Hey friends today, I am hanging out at Disney Springs I wanted to come down and see if there's anything new since the last time I was here But also I wanted to come down to Disney Tales the pet store here at the Springs I'm looking to buy something fancy for my Dalmatian Gracie. She's currently recovering from a bite wound And I thought it'd be nice to get her something once she's fully healed. So Let's go do this One of the things I wanted to do was check out amorettes They always have amazing little like snacks in there and pastries and it's one of my favorite places just to grab a quick bite So maybe we'll see if they got anything fancy going on in there This is also where they sell the Wanda vision cake which officially has ended and I watched the last episode this morning And I loved it. Let me know in the comments when you guys think of the end of the series It was such a great show Looks like they're all sold out of the Wanda vision cakes, but they do have this flan couture Flan couture. I don't know if I said that right or not But all of these desserts are amazing. I was really looking forward to that Wanda vision cake But they said they sell them very quick. So I guess that's the end of it I don't know if they're gonna be making any more The long couture looked very interesting, but they kind of make it like a crème brûlée right there So I was gonna get something and just take it with me and maybe I might stop back for that But that's best to be eaten right away because they like caramelize the top like with a blow torch and everything like that So maybe we'll come back after we do a little shopping. I Think I'm gonna take this opportunity and hop right into the world of Disney because there is no line They have the front entrance doors like open so you can just walk in this is the first time that I've been to The springs and I've seen this usually I have to wait or join a virtual queue, but not today You have to just walk in here The Disney Tales store is and actually in the world of Disney. It's in the co-op next door But they're still always amazing things to find in the world of Disney and they even have like an I love my Disney dog collection And I definitely need to get this I love my Disney dog photo frame And I put a little picture of Gracie in there. Oh, this is so amazing They do actually have a couple of men's things like they have a four pair of Disney dog socks And then they have this hat that says more Disney more dogs And then this one sweatshirt this can be guys or girls or anybody and it's Disneyland resort And it actually has a Dalmatian on it. This one's nice. I actually like this Oh, they have a Walt Disney world one up there too. That's funny that they have a Disneyland version and then a Walt Disney version very interesting They also do have a lot of Disney cat merchandise now just because I have a dog doesn't mean I'm not a cat person It's just right now. I currently don't have a cat, but I do like cats, but I love my dog So that's why you're focused on that but I'm gonna show you guys some of the cat stuff because can't leave out the cats They got little kitty collars and this is really cool a cat toy. Oh The furriest one of all I might want to get this for Gracie. We'll have to come back to that I also like the dishes too These actually have Dalmatians on it life is a walk in the park Other than all the fancy pet stuff I am also looking for a new shirt to wear in the park Maybe a spirit jersey maybe a Tommy Bahama. I've never owned a Tommy Bahama, but I I'm playing on getting one one day Depends. I feel like I need to find the perfect one But also any other stuff that's for sale here in the world of Disney because I love shopping around here These are those fancy Tommy Bahama shirts. I think they're like a hundred and thirty dollars. They're very nice comfortable shirts I've never gotten one before but I'm gonna get one I just want to wait to you know find the perfect one. I do like the Polynesian themed ones But they also have a lot of really cool nightmare before Christmas merchandise It's so funny that it's right next to each other like they have all of this stuff And then a really cool nightmare before Christmas one. This one's Walt Disney World. Look at this. I Like this shirt a lot actually And it's got Jack on the sleeves and then Sally on the sleeves. This one seems really fun The nightmare before Christmas long-sleeve shirt is $40 and I was like, oh well We have 30% off because they give an annual pass holders an additional 10% off, but that ended yesterday I am such I am like a day late. I could have just saved a couple extra bucks It's personally if I plan on buying a lot of things today, but still 20% off is great. Biggers can't be choosers Another thing I'm really liking is this new Walt Disney World like font You see it on a lot of the different apparels like this sweatshirt over here And then I'm pretty sure there was some T-shirts over on this side and it's like kind of like a 90s vibe. I feel like Let me see. Oh, yeah Doesn't that kind of remind you like of like video like music video vibe. This is really nice. I Love anything with like that retro Walt Disney World logo. I think it's really cool And that's the stuff I normally tend to get but I would definitely buy in on the 90s like logo like the video drama Font it's really fancy stuff But now I think I'm gonna head on over to the co-op look around like at Disney Tales And then there's a lot of other good stores over there. So we'll probably find a lot more Here is the marketplace co-op and the crowd seems so low today. It's the weekend I can't even believe it for weeks on end there. I couldn't even get into the Springs They always hit capacity on the weekends and then today there's not even a line at the world of Disney. I'm lucking out One of my favorite places to check out in the co-op is the Wonder Ground Gallery because they always have amazing artwork in there And since the festival of the arts officially ended Maybe we'll be able to find some of those pieces that were at the festival that are no longer available for purchase You never know what you can find over here Disney Springs is also celebrating woman's history month with some of the legends from Disney including Mary Blair right here If you guys aren't familiar with Mary Blair and her work on the small world or the mural that's in the contemporary She was a very very well liked and she did such amazing work for Walt Disney and the company itself And then they have a couple more over here like Rita Scott Ruthie Thompson This is really awesome. I like that. You can actually learn a little bit They have a couple of pieces. I would love to buy for my house It's just really cool artwork and some of it really pops out at you Like I'm looking at some stuff and I'm like is that 3d, but it's not it's just really good at popping out Also take a look at this Bambi and mother one and it kind of looks like their layer doesn't it? So well, but it's just a flat surface. This is 20 of 95 and it's limited edition and it's only $195 These are really good deals But now let's see what they got for my little Gracie girl Always such amazing things in here and normally they have things that aren't over in the world of disney or And different other shopping stops They have a little monorail chew toy right here. This seems very nice She probably would destroy that in seconds and then some