Hi, good and welcome to the first in conversation event of the fall 2021 semester My name is Katie Kate from Knoxville, Tennessee, and I'm an HR professional for a local nonprofit in my spare time I have a little bit of spare time. I wrote a small children's Called have you seen a black bear that's based out of the Smoky Mountain National Park? I'm looking forward to serving as the moderator for this evening's event And on behalf of UT libraries and the John C. Hodges Society and the University of Tennessee Press Thank you so much for joining us today Hiking is something that is so important to me and my family and I spend the majority of my free time With my family. I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old and we go Rocky Mountains National Park at least once a month to hike and camp We never have seen a black I have but my children have not I try to tell them that one day I promise you you will see a bear Um, but they get so sad which gave me the idea to write a Find interactive book based in the Smokies for young children Encouraging everyone especially children to spend more time in nature is one of my biggest passions Having the opportunity to introduce tonight's guest and chat with During this time together during our live Q&A. It is incredibly excited and I'm so honored to be here Family hiking in the Smokies Is on the countless opportunities that family have to explore the great Smoky Mountain National Park The most visited national park in the united states Obviously, it's my favorite the book Features short day hikes alongside of longer trails and is organized by regions of the park I could go on and on but we should let the authors themselves We're going to bring in Hal Hubs Charles Maynard and David Morris to join us Good evening guys and welcome our special guests I know the three of you all have a lot to chat about so I won't hold you up Um, but just a quick reminder to our audience Please feel free to submit any questions you might have during the author's conversations We will get to our Q&A towards the end of the the event and we will Away a free copy of hiking in the Smokies to one special randomly selected audience member That submits a question or comment during tonight's event, but for now, I'm going to leave you all to talk Great. Thanks uh The three of us have been working together Uh, working together is not really right. Is it guys we've been playing together for Over 30 years and have been hiking partners um, first and foremost friends but hiking partners and other things but we, uh We began this adventure just hiking with our own children And uh, we all three have different versions of how this all started And I'll let the other two guys weigh in but But the the thing that that would bother us when the The three of us were hiking and we would run into families and we would see them on a trail and we would think Why would you bring kids on this trail? and then we'd be out with our families and think why are people with kids not here And we began to think Gee somebody ought to write a book and a friend of ours Said to the three of us. Well, why don't you guys do it? And so we kind of went from there, but why don't you one of you guys weigh in on that too? Well, I think part of my issue started when my kids were small and we were looking through the old Sierra club Guide, which was basically what was available then Yeah, and in in the 80s and uh You know, you pick out a hike you think might be appropriate to take kids on a two mile hike or Something, you know in the shorter range And you get out there only to find that that it's so rough That those short little legs can't handle the terrain And so that was one of the things that we started talking about when we hiked together and How I think I remember that it was Charles that suggested this one day Hey guys, I've been thinking, uh, you know, we've been struggling with the guide for our kids We need to write a book, right? Yeah, that's right And my son was small.  So We just kind of ran with this idea Well, and you know the first version of it we picked out kind of our 25 favorite hikes with our kids and right and we We all did the field work. We all walked to these places and made notes and and All that and then Different photographs things like that maps even we kind of drew our own maps to start with Um, so it was really just a labor of love to begin with The first version came out 30 years ago this year 30 years ago this fall 1991 I happen to have a copy of that version Charles. I was it look Yeah, the old this is the original version. Yeah Yeah, there it is there and there was actually stapled Spine on I don't know if you can see the staples or not. Yeah But that was that was the first version And it well and the funny thing was in that one um, we were doing it ourselves and on the advice of A friend Carson Brewer who said you guys might as well just publish this yourself. It's going to sell in the park And we had no idea What what that meant, you know, like how many how many do you order? Remember we talked about that. All right And and the first order we did is we did a thousand books and we thought well thousand That's a lot of books And I think it what took us three or four weeks to sell out of those Yeah And and then we printed a second thousand and they were gone in another few weeks And only then did we actually print a real run and we were doing our own distribution We were running to the stores and Asking if you do you have do you still have some in stock and Oh, yeah, yeah Uh, so they just kind of got out there and it was and it was in the fall So it was leading up to christmas. I mean, there were a lot of people that did it then um, and what was fun for at least for me is um we We suddenly, you know, people were asking us questions about hiking with your kids and um We were doing a couple of programs here and there and that I remember one time and again We were all Involved in things but somebody asked us one time how long should you hike?  Yeah Anyway, there were just fun kinds of things there Yeah, there was there was a lot of brainstorming initially, you know, we we talked amongst ourselves about What we were looking for and hikes with our children and what we needed and so a lot of that was just kind of us putting ideas together and one of the things we did in that first edition was we kind of Catered to the different age groups What trades might work for smaller children as opposed to teenagers say And that seemed to be a A good thing that we did and that's lasted through all the additions I think doing uh You know, we did trail work for several years and you'd run in you'd be working on the trail and running into families that you know small children no water no snacks And be two miles up the trail and uh So I think that gave us some ideas too, you know, we kind of learned some of it kind of learned as we went but Yeah True Well and and really they were all kid tested like we took our kids on every single one of them Yeah, and and one of the things I appreciated was that we we'd listened to what they asked us So as they would ask what well, what's this and what's that we would pay attention to that and tried to answer those questions in the text You know to anticipate the kinds of questions kids would ask And I think that was part of the fun of it too is that, you know, they were really They really was a three family project Where we took our kids on all these things right A lot of input from our wives They were a big part of it Still are I mean Well, well, yeah, and and and just You know, it's grown like there are 52 hikes in the current version There were 25 in the in the first version So as we've walked and done things over the years, we thought yeah, why didn't we include that one and what we ought to put that in and so Really, we we've expanded it quite a bit And and had to keep it current People think of the people think of the park as real static But that is not true. I mean Parking lots have been moved and trailheads shift around and closed Yeah, things are closed and yeah Yeah, and so we've had to kind of adjust over the years just because The park changes Yeah, and now also there's sometimes there's physical damage to the trails that we had and changes made and So we have to adjust there as well. Yeah, yeah Yeah, not only in the description, but maybe the the level of ability for that particular trail All right, so what's what was a favorite moment? Early on, you know, when we were when we were putting the first I mean, we've had many adventures these years Including yesterday, but anyway, we won't talk about that but but um, what was a favorite moment? Well mine I mean my son is 30 but I I remember carrying him on my back when he was tiny and He'd be awake for a while, but then eventually I'd feel that head fall against my back You know, he'd fall asleep, but we have pictures of him on Andrews bald and you know different places when he was barely old enough to sit up so I I'll think about that a lot And going to a mount cammer and and laconne when he was really young so I guess I have so many it's hard to Decide because you know, we did a lot of stuff together Overnight overnight trips and everything but one of the things I still laugh about is My son Ben was about Oh 18 months or so. I'd put him in a backpack carrier And if we'd stopped to take a break or something And there was a limb close enough that he could grab he would grab that And pull me over so several times I had to To grab the same tree to keep from falling down But I guess one of the most fun days we had was when we all went to Andrews bald A beautiful day and they rolled around in the grass And you know, it was a short enough hike and we took pictures and it was just uh, You know good good memories. So yeah Well, you know, and it is interesting that in the first version Um There are probably three or four pictures of of different of different Ones of the families at Andrews bald I just yeah, that's I don't know that we were I don't know that we were that conscious and thinking that through I think we were just trying to include some cool pictures, but yeah That was probably a favorite hike for all of us when the kids for that age because you know two mile round trip and You know, yeah a good a good end point for them. They always enjoyed that. Yeah I remember uh my son was probably four and uh I was off one day we went up and we did big locust nature trail Which was a mile loop and had a picnic afterwards and I enjoyed moments like that. That was that was a lot of fun Looking at the flowers and bugs Well, what was the funniest moment you remember out Charles? Ah, gee That's probably with us True Well, I will I'll tell you a moment that happened after the book was out Is we had gone up to tremont and we were just going along seeing the waterfalls Um on middle prong trail And and there's there's that big huge waterfall But then just beyond it there's a little one tucked away that you have to step off the trail to see it and and uh, there's some Like iron cable steel cable and stuff from the old logging days there So I was showing it to the girls and and we stepped down to see the waterfall and there was a family there picnicking and and beside them Was a copy of the book Well, it just it just thrilled our girls. They were so excited, you know And and then we you know, we stepped back up onto the trail and they said, why didn't you say anything? And it's like well, they they already had the book. I didn't