For the past ten years, researchers brought together by the Army's Corporate Laboratory have been on the path of discovery, innovation, and transition of groundbreaking network science projects in support of Army modernization under what is known as the Network Science Collaborative Technology Alliance, or NSCTA. The Network Science CTA established a science which involves a interdisciplinary approach to trying to understand the interactions between a communication network like the Internet or like a wireless network, along with a network of information that is naturally forming throughout the Internet and wireless networks. This idea that warfare requires an interaction between the communication network, humans, the information network, that was pretty visionary at that time. And so that and sort of the formation of this idea of network science will be the long-term contribution of the NSCTA. Collaborative technology and research alliances are partnerships between Army laboratories and centers, private industry, and academia that are focusing on the rapid transition of innovative technologies to the warfighter to enable Army modernization. Collaboration between ARL and the academic researchers was excellent. From the academic side through ARL has really been great. Like everybody's worked together very, very well. It's a very, very strong cohesive team. So that was a very, very fun experience in addition to being very productive. Network science is a critical enabler for making sure that multi-domain operations can occur in the Army. So if you're looking at new sensors, you're looking at new techniques for ballistics, you're looking at how do you do long-range precision fires. In order to do that, you do have to understand model way of communication in the network but how it interacts with the information and how it interacts with the people that are making that work. I think that CTA is a basic research project. It creates the scientific foundations. I think now that we have the foundations, we can go ahead and build the tools that embody these foundations that actually are deployed, that are helping the soldiers, that are helping the commanders. And that needs additional investment. And I look forward to seeing some of these tools getting deployed. These researchers set out to create knowledge and perform foundational cross-cutting research for a fundamental understanding of interactions, interdependencies, and common underlying science among multi-genre networks, social cognitive, information, and communications, to determine how processes in one network affect and are affected by those in other networks, and to develop approaches to predict and control complex interacting networks. Five different domains, aerospace, land, sea, and cyber. And the thing that connects all those is networks. Again, networks of people, networks of things, and telecommunications network. So the technology coming out of NSCTA is necessary for all those domains to communicate, share information, and for the people to actually have the kind of situation awareness the soldier needs in all those different domains. Prediction and control of the complex behavior of these interacting networks will ultimately enhance effectiveness of Army systems and operations from developing a multi-domain common operating picture to autonomous networking control for resiliency in a dynamic resource constraint connected and contested environment. The NSCTA gave me an opportunity to evaluate an area of my research where I'm developing something called the rich event ontology. The rich event ontology, or REO, is a computer readable inventory of events essentially. So it organizes events hierarchically based on their type, but it also organizes events compared to one another based on causal and temporal types of relationships. This is something I never imagined doing, but as I see it, I use linguistics to fight terrorism. The program focuses on three primary technical thrusts. Co-evolving dynamic intergenre networks, information processing across networks for decision making, and quality of information for semantically adaptive networks. Co-evolution and dynamics of intergenre networks, or co-edent, focuses on foundational science for modeling, understanding, predicting, controlling, and optimally designing co-evolving intergenre networks, both friendly and adversarial. Quality of information for semantically adapted networks, or QOISAN, focuses on measuring, predicting, and adapting composite networks to deliver the most valuable information with dynamically changing network resources rather than the most bits or queries. Information processing across networks for decision making, or IPAN, deals with information discovery, analysis, and visualization over multi-genre networks to improve effectiveness in distributed decision making. Under the NSCTA, I served as the lead for the information processing across networks thrust. The impetus of the thrust is how do you get indicators from these different genres of networks and turn these into situational awareness. The great thing about the program was it was allowed to go ahead and integrate different thoughts and disciplines of how do you incorporate these different interactions. Though ending this year, NSCTA research will live on through the networks of passionate researchers across the army, industry, and academia. They will continue to shape the science and technology of the Army of 2028 and beyond through the vision of multi-domain operations to provide our warfighters with the best capabilities to win any fight, anywhere, at any time. So what we have done the NSCTA, we have really shaped the science. I did a Google search back in 2006 on network science and it says page not found, no definition access. If you go today, the first to hit is the BAS study. The second is the Wikipedia that talks about the NSCTA program among other things. It enables us to collaborate with many great people outside of the community, but also within the lab. I mean, folks in the side, folks in HRID, with whom I knew them, I knew of them, I knew them, knew they were, but didn't necessarily collaborate with them before. So this gives an opportunity for that. It gives a chance to mentor people in the outside community and I think that's important because those are the future scientists that will be working in the DOD space. We're finally at a point where we're seeing everything come together. It's been very impressive to see the demos. With most things, at the end is when the really exciting stuff is happening. So the one thing I'd like to see is some continuation of the program.


