Now next I would like to invite the 4C group to start with the Presentation under the mentorship of Kiran ma'am. The first topic is the optimization toolbox in Sylab Using symphony library. So friends give a huge round of applause for them. Good evening everybody Our project is titled Sylab Optimization Toolbox using symphony I'm Keur Joshi and my team mates are Aishwarya and Sai Kiran So this is the roadmap for our presentation. First we'll be talking about our aim Then we'll talk about the two major softwares that we use Sylab and symphony and then we'll talk about how we made the interface So the aim of a so linear programming is basically We have to maximize or minimize an objective function under several constraints which are of a linear nature So this is a basic equation of a linear constraint. We'll be giving a demo in which we will have two such problems that we'll solve using our toolbox and The so there is basic linear programming and then you can also add the additional constraint that some variables have to be how to take integer values if if you do this then the problem becomes much more difficult and The aim of our toolbox was to provide this functionality for solving such problems in Sylab Sylab is an open-source alternative to MATLAB which is its huge advantage and Sylab has some basic functionality which you can extend through various toolboxes that that you can download from the Sylab website and if you want you can create your own toolboxes using cc plus plus Java or Fortran and They can be interfaced with Sylab using the Sylab API now I sure I will talk about symphony library Good evening everyone. I'm Aishwarya. So why did we go for symphony symphony is an open source Callable library for solving mixed integer linear programming problems symphony is actually written in C So we interface Through we interface through C to connect. I mean to interface with Sylab So that we can execute functions in symphony from Sylab It's a it's a command line interactive solver just like your python and python so where you can Execute functions from the command line It supports multiple objectives and warm starts warm starts are your Part apart where when you want to execute problems you can Resume at a different point. So symphony has can store your Particular state of your problems and you can resume it from another from another time I mean from another phase and Symphony solver is highly customizable So you can you can fix time limits for your problems if for a for example if your problem takes 10 hours to solve Then you can fix it for five hours and get the optimum solution local optimum solution for that five hours and You can use open mp to speed up your solver using parallel processing This is generally used in situations where you will encounter shared environments using parallel virtual machines so you can use open mp at that time and Now we'll come to the interface part what our project we have done We have interface Sylab with symphony and the basic procedure is you are going to call symphony functions from Sylab The data that is received from for Sylab is converted into the form that symphony needs and And it is given to symphony to solve the problem and the data returned from symphony is converted again to the form that Can be visible from Sylab and it is then printed on the Sylab console and Psychon will elaborate on the parts of the interface Good evening everyone so in Sylab we can find Sylab API and in interface we have created There are two major files that we that are very important one is builder.se which is a Sylab script and we will give whatever the C programs that contain To this build up script and it will Compile and build a shared library. So which has a contact with symphony So we will load that share library into Sylab while when we want to solve a problem So as I have mentioned it contains the names of the functions and list of the source file to be compiled and another one is globals.cpp actually symphony provides a set of functions which has Which has to work on a set of a problem only one problem and it should be done in a single environment So to preserve that environment over many functions We need to maintain some global pointer that points to a particular environment Environment and all those functions will use that environment to work on a single problem and Next symphony callable library. So actually as I mentioned symphony has So many functions to solve mixed integer linear programming problems so to use Them very clearly and to understand them. They are categorized under different headings and they are primary interface functions In which we can have functions like Create an environment in symphony and to close the same environment and to give a problem to symphony and Ask it to solve. So these kind of problems will come under primary interface functions and and And parameter query and modification function actually you can have so many parameters that will restrict the solver status so Like time state time limit to solve the problem and node limits how many nodes has to be created so these kind of parameters and Using these functions this primary parameter query and modification function You can get the value inside those parameters and you can set those parameters to put your values and Solver status query functions So when you load the problem into symphony and after solving you might want to know how the problem has been solved and Whether an optimal solution for that has been found or it is it is failed for some reason So you can use these set of functions to know the status of solver after solving a problem and data query functions So when you loaded the problem and after solving it you can retrieve the same data regarding problem So how many constraints it says what are the coefficient matrix and object to? Coefficient matrix so data modification function and using these functions. You can change of problems or data actually the constraint matrix are The coefficients of object to function and you can change them so summary Symphony has been used to solve for LP and MLP problems in this case and this toolbox can be extended to solve nonlinear problems in Sylab using some other library and We can add support for multi-objective problems and warm starts actually these two are available in symphony But we didn't implement at that for now Okay, now care will show the demo Okay, so I'll be showing two problems the first problem Both of them are simple problems The first problem is maximize X plus Y under the constraints that X and Y are positive both of them have to be integers and X plus 2 Y is less than or equal to 7 and 2 X plus Y is less than or equal to 6.5 So this is the input that will be given to Sylab So we are loading the problem now and now we are solving it So it has solved and it is saying that an optimal solution has been found and now we'll get the results and so it is saying that this problem this Optimal value is reached when both the variables have value of 2 and When both of them are set to 2 the optimal value of the objective function is 4 So this was the first problem Second slightly more complex problem is maximize 20 X plus 10 Y plus 15 Z under the constraints All of them are positive all of them are integers and these four linear constraints And this will be the input we are giving to Sylab so we have loaded the problem and The optimal optimal solution is when X is 0 Y is 25 and Z is 1 and When the variables are set to these values the optimal value of the objective is 265 Thank you for do you have any questions? Yes, we would like to thank We would like to thank thank professor DB Patak Yeah, I should a professor Ashutosh Mahajan for their help and we would also like to thank our mentors and Condenser Thank you