think I needed to say anything But they thought it was really cool that that you know Yeah, here we here we were in a another family's picnic At a place that we had described in the book. So that was fun. Yeah We were talking about andrew's ball and you know, I took my boys out there several times But one of the one of the funniest things that happened on that trip Down, you know, pretty close to the ball you get into fairly thick spruce fir forest And there's some short turns And brian was who was he loved to hike more than any of them He would like to explore and so he fell behind looking at things And I mean, he couldn't have been more than 30 feet behind us, but we turned to corner and he was out of sight And about the time I lost sight of him You could hear a rough grass drumming on the hollow log and you know what that sounds like And I stopped to listen and brian rounded the corner and his eyes were as big as saucers and I brian, what's wrong and he goes There's a gorilla in the woods over there Yeah That was hilarious that day Well, and that's the thing is that you know You know, I think of a lot of things with our girls and and then and you know, and there were times that You know, the hubs and the mainards would be walking or the mainards and the morises or the morises and the hubs I mean, you know, it wasn't just us hiking by ourselves with our families Sometimes we got to do things together and that was a lot of fun Yeah that There's a picture of uh our families charles Hiking to grotto falls in that first first. Yep. Yep. You're right Because well, well that and that was even before will was born. I think that one was taken so yeah There's elizabeth and our girls and you know, you're right You know, it's funny. We're talking about this song and It's it's it's into the next generation now. I know you true how you're not quite there yet, but Charles and I've been enjoying but a month away. Yeah. Yeah I've already got plans I took I took hailey my 10 year old granddaughter on on at the walker sister's Cabin and july for her 10th birthday And charles, you know, I used to take fit wasn't it fifth graders? We took fifth grade at seymour. Yeah Yeah, we used to take them up there Anyway, we're talking going up and it's a little uphill climb and she's It's hot and she's struggling and we stop and take breaks and So I said something to her about we stopped for a little break and I said, well, you know The next time we go on a hike and she looked at me and says what makes you think well go on another hike Like you better enjoy this because this might be the last one But the funny thing is much like my kids They're always the worst moments were going uphill And coming back through a chatty chatty chatty talking about the next time so they were ready to go again That was always a lot of fun To know that they enjoyed it, you know Well, I had I've got these pictures of the walker sisters Just laminated and I can throw in a pack and that way if we're taking a group or something So I had I had those pictures of the walker sisters in my pack and I took our granddaughters up And there are three of them. Well in this one particular picture. There were three of the walker sisters sitting on that porch Right and just sitting, you know, they were in different places around the porch So I showed it to the girls. I said, look, this is where we're standing, you know And I pointed there's the post and there's this So they insisted that they sit the three of them sit in the three places where the walker sisters sat And for me to take a picture of them sitting like the walker sisters were So it was just a cute moment, you know a fun a fun time Um, but also I think a great connection that they had with Sisters that used to live there. Yeah, all right Cool Well, um, I'm trying to think um, what other adventures Well, one thing I will say is it's interesting after this came out Uh, people began to say what what's your next book? And and you know, we all three had day jobs And so it it wasn't like we were looking for the next book and I mean, you know, we didn't know we were going to write the first one much less a second one But one of the passions that we shared in addition to being in the woods with our kids was waterfalls And so the waterfall guide to the park came out of out of that But it came out of this initial work with the family hiking book Well, one of the things we've been able to do as well as Over the years and the different editions You know, we get a lot of input back from people that have the book especially people With children and so that's helped us revise an update, you know to meet the needs of Of what people are looking for in a family hiking guide. So Well, yeah, and you know this latest edition one of the things that we added were some A little more historical things Old photographs and And little stories of things so that when you go to this place. Oh, yeah, this is what happened here and And that kind of thing and I like that. I mean, I like history anyway, but I think it added a depth to the book more than just Go down there and turn left. Yeah, we and we've constantly been updating Safety issues because true things change constantly, you know, like since the first book We now have elk in the park Right, right. So, yeah, that was one thing that we had to address, you know, as far as safety and And safe distance and those sorts of things. So there's Like you said, Charles, it's a dynamic place. And so we those are some of the things we've had to Be mindful of Yeah, I mean, it's It's been fascinating that it's changed so much in that time And but it but you know along with it a so of our kids, they're all adults and they're all having kids of their own now and And we are getting to go, you know, Dave was telling a story about walker sisters I I took our grandson to chestnut top and and we went up to the top of the ridge and and He he really wanted to go farther. So we went on around and he was doing great and he was about six years old then and We sat down and we had a snack and and I just said kind of just said I leave I this is I love to hike I love to hike And he said I mean he was leaning against me his little head against my chest and he said Yeah, but it's so much better when you hike with someone you love And I thought and I thought okay that captures family hiking in the smokies is that's the reason That's the reason to do it that way And that's just a neat moment, you know that you have with your kids Well that that's one of the reasons we call it time well spent right exactly exactly. Yeah, that's what it is Well, I don't I don't know that we we may have questions and that kind of thing Um, we'll let Katie we'll let Katie go from here. Hi guys. Well, I'm back I have to I have to I will get to the official q&a, but I have to say that Um, I learned very quick tootsie pops We'll get you anywhere. I mean and gummy worms just dangling them, you know, and I've even etched I mean I've thrown them to get them to go a little bit further Yeah, you just kind of have the right incident Katie That's right. Yeah to and for it's like natural encouragement is not the easiest thing so that's very snacks, you know Well, we always made a big ice cream stop somewhere on the drive back home That's why I get my husband out is Kate's cove soft store My Ryan Well, um, thanks guys so much. I really did enjoy it. It's um, it's really kind of kind of neat I I only recently discovered the smoke. He's probably the last 10 years. So I'm started hiking in 2010 So just to hear about the fact that it's changed. You know, I've seen the most recent like chimney tops Um dramatic change, you know from I hiked it and I think like I think 2010 and and then now You know, obviously it's radically changed, but it's so interesting to hear you all And obviously that's the the reason why you constantly have to update the book So that's it. It's really cool to learn that. Um, well, we've reached the q&a portion And we're going to open it up for questions Um and to kick off While the the audience starts thinking of their questions. I do have a few questions for you all So I personally loved in the book that you you talk about the different ages Of of the trails because sometimes, you know, that's something where you you're eager to start that process But you know that they're a little Could you share your favorite trails to take the the little ones on maybe five and under? Uh, one of my favorite well, I have I have a couple of favorite um Little river trail at elkmont is very easy very pleasant And it it really has no specific end point unless you want to go to one of the falls, but You can just meander up there with the small ones take a break along the river Uh, get a snack and then whenever you sense they're ready to turn around you can come back And then also up a treemont going up Lenkamp prong trail Up treemont is similar. It's a little steeper Uh, but those two I've all you know, I used that a lot when my kids were smaller How about you Charles? Well, I was thinking it I mean real small kids The the gatlenburg all access trail is right there on the road. It's it's paved. You can do a stroller You can you can you know, it's got the old chimneys. It's got the rock wall. It's got the river I mean, you know, it's got all these other elements and it and it's uh, I think it's a half mile all the way around it Uh, and that's a fun one. It's real easy to get to It's close to the museum and and to the visitor center. So you've got other things nearby um But but I mean that's one of my favorite for real little kids But I think a lot of the the nature trails are good looks. Yeah, you know just There's you know, because you got a little and and if you've got an older kid and a younger kid A thing that we often did was that the You know, you had a brochure that went with the nature trail So somebody could read out loud, you know, and Once our girls got old enough to read they took turns and I mean it was just a fun thing mostly the nature trails are short enough to that I mean like I said when my son was four we could do the one mile loop And uh lots of wildflowers and you know going April and May and And a lot of the things are labeled the trees and right And some of those are always yeah some of the shorter walks to Uh like in Cates Cove walk out to the cabins And the barns, you know, they're right or quarter mile half mile And a little history there easy walks Because of your favorite spots and that Elijah Oliver house, you know at the end of the Cove is wonderful And it's kind of tucked away You know the john Oliver when everybody sees and goes there, but not a lot of people run out to Elijah Oliver It's a great walk for little kids. You get you get to go across a log bridge. I mean, you know It's it's about this far above the water. So I mean it's not It's not any big deal.   