Welcome to another episode of the nonprofit show. We're just getting going. It's Friday. We have Jack Elotto from Friend Raising Academy, one of our favorites. We love putting you in the hot seat, my friend. Great. Glad to be here. You always have a good spirit, Jack. I always feel like no pun intended. We can't set your hair on fire. No, you can't set my hair on fire. At least not on my head. Maybe you're here. Well, you're always gonna be calm and you're gonna be really filled with a lot of perspective and in the green room chatter, we've been talking about your illustrious career and fundraising for hospital foundations, some faith-based, some not. Really cool. I love all the different things that you bring to us when we're fortunate enough to get you on with us. Great. I'm glad to be here and I'm always glad to see you, Julia. Well, it is a lot of fun. For those of you watching, we are marching towards our 600 episode of the nonprofit show. And Fundraising Academy has been with us from the get-go.  No, but I feel like I know you very well. I know you're over there in Phoenix, which is probably very hot right now. And I'm here in the desert of California where it is definitely very hot. Very hot, yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, that's kind of one of those things. I think that if I lived in any other part of the country, it'd probably look a lot younger. I wouldn't have this like desiccated skin from living in the desert. Yeah.  It's true. Oh my gosh, it really, really is true. And it's one of those things that I think those of us that live in the desert, man, there's a point in time that comes every year where I'm like, get me to the water. I just have to see water. And I, it's like, I just need it. And it's kind of a funny thing. Well, hey, speaking of water, let's not water down anything that we're going to talk about today because we're ready to go. How about you, my friend? I am ready to go. Okay. Welcome everyone to another episode of The Known Profits Show. You joined us on a Friday and you know what that means. That means ask and answer with our favorite folks from Fundraising Academy, Cause Selling Education. We are super excited today because we have the one and only great Jack Alotto who's going to chat with us. And before we get on to introducing you to Jack, we want to make sure we thank all of our sponsors including Fundraising Academy, along with Blue Moran, your part-time controller, nonprofit nerd, American nonprofit Academy, nonprofit thought leader and staffing boutique. These are the folks that are joining us daily to help us get this show on the air, which you can find us on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV and Vimeo, and now on a podcast format. Our executive producer Kevin Pace has masterfully taken these files and put them into podcast format in a short period of time. We already have achieved about 1500 downloads. And so as you're marching along, house cleaning, driving, whatever, you can take us with you. So join us in any of your streaming podcast platforms. Okay, Jack Alotto, we love your comments. Love your mindset. You ready to go, my friend? Yes, I am. Okay, Ali from Detroit, Michigan writes, how important is it to hire a director of philanthropy who is a CFRE? We're opening up a job for this very important position and have only had CFREs in the past. However, with the tight labor market, we're wondering if this might be a requirement that hinders our application pool. Yeah. That's a good question because talk about first and foremost, talk about your connection to CFRE. So I am a CFRE and I am very proud that I try my best to help people who are candidates for the CFRE, achieve the CFRE. I think it shows a level of commitment to learning that we're professionals and we want to learn. And one of the things that I love about CFRE is that you've received a, not a certificate, but a certification, which is quite different than anything else. It shows a level of competence. It says to all of your stakeholders, your board, your coworkers, the people who you serve in the nonprofit and most importantly to your donors that you are committed to being the best that you could be as a fundraiser. By the way, let me also say that those of you who are watching this show today, you are also showing that level of commitment. I just think it's just a great thing that you do to show everybody and to prove to yourself, one of my greatest joys, Julia, is when somebody calls me up and says to me, Jack, I passed the test. I'm now a CFRE. And for marginalized groups, this is so important to me when an African-American or a Latina or a Latino calls me up and says that because they're underrepresented in our profession and CFRE is such an important designation for them to achieve. And I really love that. The other thing is, I think that the CFRE says to all of those stakeholders is that you are in the fundraising profession for life.  I'm gonna go sell real estate, you know, or some other thing, other jobs. So when you do it, it says that you are committed to staying in this for life. I wanna say one other thing, Julia. I have met some awesome great fundraisers who are not CFREs. Okay, okay. So I don't want to sound like the bias guy. Look, I have it, I urge people to get it, but it doesn't mean that you're a great fundraiser. It means that you show a level of commitment. There are so many other great fundraisers who do not have the CFRE. Okay, so to, I have one more question and then I do wanna get back to Ali's question, Ali's specific question. And that is, I don't think it's an easy thing to achieve to get your CFRE. So when you are, when you can put that designation with your name, it seems to me, especially for a director of philanthropy, it's a higher level labor. Yeah, you know, the CFRE is a relationship building fundraising strategy. And by the way, the cost selling cycle is a relationship building fundraising strategy. And there's so much overlap between those two models of fundraising. What I love about CFRE is that it takes you through six domains. It starts at the very beginning of the cycle, which is prospect research. And I'll tell you the number one question I get and the number one question you get is how do I find more donors? So we start right at the beginning and it takes you through securing the gift, relationship building, volunteer management, involvement. That's working with your board as well as volunteers who are fundraisers. And I always like to say this about fundraising. If it weren't for volunteers, we would fail. Yeah. Because volunteers really advance our mission in so many different ways. We have management, leadership and management is the fifth domain. And finally, one of the most important domains that we talk about in CFRE is ethics and accountability. And it's so important about ethics and accountability because we would not have trust from our donors and our stakeholders if we were not ethical and transparent and have accountability. I love it. I love the model. And I love going through it with people. It takes between 60 and 80 hours to study. And as you know, Julia, or maybe you don't know this, but just this past week, I wrote an article on creating a study plan which is now on the CFRE website. And I urge people to go and read that article. Wow. So I'm thrilled that you could bring this information to the table. And I hadn't expected that, but I'm super appreciative. It makes it seem like for this question that's coming to us from Ali from Detroit, you're gonna say stick to the CFRE designation. Yeah. Especially for the director of philanthropy. Is that right? Especially for the director of philanthropy. Yeah. And you know why? Another reason, there are so many young people coming into our profession. Just today, just this morning, I got an email from someone who was in a previous study group of mine.  And I'm wondering what you think, can they get in your study group? Can you help them? Because as she's mentoring these young women or young men who are coming into her department, she recognizes after having been through the process. Like I said, it's not the only thing that you need is the CFRE, but she sees it as an important step in developing them as fundraisers. And I love that. Well, you know, Ali, I hope that this helps you because while it might seem like it is, you know, putting your opportunity in the small end of the pool, man, maybe in the long run listening to Jack, it is the right thing to do. And especially to Jack's point, if you're looking at that director level, this is a bigger picture issue. So I appreciate you reaching out Ali and let's see what happens and check back with us. Okay, Darren from Palo Alto, California writes, have you heard of board bylaws requiring board chairs to remove themselves from all other board activity during their term? Meaning they would have to resign board seats in order to serve our nonprofit. We have a governance committee who's floating this idea and I think it's problematic. Please advise. It's problematic and I'll tell you why I think it's problematic. First of all, I would like to ask them why? Why does serving on another board bother you? What's the why behind that? Here's the other thing, Juliet, you've served on boards, I've served on boards. Ask yourself, why do people join boards? They join boards because they believe in your cause. They want to help you advance your mission and they do it out of love. Love for the people you serve, love for your mission, love for the values and vision of your organization. Why would you tell anyone that they could only exclusively love your organization? Do you really want to tell them to give up this other organization after those motivations I've just described to you? I think it is problematic. I would want to know why they think they need that exclusivity. You know, Jack, over the years we've done at the American Nonprofit Academy a lot of board training or a lot of board boot camps and where we would have board members, you know, from all over the region come in and do a full day training. And the only time I've ever heard about this was from a medical board and it was a dental association, like a statewide dental association.  I think those two people, and if I'm not mistaken, they felt like it helped protect them from HIPAA issues. To me, you know, I think part of board work and board leadership is building consensus and building community. And it seems to me like they took those two top leaders and extricated them from the greater community. So I don't know, but looking at this question, I am thinking that that really has been the only other time I've heard of it. And I don't know, have you heard of this? I've never heard of it, but you know, that problem of HIPAA violations, it's have them sign a confidentiality agreement. Well, it should be policy anyway.  