Mickey squeak toy sets Oh And then I was also thinking about maybe giving her a pair of ears She doesn't have any ears and I think all girls should at least own a pair of ears What do you think rose gold? Maybe I wonder if they have any other different styles They do have like the blue make-a-wish ear set But I think I might just give her those rose gold like pink ears. I think she really might like those a lot And then they have all of the mini and polka dot sets little dog socks Look at this a mini bow feeding mat This is some good stuff. Oh this pull toy right here. She would like that a lot I think I should just stick to the ears though Logan look at that down there I decided I'm just going with the ears I want to see her have ears and I think it's really nice And I think she'll actually wear them and like them with my annual pass. It was only $12 So the dogs get the cheap ears. I mean in the stores for Regular people. It's like 30 bucks. So lucky for them to get in the cheap ears I think I want to grab something to eat, but I'm not sure what I want to get I have a couple of places in mind. Maybe I'll check to see if they got anything new at those locations first Since I might be having dinner later on I don't want to get a full meal just a quick snack And one of the places I've never actually eaten before and that's bbwook sausage company And sometimes they have special like sausages. So maybe we'll see if they got anything fancy going on for march It doesn't look like they rolled out any new sausages or dogs They still have the mardi gras smoked craw dog a smoked andouille sausage crawfish Lemon caper aioli and then creole pepper sauce on a roll. It sounds amazing But I want to see if there's anything new, you know, I want to be up to date on the hit stuff This isn't an actual thing I can eat for like a quick lunch But this is something that caught my attention the wonder made gourmet marshmallows Never heard of this So now I'm going to take a peek see Oh, they have bourbon marshmallows. Wait, what is going on here? Four ounces a perfect amount for eating 16 marshmallows with a bourbon flavor They also have stout beer and then Salted caramel birthday cake. What is this sorcery? These marshmallows look absolutely amazing And I seen they have a s'mores one and they also have a gold champagne marshmallow one And you can see inside the box at first I was a little like confused because when you see it The way that they are like in the box, you don't think of marshmallows But the way that they're actually presented they look amazing Take a look at those they're all cubed up like that and they look fancy. That's the gold champagne one I think I actually might get the s'mores one that one looks probably Like the most that I would like on the back. It shows you how they're actually like inside the box This one is half chocolate and then they're actually Coated with graham crackers. So it's almost like eating a s'mores without a fire I ended up buying the s'mores one. Actually, he told me Martha Stewart Actually buys these marshmallows are her favorite marshmallows and the same thing with Justin Bieber and stuff So it's nice that Disney Springs is bringing in like a kind of like smaller business Like that guy in there is the owner and this has been here since december So only about three months old and uh, who doesn't love marshmallows? Now I have some that we can snack on why we find something to actually eat for lunch like a little lunch dessert I actually I think I might want to get myself a slice of pizza It's been a while since I've been to pizza ponte and they have one of my favorite slices at Walt Disney World I think that sounds like a plan. Let's go grab a slice of pizza from pizza ponte And eat our marshmallows and kind of just hang out and relax for a moment It's starting to get uh sunset time. So it's going to start looking very beautiful here I always love the Disney Springs during the sunset. I don't know why maybe it's the hot air balloon Or it's just all the different buildings, but it always looks amazing Have you guys ever had the pizza here before I have and I love it. It's either here via napoli And also california girl has a pretty good pizza But those are my favorite pizzas at Walt Disney World. If you guys know of any others, let me know But this is it for me Look at all the amazing pizzas here and they sell it all by the slice They have regular square pizzas that have tons of amazing toppings on them And then of course, they've got the big roman round slices These pizzas are huge. That's one slice right there for $6.95. That's not too shabby at all They also have salads and desserts some taramasu and cannoli All the things you love to see in a pizza shop I decided to come outside and eat.  I mean, they were the size of my head like legit I'm going to try to show you the size of my head Look at that It's also really important to show the undercarriage here because look at that Perfect, right? That is a good slice of pizza. That is a good base A little bit of a flop not too bad It's not like a new york flop flop. Plus it's a very big slice So we're just going to dive in one bite. Everyone knows the rules One bite. One score. One score. Eight six. Much too good for crows. Go on get But eight six. That's really good.  Honestly, I'm so happy that I found it a while back I remember I went on kind of like a, uh, quest to find the best pizza in disney Vietnam is up there. I'll tell you that right now But this is really really close for my number one spot. I would say I don't know of any other ones that are just like so authentic and just like perfectly made Now that we've actually taken care of the pizza business It's time to move on to the marshmallow business and take a look at these marshmallows How fancy is this?  I can't wait to try one The world's greatest marshmallows they say, well, we're gonna we're going to test that out right now That is so amazing. I can concur right now I have never had a better marshmallow than this marshmallow right here I can honestly say to me, this is the world's best marshmallow because I've never had any better This is so good. What a genius idea I'm also so intrigued to see what it would be like to actually put these on fire and like roast them That's going to be amazing I have to save them and like find a way to like maybe get a fire like in my apartment or something like that Just so I can roast them. I don't want to use the stove I always heard that you can't make s'mores on the gas stoves because then you get all the chemicals in it I've learned that from experience by my mom telling me don't eat that because you're going to get gas chemicals All in your marshmallows, which I used to do all the time anyway I needed to move along because I would have probably eaten all those marshmallows and I do want to save some Just so I can see what it's like to maybe roast them and also give some to my friends But look at that. I love seeing the disney springs balloon actually come landing down. It's so amazing I don't know what they call it now error fadaro or something like that It used to be characters in flight, but they have changed it since then Oh, you can actually see one of the ampute cars in the background there, too There's a lot happening in this picture There is one more store. I want to stop by over here That has a really good selection of different clothing items and it's kind of