Hi Surprise surprise. We're doing it's a thing live on the DTNs channels together. What? If you're not familiar it's a thing is a show that Molly and I have been doing for a long time ten seasons ten seasons This is also I know there's a lot of attention on that other show and it's yeah Yeah, but this one also but we are in fact and this is the better show I say because I'm doing it This is it's 10th season but 13 years yeah, yeah, we're actually like a slightly longer duration right that's true Oh, wow, we predate DTNs. We do we do we do we do in fact the DTNs Patreon was originally and it's a thing patreon when I recreated it Because I heard about patreon on tech crunch created and it's a thing patreon and said should we do this and Molly And I were like, I don't know should we and they were like nah nah that seems crazy So when daily tech news show needed a patreon. I was like, oh, I still have that page for it's a thing. I created So Tell your friends we're live on the YouTubes and the twitches on the cyberspace and the discords But I am so sorry discord friends. I cannot join you today Because due to this poor internet situation. I can't download the update. I'm like a person with the Xbox You don't have it on your phone either, huh? I have it on my phone But I'm not logged in and I don't think And if I change the past Aft across every device is worse than than sharing images between two phones That's like why I'm not logged into threads on desktop. I'm just like every time I go to do it I'm just like I can't yeah, it's too much Actually, I was really proud and then I saved my bit my password in bit warden. So it's there now So I don't have to go through the skin, but I haven't done any of this rigmarole with discord and today is not that day Not today Satan Yarp Yeah, man, but maybe I'll just peek over Tom's corner when it's time for like the clap and stuff Yeah, well, I guess we won't have to clap clap is kind of irrelevant We can clap for tradition's sake, but we don't need it for sinking The realization This is the first time we've done it's a thing in person, right?  We're next door to each other. It sounds like a rounding area except for that It's like what is wrong with me? That's hilarious. Well, yeah, we you know Literally, we are you know cells replaced with different people. We're different people That's funny Yeah, thank God I didn't say that out loud I Okay, so is it bad if I follow up on a story I promised on good day internet and No, cuz you're on the stream so it's fine That's true. It's on the same channel. There's a continuity of channel. Yeah. Yeah, it's a you know It's shared universe So I went downstairs when I first got here like set up everything and I was like, okay I'm I just need a bottle of water and some coffee So I go down to the quiz nose. I can grab my bottle of water and I say like Jeff coffee and the woman who's actually behind the counter taking the sandwich orders psych. Oh, I'm sorry. No But the woman who's clearly the manager says yeah, we do it's and then points to the empty space Where there is no coffee right and the woman behind the counter is like You know, it's it's it's common not sure when and I'm like Do you happen? Do you have any guess about when it might come? I'll just come back later The woman is the manager.  Oh boy.  I was like, yeah She's like, okay. Well, hold on so she's on the phone like well 915 Like I guess that's when it was supposed to arrive So I go ahead and I check out because I'm not on not waiting. I the woman who's running the register is like, hi And then I get checked out and then the woman on the manager is like One minute. Well, hold on. Hold on. Oh god.  She's like, well, they were supposed to be here a while ago But they say about 20 minutes, but you know that it shouldn't take them that long And I was like, okay. Well, thanks, you know, yeah, I'll come back down later. She's like, sorry about that Rich probably can't relate to what we're about to say because he lives in Ohio where folks are nice But it's confusing.  I was never rude, but I was like, I don't really need you to do that Just cup of coffee and I had coffee. It was if it had been my first cup of coffee I might have been like, oh no. Yeah, I mean But it was my second. So it was like, this is an optional cup of coffee, right? Arguably. I don't need it This could be the universe telling me I don't need it But I did go back down to get my lunch later to get a sandwich and when I did the coffee was there and she was Because she was like, oh, I'm glad you remember you. Oh my gosh. Oh the coffee guy's nice here Yeah, yeah in Ohio, I would have paid for the coffee said I come back for it and then never show my face there again Out of just pure embarrassment slash. Well, because you don't want to have to talk again Yeah, oh, no, no. Yeah, I would give up coffee for the rest of my life on principle. Yeah It's good stuff. I would give up coffee.  I mean in la They would in san francisco.  They would have been a very friendly dick Right in la would have been like, oh, sorry man. I don't know when it's coming You know bummer. Yeah, you know, would you like a sandwich? You know like some like low effort. We have this. Yeah. Do you have coffee in san francisco? They'd be like Why do you need that? Like there's just no coffee. I don't know what's confusing Yeah, the lady running the sandwich counter. I was on the wavelength. She was perfectly nice She's like, it's not here yet. You know, I don't know exactly when it's going to come. But you know, we will eventually have some I was like, that's what I needed from you, man But then you got the high key. Yeah And again, I don't want to seem unappreciative. It was very nice that she was like, let me just find out And I was like, I'm also serving a purpose of her going like why the f is the coffee not here Like I need to make this call anyway Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Well, I only had two things And I can't think of another one So there's my things And my internet is so crappy that I have to go with things that I already had links for earlier Open your internet was so great minutes ago. I know I wonder if it's because my phone's over there Really? Could that be I mean you could plug in over here if you want Does that help? I do have to say I have embraced like kind of D gap Thing phone charge Oh, like I'll just be like, I don't need to charge it at night. It'll be like 30% when I get up to be fair I go nowhere. So it's like trivial for me to plug it in later If I had places to be I probably would be a little more stressed. Oh god.  The other thing rich is I don't have music Okay, I can put that in a post but you can put that in a post so I can put that in a post. Yeah Yeah If you can play it now great, but I don't need it I would have to do the loop back thing for actually, you know, yeah Oh That's bad The sec I get yeah, I got my says that its x account was compromised And used to post that bitcoin ETFs had been approved Today would be a day for me to sell all my coin place holdings because I bet that's through the roof What was I mean, what was the last one the big account that just there has been a bunch Have there? Oh, yeah in the process of approving But they have not approved yet, right? So it was the fact that they had actually said they approved it. Yeah, somebody shorted it Oh, had I only known it only went up 2000 per coin But still still and then it dropped to 40 it went it went up to 47 Dropped to 44 and now has balanced that at 45, which is actually Below what it had been Mandiant the security firm mandiant, uh net gear and hundi had also recently had crypto scams take over their x accounts So sec another level of of that, but you can hear more about it on cyber security headlines every single day It gives about there you go. Oh, but yeah, look at that my little Coinbase balance is almost back to where I started I didn't realize at first. I can hear rich on youtube, but not discord Oh um Did it cut me off Well, then why am I bothering to do the pastor? Oh, I know why I do well. No Talk rich Hi, this is rich straffolino. You're listening to the sound of my voice a true treat for all the senses I know what it is Uh said this is why I set up systems where I don't have to change settings ever It's called the device don't pass through it The discord's already dealt with you were applying to things that they can't hear so at this point Okay, now you can hear rich on this rich straffolino discord. Welcome One and all to the glorious timbra that is my existence All right timbra. Yes That's not me Yes, Ron read we are reading this chat.  No, that's not true. I am you can't read that. Yeah. I'm looking right at it It's the discord one against the chat Don't start the show yet because I'm reloading my spreadsheet which could take apparently like an hour because we're from the 90s Just an fyi. I do have a hard out at 6 15 I have to be at a pta meeting for Uh, which is 3 15 your time 3. Oh 3 15. Yeah, so I am the secretary of a kindergarten pta. So it's pretty Oh And I printed the agendas this week. So I really can't be Right, right, right. Okay. Let's begin. I'll look over tom shoulder if I need to because I Well, you're gonna need to read the intro Oh, son of a be Wait, is this not recording? I don't see recordings Bro bro Well, that's a problem. Well, we can download from youtube for nothing else. We can but let me That is the least ideal. However. Yeah I mean google drive is not like down for you guys, right? That might no That's so weird to go It was just we were just praising it that it was so good All right, it's a thing I'm not gonna bother the single mic.  I'm multi-platform is basically um where I'm at these days Hello rich say something. Hi, this is rich. You're off Alino and you're welcome There will be a small test file of today's it's a thing and then there will be a second file That will be the actual ship. That's gonna be the bonus content actually It's just well. Yeah, there you go What's super weird is if I open this on my phone? No problem All right. I'm now recording everything Oh And I'm tethered theoretically it should work fine. Okay, fine I'm gonna just use my phone. All right Works for me if that's what you want internet. That's what we'll do That's why you need decks in your life I mean Samsung decks keep your decks in a row Okay Okay, here we go Are you ready? All right Three two one Hey, I'm mollywood and I'm Tom Merritt. Welcome to it's a thing the weekly podcast supported by you Where we are a community of passionate individuals sharing knowledge and working together to develop the thing industry Thanks for joining us. Yes. That is our presentation in the keynote We're giving here at the consumer electronic show It is in fact And this is on the nose The about statement of cta.tech because tom and I are together in real life At ces on the show floor and tom's super cool booth where i'm just a squatter And sandwich eater come on in hanging out recording. It's a thing. We did daily tech news show if you haven't heard that Right before this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was me. Me molly. Sarah roger the whole gang Uh, and uh, and that's the cta mission statement Evidently, it's really a short and sweet tecno mensh is in our chat because we're actually live streaming this on the dtns YouTube and twitch channels as well.  