Certainly, you know, we knew what HIPAA was, we went to HIPAA trainings. So, and we signed confidentiality agreements. So I mean, if that's what you're worried about, and that really seems the only thing, unless you have so much competition and you're afraid that they're gonna be on the board of a competing organization, and then, you know, but your bylaws can specify things like you can't share donors, you can't bring donors to the other organization that you're on the board of. I mean, there's lots of things you could, you could fix it in other ways without, I don't think, I don't know about you Julia, but I don't think I would join a board if someone said, hey, if you could join our board, you can't join any other board. You know, yeah, it's kind of a country club effect. And I agree with you on that. I think it's really interesting. Darren, I hope this helped you today. My friend, I'm thinking that it is problematic and this is not a good way to go. And I've also got to say, Jack, you know, it's not super easy to attract good board members. So if nothing else, if you're just looking at, you know, supply and demand and how you're gonna be able to really cultivate and steward a strong board, not a good choice, not a good choice. Absolutely. So, okay, let's go to our next question. This is a real doozy. I don't think anyone's ever asked us this before. Josh from Oklahoma City writes, are there any nonprofits out there who are paying their board members a stipend for their board service? No. So I, you know, there are no federal laws prohibiting paying stipends or payments or even a salary. You could reimburse them for expense. So there are no federal laws. You're not violating any laws by doing this. But I think your bylaws, back to the bylaws which are the governing, it's the governing document. They have to define stipends and payments or even hiring them. So make sure your bylaws are consistent with what you're doing. Some organizations have staff on the board. I worked for Catholic Charities and the CEO was the secretary of the board but it was defined in the bylaws, bylaws, bylaws and more bylaws, I like to say. But I wanna tell you something just on a feeling level for me, Julia. Board members should be volunteers. If you give them a stipend, they are not a volunteer anymore. Are they, or I should ask the question, do you think they're still volunteers? If I worked in a library and I had volunteers and they were paid stipends, they would become my staff. Yeah, true, that's what it does. Yeah, so that's number one. And the volunteer nature of our boards is beautiful and it's strong and it sends an important message to the people, the stakeholders. If you're paying your board members a stipend, you have to disclose it. That's what transparency is. You would have to disclose it. If I was a donor and I saw that Mr. Smith, who's on the board of XYZ nonprofit is getting $2,000 a year as a stipend, which is not a lot of money, I would really carefully think about whether I wanna make a gift to that organization. Right, yeah. So look at it from the donor's perspective or the public's perspective. One of the things we say about ethics and the importance of ethics is that it's the appearance. Even if it appears bad, you shouldn't. Yeah, the only thing I've ever, the only time I've ever heard about this is from a very, very large foundation and they, of course, they pay for their travel and everything of their trustees to come in, but they give each one of their trustees a certain amount of money that those trustees can individually give to something in the nonprofit sector, which is a gift and it's not, so it's not part of their grant process and it's really more just like an action of benevolence. And I don't know what that money is. I don't know if it's like $5,000 or $10,000 a year. I mean, it's probably somewhere in that range. Right. But it's not a stipend, but it's a controllable gift, if you will. I'm not... I love that idea, I love. Here's the thing, we're back to asking the why question.  Is it because you can't attract good board members? Well, then you have bigger problems. Okay, much bigger problems than the fact that you can't attract good board members. I mean, I like asking the question, why? Why do you wanna pay a stipend? Why is it so important to you to pay a stipend? Yeah, no, I agree with you. And I just don't see this as a part of the ethos and the culture of philanthropic leadership. I really don't. Now, that's not to say that you don't support the participation, meaning you offer travel expenses, you feed your folks, you pay their travel in time if they're going out of state or going to conferences, stuff like that. Oh, yeah. I think you gotta honor that. But yeah, to your point, and also, man, I feel like it's a can of worms. Oh, yeah. And the appearance of impropriety, it's a problem. And it's not illegal. There are lots of things that are legal, but still we don't do them. We're not gonna do them. Well, Josh, I hope this helps you. I mean, we've kind of like, you know, beat you up on this one, but I just would say not a good choice. And yeah, ultimately not something that you're gonna be glad you did, I mean, by any stretch of imagination. So let's move on to, oh, now this is really interesting, Jack. This is I think the first time we've ever had this. An entire board has sent us this question from Providence, Rhode Island. We are working on creating a new HR process for our next CEO. Specifically, we feel that an employment contract spells out job requirements is needed. Are more nonprofits doing this, where would we begin? Employment contracts, huge topic. Yeah, you know, and all four of these questions, I always ask, why? Why do you want a contract? What is the problem you're trying to fix? You're changing the process according to this question. Why do you need to change the process? Now, I think that contracts are good. There's advantages and there are disadvantages, okay? The advantages are that it specifies the benefits of the salaries, the salary, the grounds for termination, the duration of the employment. And some of the advantages for a nonprofit, it's difficult to find a CEO. It's costly, so you wanna lock them into some employment term, you know? So that's, I see that.  And you may wanna specify confidentiality or taking our donors list to another nonprofit that you would go to next. So one of the final things I like about our, I think that is an advantage. It enables greater control of the employee. And I'm back to asking, why do you wanna have greater control? So that's an advantage for the employer. So what are some of the disadvantages? It's a binding agreement. You can't breach a contract.  And what, you know, when I did this search, Google search, who in the nonprofit, typically it's high level employees. It's not, you're not getting employment contracts with, you know, receptionist or, you know, your grant writer or things like that. The other thing that I think is really important, job descriptions, job descriptions are a form of nonprofit employment agreement. And scum to those things, yeah. Some of those things like confidentiality, you could put in there in your job description. You could cover some of those same points. I don't know whether you should do a contract or not. I mean, it's up to the organization to decide. But it sounds like in this organization, Julia, maybe you get the same impression. They're changing their process. Yeah, it seems like it's a reaction to maybe a problem. And I think what you said is perfect. Why? And so when I first read this, I thought that was, you know, that they're having an issue. But first and foremost, you need to sit down with an employment attorney. Yeah. Labor attorney, because it is, to your point, it's a binding, you know, agreement that has costs in preparing it, costs in executing it and costs in stewarding it if it goes south. But I like what you said, and I hadn't really thought of it that way about that the job description is in essence going to help you put up some guardrails and lay out the process. And maybe that's really the better choice here. Yeah. Yeah. You know, in my Google search, I found this judge said that you can't breach a contract. And in quotes she wrote, it's a covenant of good faith and fair dealing. And if a judge says that you dealt with an employee unfairly, then be prepared to pay for it. Right, right. Wow. Well, I think it's a really interesting question. And I love that a whole board sent us a question. That's awesome. Again, I don't think that's happened before. And so good answer, Jack, and hopefully that will help them. Hey, you know, for our time is up, I wanna make sure that we circle back to the CFRE piece. I really, what a great time for us to get this question given your connection to the process. And in the green room chatter, you were mentioning to me that, and I think you amplified this just a little bit, and I wanna drill down. You do CFRE training.  You remind me, you have a CFRE training coming up? Yeah, so I host, I try to coach CFRE candidates through a study group. So our next study group starts July 9th. There are seven Saturdays, and we go through those six domains. And so anybody who's interested, it's free. There's no charge for it. It's one of my passions to work with individuals, young fundraisers to achieve that designation. And it gives me great joy to do that. People ask me all the time, Julia, why does Julia do this work? Why does Jack do this work? Why are we have a study group? Why do you have the nonprofit show? Here's my answer. You and I and Jared and Tony, Belle and Pearl and a lot of other people, we do this work because when they are better at fundraising, all boats rise. We are all better. I agree. We are all better off. If Susie is working in a hospital and she's raising more money for indigent care, then I feel like I've been part of that in helping raise that money. In the same way that the nonprofit show would help this board who's looking at a contract to be better at it, all boats rise. And you know what? I love that about the United States and Canada and other places that people come and study groups. This study group coming up, I have people from the United Kingdom and Canada and someone from South Africa. That's a great joy. Well, check out Jackalotto. You can connect with him on LinkedIn or connect with him through fundraisingacademy.org or reach out to me or us at the nonprofit show. We certainly want to help any of those connections. You know, I appreciate you and I appreciate that we would have questions that kind of pull this together because it's super interesting to me the timing of this Jack. I really appreciate what you've shared with us today. Again, I want to make sure that we thank all of our sponsors. Again, Fundraising Academy is our premier sponsor for Ask and Answer every week. But we also have Blue Moran, your part-time controller, American Nonprofit Academy, the Nonprofit Nerd, Staffing Boutique and Nonprofit Thought Leader joining us as we march towards our 600 episode, which is a mind blower. But I hope it is. It's like, woo! Oh my gosh, you know, as we end every episode, we want to make sure that we thank our wonderful co-host today, Jack Alotto, and to remind everybody to stay well so you can do well.