their own thing A lot of people don't know this but disney style actually has select merchandise that can only be found in this store So I always like to just take a peek see to see if they got anything good going on I actually already see something that I like already That's what you call window shopping when you've spot something from the outside and you're like I'm going to get that Look at these sweatshirts and shirts. I like them so much. They have like that faint Walt disney world and mickey symbol Look at this one your pal mickey melts on the bottom there and then they have a green one back here This is the one I seen outside that I was like this looks really nice I'm going to try to pick it up and it's got the d right on the front there And then on the back It says Walt disney world Now I think I'm gonna actually head home and give Gracie her ears. I'm so excited. I hope she likes them I mean, I think she's gonna like them. I think she will and I'm gonna show you guys and give you a little peek on how she's doing She's probably very happy right now. She's uh been doing a lot better The cone was a little difficult, but uh, she's getting used to it and we got a little pillow for her But I'll show you I'll show you all of it Oh Gracie Where are you? You want to go for a walk? Who wants to go for a walk? You want to go for a walk? Who wants to go for a walk? Okay, thank you As you can see she is doing Much much better her staples come out in uh two days two days And then we can get rid of the pillow or the cone. She's gonna be so happy And now uh, I guess we give her her gifts. Oh, I got her a bonus gift too. I can't wait to show you what else I got her These are her ears. Are you ready? Here you go.  Oh princess Who's me princess? Should I put the ears? I don't know if I should put her ears like behind her ears Wait, maybe like this and then pull them up. No that that can't be the way. It must be just like this Sorry, great girl Yes, yes, yes you I am not too sure how she feels about those ears But the only reason she's not running around is she can spell The sprinkles cupcake I got for her. Yep, they make cupcakes Dogs love cupcakes too. It says it right on the sticker. How awesome is that? So we're gonna give her a little treat You deserve it. Yes Oh, look at the little tail You want this? You want this? Who's a good girl? Who's a pretty princess? She's probably super embarrassed and it's like dad knock it off Dad stop it. You're embarrassing me. I could see her the way she's looking at me too right now. She's giving me looks She is literally Giving me such a horrific stare. Look at that. She is mad. Do you not like the ears? I know how to make her feel a little bit better though. You want this? That's yours You want the cupcake? Go ahead. It's yours Yes Oh I think she likes it. You like it. Don't you? Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the video. I enjoyed making it. I don't think Gracie likes her ears So we're not gonna force that except for when we want pretty pictures, which might be A couple times She does look good with the ears on you have to admit and I think she enjoyed that cupcake. She ate pretty quick And uh, yeah, hope you enjoyed the video. I enjoyed making it. We'll see you next time Bye


Medvedev predicts apocalypse in event of Russia NATO war. In the event of a war with NATO Russia would have to respond asymmetrically and use missiles with special warheads Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on his telegram channel he noted that if God forbid such a war happens it will not follow the scenario of the special military operation and it won't be waged in trenches with the use of artillery, armor, drones and means of radio-electronic warfare. NATO is a huge military block the population of the countries of the alliance is almost 1 billion people and their joint military budget may reach one and a half trillion dollars Medvedev explained therefore due to the incommensurability of our respective military potentials we simply won't have a choice the response will be asymmetrical in order to protect the territorial integrity of our country ballistic and cruise missiles with special warheads will be used this is based on our doctrinal military documents and is well known to everyone and this is precisely equivalent to the proverbial apocalypse the end of everything Medvedev stressed so far according to him all the big European bosses are cynically lying to their citizens by reiterating the necessity to be ready for a war with Russia and while Russia has repeatedly spoken about the absence of any plans for a conflict with NATO and the EU countries highly dangerous chatter on the subject continues nevertheless Medvedev stated he concluded that European leaders should tell the bitter truth to their voters instead of treating them as brainless idiots they should explain to them what will really happen instead of repeating the deceitful mantra about readiness for a war with Russia Medvedev concluded


Good morning John. I have happily upgraded my filming situation in airports to a little booth that I pay for and also I can change the lighting If I want I'm gonna stick with Aqua the question I proposed to you today is is it a good thing or a bad thing that we have not yet seen aliens because it's for sure Gotta be one or the other right so the lack of space aliens becomes a bit of a problem Once you know how big the universe is and you start doing a little bit of math If there's a hundred million stars in our galaxy and it seems like most of them have solar systems It would be really weird if this were the only solar system in the galaxy where there was some kind of Civilization building life one thing that we know about us is that we take up the available space and definitely traveling between stars is very hard But it does not seem to be impossible So that's the case in the entire galaxy becomes available space and so it seems it's good news That we haven't seen aliens yet because if we did we would be part of their available space But it is important to recognize taking up all of the available space It's not just a human thing if they could the ants would make the whole earth ants trees would make the Whole earth trees bacteria would make the whole earth bacteria camels would make the whole earth camels That's not a human thing. That's how genes work So given that one all life that we know of takes up all of its available space and two We are not yet part of someone else's available space. We have I think three options number one We can definitely say with absolute certainty that it is possible for a thing like humans to happen in the galaxy because it's happened I'm sitting in a pod at an airport So that's possible. However, the universe is thirteen point seven billion years old and while life on earth has existed for about 28% of that time which is a lot civilization of life has existed for a vanishingly small amount of time Just a couple hundred thousand years on the outside life on earth is not a blip But we are a blip in terms of time. So it is possible I do not love this that while it does happen that civilizations occur in the universe They do not last very long. We would conquer the galaxy if we had the time, but we simply do not We do not have the time because things like this just don't last This is talked about a lot in the sort of communities where this stuff is discussed