There's the trail bridge. It's just Up all hundred yards 300 yards at the the the road Yeah, exactly place to take kids That's a good one. We've been we did um over I think it was fourth of july holiday We went to the school house, you know, oh, yeah, and the graveyard is right there and and It was like, oh, so this is where all the the people died and I'm I'm like, oh, okay Well, and that's a good one too because there's a creek behind it too So you get to go down and throw rocks in the creek or splash around It it did school house in our house. Um, that is what so I don't I don't know how to to curve that but and then someone You know, someone was talking telling spooky stories all over up there and I'm I'm going, okay We got to get my kids out here The four-year-old's going to be telling everyone stories. We do have a few questions that came in um So, um amary says what guides do you use for visiting other national parks? Um that that you all have traveled to Oh, wow I mean the I'm trying to think of guides that I've used. Um Yellowstone has some good family guides Like they're not not exactly like ours, but there are family kinds of Of activities more than hiking but activities that there's a good one in Yellowstone Um, I'm trying to think what else do you all think guys? I'm when we were in the t-tons, um We did a few hikes, but um I don't I I don't think we bought any books, but we got information from you know ranger That well and and there was a t-ton one and there was a t-ton book that a ranger had written Yeah, and and she had done a really good job. I felt like now again. It wasn't family centered It was just a hike guide, but like for day hikes. Yeah, um And then Yellowstone there was a guide for Yellowstone One of our neighbors in moorstown had written Um, I'm not sure if that's still in print orville bach. I think was his name. Yeah Um, it was more closer to the brown guide in You know the the complete guide in the smokies that old brown book That orvils was more like that for Yellowstone um So But but I mean I'm trying to think of others. I mean because there are other parks so close to us Um congery is a fascinating park in south carolina Um easy walks. It's all flat and a lot of board walks Uh good short things for kids It's you know, it's a few hours away from here in columbia south just below columbia south carolina Uh shin and doa's got some great walks So, you know, you don't have to go out west to to go to national parks and see them Um, of course big south forks just up the road. Exactly. Yeah, good hikes there too Well, and and you know, um Chickamauga battlefield, I know it's a battlefield, but it's really a wonderful natural place And we've taken the girls there a bunch over the years But I mean we're from chattanooga originally so we've got family down there So it tends to be a place we visit but as a kid. I grew up walking outside in that park And they're just some neat places like that that are close by That's good. Um don has a question about what edition the book is in now. She she thinks she might have missed it Um, how is it arranged length of height? Um, Could you explain it a little bit? Sure, it's it's the fifth edition And and we've arranged it by areas of the park So that That way if you're wanting to go something in kates cove all the kates cove hikes are are together If you're wanting to go to kataluchi all the kataluchi hikes are together now in the back There's a chart that rearranges the hikes By ages, you know abilities Links things like that so that you can see all of the hikes kind of indifferent Like if you want to see what are the hikes in here that have waterfalls You can look on that list But that's in the back Yeah, one of the things and and along with that question one of the things we brainstormed about early on and we Still revisit it sometimes Is how do you how do you rate a trail as easy moderate? Or difficult because what yeah moderate for me may be difficult for someone else And vice versa and then of course when you're considering children If it's moderate for me, it's Difficult for them usually So we we tried to Take into consideration a lot of different aspects of the trail We talk about trail tread, and that's how rocky it is how easy it is for smaller children Elevation gain is it is it real steep over a short period all those different sorts of things? So some of these things are kind of Uh a gray area as far as different abilities go in children's ages. So if you have let's say a Seven or eight year old that that's really advanced and done a lot of hiking Then they might be able to take on a more difficult trail than say some other children so it it's kind of one of those things that It's it's a general guide and get out there with your child and explore and enjoy and See what works for you so to speak I remember a couple That we actually all three went to church with and they had Their children were grown and gone and they bought the thing and said we decided that we wanted to start hiking And we just decided to do all of the preschool hikes in the book Because they said we thought that would be a good place to start and it just it tickled me It was like, oh, well, that's a neat way of approaching hiking, but it was as a two, you know adults Empy nesters that that decided yeah, we're gonna we're gonna start hiking together That's good Tyler is asking if and i'm guessing you do Do you all ever go camping and if so, what's your favorite camping spot with access to the most kid trails?  Yeah, we used to go camping and even backpacking quite often and probably our favorite place to go for children was kate's gulf campground because there was The nature trails around We could take bikes and they would bike around the campground we even went once and on the weekend and saturday morning We biked the whole loop And the oldest one at that time was 14 so But that's probably has more to offer And of course they have ice cream in the store After the ice, you know, they can get their ice cream, but You know, we have gone over to cosby and camped Yeah us too. There's always Most always a spot there and and there is a nice nature trail there Just off the campground. So and and kataluchi is a great place Because with elk You've got those open fields great night views You know the night sky and kataluchi.  Yeah Yeah, that's good. Um, I grew up going to elkmont. That's where my grandparents They had a camper and I would be up at elkmont and um, and I my fondest memory of elkmont camping Was uh biking with my sisters and I think I was like I don't know if I was yelling or cheering. I had my mouth open and and I went through just like a a section of gnats They all went in my mouth, you know, and then Big sisters just grilled me the rest of the trip just making fun of me for having a mouthful of gnats, but The best, uh, you know thoughts of elkmont, you know as camping, but Um, Peggy has a question. Um, is there a hike that you used to be able to hike that is not Hikeable now Well blanket mountain Oh true. That's true um Um, I'm trying to think what was blanket mountain? Uh blanket mountain, uh back into three sea days. There was a fire tower and a cabin up there. That's uh And actually my father-in-law worked up there But uh, they closed it several years ago. Now it's uh We went up there not long ago, but it's it's a tough hike because it's so overgrown overgrown They they call it blanket mountain, uh because back in the early days when they were surveying they couldn't find and get oriented so from Uh megs mountain they were trying to find a point to Reference, so they put a blanket on poles And hoisted it up above the tree line so they the surveyors could see it So that's where the name blanket mountain came from But there are other I mean I'm trying to think of other well, uh Parsons branch road is closed. So that makes some of like the shorter way up to um To gregory bald is not you can't pull that off as easy now. It's a much longer hike to go up now Um And then they moved they moved um a nature hike in kades cove You know it used to be up Like as you made the loop and you started back there was a nature hike there the parking lot is still there But it's it's not a nature hike anymore and like they opened up one closer to the campground All right, so they're just some some of those that are like but I was trying to think of Well chimneys has changed for sure. I mean that's that's a dramatically different one That's very trail. Of course you used to could hike that true. You could hike that and it's not it's not we maintain anymore Yeah, we we never put that in our book We hiked it and we're ready to put it in there and it got closed remember Yeah, what the park the park service said now don't do that. We're closing it. Yeah Green That was years ago. That was a long time ago that they closed that probably in the oh true 80s Yeah, it was the 80s when they when they started hacking the peregrine found out there That they closed that one right because we went up there a few times Early on yeah Well, um, David has a question Uh, do you have a recommend trail on the north carolina side that might not be as crowded? What do you think? Um Well, I can think of maybe several of the yeah depends on What is there a specific age group? Uh That well, I mean I I think about catalogi is really not that crowded Any time I mean there are moments but not really So there are several good hikes there, you know again for any age level Um, we just yeah I was going to say one of my kids used to really enjoy going over to the one called booger man trail Out of catalogi. Yeah Yeah, and there's a and there's a story behind that katie Yeah What's booger man, but but there's there's a lot of points of interest along that trail But it's fairly tough, you know, they need to be And that's a little more advanced. Yeah more advanced hike Judy likes a good one for small kids true That is and real short. Yeah And that's out of bryce and city at at deep creek Well, that's right, and then you could take the train right isn't there a train? Out of bryce and city. Yeah I keep saying I'm going to take my kids on that train Oh, they'd love it. They'd love it. Yeah There's a there's a really neat trail at Cherokee That that starts at the visitor's center and goes into town and then you just turn around and come back But the signage is all in english and in Cherokee And and they're you know little plaques along the way to tell you what you're seeing and what things are and things about The the Cherokee, but it's and again, it's following the river. It's a nice little short Fun one, I think now it's a little more crowded because it's at you know Conalifty visitor center is it flat creek at balsam balsam mountain? Yeah, true. Yeah picnic area there. You can camp and That's the highest camp ground in the park So it tends to be cool in the summer I mean, it's a nice spot It's good We have a another question. What is your favorite season for hiking? This one Whatever this one is that's my favorite No, I I like I like winter hiking a lot because A lot of times the views open up and everything but seriously springs got wildflowers Summers got other things fall has a whole different thing to look at leaves I don't know what you guys think I'm I'm with you. I'm kind of somebody asked me what my favorite hike is. I said all of them because They're different every time you go So Well, and that's the thing somebody said, what's your favorite hike and I'll be like what day I mean Yeah, that that one hike would be my favorite because of its wildflowers, but Two months later. It's not the same kind of hike. It's a it's a different whatever. Yeah All right. Yeah, right and and some you've got a view during the winter But you don't have a view in the summer. I mean, you know, it just it shifts on you as the year goes around That's uh, I would I would definitely say I think winter is gotta be my favorite just in general from the sweating But my kids, you know They don't so much But I was at I can't remember the trailhead, but it was in the middle of winter I mean, I could not I promise you no one would believe me but I didn't have a photo But it was at