of things so you know we're not just care we are definitely not just babysitters you know most of the staff that we have have degrees you know level 6, level 7 level 8 degrees you know so that's not just a babysitter you know and do you have issues and concerns about retaining staff given the fact that you're constricted in what you can pay them because of the levels of of of subvention coming from the department absolutely I mean like why would you say if you're not going to get the money that you could get you know if you go into another area and you know other stuff and a lot of our staff are will be leaving to go into department jobs like inspectors and into public and into both of the services where they'll get paid the right wage so why wouldn't they leave you can't blame them or leave the country altogether and go to Australia where they value their early childhood educators well we'll see what happens as a result of the the protest and demonstration today are you hoping to get talking to the minister at some point or at least for some of your representatives to get talking to minister I'd say some I would I would hope that he would show up but who knows you know let's see what he what he thinks does he show up yeah well we will be watching with interest Suzanne Costello another one of the people on that bus heading down to the protest at Lenzter House as we say getting under way in in the next hour in Lenzter House there Suzanne thank you very much indeed for speaking to us today thank you thank you very much thank you Suzanne and you can hear there from Suzanne and also from the corners we had before one as well from Elaine and from Rachel and pardon me from Anna as well who were also on the bus you know the depth of feeling is there and the depth of conviction is there and the demand for changes there just a couple of things I want to get through before we take a break a nice email here this is Stefano Alberti from a town at near Milano writing I have a request I am taking online English lessons from a teacher based in Dunfane in County Donegal I know she listens to your radio station and the 26th of September is her birthday could you please say happy birthday to her her name is Evelyn Cullen now as it happens I know Evelyn Cullen so Evelyn happy birthday to you and happy birthday to you as well from Stefano in Milano and we also want to say happy birthday to Kira Freel in Clonmani and Kira is for today and that's from Mum, Dad, Olivia and Alana now a little earlier a person was asking about Martin's shop outside Letterkenny now we're told Martin's shop area is included in the recent road plans available in a public consultation exercise it's marked for the location of a park and ride site for cars to park up and take a bus into Letterkenny in a bid to reduce congestion that makes absolute sense it makes absolute sense to use a site like that for something like park and ride with the view towards adapting it for the wider road building 10T project when that finally comes to fruition I mean as I said yesterday I think realistically realistically speaking it'll be five to ten years the minimum before we can actually get that 10T project actually done and it will be a really really important one and but it's going to take time it's minimum five and probably closer to ten if not longer before we see meaning for work on the 10T and if in the meantime it's possible to use the to use the site at Martin's there for a park and ride it makes absolute sense to use it in that way now we referenced before during the paper review earlier the Duncan Neely story which was covered extensively obviously last week and it remains a major major concern parents and children as you know had a close call last Wednesday when a truck almost failed to stop at the red light in Duncan Neely now we're joined on the line by Martin Quigley who is a parent of two children Martin we discussed at the time the huge worry that parents had and the shock now it's a week since the incident people are thinking long term now and you're now looking at taking specific measures on a daily basis to protect your children yes we've actually started on Monday we have made a pullman signs and we've flagged out stone down traffic and actually stopping traffic while the kids are crossing and we actually have a parent too that is doing the lollipop crossing now we've taken action now ourselves we were promised now a guard to come out to the area and a speed ban from Monday onwards but we have seen nothing now I was chatting to the guard yesterday and they said there weren't enough of them at the minute to come out now you're all we want is to make sorry and you're hoping other members of the local community are going to come out and join you over the coming days as you make that very important point oh yes I would love the very parent grandparent and the people of this community to come out and join us and to better stop this crazy daven through the town the point before somebody else sorry the point was made last week that the incident that happened was potentially a very serious one but it's not an isolated incident that anywhere can have an isolated incident where one idiot does something which is completely not really dangerous however the point you're making is this wasn't an isolated incident this kind of driving potentially happens on a daily basis it does and when the lights turn red they're jump they're when the winds are trying to cross they're jumping the lights and there's not every car but a certain amount of cars is doing it off and on it's not an ongoing occasion yeah have you noticed a difference in driver behaviour since you actually started as parents literally standing there holding signs well we didn't actually notice it yesterday morning it was more to the two o'clock onwards we've actually slowed down a lot of Laurie Boss's vans and actually they have more respect now seem to be at the crossing and this morning again it was unbelievable the big change of the speed of the traffic obviously you're you're on the road between Donegal Town and Killy Beggs a lot of traffic I'm sure too going into Killy Beggs so you know the concerns always going to be that maybe someone is using the road that doesn't know there's a school there and is it the fact that the problem here is perhaps people who are driving toward Killy Beggs rather Killy Beggs that don't know the area don't know where the school is are not familiar with it well if you're familiar with the area the GA Pitching O'Gonelly from there the whole way up to the school there's seven signs between speed signs to reduce your speed and the school signs now there is seven signs all the other because I counted them yeah and now there's no excuse like yeah I mean I know in some areas there can be a school in a hidden area and I do know and I know that road is fairly straight going into the town as well so it's not as though there's a lot of awkward bends and you come around to bend and suddenly there's a school there without any warning I mean certainly as you say it's reasonably straight heading for it so yeah definitely yeah because the saints are well visible for anybody who's driving yeah are you I mean do you see a situation developing where there will be a long term decision made by parents to stand there or is this going to be a short term thing that just makes the point and then hopefully it will educate people and it'll just slow down the traffic and you can revert back to normal after a while to be honest the with this going on now for years I can't see us now we're definitely not going to back down we're going to be out in force stopping traffic for every day until the council comes out and does something to that road we're actually not going to stop because we've been promised this and then we told there's no money and then all of a sudden they were just just being told there yesterday that they're looking into a marriage refund and is that for ramps or what sort of initiatives do you believe that money should be used for well we were told way back that because of the main road they can't actually turn ramps and that is the problem that it's actually a national an NTA an TII sorry transport an I Ireland road so yes I mean that is the case the council can't put a ramp on that unless they get special clearance from TII and transport infrastructure Ireland tend not to agree with that would you like to see a situation where the local community meets with TII and the council and the road safety design office and others maybe to try and thrash this out at the highest level oh yes 100% and we would actually like if the council could try to put and speed cameras into the area yeah that would slow down traffic rapidly it would make a big difference on people driving that is either you fly to you speed to the town you could get points in relation or you take your time and manage yeah and maybe that might be more effective in the long term than a ramp you believe I think now honestly that would be more effective with your relations at risk then obviously Gar thee would have a say in where speed cameras are located Gar thee I'm sure would be into supporting any initiative to reduce the speed there well I would hope so now to be honest yeah and I would like to get them all I'd like to get them all to get involved and keep us up to date and what's going on rather at the minute we're getting a sitting number not knowing exactly what's going on yeah Martin it's certainly I mean it's been well highlighted now and I mean between ourselves and other media outlets both radio and the papers as well you know it's out there in the public domain and I think people will have read about and heard about what could have happened last week now hopefully that will give people pause for thought and we will see the sort of change in attitudes that's needed in Duncan Neely to try and make it a safer place but Martin thanks very much indeed for speaking to us today and all about it thank you very much for having me on thank you Martin that's Martin there in Duncan Neely and I mean you know I think when parents feel the need to actually stand outside the school at the pedestrian crossing holding homemade signs in order to guarantee the safety of their children that really when push comes to shove tells us all we need to know the county's number one talk show the 9 till noon show on Highland Radio join us this Friday on Around the Northwest for a special show live from the Radisson Blue Hotel in Etter County Paul and his staff are celebrating 20 years of the hotel in the heart of the town with refreshments and some live music from the letter Kenny ukulele orchestra that's all happening this Friday the 29th for a milestone celebration at the Radisson Blue Hotel letter Kenny live on Around the Northwest enter the Virgin Media Playhouse and unleash our best offers it's time to play with our 100 euro gift voucher to spend your way when you choose full fibre 500 meg broadband for just 39 euro a month for 12 months and no activation fee so switch today at virginmedia.ie virgin media it's playtime TSNC supplies the virgin media.ie subject to location and availability new customers only 12 month contract 500 meg broadband 70 euro thereafter ends October 11th 2023 how we use electricity can be smarter cleaner and greener at Electric Ireland we can help guide you there you see our new net zero hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans home EV charging solar panels and much more making your usage clearer your trips greener your home cozier and your world brighter find our net zero hub at electricarland.ie hi Paddy here at Shea and Connolly cars in Donegal town are you looking to upgrade your car with Shea and Connolly cars you'll find mix and models for every budget great finance options and they also accept radiance check out Shea and Connolly cars.com or call into us at Shea and Connolly cars from down her road Donegal town Highland radio time checks with Expressway travel route 32 from Letter Kennedy Dublin when you book online and travel for less Expressway bringing you the time asked 22 minutes past 11 o'clock a recent survey found that over two-thirds of the waste in general waste bins could have been placed in recycling or organic waste bins and food waste and commercial general waste bins is 30 percent in household general bins it's 17 percent I want to speak to Selene Horner who's a scientific officer with the Environmental