He's like cta mission statement and I can guarantee I saw him say that before we revealed what it was Dang well, he's got a pattern recognition too. He's like I bet And to answer the question the last time I went to ces was actually 2020.  Did they have it last year? They did it was in person last year um And uh, a lot of people didn't go but it but it happened And then two years ago They had it in person and everyone pulled out Right, and then they didn't have it and then they didn't right I remember that and they stalled and dilly dithered until the last second. It was like just cancel it So it's only been back in person for a year then and uh, so I've only missed one In in recent times that had people at it. Yeah. Yeah, this is in fact, although they are not consecutive My 22nd I was I was thinking. Yeah, I think I've been to 20 of them But again, not non-consecutive because I missed some in the early days of dts. I just covered it remotely. I didn't go and then Obviously, I missed Last year and we all missed a couple of years in there too. So yes Yeah, uh, well one thing you see a lot of in las vegas is whiskey. Molly. Yes, you do Especially at those press events Uh, I have been keeping my eye out for rompura Which was recently awarded the best world whiskey in the john barley corn awards I I make no claim to know whether the john barley corn awards are as prestigious as their press release claims They are maybe they are I I have no idea But these kinds of awards while they may or may not tell you the best whiskey They generally go to whiskies that you're familiar with that have got a big reputation, right? That you're like, oh, yes, that's hit the hibiki or or johnny walker or something like that Rompura is an indian single malt whiskey Uh, and indian whiskey is kind of becoming a thing Really? Yeah I I didn't know that whiskey came out of india. Mm-hmm at all I mean, I guess I don't know why it wouldn't necessarily but I just think of it so specifically as I guess a sort of southern u.s. Thing. Yeah. Well, and this is single malt so You could also compare this to scotland to scotch whiskey, right? But but yeah, if it's not coming from Bourbon country, it's coming from scotland, you know, and then there's irish whiskey and there's other whiskies out there But you know, but but india would probably and japanese whiskey, etc But yeah, but you would probably and not have thought of india until recently and the indian whiskey community Has been around for a long time mostly as a well It's a lot more expensive to get whiskey imported. So let's make some here, but it is it's getting good It's getting recognized as being like a preferable option At the market in india versus, you know, like, oh, we had to drink the domestic, right? Like there is greek wine, but you don't want to drink it, but it's not like that, right, right Although apparently greek wine has also gotten good. Don't comfort me. Oh my god It's it's funny. Like, I don't know if you've ever run across this but in really old like movies or radio shows You will hear them talk about oh, I guess we have to settle for the california wine, right? You know india is having its moment. It's california wine moment where it's like, oh, it's actually really good I love that. I mean, I feel like you could have a lot of fun making your identity being like I'm an indian whiskey person Like I know you're into japanese whiskey. That's adorable. It's too smoky for me Do you like a rampur asava? Oh, you've not heard of it. It's an indian single malt. I'm about that sipping Lifestyle, indian whiskey. I love that one. That's a really good one Um, well, I'm just this is the part of the show where I embarrass tom And possibly myself and everyone else a little bit. Evidently my instagram feed Has decided that I uh am at a stage in my life where I need to be reading more smut And Recently delivered a video to me where this woman was talking about how she'd read like seven reverse harem books Okay, I'm gonna guess. Yeah, it's when it's a woman with a bunch of guys. Yeah, okay It's you know, pretty straightforward as a concept, but apparently it's also A thing so I was like Sure, I'm in I'll download some did you try smutty? Yeah, I read a whole series of like four books like smutty. Oh, it's like that. You can you can read them fast Yeah, you don't have to you're kind of skipping ahead for Various this isn't fourth wing and stuff. Yeah, it's not no exactly working your way through this But so I was and I found someone kindle unlimited, you know, I mean that's like delightful free download blah blah blah So I'm just living there in my secret little smutty Universe and then I see another instagram post mentioned reverse harem, which is also sometimes referred to as hashtag why choose Because the idea is that they why not both or more than both don't have to choose And why would they? So Ray suggested it should be called a hurrim Oh, hey, good one Well, so then when I saw the second Instagram post that referred to reverse harem and not an ad post not an ad like a post I was like, well, is it possible that this is a thing and not just my Hilarious smutty indulgence. It's a thing. It's totally a thing There was a there was a write-up on book riot About it that goes all the way through like you've probably heard it. This is from april 2023 You've probably heard about these books We'll cover all you need to know including the controversies because of course the name is considered maybe a little problematic I'm trying to they're trying to get why choose to be a little more popular But it's not really taking off people just really like saying and then it's like Evidently there's a whole lot of discussion about well, is it polyandry or polyamory polyamory? Or this or that is it a mixed harem? But evidently the Book world may be separate from the literary world I don't want to you know Talk it down since I'm Devouring these things like crappy candy Um, but the book world has settled on reverse harem. Okay. That's what we're doing. Mm-hmm and they're a thing Yeah, and uh, I I like that uh book riot points out Polyamory is the technical term for a reverse harem relationship Polyandry is a woman married to multiple men And poly fidelity is when sex is restricted to within the group Not a free-for-all cheating exists. It's just Right. There's a there's a group. They're like committed. Yeah. Well, and what's funny about these books too is that they are I think there was some discussion about is polyamory actually it because it's really like the men don't have other partners in these books They're just obsessed in the life of this woman. Okay, so it's literally they're there for her That feels like poly fidelity and then she's like it's more like poly fidelity. Yeah. Yeah, and then she's like I don't have to choose ha ha, right. I'm living the dream. Mm-hmm and they're They're super romantic, of course, right? They're super sh muddy, right? But they're in the genre of like it's wish fulfillment galore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah for women in all the ways that you could possibly imagine So there you go. So that's what's happening In this muddy set I think this is really interesting Uh, I had not heard of it before you know where he came from too manga and anime That makes sense. That makes sense for a while, but now it's made its way into like quick turn kind of romance novels I think there's a meta thing we're starting to hit on here, too, which is A lot of romance subgenres So did we talk about rom romantice? Romance fantasy. Well, kind of when we talked about iron, whatever whatever. Yeah fourth wing fourth wing Yeah, yeah, and iron is the next this is the sequel It is something now i'm blanking. Yeah, I read fourth wing. That's why I remember that one.  I think that's a meta thing that's coming out of this That's really I think that always has been a thing and and it makes sense that there would be now that there's this Women empowerment thing in this And then women just apparently being like i'm reading smut all day every day people Step back. Yeah, I think smut is being elevated Hot damn, let's go and maybe I don't know if it needs a new word or if you're just gonna you know empower the word smut So it's no longer derogatory, but yeah, I feel like that's the thing on the way. Maybe yeah the or thing Interesting.  There's there's the lv for louis Vuitton, right? It's all recognizable There are some brands like bodega veneta that don't do that But it's almost more in opposition to the fact that everyone does it that their brand is not to have the logo But the wall street journal says Texture is becoming the next status symbol So that some brands are moving away from having A brand like a logo or their name on the clothes to a texture that is A significant indicator that it's that brand The one I could think of is the is the um Oh, what was the bag?  Uh There's a mohair line From maline burger dot com where they make skirts and shirts and and tops and everything out of This really like strandy mohair so that you you immediately recognize. Oh, that's that must be a maline burger because look How it's got the the strandy mohair super hairy As in super hairy exactly Uh or this one uh from forest designs That just Weaved the wool into a pattern So it's kind of a logo, but it's actually just the pattern of the wool Which is a little more like louis Vuitton. I guess with the lv the interlocking I like that but it's not an actual l or you know, it's not an actual logo It's just a it's an actual texture. Yeah, and that that feels a little like, um What's the one that has umbrellas and coats and It's good burberry. Yeah burberry. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, right where it's a classic again design Yeah, but if that's a design thing, this is actually a physical choice. Yeah, right I mean there's hair coming off of those. Yeah, and the wool one is woven in the wool. It's not just printed on it That's a good one. Yeah, I like that And it got that wall street journal a head treatment. So, you know, it's yeah, exactly That's where I saw it, uh, but they had enough Different examples of it that I'm like, okay, they they're definitely also identifying a thing not just creating a thing Oh, absolutely. Yeah, out of a whole cloth, if you will. Ah, out of whole mohair Whole hair Yeah, using a using a texture instead of a logo for brands. It's a thing. Oh, I really like that one I think that's very cool. Yes, Ron Reid. I'm definitely shopping. No, I mean, I think it sort of makes a lot of sense It feels like there's just been A little bit of a step change in materials Usage, yeah Like the puffy this and then we were talking about the really really crazy soft stuff and I don't know what's happened in Material science, but maybe it's become cheaper and easier to make these different things. Yeah Hairy shirts, right? I that sounds true. I don't know if it is or not Yeah, no idea, but it sure should have been in that wall street journal That's journalism Well, speaking of really cute hairy things Again, something I did not think was a real thing and definitely thought was something that was only on my instagram feed Is apparently a real thing and that's micro cows like like milk small cows Like cows that give milk and no no just having like a little but you mean the animal. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, I mean moomoo. Yeah Like like animals that go moo but small.  Yeah pocket cows putting them all over instagram Just micro cows people just can't get enough of their little cows And then I found an instagram video where this woman's just like don't get a cow Yeah, I mean she's like if you know a white woman these days of a certain age She's trying to bring home a micro cow and that should not live in the house But I was like wait wait, there's a backlash There's already it's a thing. Yeah, it's definitely a thing if there's already a backlash it gets micro cows They don't even take up that much room also, but also my sister has cows or had cows And at full size cows my my dear They're they're a lot to take care of for sure. I imagine just making them smaller Wouldn't really make them that much easier to take care of. No, probably not.   Got really out of hand. They're like Tiny pony size.  No, they're big. I mean, they're still Yeah, you're not going to have one in your bed 200 pounds or whatever, but I think you are Trying to do that I mean seriously whatever happened with the pandemic and pets And maybe it's just like because that content really gets rewarded People have gotten a little nuts with the animals Thank god because my favorite thing to consume on the internet Well in india, you know, they always drink whiskey with their reverse harem of micro cows while wearing their mohair The micro cows don't like it when you wear the mohair because they think you're one of them Well, they like it too much You don't want that kind of attention. You don't want that smoke. Exactly other reasons not to get a micro cow Oh My gosh, also, uh, every once in a while we like to circle back and check in on a thing interestingly, uh I was in the container store With my friend Lamar and my wife Eileen and they were talking about the Stanley stuff and I was like, oh You guys obviously don't listen to our show. It's a thing You know, you know about all the Stanley stuff Then we went to the hydro flasks And I was like also a thing and they're like, ha ha ha. Yeah, I'm like no no seriously also a thing By the way Within 24 hours Lamar had bought a hydro flask Oh, but he did the wrong one. That's a one year ago Yeah, I don't know. Did he did no, I mean hydro flask. I would argue paved the way for Stanley to do their cool redesign But they were aware of the stanley thing I sent them this thing that we're circling back to after uh, you brought it to me and rich's attention And they were stunned. Oh my god. So there was a post on instagram Now I would like you to know that stanley is my life as the parent of a gen z slash the gen alpha Who also has a gen z girlfriend who didn't have a stanley and then got one and then she got two and then she lost one And then his broke and then we've been emailing them and then we had to get a new one standalone there was a whole thing about which color it was a total stand-all and all I talk about Is stanley I got stanley's for my dad and my stepmom to be like be in the cult great gift. Yeah And then I saw this instagram post from little jupiter That was just screenshots of stanley's on sale because what has happened. We talked about this We already did a circle back on special edition and special issue Ones and how there were like the valentine's day ones at starbucks. Mm-hmm that sold out immediately That are now and then there was footage of a target Release where people were just beating each other up like black friday Of your and now they're being sold online for like a thousand dollars. Wow Mm-hmm stanley flow state quencher 30 ounce tubler camellia lowest ask a thousand dollars Thousand this is where we are that was I mean little jupiter rarely comments on the absurdity of the kind of pop media stuff that he posts And even little jupiter was like this is how we're starting 2024 Thousand dollar pink stanley mugs What is happening? That's the asking price the lowest asking price. How many do you think they sold? I mean, maybe like a lot And the chat is pointing out that there was that there was the viral video of the stanley that still had ice in it I mean, you know, they they've really that's what lamar and eileen had saw was that viral video Uh-huh. Yeah, the stanley thing Just goes on and in fact we even I wanted to i'm glad that I saw that post just in time for the email Feedback it is a thing dot me that we got from matt bat On those cups saying I have no idea What or why pink stanley cups are a thing But apparently they are Yesterday my wife got one for her birthday and the giver apologized That it wasn't pink. Oh wow. Yeah.  Yeah So that's somebody uh probably on tiktok seeing it maybe on facebook though Or instagram and being like, oh, I bought this before I saw Which you know had it been a pink one You couldn't tackle your wife take it away and put it on ebay immediately That's sorry, honey. That is great Uh scott on a threads thing said I keep seeing a trend on threads and I cannot block these people fast enough The trend is repeating the same sentence five six or seven times I hope this is not a thing but based on the frequency. I am seeing it. I fear that it is Uh scott people repeating things on threads for engagement is a thing Let me say it again people repeating things for engagement on threads is a thing people repeating things on threads for engagement is a thing molly People repeating things on threads for engagement is a thing people repeating things on threads for engagement is a thing scott. I'm sorry But that's what they're doing. Yeah, they are because it makes people mad Because you say the thing that's slightly controversial But you say it enough times that it even if somebody has a natural a version To uh responding because you posted it 12 times like why did you have to post it 12 times boom engagement?  Yeah Pink stanley. Oh pink stanley smut. Pink stanley smut It probably exists. I'm not gonna claim why hashtag why choose just one stanley Get him in every color Nick writes in another meme thing. Hi molly tommen rich I feel like I've noticed a big uptick in memes and reels and ticktocks where someone says we're insert thing here Followed by something related. That's funny. I almost made this one of my things today But I felt maybe it had peaked an example was from ifl science posting We're science lovers. We never miss an opportunity to say correlation isn't causation Funny one. I've seen this for other stereotypes. Also. Is this a thing and did you already say something about this? It's a thing. We're denver guys. Of course. We're gonna drive our Subaru to pick you up on the date with a puffy vest We're gen X. Of course. We have never known the touch of a mother's love Yep, that's right. Uh, see we're ces attendees. Of course our feet hurt We're ces attendees. Of course, we're wearing three badges and we're crying. Yes. Yes Yeah, huge thing. That's a good one. That's a good one. Thank you, nick James the trucker with a confirmation. Hey there thds I'm in a semi unique position to confirm Spanish language content and Confirm it's regional. I'm a truck driver and a lot of the ad buys on podcast track location I get all sorts of weird regional ads on podcasts And when I'm in texas or the southwest in general, I've gotten a few Spanish ads My favorites though are the wisconsin minnesota ones Especially when I'm a few days down the road and all of a sudden I'm getting a random. Don't you know accent seemingly out of the blue Yeah, I've had that happen international trips too where I'm like back home catching up and then suddenly you know The podcast ad is in french, right or it's an australian accent. Yeah Skip from strangely cold tallahassee. He's got some things his climate change skip. I'm only rich and tom alphabetically I think that hockey Romances are a thing this year They came to the forefront when book talkers were getting a little too creepy about a hockey player on the seattle kraken's So much so that his wife reacted publicly So I guess this means that people are finding hockey players way too hot in public Which would be a new development and i'm surprised you're not up on this Mr. Merritt And then he says I have one for you as well the phrase sushi baka Keeps coming up in minecraft streaming videos that my daughter watches.  So sussie baka I thought for the longest time she was making this up until I heard other kids are school using it Is it just a minecraft thing or is it going farther than that? Love the show y'all keep me in the loop for all the weird changes in pop culture that this exennial raising an alpha child Has to keep up with oh sussie baka sussie baka our first alpha child thing Oh That's exciting. Oh, this is huge. Yes gen Z. You're old sussie. You're not you're you're now old Welcome He's over there like talking about cap Cap nobody says cap anymore sussie baka That's so fun to say. Oh That is fun to say. I can't uh, also hockey romances are book. There's a book trend of hockey romances What that that was Skip included that in the email, but you know, we kind of gets overshadowed by the public Right because book talkers, right?  I skip them immediately, but they just kept popping up anyway And then my feed started filling up with videos about people desperately trying to get off north sea tick tock To be honest, I'm not even a hundred percent sure where the north sea is aside from, you know the north But after seeing these videos, I will never ever go there. Thank you very much. Thanks for the awesome pod Oh, that's incredible. That's so good. That's so good made it to my feed yet, but I love this beware They may at any moment I feel like that's an algorithm glitch that started sending the wrong people north sea Because then it reacted with like there's a lot of other people like you that want to get off north sea tick tock And then that became its own that becomes its own thing in addition So good. Just wait till the algorithms start making independent agi decisions. Mm-hmm. Yep. Good times. Good times everybody Um, the good times continue in 2024 our tenth season of it's a thing Thanks to you those of you who support us at patreon.com slash it's a thing And those of you who support us at the shout out level Also get to be content indeed indeed. We don't settle for just saying your name putting it on a website No, rich our producer weaves the shout out names Into a story into a world into an homage Uh, sometimes all three at once often all three at once. It's incredible And in fact, uh, I would argue that this week shout outs are really all three They are based on paul thorot's super site for windows Well, then your name is on top of it preview windows preview of windows media centers PCs do you remember the media center pcs super site for windows was paul's old site now he's now he runs thorot.com Which makes people think he writes all the articles, but he does it. He has a whole team And windows media center pcs remember. Oh, yeah We we saw so many of them at c. Yes back in the day. They were like proto Roku PCs Yeah, the idea was that they would become this hub right the way that the apple devices kind of had or have That they would be like A version of windows that gave you all your music and your streaming and this really easy Way because windows is awesome at that You get all the benefits of a windows pc with media on your television I actually was kind of a big fan of them at the time because because it was before roker It was before apple tv. I was like, this is great. This is a great idea It's so much better than media tank and all these other futsy things. So yeah Also, just even looking ahead at our shout outs making me realize how old we are Oh my gosh. Oh my god. Yes. Oh, yeah During the consumer eric duncan show ceds In early january 2002 Ouch Mike akins unveiled two technologies code named benjamin forest and morris jones Designed to extend the reach of kevin sill from valer trucks Into the far larger and more lucrative louis saintamore The plan launched through the company's e joe hood division Ames to leverage the power and intelligence of a j bencerella While offering simplicity and convenience for ab puppy currently kevin sill is powerful But limited to specifically prices as we move toward a more connected world where digital jake wood's experience such as music Photos and laura abel are used more and more with brian g John farkaro, it makes sense to bring gabriel cohen into other areas of james c smith It just it just makes sense right just makes sense. That's the way it goes. Yeah Wow Indeed, ah brings back memories. It does. There is nothing like ces to remind us Do you remember ultra ultra mobile pcs?  