that fence is staying put. There will be no additional boxes. There will be no cutouts. Equality of treatment is all that we are offered here. But through this research, I have developed a framework to determine how and why courts interpret discrimination more to achieve an equality of opportunity or outcome. And through this research, I can develop new avenues of law reform and provide advocates with tools to assist people with disabilities, women, and those of ethnic minorities so that we can ultimately remove the fence. Thank you. Tear down the fences. I'm going home tonight. I'm gonna get rid of my fence. See if my neighbours like that. They won't like that. I won't do that. I won't do that. Okay, don't go too far. Don't go too far. Okay, a very different note now. From the fences between us and our neighbours to the deep, dark reaches of the universe. From the research school of physics and engineering in the ANU College of Science, helping us listen to the music of gravity, David McManus. Black holes are called black for a reason. Because they don't emit any light. Almost everything that we know about the universe around us, we know because of light. But light can't always paint the full picture. You can't see everything. In 2015, for the first time ever, we detected a collision between two black holes. But we didn't see it. Instead, it was the first time that we heard the music of gravity. Small ripples in the fabric of space and time called gravitational waves. Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves 100 years ago. They are created whenever masses accelerate through space. Gravitational wave astronomy has opened up a new window into the universe, allowing us to detect things that we cannot see. And in the future, may help us learn about things in our universe that we don't understand very well yet. Gravitational wave observatories combine state-of-the-art technology, along with the most precise measurement techniques ever developed to measure these tiny ripples in space and time. As an experimental physicist, I always want to measure things more accurately. I have created a sensor which will help improve the performance of these gravitational wave observatories. My sensor uses a set of torsion pendulums which move and respond to changes in gravity. I use lasers to accurately measure this motion down to less than the diameter of an atom. My sensor is used to characterize changes in gravity here on Earth, which show up as unwanted noise in the gravitational wave observatories looking out into space. By removing the effects of these noise, these observatories become more sensitive, allowing them to see new types of events and to see further into our universe. This fundamental science actually has real-world applications as well. I've done modeling to show that my sensor can be used to measure the gravitational signals that are produced during the course of an earthquake before the ground begins to shake. This means that my sensor can be used as an early warning system for oncoming earthquakes, providing up to a couple of minutes extra warning before the arrival of seismic waves. In these extra minutes, you can switch off important and potentially dangerous infrastructure like a nuclear reactor. You can tell people to take cover or stop a high-speed train. In this way, my sensor can be used to help protect important assets and save lives. When there are things that we cannot see, we have to open our ears. We can complete our picture of the universe by listening to the music of gravity. Less than the size of an atom, halfway across the universe, real-world impact, it's got everything.  And, yeah, this next slide does contain images of a deceased child. From the Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, talking about speaking up, silencing terrorism, please make welcome Bhavani Khanan. We do not negotiate with terrorists. A favorite phrase of world leaders and Hollywood directors alike. Our leaders repeat this phrase so often and with such conviction that negotiation has become a dirty word. Negotiations have seemed to be a last resort, conducted in secret and publicly denied. The cost of terrorism is unacceptable. But what about the human cost of countering terrorism? Three-year-old Alan Kearney lost his life fleeing from terrorism-related violence. Now, he wasn't just fleeing from Islamic State, but also from the military responses to terrorism that had plagued his short life. Almost two decades on, and not only is there no end in sight to the war on terror, but it has caused the biggest humanitarian crisis of our time. The status quo simply isn't working. There is a secret weapon in the counterterrorism arsenal. Negotiating or communicating with terrorists significantly reduces destruction, displacement, and death. Between 1968 and 2006, negotiations helped almost half of groups engaged in acts of terrorism to stop using violence. In contrast, just over 5% ended due to military action. As a diplomatic studies scholar, my research increases the success rate by optimizing how states approach negotiations as a counterterrorism tool. Now, every conflict situation is different, with no two takes being the same. As such, scholars disagree on the relative importance of factors that affect negotiations with terrorists. For example, one school believes that negotiations with the Irish Republican Army succeeded because they involved all willing actors. Another contends that it was due to addressing core interests and grievances, while others still attribute it to everyone suffering equally. People can't agree on what makes negotiations work. In light of this, I look at negotiating holistically. By comparing factors simultaneously, I am able to identify which factors are necessary or sufficient for negotiating with terrorists, equipping leaders with a screenplay for whether and how to engage in negotiations. Alan Curdie reminded the world of the costs of fighting fire with fire. When negotiations already enjoy a 600% better-trapped record than military action, can we really afford to not negotiate with terrorists? Seems like we're all victims of the ancient Chinese proverb, may you live in interesting times.  