Wow, you're all here in this room just to hear from me, right? I really appreciate that and I get introduced by the voice of God. Thank you What could be better? Well, I I have two bits of good news for you What what can be better one is I believe I am the last speaker before president Clinton And I can tell you by experience that he has been a strong supporter of our organization From its beginning. He is not only an outstanding speaker, but he gives some really unique and outstanding Perspectives on our issues and our problem problems and you will love to hear from him The second good thing even more good news. How could there be more good news? I've only got ten minutes So I better get started and get to the point We're gonna talk about handoff communications and I will I'll start with a little foundation And I'm sorry if this is old news and redundant, but bear with me We're gonna get to some new stuff pretty quickly a patient handoff. What is it? It's a transfer of care and responsibility Achieved through effective communication of patient information to ensure continuity and safety of care The handoff process always involves one or more senders the people the person or group who are transferring care From them and one or more receivers the caregivers who accept care of the patient What's the problem with that? It sounds pretty straightforward, right? It's kind of a no-brainer Well, it's you'll be amazed how much of a problem there is with this the AHRQ as Reported in from a survey that half of hospital staff thinks that patient information is being lost in handoffs and I would Humbly submit that the other half of the staff is in denial Because information is being lost Breakdown and communication. This this is a this is a core point Was the not a the leading cause of sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission in the 10-year period from 1995 to 2006 Wow All of these causes that we've been talking about in our apps the leading cause is communications So there are three reasons I have chosen this topic to to discuss with you for the next 10 7 8 minutes One reason is this that one the leading cause the second one oops. Can you back up? I went too far sorry The second one Back up a slide, please. I Know I can't do it Can we off? Thank you the second reason is because that the patient safety movement is in a unique Position to help with this problem because of its makeup now I like most of you I participate in a number of different safe safety Organizations, but this is the only one that's not only doctors doctors and nurses and therapists all caregivers But it's also hospitals hospital administrators industry is a very important component government legal experts insurance companies Safety organizations and last but probably greatest of all Patients and their families. Thank you so much for being here and for being part of this And I want you to be not only part of it, but key contributors to to our solutions The third reason I have chosen it is a kind of a selfish reason and it's because of my background Before I became a clinician. I'm an anesthesiologist for the past 35 years I was an aeronautical engineer and PhD from Caltech and all that and I had something to do with aviation safety and as you have heard previously in this meeting Aviation safety has has set an example for us. They learn from their mistakes from their accidents Better than than most industries we can learn from them And one of the things they have learned is which you already saw a clue of on the next slide And now I'm going to go forward. I hope is the use of checklists This is the startup checklist for a Boeing 747. Nobody could remember all of this every day Obviously, you have to have it in front of you and you read it We have the same issue Part of our solution with handoffs is a checklist for three reasons one we are human We forget stuff and to compound that we live and work in a world of increasing complexity and stress just like pilots Great similarities and the third often the third strike when you analyze accidents both in airplanes and in the Hospital is Distractors the presence of unrelated minor events You know it can be anything that change your same train of thought and make you forget something And I'm not the only one who believes this you heard my good friend rich. Carmona refer to this checklist manifesto by a tool gawande who is a surgeon and he has sold this approach to an audience of surgeons Which is a very tough audience to change their behavior, but he has successfully done it So for each of our handoffs We need a checklist and I our committee our workgroup started off about three years ago Defining this many handoffs, which you can see in this table. I don't expect you to read them all but we identify the most common Transmitters senders emergency department hospital unit operating room paramedics and then for each of those senders We identified the most common receivers and you can see them You know pay patients from the emergency room might go to the hospital ward the operating room Critical care unit or a testing unit, etc. Now what you see there are at least 17 Different checklists already and there's actually more than that. We've got up to about 20 now We have developed 10 of these already. I'll show you just two of them Here's a handoff from the emergency room to the operating room. This is an intense one And and it's got to be bam bam bam bam. It's got to be quick I can remember doing this in less than 60 seconds but not only that quickly while I was literally trotting a Alongside a rolling gurney that was rolling at a very high velocity So time is limited the pressure is on as opposed to some of the other handoffs such such as a shift change on The ward where you can do it more leisurely and use a more leisurely approach. This uses the s bar Analogy acronym which stands for situation background assessment and recommendation so each of these handoffs is very different no two are alike and It's for a reason. They're done in different environments time is flexible in some it is not in other Others so can we simplify this are there any that can be combined? We are ready to go to clinical trials and this is where I want to get your input and your help What else what are these checklists actually look like that is are they pieces of paper or maybe they're on your cell phone? How are they used? Do I look at an index card? Who do I say hey Siri handoff from emergency room to operating room? And that way while I'm running alongside the moving gurney Siri is actually asking me the questions and I don't have to look at an index card Some are time-limited some are not as I said above all we discovered this very early They are not forms to be filled out. They are not to generate more work Now the last point I want to make before I conclude what really happens in a handoff This is the classic view coordinated Coordinated carefully time transfer like the patient is a stick of wood. I something passing I want to get beyond that and this is a somewhat New way of looking at it not entirely But the classic view is the handoff goes from the center to the receiver the information is only flowing in one direction What's missing here two things one that information flow has got to be two-way the center and the receiver Talk to each other the receiver is not a stick of wood either That's how new things get discovered that were perhaps missed The patient needs to be a part of that too and not in every handoff of course if the patient is Unconscious they can't very well participate, but they need to they need to be part of it The Joint Commission has Recognized that fact in their algorithm for handoffs. They mentioned patient participation And I want to conclude by thanking other in other Organizations that are helping with handoffs including the anesthesia patient safety commission the Joint Commission and Finally my conclusions Handoffs occur in a stressful environment where it's easy to forget stuff We have distractors patient handoffs and flying an airplane have a lot in common both need checklists There are more than 20 more than 20 different types of handoffs There may be some institutional variability because of patient populations Handoff is not a one-way process It's a three or a four-way conversation and the patient safety movement is in a unique position Because of our makeup because you patients are here to be an integral part of improving these handoff communications I'll conclude with Paraphrase of my favorite hero Neil Armstrong These are all small steps for man that can lead to a giant leap for mankind Which is zero preventable in hospital deaths. Thank you very much