Oh, it's the deep pools That uh, uh that people swim in I can't think of what it's called right now midnight hole Yeah, that's Yeah No, I think it was um, it was it was it regardless On the it was somewhat iced over it wasn't fully iced over Um, and there was an otter playing on the ice. I promise you I have a video and a picture. No one will believe me Um, but uh, but I would say with kids. I definitely subject them more to fall and In summer just because of the the uh temperament of them It's a lot easier and then also if you get stuck out there You've got plenty of daylight to to save you from it. That's at least what I found But um past that I think we um, we are wrapped up with our questions Um, so uh, howl charles david. Thank you all so much for being here this evening. Um, I Absolutely love the book. Thank you so much for taking the time I'm gonna make sure that it's a it's a baby gift for any uh That's a great idea Yeah, and uh, and I just really enjoyed family hiking in the smoky So I'm so so thankful to be here. I know the audience has enjoyed it too. Thank you again guys Well, and katie thanks for your book. That just helps get more people out there. Thank you. You know, and that's that's a great thing Yeah, thank you guys. Thank you But bye guys and thanks to everyone in our audience tonight for submitting your questions and comments this evening as promised selected someone at random in the audience a complimentary copy of Family Hiking in the Smokies the winner is david ren Congratulations Please reach out to ut libraries with a message on the platform of your choice Or email sociallib at utk.edu to get your On behalf of ut libraries ut press and john c. Hodges society. Thanks so much for joining us We're wrapping up the time together. I would like to encourage you all to visit ut press dot org Check out the fifth edition of Family Hiking in the Smokies And amazon.com if you wish to buy a copy of have you seen a black bear be sure to stay plugged in to at utk libraries across all social media or at lib.utk Uh for information about future events. Thanks again for joining us and have a great night


From San Francisco, it's theCUBE, covering Radio 2018, brought to you by VMware. Okay, welcome back everyone. This is theCUBE's exclusive coverage. I'm John Furrier here in San Francisco for VMware's Radio 2018 14th year event. We're all the top engineers in R&D. Folks get together and show their best stuff, ideas, discussions, and have a great time. Our next guest is Nicole Aikut, who's the Vice President of Sustainability Strategy, Office of the CTO of VMware, part of the group that puts this event together, really a celebration, but also competitive. Nicole, welcome to theCUBE. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, great to be here, thank you. So, talk about what your role is, because sustainability, we're just talking off camera, about blockchain and the energy. Is sustainability an energy thing? Is it a society thing? What is your focus? John, we think about sustainability at VMware in a holistic way, and it's the sum total of how we run our business, so from an operations perspective, how we do that in a responsible, environmentally responsible way, but it also includes our people on culture. Sustainability is a lot about culture change, and then most importantly, it's also about what we do, and the impact of our product. And so, at VMware, I think we focus on sustainability and what's unique about our approach is that it's in the business, that we have placed the sustainability function in the Office of the CTO, because we believe that the biggest impact that we can have is actually through our technology. You guys do a great job, I have to say. The building, by the way, in Palo Alto, that your headquarters, which has voted one of the best places to work, is very sustainable. I know, I got a couple of pens from the trees, and you guys use all the wood, all the stories involved in the building, so the culture's there. So I got to ask you here at Radio, what are some of the sustainability ideas? What are some of the conversations with the papers? What is some of the core tech off-road map that is exciting you and the team at VMware on sustainability? Right, it's really exciting, and Radio is such a magical event for all those reasons. And the sustainability piece of this is really exciting, and there's a couple of dimensions that we have. We have an expo up in the sort of science fair part of the event, where some of our engineers who participated in our recent Borathon, which is like a hackathon, and the theme was sustainability. And so they are presenting their hacks, some of them crazy cool ideas. You know, one on one end there was a project around using blockchain technology for microgrids. There is a broken build predictor. There is projects around monitoring real-time energy for our service. So fascinating sort of skunk work projects in the office of the CTO. And then we also are going to be doing a paper co-sponsored with two of our principal engineers looking at and asking a really big question, and that is around code sustainability, and how we think about sustainability and energy as a metric of success, just like we consider performance, quality, and security. So I'm excited about that because that ultimately is about culture and it's about thinking about hard problems. And that's what innovation is about, right? It's creativity solving hard problems and bringing something, implementing something as a result. And you know, the big debate about, oh, servers aren't going to be made because the cloud's eating away at server market share. Well, someone's got to buy servers. Someone's got to run data. And it's always been the challenge of, how do I get more power? And now internet of things, IoT devices, are need power. So you get solar, a lot of challenges at the network layer, but also power layer. Because it's not connected to the network, it has to transmit needs power. How do you guys see that evolving on the R&D front? You know, I think that's one of the big horizon issues for our industry, frankly. You know, VMware celebrating our 20th year anniversary and recently we had an event with some of our alumni and founders and they were asked the question, what are the things that keep you up at night about our industry? And there are two answers to that. One is security and the other is energy. So we really have to fundamentally think about this question and that is something that we are taking to heart at VMware and considering what does that future look like? You know, for some companies, sustainability is about trying, innovating around things like, can we make products from plastic pollution in the ocean? And for us, we're asking the question, what does the future of energy look like for our customers and for our industry? And that future is going to be a distributed energy future. So what does that mean for computing? I don't have the answers right now, but that's part of an event like this where we bring our smart people together to start to ask those questions and that's where innovation begins. And you don't know where the spark is going to come from. That's what's great about these tech events is that there's no bad ideas because you can kick it around.  So you have the hackathons and the tech talk to have a cool and vibe environment. And the question I want to ask you with that is, is that, is that distributed energy challenge, the number one item on the agenda? What are some of the things, I guess, the question, what are some of the key things that are shaping the agenda for you guys with sustainability? Because I think that's what folks might want to know about, okay, what should I think about? Is it energy? What are some of the things that I should start thinking about in the shower, thinking about as I'm, you know, at work or at play? Right, great question.  For us at VMware, we, like I said, we're taking a holistic perspective on sustainability. So that includes environmental, social and governance matters. But to answer your question from a technology perspective, we are focused on energy. That is, it's not the only thing, but it is a priority. So we're looking at that from several dimensions. One is our own processes. So that's where the Sustainable Code Initiative comes in. So how we make our code on our product. And then the products and features that get built into our products and services to our customers. And then layered on top of that is then the energy mix and doing our part as a progressive company to drive the renewable energies market. So we've made a commitment to 100% renewable energy, to carbon neutrality, to do our fair share, but also to help shift the market. Because it is about, the future is about not only the applications and the problems that technology can help solve, but it's also about the nature of energy and the energy, the grid mix. So that's a combination. And the empowerment of society is also a big one. Huge focus this year on, not this year, but this decade on mission driven initiatives. Sustainability clearly falls on that. We were talking before we came on camera about blockchain and one of the things I've observed in my reporting is that there's a lot of energy ideas in blockchain. You mentioned one of them. Where token economics could be an issue. I know blockchain has its own challenges with energy, but that's a hard problem that could be solved. That needs to be solved. So folks watching solve the energy problem and the speed problem too on blockchain. But these are the new ideas that are growing in India and in Africa. These new areas of the world where the middle class is exploding in growth. More access people to computing, more mobile devices. So you're starting to see new geographies around the world challenged. Absolutely. And I fundamentally share the optimism around technology. I think as technologists we need to be thoughtful about the impact of technology. And I think that is another topic of the day. We could have a separate conversation on that. But when you look at the challenges of the world, and the United Nations has put out the Sustainable Development Framework that really names those big gnarly problems of the world that we need to solve. And at the heart of all of those, I believe our technology plays a role. And so it's not a, to me, I think that's where companies like VMware can have a bigger impact is to think about where is that sweet spot around which we can help bridge those divides and enable a better future more globally. I know you got to go real quick, describe what's going on here, radio in San Francisco. For the folks that are watching, couldn't make it. What's the vibe? What's it like? Share some color commentary. It's, you can just feel the energy. It's just, it's like a big science fair. And or, you know, it's, but at the end of the day. It's social too. It's very social. And this event is actually, it's about technology, but it's actually about community. So, you know, we talk a lot about all the cool things and you know, things that are future off road map. But at the end of the day, software is all about people. And you see that here, you feel it. It is a community event and it is about people connecting. And that's the best part about it. It's a social collaborative construct. We love coming here. Thanks for inviting us.  It's happening here at Radio in San Francisco. For VMware, it's the CUBE coverage. I'm John Furrier. We'll have more coverage after this short break.