There's even a term for it that there's a great filter So the great filter is just the thing that prevents civilizations from existing for long periods of time Whatever it is it could be AI it could be global warming or nuclear weapons or social media Maybe tiktok is what does it like we don't know and the second option is also a bit of a lonely one But it's not that this doesn't last a long time like maybe we will last a long long time But it just doesn't happen a lot and maybe it only happens one time per galaxy or less than one time per galaxy And the Milky Way just got lucky and in that case we are both alone and Extraordinarily special, but there is a third option that I do not hear people talking about very much and to me It would be very good news Maybe this property of life that it takes up the space available to it is something that you can Get beyond maybe we are already seeing a species on this planet do that to start the pump that breaks a little bit Maybe that species is us the first species ever that's starting to think about not just taking up the available space Is it possible that sufficiently advanced species with sufficiently advanced philosophies and societies? Start to think more about quality than quantity Maybe there are a lot of civilizations in the Milky Way, but maybe they don't take up a lot of space Maybe they're just not very loud Maybe they found a way to put a break on their instincts and maybe we right now Are in the very beginnings of a similar shift and in that case maybe someday we will solve the Fermi paradox By becoming its solution and that would be pretty cool And since I have six seconds left in the timer John, I'll see you on Tuesday


Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Critical Conversations, where we talk about heart topic issues related to American Muslims and other targeted communities. Today we will talk about the upcoming Women's March, which is scheduled for Saturday, January 19th. There will be a march in D.C., the National March, and then there will be sister marches across the country. To give us details about our local march here in Northampton and also address some of the controversy that's been surrounding the national women's leadership, we have in our studio today Rachel Meiery. Rachel is the co-founder of Pioneer Valley Women's March and she will be the one leading and directing the local effort here in Northampton this year. Rachel, thank you so much for being here. It's good to be here Melaka. Thank you. So Rachel, this will be your third year organizing this march, right? Could you talk a little bit about some of the goals that you have in mind for this particular march and how they've evolved over the past two years? Yeah, so we really, we check on each year to see if we want to have a march and we ask the community. And what we found is people really need to feel, need to recharge and kind of see each other again and also kind of recommit to our movement. There's so many distractions going on. So I would say that. I think we also need to celebrate our wins.  I also think, you know, the other R word is remind. We need to remind the powers that be, that we're here and we're not going anywhere. I think, I anticipate there'll be a backlash because of our successes. I think in fact a sign of our success is backlashes against women and vulnerable communities. And we need to be ready for it. Absolutely. Yeah. So wonderful. And so the theme of the march is the wave, the women's wave, right? So and how much of this theme, so how much does the local march sort of draw from the national march in terms of identifying the theme and the agenda for the march? Right. So we choose our own themes. We're locally led and locally organized. We're kind of independent from the organization but they have suggested themes and so many of the sister marches really, that really struck a chord with them, the idea and the imagery of a women's wave. So we went with that. Sure. That's wonderful. And so what do you think feels differently about this year's marches compared to previous marches? Yeah. So I've seen a difference. I think that in general, folks are kind of better educated and know the lay out of the land and the facts. And so what they're really looking for is less talk and more both actionable steps but also something deeper, something that's not, can't be answered at the ballot box, a real deep soul reconnection with each other because it's been a hard two years. It really has been, yes. And thank you so much for bringing us all together for that mobilization and recharging us. My pleasure. You know, and you've been doing this in Northampton for the past two years and Northampton and Amherst and surrounding areas, they considered the bastions of progressive thought and movement and activism. And so I was wondering, what are some of the opportunities and challenges of organizing a march in this particular geographic area? Yeah. So I get on these calls and networks with other sister marches and I always feel really lucky. It's a nice place to organize this kind of event. We have a fantastic, supportive community and that's great. I think what we're challenged by and what our goals, the Pioneer Valley Women's March Gold this year is to really broaden our reach and make more connections into our larger community. And we're so physically spread out here and we need to really start trying to challenge that and become a more unified voice. I think the other challenge is a blue state challenge. We live in a blue state and it can kind of lend to this complacency thinking we're okay. And I think to some extent, especially Northampton is padded from some of the repercussions of the Trump agenda. So to keep a sense of urgency and we are a blue state but we haven't been that progressive. I think the narrative is sometimes false. It's great to have these new leaders from Western Mass but it's been very paltry over the years. Of course. Yeah. I think that's a challenge. And I think a challenge all movements are facing or something we all need to work on is really being inclusive in language and agenda for the trans community and the non-gender conforming community. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we feel like there's again Massachusetts is so progressive. It's a blue state and we are sort of shielded from some of the repercussions that are happening in other parts of the country. And yet, according to Southern Poverty Law Center and other organizations, Watch Dogs, that monitor hate crimes, we've had our share of hate crimes.  