The point of research like that is to say we can do better, we can know more, and we can solve these supposedly intractable problems. Next, from the John Curtin School of Medical Research in the ANU College of Health and Medicine, making more memorable vaccines is Harry Sutton. Probably won't remember getting your first vaccination, but I bet your immune system does. A vaccine works by introducing a mild or dead version of a pathogen into your body so that your immune system learns to recognise and remember it. Without you having to get sick, it's kind of like a training simulation for your body so that when the real thing comes around, you're ready to fight it off. In Australia, most of us are vaccinated for all kinds of things when we're younger, and that means that for the rest of our lives, our immune systems will remember and protect us from a whole bunch of diseases that most of us have probably forgotten to even exist. But what's strange is we don't actually understand how vaccines create these memories, and this is important because for some diseases, this memory isn't perfect. Malaria is a good example of this. Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases in human history, and it's caused by a microscopic parasite transmitted by the mosquito.  For those who survive, it's not going to be something they're going to forget anytime soon, but their immune system will. For reasons we don't quite understand, if you become infected with the malaria parasite but get better, you can become infected again and again and again. This failure to generate memory means that even our best malaria vaccines can't provide long-term immune protection. I want to take a step back and examine how these immune memories are created in the first place. Broadly, the immune cells that I study will be divided into two main groups after a vaccination or infection. The first group is good at fighting off the disease and making you healthy again. While the second group is responsible for your long-term memory, I found that malaria vaccinations are really good at making this fighting group, but they don't make many of these memory cells. To understand why this is the case, I've developed a sequencing technique that allows me to look at individual cells that respond to malaria vaccination and look at the genes that they express. I want to know what genes are important in controlling the decision to become a fighting cell or a memory cell. By understanding how these fundamental decisions of the immune system are made, we can design more memorable vaccines that can train our immune system to remember diseases that we can all someday forget about. Thank you. I can't even remember this morning, let alone my childhood. I'm glad that my vaccines can and I'm glad that Harry is working on making things better. Hey, I've just been told backstage that 3MT is trending. If you want to get amongst it, hash ANU 3MT, make your tweet the one that goes viral. From the Research School of Accounting in the ANU College of Business and Economics, tax avoiders, I've got your numbers. Nolin Yen. I'm sorry to tell you that a lot of our fellow Australians avoid paying a fair share of income tax by hiding expenses, hiding incomes, over-claiming expenses and even falsifying their tax return files. 56 million nearspaid no income tax in 2014 and again in 2015. These are only the cases that we know about. The true extent of tax avoidance could lead to billions of dollars in tax loss revenue every year to collect these loss revenues. Tax office must audit taxpayers like you and me. However, do they target the right people? Visual blowers from the Australian Taxation Office will rule that. They are targeting vulnerable low-income families and small businesses to get more taxes because these people have less power to fight back. We need to target these audits better. Thanks to the Australian Taxation Office, I'm able to study a valuable 2% alarming tax files. I help identify potential tax avoiders using a unique digital analysis called Benford's Law. In 1938, Frank Benford identified a curious pattern, the black line in the graph, that recurrent in natural data set from street addresses to death rate, electricity bills, and even length of rivers, numbers do follow Benford's Law. If the numbers do not follow this pattern, it is likely that fake data has been introduced. Based on a detailed analysis of over 170,000 actual tax files, my results suggest that Benford's Law can indicate potential groups of tax avoiders. For example, the red line shows that the group of taxpayers who paid very little income tax based on their income level has a noticeable high deviation from Benford's Law while others follow it closely. Using my method, we can examine the numbers in all the tax files within only a few hours and identify a whole group of potential tax avoiders. This can help the Australian Taxation Office to fairly and efficiently target its audits. So hopefully one day, not only you and me, but everyone in Australia will pay its fair share of income tax. Thank you. How good's Benford's Law? It's coming for you tax cheaters.  You're good ANU corporate citizens. Pay your taxes, that's very good. I love that concept. More maths from the Mathematical Science Institute in the ANU College of Science. Making blurred images worth a thousand words. Please make welcome. Rommel Real. Millions of people upload images to Instagram and spend lots of time artfully blurring them. The reason Instagram filters work? Maths. We use maths to blur images so we can use more maths to unblurred them if needed.  