The National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency has intercepted a consignment of her and worth 6.5 billion naira at Murtala-Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. The agency's spokesman, Fermi Baba Fermi, says the drugs weighed 26.15 kilograms and arrived Lagos in 25 parcels from South Africa through the last day of June. The first suspect was detained for screening after NDLEA operatives became suspicious of what he was carrying. The operatives trailed the driver assigned to deliver the consignment to an address at Okota in Lagos. The NDLEA says the main suspect, who has been identified as Tony Ongurolu, fled his home before the operatives arrived. So you get notified about fresh news updates.


Hello and welcome to the Ground Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. Last week on the Arc Review, the world of One Piece changed irrevocably as we knew it, with the events of Marine Food. And this week, the planet is in recovery mode as we examine the post-war arc. Post-war is the 23rd arc in the series, consisting of 17 manga chapters and 26 anime episodes.  This is a new low for the adaptation rate. Which is a shame because post-war is already one of my personal least favorite arcs in the series, primarily because of its overwhelmingly somber nature. We've had arcs in One Piece tackle very dark and serious material in the past, but they've always managed to be diffused with humor. The best example of which is in Pell Down.  And over the post-war arc is all one big lamentation. Not that that's a bad thing, in fact it's really what the series needed after going through Marine Food. It's just not one of my favorite arcs to reread, because there really is no satisfaction to be gained. And this especially extends into the Luffy flashback. Of all of the flashbacks in the series, this is probably the one I would be least keen to go over again, because it's dark as hell and some pretty horrifying things happen that were never expected to come out of One Piece. Like that time, Child Luffy was literally tortured by Poccemi with a spike fist.  Seeing his childhood development makes him an infinitely more empathizable character, and it's something that I wish I'd seen prior to Marine Food, because it would have made his death a lot more impactful for me anyway. Of course, the main reason why that wasn't a possibility is due to the character of Sabo, who needed to stay hidden. Now I have a lot of problems with Sabo. Personally, I don't understand why it was necessary to create him, and sometimes it feels an awful lot, like Oda locked in his decision to kill Ace a bit too prematurely, and then scrambled to create a new older brother who could feel the gap that he'd left. I should say that I like Sabo just fine. I think he has a really cool design. I just don't get his purpose. He's done some great things in the series going forward, but I would never say that he was essential to the story in any way. Everything he's done could have been done by another character, or just not done at all. However, the one place he is essential is during the flashback of this arc. Sabo's story gives us a great insight into the world of nobility, and the sheer pain and disgust that can drive someone to becoming a member of the Revolutionary Army, and commit to overthrowing the global political system. And if Sabo had actually died during this flashback, then I would say he served a brilliant purpose. He showed us all of the aforementioned, plus he gave Luffy and Ace a hurdle of despair that they had to overcome in order to evolve into the characters we know and love. But instead, Sabo lived, creating a whole world of potential plot holes in an otherwise tight series, which we'll get to later on when he makes his reappearance into the series proper. However, an unexpectedly great character to come out of this flashback was Dadan. Her name had been dropped by Woopsslap in the post-Ani Slavia, which had led to wild speculation of exactly who or what Dadan was. Turns out she was a hard-shelled bandit with a heart of absolute gold. Not at all what I expected from her introduction, and when we get to see her afterwards in the current timeline assaulting Garb, it really hit me a lot harder than a character who I've known for such a brief time should have been able to. But just before we leave the flashback train of thought entirely, I'd like to offer my praise to Oda for taking this route. A second flashback for Luffy was one of the last things I ever would have expected to see at the time, and I thought that we already knew everything we needed to know about our main protagonist. But Oda showed us that we can be almost 600 chapters into the story and still be able to reveal more of, and continue to grow, Luffy's character. In fact, one little tidbit that I particularly enjoyed was the revelation that Luffy's devil fruit was really incredibly weak at first. I think people associate the Gomu Gomu no Mi with easy, raw power, because of how we see Luffy wield it in the current timeline. But in reality, this fruit was next to useless without an entire childhood full of strength training for Luffy. I just found that cool because it really highlighted all of the hard work Luffy has put in towards achieving his dream, rather than shrugging it off by saying he's strong because he's eaten a devil fruit. So meanwhile, the world at large is in utter shambles, following the death of Whitebeard, because he was such a powerful figure, his sudden departure resulted in a power vacuum, and we got a hint of how that was going to be filled during this arc. We got a nice bit of focus on the supernovas as well, as each of them make the big leap into the new world. This was an important move because it confirms that the old ways of this world had parted along with Whitebeard and that we were now entering a new and exciting era full of upcoming figures, promised future conflicts, and a hell of a lot of crazy islands to visit in the new world. But the most important event of this arc is nothing so grand in scale, but the recovery and return to form of Monkey D Luffy. This is the most crushed we have ever seen him, even more so than his despair paralysis during Marineford. And it really hurt to see this character who has always seemed so impenetrably optimistic, undergoes such suffering and loss of faith in himself.  But why don't blame Luffy for forgetting about it, because at this point they had been out of the story for at least two years of real time. That's pretty ridiculous to think about, actually. What other story could possibly survive canning 90% of its most popular characters for a two-year period? Nothing, that's what. So the suggestion of a two-year time skip, while that number might seem arbitrary, in retrospect was the perfect number of years at the time. Because while in manga form, this arc would end and the next would immediately pick up two years later. However, we as an audience had experienced a two-year separation from the Straw Hats, which would go a long way to serving their fantastic reintroductions into the series. And so, the final part of this arc is spent setting up their training regimes. This introduced us to the notable ability of Haki, of which all three types had popped up from time to time in the series, although it was more of an unknown show of power. And this worried me, a lot. Up until this point, I'd very often praise One Piece for the fact that it doesn't rely on some sort of internal power source, like Nen, Chakra, Ki or Reatsu. Because I believe a system like that is fundamentally flawed, because more often than not, a battle will simply be decided by who holds more of any given resource. With notable exceptions, of course, especially in the case of Nen for Hunter x Hunter. And some of my fears have since been justified in the new world because you really need Haki to be a serious competitor these days, and things sometimes do simply slip into a battle of whose Haki is better. But so far, Oda has done an all right job of not making this a boring power system, so let's continue to see where he takes us into the future. The other straw hat that stood out most to me during this arc was obviously Zoro. For a man who claimed that he would leave the crew if it ever got in the way of his dream in the beginning of the story, he sure was pretty well prepared to sacrifice all of his ambitions for those of his captain. This was a wonderful moment of humility as well as a big old shit moment for the audience, because you just know that he is going to return as an undisputed badass after receiving training from the world's greatest swordsman. I also really enjoyed the concept of Sanji's training, with him having to spend two years defeating the 99 Masters of Okama Kempo in order to attain the Attack Cuisine recipes, as well as resulting in physical training for himself. In fact, each of the straw hats ended up in fascinating places that held such diverse skills to be acquired, and a lot of promise for the future of the series. But I have to say, despite this being one of my least favorite arcs, the ending had me more on the edge of my seat than ever before. I said when we went from Sabadi to Amazon Lily that we were stepping into the unknown, but this time we are stepping into the true unknown. We had no idea what to expect in terms of story or the characters, and indeed the very shape of the world. And that pretty much does it for the post-war arc. Next week we will be reuniting with these straw hats after two entire years to recommence this incredible journey in the return to Sabadi. If you enjoyed this video then feel free to like, favorite, or subscribe, and please do comment with your thoughts on the post-war arc. This has been the Grand Line Review, and I'll see you next time.