Hi guys, G'day. I'm doing something a bit different today. I'm not reviewing a specific boot But I thought I'd take a customer's point of view of what I see as the differences between Parker's brand and Grant Stone For what I want to bring you about the two companies. This is going to be a longer video than usual But of course there will be boots in this video lots of them So what I'm doing today is taking a look at Parker's brand and Grant Stone from a customer's perspective In doing so I have intentionally not approached either company to ask their opinions or to seek insider information about their companies So my personal opinion in this video is gained from buying and wearing their boots and on what I as a consumer Can see and hear about them on the web and on social media To help me I reached out to my fellow enthusiasts on Facebook's Parkhurst enthusiast group and Grant Stone enthusiast group. I will include some of your opinions in this Basically my op-ed piece to camera So I tossed the coin and Parkhurst was the first cab of the rank So let's take a look at all my Parkhurst boots that I have so far Let me start I'll take them in the order that I bought them Let me start with the Parkhurst Richmond boot in raised reverse waxy mohawk This is a mohawk leather from Charles F. Stead tennery in the old Parkhurst 18 last which is a slightly more almond shaped toe last It's in a lovely waxed rough out with the inside of the actual mohawk leather on the inside It's on a Richmond pattern with the cap toe and it's on a Ridgeway sole The second boot I bought was an Allen boot a plain toe boot In this case in green or what's called spruce kudu. This is Parkhurst's plain toe design And you'll see as we go along that although there are similarities. There are also differences It's on a daylight sole It has an antique wheeled raised welt Two-piece backstabbing. The third boot I bought I went off-script and I got a Brogue winter boot in natural chrome excel. This is called the Spaulding daylight sole And clearly it's sort of a country boot, but done in a very casual chrome excel uppers eyelets and speed hooks and a single-piece backstab Then I came along and saw these these are factory seconds This is the Allen boot pattern and as you can see there are similarities in the plain boot style But this is where the they start to diverge from time to time You can see the spruce kudu is a two-piece backstab and this is a single-piece backstab About the same time I can I was kind of bullied on Facebook into buying these The colorate Dublin. Oh, did I say this is a dark roast Dublin leather from Horween? This is also from Horween It's the colorate Dublin using the same dyeing processes as they do for their colorate shell cord of them Beautiful leather this Dublin leather. It just creases really nicely It gives you that rugged look, but at the same time if you keep it nicely polished in this dark burgundy color You can wear it quite dressy Then that's all again and again. You can see that characteristic wheel welt Then comes a slight diversion. This is about where Parkhurst hit their COVID restrictions in terms of the supply chain And this came up after quite a long wait for different boots to arrive this is back to the original pattern the cap toe and It's in a Seidel leather Called light natural tan. It's got differences again. We're back to that single-piece backstab the stitching on the toe is Two stitches across and in this Richmond. It was a three-stitching toe cap with a two plus one sort of pattern Again, you'll see that characteristic wheel welt Brass eyelets no speed hooks single-piece backstab And about the same time that was released another Richmond was released And this is called the gaucho moose in moose or Scandinavian elk leather lovely almost Newbucky kind of feel to it again, all eyelets two-piece backstab again and again a Three-stitch pattern with a two plus one on it. It's on a commander's sole from its hide in the UK And then my latest Parkhurst boot is this gorgeous animal It's in Seidel's natural veg retan. So it's a vegetable tan leather quite dry to the touch And I haven't had this long But you can see that it's creased quite nicely. The patina is developing really beautifully It's on a ridgeway sole, which is also made by day night, but in this wavy sort of lovely pattern Now we've had a look at boots. Let's talk about Parkhurst as a company Parkhurst started in 2018 founded by Former stock analyst Andrew Savisco Apparently with two clear missions in his mind The first scratch and itch that he had himself In a world of expensive not so great shoes that all look the same How do you find a quality boot at the right price? So he decided to make a product that would stand out at a reasonable cost His second mission I think was to make his boots in the US because as he says in an interview with stitch down the american shoe industries die He saw how the loss of factories and jobs could really rock a community And he was seeing the loss of generations of experience in the boot making industry So his decision was to source as many components from us producers as possible And where this was not possible because perhaps of a better product, let's say Charles State Swades or Leathers He made sure that he partnered with the local reps of those products So that he kept as much of his supply chain benefiting american businesses I haven't seen him mentioned it in interviews But I suspect Andrew also is aware of the carbon footprint of his products For example, the factory he contracts with is only 40 minutes away from him The boxes that he ships in a well designed but very frugal box that acts as both shipping box and boot box These seem to be acts of think global at local When he started rather than buying a last as many small manufacturers do He designed his own last and created his own boot designs to make sure that his boots were different from the mesh producers up there There's quite a lot in boot design that often we don't notice. For example, take his Richmond boot Just a simple cap toe boot you say Yes, but he changes the pattern so that the back stay for example switches from a two piece to a One piece The cap toe may have a double stitching and others A triple stitch Small little changes that create interest and diversity Parkers used to produce four boot designs the allen plain toe service boot The Richmond cap toe boot The Delaware brode cap toe boot, which I don't have and the spaulding brode wing tip He also produced the big world derby shoe When I first became aware of parkers the production of the spaulding I understand to be a particularly difficult operation That was seizing and I bought one of the last pairs There were also only a few Delaware's left brode cap toes, but I missed out on them COVID affected parkers quite badly As a small batch manufacturer who cannot afford to buy big stocks of hides to make a lot of boots in inventory Parkers has always focused on making small batches of pretty unique letters But even so their website was pretty full of different makeups that changed