Protection Agency Selene good morning to you morning Donegal how are you very well indeed thanks many people Selene will say oh yeah I have the three bins in the house now and I'm very fastidious about separating and I'll you know put my cans and my cardboard etc into the recycling I'll put the food waste into the compost and I'll put the general waste into the general but you think we could be doing more yeah it sounds like you know what you're doing yeah but unfortunately the study we just have finished we've basically taken the waste out of a representative sample of households and businesses and sorted it out into the different types of materials and what we found is like two-thirds of the waste in the general bin shouldn't be there so it should either be in the recycling bin or the organic food waste bin and it's important information for us because we need to know how close we are to our recycling targets at the moment we're at about 41% but we have to get to 50% in the next you know two years so we've a big challenge ahead of us but I suppose we know where the waste is going at the moment now it's actually not going into the green bin where we needed to go and the food waste isn't going into the brown bin where we needed to go so this is sort of a wake-up call for us and I think that we can rectify our habits if businesses and householders take a bit of time to sort their waste out properly now we have a gloriously complicated situation in parts of Donegal actually where one major provider back in the days when there was just one bin the big wheelie bin was green so here the green bin is the general waste the blue bin is the recycling and the brown is the compost so I was well I'm in county Whitlow and there's a purple bin involved so I hear your pain but I mean generally you know your residual waste is the stuff that can't be recycled that's what we're calling the general waste bin and we're finding that two-thirds of the waste in that should go to somewhere else so it's either into the food waste or into the recycling and if you're unsure about what you can put into the recycling there's a website called mywaste.ai and it lists nearly every item under the sun and where it should go in terms of recycling and obviously what we're interested in as well as the people won't create so much waste in the first place I think we're all used to the sort of over packaged thing and DPA said before we need big producers and supply chain managers in retail is to really help us to reduce the amount of waste that we have to sort in the first place but then I think everybody needs to make sure and businesses as well as households need to make sure that they have three bins and that they learn how to use them properly by using something like mywaste.ai and then we need sorry one concern some people may have is that it's sometimes packaging once the food is taken out can be contaminated certainly with things like if you take meats or whatever out of plastic packaging there can be residual juices or whatever now in most cases that's fine you can clean that with a paper towel or whatever and then put it into the recycling but I get a lot of questions about pizza boxes where there'd be residual fat maybe soaked into the box and people would be genuinely I think concerned that I mean if I put a pizza box into recycling that has fats and sort of maybe tomato sauce soaked into the cardboard am I running the risk of contaminating that bin and ultimately yeah if you put it in like that you are but I've been at some of the waste facilities and you know they don't need it to be absolutely immaculate what they need it to be just white clean or if you think the lid of it is completely destroyed and you can't recycle it you can tear that off and recycle it maybe the rest of it in general the rule is that recyclable should be clean dry and loose because yeah it is important that we don't contaminate other materials with dirty materials that are not cleaned out properly so we have actually measured that as well and interesting we found something like 17,000 tons of liquid in bottles left in bottles during the recycling you know that's 17,000 tons of material that was being transported around inside our bin trucks and processed so we really do need people to make sure it's clean, dry and loose and then put it into the right bin and when it comes to be it cans of beer or whatever you know if you've had a can at home give it a rinse shake it out maybe leave it drained for an hour or two and then put it into the bin yeah I mean we don't have to be completely facility it's just a quick rinse we'll do and then to make sure that everybody has a brown bin that's one of the things we're in danger of missing as our food waste targets and I think a lot of places don't have brown bins at the moment so this year by July all businesses are entitled to getting a brown bin and all households by the end of the year regardless of the size the size of the town or village should have a brown bin so if you don't have a brown bin you should contact your contractor and ask them for one because that's the important thing to get out of the main general waste bin and into the brown bin so that we can reach the targets with regard to that In terms of the plastics in the general waste how much of this is laziness how much of this is people going I couldn't be really bothered and just sort of chucking it and going ads grand and sure it's only it's only a carton it's only this and I suppose if if a hundred thousand people go it's only with a plastic lid that's 100,000 plastic lids Well that's what we're finding you know in the general waste bin for businesses 15% of that is plastic and 17% in the household bin is plastic so it's a significant amount that's not getting recycled and I think you know we know everybody's quite aware of climate change nowadays I think you know 84% of people have said they're concerned and willing to do something for the environment but recycling our plastics is a very strong climate action you can take because if it gets recycled it's not getting incinerated you're saving the emissions that would go to the atmosphere if they were burned so it is a strong action we can all take to sort of put in place some of the concerns people have about you know climate to actually you know segregate and recycle your plastics it's a strong action you can take Yeah Caller expressing some cynicism saying that we don't recycle the stuff we send for recycling a lot of the time they can't recycle it and it's actually put into landfill I mean how much that goes into recycled bins do you believe actually does end up in general landfill Well what happens with our recycling is it does get segregated now there's a complexity with the range of plastic in particular there's a huge range of different types of plastic like an interior they can all be recycled but it depends on the waste contractor getting a market place for it so you know they all get bailed up they get sorted but if they can't get a market for it then they're not likely to be able to spend the time to sort the material so that's the issue that they really do face it's sort of market led I mean I think what we'd be looking for is a reduction in the complexity of plastic types so that there one clear plastic type used or maybe two or three or whatever but at the moment we have multiple and what happens is that the waste operators get paid per tonne for all of the plastic gets recycled and that's operated by repack and repack have been to the facilities that recycle the plastic waste so they would only pay for you know authorised plastic that's recycled so obviously there's going to be some gaps but I mean the majority of the plastic that we are reporting is recycled to and to you know certified facilities yeah Claire asking in terms of coal bags what should you do with those because it doesn't I mean you know you can get those sort of I'm not is it jute no it's not jute these they're kind of woven plastic it's like a woven plastic sort of thing is there anything that can can they be put into general recycling or if especially if there's residues of coal dust in there is is that feasible I'm thinking that they may be very contaminated and difficult to wash unless you're going to hose them down or something yeah and yeah unless you can make it clean dry at least I wouldn't put it into the recycling because it's dangerous I would have to be honest no I would have to be honest I tend to put coal bags into general waste being honest about it Claire asking in the brown bin for food I put the waste into a plastic bag is this wrong can you ask your speaker now I know you can buy small bags that are actually compostable yeah well if it's a compostable plastic bag that's that's fine but in general plastic bags shouldn't go into the brown bin because of the fact that they'd you know just can't break down and they just cause problems for the composting process yeah but I mean if you go into any shop now if you go over to where they have the sacks you'll see they'll be called eco bag or green bag or something but you can buy compostable bags that are absolutely fine and they actually feel different if you're looking at them they feel quite different and they'll usually give sort of a time frame that they've rebroken down and so if they're designed for the brown bin I think that's that's fine to use yeah in terms of the I beg your pardon in terms of the promotion with the best will in the world not a lot of people are going to go to mywaste.ie and look up you know what's on a website is there a need for more promotion on TV maybe more promotion online putting up the grids putting up those in poster form because as I say you know if we say people can go to mywaste.ie a lot of people realistically speaking won't does this need to be on TV do we need to see a lot more in terms of promotion here yeah I think there is I suppose always going to be a need to remind people about what they can recycle and to keep it sort of front of the brain because you know it's obviously we're all busy with our busy lives but I think as you've got plastics, paper, glass, aluminium all those things can be recycled and I think people will intuitively know now you need your glass in the bottle bank and that's another thing that we're kind of trying to bring attention to is that the need for more easy access to recycling centres a lot of the recycling centres you know it's easy enough to buy your waste at the shops and stuff but it can be harder to get to the civic community sites so we are calling for better access for people to civic community sites including you know where you can bring more of your bulky goods but in general I think people need to remember that if it's glass if it's plastic if it's metals steel aluminium all of those things can be recycled and should be recycled because you know we can't keep taking things out of the earth using them once and then throwing them away because it's just causing too much in terms of our climate emissions and it's a waste of good materials you know they can be used again and again and we'd like to see more of these reusable refillable options so that people don't have so much waste to deal with you know they might just go to the shops with the reusable box or jar fill it up with your cornflakes or whatever and bring it home have your breakfast with the cornflakes you don't necessarily need all this extra packaging so that's what we would like to see and there are some shops around the place doing that type of refill and reuse because that's the best way to avoid plastic and to avoid waste generation in the first place you know yeah I remember when I was very very young when you bought biscuits they actually had a big tin box with a sort of a glass cover or a purse fixed cover and you went into the shop and you bought a half pound of biscuits for a pound of biscuits and you brought your own bag they took the biscuits out of the tin boxy thing put it into the bag and you brought your biscuits home and the box full of biscuits stayed in the shop we're really going backwards in terms of the packaging there's actually no doubt about that yeah it's that kind of thing it's ideal and you know we've got into the habit of bringing our shopping bags with this but surely it wouldn't be too much of a stretch was to bring if your reusable containers like you're talking there with you when you're going to the shops the even