Alright so when we say one is power drunk we simply mean the person is having a strong and unreasonable feeling of being able to control other people.  Now whilst condemnations you know trail the reported arrest of Mohammed over a tweet on the first lady. Notable Nigerians including our social media activist Aisha Yesufu knocked Aisha for allegedly using her power against the student. Now while initial reports were that Mohammed was arrested by the Department of State Service that Nance also revealed that he was rather arrested by the like I mentioned in my what's in the news in the federal capital territory police command who traced him to Jigawa where he was picked up. Now on the basis of this not really focusing on Aisha Buhari right alone because but as us as Nigerians right we can't help but say something on the subject of power drunkenness right we can't say we have to say something about the power drunkenness and it's very very much prevalent in our client so we are asking is it possible for it to be curbed or curtailed in this great country of ours. Now that's the question now please let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS or what happens where it's 1 803 4663 you can also tweet at us at ratio AFK 1 with the hashtag ratio. So now I like this topic and I know people will be going to just jump because again Nigerians are very easy if you're politician your president your whatever does something we are so quick to but let us really look at the subject of power drunkenness on its own take away the the actors that played in this I always look for teachable moments so if something happens in the news I'm not talking about it because I just feel like attacking the person or whoever did it is for us to learn it's like this is a moment for us to now reflect and teach ourselves. Power drunkenness lives and breathes in every single Nigerian it's not something that is unique to just only people that are in positions of noticeable authority that you can see them. Your gate man he has you know say Oga wants to secretary wants to see a PA is standing in the way of you saying the Oga you owe your file like these things are something that it leaves and it breathes within us so it's not something so that's why I'm trying to set this foundation well so that when we're talking we're not just focusing on Aisha Bwari yes you know whatever it is that she's been alleged to do is a show of power drunkenness right but she's not she's not alone in that because if everybody was given the opportunity to exact power we will and we will do it with so much you know rigor and excellence we won't even mix words right everybody looks for that opportunity where like you are in charge right so I mean let's first of all dissect the conversation when you saw the post about the young man that was detained and all of that what came to your mind right and then we can then go around to discuss power drunkenness if it is actually possible to curtail it if it had been a country like France where they are slapping their presidents I wonder what would have happened as in amputated on on the sports you governments even America where they are throwing sure presidents just to show that we're upset with your policies or whatever is going on nobody has died nobody has gone to go and meet them without using legal you know presidents to justify that they're picking up their arrest or whatever as an assault not even because it's presidential it's just a grievous bodily harm kind of assault that they're picking them for so when you because somebody made a statement you send people please I can't separate it just yet you send people to go and pick them up the same you who somebody said something about the other day and you got on Twitter and said you don't go this do you remember when she said that that she she our advice our first lady talking as if she forgets that she has an office telling someone that me and me don't go well she's a public figure yeah she has a role she has a role she's a public figure she represents something yeah and she should represent class when she's in that seat coming on Twitter to say such a thing what should your faith be in that kind of instance we like you said we have everybody trying to show power the people are pressing us are us one another we don't even get to see the people in the positions of power to oppress us the security at the estate gates they know your residence but if you don't bring your code you are not coming you have to have dropped me a few times when I'll be calling them give a rock bar access access access they'll be looking at me as if they don't know that I live there that's authority misuse of power because I mean you're not robots you can use your gunshot same thing that's all attendance when there's Cassidy next thing is to move to somebody else so let us move on to you in this town hall meeting this happens everywhere it's happening in the office and that's the reason why even the system is almost like service providers are like when you requesting for service from a service provider is almost like they are doing your favor because everyone feels like they're going out of their way to do something that they're already being paid for and that's even coming from the payment you know from the service delivery kind of point so everyone feels like they're doing your favor when they are do actually doing something that they are paid to do so this runs through all areas of our life is not just because we are seeing this story and is because the person in question is a popular figure and but it happens on a daily basis from the low anyone who has power over you even at that let have an issue with the police have an issue with last man then you know they would they would act like they don't like the driving range over see what this man will insist I'm doing my job I'm doing my job almost like they want to everyone wants to carry out that frustration from home from people from the world from the country from the president from the way things are happening globally everyone wants to carry out that aggression to someone else I like I like where you let let's note that point because we need to know why because for everybody that is giving aggression I mean I don't want to say that if maybe I'm put in such position I will be pushed to but I think it's unnecessary every I think every human has the capacity to actually be that way but because of training and you know self-control you have to you know curtail it the same thing you have a house girl I used to tell my mom why are you shouting you don't need to shout but then she insists that if you don't shout the person no one to listen to you because over time some people have just proven dumb so you just feel like the only way to communicate is shouting but there are better ways to talk to a person you get you don't have to downplay them or maybe you know give them house girl clothes you know so they're different from you I mean it's sad what people do but it's like saying would you not be a good person because there's so many bad people out there because you've been done so many bad so you're going to now be a bad person I think that's where the the hassle is so I like that point of course you also emphasize on it that this is coming from somewhere right because I don't understand and this is not just I mean the bank person at the at the bank the bank teller you are supposed to be a customer so that means so when I say that you see when I say that this thing cause we were arguing in the makeup room and I say to you that I can beat my chest to say that power drunkenness can be curtailed right it just takes you know it can it can it can but you see it takes the willpower and it I mean it takes a level of maturity you know what it means and you can actually talk the world you can see you can and the entire place you have the power you have the weapon I remember when Michelle Obama was giving her speech about you know why it is important to pick the right person as the president of the United States because from the fingertip you just have one button to press and you can actually crush the entire you understand because of the amount of power that they wield in terms of like nuclear weapons and all of that but you see them they have got into that level where there's some level of maturity and control right so this now just tells me that the reason we have a lot of power drunken people all over the place especially in this country is because we have a lot of recklessly emotionally lose people because people are but no people do not have stable emotions in this country the reason why we have power drunkenness in this country is because nobody faces consequences for over exerting their power there's no system in place there's no system to give the checks and balances we see people that do something wrong and they retire immediately because they've embalased the office so do you understand we don't have those consequences here I get you for the part of consequence and that is another another reason why we have power drunkenness on the rise because again nobody's held accountable everybody just does what they feel like and it's both you see I am emotionally stable right and you come and you give me a slap I would choose to look at you and just not even if I have the to remove you know I don't think yes I have seen it happen I've seen it happen right I have the power to completely take you away from the surface of the earth I understand what you say what the president of France did that is let me tell you something it takes a level of maturity and emotional stability to do that somebody that acts irrational you can never do that that's what is some but you don't have the power to like end his entire line age and then you decide too far you must die if somebody so there's some people that you can't even attempt to want to do these things too I mean bigger we don't have that's what I say immaturity maybe is the better word yeah you see bigger people are the ones that says when Michelle Obama was talking about when they go to you take the highway how many of people in Nigeria can truly take the highway somebody does something to you and you know you have the capacity to really really destroy and just finish the person but you choose not to that is a whole new level it takes a lot of self-control but Nigerians survive unoppression I oppress you you oppress me everything about us let me show you a different level I see rotate in my status in Nigeria nobody practices all animals are equal but more in some are more equal than others than in Nigeria that being an animal farm that statement nobody practices more in this world than Nigerians do they want you to know I'm not on your level if this we've under you did now if I ask which one it is you would tell me it is this brand the cheap one that we buy in the trenches so I want you to know that my own is not your type I'm on another level when people are making the statement of do you know who I am who the hell are you who the hell are you that you think you can talk to anybody or when they will use sirens in here that's part of it when they use the ambulance in here because you're not even giving a voice if you're not that way exactly most times so everybody just we are mad people in Nigeria you know how they say in Nigeria before you ask anybody any question you say hello sorry excuse me please are you already coming them because everybody's on a charge level in this country we are charged he's on the road the guys you know try you can't pass me my driver in the office is so I tell him you're not kind you're not kind right yeah good driver you're not kind I mean because I sit in front with him and I can feel the anger I say calm down I love him now he should you should beg me I say calm down good driver boy I always know and I'm always calling you too I say calm down be kind be kind it's not what you put in your fight it goes back to what I said it was just a hard question there's a lot going on there's a lot going on out there people are going through a lot in their home from work from everything they not just come out and you just meet someone you say excuse me yes yes and the response is like so you have to that's where I understand you you can't say sorry please excuse me for some things you should you know technically when you're driving on the road right technically once you put on your indicator that you're going left the right because you just allow you no no no I've noticed guess what that indicator thing only works in some parts of Lagos let's use Lagos as an example which parts if you go no some situations if you go to it depends on the mood of the driver if you go to those in your magia side you want to bring out your hand and you must do like this it was like an expressway because it used to work it used to work before but now it's like strangers have come there ah he didn't use to you are but we need to go on a break right when we come back on the break I want to open our phone like yes I want us to because I want us to talk about practical solutions right how we can start to curtail it because this is not helping us it's not helping other people it will need to really put it on on it like we need to check it somebody that you have worked so hard you've worked so hard you have done the job you have submitted your invoice and just because somebody feels like I have the power to hold on to the funds yeah so you have to drink my palm it's not even about greasing palm at some point is this female officers in like immigration they are like that I want us to talk practical solutions right we need to find solutions to this because I know it is possible stay with us we'll right back


Hello, this is Laptop Media, and today, we will show you how to open the Dell Latitude 153530 and what's inside of it. There are 9 captive Philips head screws, you need to undo, to access this notebook's internals. Then, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, and remove it from the device. Please remember, it would be of great help to us if you just hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. That would motivate us to make even more and better videos for you. Inside, we see a 54 watt-hours battery pack. It lasts for 12 hours of web browsing, or 9 hours of video playback. To remove it, unplug the connector from the motherboard, and undo all 4 Philips head screws keeping it attached to the chassis. Memory-wise, there are 2 Sodom slots, which fit DDR4 RAM, working at 3200 MHz. According to the manufacturer, the maximum available capacity is 32 GB in dual-channel mode. As for the storage, there is 1 M.2 PCIe X4 slot with support for Gen4 SSDs. The cooling comprises 2 heat pipes, a fan, and a heat spreader for the VRMs. If you'd like to see more disassembly videos of the latest notebooks, we would highly appreciate if you hit the like button and subscribe to the channel.