We're Hives for Humanity Society and we're being peeking here at the Vancouver Police Department in an effort to build bridges of connections through bees and honey between this community here and the community we work with in the Datsunny side. So the BPD partnered with Hives for Humanity, this is our third season that we've had bees in the rooftop garden at 2120 and this will be our second year that we're harvesting honey and we'll be selling it internally shortly in a few months. So today we are harvesting the honey from the BPD bees, which means we're taking off the completed honey and leaving them winter stores so they can overwinter for next spring's beekeeping. Today we are harvesting the honey right from the Hives and we'll be storing it in the building for a couple of weeks and on September 20th we'll be extracting it and we'll be inviting employees to come down and help us on cap and bottle it. So we are going to take the completed honey, the capped honey, that the honey bees have made in excess this season, that's what we're harvesting today. We'll take it, we'll extract it, which will spin the honey out, we'll bottle it and then we'll share it along with the story of the good work that folks are doing beekeeping all over the city.


We built a full campus here at Blue O'Cranche. We took the barn and modified it into now a kind of a group restroom, kitchen, classroom, really neat meeting space. We've added sort of tent facilities around here and screened cabins for people that come here during the warm season. We've got some seasonal cabins for both faculty and their research groups, kind of dormitory style with bunk beds. The vision that we had when we got Blue O'Cranche was to build something that would really attract both the students and the classes that would want to learn, but also bring the researchers in and show them what the opportunity would be to work on a place that has been set aside, it's been left pristine, and now we're here we are and we have the facilities to support both of those activities. When I first started here the max number of people we could really have is like 15. There was only one bathroom, there was one little room that had heat so when it was cold everyone's huddling in this one room. So now there could be multiple field teams here using it at once. Really expands the type of research that could be done here and how many people can use the reserve. Having these reserve systems in California is so vital because we can really start to address a lot of these issues that we're concerned with like biodiversity loss or climate change or what have you. You know several thousand students have camped here.  I think it's very important to mark the occasion and have all of those people who contributed to the vision and to make it come together be here to share in this. This area is totally perfect for doing research. My former boyfriend he proposed here on this lake and I said yes our family started here. Having a facility like this Blue Oak Ranch is really going to lead to new opportunities for people to expand classes, to expand research. I really see the research activities and the education activities really just getting a real surge of new users and new people to visit the reserve.


Can a husband and wife study in the US together, each on their own F1 visa? Can they take their child along? And can they do bachelor's after a gap of 10 years? Well, today's video is a real F1 visa interview experience of a couple, Catherine and Kevin, and they are proving to you that all of this is possible and taking you along their F1 visa journey. This is a highly inspiring story, keep on watching. Hi, I'm Kevin. That's my wife, Catherine. Hi, Kevin and Catherine. So, what do you guys do? So, right now, I'm in the States. I'm doing my bachelor's and BYUI to Brigham Young University. I'm doing my communications bachelor's. I'm doing digital marketing and public relations. So, you're finished a year, right? Yes, I've finished a year. And Catherine is joining you now for the CSAT? Yes, I am joining him now. I just got my visa. We were about to fly another four days. Together. And I have been working before that. So, now we're together studying. I'm studying in the same university. I'm also doing, I'm majoring in communication and I'm doing video production as my emphasis with social and digital media.  I've been around 10 years of work experience. Okay. And you, Kevin, how many years? I had four years, four to five years. Okay. Of work experience before you decide to... Yes, yes. So, what was the main motivation? What led you to this that, okay, now I want to study? Of course, I'll be very, very honest that I wanted to create more opportunity for my family and for myself. I want to see myself grow. And that's when I thought that I want to go abroad and study and have that quality of life, which I want to increase for myself, the knowledge I wanted to gain. So, that's when I thought, let's give it a shot.  So, now let me also try. So, it started with both of us wanting to study. The original plan was that we both will be studying. However, we knew that we initially we wouldn't have been able to fund both of our, like the process till end. So, we decided that first Kevin would try. And then I would... The first plan was that we would go with him as dependents. And then once we are there, then I will settle in, then I'll apply probably in a year. So, we were not able to go with him as dependents. So, he went because he had to start his education. And the plan that we had that after a year, I would accompany him with the bachelor's and start my graduation. So, we did that. I did that being here. So, I had my son. We have a three-year-old son also. So, Kevin went and me and my son were here for like a year. And meanwhile, I applied. So, the eventual plan was to study together, but obviously couldn't do it together. What kind of feedback did you get from people around you when you said, okay, I'm going to go to US or that I want to go to US study after this gap and also start basically from like a bachelor level. It's not even like, okay, you're going to go. Which is still okay, right? I mean, still okay in the sense it's still common. But starting from a bachelor level, what kind of signals did you get or what kind of... I think I'll be very honest, not to offend anyone, but it's more like a society norms that is