And I love what you said about just to sort of get us out of our complacency and sort of feel the urgency of the moment is really important. So thank you for that. And well, Rachel, you know, there's been a lot of controversy right now that has roiled the national women's leadership and the national women's march. And I would love to hear your thoughts about the controversy, how what your approach to it is. And just for our viewers who don't know too much about the controversy, I'll just give a brief overview. But I would love for you to sort of, you know, fill in the details and give your own perspective as I even describe it because there's so many different interpretations of what happened and what's happening. And so just broadly, yes, I mean, the national women's leadership has been accused of anti-Semitism. And so I think it sort of started about eight or 10 months ago when one of the leaders, Tamika Mallory, attended an annual conference put together by the nation of Islam. And she has longstanding ties with the movement because of the support that they provided her son when his father was murdered 14 or 17 years ago. So she was at this conference and she was not there as a speaker, but as a participant and Louis Farahan, the leader of nation of Islam, was there. And as we all know, Louis Farahan has a long history of making very vile, very reprehensible anti-Semitic comments. And he did so again at this particular conference. And so when people found out that she was there, there were calls for her to denounce Louis Farahan. And there were also calls sort of made to Linda Sarsor, who's another leader of the Women's March, to also denounce Louis Farahan. And while they didn't denounce the man, they did sort of denounce some of his actions and his words. And I'll just sort of quote, like we did a quote from their apology. And so this is what they came out with. They had a very long statement, but just excerpts. We have been crystal clear in both of our statements that we reject anti-Semitism and all forms of racism. We have been clear that Minister Farahan has said hateful and hurtful things and that he does not align with our unity principles of the Women's March that were created by women of color. And then there was another point in which they also talked about, there was another apology that they issued. And they said, every member of our movement matters to us, including our incredible Jewish and LGBTQ members. We are deeply sorry for the harm we have caused, but we see you, we love you and we are fighting with you. And since all of this, they've also, I think, revised the unity principles to include anti-Semitism explicitly as something that needs to be addressed and wasn't there to begin with, but since then they've done that. So anyway, so with that, I mean, I would love to hear your take, but also the things or that you would like to add to my description. That would be great. Yeah. And to say, you know, they, they reached out actually to the sister marches for help with when they revamped the unity principles, because I think they knew that they needed a wider perspective. And this was after all of this happened. Yes. Yeah. I know there's so much to unpack here and it brings up so many trigger points. So, you know, my take is that every movement makes mistakes, especially very large ones and has missteps. And so what's important is, you know, that we continue continually try to do better and that we, you know, people are held accountable. Sure. And I do feel like I am, I'm happy that the I think they're moving in the right direction, the women's, the national women's leadership with their statement, their public statements and their apologies and their revamping of their material. And, you know, I think we all need to, I would like to at the Pioneer Valley Women's March really look at how to form a more inclusive, just organizational culture. And I think that they're striving for that now. OK. And so, I mean, do you think that they could have done more in terms of, you know, their response to what happened? Yeah. I think, you know, I think my heart kind of goes out to both the Jewish communities and communities of color, because I think there is a lot of collective trauma at play that has informed some of at least what's, what's been, how it's been handled and how it's been said. And we should also note that there's been, you know, a concerted effort by right wing forces to exploit these fault lines and that that has led to lots of confusion and misinformation. But I think that they have apologized for their hurt. And I have to say, I see a little bit of a double standard. I think there's historically a mistrust of women of color as leaders. And I think I've heard white people make microaggressions and then apologize for it. And we were kind of implored to move on. And I think that's not happening here in the same way. I see. I see. And so in terms of, you know, there's been this and it's funny, you know, this whole controversy, the way that has been has come up now against these women leaders who are women of color, because I think when the women's movement first started, it was also there were allegations against it about being completely very white and not including more, you know, women of color in its sort of leadership. And then they were brought in and they came up with the unity principles.  And I almost feel like there's there's also an opportunity in this crisis because as you said, it just goes to show how, you know, messy coalitions can be how difficult they can be. But they can also provide opportunities for greater conversations, very difficult conversations, but conversations that need to be had. And and I don't think anybody, any of us can say that our growth is complete or that we are completely prejudice free.  So I appreciate your sort of comments. Yeah, I think that, you know, intersectional movements are messy and they're completely necessary. And they've been what's missing for us making real change in our country. So we have to learn to have these conversations and work with it. There's a great quote from Rebecca Tracer I found yesterday about about intersectional women's movements. And this is what she say, she says, to campaign on behalf of just over half of the population is by definition an unwieldy enterprise, one that tries to represent fundamentally conflicting interests, divergent perspectives and people from varied backgrounds, who have lots of good reasons to distrust, resent and disagree with one another. The immensity and the diversity of the women's movement has always been used against it by those who fear its potential power. Right, right, right. And you have to wonder about like what these internal divisions mean for people who can't wait to see this movement break apart and everything. And so, right, the classic cat fight. I do think there's people and we've discussed this, you know, who take special delight in these kinds of infighting and love to blow them up. I think they're uncomfortable with women like anything. I think it challenges the patriarchal order of things. And so they kind of see this as proof that women can't lead. I also think that I, myself included, we've all gotten used to kind of hyper critically, you know, looking at women more critically. Women leaders are criticized from their suits to their shoes. And I do it too. And I don't see that kind of being put under the microscope that other, you know, in groups that aren't women led, especially women of color. And we just need to be mindful of that. Absolutely, absolutely.  