things like your detergents some shops have that and where they refill your detergents in the same bottle and in the last few years and you don't need to be generating that much waste and I think that's the kind of frame of mind that we need to be getting into that we don't just need to use each container once that we can give it a longer life and then reduce the amount of waste that we're generating that would be very handy indeed Selene Horner thank you very much indeed for speaking to us this morning thanks very much our pleasure that's Selene there from the EPA now a few comments before we go for a break a lot of parents put their own children at risk by stopping in the middle of the road to let them off at some schools the boys school and convent in letter Kenny one of those mentioned Horner says I had my grandchild out shopping at the weekend at the retail park in letter Kenny I was shocked to discover that there are no public toilets there I'm told the councillor working on this it's a bit like the Swilly bridge is it going to take 20 years from announcing it to it actually being done now I do know that there is the planning notices up actually if you're at the retail park if you're heading over towards Marks and Spencer just beyond deals you'll notice there's a bike rack well if you look there there's a little white notice that's an actual planning application for the development of toilet facilities including a changing places toilet for those with disabilities and that is there in the retail park so the planning application is up we believe the funding is in place so that does appear to be all systems go it's 25 to 12 going to take a short break back after these watch the show live now on YouTube Facebook and at highlandradio.com wash was 1510 now 1050 and money off vouchers every week at the app too so pop in for great savings in store online this autumn at super value hotel span leisure center don't miss out on our exclusive midweek hotel specials more information at hollywoodhotel.com McElhaney's home value event has begun online and in store with amazing offers that you do not want to miss a massive 30% off la crusie tableware 50% off selected bedding and towels and 20% off the entire Orla-Kylie collection visit us in store or shop online at McElhaney's.com for the biggest home value event of the year for exclusive offers only available at McElhaney's department store ballet buffet save up to 100 euro this week at CallahansElectrical.com with discount codes code Highland 20 for purchases over 229 Highland 30 when you spend over 399 and Highland 100 for sales over 1000 euro shop and save online at CallahansElectrical.com with your exclusive Highland radio discount code it's the 90 noon show on Highland radio a very important day is coming up it is the memorial day for victims of homicide 614 people have died by homicide in this country we're told since 2005 and on this Saturday all 614 names are to be read out at a special memorial event at St Anne's Church on Dawson Street in Dublin we're joined by Michael Lachlan he's a member of ADVIC the Advocate for Victims of Homicide Group and John's son James was killed in Slago in 2018 John a very good morning to you Hi Donald yeah it's Michael oh Michael I do beg your pardon I do beg your pardon no problem Michael it's good this is going to be a very important day for your family and for others in your position that's right unfortunately my son was killed in Slago in February 2018 so the first memorial service we attended was in 2019 and subsequently with Covid it takes place every two years so with Covid there wasn't one in 2021 so this year we're all meeting up again and looking back on the first memorial service it was so moving when you're in a church with so many families who have had homicide come to their door and it's just so emotional and it's kind of another family within the family now we've met so many friends and we're so supported to each other to remember our loved ones who are no longer with us unfortunately you are and you may confirm this for me which you are now working with ADVIC the Advocative Victims of Homicide Group and as is the case so often for people who have experiences like yours you would have begun receiving support from ADVIC now you've gone through the process and come out the other side where you are part of ADVIC giving support to others well that's right I had to get through my own bereavement of losing our son and ADVIC were with us very early on after our son was killed and they gave us a lot of support in terms of counselling and help with the legal side of things in terms of the criminal justice system in terms of coroner's inquests you know the murder trial etc and I always said that fortunately came to our door and I said when I was in a position to help ADVIC in the future I would join the committee of ADVIC which I did and you know we're just here unfortunately for families who have homicide come to their door and it's a fantastic organisation it really is you know we really look after people we give them counselling and then we deal with the justice system in terms of you know you suffer the loss of someone and then say in 10 years time or 15 years time or whatever when the parole board hearings take place ADVIC are there to help people with that as well and it is something that maybe we don't think a lot about that when it comes to an inquest when it comes to a trial the legal people that are there they know what's happening the coroner knows what's happening the judge knows what's happening the court staff knows what's happening but the people who are smack in the middle of this the families you've probably never been in you've possibly never been in the court for your life before you haven't had to know what's going on I couldn't have said it better myself don't I I couldn't have said it better myself you just thrown into it and as you say the people behind the scenes know exactly what's going to happen when it's going to happen what happens because they're doing it you know that's their jobs you know they're in it all the time when you're thrown into it you just don't you just cannot comprehend the hassle and the bereavement that you continue to have waiting for things to happen I mean our coroner's inquest didn't take place till four years after our son was killed and it got cancelled at very short notice five times and it's just you know you're just waiting for this to happen and that's happened to Mr and it just it just causes more trauma to families who have suffered you know and it shouldn't be enough to happen really and important that for someone who sadly may find themselves starting on that journey they have someone like yourself as you did in your turn when you were starting off there is someone there who's been through that experience who can actually sit down and say look this may happen that may happen this is how it may feel this was my experience this this is how it panned out so at least you're getting some forewarning and you're getting that forewarning not out of a book not from an educator you're getting that forewarning from someone who's got the sort of empathy that can only come from someone who's been there exactly town a hundred percent a hundred percent Michael this is taking place in St Anne's in Dawson street in Dublin on Saturday as you said it's going to be a very emotional day and I'm sure to hear you know 614 names read out it's going to be very stark it's going to take a while your own son is going to be among those names that are read out but it's going to be a stark reminder of the impact of homicide and we wish you and others involved with with Advik and particularly thoughts with those perhaps who are going to such a service for the first time those who have had this experience relatively recently those starting off on that road that you sadly have been on now for for five years and more you know our thoughts are with you and with them and we wish you well this weekend and that's Michael Michael thank you very much indeed that's Michael Lachlan there okay all the best thank you Michael and Michael Son as he said Michael Son was killed in Sligo in February of 2018 he was 36 Ishka Aaron is Ireland's national water utility responsible for delivering clean safe and reliable national public drinking water and wastewater services for Ireland for any questions about public water services after reporting issue in your area we can be contacted 24 hours a day seven days a week on 1800 278 278 or visit water.ie delivering water services for Ireland connect hearing is open for free hearing tests our audiologist is available Monday to Friday for wax removal services at our letter clinic in the courtyard shopping centre we also offer a home visit for those who are unable to visit us our hearing is our social sense are you finding hearing more of a challenge call Ursula today on 07491 13296 to make an appointment good hearing helps us to connect to our family friends and loved ones connect hearing connecting you to life 17 euro each when it's rugby night it's game on at centra shop smart feel good centra live every day enjoy call sensibly the eagerly anticipated brand new production of the Broadway smash hit musical sister act is on its way to the board gosh energy theatre in Dublin join Highland radio as we make way to this unforgettable show on Friday 23rd of February 2024 your trip includes luxury transfers bed and breakfast at the four star city north hotel in Dublin your ticket to the show and a shopping trip to Dublin city centre for more information call Highland radio on 07491 25000 or visit Highland radio dot com it's the nine to nine show on Highland radio just a few comments before we go to our next quarter I know people should clear drains near them along the road I'm not fit to do that on my own I need help all the water is running down the road I would pay someone if they were to help out so says the quarter there may well be some supports available through the council perhaps speak to your local councillor about that I mean I'm not sure people you know you're responsible to clear the drains on the roads outside your house but maybe if you were to speak to someone in the council they may be able to give you some guidance on that that's all I can really suggest caller says I'd laughed at the comment made on the roads in Spain they have 350 days of sunshine we have 350 days of rain there is no comparison caller says could you highlight the fact with all the emphasis on using public transport why do people need to wait in the pouring rain for a bus there's hardly a bus shelter anywhere now very good point I know certainly there is work being done to try and sort out something for letter Kenny particularly where the local link buses meet there just beyond the station roundabout but certainly there are gaps if you pardon the slight one right around the county where there should be bus shelters and aren't now I want to go to Sydney because Sydney has a story to tell that I suspect sadly is being echoed in many many areas of Donegal Sydney good morning hello Sydney your your following note has a home care package but the problem is actually getting people to actually fulfill that package yes my father-in-law has a home care package for the last three and a half years he had an issue with his bed my father-in-law has dementia and he needs a larger bed than normal because dementia patients don't recognize the side of a bed and when the home care team requested that the bed be changed to a smaller bed he had a four foot they wished him and three foot the the requested to be changed the dementia society advice for a three foot six to four foot for dementia patients as they don't recognize the side of the bed but home care team requested three foot they arranged for my father-in-law to go into a nursing home for a week's respite while they changed the bed during that week the three foot bed arrived my father-in-law was in the nursing home and we all expected as a family that he was coming back out the following week as the bed is there when the week was up we request we asked about him coming home again and we were told there was no staff available anymore now this gentleman had had a fairly large care package as he had he was incapacitated unable to walk wheelchair bound and using a hoist now he is at home he spent four weeks in the nursing home and respite taking up a respite bed other people requested