around frequently When the effects of the pandemic really hit in late 2020 parkers supply chain was severely affected Due to supply and labor delays with people under lockdown or off-stake Parkers found it very difficult to source components to arrive on time And several of his us supplies were shutting down either temporarily or permanently For most of 21 and early 2022 this resulted in very few makeups appearing in inventory for sale Andrew makes sure he keeps in touch with his followers and his recent announcements Give us some scope for optimism He has had to find different sources and factories and while still remaining a small batch manufacturer He will continue to carry inventory as the supply chain pressures ease up While the ability to ensure that us manufacture is retained through a new partnership with another american factory This second phase of development will see a more global and hopefully more consistent components supply chain Andrew anticipates the new production law to take place in late northern hemisphere summer So that's the parker story. Now, let's take a look at grand stone These are my grand stone boots Again, the operative phase is so far because I do have my eye on a few more So this is the diesel boot by grand stone. It's their version of plain-toe service boot This is the diesel and saddle tan veg from Badalassie Carlo tan in Italy It's tan as if it were saddle leather and it's it's a tough leather at patina's beautifully Came originally orange out of the box But gradually with wear and patina has got to this lovely sort of tan color Then I bought through ebay. This is an ebay purchase the edwin boot in tobacco wax suede This is another wax suede from charles elf state in england Like all of grand stone's boots, they're fully lined It comes in the proprietary day night studded sole proprietary Lookalike day night studded sole as you can see it's patina in quite nicely All my grand stone boots and indeed all my parkers are in size at The grand stones in a d this was a seven and a half e Because through reading the grand stone website, which is why I grabbed this one. They came up on ebay You can go a half size down and one with up and still end up with relatively the same size My next purchase was another diesel boot plain toe cap toe As you can see characteristic hardware from grand stone On the leather sole quite controversial to some people.   It's a rough outdoorsy go and kick something boot on a commander's sole again Proprietary commander's sole by grand stone It's in a wax suede that they call earth again from charles elf state tannerin So you can see that where the rough and then this start to come from a mock toe With high walls but a strange mock toe in that the mock stitching is actually inboard.  This one is in tan sx from Hawin sx is the base tannin for Dublin leather that comes from hawin So this is developed first and then more ores and waxes put into develop the Dublin leather You can see that all the hardware on grand stone is really the same It's on the studded day night like sole This is a beautiful leather that ages really nicely because of the lining It it doesn't crease as much as as Vagetang leathers generally do but it will do it'll patina quite nicely And then of course there is the diesel coffee suede which is another Charles F. Stead suede in a dark coffee colored brown This one's on a vibram Cavity wage so this is one of the most comfortable boots I've got really lovely Looking at the company grand stone started in 2016 and was founded by white gilmore and josh land White's family had a long-term relationship with a shoemaking factory in the chinese resort city of xiamen His father had worked for old and for 15 years where he made contact with the owners of this factory And then spent another 25 years as agent for the factory liaising with other american shoe and boot companies who were using their manufacturing services White himself worked for eight years in that factory after a young career racing motocross After an injury his father suggested that he go to work in the factory for a few months just to experience a bit of the world He stayed for eight years He really got into making good year-old shoes and stayed for eight years learning the trade of a shoe manufacturer The idea for grand stone was actually started by white's father and the factory owner The name being that of a legendary old and salesman But white revived the idea in 2016 seeing the opportunity to make good year-old shoes and boots using premium components and selling direct to consumer The concept as their website says is to use leathers and components from boutique producers worldwide And create non disposable footwear that fits properly Leading to the principle for their customers of buying better and acquiring less while always supporting craftsmanship Putting it in a nutshell what drives them quality product from quality components Handcrafted by skilled and experienced craftspeople Durable products reducing waste focusing on fit and sizing for comfort It's interesting white is quoted as saying that the price point was not the driving force He basically decided to spec shoe that was well made and whatever the price landed at would be the price When they first started they designed their own last the leo last I made a long wing and a plain toe derby shoe Today they make seven different models of boots the diesel boot The edward boot The brass mock toe boot The Ottawa Norwegian split toe boot The cap toe boot called funnily enough the cap toe boot A chucker boot called the chucker boot and the Chelsea boot Again just called the Chelsea boot They also make an amazing six more models of shoes a plain toe derby or blucher a long wing An oxford cap toe a wingtip oxford shoe a penny loafer and a tassel loafer But wait there's more Mixing up different components like different welts different soles Different uppers and other limited edition make-ups. They actually currently list 96 different models on their website And they are not a made-to-order boot company. These are mostly in stock in the michigan warehouse at any one time All this sounds like grandstone are a huge company But actually up until his father passed away recently It's fire people Wyatt and josh Parker who looks after order fulfillment. Wyatt's wife who's the company accountant And his father until his passing I'll put a link in the description below of an article on this stitch down website about how the business of grandstone is run The obvious clear difference between the two companies is that parkers is made in the us And try to maintain a us supply chain even though this is likely to be diluted in its phase two development Grandstone boots are made in china using us and european components So how this made in usa versus made in china play out at least to a non-american Well, these are my thoughts and my opinion come from the viewpoint of being an australian Looking at made in usa and made in china Here are the things people think about when they think about manufacturing overseas Number one quality number two loss of jobs in the local economy Three ethical concerns, particularly over sweatshops for politics Let's take them each in turn first quality Quality is not a function of geography Quality is a function of the specs the factories ask to meet process control and the available skill and experience Wyatt himself has said that if he wanted to make a hundred fifty nine dollar shoe This factory could do it But he chose to spec his designs with quality components And then let the price fall as it may In most cases you can go anywhere in the world and spec a product with quality components and a high qc measure And you get a good product because the factory has to produce what you want At the quality standard that you set or they won't have your business Second