And people were comparing her to Hillary Clinton, not any of the other candidates and not around her policy positions, but about Hillary likeability and sort of again, comparing her to Hillary Clinton and, you know, things that other male candidates would never be subjected to. So we see that kind of double standard, that misogyny at play. And I'm sure as more women, you know, participate in politics as they had, you know, over the last election cycle, even the midterms and stuff. I'm, you know, I fear they will see more of it. But I think it will also allow for more deeper reflection of where we are as a society when it comes to women. So yes, but Rachel, I really appreciate you sort of addressing that larger controversy. But, you know, there's still a lot of women here in our area and a lot of, you know, women across the country who because of this, you know, accusations of antisemitism are very reluctant to participate even in our local march here. You know, and I've heard from friends who are very apprehensive and they feel like if they attend the local march, they'll actually be endorsing, you know, what's sort of going on, you know, sort of at the national level. What would you say to alleviate their concerns? And how would you respond to that? Yeah, I mean, I think this is, you know, we need to have these tough conversations. And I think I would I would like to plan to have them after the march because what I would really say is this is our movement. This is your movement. This is our march. This is your march. Millions of women did not march in 2017 because of four people on top. It was thousands of local leaders, some first time women leaders who took to the streets. And so I think it's always been a bottom up movement. And I think that we all have ownership in that and it's our movement. And if we don't like where it's going, it's time for us to kind of reclaim it and recommit to working through it. Sure. Sure.  I've heard concerns. Yes. And I, you know, and I encourage anyone to reach out and I can talk more in depth with them about those concerns. Sure. But largely, I think people know that we're really, you know, we're just a grassroots community group. And that we set our own tone and and we really reflect the community that we're in. Of course, of course. And I feel I feel like the local leaders and their integrity and their reputations and, you know, all that they have stood for, I feel like speaks for itself. It's you and Lindsay Sabadosa, right? Who sort of started this whole. Yeah, she's a little busy these days. Yes, she is because we're so excited to have her as a representative. And so will she be at the march? Will she be speaking at the march? She will, yes. That's wonderful. And because, as you said and mentioned earlier, we need to celebrate our successes. And I remember, I mean, I think it was two years ago when, you know, Lindsay and others had sort of organized this march. And there was no hint of her ever being, you know, elected to public office, even though she'd worked so hard so many years. And now I feel like because of the impetus, because of the, you know, sort of the spirit and the energy that these local marches have provided, we've had a record number of women here just in our region feeling like they have the support behind them to be able to contest these elections. It's so exciting. Yeah. I do think, you know, I do think nationally and as you mentioned earlier, and even in our own community communities, it's a dangerous and scary time for the Jewish community, for communities of color. And I would really like us to tackle these conversations and become stronger because we need to really unify and protect those who are in the crosshairs of white nationalism and white supremacy. And I think our community could really do that. Absolutely.  And I mean, after what happened in Pittsburgh, I mean, just that fear and the trauma is just so real. And it's so and something that I feel like we should all be working in collaboration.  I grew up there and I came here as, you know, as an adult.  But and I always had this notion that, oh, the Jewish community, yes, they're not the dominant, you know, the Christian majority, but it's just very well integrated. And I had no idea how vulnerable they feel and how vulnerable they are. And so I feel like it's incumbent upon all of us to sort of recognize that and try and address that. Right. And I think what would serve the Jewish community and all communities is an intersectional movement. And so I think we should really see this as an opportunity to have these critical conversations, these courageous conversations. And women have always had to be moral leaders. And this is one way we can model with this crisis, this opportunity to really talk about and really alter what's and not repeat bad patterns from the past. Absolutely. Well, you know, since this sort of internal rift began, you know, in the National Women's March, there are there is now another simultaneous march that will take place in New York City, which is sort of organized by March on and their focus for these for this year, particularly, is going to be anti-semitism. And they're going to sort of focus on bad and they're going to be sort of simultaneous marches in, I think, a few other cities as well. Do you think that is what is your response to that? I mean, do you think that's going to help or sort of bring anti-semitism back into the spotlight? Or do you think that's going to sort of detract from the larger movement? You know, I don't think talking about anti-semitism is dividing the movement. I think it will make it stronger. And I would say, which march to attend? Yes. Any, either, all. We need to get out there because when we show up together in any form, we're kind of harnessing our collective power. And that is when the change can happen. That is brilliant. That's wonderful. So, Rachel, we only have a few minutes left. So I would love for you to give us some details about the march that's happening on January 19th in Northampton and where people can get more information. And yes, so we'd love to know more.  And so we're excited to serve our community. So we will be gathering at Sheldon Field at we'll be leaving Sheldon Field at noon to march to City Hall, marching is my favorite part. We will have a brief rally because it was cold. And then this, you know, we are having this fantastic community activist fair at First Churches to really give people some actual next steps and to expose them to what's going on in our wider community. And you have local non-profits sort of teaching there. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And they'll be tabling. It's going to be very dynamic. We had it last year, but smaller this year. We really put an emphasis on it because we think it's needed. Absolutely. Yeah. So we can go to Pioneer Valley Women's March, one word, org of our website or just go to Facebook where the event page is under PV Women's March, the event page for the March and Rally and an event page for the community activist fair will be there. And of course, reach out to me to meet through, you know, that way with any or any of us at the Women's March through that venue. And we can talk over any concerns. Yeah. And I'd love to end on this. So it's MLK weekend. Yes. You're aware. Yes. It brings a lot of heart to the March. And I just wanted to share this. Coretta Scott King quote, because I think it's relevant here. Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul. Oh, that is so beautiful. Thank you so much for ending on such a poignant note. And we wish you all the best for this march. And we hope that there's a huge turnout and that people feel revived and re-energized and, you know, and you meet the goal that you've been striving for. So thank you so much for coming, Rachel. It was a delight to have you. And let's hope that the weather cooperates as well. My pleasure, Melaka. Thank you so much. I'll have snow boots. So yeah. Thank you. That's wonderful. Well, thank you all so much for watching. Until next time, this is your host, Mehlaka Samdani.