God windows c e and they all look like little nintendo ds devices. Yeah. Yeah That didn't work u m pcs laptops. Indeed Oh, it hurts I feel it in my old ball Thank you so much for listening to All the years of us outlawed and also it's a thing You can become a member of it's a thing and help support the show and keep us on the air You will also get to join our your fellow fans in the discord live when we record each week You'll get an ad for your rss speed and our undying gratitude patreon.com slash. It's a thing You can also support the show if you want to shop for some things through our affiliate links look film in the show notes Uh, and we also collected them all at a page. It's a thing dot me slash shop and once again We love getting your things your things are so good. Some of the best things we get so email us At feedback at it's a thing dot me See it next week. Happy new year. Happy new everybody. Bye. Bye Give it to me give it to me I was so confused about whether I should just start or then try to mentally time Imagine the music and then I just split the baby I'll start it started all over. Yeah riches and in control now Windows media pc Okay, so before I have to bounce I was trying to find a comprehensive list of all of the best of ces award winners And it does not exist and I even tried to ask a chat gpt and it says just look it up Really, so there's not even like a wicked. There's not like a wikipedia article. I did not unless duck duck Completely let me down But uh, like I could find all the end gadget and seeing that Best like in like when they were in charge. Yeah, yeah, but I don't like it's weird I could not find just give me the list I think probably like probably I don't know if ces wants to do that only because like You know, it might not look that great when the award winners like defunct or Like two years later or something. Yeah, I could see that I mean, I guess but no still it's for this posterity. There should be a what this is a wikipedia one of the rare wikipedia fails Yeah, where there is not a subpage I I just looked on on wikipedia best of ces it redirects to either the ces site or the Engadget section which just says in 2013 it was announced and gadget would be the new judge Oh, yeah, somebody get on that long ago. Yeah Um, if uh, if there you if I have a list of this feedback, it's a thing. Not me. Let me know I did it one year. I remember that I do have to run I will see if it's a doodle.  Yeah magic I I will uh end the stream and then uh, we'll say goodbye to everyone. Goodbye everyone. Sorry so abrupt. Bye everybody See y'all take care. We'll we'll try not to get sick. Okay. Bye


Our 46 yard line. Here's Ryan on third one going to gun it across a lot of catch-by-pins Holy smokes. He reached right out one-handed and flagged it in And Atlanta's gonna have first in 10 in New York territory down around the 35, but a marker down Two by two look for Ryan here comes Washington lots of pressure right to the perimeter Davis to catch Inside the 10 to the 5 Davis touchdown Not one effort not two efforts, but three big efforts by Davis get Atlanta the score That's how you run the football Snapped a Ryan Washington brings for throw for Patterson touchdown third touchdown of the day for Cordero Patterson play action steps up in the pocket flips it over the middle caught by Kayo pits 40 45 down the far sideline 50 45 40 35 30 cut back inside at the 20 and it's gonna be tackled Inside the 20 at the 18 yard line Teresl snap Dustin Cole could'll hold from coup is away 27 25 the final at the Superdome Here's Newton.  Holy smokes Matt and Cordero Patterson Comes through again three steps gonna loop it before not it did accept that touchdown in Atlanta Oh my goodness folks Marlon Davidson has a pink six Straight drop gonna loop it for Gage and Atlanta touchdown. Holy smokes what a catch by Gage


Y ddechreu i'r trwys pwysig ar gyfer ystyried. Y Dechrau Llywodraeth am Y Llywodraeth yn cyfan yw'r dros yng Nghymru, yn ysgrifennu'r Llywodraeth yn ysgrifennu'n cyffredinol yn y cyfan ar gyfer y Llywodraeth. Llywodraeth, yn cyfan, yn cyfan, yn cael eu cyffredinolol o'r Llywodraeth i'r cyffredinol, wedi'i cyfrifysgfaithau o'r llwyton, gael yng Nghymru. Yn mynd i'r gael, y Llywodraeth yn ysgrifennu'n cyfan, a'r ffordd o'r pwynt gennym, ond y byddai'r bobl honno'n cael i'r gwmwysig iawn, a'r cyfnodau krytyl iawn, sy'n cyd-difaith ymwysig o'r asent. Rwy'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'r cyffredinol, Llywydd, Christian Wogl yng Nghymru a Tungi Abdulameed. Mae'r bobl yn ei tynnu. Rwy'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'n meddwl i'r cyffredinol. It's my pleasure, media. All right. Thank you for having me. Great. I'm going to start with you, Mr Wogel. Let's look at the statement by Mr Lown, and the fact that he started by saying that the executive, not just the executive, but the legislature, has been able to push bills to get accent from Mr President, as opposed to other republics, whether in fact it's from the forced republics. So let's take a look at all of these republics from the force all the way down to now, and what role they've played in bills, and then we'll get to what these bills are for. Yeah. You know, we find that the Senate president made an open-ended statement. He didn't really give us the basis, the figures, the facts to make such sweeping statements that they have done more than their predecessors or his predecessors. And I really think that for a man at that level to make such a statement, his spokesman, there should be a basis. I mean, and then assuming without conceding that what he's saying is correct, I really think that it's somewhat kind of insensitive. Yes, you said you're going to ask questions around that axis, but I could just quickly take a shot at that, because for bills to be accented, for him to have accented more bills than his predecessors, what does that mean to the student who is at home? Because the negotiations that he, the Senate president, should be doing with us in a way to make sure the...  What does it mean to the fact that you buy 200 Naira Lwf and you squeeze it and it's... What does it mean? What does it mean to the fact that a lot of young people, Nigerians, generally, are escaping and dying in the seas and in the deserts? You know, so I think that such statements should be made with a lot of caution bearing in mind that, and even if it's a political statement, it has to be tied down to some realities. Okay, yes, signed so many bills. To what end? Great, you asked the question that I wanted to ask, but let me just give you some background. He made this statement actually as a guest lecturer at Parliamentarians Lecture Series, which was facilitated by the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies, but I'll give you figures. He declared that President Bohari had been the most proficient in granting assents to bills as available data on gazeset acts showed that between 2015 and 2021, Bohari had accented to more than 84 bills, the highest since the commencement of the First Republic, 84 bills, which means that this is the highest. But you asked a great question, which is to what end? And you've also asked about the fact that what does this replicate to? Do these laws become enforced for the betterment of the average Nigerian? And I think that those questions need to go to the Senate President. But you also mentioned something about a political statement. I mean, if this were to be a political statement, why do you think the Senate President was making it? Well, basically to justify, well, I hope your pardon me to say this, to justify non-performance. So you think that the President has not performed? Yeah, we are looking at pragmatic situations. We are looking at realities. We are looking at real life. Yes, some of these persons with due respect to Miriam do not know the cost of pure water. They don't know. They don't know what is...  They don't know this thing. So that's what I'm saying in competence. I'm not saying... As a person, of course, for him to be there, he must have a pay degree, must have a precedent where he's coming from. But in terms of reality... Just so you know, the Senate President has had one of the longest tenures in the National Assembly 35 years. So he does have a pay degree. Yes, we are not contesting that. We are looking at deliverable. We are looking at the things that a statement, call it political or whatever, when it's made, people will hail and say, true, that's correct. I just felt it in my bank account. I just felt it when I went to the market. I just felt it when I took a drive. I mean, even to fly now, it's a huge challenge. So these are the things we are looking at. That's why we're saying that such statements should be made, should be tied down to certain realities. Not just be made, opened and let it just fall into the ground and maybe attract more votes. We think we should have a better deal than that. Tunji, let me toss this one to you. I'd like to quote the Senate President. He said, and I quote, For 20 years the National Assembly had attempted reforming the petroleum industry without much success. It was first introduced in the 6th Assembly 2007 to 2011 but failed to scale through. Similar efforts by the 7th Assembly failed to secure concurrence by the Senate while in the 8th Assembly the bill was passed but failed to secure presidential assent. He now goes on to say that in the 9th Assembly we prioritized the bill in our legislative agenda and worked closely with the executive to secure a passage and assent. Now this historic achievement of the National Assembly means that Nigeria now has legal governance, regulatory and fiscal frameworks for the petroleum industry that will promote optimal utilization of the country's abundant oil and gas resources. I'd like to really hear your thoughts on this PIB because you and I have had conversations on it. Ann, I am laughing because I don't know the basis for making that comparison and those statements. You see, like my colleague said, it's a mere political