the local economy now Loss of jobs at home is a bad thing. I get that australia has also gone through this Economics today though is based on a global economy Business is about efficiency So a good business will seek efficiency wherever that is In the 1900s, that's what made one company move from one small town in virginia to another small town in oregon The availability of cheap land cheap workers and lower taxes It's just become globalized now But you still don't necessarily lose out Your companies are still american or british or australian companies and they will employ people at home Just not so many and probably not doing the same things And they will pay home country taxes Guess where those taxes go If your government has it right, hopefully to develop in future industries and future jobs And here's where lost jobs are such a tragedy As western governments embrace the global economy for reasons of politics and influence or for other economic reasons Why didn't they foresee this and develop training pathways and re-skilling policies for their citizens? Singapore a planned economy that is not communist Recognized in the 1960s where the world economy was going and moved its citizens from an Ontopo trading nation to electronics international banking and other new industries so that by the 1980s it was and remains an economic giant Third ethical concerns. Yeah sweatshops exist But once the country develops economically their cost of living increases and the country's economy must move on On top of that the development of ethical concerns in multinational companies due to protests and concerns at home Means that they now ensure in fact they audit the working conditions of the factories that they contract I think you'll find that most countries with some notable exceptions no longer have sweatshop labor Finally politics I can't say much about that if you won't buy made in china because of politics and nothing that I've just said will sway you Well, you do have a point about the autocratic or paid government So if you feel strongly then don't buy made in china What about made in usa? You get that from my comments that I won't not buy made in china if the company has the right foundations that grandson seems to do At the same time not being american. I won't simply buy parkers just because they're made in the usa If I thought that way, well, I just buy Australian r.m. Williams No, I buy both because I like the motives and quality driven philosophies of both companies While it's not relevant to me that parkers is made in the u.s I must say the driven passion of the brand to react to how unemployment can destroy communities resonates with me The passion to keep the generations of experience in one industry going The drive to change the american shoe industry by providing a quality product made in america with new designs and thinking These qualities apply to me as a vision not as an american Ultimately I buy both bradstone and parkers because I like the beauty of their designs and the quality of their product Not because of where they're made however If a grandstone was a faceless conglomerate making shoes in faceless human factories If a parkers was based on a lie and was unethical In the way it treated suppliers and customers. I would drop both in a flash Their vision as seen in their design manufacturer and marketing first attracts me to them Their quality product keeps me interested Now let's look at how their styles are reflected in customers views This is where I got a lot of my great opinion from my facebook Boot friends members of both the parkers and the grandstone groups Most of us are agreed their signature design may both be quite simple plain-toed service boots But their execution is what's different Parkers will generally give a rugged heritage feel in their leather selection Their welp design and the overall construction You can class their look as fashion rugged Grandstone on the other hand is more sleek and sophisticated with cleaner stitching Cleaner welp cuts and lining They produce more of a classic boot although the introduction of a brass boot Gives them some claim to ruggedness and work wear fashion Don't get me wrong both are made tough But the choice of leathers and the makeup design makes parkers look great for the yard Grandstone for the urban jungle There are some exceptions I have taken grandstone's brass boot in earth through some really challenging terrain And it's performed like any tough boot you'd like to mention Parkers colorate options look so elegant. You just want to baby them But still despite the variety in each brand people seem to equate parkers with a pacific northwest vial And grandstone with a more corporate feel So they look at parkers when they consider Truman say And they look at grandstone when they're also looking at for example, ordinance Some say parkers due to the choice of different and unique leathers shows more character They have charisma Whereas grandstone has loads more choice in leathers and is much more versatile to wear You can wear them with any outfit style from rugged casual to business casual And if you stretch it a bit some models with a suit Now in terms of overall construction I find their last the grandstone leo and the parker 602 are perfect for my feet Both are snug at the heel and open out at the ball of the feet Gives your toes room to wiggle with no pinching or squeeziness Parkers has slightly less volume if you have a high instep, but not by much Both sets of uppers are from famous and well-established tanneries Grandstone feature leathers from Halloween, Charleston and Badalassee Carlo Top tanneries producing a lot of hides with top names Park has feature also Charleston Stead, Horween, Seidel and other famous American tanneries Their leather selection tends towards the exotic Like neti tans and kudu moose double shot What's been described to me is beefy chrome excel that double shot Both use quality American leather for their welts and their mid and insole construction Grandstone will play with flat welts and clean split reverse welts to preserve elegance and sleepless Parker sticks with a wheeled split reverse welt that is generally antique so it looks rugged Grandstone controls this applied by sourcing their proprietary versions of a day-night like studded outsole and the version of the commando lung sole They feature a lot of leather sole boots again showing their sleek design Their hardware is also similarly proprietary generously sized and sturdy and backed Parkhurst probably a function of their size will source outsole from famous brands Day-night it's hard rich way no leather sole versions Whoever heard of taking the leather sole boot up some Pacific Northwest trail right Parkhurst's hardware is less impressive more normal and they tend not to be well they're not backed They're just star pressed Quality control is great by both brands They both seem to weed out factory seconds ruthlessly and I have bought seconds from both but I'll just talk about my experience of factory firsts here I have never seen a stitch out of place on a grandstone in fact they always display perfect stitch density and placing Parkhurst stitching is also pretty good although I think it's fair to say that befitting their rugged vibe a little less precise Clicking or the choice of where the hide is cut when cutting the pattern is better in grandstone their uppers come to you like some upmarket brand like you expect Leathers from Alden or Ellen Edmonds or Locke Parkhurst again I guess befitting the more rugged Leathers they use may show some less perfect choices of where they cut or click In the overall construction itself both are good but grandstone does feel more premium They are both undeniably quality goods their pricing between $300 and $400 are in that sweet spot once you pass the entry-level