required the family brought him home now the family is a very small family it is only his wife myself and his daughter we've brought him home but this is a month now and the home care team has not returned and we are in a situation that his wife's in her it is and we both have other occupations to go and we're in a situation that seems to be replicated throughout the county and presumably he needs help with dressing he needs help with washing he needs to be hoisted at times I mean it isn't as though it's just supervising he needs help at every stage of the day-to-day living process yes every stage and the thing in it though is with hoisting they have to be too there to do the the procedure yeah due to health and safety they have to be too there for to do all procedures because he needs to be hoisted at the situation that some families find themselves on but the HSE don't seem to I'll be nice about it and say they don't seem to care the elderly seem to be as we have found it out how you put it optional they they don't give the care this care this gentleman had a care package was enter into respite for a change of bed and they moved the care package on they moved the staff on now he's got a city sitting now with a 25 hour a week care package and no staff to to do it and these are internal HSE staff this isn't a private agency these are yes HSE this is an internal HSE staff yes and the the issue and the matter being that it's leaving a lot of care on an elderly lady that should be getting care herself yeah have you had any luck with the HSE in terms of are they able to tell you that maybe something may happen into the near future or are they just holding their hands up and say sorry we don't have anyone they are putting us back on the long finger all the time anytime we were chatting to the HSE while he was in the nursing home unit we were told that they were getting staff they were getting staff they were getting staff the last week he was in the nursing home unit we were told that they had five staff and they needed one more and they were could we please as a family leave him in the nursing home unit for one more week and they would have the staff that final week came and we rang them and we asked about the staff oh we don't have no staff now and we just made the decision as a family it couldn't stay there because he's not he doesn't need nursing home care in each care and his own home and along with that his wife made a kind of promise to him when he started to take the dementia that she'd do her best to care for her on my home and it would be actually saving the HSE and the government a fortune but I say caring for my home rather than caring for my nursing home care but we have asked for representation from the local county councillors which put on representation but got no answers we asked from our local TDAs they put on representation got no answers we are at a stage as a family we don't know where to turn I mean there are private agencies that offer this care but I mean obviously they are very very expensive and I'm sure you probably don't have the budget to be able to do that over the course of the long term the private agencies we priced a few for a house package would be in their region of 1,100 euro a week the HSE is willing to give a grant and that would mean that they would have nothing more to do with it of 360 yeah and the reality is 360 is not going to buy anything in the private market in in in this regard no no no not it would hardly get them on the door as a farmer would say it would hardly get them on the door but the situation now is that the gentleman is at home in needs care and we're we were on the telephone on a regular basis to the HSE and to the home care units and every time we run them we were getting a different advice so we decided to email them as this would create a paper record once we started to email them they never respond they never respond so we do not know now we are sitting now on as he is now at home it's his first week at home with no home care and as you say it's unsustainable for you and for your wife his daughter and and certainly unsustainable for his own wife your mother-in-law who was in her 80s herself that i mean you know it's unsustainable in in the long term that that can be maintained so no it's not sustainable at all but the advice that the HSE home care team gave us was if you cannot manage we will put them back into home care yeah rather than saying we will try and get you out staff what it was we will put them back into home care and then nursing home care right which isn't what is really needed no the gentleman the gentleman is and as they say he's got long-term dementia in each caring in his own environment we would love to get response from somewhere to help us out Sydney hopefully someone from the HSE may have heard this this morning they may know the case as you say you've made representations to your councillors who are members of the regional forum you've made representations to the TDs you've been in touch with the HSE hopefully someone will hear and recognize the situation you're in and try and get this sorted before you have to resort to agreeing to get your father-in-law back in the nursing home in the meantime look fair play to you and to your mother-in-law for standing by that promise for as long as you possibly can and we wish you well and I'm afraid that's really all I can say I understand that at the top time for all it is Sydney I fully appreciate that hopefully someone out there has heard this hopefully this will resonate with someone and hopefully someone within the HSE will be able to say hang on a tick we we need to do something to address this situation Sydney thank you very much indeed for sharing your story I thank you for your time it is our pleasure hopefully it'll come to something that was Sydney there and um it it it's a story that's replicated elsewhere sadly just a few very quick comments before we go we were discussing a zombie earlier being sung by the Irish fans on a Saturday night Collar says sadly many of those who sing this beautifully haunting song don't know its history nor do they know what preceded the IRA campaign when you oppress and discriminate a minority will rebel and fight back and sadly all wars inevitably lead to inhumane actions Collar says I've been on the Donegal housing list for the past 20 years still never got a house I'm now 63 just councillor Martin Harley and we spoke about the housing issue does you not realise how long this Finnegal party has been involved in government and finally Collar says what about a pilot scheme in each parish once a week to alert people to bring things to a certain point and alert them to what they can recycle also we are a aluminium PVC window and door company is there someone we can recycle the glass units from the old windows I'm not sure of that perhaps inquiries to the EPA might be the way to go that's it from the 9 till noon show for today thank you to Caroline for producing to Caroline and Eve as well for taking your calls thank you for all our contributors most importantly thanks to you for listening Greg's back tomorrow for myself Donald Kavana have a very good day looks like we're in for a cold spell perfect weather to chill out in a steaming seamed bath on Sligo's shores talk of scattered showers too perfect weather for sea swimming off the coast of Waterford sure you're already wet


Alright guys what is up, Jake here with back and last week you know you might have seen I made a quick video on the signs and symptoms of low testosterone, what were the normal ranges and basically you know immediately following that video I went down to the doctor, I got a full blood test, I got my testosterone checked as well as a few other things and I've got my results right here, so I've already had a look and you know I'm happy, I'm content. The main reason I got my testosterone checked was for my own you know personal knowledge, I just wanted to know what my number was, I didn't particularly think that I had low testosterone although I had had some sort of you know irrational sort of mood swings and stuff that I thought this is not really normal so anyways I went down there, everything came back normal, my range is within the normal range, now before I go and tell you my number let's just talk about what the numbers mean, so in Australia it seems that we have a slightly different measure of testosterone than they use in you know America and other places, so in America or most other places that I see it quoted they use a measurement of nanograms per deciliter which is a higher number, so a normal range, a normal testosterone range in nanograms per deciliter is from 270 to 1070, okay, so the equivalent of that in the unit of measure that they use here in Australia which is called nanomoles per litre, 270 nanograms per deciliter is 9.4 nanomoles per litre and 1070 nanograms per deciliter is 37.1 nanomoles per litre, so a normal testosterone range in nanomoles per litre is from 9.4 to 37.1. Now TRT is recommended 100% from people from 0 to 8, if you're from 8 to 12 you're getting in that normal range but you're still quite low, TRT would be discussed and you know maybe required if you want to go down that path, from 12 to 15 you're obviously in the normal range but you're still quite low, TRT is discussed but it's not recommended, you know if for whatever reason your testosterone is low it may come back up depending on your age etc but from 15 and above so obviously 15 to 37 is considered normal and you've got nothing to worry about, so my result guys came in at, where is it, 19.6, like I said before the normal range is 9.4 to 37.1, I came in at 19.6, it's not hugely high which I kind of hoped it would be but in saying that I was kind of scared at the same time because let's say it was low and the doctor started fucking talking to me about TRT you know I'd be like, I'd be thinking fuck you know I'm natural man, I'm natty I can't do that shit, so anyways guys I'm pretty pleased, 19.6 you know you can't really go wrong, if I'm going to convert that into nanograms per deciliter obviously the normal range was 270 to 1070 and at 19.6 that means I'm at 565 nanograms per deciliter so it's in the normal range it's slightly low, it's slightly on the low side of normal but you know I'm happy and you know I've made a few gains here and there over the last few years so let's hope it continues but that was just a bit of fun guys, I recommend you guys get yours tested, if you go to a place like I did called Headspace it's a doctor, it's a GP service that is free for people who are under age 25 or under age 26 so that's what I did, I just booked an appointment, got a free referral from the GP and went to pathology and got my bloods done so it's not hard guys you just need a morning free to go and get it done and it's interesting, it's really interesting especially in the world of bodybuilding I mean it's everything testosterone so yeah 19.6, until next time guys have a great day, make some gains, train hard, eat well, kick some goals, I'll see you in the next one, peace.


This qualitative research, conducted using a phenomenological approach, found that mental strains were the most important issues for COVID-19 patients, which were interwoven with concerning physical manifestations. Most participants used self-medication and spiritual resources to cope with the disease, so it is recommended that healthcare personnel plan to psychologically and spiritually support these patients while alleviating physical manifestations of the disease. This article was authored by Aliyah Scrooge-Azmi, Zahra Mohamed Zaydebrizi, Mostafa Rad, and others.


The development of GRAPHLN, a computational tool, provides high-quality visualizations of microbial genomes and metagenomes with phylogenies spanning thousands of taxa, annotated with metadata ranging from microbial community abundances to physiology or host and environmental phenotypes. It is designed as an open-source command-driven tool that can be easily integrated into complex bioinformatics pipelines and executed locally or through an online Galaxy Web application. GRAPHLN's potential for modern microbial and community genomics is illustrated by several examples, including taxonomic and phylogenetic visualization of microbial communities, metabolic functions, and biomarker discovery. This article was authored by Francesco Asnicar, George Weingart, Timothy L. Tickle, and others.