statement. The PIB was passed by the president and since that time it was passed. What has changed? Nothing. It was passed, people have been passed. There are requests for amendments or for changes or something like that. So it shows that it was not properly thought out before it was signed. We just signed for signing sake, for records, for the purpose of... We have signed a number of bills for what is happening today. You just want to play that record, statistics, that look. A number of bills have been signed. Whether those bills have effect on us or not, it doesn't matter as far as it's consigned because that's why it's making the same basis. I don't understand the basis of what is saying. The PIB was passed in the 8th Assembly as well. That's because of the president at that time. The president at that time was not in a good book of the president. Another one, they were trying to make him look as easy one, blocking the progress of the country. They refused to ascend to the B. Not because the B was not properly done. Not because it was not properly thought out. That's because the president just wanted to show that look. See, seeing as what is coming from the 8th Assembly, led by Dr Bocasaraki, I will not ascend to it. That's how I see it. So today, making bragging about the number of bills that have been signed by the president, I do not see the basis for it because I have not seen the effect of those bills that have been signed by the president. In fact, both of these bills that have been signed by the president have also been disobeyed by the president. They have not been followed. They have not been passed. We see what is going on that. Certain things have been done without the gas to that law. And the president says nothing. It was not properly done. So as far as I'm concerned, bragging about whether he has signed a bill or not is not an issue for me. The issue is that how well has this been in our situation? How well has he developed our circumstances? How well has he changed our circumstances in this country? I looked at talking about the bill that has been passed. That is the job of the National Assembly. It's to pass law and into law. So if you are passing a bill in circumstances that we are here now because circumstances that we are now is not the same as that we were before now. So team has changed and we must improve on what is on the ground. And that's what they are doing. They are doing their job as I'm concerned. That job is not even enough to even ask if it or not as a citizen of this country. So if he's bragging that look, the bill that passed has changed our lives. So I would say yes. He has to brag about that. But he's just bragging without giving us any basis for that. As I'm concerned, he doesn't pay a political price. Let me give you some more information. Again, quoting the senate president, he said that this bill, the PIB, would enhance social and economic development and promote a conducive investment climate in the industry and faster development of host communities. That's one. Now he said, without sounding immodest, we have equally concluded work on several other important pieces of legislation that have been signed into law, all of which have potentials to significantly enhance various aspects of our national lives. And then he goes further to say, the Finance Act of 2020 successfully amended 17 key aspects of the extant laws, including seven existing tax laws. He also said the CMA 2020 Act also represents a landmark achievement representing the first time in 30 years that this law has been updated. Other bills of great economic significance that have been passed by the National Assembly and awaiting presidential assent include the Public Procurement Act of 2007, recovery of public property bill, and the amendment of Assets Management Corporation Act, among others. So you're talking about the fact that these things may not have an effect on our daily lives, but he's also making a case that these bills have potential in his words. I'm using his words to change our national lives. Potentia. Potentia. We are still talking about potential. Where the bill has been passed for how many months it goes. The PID has been passed since 2019 or 2021. Yes, we have not seen the effect of that bill. In fact, I am aware that there are two or three amendments that have been proposed regarding the bill. In fact, two months after the passage of the bill, certain things were being put forward. Certain things were not known. It was not worth it. It was just a tiny thing. The point is not going to sign it, just for record. Because you can see, if you see the letter that was signed, it was signed when it was not even properly done. When the president agreed that this bill is not proper, then sign it just for signing sake. What is that? The PRGB has not seen the effect of it. It has not seen the difference between the world we are at. What we used to have in terms of NNPC and what we are at today. I have not seen any difference between them, whether it is limited ability or not. I have not been able to see the difference between the two. We are still doing the same thing. I thought I am concerned. The president signed a bill into law. It is not a big deal. That is the job. It must do it. That is what you need to do. If you sign a bill into law, you are doing your job. I do not have to praise people that. Do your job and that is why you are being paid for. That is why you are there. What I am after is that, if he is telling me that those people have been signed into law, are now giving us more joy, are now giving us more security to us, are now giving us more welfare, are now giving us more relaxation of mind, then I would say that he is talking. There are a thousand percent today, he is just making statements. Without any benefit to me. A thousand percent. Mr Wogel, let me come to you. The issue of our budgets, which also translates into whether we are asking for structural developments, good road networks, power, energy, is something that he also talks about. He talks about the fact that the Ninth Assembly has also successfully pushed for a return to the January to December budget cycle, which was, according to him, made possible in collaboration between the president and members of the executive who have since 2019 ensured early preparation and presentation of this budget. I would like to hear your thoughts on that. Miriam, the fact that a budget should run from January to December is not something that anybody in office should say that it's an achievement. But it's something we had struggled with over the years. Yes, if we had trouble with it, it's like saying, like everybody says, when there's an election campaign, I'll give you water, I'll give you this basic thing. In fact, I will even give you human rights, which is fundamental to existing. See the point is this, whether the budget is running, of course it has to run from January to December, but the point is the budget, the major issue of budget in Nigeria is non-performance. You know, you find that at the end of the, I mean, some time even before the end of the budget tenure, you hear that there is a bill now for supplementary budget, an additional budget. The other one that just passed, somebody is saying it only performed 10%, 25%, these are challenges that we need to deal with. But a quick question because we're out of time. We complain about these budget cycles and non-performance. Who's challenging it? Apart from Serap, Kudos to Serap, they are always filing suits and asking questions. But where are the other people? Who's pushing to ask the questions? Where does the money go if it's only performed 10% or happened to the rest of the 90%? We're not asking these questions and these guys are coming back to ask for your vote. So really, should we just be talking about non-performance? We should be asking the question, I tell you, is the media, is the press? You know, sometimes I feel that the media should really... The press is asking those questions, but is it just the press that is... No, but essentially, let's not even begin to label them. The real person that should determine how the budget goes and makes sure it performs is the commander-in-chief, is the president, is the governor, is the local government chairman. Those are the people that we have given our trust, our mandate to deal with our money. All of those things are our money. So if they're not doing it, they're in default and in a huge default for that matter. Who's going to hold them to account? EFCC. If only EFCC can also live up to its bill, we can really get it right in this country. Well, I want to say thank you gentlemen because we are out of Time Christian Wogel and Tunji Abdulameed are both legal practitioners. Thank you gentlemen for being part of the conversation and talking for development. Well, that's all we have for you tonight on PlasPolitics to round up today's show. Nigerians tell us what they think about the APC's 100 million iron nomination forms. And that's on Street Views. I'm Mary Annacol and we'll be back tomorrow at 7pm talking for development. Have a good evening. As a people, these are things that we need to take into consideration. We're making our choice of a party to support or the candidates to support because there is a consequence of such things being put in place. You don't expect someone that pays a huge price and buys from his pocket to actually then not want to recoup that money. Where do they get such money from? To buy just a form? Where it's not guaranteed you're going to win? So as citizens, we need to be watchful of that and make our decisions. It's not ideal, especially if you look at what's going on in the country now. 100 million is a lot of money. I want to use the word absorbers, a lot of money. My situation is for me as what's the basis? How did you come about 100 million? I think the other parties are doing 40 million, 35 million. 10 million is a lot of money, given the fact that we're looking for a leader now who doesn't necessarily have to have all the way to do financially for the leader who knows what it is that a country needs or is expected of him. They are making money for the party. The money belongs to the party. So you can never say maybe it's wrong or it's right.  It doesn't make any sense at all. That's too much. At least there have been like 50,000 at least. Actually, that's too much. 100 million, no. 100 million, 100,000. I don't understand 100 million. No, that's too much, it's too much. If an individual in Nigeria would bring out 100 million from his boss to buy for the president, meaning that he has three loans of Naira in his account, therefore EFCC is supposed to go there and find out what is working. If you happen to buy the form too, what are you going there to do?   In fact, when I heard the news and I'm wondering where do they want like genuine people to actually get this kind of money? People that can afford it are people that are actually stealing. The other time a certain man did a burial and EFCC invited him over to probe him because of the money he spent for the burial. So EFCC should also invite these ones that are able to buy these forms and then probe them and ask them where they got that money from because you can't tell me it's not genuine, even if it's genuine. When they answer now, they will want to steal and get back that money.