pricing of $200 Thursdays and before you get to the $450 made-to-order boots of Truman and Knicks and enter into that heavy realm of whites and Viberg twice the price in value terms when you look at the markets that their styles aim for they represent really good value for the mid $300 price Parkhurst are definitely worth that price overall I think grandstone is better value for money and arguably could be priced mid $400 if not for that made in China tag honestly I think if grandstone had made in Boston or made in Melbourne or made in Northampton stand all over them you'd get mid $400 for them as for customer service both companies impressive queries complaints and returns are handled quickly and in my opinion well I've heard some say that grandstone takes a long time to respond to inquiries but I've never found that I usually get a reply by the next day and in general the replies are thoughtful and helpful I suppose you'd say that there's a less personal approach from grandstone's team they're not as active on social media so they rarely grab and repost enthusiast posts on their own feed and I haven't seen them much reply to Facebook or Instagram posts however white is on the stitch down discord and I have seen him reply very personally very frequently to all inquiries there one of the comments from my Facebook enthusiast inquiry said that speaking with Andrew is one of the most pleasant customer experiences Andrew seems to be more personally in touch with fans remember him he is a one-man band he responds to comments on Instagram and Facebook he replies very personal replies to email as I said Parkhurst is a one-man band apart from contracting a factory to actually make his patents he does everything himself from marketing to QC and even finishing off the boots in his basement and perhaps this makes Parkhurst look a lot more engaging so guys there's my comparison of Parkhurst brand and grandstone tell me what you think put a comment down below look at the end of the day I love both both companies last fit me really well so much so I never have to break in their boots and I can wear them straight out of the box without feeling any pinching or pain I certainly will keep buying them although I think I may slow down buying grandstone at some stage once I feel I've had enough of the variations sufficiently represented Parkhurst I'm always excited what new drops will announce because they'll always be different and quite exciting here's a thought I wonder what if one day Parkhurst and grandstone merged offering two faces of boot design and character from one company all right guys don't forget to click on like and if you haven't already click on subscribe too I'm going to keep bringing you loads more boot reviews and boot unboxing videos so don't miss them and if you like this sort of longer format in-depth video let me know that in the comments below and I'll make a few more until then take care mates and keep well


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Thank you to the foundation and especially Althea for having me and taking a risk on this talk It's the first time I believe that VC is being talked about at at any DevCon. So it's very exciting my name is Jehan Chu and this topic comes out of conversation that I've been having with some of the largest institutional holders of Ethereum who are also diehard Ethereum bulls and And we felt frustrated a little bit Not so much by the current state of Ethereum because we're all relatively patient long-term investors with you know long-time horizons to invest but There's a disconnect a powerlessness and a disconnect on how we as institutional investors Can help make a difference in the layer one Ethereum ecosystem not just the startups that are building on top so Something doesn't fit Between traditional VC and decentralization It used to be that VC was really straightforward You would find a bunch of interesting early-stage companies you make sure that the founders are good You write a check you help them grow and then you wait for an exit opportunity And that's how it was for decades, but this model is not only obsolete As seen by recent failures of uber and we work to really kind of perform in the public markets But it also obviously doesn't really fit a decentralized project like Ethereum So we can kind of agree that the old model of venture capital needs an update to fit the decentralized age So add that to the rise of you know, obviously crowdfunded Applications of Ethereum and it becomes even harder as an investor to process all this So as an investor, how do I invest in a company that has no CEO that doesn't report revenue much less Have revenues and how do I price the risk of an asset that you know swings 15% on on the back of a tweet How do I help the project grow when I'm not even sure who they are? Is it the foundation? Is it? the devs is it the dApps is Is it the ever-present but kind of fluid community and How should I as an investor feel about a community who isn't really sure how they feel about me in my role as an investor? And seems to keep a healthy distance from the investors at best and maybe is you know a little suspicious and skeptical of our agendas at worst So there's a disconnect between What you know there's disconnect and I think that the Ethereum community as a whole is really missing an opportunity as a result And I want to be clear about what the opportunity is for connecting the VCs to the community better. It's that it's the fulfillment of the promise of Ethereum of the potential Ethereum and Obviously this can't be done by VCs alone But I believe with a more open dialogue between the traditional Ethereum community and the investor community We can all really help grow the ecosystem together in ways that are not really being currently addressed So who am I to say all these things? I First and foremost, I am the founder of the Ethereum meetup in Hong Kong. So we started in March of 2014 Was our first meetup. We had five people in a smoky bar and we had a Stefan tool Who was Skyping in to tell us about Ethereum? Since then I've done over 80 meetups and I've hosted metallic seven or eight times in Hong Kong and I'm also the founder of kinetic which is a VC We've invested in over 50 Ethereum based projects along the way and I personally invested in the crowds on myself. I Co-hosted the first Ethereum super meetup in Hong Kong with Sean Jeff from digix and eat Singapore Which drew well over a thousand 500 people? And I did the first NFT conference in 2018 with Ari from Decentraland called nifty So I'm an early investor and one last thing I'll mention is that I have a small foundation Which is dedicated to blockchain for social impact called social alpha? And as a Kaufman fellow, I think a lot about VC and venture capital and how we can better serve the founders So I think the backdrop of some of where this comes from is this idea and this feeling that Ethereum is somehow under fire It's become the whipping boy of blockchain in some ways with people focusing too much on what Ethereum can't do Rather than all the things that it can do There's continuous complaints about the scalability issue even though we know that there are solutions that do exist and are making traction There's frustration around the long wait time for e2 And then on the external side you have Companies and projects that have you know multi-billion dollar bank roles who are challenging for the protocol space and Waging a really increasing war to attract and retain developer talent and that's putting pressure on Ethereum In addition one of the founders of one of the largest Ethereum owning projects that I know he described a fatigue in Ethereum that's happening right now, and I can think we can we can almost even witness it here There's not as many people hairs. They're used to be there's not as much buzz