Oh, we do get the occasional person, some amateur someplace who feels that two brothers in Abu Dhabi literally did email us and say they could easily collect the million dollars because they, together, every morning make the sun rise.  There are other more sensible ones, but not much more sensible. So I presumed an experiment. I said, okay, we could do an experiment. Which one of you doesn't? Well, we don't know. I say, well, one of you shoot the other and then call me. And the next morning, if the sun rises, it wasn't him. And we can proceed with the test.  And then the following morning, if the sun still rises, oh, both of you lose. But if it doesn't rise, then, of course, you both win. And I have to pay you the million dollars, but none of us will care by then, will you? I'm treating this rather lightly in giving you some of the examples of the really, really inane, if not insane, offers that come to us for winning the million dollars. And it's very easy for you to get the notion, oh, these are dunderheads.  They're crazy. I wouldn't do that sort of thing. No, of course you wouldn't do that sort of thing. I agree there. But there are a lot of scientists who would and have. I'm going to give you a quick example. Lawrence Livermore Labs in California populated almost exclusively by physicists, the queen of science. Well, I got a call from a gentleman physicist there. He said, Mr. Randy, I hate to tell you, but you've lost your million dollars. I was terrified. I said, yes, really? He said, oh, yes, obviously. We've got a gentleman here from Israel. No, it wasn't Erie Geller, but it was a would-be Erie Geller. Ronnie Marcus was his name. I said, I'm sorry. I don't know the gentleman by name. Oh, yes. Well, we did some tests with him. And we examined it very carefully, weighed it right down to a few micrograms. We moved a match in the box. We tested it. It was a real match. It actually lit on the side of the box. It's a real match. It looks like a real matchbox to me. He examined it for wires, magnets. We laser-beamed it, infrared. Laser is the whole thing. Scandant, very thoroughly. MRI, the whole thing gave it everything. You could possibly give it in a high-tech laboratory like Lawrence Livermore. That's an ordinary matchbox. I'm a scientist. I know about these things, OK? We then gave it to Mr. Ronnie Marcus, and Mr. Ronnie Marcus did the most astonishing demonstration with it. I said, what could that be, suspecting in the back of my head that maybe they had fallen for something rather simple? Well, this is what they said he did with it.  And then he said to the matchbox, go back down again very slowly. The matchbox decided towards the back of his hand like that. I said, well, that sounds like a million dollars worth to me. And I was prepared to pay the million dollars, except that I had heard somewhere in the back of my head about tricks like this. So I said, oh, excuse me. I said to them, you're sure you did examine the box? Oh, yes, we're scientists. We examined the box. We waited, laser beams, infrared, the whole thing, OK, but wait a minute. What's your fax number? Well, they gave me the fax number. So I went to my library, and I took down a book by Martin Gardner called The Impromptu Magic Tricks, written specifically for the purpose of the amateur magician who wants to do a trick at the next party.  You know, it's a lot cheaper and easier, and it may not win as many girls, but what the heck, you know, it's a little more respectable. And this is on page 72, and it was called the Levitating Matchbox Trick. I'm going to instruct you how you two can become a psychic from Israel. Watch carefully.  If I can make this box do it once more, because it's sort of broken down. And then, oops, I better use the other end here, because that end is a little broken from having just done the trick here. You simply close the box up like that, and then it just slowly, as you tighten up your handle a bit, it rises up, because it's pinching the skin at the back of the hand. And this will fool them at Lawrence Livermore, I'll tell you that. Have another one here, it looks exactly the same. I informed them of this, sent them the facts, never heard from them again, and that was three years ago. I've tried to get in touch with them, but they don't seem to be communicative anymore. We can all be fooled by simple magic tricks. A trick like that, that's a good parlor trick, yeah.


Hi there and welcome to the channel. So starting ornamental grasses from seed indoors isn't something that you see a lot of being done But it's something that I've been doing for the last two or three years. I get them well established starting them about 12 weeks before my last frost date just using solo cups and They make a great feature in my pots with my flowers I like to put them, you know here and there kind of use them as an annual as opposed to a perennial So in this video, I just want to show you a few of the different varieties that I'm going to be trying out. So let's get started So the first thing we need to do is get our containers ready here for the seeds and as I said I'm gonna be using the solo cups So what I've done is I've just cut some slits in the bottom here of each of the cups so that we have Some good drainage and kind of room for those roots to to pop out once these plants really get going My plan is to start them in these cups and leave them in these cups right up until the time that they Need to go outside and start hardening off I don't want to have to worry about potting them up from from a little seedling tray into a bigger container So that's why I'm just gonna go right to the solo cup You could use, you know, like these four inch or three inch size nursery pots if you have them as well But I find these work great So rather than using a seed starting mix because these are gonna be in These containers right up until the time they they go outside I thought I would be better to use a potting mix. It's got a little bit of fertilizer in it so that once the Once they germinate and start shooting down their roots are gonna be looking for some some nourishment So I think it's best to have a kind of a premium organic potting mix in here to keep them going I'm gonna fill each of these about halfway and then just press it down Really good so that there is no air pockets in here. You don't want any air pockets at the bottom Once these roots start growing tap them down a bit Okay, so I have my solo cups filled about three quarters the way up with the potting soil and What I'm gonna do next is just pour some water into this tray. I Probably will be bottom watering them so they will be sitting in these trees For the most part. So I like to let the soil wick up a good amount of water right off the bat Get it nice and moist So then from there I like to switch to a seed starting mix and I don't know This is just something that I think is a good way of doing it But because the seeds are tiny and you know, it's hard for them to to germinate and press through this More heavier type soil. I thought using the seed starting mix on the top. It's a lot lighter It's a lot easier for seeds to germinate in So I'll be filling up the solo cups then with this seed starting mix And the difference is it's just sphagnum moss and vermiculite or perlite There is no fertilizer in this seed starting mix So little seedlings have enough of their own nutrients and everything they need to germinate within their seed pods So that's why you don't have to have, you know, a fertilized potting mix in your seed starting blend here Okay, so we're just going to let this wick up and while we're waiting for that I'm going to show you what kind of grasses I plan to start up here So I have two kinds that I picked up at a seed exchange here in Saskatchewan So these are native prairie grasses for my zone here I live in zone three Saskatchewan. This is the little blue stem and the blue Grammographs and I'll put up pictures of each of these so that you can see what they look like in their best form I planted these last year and I put them into like I said different pots and Barrels with other flowers to kind of make a nice centerpiece when they get their plumes out and really get growing They're really pretty They have a nice blue tinge to them as well and I even I think I think it was the blue Grammographs I actually just left it in my pots over the winter on my deck Just as kind of a nice feature he can because the grasses look even nice in the winter time in the pot So so I'm hoping that I can get a nice batch of these going again this year and use them in my flower pots And if I have extras maybe try putting them into a flower bed to see if they will survive the winter I have a lot of issues with perennials Not surviving in my yard. Um, we just have a very Low spot that seems to the ground seems to get very cold and a lot of perennials that should survive here in zone three Don't often make it through the winter. So I'm kind of an annual girl I go with that every year try it and Seems to work good for me. This is another Grass that I picked up just at my local gardening center. This is a prairie drop seed And it's is supposed to be hardy to zones for zones three to Two nine and it's also deer resistant Which is great to have in my yard because we get a lot of deer and it's also, you know, good for attracting Um birds and um other pollinators to your garden A couple things that I'm going to add today that um, don't fall into the grasses category But they're kind of an exotic thing that I've been trying to master and that is growing eucalyptus So I picked these up also at my local garden center From a company called Gaia. I will put the link to their seed Store in the description box. They have some amazing different Seeds everything is organic and open pollinated heirloom type seeds They have so many varieties of tomatoes. I had to control myself. I picked up a few But um, I'm tempted to order more online. But anyways, uh, check it out. It's a company in Ontario Canada So they have two different varieties of this eucalyptus here I'm going to try the baby blue and the silver dollar So I will see if I can get them going um and put them outside also this summer on my patio And they also make a good house plant as well. So we'll see how it goes So it's probably going to take a while for that wicking to happen. I'm going to also Moisten the tops here of the soil I want to do it before I put the grass seeds in there because I don't want to just place them too much So the grass seeds need light right away to germinate. So I'm just going to put them on the surface of the soil here And we'll just cover them lightly with a little bit of the seed starting mixer Maybe some very fine vermiculite if I can find some So as I mentioned earlier, we are about 12 to 11 weeks before last frost date So there's a lot of things that I want to