there in our heads. And I've never been part of those society norms that I can't do this because of this reason. And it's a sad because we are living in a generation, we're living in a time where we should not think of these things and do our best. And yes, I'm turning 30. I turned 30 last month, but it's never too late to give up on your dreams, right? If you want to buy a car in the age of 60, why should you not buy that car? Because you're 60. No, it's just an example that yes, people did talk about it that, you will be graduating as like so what? It's okay. I'll be happy. At least I'll accomplish my goals that I want to be a graduate in a broad university that will very enhance my profile and my experience. And then when I will move on from that point, it will be very strong and firm with my career and with my confidence that I need. And honestly, just like Kevin said, there were a lot of technical reasons that people were giving us and I'm not saying that they were right or wrong, but there were a lot of ifs and buts, you know, you guys will go together because we both have sponsors, you know, like separate sponsors. So, you know, like when we tried earlier, we had one sponsor who was sponsoring the entire family. So there were like so many things that financially you guys will not be able to do. It's going to be difficult over there, but you know, having a son as well. And at that time, he would have like two dependents and you know, like the visa process will not go through.  But initially, we just had to like, you know, like take our own faith and still take the step because we didn't get a lot of days. And that's where your magic comes in. So that is much later.  And one more thing I want to mention, I'm really sorry I'm stopping you because when I started my application, I started watching your YouTube videos and there was no Instagram channel that you had. Yeah, you were like, and I was like, there is something, there is something that you have when you share your knowledge and skills, that is very, what I would say, what's the word, I would say very simple, very simplistic. It's easy to understand for any lame man. We need the same thing in our country because people don't have the basic knowledge or confidence. And that's where I started telling Catherine, the Saachi's videos are really nice. Please watch, please watch, please watch. And I kept telling her that. She was like, I don't know, I don't know, because I'm busy. But I was like, you know, you have to watch because she has a lot of things to offer on videos itself. And then I was, I'll be very honest, I will financially very crunched in, I would have taken you. And I did have this major course, like the one that... It was, yeah, it was part beginner's house. Yeah, but we did take two of your workshops. It really helped, it really helped. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but I actually remember you both attending the workshop together. We did it together. Because not very, like very few people have video on. Yeah. Who are like one of the few people who had a video on in the workshop. I remember, like, I don't know, I just have that image. That was the second time that when we were applying for the visa, because we did have a first rejection when we applied as F1 and F2, me and my son.  But when he did that research and the second time, we actually went through your entire workshop and we understand that, oh, okay, this is the dynamics that we have to prepare. So that helped us a lot. So just a camp your visa journey, first you applied for F1 and F2 together, that got rejected. Then you applied again, F1 and F2. Again rejected. Yes. We applied alone. Yes. Alone, F1. That third interview, what did you feel was the difference, like, was it just because of you were applying alone? So if the officer felt confident that, okay, you will come back or was it just like, you're asking just for me? Yeah, you are into it. Yeah, what did I feel because it was really devastating when we got denied twice. But what I realized that now at this point that our finances were not strong enough at that point when I was applying. Even though you had a spot on post? Yes, when we changed our case altogether and he said that, yeah, financially I am stable. I can go and study. And then, yes, I was definitely prepared for the questions that he had and the confidence that I was speaking with. So he asked me three questions, it was barely four minutes. And I was on point with the things very aware of the people who were in front, whatever question that he was asking him for those particular people. And I was like, I think he's going to have this pattern and I need to have the same pattern. I guess I'll prepare and I start preparing on the spot for those questions. And it really helped. He did ask me same question. He asked me the guy who was in front of me. And yeah, and then it was not that big of a problem on the third time for me. And he said, enjoy your education and graduation. So this was last year for all 21? Yes, same time. Fast forward before 22. Is then Catherine decided, okay, now it's my turn, I will do the next study. So how did you, you had like quite a bit of background now. I would say that. Absolutely true. So I put a more in-depth prep. Yes. So what was the reason for that? So initially I had applied for the April semester, but there were no visa slots in Delhi or India, I should say. So we were not able to get any visa slots. So then that is when I think in June, Kevin decided to fly down because he is like, I think my presence is required and we'll be able to prepare together. So I had shifted my deferred my semester to fall. And so that's when, so the entire thing was that even when we got the visa, that was because you had put that on your story that the visa appointment. Yeah, appointment. Sorry, sorry, appointment. Yeah. So you had, there was a one Saturday. I remember slots had opened up. Yes. And he was following you religiously, very honestly. And I am sorry to stop you because even when I'm not like on the visa, up front now, I don't need the visa, but I still watch your content for information. I like it. And not that I needed for her or this and I told her as like, you know, I randomly also go to her page and watch what she has to offer, which is really good because I can anytime have friends or family who would need some information, I can