Hey everybody, what's going on? I am Greg Sussman, joined today by Jim Sonnis of FanDuel, and we're gonna ignore NASCAR and the MLB for today, because the NFL draft is rapidly approaching, just three weeks away. So let's talk some NFL draft props. Yeah, my love for NASCAR and baseball goes back a long way, but I remember back in the day, like waking up Saturday morning, hoping the drafts, the Jets with draft Reggie Bush, and kind of rekindling that excitement and talking about the draft here now. So Jacked up for this year should be a lot of fun. How are you doing, Greg? I was getting nervous around the draft season because I'm just waiting for my team to screw up and then the tweets that follow and it just makes me angry.  So I go into the season with a bit of trepidation, but we'll get to my team in a little bit. Let's begin with quarterback Justin Fields, and there seems to be a question about what's going to happen with the number three overall pick. We know Trevor Lawrence is going one. We're like 99% positive, Zach Wilson is going two, which brings us to San Francisco's trade at number three. There's been rumors that they're interested in Justin Fields, potentially Trey Lance, and then Mack Jones has, well, the rumor mills swirling. You're Justin Fields believer, you are at least at number three. The number here is four and a half. Well, if you go over or under pick four and a half and you believe it is under, is that because San Francisco's taking them or someone's going to do something at four? The good thing is I don't know, but I don't have to. That's the luxury here of it being four and a half is there are multiple scenarios in which Justin Fields winds up cashing this bet because he could go to San Francisco. Obviously all the smoke says Mack Jones. That could be very true because it's very reputable sources who are saying it. We want to put more stock in them. So we'll allocate a little bit of percentage odds to Fields going number three, but there's also a scenario where the Falcons take him at four, although they did restructure Matt Ryan's contract. There is a chance they could decide to stick there, take a quarterback, get a successor, get Justin Fields back to Georgia. That could happen. That's another chunk of the percentage point pie. The third scenario is where a team potentially Denver trades up to number four and takes Justin Fields there. And Atlanta has said they are open to trading down. If they decide they want to stick with Matt Ryan, they could trade down. And I think it makes a lot of sense if a team does trade up to go up again, Justin Fields. Sure, we hear these red flags about Justin Fields, but his statistical profile is tremendous. His workout numbers obviously outstanding too. So if we're trying to think logically, you would think that Justin Fields will be a top four pick in this year's draft. And I think there are multiple paths to us getting there. So it's up to four and a half. Once it got to four and a half, I was good taking the plunge because it gives me insurance policy in case of 49ers do not go Justin Fields. So to me at four and a half, this is an advantageous number because there are multiple ways for Justin Fields to cash this bet. I think that's the key, right? Jim, four and a half being the number where you have some flexibility at three and at four, and you're not just locked in at one number. Justin Fields, minus one of six number, you can get it right now at the Fandals Sportsbook. And four and a half is the draft pick. I think there is certainly wins with going with Mac Jones. That's where the reputable rumors are coming from at three. But don't count out Justin Fields. It was only a couple of months ago where he was the apple of everyone's eye. My other things changed during draft season. And that brings us to the next quarterback that we have to talk about. And that's Trey Lance. As Mac Jones has risen up draft boards, simulation all fault of his own, Trey Lance has fallen. The number here sits at seven and a half. Will he be picked before, pick eight, or will he be picked after or pick eight or later? The number is at plus 172 to go over seven and a half. And if he gets passed four, I have no idea where he's going. I think that's part of why you like the over here. I do. And I think that it's an uncertain year, Greg, because we'd have to have the combine which means there's less information flowing. I think that that leads to increased uncertainty. So if you can get juice like this on a number in an uncertain year, you should be inclined to do so because we know less than we think we do. I think that if you can get plus 172 on an over under, I'm gonna be inclined to take that pretty much every time. But I also think that it makes sense to go over here with Trey Lance because I like Justin Fields a lot. I think that Trey Lance is very good too, but Trey Lance definitely not quite as good of a prospect at least in my eyes as Justin Fields. Less experience, lower level of competition, less accuracy for Trey Lance than for Justin Fields. So it's kind of tied into the thought that Justin Fields will go top four. That would inherently mean the odds that Trey Lance goes high do go down. If you get past pick number four, you got the Bengals at five, not taking a quarterback, probably taking an offensive lineman. The Dolphins could trade down again, but there's probably a reason they traded back into the top six to begin with. They're probably staying put, not taking a quarterback. The Lions at seven are the biggest question mark here because I think it'd be in their best interest to take a quarterback, give yourself multiple options of that position and see what happens. But they've also said they are willing to move down. So it doesn't seem like they are fully committed to taking a quarterback in this year's draft. That means that this position is up for grabs. It could be Denver trading up to get to seven to get to Trey Lance, but to me, the bigger signal is that Detroit may not be committed to taking a quarterback in this class, which bodes well over here. Once you get past pick number eight, it's kind of, you know, all bets are off for sure where Trey Lance could go, but you've already cashed this over by this point. So it's kind of like the Justin Fields discussion. There are multiple paths to this cash, this backcashing. We just have uncertainty. We don't know how NFL teams actually view Trey Lance. That bodes well for the over, especially when we're getting plus juice like this. It could be a situation where he simply falls to nine and the Broncos take him there, but it's basically a numbers game where there are limited teams that need a quarterback picking in the top seven spots. And if Trey Lance doesn't wind up being one of the top four quarterbacks, I think this bet cash is pretty easy. And there are reasons to think that could happen. So Trey Lance, a guy I like quite a bit, I think there's a lot upside in that profile, but just by the way the board falls, I think over seven and a half is advantageous when we're getting plus 172 on that number. Super advantageous, I agree with you. Plus 172 year over seven and a half, pick number seven and a half for Trey Lance or so many questions are about. Let me know those back at you here, Jim, for a moment. Who do you like more as a prospect? Trey Lance or Mack Jones? Greg, I'm someone who favors upside at all times. And I think that if you're looking at the range of outcomes for these two guys, Trey Lance is the bigger range of outcomes, both in the negative sense and that he could be the odds that he busts are higher, but the true ceiling, the 90th percentile outcome for Trey Lance to me, it's so much better than Mack Jones, I'm fine with that. So I'd be a bad NFL talent evaluator, I'd probably get fired because I'm okay taking risks, but I think that those risks are worth taking when it's a guy with the upside of Trey Lance. Upside is everything, Trey Lance has it, but hopefully being that raw, facing that kind of competition has him going after pick number seven, which you can get right now at the Fando Sportsbook for plus 172. You knew we were gonna have to get to the wide receivers at some point, and that's where we get to now. We're looking at Devonte Smith, the highest minute trophy winner who not surprisingly, his pick number over under is 11 and a half. Why? Well, the New York Giants pick at 11. Do you think the Giants are gonna take Smith or they go in a different direction? That's essentially the question you need to ask yourself. Jim says, well, maybe they will take Devonte Smith. What do you think here, Jim? Over under 11 and a half, you get that number at minus 140, which doesn't seem great. You're very confident here. Well, someone has pre-ordered my Rashawn Slater, New York Giants jersey. I have to, you know, hope they take Rashawn Slater instead, but I think that there are enough teams picking ahead of the Giants, where you got a lot of flexibility here for Devonte Smith to go early. You've got the Falcons. Let's say the Falcons don't trade out, they decide to go with a non-quarterback and build towards 2021 trying to juice up. This year, they go Kyle Pitts, Jamar Chase, and you get to the Bengals. They could go a wide receiver, potentially over Pines. Sewell got the Dolphins at six. Seems like they are most likely taking wide receiver. The Detroit Lions depth chart, Greg, you're actually number four on that. They're probably taking a wide receiver as well. There are a lot of teams that may not necessarily wind up taking a wide receiver, but who could? So even if Devonte Smith does wind up being the third pass catcher on each team's board, there's still really good odds that the undercashes at 11 and a half. And you mentioned that the Giants are there as well. If he gets past like the Panthers or the Lions, then we're getting a little bit scary, because the teams picking after seven and eight aren't as likely to take a pass catcher. And that does make you at least a little bit worried for sure. But with the teams picking four through seven, all being very likely to potentially go pass catcher, I think it makes a lot of sense to take the under here on Devonte Smith. He does have red flags. He is smaller. He is a late declare, which does not bode well from a bust perspective. But when you watch him play, it's so hard not to think that Devonte Smith would be a top 11 pick. So minus 140, you're right Greg. Like that is a lot of juice to lay here. But I think given what we saw this year from Devonte Smith, given the number of teams picking within the top 11 who have needs a wide receiver, it's kind of hard for me to see the over happening. So I'll take the under even at minus 140. That's really the number that scares me here, Jim, really the minus 140, you're absolutely right. There's a ton of teams that could go wide receiver. And there's a lot of talent at wide receiver here in this draft and Kyle Pitts as well. But will they all invest this highly wide receiver? Will Smith be the guy that they invest in? Well, Fandle certainly believes so. Minus 140, you're the number 11 and that pick 11 and a half. We'll see what happens in just three weeks time. That's gonna do it for us here on the Fandle Hurryup. Jim, we appreciate your time. Enjoy the Masters, enjoy your NASCAR, enjoy MLB as we continue to get ready for the NFL draft. I don't know what we did to deserve having the Masters and a seven day baseball slay going at the same time, but not gonna complain, Greg, it's been a long year. So I'll take whatever I can get, appreciate it, thank you. And this is coming after a huge day sleep yesterday that I was able to sit and watch all day, which is awesome. Perks of working at home, Perks of working with the Fandle Sportsbook, this is awesome. For Jim Sanis, I'm Greg Susman. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you back here tomorrow for another edition of the Fandle Hurryup.