around it But this is not a permanent condition for us We know as people in the Ethereum community that this is a natural growing pain We're growing and it's painful, but it's growth and more importantly We know that these problems are more of a issue of perception rather than reality The issue is not just that The you know people are believing the wrong things It's that there's a gap in mainstream communication and messaging So people who are outside of the ecosystem don't really know who to listen to they don't know what to believe because they're not in it every Day like the way that we are and can't separate fact from a fact from from fiction. I Guess to sum it up there is a feeling that there's a gap between There's a gap in the number of influential Mainstream voices who are consistently and vocally articulating the strength of Ethereum If you think about it, who are the biggest bulls in the Ethereum ecosystem Sorry in the mainstream so aside from Vitalik and the foundation all the great work that they're doing Obviously Joe Lubin is out there is doing great work as well Who are the other key external people that you can think of off the top of your head in the mainstream who are really talking about Ethereum consistently Who are really educating the public and educating other influencers because it's in their direct interest to do so How many can you really name? I had trouble thinking about too many of them Now part of this is that this is a feature not a bug This is how the foundation in my mind wants to be positioned Which is fine because it's a decentralized governance system. It's a decentralized organization And they don't want to be too influential in certain ways but there is a cost and consequence to this and It's the void of kind of messaging and support by mainstream influencers That is filled by FUD and complaint and doubt and there are many ways that VCs I think can help and that's what we do in our daily life But in my mind this is one of the most immediate and influential roles that VCs can turn on immediately to help grow Ethereum So that leads us to why Why do we want to help as VCs? And it leads us to the incentives and alignments of VCs who have significant investments in Ether and the ecosystem projects How can the community understand and evaluate our incentives for choosing and boosting Ethereum signal? Well first Vitalik was talking about economic incentives. Let's just address those Obviously we as VCs who are invested long-term in Ethereum have a financial a direct financial interest in the price of ETH and Many funds that I know have put 10% of their fund in Ethereum Now I don't know how much you know about VC math But a lot of these funds are depending on their investment in Ethereum to go up many many multiples in order to return The fund itself. That's just VC math. It means that they're really depending on ETH to grow long term but most large crypto VCs who hold the Ethereum are not really speculating on the price only their investors with long term investment horizons and they're investing in the technology and the ecosystem like traditional VCs and they have five to ten year Investment horizons, and I really want you to understand that because there's a sense Perhaps that I've heard where people think that VCs are just flipping coins some of them are that's fair But many are not and the earliest ones are not Yes, there are trading funds, but they're different than VCs and second I think that many of us who have invested significant portions of our portfolios In the equity of companies are based in Ethereum and again These are five to ten year investment horizons that we're trying to grow companies equity on Ethereum If Ethereum doesn't work if it doesn't scale if it doesn't grow its user base a large portion of our portfolios Will starve to death and then we as VCs will starve to death, too Third I think that Ethereum is in many ways a proxy for the health of decentralized technology generally Ethereum is almost synonymous for blockchain technology and whenever someone says that Ethereum doesn't scale It's an indictment of the entire industry because Ethereum is the largest and most holistically developed public blockchain It's really bad for business for people to be you know continuing this fud So I think we've established that the financial alignment of VCs and why we want to help grow the ecosystem Not just the companies on top is clear We need a theorem price and especially utility and the companies on top to grow so that we can make money and Drive returns for our investors. That's the financial side Now if you're a dev or a founder, maybe you're thinking, okay, well, that's basically what I thought VCs just want to make money cool Well, yes and no. Yes, we want to make money, but no, that's not all we want It's actually this fourth reason that I think is the most important and why most of us are in it in reality The financial side of VC is not why most of us got into investing in reality The much more powerful incentive and alignment is that we really love and believe in Ethereum Our passion and belief in Ethereum is the most reliable indicator of our long-term investment in the space Many of us who are the long-term holders were there at the beginning I did a short survey of some of my friends who are long-term holders and 75% of them were invested within the first year of Ethereum between 2014 and 2015 Now We believe in the idea of decentralization We admire the developers in the Ethereum community building the platform and most importantly we respect the tone and tenor of the community it is the most single differentiating factor of Ethereum in my mind and We remember how far we've come from the start just like you when you know the financial opportunity was non-existent Really kind of uncertain the path is uncertain and the risk of failure far greater And this is why we get that it's different than 99% of the other protocols and better than 99% of the other protocols It's the community that's been built For many of us Ethereum is the purest form of expression of blockchain and the ideas of community and decentralization That attracted us to the space in the first place We chose to invest in this industry It didn't choose us and that's what I really want you to understand about some of us VC's who are long and large And in Ethereum if you're a dehyde decentralized die-hard decentralist Maybe you're thinking well VCs are part of the problem because we concentrate capital because we're exclusive and because we wield outsize influence which bulldozes the field of decentralization and You're not wrong We do concentrate capital we are exclusive and we do wield influence But the point of this talk is to suggest that maybe that's not the end of the story Maybe there's more that unites us than divides us Our common ground is the belief in the project and the mission and maybe it's time we can harness our influence for the common good. I Think Ethereum has come a long way the foundation the devs Consensus the EEA have done an incredible amount to carry the load this far But I think the question for now is what can VCs do for our part to ensure that a theorem can really go the distance and To really help a theorem succeed so I Think in considering VCs we can think suggest that We're just another node in the network I think it's best to think of VCs not as a class outside of the Ethereum ecosystem But more like just another node in the network just like there are minor nodes There are business nodes there are developer nodes There are other types of community nodes who focus on different areas of developing Ethereum VCs are a particular Community and we have particular needs and particular skill sets and contributions VCs in particular don't like to sit back and let other people do the work We like to add value to our