guide it to you or tell myself, listen, you can do this, which I do. I never, I never stopped the information that I have for somebody or for anything. And we were standing at the bank. Yeah. And I opened up his story. I was like, you literally made a law. She was doing some very important work in the bank and I was really tense that week. I cried. I said, what's wrong with my family? I have to go alone again and again. Oh. TVA. And I was like, I opened up your story. I was like, baby, maybe Sachi just updated it. She's like, who's Sachi? I was like, they're the girl who I've been following. She will help us out. Please go check the appointment. Please do it, do it. And she did check it and we got it. Yeah. Right inside the bank. Like inside the bank? Inside the bank. So I was literally doing something on my phone with the manager and given Ranjai. I was like, leave everything. He's like, leave everything. Look at the story. And I didn't read anything. I just saw visa slots open. Okay. So I was like, okay. And usually I'm like, okay, let me just finish this work and then I'll do it. But something happened to me also at that time. I was like, I just left everything. I got up. I checked the slots. There were no slots in Delhi. And so I had everything in my phone only, like all the logins. So I checked on my phone and logged in. And there were no slots in Delhi. And so I was like, okay, there are no slots in Delhi because sometimes it's just like a thing. And then I just, he said, check Calcutta. Okay. So I checked Calcutta and bam, there were all the slots are open. And then I started Chivati and like, can the slots are open? And then all of a sudden we're just standing and we was like, what's wrong? We booked both the dates. We booked the dates and then we started bawling. I started praying and thanking. I started thanking you also because of course, you're part of our journey after that. I guess you did, right? Because yeah, you're your family now. I hope you know that because you're part of our journey throughout now with my visa and her visa in a year. So yeah, I was really grateful for the information that you keep sending and posting on your. So after that incident, we had to then decide, his ticket was on 22nd of August and my visa date was 22nd of August and 23rd of August. So then there was like a whole thing. I wanted him with us. So again, like a whole big story. He shifted his dates to September. And then what I'm having that moral support is, you know, and I'm glad that he was there for that. So he went with me to Calcutta. So that time, you know, it was Kevin's suggestion that we take my son inside with the, you know, during the interview and I was not on board with that because I was like, how will I, you know, like concentrate on everything. But while I started the preparation, I started watching your videos. Like personally, I actually religiously started watching your videos. I started taking notes and then I had also attended one of your workshops in my previous, like last semester, when I didn't get the visa, I had attended a workshop of yours again. It was the same workshop, but I still wanted to attend it. So after that, you know, I did get like some links at your chair. So I had made the note of all those things. So while I was watching your content and everything, you mentioned about that visa prep course. And there were like a lot of details and everything. And see, we are not financially that amazing. But then I felt that, you know, this time it is really important with all the experience that we have. Because one thing that we also did in my application was that in the I-20 also, I showed personal funds, which we did not know to do during Kevin's time. And we had all the funds to show, but we didn't know this information that even personal funds, if we show it's a big thing, right? Even though we are 100% sponsored.  So we had that. So that I-20 was obviously a little heavier as a document. I had a 100% sponsored. And so with that, I realized that I have to create a very strong profile, because we did not want any second chances in this. You know, it had to be like one shot. So, you know, it was like that investment. And then there was this moment where I had to convince, you know, like Kevin that I need this course. He's like, all the videos are on, you know, like thing we can't afford it. And we had those discussions for a week almost.  Some people can just, you know, prepare with video because Kevin is like that. He did his preparation like that. But for me, I need a little more guidance and things. So then at the last moment, Kevin was like, if you feel, go ahead. And I can say, I've been saying this to everybody who I've shared my experience with that, you know, taking that course was literally life changing for my profile. And then that's when you came in, because you actually, you know, streamlined my profile in such a big way and especially the mocks. The mocks were like the game changer of the entire thing because all the questions I was so prepared with that it didn't matter what the visa view actually asked me, you know, because I was like, okay. And the best thing was that the same questions you asked in such different ways that you actually prepared my mind that it can be the same answer. He's just tricking you with like another sentence probably. So that really helped me with like a, I would say that I was 110% prepared. And yeah. And then of course my son was there in the interview. So what about your son? Like we also had a discussion where I asked you, are you taking him? Yes. Yeah, because my husband is insisting. I was like, you have to take him. Yeah, exactly. But he would change and please take them. They just change the way you look to them. It just gives a very wholesome picture. Yes. So we were also very careful, like actually Kevin was very careful of how he was dressed and like he was wearing a yellow shirt, formal shirt. I was very yellow suit. So, you know, you're like all bright and everything. And interestingly, El was also interviewed. He's just three, but the views are actually spoke to him. And you know, for me that was like an interview of him. So thankfully El was like really easy to ask just to like, yeah. So first I made him sit on the counter after asking the view because El was like literally standing on door and he was like getting a little agitated. So I asked him, can