If I know the maths you used to blur it, then I can recover the original sharp image. Photography is fine art, but medical imaging isn't. Let's say I have a brain scan like this image on your left. There's a tumor on it, but it's blurred. We can't exactly tell how the tumor looks like because this image was never sharp. Now, this is a problem because surgeons working just from this image will have a hard time finding so they can figure out how to remove it. Making a blurred image sharp is an important and difficult problem to solve. I don't know what Instagram filter was used so I need to do advanced mathematics to make it clearer. With images, we see what the naked eye may not. From the human body to heavenly bodies. That's why images are important in science. Unfortunately, it is more common in science for images to get blurred than sharp. Such images are meant to convey rich information, but when blurred, they're useless. This is because images are captured in different ways. So I'm using a limited amount of radio waves like ultrasound. And the human body is so precious that even using just enough radio waves to capture a nice image could be dangerous. Making a blurred image sharp is a challenging maths problem. Think of the final sharp image as the solution to a complex set of equations. A mathematical problem is well-posed if the solution exists, it's unique and stable. If you violate one of these three, then you have what is called an ill-posed problem. Unfortunately, the unblurring problem is ill-posed. That's why it has to be approximated into a sequence of well-posed problems. By solving each of these problems step by step, we can get closer to that final sharp image that the surgeon needs. Through my research, tumors and brain scans will appear clearer, like this image on your right. And this will help surgeons remove tumors easier. But my work doesn't just help medical imaging. It can also help us capture more breathtaking photos from outer space. So next time you use Instagram, spare a thought for the poor mathematician like me. What's done blurtings for a living? Any surgeons out there in the audience don't operate on me based on my Instagram pictures or any other pictures of me online. From the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics and Eliteration. In the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. Super-powered security, please make welcome, Katie Cox. Do you feel safe right now? How have you felt since 9-11? Today, Australians are still afraid. Nearly half of us fear that we could be the victim of a terrorist attack. And two-thirds think our government should do more. But there's a paradox in national security. The more evidence we see that we're being protected, the less safe we feel. Imagine you came home one day to find riot police on your street. Would you feel safer? I'd be asking, what's wrong? National security can be used to justify anything, from surveillance to torture to war. If we knew what we really wanted from security, we could stop it from hurting as much as it helps. But even in the academic literature, no one agrees on what security means. Many people talk about security in practice, but few talk about the way it makes us feel. What if we could use stories to answer this question? Popular books and media reflect our hopes and fears. And since 9-11, superheroes have been more popular than ever. I've studied 55 years worth of Iron Man comics. That's about 660 issues and seven films. I've researched their history, I've compared them to political speeches, and I've broken them down to find out what they say about security. Now, these are American stories, but American fear influences Australian politics. Iron Man is part of a global conversation and we need to listen in. Because despite the fantasy, Iron Man is all about national security. When Tony Stark's life is shattered by a terrorist attack, he becomes Iron Man. He cocoons himself in super-powered armor and he goes after the bad guys. But the more armor he has, the more it wears him down. Iron Man can never keep people safe for very long and it comes at a painful cost. Iron Man reflects our fear that if super-powered security fails, we'll be hurt worse than before. So why can't we let it go? In the stories I've studied, security never just means safety. It promises freedom, opportunity, and progress towards a better life. So when our security is threatened, we feel as though all of those things are threatened too. But if we give up our freedoms to feel secure, then we'll lose what we're trying to protect. Super-powered security comes at a cost. My research tells us what it really means to feel secure so that we can decide what cost we're willing to pay. Make mine, Marvel! Sorry, comic book movies, they get... True story, the only time I've cried in front of my class here at ANU was reciting the plot of a comic book movie. From the School of Culture, History and Language, in the College of Asia and the Pacific. Speaking on grains of time, please make welcome. Chuka Kaikounen! How much history is there in a grain of rice or in a bowl full of such grains? These kinds of bowls fill the stomachs of billions of people on a daily basis, making rice one of the most important food crops that we have. But when, where, how and why did rice become one of the cornerstones of so many of our diets and societies? To understand how rice farming has changed the world, I look deep into the past. I investigate the early advent of agriculture on Taiwan over 4,000 years ago. That is the time when rice farming first moved to Taiwan from mainland, presumably leading to population growth and to the further dispersal of people together with their cultures, genes and languages from Taiwan to the Asia Pacific, creating the world that we know today. However, the role of rice farming in this process is still quite poorly understood and part of the reason is that rice, like all plants, dies, decays and usually disappears from the record. So how can we archaeologists attempt to understand ancient agriculture that lies far beyond the reach of our written and