investments. It's how we are evaluated for our work How much we make and how much value we add so we can't just sit back and let someone else handle We have to mingle we have to Metal we have to get in there and and try to help make things better. We can't help ourselves It's like a sickness. It's like venture capitalitis. We don't know any better than to try to help We're not always helpful, but we want to be helpful. We try to be So how does an old-school traditional VC typically help a project obviously through funding helping to raise other funding? We introduce founders to business development Develop strategy. We do board of directors financial roadmaps and recruiting and resource planning risk management Crisis management and obviously we're the main investor for for many of the companies that are building on top And I think addition two things that are specifically relevant to aetherium because of its decentralized nature are Helping to engage and attract enterprise customers and growth and to Influencing I think enterprise has great support from EA, but it can't have can't hurt to help and have more firepower I want to touch on this point of influencing because it's really key for VCs I know it sounds a bit fluffy But influencing influencers is an important leverage that VCs have as investors for example back in 2015 I was doing one-on-one meetings with Vitalik and CEOs in the Hong Kong community CEOs of banks to educate and normalize the narrative of Blockchain for them was the first time they'd heard a blockchain and Continue to today Hypothetically if there was a gathering in China of some of the most biggest multi-billionaire internet founders who are just starting to look at Blockchain and are enamored of certain Chinese dominated DPOS blockchains or worse think that they can better roll their own solution and I can ask Vitalik or other people in the foundation to come and make a pitch and Form a contact bond so that when they build their blockchain solutions for their billions of users Aetherium is at least in the conversation Then isn't that worth it? Isn't that worth the effort and as VCs we may not be able to build Applications, but we're pretty good at building stories and building relationships So if VCs can do all this then why aren't we doing it? Well, it's because we work in a certain way And when we back a startup we're typically backing a founder leading a company building things and driving revenue that can typically be sold So aetherium is really hard to help because there is no one founder to talk to her help But this is by design again This is a feature not a bug the foundation doesn't want to be in the position as I understand a blessing specific investment agendas or Efforts much less telling us what to do or not do as I understand it. They're here to shepherd and various self-guided efforts If they deem it aligned with the aims of the foundation so the question here is is there a way for VCs to Make use of their resources without compromising the spirit of decentralized governments that it's core to its birth one idea which is a really simple one would be to self-organize and to start doing Calls or meetings to discuss how we can help and how we can prioritize things that we think the ecosystem needs and It's important to note that many other top-level protocols Which are great in their own rights are also already have VC backing they came after a theorem So they didn't have to deal with the same type of issue of not having formal backing now I don't have the perfect answer here But the point I'm trying to make is that perhaps there's a middle ground if we talk openly about what we both want and can contribute Then I believe VCs and investors can harness a great deal of the pent up energy and experience for the common good We just need to work together on the solution so Going further how can we improve venture capital in the age of decentralization? Well, there's no question that the traditional model of venture capital is tried and has been home to address some of the most fundamental issues in growing a company and It's been effective in growing the companies that we know and love But it's worth asking the question has decentralization changed the game Perhaps we're not only helping to grow companies anymore Instead we're helping to grow the communities that grow the platforms that grow the companies and if that's a case Maybe we need a new approach The new VC is not just a financier. We're a node. We can't just invest We need to participate if I had to summon up in a simple idea it would be Don't just allocate participate Specifically participation in this new type of VC realm can mean a host of things and it's really important to note that many great funds Are already doing these things firms like Pantera and fun Boucher and polychain and hash and multi coin and Andres and Libertas and even us at kind of Ketic, we're already doing some of these things We need to run nodes adding nodes to the network is a very basic function and a fundamental role that we can play Staking of course we can add value to the network and add security to the network Community calls actually participating in the conversation around where the function goes and where the platform goes is important Obviously participating in governance. We can't just talk about it. We have to be about it We need to continue educating and evangelizing and help to create and enforce a narrative around a theorem that goes beyond Just the foundation just the technology Storytelling is really important in our space and it's important. I think particularly important for a theorem And I think we can do that on behalf and then finally enterprise growth I think is quite important and I think that we can add a bit of firepower to that and raw user growth Maybe what we should be asking at the end of each quarter is not Why isn't the foundation doing more to increase user growth and instead ask how many companies? Did I introduce to aetherium and how many users did they bring on and In the spirit of the community and to address the exclusivity issue Maybe we as venture capitalists shouldn't do this from the perch of being an investor Maybe we should be doing it You know not as an exclusive access to an exclusive club investing in an exclusive round but really from the ground level at the same level as the community and If we go into that area, maybe we can think of ourselves You know, maybe we don't need to be just venture capitalists. Maybe we can be nodes maybe we can be venture nodes and step-by-step we can slowly but steadily facilitate a more open and distributed investment framework for this new age of decentralization and I think if we kind of travel along this path and think about it more maybe we can become a better version of ourselves and Who knows maybe we can just fix the broken model of venture capital along the way Wouldn't that be nice So what's next? What do we want from the community or the foundation to be honest? We don't really want anything Other than for them to know that there are people out there like us who are thinking this way And if they think that this is helpful if you think this is helpful engage us We need to grow this through dialogue From the aetherian community again We don't necessarily want anything specific either other than an openness to meet us halfway and engage in the dialogue and get Suggestions and support and feedback. There's always been a distance between the aetherium and vcs And maybe we can bridge that gap a little bit and breathe some life into this idea To be honest I think this is much more a call to action for the investor community to self-organize and perhaps give some shape to the things that We think about and kind of put into action And so if you're an investor and want to participate hit me up Thank you very much