I make him sit here? He's like, yeah, that's fine. So the moment he sat, the view had the passport, you know, like I had a passport. So he knew Elroy's name. My son's name is Elroy. So he's like, hi, what's your name? So he said Elroy. Then the view said that where is your mama? Mama. So he's like, he pointed it and he's like, here she is. And then he said, where is your daddy? So he's like, dad is upstairs. And then he said, are you sure he's upstairs? So my son said, no, he's outside. So then he said, no, he's like, he's outside. So it was pouring that day. He was raining really heavily. So he's like, does he have an umbrella? He's like, whispered a little. So he's like, yes, he does. So then I, they're saying he doesn't have an umbrella. I looked at El and, you know, so it became like a conversation. And the beauty of it was, I think from the view's perspective, that the kid did not need a translator. You know, it was like a direct conversation. He was understanding, conversing. Yes, accent and everything which so many adults are scared of. Exactly. So, you know, he understood like the family environment that probably we have and, you know, so that created a good. One more thing which I noticed when she was telling me, I think she was, he was also trying to confirm the parents' relationship. Yes, yes, absolutely. Because he's not just generally having that discussion. He's trying to know because the kid is always around parents. So he's trying to know that. Where is the father? Where is the father? Who's the mother? Yeah. Is this, you know, because they have to make sure everything is real. Absolutely. So one more thing that happened was I had thanks to you. I don't want to sound repetitive, but that is true because thanks to you. I had prepared all the documents and then I, when I sent you the checklist, you said you need to carry your husband's I-20 and visa. And interestingly, the only document he asked was the visa of my husband, you know, and also that was the only document in my entire folder that was a colored photocop, you know, because I had bright, nice. So, so when the interview started, he obviously first he spoke to my son. Okay. And then after, so that, you know, nervousness also went. So he then spoke to me. He's like, he saw, he then he started looking at my profile. And then he said, so has his husband started, started his education? First question. So it's like, yes, he has completed two semesters. He's completed two of his semesters. He's like, okay. So do you have a copy of his visa? So, so thankfully I did. How did you not to have? So I know that he would have thought that I would not have those documents. And so I took it out the only colored copy that I had. And that was also coincidence, because I got that in last minute. So I gave it, gave that to him. So that impression was also nice. And the moment I gave the visa, visa, put a copy to him, my son actually saw the visa and he's like, look, that's Dada. He was involved in the interview. So I was like, yes, that's Dada. So then he, you know, half of your work, I think he did everything in fact. Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, so he let it be. So much about three of us, but I think there's one silent, personal control. Yes. He was definitely not silent during the interview, thankfully. Yeah, he's very talkative. My son is very talkative. Like he wants to communicate and interact. Yes. So he's like, mom, look, that's Dada. I was like, yes, that's Dada. I said, yes, that's Dada. He's like, mom, that's Dada. And he started laughing and I had to say, okay, all right, that's, yeah, that's Dada. He calmed down, you know, so then he stayed quiet. So, so then when he saw the, so it was like the entire experience that the Vio would have had, you know, with the preparedness and like, obviously L being part of it. So then, then he jumped to me. He's like, so, so he asked me a trick question. So he said, that's why I see that you were already worked in the States before. So again, if I wouldn't have prepared, I would have freaked out on that question. Okay. So, but I was, so I said that, but I took a second. I was like, um, no, I didn't work in the States, but the company that I worked in is based out of U.S. And, but I took all the projects in India. So I worked here only. So then he's like, oh, so, so he didn't even say the name of the company. He just said he worked in the States just to trick. So then he said, oh, so more good foundation like the company. So he said the company's name. He's like, oh, so that's based out of U.S.  So when I said yes, so I continued with on my own, I described my profile. Okay. Because he didn't ask that. So I said that, yes, I, you know, like I was the community manager over there and I explained my job role and my description.  I was like, so how did you decide on this university? That's when I told him that I got to know this from church and because it's a church university, they have a tie up. And then when I decided I wanted to study, I, you know, I researched on the university and then we, you know, then I talked about the good points of the university that it has a creative agency. And so I, he didn't get, let me move to the third point he cut me off. He said, so how are you funding him? And I said, I have 100% sponsor, who's Brett Kessler. So while I said that, and he's like, who is the sponsor? So I told the background of the sponsor that, you know, this is how we know and this is how he is funding us. So that was the last question. And he said that, okay. So then he was typing and everything. And meanwhile, Elroy kept saying, looking at the VO saying, mama, he's from church. He's from church.  