spoken records? On the screen here, you can see a rice plant and over there, you can see what is called a phytolith or a plant stone, magnified thousands of times its real size. And it is these microscopic particles that are a key through which I am trying to unlock ancient agriculture. And this is possible because when a plant grows, it draws up silicon from the soil and locks it within itself and tissues. And as the plant decays, these hardened, silica particles are dispersed back into the environment where they can survive for thousands of years. In my lab, I have more than 20 kilos of soil imported from Taiwan. And from that, I'm using chemistry to extract these ancient plant stones in order then to compare them to the plant stones that I know that exist in modern living plants, thereby allowing me to reconstruct what people were eating and cultivating thousands of years ago. This is a long and still ongoing process, so while I might not be able to write the chapter on early rice quite yet, what I want to leave you with tonight is one request. The next time you are enjoying that bowl of rice, I would like to invite you to reflect for a moment on just how much history you in fact are consuming and also what kinds of tiny traces you might be leaving behind for future generations to study in order to better understand how our choices, how our habits created the world that they inherited from us. Thank you. I love, I love what Tuca's research represents. The mash-up of all of those different disciplines. You know, we see history, we see biology, we see chemistry. You know, the research of 10, 15, 20, 50 years ago, we worked so much in silos. But if we're going to have interesting insights on the world and the universe, or if we're going to solve the challenges that are out there, we're going to have to get these kind of mash-ups together. There's interdisciplinary work. Tuca's work is a great example of that. Next up, from the Fenner School of Environment and Society in the A&U College of Science, bringing back the betong is Catherine Ross. You went for an evening walk in the bush around Canberra 100 years ago. What would you have seen? The woodlands would have been teeming with wildlife, small animals such as bandicoots, quolls, and betongs. But since the European settlement, the woodlands have been cleared, overgrazed, overrun by weeds and feral animals, and many of our native species have disappeared. In fact, Australia has the highest mammal extinction rate in the world, and many of these species were lost before we really understood the important roles they play in our ecosystem. So what would happen if we could bring them back? This is the eastern betong, a rapid-sized relative of the kangaroo. It was once so common in eastern Australia that it was considered a pest, but they disappeared from the mainland around 100 years ago. Luckily, the eastern betong still survives in Tasmania, and six years ago, we were able to bring a small population and release them into a fenced reserve called Mulligan's Flat Woodland Sanctuary.  Well, since the reintroduction, our betongs have been getting busy, and not just in the way you might think. They've been digging away every night in search of truffles, roots, and bulbs. I've estimated that each individual betong can dig up to 200 pits every night. That adds up to three tons of soil turned over every year. As a plant ecologist, I wanted to know how this digging would affect the soils and the vegetation. By measuring and monitoring soil nutrients, temperature, and moisture in the diggings, and counting and identifying thousands of tiny seedlings, my research has shown that betong diggings act like little flower pots, providing the perfect conditions for seeds to germinate. But it's not quite that simple. Reintroducing a species after 100 years can have some unexpected consequences, and the disturbance created by the betongs could just lead to increased weed invasion. But my research has shown that native plant species actually benefit more from the digging than the weeds. Digging animals like the betong alter the structure of the ecosystem and provide habitat and resources for other species. And for this reason, they are now known as ecosystem engineers. If we can bring back the betong, then we could not only save this one species, but also help to restore an entire ecosystem so that maybe 100 years from now, you can walk through a more diverse and resilient woodland that grew in soils turned over by the betong. Thank you. Just so long as they don't take all of my truffles. Ah, they're cute little engineers. They can have them all. From the Research School of Engineering in the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, growing organic mobile phones. Anchor Sharma! If I were to ask you, what is that one piece of technology you cannot do without in your daily lives? I bet most of you in this room would say, you're mobile phones. If you grab it the first thing in the morning and we don't leave our homes without it these days. But have you ever thought, what happens to these devices when they're outdated and old? They all end up as electronic waste. Technology is highly integrated into our lives and in this constant need for the most high-tech products, all of us are unknowingly contributing to massive amounts of e-waste. It is the second most dangerous waste in the world after nuclear waste, and we have no idea how to get rid of it. Australia alone produces an amount of e-waste that can fill 90,000 garbage trucks every year and only 4% of that is recycled. The main problem lies with the materials, plastics and silicon, which are used to make billions of these devices every year. In a few years, you might have a flexible phone like this, but again, made from the same materials, and the cycle of dumping old phones will continue, piling up the waste. To solve this challenge, I'm redesigning the future of electronic devices. And for inspiration, I turn to a