Hey everybody welcome back to the channel. I haven't said that in ages. I just wanted to say it because it sounds like something to do This video was completely unplanned is not what I was planning on recording today But I wanted to do this just because I think that it's one of those things on YouTube They just either it pisses you off or makes you laugh. So I just thought I'd cover it It's this is gonna be a very short video, but if you noticed if you watch a lot of Linux youtubers, you'll notice that we We share topics shall we say that's the nicest way of putting it we borrow topics from each other But and you probably wondered why But it's it's funny. I'm one of those people who laugh about it If you watch DT and you watch Luke Smith and you watch mental outlaw and watch Brody and do you watch? You know all these Linux youtubers. There's quite a few of us. It's a growing community There's only so many topics to go around Okay There's not a lot we can talk about and there's not like there's a hundred different news topics that we can cover every single day And there's not a hundred different things that people don't know how to do that. We can write tutorials for So those things tend to get covered by everybody the same thing with distra reviews and stuff like that You'll see like infinity galactic. I think that's is infinite galactic It's another Linux youtuber does to distro reviews and stuff He'll do a distra review and then can be able to do the review of the same Distro probably the same day probably because it's just been released. It's the way it works. So It's alternately. I mean that stuff you can kind of understand but it's the stuff like this Let me to show you this. This is what made me think about this today These two videos right this is from Luke Smith and this is from mental outlaw They're both on the exact same topic. They're both about keybindings to do with the letter G and VIM and You know, there's nothing wrong with them doing this video and I'm thinking about doing a VIM tutorial eventually as well but it's interesting that the timing of them right because you have May 15th and then that's when it was just released a few hours ago. So there's like a three-day thing. They're essentially the same video now Who you watch they don't necessarily share the same audience, but I almost guarantee you a lot of their audience overlaps but the point is This happens in the Linux community in the youtuber the Linux youtuber I think one of my subscribers called us false tubers. I'm gonna I'm gonna steal that and use that from now on but we just don't have that many topics That's the reason why this kind of stuff happens. So I look at the comments below these two videos and They even comment on each other's videos. It's hilarious, but you always have that one subscriber like well, why do you? Why do you steal other youtubers content give the original like? There's only so much we can talk about you know other than I mean we can talk about Ubuntu versus Arch to we're blue in the face, but we can only make so many of those videos in GNOME versus KDE is not necessarily the most new topic out there. I mean KDE for the win. I'm just saying so The the point is if you're on if you see this happen and it's gonna happen I'm gonna steal as many topics as I can from other Linux youtubers I doubt anybody's gonna steal anything for me because I'm late to the game But it's just something that happens. So if you're that YouTube subscriber, you're that YouTube commenter that gets pissed off because we all share topics Calm down. Settle down. It's okay. We only have so many topics we can cover. So that's it for this video It I'm surprised it was even four minutes long And like I said, this was not what I was planning on coming today I was planning on talking about desktop environments and stuff like that, but that's gonna happen tomorrow Whatever, but thank you for watching. Make sure you follow me on Twitter at Linuxcast I'm at the Linuxcast on Facebook. You can also follow me on patreon patreon.com slash linuxcast Before I go I'd like to take a moment to thank our current patrons Devon Marcus, Megalyn, Donnie, Sven, Merrick, Camp, and Mitchell. Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you next time. Stay safe people


The financial stability outlook in the euro area remains fragile. Higher interest rates and weaker economy prospects are putting pressure on borrowers, especially in real estate markets. Are there reasons to worry? We've just released our latest financial stability review, which twice a year takes stock of the potential risks to financial stability in the euro area. Today we'll talk about whether the financial system is stable and take a closer look at the emerging risks, especially in property markets. You're listening to the ECB podcast, bringing you insights into the world of economics and central banking. My name is Stefania Secola. I'm joined by John Fell, who works in our financial stability department and is a regular guest here on the ECB podcast. Nice to have you here again, John. Thank you, Stefania. John, let's start from taking a look at what has changed in the six months since you last talked on our podcast. Back then, financial markets were shaken after bank failures in the US and Switzerland. Today, key interest rates are record levels. This is helping to bring down inflation, which is very welcome development. There are two sides to this coin, though, and some worry about sluggish economic prospects. How are financial markets responding to this environment? Well, first off, financial markets quickly shook off the shock that was triggered by the US and Swiss bank failures that you mentioned. While there were expectations that those stresses might have led to an earlier end to the monetary policy tightening cycle, in order to safeguard financial stability, the avoidance of contagion and spillover saw those expectations quickly dissipating. And despite some turbulence in AT1 markets, Euro-area banks largely weathered the storm. So resilience was tested, and once again, after the stresses caused by the pandemic and the war on Ukraine, I think we can say that it was proven. And since then, broadly speaking, market sentiment has gone through two phases. First, there was a period of excessive optimism about prospects for a soft landing of the global economy, and so that's the soft landing narrative is one whereby disinflation would proceed sufficiently rapidly that it would allow central banks to make an early so-called pivot so that start to reduce interest rates and avoid recession. And this widespread optimism seemingly acted as a kind of a counterbalance to the tightening of monetary policy. Now, we consider this market narrative to be overly optimistic, and we thought that it was setting markets up for disappointment. And then when US inflation started picking up again and with Euro-area inflation coming down a bit more slowly than we might have hoped, the narrative started to change and market conviction about a soft landing faded somewhat. And with that capitulation, the more adverse, higher for longer scenario gained traction, and it resulted in a rout in the bond market and the US stock market briefly re-entered to correction territory. And since then, the consensus has changed again, and it seems safe to say that uncertainty is high and it has been rising. And of course, uncertainties have also been compounded by the flare-up of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Okay, yeah, yeah. And indeed, let's look at the geopolitical situation. There are several conflicts going on, and it's a human tragedy. My heart goes out to all the victims. From a financial stability perspective, what do the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East mean? Well, I think we've all seen how these geopolitical conflicts have entailed dreadful humanitarian suffering, including the deaths of innocent people, the displacement of people from their homes, and of course refugee crisis as well. Both events impacted energy markets adversely as well, although this was much more so the case following the invasion of Ukraine because of the sanctions on Russia, supply disruptions, and shifts in energy trade patterns as many European countries work to reduce their reliance on Russian gas. Now, whenever geopolitical tensions escalate in the Middle East, it's a relatively safe bet that oil prices will rise. Yeah. And that's because it's a major oil-producing region, and oil markets tend to be highly sensitive to events that could cause supply disruptions. Even perceptions can be enough, and so oil prices did actually rise briefly during the first couple of weeks after October 7th when Israel was attacked, but with concerns easing about the likelihood that an oil-producing country would become involved, they've since fallen back. Now, you asked what does it all mean for financial stability? Yeah. Well, so geopolitical risk can affect financial stability in several ways through economic channels, through financial ones, and then simply by creating uncertainty. So if energy markets are affected, the economy will be confronted with the so-called supply side shocks. So that's where production capacity is affected negatively, causing prices to rise. And we saw that with the surge of inflation after the invasion of Ukraine. Now, that required a response from monetary policy to bring inflation down. Now, with market views somewhat torn between a soft-landing outcome and interest rates staying higher for longer, any geopolitical tensions which could push inflation higher would make the higher-for-longer scenario more likely. And at the same time, then, the uncertainty part, investors often react to uncertainty by moving their assets to safer havens. That can lead to capital flight from riskier investments, for instance. In the episode, we show a lot of evidence that market pricing is underestimating the risks that lie ahead. So if shifts like that were to occur in response to a geopolitical event, it could destabilize financial asset prices. I see. Yeah. Let's talk about banks now. And because here in Europe, they've been quite strong lately. Higher interest rates have pushed their profits to a multi-year high. However, as you point out in the Financial Stability Review, their valuations have not responded to the improvement in bank fundamentals and profitability. Why? What's the actual health condition of your era banks? So, I mean, if we look back to late 2008, so 2019, sorry, just before the pandemic, low bank profitability in the Euro area was high on our list of sources of financial stability concern. But this year, profitability has been going from strength to strength. The reasons are, I think, relatively well known. Average funding costs have risen much more slowly than the returns that banks have been able to earn on their assets. So that has boosted net interest income margins. And then with margins increasing, more in countries where loans are contracted mostly on floating terms. And where so-called deposit betas have been low. Can you repeat that? Deposit? Deposit betas. So as an aside, I sometimes think it might be easier to understand them if these betas were called retas. So the realized interest transmission effect or how much of the official rate change is passed through to deposit rates. But as you said, we do have something of a conundrum. When we look at bank share price developments compared to bank profitability developments, profitability has on average doubled from the pre-pandemic levels that was giving rise to those financial stability concerns. But price book ratios, so that's one of the most common metrics of valuation for banks, have hardly changed. And price earnings ratios even fell. So what's going on? Well, for one, the cost of equity has risen by about as much as the return on equity has. Now, that's partly due, of course, to the fact that interest rates are higher, risk-free rates are higher. And that raises required returns across the board regardless of what kind of business you're talking about. But the conundrum is why has improved profitability? So that's a source of organic growth in bank capital. Banks can grow their capital if they are profitable. And that should make them less risky. But it hasn't actually lowered their so-called equity risk premium. Now, we offer some answers to this conundrum in box five of the episode. The main one being that neither bank analysts nor investors expect that this year's bumper profits are going to last. And they're projecting lower profits next year. So revenues are set to decline because loan demand is expected to remain weak and the cost of credit risk. So that's the cost of loan impairment. So it borrowers default on their loans and those costs are rising. And then added to that now, this really depends on how the economy performs in the future, but we're expecting