According to analysis, the budgetary allocation for the presidential air fleet has increased by 190% in the last four years. For 2022, 13 billion Naira has been budgeted for local trips and maintenance of the presidential fleet. A political pundit says 13 billion Naira is not exorbitant compared to the cost of maintaining the aircraft. In 2022, the president is expected to spend 13 billion Naira on his presidential fleet. Bahari will spend 2.4 billion on compliance with mandatory upgrades on the aircraft. Two billion Naira will be spent on the overhaul of Gulfstream G550, Falcon 7X and CL-605 engines. Another two billion Naira on the repair of air navigational equipment and the poachers of aircraft calibration equipment will garb 500 million Naira. According to the budget document, the presidency also budgeted 210 million Naira to purchase three seven avionics for AW 139 helicopters and 250 million to buy aviation fuel for the presidential air fleet. About 1.6 million is provided for the poachers of vehicles and spare parts. Another 1.6 billion Naira will be for general maintenance in the presidential air fleet while one billion Naira will be spent on the maintenance of the aircraft. Commenting, a political analyst Joseph Ebiigwa is our opinion that says 13 billion Naira is not enough to maintain a private jet. In flight operations, there is what we call the DC checks. We have what we call the post checks. We have what we call the pre checks. We have what we call the weekly maintenance or inspection checks. And these are factored into the costs of maintaining an aircraft. And if you look what private individuals use in maintaining their private jets, you will see that the 13 billion budgeted by this administration is not actually too exorbitant. An economic expert Richard Inoyo has over time argued against the high cost of governance in Nigeria. Inoyo emphasised the need to avoid redundancy. For me, I don't think it's a good thing in light of the fact that the Nigerian economy is going through hood boring, just to finance its deficits. So if not for anything, what the country needs right now is to reduce the costs of governance, reducing the costs of running the mechanism of government. And yeah, we're seeing a review upward in a time where our building financially in terms of deaths is rising. 18 billion Naira is the highest that has been budgeted for the maintenance of presidential fleet under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. While the least was 3.54 billion Naira, messy bubble for plus TV Africa.


The learner centric MOOC model is quite a complex model, but apart from the academic rigor that is required in order to create online content, many people are not aware that it requires multiple human resources in order to create such content. I thought we would discuss with some of my colleagues who have been part of MOOC creation in the past to know roles of various themes in the MOOC creation and especially in a MOOC which has learner centric approaches applied. Like any other online course or any other course for that matter, instructors are definitely the starting point. The ideation, the plan, the design of what is to be covered and in what manner it has to be covered is ideated by instructors. But at this point, I remember maybe 11 you can add to this that a single instructor is not the best idea many a times, right? Yes, I would like to really add that now this course as an example and many other courses we have attended have more than one instructor and that brings a lot of expertise and there is a lot of topic allocation that goes and we have specialists, different specialists giving their views which makes the course very rich, I think. Yes, so the course instructors and the co-instructors actually together kind of make the spine of any course, right? Yes, sir. In fact, there are multiple teams along with the instructors and co-instructors team who orchestrate the whole course and as a part of that, TAs have to play a very important role because they drive the daily orchestration schedules of a MOOC and they have to coordinate with multiple teams of the MOOC creation whole process. They have to coordinate with the instructors for the final content and all. They have to coordinate with the other teams in order to go ahead with the content for the production of pipeline and they have to make sure that the flow of the MOOC is properly managed and the daily activities or the weekly activities are released on time and there are no issues faced by the learners on the platform and lots of other things have to be taken care of. Absolutely. I think therefore you can see that some of the good courses have a lot many TAs than just one teaching assistant or teaching associate. The next cohort that is actually responsible for the most important part of the course which is content. So, there is a content design team or we can call them as content creation team and they have multiple layers within that because content can be kind of discussed in various other aspects also. So, I would like to say that maybe we should start with the instructional design of the course. So, that forms part of it. So, the blueprint of the course and especially when we are talking about an LCM-mified course we need to know where to add the LCM components. Where does the LBD go? How many LBDs do we need? Where is the LED? What is going to be an LED? Is it a video? Is it going to be a document? So, is it going to be a podcast? All those decisions regarding every component and where it has to go and how many has to be placed is a part of the instructional design. In fact, if we consider along with these there are lots of activities also involved on a MOOC platform and starting from the activity design to the delivery of the activity and also validation of the activity for the learners and as per the content. TES have to do a lot of work over here. They have a lot of responsibility. It's not because it's not just a simple activity on a MOOC. If it's an LCM MOOC, obviously these are the learning by doing activities which have feedback, which have constructive feedback and that's why it's very, very important to make sure that these activities are designed in such a way that they can also act as formative assessments like the practice LBDs and also for summative assessments. So these content along with the assessment kind of go hand in hand and it's always good to have two separate teams look after that. It's not a good idea many a times to have the same person do both because it just loses its kind of quality of rigor maybe or quality of academics that you want to bring into the course. But there is another team like being a designer myself I can't forget the role of the third team which is the visual design team. Whenever we have created content, you have made slides, you have made documents, you