piece of paper. It comes from natural resources, environment-friendly and 100% biodegradable. I am making the next-generation semiconductor nanomaterials, which are entirely organic in nature, made from naturally occurring carbon and hydrogen. These materials can be recycled several times and can replace all your current electronic devices. The thickness of these materials is 100 times thinner than a strand of human hair, 10 times stronger than steel, and can hold 3 billion circuits in the size of a fingernail. We grow them by a process called vapor deposition, physically stacking atom over atom, molecule over molecule to make these devices, just like 3D printing, but with atoms. This gives them the flexibility to be bent into any shape like a piece of paper. Now imagine having a mobile phone like this on your wrist in a few years, but made from my organic nanomaterials. Conventional electronic devices today run on electricity to process information and carry data. My organic nanomaterials, on the other hand, use light, and light travels much faster than electricity, making the performance of these devices a thousand times faster than the best computers today. You can literally be carrying a supercomputer folded like a pocket square with you at all times. Mobile phones and electronic devices made from my organic nanomaterials will always keep you up to date with the latest technology without the guilt of e-waste. Thank you. Seriously, Ankur, take my money. I'm good for it right now. Wow. Mind-blowing, isn't it? What will they think of next? Last but not least, our final contender for tonight. From the School of Philosophy in the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, if I could talk to animals. Heather Browning! If I could talk to the animals, just imagine it. Chatting to a chimp in chimpanzee. Now, this line might be familiar to some of you. It comes from the movie Dr. Doolittle, which is a story about a man who actually could talk to animals. And this idea always fascinated me. I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could talk to the animals? Like I'm sure most of you who've got animals in your lives, I wondered, what are they thinking? What do they want? And how can I give them a good life? In the absence of having them tell us, we have to try and read their minds to give it our best guesses. And unfortunately, those guesses are often wrong. For example, have a look at these two monkey enclosures in the pictures behind me. I'm sure you're forming an opinion about which you think is better for the welfare of the animals. And I'm guessing that most of you prefer this lovely green naturalistic island. Unfortunately, the monkeys don't feel the same way. They actually prefer the cages. Because for them, they don't see prison-like bars. Instead, they see a whole lot of extra climbing surfaces that they can play on and enjoy. Whereas this flat island here, it doesn't actually have that much for them to do. Now, it's because of counter-intuitive results like these that we need animal welfare science. And this is a science that tries to talk to the animals in the best ways that we know how by using behavioral and physiological indicators like vocalizations or changes in heart rate to try and learn something about what animals like and don't like or what's good and bad for them from their own point of view. Now, most of the people who work in this area are scientists. I'm not a scientist. I'm a philosopher. And so I'm approaching these issues from a new perspective. I'm creating a philosophical framework to help scientists choose the right indicators for measuring welfare. My work gives a process for testing the indicators that we want to use so we can be more confident that we're measuring the right things and that we're getting accurate information out from the measures that we are taking. For instance, levels of blood cortisol are often thought to indicate distress in animals. But actually, cortisol levels can rise in positive situations, too, such as excitement over food or sex. And these are quite different welfare states. So, see, it's really important that we make sure we have the right indicators to use for different situations. Otherwise, re-run the risk of failing to see the signs when our animals are suffering or neglecting to find out what really matters for their welfare. My research is helping to refine the methods of animal welfare science, which will help us gain more insight into the thoughts and feelings of our animals and get a better chance at giving them the best welfare. It is my hope that with continuing research like this, maybe one day we really will be able to talk to the animals. Thank you. What a smorgasbord of research! I'm very glad now that I don't have a job, but you all have jobs. You all have jobs. You have to decide who amongst those amazing finalists was the best. Who are you sending to that wonderful penal colony of Brisbane? I'm from there, I'm allowed to say that. The Passer People's Choice Chalk Pole is now open. You have three minutes to choose. Yeah, it's a theme. You can go to that web address or text that number at three minutes. We'll tell you when your time is up. As the judges and you deliberate, please enjoy the soulful tunes of our musical guests, annual alumni, Kathy Diver, along with her four-piece band. Kathy's songs are well-steeped in the traditions of British and American folk music, seasoned with a pinch of alt-country and best washed down with a sun-kissed cup of Australia for good measure. Please welcome them to the stage. Voting. Voting is now closed. Oh, that's the saddest I've ever heard. Not my fault. Good evening, A&U and Llewellyn Hall. Thanks so much for having us at this lovely event. I'm Kathy Diver. This is up their song, it's called Watertight. Through the back of the high country in bed Well, twilight caught you Looking out over my greasy Weathers and a swat Oh, what I shouldn't find But I spent my... Thanks for being so lovely and attentive. This next one's called Forgiveness on a sunny mower.  