funding costs to rise over time as competition among banks for deposits becomes more intense causing that retail to rise. Now, all of this is to say that investors are not convinced that euro area banks offer so-called value opportunities. The valuation ratios are low that might seemingly make them attractive for investors, but it can't really be excluded that low bank profitability is going to make a comeback as a financial stability concern going forward. Now, the reason for that is the legacy of low for long. We had this period of very low interest rates for a long time. And as a result of it, many banks have been left holding low yielding assets with long maturities. So think about mortgages that are 20 or more years in maturity and have very low interest rates. Now, we also show on box 5 that so-called windfall taxes can raise the return that investors require for holding bank equity. So in addition to reducing the resilience of the banks at a time when they are likely to be facing increasing challenges, taxes like that make it actually more expensive for banks to raise equity in the market and that's not positive for financial stability. I see. Interesting. It clarifies now. And another point in the report is the description of real estate markets as a source of concern for financial stability at this moment. Higher interest rates are squeezing borrowers. If somebody wants to buy a house today they may think twice or think of people who took variable rate mortgages or again households which have to renegotiate their terms now. So for individuals, this is very tough. But what does it mean for banks and ultimately for financial stability? So the impact of rising interest rates on borrowers indeed does as you said definitely depend very much on whether the financing is contracted at variable rates or if the term of the loan is short and whether it must be refinanced with a new loan. Borrowers with contracts like these they feel the pinch of higher mortgage payments sooner than those who have taken out loans at fixed rates for longer terms. So in the Euro area mortgage lending terms when we look across countries are rather heterogeneous. Around two-fifths of mortgages have rates that are fixed for more than ten years and more than half have fixation periods of five years or longer. So for those that have some years to go before the fixation period comes to an end they actually won't have noticed any change in their payments yet. But those on variable rates are at the end of their fixation period the ones that you were speaking of they will be in a worse position now for financial stability but the important feature of lending practices in Europe is that non-recourse mortgages so let me those are mortgages where the lender's only recourse in case of a default is to repossess the mortgage property and then has no further claim against the borrower those kinds of mortgages are not very common I mean we saw problems with those kinds of mortgages in the US in 2008 this means that households who have seen the values of their house all they can't simply hand the keys back to the bank without expecting consequences and if they're facing challenges in making higher mortgage payments they're more likely to run down their savings or to cut back on consumption say luxuries before defaulting on their mortgages now budget arithmetic for a household will change of course when faced with unemployment now that is when we would expect to see defaults rising and where we might see some financial stability problems now we don't see any concrete signs of the labour market turning yet but we have seen we have been seeing unemployment slowly rising in some countries and of course a sharper rise would obviously be a downside risk so what about commercial properties John? now indeed we have a bit more concern here about the commercial real estate market and here one could say that this time really is different and it really is different because the normal cyclical downturn is being amplified by structural challenges affecting in particular the retail and the office segments of the commercial property market so a report published by the EU commission earlier this year shows that the proportion of e-shoppers in Europe grew from 55% in 2012 to 75% in 2022 and that of course was no doubt spurred by the pandemic people doing more of their retail shopping online and that has taken away that has taken business away from the high street shops and has an impact on their values also working from home on the positive side it minimized disruption in many service sectors during the pandemic but now we have a legacy of the remote working has been retained higher vacant that means higher vacant rates in office buildings which reduces the value of those buildings and then with higher interest rates we are seeing leveraged property company owners facing challenges in refinancing their existing debt now ultimately this can lead to an increase of loan defaults and foreclosures and we have been seeing a bit of this already and it puts downward pressure on the prices then that sellers can get for those properties now question is does this pose a systemic risk and we try in a special feature in the FSOR to answer that question and the answer is well that a commercial property crisis would not be enough on its own to cause widespread capital depletion capital depletion in the banking system the reason for that is that bank exposures while they are material are simply not large enough to cause widespread problems but a decline in real estate markets of course can spill over to other sectors so for example construction companies, real estate agencies and other businesses can suffer and that could lead to job losses and reduced economic activity and then additionally a decline in commercial property values don't forget there are investors in those properties there's an impact on the rental incomes for investors and that affects their financial health and their ability to invest in other areas so it is not the commercial property market is not an island so to speak yes they are not isolated indeed and on balance I mean what you just described is the situation that looks rather gloomy do you see any reasons for optimism so the financial cycle has unmistakably turned and the severity of the contraction we think is going to depend on whether we get a soft landing or a harder one now a particular challenge that we are confronted with that this juncture is that we have several vulnerabilities unraveling simultaneously so housing and commercial real estate and others now that may seem gloomy but I always say a financial stability assessment is not complete without an evaluation of resilience and here we can derive I think a measure of reassurance it was not always the case that the Yin balanced the Yang certainly not before the global financial crisis but our view is that the deliberate efforts taken since then to fortify capital and liquidity buffers within the banking system have positioned it well to face these higher risks so the EBA carried out a stress test of European banks this summer and despite a scenario that had severe negative shocks including a global recession higher unemployment and increased interest rates and credit spread so everything going wrong simultaneously European banks remained resilient in that stress test and the reason for this the reason for this positive outcome was that the average fully loaded common equity tier one capital ratio so that's the important ratio for regulators at the start of the exercise that was 15% and it allowed banks to withstand capital depletion and still meet regulatory requirements at the end of the exercise now that's not to say that there's any room for complacency that's why we're advocating in this issue of the FSOR for targeted macro potential policy intervention where needed so in real estate markets for example with the aim of safeguarding the enduring strength of this resilience through the challenging times that we think lie ahead so gloomy picture the safeguards in place are stronger than before but it's not time for complacency this is in a nutshell the message thanks John so it's good to end on a more positive note before we wrap up we always have a question for our guests and that's for a hot tip John, today's topic so real estate markets and financial stability John, what's your hot tip today? So actually as we started with geopolitical risk issues and it has been a recurring theme of these podcasts on financial stability since we started them I thought I would actually make a recommendation for what I view as a valuable and independent source for gaining a deeper understanding of politics and that is the YouTube channel of Johnny Harris an Emmy Award winning journalist and filmmaker Harris has an exceptional talent I think for breaking down complex global geopolitical issues into digestible and engaging content he has a unique storytelling style which he combines with really stunning visuals often based on maps involving in-depth research and his explanations of current our historical events are really I think easy to understand and concise and I think it's no wonder that his videos routinely reach millions within days of being uploaded Wow, so Johnny Harris style Johnny Harris Very good, thank you John sounds very interesting and this brings us to the end of this episode I want to thank John Fell Deputy Director General Financial Policy and Financial Stability at ECB, thank you John Thank you, Stefania Dear listeners, check out the show notes for more on this topic You've been listening to the ECB podcast with Stefania Serkola If you like what you've heard please subscribe and leave us a review In the spirit of Europe today I'd like to end in French and say, à bientôt Until next time, thanks for listening


Hello, and welcome to Writing with Technology. This video will help you know when to use these four different kinds of technology. What if you were waiting for someone? It looks like this person wants someone to pick her up, but her friend is not there. What should she do? Should she send a letter through the postal service? No, that would take two or three days, and she would be there a long time. Should she send an email? Well, she doesn't have a computer. You need a computer to send an email. Should she get on Facebook? She doesn't have a computer, so again, Facebook will not work. Should she send a text message? Yes, she does have a cell phone. She can text her friend to find out where her friend is. She can find out where her friend is right now. What if someone wanted to apply for a job, and the job said online applications? Should that application be sent through the postal service? Through Gmail? Through Facebook? Or through a text message? Through Gmail? Very good. Never, ever use text to apply for a job. And don't send a letter in the mail if they asked for email. What if you just wanted to send a message to a coworker or to your boss? You don't want to send a post-it note. This picture is just being silly. You want to send a message through the computer that will show up on your coworker's computer. You will send an email. Email is an excellent way to document and make sure that your friend got your message. What if you just wanted to wish happy birthday to one of your friends? Not a big deal, just a little birthday wish to a friend. You could send a card through the postal service, or you might send an email or even a text. But Facebook is a fantastic and very popular way to send a birthday wish to a friend. What if your husband or your friend went grocery shopping, but you just discovered that you need milk? How would you tell him right now that you need milk? While you are at the grocery store, please remember to pick up milk. Text messaging is the best way to let someone know something that you need to have happen right now. What about legal documents? These are all very important papers that must be kept forever. If you need to send a document like this to somebody, a text message will not work, and neither would Facebook. Sometimes legal documents are being done through email, but the postal service is still the best choice for legal documents. What about this? Your family just got brand new puppies. Isn't that sweet? Are you going to send a card to all your friends in the mail? Are you going to send out Gmail or text messages? You'll probably post something on Facebook. Facebook is a great way to let people know what is going on in your life and to share your news. But if you are getting married, however, if you are getting married, you need to send out wedding invitations. Announcing your wedding on Facebook is still not quite socially acceptable. You will want to use the United States Postal Service with real professional printed invitations. I hope you enjoyed learning about the Postal Service, email, Facebook, and texting.