It's the network. Oh, what's up everybody? Once again, it's Brain Man Sean and this video is brought to you by BrainManNetwork.com because I signed myself. Hey, I got a very special guest for y'all and I have a special insight that I want to get from her, right? Music versus product. The way you talked about it was interesting and I want to hear you like share it with my audience as well. Okay. So what's up everybody? It's LeJ. If you didn't know, now you know. First of all, music versus product. Okay. I think it's very important for independent artists to understand the difference in the two because a lot of you guys are using your music like it's a product, right? But music is not necessarily your product because people are not really buying music. You know what I mean? We can hear music free. We're not buying your music. Your music is actually your marketing tool. Like think of it as your content and what is content?  So what you do is, you know, you use your music as the marketing tool to kind of like rule people in to get them coming in and being like, okay, I like this music.  And as you have those people come in, what you do is then offer them the product. Now product is something that you're selling so you get money like right now. You know what I mean? Because look, I'm all about money right now. I don't want to wait for royalties to come in like five, six, seven, eight months later. I want money now. Right? We need money now. So, so you gotta have a product, you know, which can be something physical like, you know, t-shirts, some type of merchandise. It can be a course. If you learn how to create courses, if you're somebody that's an artist but you have an expertise in something like you can record really good or you can make your own beats. You can actually turn that into a course and teach other artists or other producers how to do that. So that's another way to make money. Right? So it's like, you got to come up with these different things that we can use as a product to give our fan base or, you know, other people that may be following us. All right. So just remember, music is the marketing product is what's going to make you money like right now today. Right now. Okay. So you can have a transaction. Right. Right. With the product. Right. I think that's definitely a clear way for people to see it because I know I've talked about that topic before, but the transaction, like if I can't sell it and now it's theirs, they own it, then it's not necessarily a product. Now what music can be is an asset. Right? Music is an asset. It is an asset. If you treat it as such, because people don't buy that from you where, oh, it's a candy bar or a shirt and now it's theirs, but people can lease it from you, rent it from you. And when we think about the fact that you own these rights, it's an intellectual property. Right. That's how you can think about using it as a product when it's more of a be-to-be play business to business and you're leveraging it to be in a soundtrack, right? You're leveraging it to be in whatever else you want to be playing in an elevator, right? Right. That's more of a product perspective of it. But just usually from the way you actually use it in terms of putting it out there and trying to get people to buy it, for one, we're out of that age, right? People are not buying it. Right. Definitely not. At the time, it was a product, more traditional product, or it could have been treated as such. Right. It's always been an asset, but it was a time where you could treat it as such and get huge benefits from it. Now, today, it's not, like no matter what you want to think about it, right? It's still this thing that people consume and now it brings them closer to you and the rest of your brand, you have to be able to direct them to other experiences, other things to exchange for you to actually extract the value in terms of modernization, that money. And that's like the important thing, you know. I think when we, as artists, when we come out, we're not really thinking of the business side of, you know, getting our music out. But this is business, so you have to think in a strategic manner, you know what I mean? I'm going to strategically drop this music for free for everybody to listen to.  If your music is giving people value, if your brand is giving people value, they're going to want to buy into whatever you have. You feel me? So they're going to want that product. They're going to want that logo t-shirt. They're going to want to buy tickets to your shows. Like you have to, you have to like create a plan that takes you from music to product. Like takes your fan, you know, all the way to the product. You have to strategically plan to do that. All right. Here's another way that we can almost productize music. And I'm interested to hear what you got to say because I know you do the songwriting thing, right? Oh, OK, what? And you're talking about, you know, actual hooks and things like that. So the fact that people are selling hooks out there, how do you look at that? And how can artists actually do something like that themselves? Now, listen, a lot of your artists don't like to turn goose rider, you know what I mean? But look, it's money, a lot of y'all don't understand. It's so much money in being a songwriter. OK, now when we're talking about making the music a product, now that is a great way to do it. So a lot of you artists, if you do have the ability to write songs for other people, it could be hooks. It could be full songs. You can literally put this on a platform, such as like Beat Star. And you can actually sell those songs to people, sell hooks, sell full songs and everything, and then start turning that into income, right? Now, a great thing about doing it that way is that you can literally sell the same hook. Just like a producer sells the same beat multiple times until somebody actually buys the exclusive, like they're literally making hundreds of dollars off of one product off the same beat, right? So you guys, if you want to start writing hooks and putting it on something like a Beat Star, you can literally keep selling the same hooks to everybody until somebody actually purchases up something exclusive from you. Now, you can decide to take it down or not. It's up to you. But that's definitely a great way to be able to turn your music into money. ASAP. ASAP. See, I like that one right there, right? Because we do need both of those. Then you're still writing, right? And there's so many songwriters that are just trying to figure out, how do I get on? And how do I write for Chris Brown? How do I write for, insert whatever random artist's name? But how do I make money in the meantime doing what you want to do? And I think that's the key. How do we get money so we can live doing what we're trying to do? And once you're doing that full time, now the next step is, how can I do that on a bigger scale? How can I get, you know, and plus you're practicing, right? Right, you gotta get that practice. In the meantime. So I think that's a cool thing. And you don't even have to necessarily brand it as you the artist, right? Like you said, those are right, right? You can do either a whole or the name. Right, a whole different persona. Like if people do the same thing with beats, you can do the same thing with your writing and writing hooks. Now, like to close it off, what are your favorite products in terms of like the artist, right? Okay, we know how we're looking at music. Are there any particular types of merch or others forms of transactions that artists can make with their fan base that you kind of lean towards? I think of course, you know, selling a good t-shirt is always a great tool when it comes to product. That's something that you can do multiple ways. You can have a merch store and actually do drop shipping. That might be a whole number of video about drop shipping, but you can literally do drop shipping and you're not putting any money up front. You know what I mean? So you can have a store with a whole bunch of different merchandise that you didn't even buy it, right? And as people are buying it, it basically goes to the manufacturer and they ship your order out so you're not even putting no upfront money in. So that's always a great thing. And then if you do it on the other side where you're actually purchasing the merch ahead of time, you can literally take that everywhere, like take that to your shows, take that to schools, campuses. You can take that on the road, which you can just do so much. So having just a simple t-shirt is like clutch, okay? And then when it comes to other products, like I'm literally a fan of creating knowledgeable products for other people. So I'm like an advocate for artists and producers to really understand what they are an expert in when it comes to making music. Like you might learn how to like hit certain notes or you might learn how to warm up your voice before you start recording or you might know like six steps to having a good mix. Like you can literally take that information, that knowledge you know, and turn it into a product to sell to artists. Your fan base is not just people who listen to your music, right? So you can have a fan base of other artists and other people in the music industry. And then you can have a whole another fan base and product line for your actual fans that wanna listen to your music.  What can I turn into money? What can I make money off of? Like just create a list, man. You can just get creative. Like it doesn't have to be the standard stuff like a t-shirt, just get creative and start putting your brand out there, start putting your product out there. And I feel like people are gonna buy it up. You know, I like that. I appreciate that answer. And when you were talking about the merchant or job shipping, it randomly just dropped in my head, whatever. It happened, it happened. So the one thing that's huge for artists that's gonna make life in general for y'all so much easier when it comes to marketing and this business stuff is giving your permission to find what works. Now what I mean by that is people are always trying to figure out what works, right? And playing everything ahead of time but give your space to find what works because most of the stuff that you're figuring out you're not gonna know until it gets out there in the first place. And why I thought about that when you were talking about drop-sits shipping is artists ask me about should I drop ship or should I wholesale and all that type of stuff when it comes to merch in general. And the answer is your answer is not permanent. Your decisions do not have to be permanent especially in business, we're changing decisions all the time, right? So if you actually start out drop shipping and because you don't wanna take the risk, make sense, I get it. Now all of a sudden you start saying, whoa, people are buying at a higher level than I thought I was gonna buy and it actually makes sense to economically start doing a wholesale thing. Now you have a real number and a real like a set of data to make you say, okay, I think if I start doing this I could probably sell another 20 of these things, another 100 of these things, whatever that number is. So you know the risk that you're taking for your next decision, allow it to be levels to it. Your decisions do not have to be permanent at all. But one thing, you know, I feel like one thing that you guys have to start doing is having some type of like expectation. You know what I mean? Before you just go out and try to get merch and sell it like ask yourself how much money do I need to make from this product? You know what I mean? How much money do I need to make this month from this product or this year? Like you gotta start writing out your goals first because depending on how much money you need to make that will determine how many fans you need and how much you need to sell for you to be able to make that number. You know what I mean? So you have to start there. Oh, I think it's important to start there. And then that will let you know especially if you're that person that's buying your merchandise upfront like you're doing a wholesale thing. You know, you don't wanna buy like 200 shirts and you don't even got 10 fans right now. You know what I mean? So you wanna start out with something more practical. Think about like how much money do I need to make? How much money is it gonna cost me to purchase this product and manufacture it, you know? And then that will let you know how many you need to sell, how much you need to make from it and like so forth and so on. I get it. You're right, you spot on with that. So that's the information. I would love to know what you guys think about this topic but as always, right? This video is brought to you by bramannnetword.com because I signed myself. Make sure you follow Lady J Bookums on Instagram. Well, I'll try to get her on the channel a little bit more, you know? I know, I know. You know she got gems with her. If you like this video, go ahead and like button. If you like it, mind what you're sharing. If you're not subscribed, you know what to do, hit that subscribe button. It's the matwork. Ow.


Going on everyone Sam here with late sports cards ripping one box of 2023 pretty many plates and patches football For Patrick are so good luck here Patrick, let's do it buddy 23 plates. All right Tyler Scott 235 on the purple start there Patrick got a Ryan Tannehill on the base Kyler Murray swag champ 34 of 75 very nice for the Cardinals Cardinals Next up is gonna be a no offense mark. He marks the 23 of 50 from 2020 Plates and patches. Yeah, well updates that there. It's on card too, which is nice second-year fans. I will boys And then to end us off to 300 is Josh Downs rookie auto for the Colts very cool Steel signatures Josh Downs Very nice that will do it for your break there Patrick. Thanks again for the sport buddy. Get him right out to my minute


Your third process is something that you make up, at least make it up the way it's beautiful for you and everybody. Don't make a desert out of your mind, where nothing grows, nothing beautiful comes out of it. The only thing that's left is what the wind has carved, what the water has carved. Well, wonderful geometry sometimes, but nothing that supports life. So, anyway, it's made up by you, at least make it the way it sustains life both for you and everyone around you. Ha ha ha!  You can't walk through it, I'm struggling to ride through it.