It's especially lovely to be up here As this is our second gig as this band Which is very exciting, this beautiful hall That we're so lucky to have here at ANU I just want to say while I'm doing some tuning How very exciting Congratulations to all the ANU three-minute thesis finalists It's a really tough, tough thing to have to... Thing to do and to want to do Not that I haven't experienced, I did not have a PhD Don't get me misconstrued here I did date one for a while, I don't think that really counts More on that later Yeah, anyway, I'm Cathy Diver Or that's my new alter ego, if you missed it This next song's called Little Unsung I don't like to say too much about it But I guess it's about losing something And trying to find a way to talk about it Thank you so much for coming out tonight To all the beautiful people who organise the ANU Three-minute thesis every year I actually think they deserve quite the round of applause Can we give them that please? It's a really awesome event that they put on every year And yeah, I'm super stoked to be a part of it And it's really nice to be here All of us are ANU alumni or whatever of some sort Aren't we guys? Yes, just checking Before I make false misleading statements Yeah, so it's really nice to be back here for some of us Or just still kind of hanging about We've got one more song for you What can I say about this song? Well, it's about the PhD student, how about that? He's graduated, by the way Congratulations to him Finished, nuclear physics I'm very proud But no, PhDs are really long and really hard And I just think that it's really awesome that these people Take the time out of their actual writing papers And research and stuff to do Take part of something cool like this And explain their awesome stuff to people like us as well That's very cool Alright, this is our last song, I'm Kathy Diver We just started this new project So if you like our stuff, you can find us on Facebook And Instagram and all the rest of it Thanks for listening The theatre empties quickly I'm not the last one in my seat For this tight-ass Tuesday reverie I use the tickets Your brother bought us bowls on me Resigned to lonesome pining Like I worry, you honey For some time, yeah East Dalit Shraig beats down a red soil This is Joel and the cello This is Tim playing guitar This is Hailey on the bass and John up the back on the kit Thanks so much How good were they? Give them another clap everybody Thanks Kathy, Diver and Van Wow, three minutes It's a short time, isn't it? If you didn't get a chance to vote Go and find your favourite speaker and buy them a coffee tomorrow Celebrate with them Congratulate their research They'd love it Do we want to know winners? Alright We first Let's congratulate everyone first Let's bring everyone back on stage Keirley Upthorpe Alice Taylor David McManus Bhavani Kannan Harry Sutton Nolin Yin Rommel Reel Katie Cox Tuka Kokonin Catherine Ross Anka Sharma and Heather Browning Take a bow What an amazing job they've all done There's obviously winners, but you know what? Standing in front of a huge auditorium and talking about that complex thing that is your thesis is an amazing thing to do It really is I think back about my thesis I couldn't have done that They're awesome They're awesome Okay First I'd like to invite Pastor President Alissa Shaw to the stage to give out the $500 People's Choice Award with the first of our lovely giant oversized novelty checks The People's Choice Award 2018 Katie Cox Thank you so much for Pastor for supporting that award I'd now like to invite the judges to the stage to give the big awards The other big awards I know, that was really mean That was, yeah Take it back Wineback Time Here's my list of judges' names Here we are all again I read them out before but you couldn't see them because they're all sitting in their wonderful, wonderful stage There we have Professor Mike Calford Elizabeth Lee, MLA Professor Tom Calmer Lishfea Dr. Matthew Trinker Diane Cargas-Bray They have had the terrible job The runner up Receiving a $1,000 research prize and a giant oversized novelty check Rommel Reel Okay, one more thing One more thing One more thing Winning a $4,000 research grant and the chance to represent A&U and the Asia Pacific 3MT final up in Brisbane Anka Sharma Congratulations And I believe Anka, no pressure but you are awarding the Supervisor Prize to Associate Professor Yuri Liu Yes Well Thank you to you Thank you to our presenters Thank you to you in the audience Thank you so much to our judges for tonight for all the work that they have done This is a celebration of research We're all in this together You've done wonderfully Thank you all so much Theses The A&U 3 minute thesis They're both a lot of hard work They're a lot of hard work These students have put in years and years of hard work Their families have supported them Their partners, their friends Everyone out there has done an amazing job The A&U research skills and training team have done an amazing job putting on the A&U 3 minute thesis So get out there Go and tell the stories of the research you've heard tonight Tell them about the wonderful work that is happening and how all of our PhD students are making the world a better place Thank you


Acinitobacter bominini is a gram-negative bacterium that can cause serious infections in humans and animals. In order to survive in environments with limited iron availability, it has evolved several strategies to acquire iron from its surroundings. This includes the production of cydrophores, small molecules that bind iron and make it available for the bacterium. Additionally, the bacterium has developed a complex regulatory system that allows it to respond quickly to changing environmental conditions, allowing it to adjust its metabolism accordingly. This article was authored by Paulson E&T, Hassan Karl A., each called Kampbat A. and others.