So he kept saying, yes Elroy, he's from church, it's quite so while he was typing and everything. So after that he asked me to, you know, like place my fingers and he said that he visa is a proof happy travel. So, and then he said, bye to my son and my son said, bye. I said, thanks. You know, so I said, thank you. So he left. That was a good story. Like it's so interesting that all these experiences we get to see, it was a very good experience. And in fact, one interesting thing, the VO was like, you know, he was also very interesting person. He had like a piercing and he had like a half one, you know, like half high was, I didn't look like he came out from a disc before his shirt and just came to that. That was also interesting. So, but yeah, taking El was like a biggest advantage I had, you know, that created like a very good impression of our entire family, I would say. And then of course I was prepared with all the questions. So that added to the whole thing. This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this. So one last thing for people in your position like couples. Because the day I get DMs from people saying that me and my wife are applying to study or me and my husband are applying to study and we don't know whether we should even consider US, go through all of this hassle, you know. Because I mean the US visa process is something which is, I would say it's painful, right? It's, you will not know what will happen till that moment. You have no clarity at all. So what would you advise people like, you know, just from your entire collective wisdom of two of you? I would suggest that as a couple, actually it's a good thing to go and educate yourself. Because if you're going to, especially going to US, if you both study, you have those resources to work on. So that you can sustain. If because first I didn't thought of it when I was applying alone and I was taking them as dependent. It would have been difficult because I am only allowed to work 20 hours, you know. So but when we both have 20-20 hours, at least we can sustain the basic necessities in an attitude. So I feel that I would want to encourage couples to go together and educate themselves. And it's a very wholesome experience and they can manage with semesters, which tracks and, you know, whenever then the first person is going to track, the second one can have off track and then just go vice-versaid work out very nicely.  So that's the biggest thing. It's like distance and time separation, right? It's not like, okay, if we can just visit. But both are there. So I would actually encourage couples to actually go and try and just the preparation that they need to focus on. So, you know, for me, I totally agree that we didn't know that at that time, of course. But the first step should always be that study has a couple because it makes a lot of things easier, you know. And yeah, so I don't want to repeat the same points that Kevin said because they are absolutely accurate. One thing that I would want to add to that is especially in our case, we had that gap when we decided to, you know, study because I had like a 12-year gap. He also had like a significant amount of years. So it's still not a red flag, which people usually say. I would suggest that if your gap is well prepared, you know, then you just have to explain your journey and you have to be really well prepared for what you were doing in those years. And you have to justify that and also try your best to connect that to why you're now studying. So that journey, if you're able to build, it's all because 12-year gap for a graduation is not less. Which, tan and everything. So the situation is technically. Also one more, sorry to stop. Also one more thing, this is this system of gap and stuff, this works in India a lot. In US, when I'm giving a US interview, there's a United States person sitting over there taking that interview. For them, they approach education when in their 30s and 40s also. I was also on their perspective, thinking that it's a developed country and they would not think in a such a way. They would need explanation for sure. But they would not question that he's 32 or 31. Why are they studying now? If I have the right answer. So we have to be really confident that we want to educate ourselves regardless of the age that we have. Absolutely. So and apart from like with that, it is so important for you to understand where you will go and why is this important. And I'm sure that that is the basic of preparing. But understanding the depth of these questions is so important because I didn't know that until I joined your course. Because I was like, yes, I will answer this. Yes, I will answer that. But it's not that difficult, but it's not that easy. You have to get into the mind of the video or basically just get into your own profile. You know, because I know that I'm not going in detail, but I know that you changed some of the details of my course as well to make my profile streamlined. And that played such a huge role.  Ask 300 more questions. But because my profile was like on point as you know, in line with the course. So, so that part is if you're able to figure that out, it doesn't matter you're going after two years or after 20 years. As long as you're able to justify your profile is working. And as a couple, you should if you have the finances or sponsors try and go together like not as a dependent. And if you do have dependents, then I like you should have so much funds to show that you're able to justify that. Okay, I will not be a problem. Basically, is that what's my learning? Yeah, absolutely. All the best. Keep in touch. Take care. Bye. See you soon. Thank you so much. All the best for future. And we will surely connect soon. Bye guys. Thank you. Bye. Bye. So, I really hope that this interview experience has inspired you and given you more clarity on the F&V is our process. If you too would like to prepare with me, then do get in touch. We have a detailed seven day program. This is a seven session series wherein we do end to end prep, start by understanding your profile, filling your DS164, answer structuring and multiple mocks. Catherine and Kevin were in fact part of this seven day program. So do check the link for this in the description box below. Apart from this, there are different ways in which you can prepare with me. You can take a single session for answer structuring or a single mock session. And for the F&V is our 2023. We also have something really special. This is a self preparation course which teaches you how to prepare. It shows you sample answers. It shows you a lot of templates and you can use this course to prepare at your own time and pace. So the link for all this is in the description box below. We also have tons of free resources to make sure to check them out as well. Signing off for now. But before you go, make sure that you watch this video. So this if you are just starting out in your F&V is our journey. This is a video to start with. So make sure that you watch that and stay tuned. Lot more useful content coming your way. See you in the next one. Bye.