have made maybe videos. All these things require inputs from a visual design team which will kind of maintain a template. Maybe a color palette, font style, various formatting, all that is designed by this team and they keep on adding small little inputs in order to make the course look cohesive and kind of from the single family so to say. So this is yet another team which is typically not listed out in many of the content creation parts. But it is equally important in my opinion in order to give the finish that a course deserves otherwise. Now this is where the content is all kind of set like you have written your script, you have your activities, you have your designs for brilliant presentations and so on and so forth. However we require a team which can actually capture all these things. So it starts with the production team, the video production team which has team members like camera persons and editors. Sometimes we require voiceover artists like if you have seen our course we have some podcasts coming up and we had even documents. We read these people to actually think about various production techniques. And once that is done I think then it is the entire package is ready because we know what is coming where. We also know how it is to be created and then there is a team which has actually created that content. So that makes kind of the groundwork ready and then we require something from technology. So maybe Jaffee you can comment on that. In fact when the whole content is ready what happens is as per the platform of the MOOC the production team that is basically the TAs and all. What they do is they have to fit this content as per the content as per the MOOC platform. So they have to upload the things onto the platform. They have to administer it. They have to make sure that the formats are looking better. They have to test it out in fact to make sure that there are no issues coming up while the course is released. And after lots of verification the course gets released. In fact in the Swayam we release course every week. So every week there is some testing being done and there is lots of content already uploaded. In fact if it is an LCM MOOC there are lots of different types of content that we need to upload and manage. And also design and make sure that those are verified by the course team. So I think Jatin what you have said actually sort of closes the loop. We started with the course creation and finally you have that uploading onto the platform. But what I want to add in and it is a very vital point is that we always need to have a team or keep a team of instructors within it to have a review of what we create. So that starts from the LED script. So we need to check for the clarity of the script. We need to check for the correctness of the accuracy of the script. And looking at LBDs and remembering that there are diverse learners who are taking up the course. Then LBDs have to be checked. If we have used the appropriate LBDs the feedback is appropriate and chosen the LXDs. And when we talk about LXDs that also means checking whether the links are working. And checking for copyright issues whether we have the correct legal permissions and so on. So I think we need and there's a lot of iteration that goes in a lot of discussion that goes in. And that needs to be part of the team. I think that adds value. Here one of the more one of the more important components of the LCM model is also LXI. Which obviously is a very challenging component because the focus questions that we have to design comes up the content for this focus questions comes up from the discussion forum. And these all questions and these all content this data comes when the MOOC is running. So it's very very challenging to design this focus questions for a particular LXI. Make sure that the people learn from it. Also if it's a forum we have to make sure that you know those the links that we generate or the threads that we want the people to read those threads are reachable by them. And we have to continuously monitor those threads so that you know there is no tampering with the threads or tampering with the posts happening on the forum. So in that way LXI is a very challenging part because it has to be dynamically managed dynamically created while the MOOC is released. Correct. So in this actually many people ask me this question like so many people are required. Like I already have a list of let's say some seven teams that are required. Now when we have such a high requirement it's not possible to have such team at hand because you don't get trained manpower for MOOC creation every now and then. So the process that we have followed in LCM model is to recruit the toppers of the previous offering. Now for example the participating members of this panel discussion 11-0 as well as Jatin have been part of the course as learners. They were participants of this course then they kind of completed the course with flying colors. They were toppers and then they were recruited may be invited and recruited as PA or a discussion forum moderator and then slowly they graduated to the next levels of being teaching associate or reviewer of scripts and suggesting where should be the reflection spot and so on and so forth to the level that they themselves have created some MOOCs or online courses for their own purpose and their own topics. So this is actually a secret recipe probably that I can share with all of you those who keep on asking me like how do you get so much of team with you when you are creating such a course and the reason is that orchestration of a MOOC is totally dependent on the platform that we are catering to. So it's an important lesson that I have learned that having created courses for EDX or Swayam or IIT Bombay X or even IIM Bangalore X I have realized that the platform dependency is extremely important and therefore orchestration dynamics are totally platform dependent and we have to take decisions based on the requirement of the platform and the learners who have enrolled at that time. So putting all this together we just thought that will run you through kind of introductory kind of video where we will at least introduce the teams which are participating in creation of a MOOC of this scale. You can visit our web page of the course where we have given a dedicated link for the members who are participating in the MOOC and my suggestion is that please go through that. They have excellent profile, they are proficient teachers in their own respect but they are contributing this MOOC in various aspects right from designing the slides to reviewing the content to writing a focus question or finding out a LXT so on and so forth. So we thought this could be a good curtain raiser about what happens behind the scenes of a MOOC. So thank you for watching and thank you Jatin and Elevenil for joining me.