What's up everyone? Takedown here welcome back to another video today. I'm gonna be showing you the worst boss I have ever had let's get right into this So as you guys know I used to work at Canadian Tire I was there for about five years and over those five years I had three different bosses and the funny thing with Canadian Tire is when you're at a small location Usually a boss doesn't last longer than two years because when you're at a smaller location That's smaller profit that they can make now they get they go to those smaller locations So they can gain experience and then they can move on to a bigger store bigger store means bigger profit So usually a smaller store they're using they're using it as a stepping stone to get them to the big store to make the big Money so usually they don't last in smaller locations longer than two years So the first boss that I had was amazing. He's the one that hired me He was really hands-on always bringing in coffee and treats and he did barbecues And he did pool parties at its house and different things like that So it was a really great experience with him and Christmas parties was amazing because everybody got something plus the $50 that we get Each year that was awesome The second boss was still pretty good at the time We always bashed him and said we hated him because he didn't do anything for a Christmas party Nobody got anything We never rarely seen him because whenever he'd come in he'd go straight to his office And it's sitting his office all day was never hands-on was never on the floor never did anything with us So we kind of hated him But in a way after he left and we got the last boss, which was the worst boss I've ever had We realized that he wasn't so bad the previous boss wasn't so bad He just did his own thing ordered the products in took care of us on that end and Left us alone to run the store, which was great. The last boss At first was okay, but he turned there to be a complete dick and I've talked about this a lot on the channel So coming into different Canadian terrors when a new boss comes They can technically bring a few or a lot of employees from the previous store different managers or different people to run the store And that's what this guy did. He brought a husband and wife, which were both as acting store managers and then he also brought in a Automotive shop manager who has no experience running an automotive shop he has less experience at Canadian Tire than I did and To me he was not the brightest person, but he did bring him in as well, which I worked in automotive So I did have to work with this guy, which eventually we butt heads a lot He wanted me to do all his work for him and I do not run that way at all But as the boss the boss was actually pretty good at first. He took care of us Christmas parties. He got us stuff throughout the year. He didn't really get us much. I think it was rare that we've seen a Subway party so they'd bring in a bunch of subway sandwiches or a pizza party or different things like that It was rare for him to do that But he would at least do it. Whereas the previous boss didn't but I liked the previous boss a lot more this guy here is more hands-on but He just did things that made absolutely no sense. So being in a small town He counted it as a tourist town a tourist destination and we had nothing in the town It nothing that brought us tourists in the reason he called it that is because The highway that connects Toronto to Montreal. We're right next to that But that's not gonna bring people in. We did have a waterfront. That was okay right on the St. Lawrence River Right off the St. Lawrence River That was it Nobody's gonna come into our town for Canadian Tire so it just the things he did just made no sense He bought things for travelers But never sold any of them because there's not that many travelers coming in like travel mugs and Different things for people that are traveling. They usually will buy Wasn't selling any of it and a lot of things he was ordering in just made no sense So it was hilarious at the time, but reason he became the worst boss is He started to cut people's hours when a minimum wage went up He cut my hours from 40 hours a week, which I was full time He cut them down to about 15 hours a week at one point I worked myself up from when I started and I started at the parts department mostly on the retail side Then I became the parts adviser then I became the parts and service adviser so I was basically running the counter and running the automotive shop and Right before he came. I was actually in the shop doing oil changes batteries and tires For vehicles while also being a service adviser and running the counter and running the shop Basically when he came he took that away from me and I was good at it like I was the top One of the top performers so I was good at it and he took that away to give it to the manager Who just did not know how to do things and I talked about a story on the channel where it was He ordered in like eight engines for a vehicle the first one It was the wrong engine the second one was the wrong engine the third one There was something wrong with it the fourth one. It was totally destroyed when we received it So he just did not know how to do his job He was ordering things in that could not be returned and things in that made no sense And he was just basically running the shop into the ground But they took my hours away, and I was no longer a service adviser. I was mainly on the parts side But the manager would try to make me with those less hours Give me more stuff that I had to do and if I didn't finish it by the end of my shift the next shift I came in I'd get yelled at but instead of being there for eight