Hello and welcome to NewsClick's International Roundup. Over the past few days, the United Kingdom witnessed two key votes in the House of Commons. First, Prime Minister Theresa May's proposal for Brexit was massively defeated, with MPs of her own party and her allies deserting her. The very next day, she managed to win a vote of no confidence that was moved by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. However, her victory does not mean much, as there is no certainty right now on the future of Brexit and the future of the United Kingdom itself. To talk more about this, we have with us Prabir Prakash, the editor-in-chief of NewsClick. Prabir, first, let's take these two votes, which almost seem completely contradictory. One, there's a huge defeat, and the very next day, she manages to win a vote of confidence. So how do you see this glaring contrast between these votes? One explanation, of course, is what various commentators have started giving, the ineptness of the British ruling class, that the schools of Eaton and Harrow really have not equipped the British ruling class with an ability to run anything except their clubs, and having messed up all the territories that once upon a time they ruled, and now the chickens as it were coming home to roost, even in the United Kingdom, which looks less and less united, particularly with the Brexit vote. Leaving these things aside, let's look at the crisis, the larger crisis that is there. One crisis, of course, of the European Union itself, which is what is the European Union? And I think this has led the various reaction, including one within the United Kingdom. If you see the project of the European Union, it was essentially one between Germany and France, that they shouldn't go to war again. And therefore, a union starting with a common market, a European common market that integrated in the economies would prevent future wars from taking place. And this is what led, in some sense, to the formation of the European Union, the European common market, and the financial union, which did not include the United Kingdom. So this is where it starts from, the two wars, no war again, and let's get together. Unfortunately, in that project, it was also that finance capital seized the European Union project, and it became financial capital who control European Union. And in fact, it could be argued that the policies of the European Union reflected the policies of the financial oligarchy in these countries. And in that sense, the European Union therefore led to a reaction amongst a number of people, that this is anti-working class, it's anti-poor, and so on. And therefore, the pushback against European Union has come, both from that section, which feels alienated from the globalization project in terms of losing out, both in terms of jobs, the working class, towns getting shut down, the so-called globalization, which is really globalization of finance capital, and that has led to the reaction in a lot of the places which have seen the worst consequences of this kind of globalization, neoliberal globalization, capitalist globalization, whatever name you give it. And this pushback has manifested itself against the European Union project itself. So it has both these elements, which is going, harking back to an imperial past. If we separate from the European Union, we will again be great, and also a left-wing push against finance capital. And so you see very unlikely forces which go behind this kind of cause, which is left as well as a right, but from very different positions. But I think the bigger issue is that while the European Union project is unraveling and it's unraveling due to the crisis of the globalization project itself, the rise of ethnic nationalism in different places as a response, but it is also unraveling what I would call as the United Kingdom to the Nazi United Kingdom. And a lot of this fissures which sort of hid behind the imperial project, Britain will never be slaves, but it would enslave others. That the rule, Britannia rule the wave, this kind of imperial project, which united various sections in it. I think that unraveling, losing the colonies first, now being sort of the odd man out in the European Union for a long time and not knowing where its future belongs. As completely the United States, as a lot of people call the poodle of the United States, the lapdog of the United States, or does it have an independent existence? And if it doesn't, if it does not have this imperial existence, larger than life with 60 billion people, not too big a country, not too big economy, except the financial district of London, which of course remains the, shall we say the world's biggest capital for tax havens, because all the tax havens in the world, a very large number of them seem to be the ex-British colonies or islands and all sort of go back to city of London. If you take all of this out, the European, the identity of the United Kingdom seems to be now unfolding, with Scotland saying our Scottish identity, and of course the biggest problem in Ireland, that the small part they had spun out as Northern Ireland, because it had a protested majority, unlike the rest of Ireland, which was really otherwise a homogeneous, should have been a homogeneous nation, Irish nation. Now that border becomes a huge fracture again, because it means that once it leaves the European Union, UK leaves the European Union, the Northern Ireland, Southern Ireland border would have all kinds of duties and everything in it, and therefore the integrity of Northern and Southern Ireland, or Republic of Ireland, which has been built over now, a fair large number of years, that's going to come unstuck, and I think you will see its repercussion of the, in Ireland, and of course the Irish question, which again was a divide and rule imperial policy of the United Kingdom or the British ruling class, I think that's going to plague them again. No easy answers to this question. I don't think it's a left versus right issue, but I do think the ruling classes of Europe are now plunging deeper into the crisis, that they do not know how to continue the quote-unquote capitalist project, that global capital was the way they thought they would go, they could run with this for some time at least, and control the world's economy indirectly along with the United States. Now that is unraveling, but they don't really have anything to put in place, and ethno-nationalism of different kinds looks like that it could not only fragment the European project, but it also would create insurmountable problems for ruling classes of these countries, because ethno-nationalism is not a way, which is not a way forward. For left crisis as well, because left is also divided into different countries, depending on which country is it, are they against the European Union, or are they against the finance capital controlling European Union, or are they against the European Union itself, and I think that fracture also depends on which country you are in. So if you are in a country like Germany, the leftists take one kind of position, if in a country which is sort of the southern part of Europe, where they're already being talked about as hangers on, then the countries which are, what is it, we call the pigs, so the Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and so on. So they're not very nice terms to use. If you are a part of that, then what would be your response to this? And therefore the left itself has been split in different places in different ways. But I think the real issue is for the left and the right, European Union is increasingly looking to be an obstacle for further development of the positions, and I'm not sure that anybody has a very easy answer to this. Yes, I think the