get going besides the grasses right now And that is some different varieties of onions that I start from seed And I have a bunch of other flowers such as petunias, pansies, colias And all of those I hope to be starting here in the next few days So stay tuned for more videos on how I get those going as well So I'm just going to sprinkle a light layer of A few seeds on the top So you can see I have quite a few of them. I'll try not to put too many maybe You know about four or five on the surface And I have to remember to mark these and make sure I Know which ones are planted here So I guess I'm kind of putting a little bit more than four or five I'm just doing a sprinkling if I have to thin out Some of them after they germinate. We'll just see what kind of success we have first It's hard to tell whether you have seeds or just little pieces of Broken stems and stuff, but again, I'll just Be extra generous and spread them around I may also like I said in the spring In some of my flower beds is just try to work some of these seeds into the soil Which is what they recommend doing in the early spring when it's still cool And maybe we'll have some luck there as well So the prairie drop seeds have quite a different looking seed. It's actually looks like little Pebbles if you can see that there as opposed to like the grass seed from these others So we'll see how that goes And you know, maybe if I'm feeling A little bit energetic if these uh, I had good germination and maybe want to try Pulling out some of the little seedlings and starting some more. I will maybe give it a try I always end up with way too many plants. So it's I always try to start small and Try to keep it that way, but it usually Kind of multiplies over the spring when you get growing things and everything's doing well And you don't want to kill anything or thin out. So you just keep up potting more and more so and looking here in the packet there is Maybe 10 seeds in there Not too many So I'm going to just try half of them So maybe I can try some more in another container So these seeds look pretty similar the silver dollar eucalyptus Maybe a little bit bigger. I might have a few bit a few more in here, but I'm just gonna just use a few of them I would love to get some of these going and give them to friends. I think they make a nice unique plant For people to have on their patio for the summer things that they don't normally have growing So I'm hoping that I can get a few of these going successfully And I did find some vermiculite here. So it does recommend for these to just sprinkle a light layer on top and Just miss them or bottom water so that you don't just place these seeds So we will do that on all of them here So that's pretty much how I am going to be planting up my grass seeds here and We're ready to put them under the lights. Okay. So I have them set up under my grow lights Here and I'm also using a seedling heat mat, but that is totally optional I'm just using it because I don't need it anywhere else right now And it might just help with that germination a little bit It takes about 10 to 14 days to see germination in these grass seeds. So it takes a little while And I highly recommend using one of these timer bars that I got here. So I have my lights Uh plugged in on the timer side so they will shut off for eight hours and and stay on for 16 hours And then the seedling heat mat is on the side that stays on and that heat mat will be going 24 hours a day So these are just led lights that I purchased. I believe at Lowes. They're not special grow lights by any means They're very economical. They work great And I just adjust them with some chain here and some little s hooks and I've moved them down so that There is about, you know, two or three inches of space I've also covered it up with one of these humidity domes Again, that is optional if you want to try to keep that moisture in it does work well I'm not using this anywhere else right now. So I'll just set it on top of the seeds like this And that'll just help keep that moisture in there a little extra longer And I will be checking this daily to make sure that it doesn't dry out because when you have a heat Mat underneath it can dry it out a little bit faster I will try to just bottom water and maybe just lightly miss the top so that I don't displace those seeds for now So I hope you enjoyed this video on how I start my ornamental grass seeds indoors Please hit the like button leave me a comment Don't forget to subscribe and I will keep you updated on how the germination is going for these and Keep watching for more seed starting videos coming to the channel. Thanks for watching


I think Obama should hire more radiologists as political consultants. You can try charming or manipulating them, but those guys see right through you. So the Affordable Care Act is doing things, and other people are much better informed about what exactly is doing and why than I am. Here are some excellent YouTube videos, I highly recommend them, that's all I'm going to say about it. The debate about the ACA on the other hand has been raging ever since it was first proposed, and while there are a lot of really educated opinions about whether or not it will provide better healthcare for more Americans than the previous system, there's also a lot of meaningless shouting. Some people from internet forums to popular media continue raising the same points that make reasonable discussion about healthcare really difficult, either because they're unhelpful or distracting or even self-contradictory. I think that we'd all be a lot better off if we pointed them out and sort of agreed, like, let's not do that anymore. First, despite the Supreme Court ruling, there's still a lot of talk about whether or not there's anything in the founding documents of the United States that explicitly grants the federal government the power to intercede in healthcare. The short answer is no. Medicine isn't mentioned anywhere in those documents, and extending the right to life mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to healthcare is a really slippery slope. But for some reason it's never mentioned that when those documents were being written, medicine as we know it hadn't been invented yet. Like when George Washington contracted tuberculosis in 1751, the best medical advice that the best doctors could give him was to travel to Barbados in the hopes that the change in climate could help him stop coughing up blood. And then he got smallpox while he was there. There are tons of things that aren't explicitly mentioned by the Constitution that are regulated by federal bodies, like the FCC or the FDA. We discovered things like radio and prescription drugs decided that they were important and potentially problematic and that they should have federal oversight. It's totally irrational to look at a time where we didn't know what germs were and still thought that bloodletting was a good idea for any advice about what to do about modern medicine. I mean, even if we could ask the Founding Fathers about it, we'd probably want to keep them all on the opposite side of the room because, you know, smallpox. Second, under the US healthcare system, medical professionals are expected to be both selfless civil servants like police officers or firefighters and shrewd capitalists. There are actually state laws in Vermont and Minnesota that if you're an off-duty EMT or some other medical professional and you fail to stop an accident to render medical assistance if it's needed, you can be pulled over and fined or even jailed. And check out the editorial from the New York Times in the description that shames people who don't want to be doctors anymore because apparently they're not fulfilling their civic duty. Culturally, we treat them like they're supposed to be saints. However, in their nine to five, or if they're an ER surgeon in their nine to nine, medical professionals are expected to compete. As members of a free market, they're supposed to try and outbid their competitors and charge as much for their services as people are willing to pay according to supply and demand. It's kind of a conflict of interest and of ideology to expect doctors to be both selfless humanitarians and profit-chasing health barons. Also, quick side note, capitalism doesn't tend to do very well under either monopolies or inelastic demand. It does a fantastic job in the space in between, but if you're appendix ruptures, you're not going to be checking Yelp reviews for local emergency rooms. Finally, health care is an immensely important part of how we live and how we keep living, but it's sort of like air in that it's not a big deal unless you need some and you're not getting any. And sometimes in these debates, people forget that. People like me who have decent genetics and no chronic illnesses see a doctor maybe once every couple of years because we've got a bad cough. Health care just doesn't feel like a big deal to us. Unfortunately, many people like me who can afford decent health care and don't really need it don't take the extra step to empathize with people who can't and do. The world is a very different place for people who have to weigh the cost of making sure that nothing's wrong against the cost of what happens if something is wrong. And to be perfectly clear, that's not just poor people. Medicine is really, really expensive in the United States and even people who make good money can't always afford decent health insurance on their own. Yes, they may have the freedom to not be able to pay for anyone of hundreds of medical services, but functionally, they might as well have no choices at all. If they fall off a ladder, they're going to go bankrupt. End of story. And when it comes down to it, that's really the only thing that's worth discussing here. The empirical question of what gets the most Americans the best health care. Maybe we should follow the lead of the 30-some-odd countries that are ranked above us by the World Health Organization that have universal health care. Or maybe the free market is the sole driver of medical innovations. But getting Americans health care should be the beginning and end of that discussion. And it would probably be a lot easier to figure out what to do if people would stop judging up concepts that are either unrelated or unhelpful while we're trying to discuss it. It would also be a lot less confusing if the politicians who were staunchly against government involvement in health care weren't on government health care programs to begin with. Could you please just stop that? Will the Affordable Care Act move the United States at the rankings in health care? Should it be a right that's guaranteed by the Constitution? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thank you very much for watching. Don't forget to blah, blah, subscribe, blah, share, and I'll see you next week.