hours I was there for example for four hours and in that four hours I had to do the same amount of work or was supposed to get done the same amount of work as I would in an eight hour period And it was just super stressful. I absolutely hated it I was financially stressed because I'm losing hours, which is losing money, but I absolutely hated my job at that time Because of the bosses now previous bosses were amazing and I worked myself up from parts advisor working the parts counter up to basically running the shop and They just took that away from me Because they wanted to give it to this person who was terrible at it So I did stick it out for another six months, but after that I had to run in with boss So I became sick to the point that I couldn't work I was back and forth to the doctors for two weeks at first he gave me a doctor's note for three days Three days later. I'd had to go back to the doctor He gave me another doctor's note and it was just constantly giving doctors notes The week I was to return I think I mentioned this on the channel too as to why it quit the reason I the week I was to return I Went into work. They canceled my shifts for all that week So not only did I have two weeks unpaid the week I was to return they just canceled all my shifts So I was pissed off the next day I got called into the office and the boss just yelled and screamed at me told me how terrible of worker I am called me every name in the book and then basically said are you coming in on Friday? And I'm like, yeah, I should be he's like are you coming in on Friday?  So I was like, yeah I'll come in on Friday went in on Friday and I just quit Came in with my regular clothes on Manager was pissed. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, yeah, I quit They literally made me write it on a piece of paper. Like hey, you have to write out like That you're quitting and you have to sign it. I'm like, I don't but I'll do it So I literally took a piece of paper and wrote I quit and then signed it my name Didn't know what else to do was first time quitting a job and I just did it in the moments and I talked to my parents about it for the whole week, but Literally that boss was the worst boss. I've ever had even moving on from Canadian tire working at the casino now All of the supervisors the managers are amazing for my department. Some of the other departments I just don't like and I'm not too fond of but I don't have to deal with them. They're not my manager.  So he always put a smile on for the community He always donated for the community. He always did events for the community. He always did hockey nights and Different things for the hockey players of the community. So in the newspaper you always seen around Facebook You always seen like oh The manager's doing this now the owner of Canadian tires doing this. I was about to say his name there, but I'd rather just not So he always did things for the community and the community loved him for that But as an employee you've seen the dark inside you've seen him yell at employees You've seen him get pissed off in employees. You've seen him how he treated all of us It wasn't just me. He treated a lot of people this way He got a lot of people's hours people that have been there for 20 years Cut their hours to give it to one of the people that he brought with us Which a lot of them were just not smart and just did not know how to run anything and that's who he brought as management He honestly didn't even know how to run things and wasn't that good of Owner of the store, but he was a complete complete asshole, and I'm just glad that I quit I had enough of it Finally manned up decided what I wanted to do with my After there which was security and decided to quit and went for security and got the job at the casino because I Just couldn't handle it anymore.  I I don't Don't like that. So I decided definitely to quit and Worst boss that I've had there's so many screaming matches I had with them There's so many different things that I've had with them in different stories I think a lot of part I did share a lot of the stories on the channel with you guys, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with them again I think since then he did leave that Canadian tire again They only stay about two years at Canadian tire, but he did leave the Canadian tire and he did move on So now he's not even in the town, which I don't live in my hometown anymore. I've moved away into Ottawa, but I Just could not handle it anymore, and I'm glad that I Did burn the bridge in a way and I quit the way I did because number one They weren't expecting it number two. I felt completely satisfied.  I just I got the best out of it And I was able to quit the way that I wanted to and do my own thing So this was the story of the worst boss that I've ever had I hope you guys enjoyed comment down below the worst boss you have had or if you had Similar experiences at work. Did you just put up with them or did you do like I did and just quit? Hope you guys liked this video and I'll see you guys in the next one. Please take care. Peace


Chief of Navy Chaplains, Rear Admiral Mark Tidd, arrived aboard USS Nimitz. During his visit, he met with leaders and conducted training to strike group chaplains. We provide an opportunity to offer some counseling, and in particular, we provide confidential counseling. What you say to a chaplain stays with you and the chaplain. Before departing, he led the ship in the traditional evening prayer. Amen. What I see is folks working hard in a tough environment, a challenging environment, to accomplish a mission. And the Nimitz team is doing a great job at it. Reporting for USS Nimitz, I'm Petty Officer Sam Savonassi.