The promoters of this project are targeting, we're told, about 1.5 million 20 foot equivalent units container capacity annually, which they expect to grow to about 2.7 million and 4.7 million teams when the project operations commence. The Lecky Deep Sea port will become one of the largest deep water ports in our region and serve as a hub for port operations in the whole of West Africa. It's expected that the project construction once completed will influence the generation of up to 170,000 direct and indirect jobs in the economy. The federal government and the legal state government will be with you every step of the way to ensure that we give all the supports that is required.


Every good day starts with Tim Hortons Morning top of the morning to you top of the Tim Hortons morning to you diesel.  He was happy I'll play if you said that man Come here diesel. Come here. Come here Come here. No, you got to sit though. I didn't mean right here, but okay. Oh, I did say come here. You were listening. Good boy Every good day starts with the weasel and Tim Hortons and we're back where we were yesterday Absolutely, we're back and now we're on our way over that way back to the ferry We're gonna make a stop in Gander we're gonna take gander at gander once again in gander. That's where we gander at gander How do you think these? My jokes aren't funny So then we go to Stevenville after that we're gonna make a stop there That's way on the other side of the island close to Porto Basque Porto Basque is where the ferry is it's waiting there just for me. I wish No, hopefully we'll get on as fast as last time on the way here I waited less than half an hour to get on the ferry on earth of even the people on the island here like You got here how fast like usually you have to wait about 24 hours for the ferry But usually that's not a problem because you know I'm I take my house everywhere I go All right, I'll hang out at home for a day.  Oh Good try man. Try again. Try again. Get up on the rock man all the way up there. Oh Good try third time's a charm. Come on Come on On the rock buddy. Get up there. Get up there. Good boy. Can you sit? Can you sit? Good Good boy, man Come here good boy so We can't stay here long. It's pretty much walking a weasel and Then we're headed off to Stevenville, Newfoundland might be spending the night there. I'm not too sure I don't know. What do you think diesel you want to spend the night in Stevenville? Yeah, I'm sure he doesn't care as long as they have grass there, right? They have grass. He's fine You see there we're spending the night in Stevenville or we're spending the night in Porto Basque at the ferry You conquered that boulder like a boss man Good boy Yeah, it's hot out here I'm actually surprised how hot it is in Newfoundland at this time of year What does it say August? No October 6th on August of course it would be hot here But this is October 6th 2014 It's hot not too bad Not too bad. Winter's coming though. So enjoy it. Well, you can trucker Josh Winters coming the night's already get really cold to go down below freezing Are you ready? Well, we're here at what's called Eddie's restaurant. It's a nice little Mom-and-pop shop it looks like I just heard heard or I saw The word restaurant Thank you very much. I am hungry. So we pulled in you never been here before we're gonna go in there and check it out Diesel what do you think? Are you want me to save something for you? What are you looking at? That's like the longest you've ever stared directly at the camera before Good boy So yeah You need to take a little break today. Anyways, I Will be staying in Stephenville, Newfoundland tonight and find a place to park there I think they got a truck parking around close to the Walmart. Would you handy because it's Walmart? Maybe we can actually go in there and get a good movie to watch tonight Because I'm gonna have like 13 hours there before I need to leave tomorrow And then I'm gonna go to the ferry and I'll probably well I could have up to 24 to 30 hours away there yet for the ferry Hopefully I won't have to wait that long, but we'll see look at the colors though in the bush across from here I'm gonna assume you guys assume you guys in a bit Look at the colors in there. Hey Awesome Beautiful so we're just over halfway across the island What I say maybe Bowden hour past Grand Falls if you know where that is It's sort of the center of the island going across in the trans-Canada Anyways, I'm hungry. It's lunchtime.  Good boy. Oh Some good food. So that was a clubhouse sandwich and fries that I had gotten It's my favorite meal at a restaurant if I go out to a restaurant first thing I look for do they have the clubhouse sandwich? I don't know what it is. I just really like it and the meal here was very good. It was Very well done. The fries were a little bit small. It was more like hash browns at the end But that doesn't mean that they weren't delicious. They were delicious hash browns I had ordered fries, but I'll take hash browns that are called fries. I don't care. It was delicious It was great So I would give this place thumbs up for anyone coming through Newfoundland Eddie's restaurant. I didn't see any Eddie in there. It was all women working in there Unless if it's like a Eddie who's a woman, I don't know. I guess the boss wasn't in though Anyways, we're gonna continue down the road. We have two and a half hours or so left Till we get to Stevensville. I almost in North Carolina Stevensville Newfoundland we'll set it again as you saw we pulled up to the pumps and Got us a few of the Irving we did not fuel up all the way because fuel is really expensive on the island so I only got one tank or half fuel filled up half ways so That'll be plenty enough to get me on to the mainland and I wanted to have enough to get to the second fuel stop if I need to because that first fuel stop Everybody's doing what I'm doing right as soon as they get off the boat on the mainland. They all go straight to the first To the first fuel station right and there's only like two pumps there and it's always backed up way onto the road So I wanted to make sure I can just bypass that and go to the next one unless if I'm first off the boat Then cha-ching I'm first in line for fuel But yeah, we'll be good to go now. Anyways, I got over half a tank now So okay next stop Stevenville. All right, so we made it here to Stevenville. We're in the Walmart, can you see it? Just got to quickly run into Walmart. I want to get a new movie an actual interesting movie this time And then I might actually enjoy And also I need to get another lock We found ourselves a winner Age of esteem extension extinction I Didn't even know this age of extension was out already because I missed it in theaters Now where are we going? Out-home motive this is one of the old-school Walmart, so I have no idea where anything is Everything's backwards. Hey, it's Halloween. Oh small costumes What are you dressing up for this Halloween or what are you dressing up as this Halloween? That's a better question We all know what you're dressing up for. What are these things? That's just asking for trouble I can see what you're like young kids just beating them to their stencils Creepy Who's just hanging one of these in my truck? Maybe I should What do you want? Should I hang one of these guys in my truck? I think it's scared diesel That's so distracted with all the Halloween stuff. I forgot what I was looking for and they got all kinds of locks a tough cut Probably work. Hey, then I got 30 bucks though. I don't think so What do we all got here? I know which one I'm looking for the same one I had last time I really like that one Do you guys see it anywhere? No one's gonna cut that baby. I just love these halo tail lights. I just love them Isn't that awesome? And I can't really see them cuz I'm too far away But they're like circles Once it focuses See And then the signal light and the brake light is in the middle awesome Another day draws to an end Do you have a good day today diesel? You were staring at me till the point of the camera at you look here. Oh, you talk about the camera, man. You tricked me. No far and nice What do you see over there? There's some teenagers walking towards us. Let's spy on them As I'm in a brightly lit cab and they can see me. I probably shouldn't do that Isn't that cute diesel It was a teenage couple Wonder where they're going this late at night. What do you think they're up to diesel? I think they're going to McDonald's man. Oh You're probably right. That's McDonald's over there They're going on a date a date diesel You're gonna take Lucy to McDonald's Hmm dog. I got way more class than that man.  Hey, is that a thing? I Don't know if I've heard of that for the babies are us pets are us You mean Pet Setra or like Yeah, whatever You two have fun, but you'll have to get John's permission first, you know There has to be a ceremony Why are you talking about mind you shut up and end the vlog already Okay, so yeah, we're just here hooked on to some interweb I'm gonna upload some videos. I'm all caught up on my videos.  I don't know how long we'll be waiting for the ferry tomorrow So I might be sitting there most of the day, but I will maybe go explore the town if we have to or what not We'll figure out something to do. Thanks for watching my vlog today guys I really appreciate it if you did like it. Don't forget. There's a thumbs up button there. It's free to use I've been thumbs up and all over the place and really just trying to get more people to Come hang out with us here and enjoy the vlogs like you do so if you guys enjoy them I'm pretty sure someone else might enjoy them too and We can make more friends together and we could be a big community all together Enough about this my vlogs probably pretty long today already. I'll probably have to cut a whole pile of stuff out Wonder if this will make it in But see you tomorrow 4 a.m. Central


Each of you has the power to change hearts, transform lives and shape your country's destinies. With this power comes an obligation, however, a duty of loyalty to the people, workers and customers who have made you who you are. So together let us resolve to use our power, our resources, and our voices, not just for ourselves, but for our people to lift their burdens, to raise their hopes, and to empower their dreams, to protect their families, their communities, their histories, and their futures. That's what we're doing in America, and the results are totally unmistakable. That's why new businesses and investments are flooding in.