Brexit course is going to be very rocky indeed. And they seem to be going towards a situation where a Brexit will take place without any negotiations. So they will have, quote unquote, a hard Brexit, not a soft Brexit. And taking off from the point about the left, the Labour Party in Britain is also in the middle of a huge crisis. So we have on the one hand the fact that also and then a large percentage of Labour's voters actually voted leave. On the other hand, the party itself has been rocked by a lot of voices. And Corbyn himself is a reluctant Brexiter, so to speak. But there's also a school of thought which says that Brexit is a good thing because the future Labour government has the possibility to bring about some more radical reforms which can actually reverse or at least for a short while at least block the neoliberal onslaught. So do you see that possibility happening? Well, I think Jeremy, I'm not sure there's a reluctant remainder or a reluctant lever. So I would let that stand because I think his pre-election would be to have a Brexit, but he doesn't want to go with the Theresa Mays of the world today or with Boris Johnson's earlier. So he sort of therefore making it a more Labour policy than his policy. I think this fracturing as I was talking about Brexit, really fractures both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. The Conservative Party first because bulk of them chose to talk about leaving the European Union while the initial vote by the Prime Minister at that time was in the belief that he would win the vote and therefore he could silence a section of his own party. Now having failed in that and having brought on the Brexit on the Conservative Party, the Conservative Party is split, the Labour Party is also split on this and I think the left, as I said, is also split on this issue. I would say that if we look at it that what is the best course of action for Labour, it is that they don't support either Brexit or this kind of Brexit which Theresa May had put forward. They say Brexit should take place on ABC other terms so that they can say we really didn't want it. You guys wanted Brexit but if you want Brexit then it should be on certain terms which you didn't get. You're incompetent. Now that you've got us Brexit let us run with whatever we have. So sort of condemn the Conservative Party for this massive Brexit which is what seems to be in the offing and then say well we have to therefore now put the house back. You've sort of scattered the bricks, knocked down the walls, let's build it back and we can't build it under your leadership. So try and sort of play both sides of the divide as it were and if you have an astute politician like Jeremy Corbyn which he certainly has proved himself to be, I think he would play that role that let's not talk about now about what could have been. Let's see how to go forward and what's the best way forward but not reopen the debate about another Brexit vote which is you know then no referendum would have really any meaning. And another interesting argument of course that is being raised is that Brexit is problematic because of course the right wing was in the leadership of the movement and right wing movements everywhere across Europe are skeptical of the European Union. So there is also a tendency to see say a pro-European union stand as some sort of countering the right. So that's also an equally problematic argument if you will. Well you know there is an element of truth in it that after all the hard right in most places are asserting the ethno-nationalist identities and therefore they are very anti-European union as well. So that is true and that's why I said between the hard right and the poor left forces who represent the poor there is one commonality that if you have a European union of this kind which is really say led by finance capital takes away labor's rights workers' rights various rights of the people under the guise that free economy means competition if you have competition that these these kinds of rights should not exist and public sector should be disbandled in various ways you had from the telecommunications to the electricity grid a lot of the things that happened happened the name of the European so-called market. So this kind of things obviously is something that left is also very unhappy with. So yes certain common points yes but the answer at the end of it is political that is it that you have the political strength within the European union to defeat the right wing forces as well as advance the cause of the workers and the working people or is it that if the European union breaks then your ability to find the right and advance the working people's rights would be strengthened. This is a political call this is really not a philosophical or a economic call and I would say that that is also one of the reasons that you have so much differences within the left because each section of the left sees the resolution of the problem in a different way and they believe that some believe if you stay within the European union the fight is easier some say if we leave the European union the fight will be easier so I think that's where at the moment it rests but in a European union had this whole idea that they could build a counter power a financial power as with respect to the dollar and they thought that if you have this financial power they would be a player. What has come down right now too is the military power is still the dominant currency of power and Trump has proved to much weaker American economy as compared to for instance the Chinese economy which is developing or the European union it doesn't really make that much difference. Sure fact that the Trump that the United States is the dominant military power means it has a much bigger role in even the economic sphere and therefore the talk about threats of economic war trade wars telling European Union you anti up for NATO's defense but the fact is Europe defense budget for NATO is much higher than Russia's while the enemy is supposed to be Russia against whom the United States is supposedly protecting them so all of this means that the currency of political power does translate to the currency of financial and economic power as well and this is where waning United States economically should not be written off as a lot of people have been doing saying that the United States is a failed hegemon it's no longer the dominant superpower in the world which is true but its relationship between the European Union and the United States shows that European Union could also not assert itself vis-à-vis the United States economically so its only assertion was really against its own people and its workers and its poor and that's what is finally also the cause of the crisis of the European Union today. Thank you Pappu. That's all we have time for today. Keep watching Newsweek.


Hi everybody it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft, thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm going to be showing you how to make these really sweet bun tin cards. I did make these on Wednesday during my Facebook live for HobbyBase but again as I've said before not all of you here have Facebook so I wanted to share it on YouTube as well so you get to see it and hopefully make it yourselves. So these are the two that I made during the live and it was using the paper addicts Ahoy There paper pack, really really nice. The reason I purchased this one was because it's a completely different kind of colours really to what you would normally have with a nautical theme so there's more purples and then blues and pinks and it just yeah lovely really enjoyed this one. I'll share all the links because this is really good value for money as well so I'll just show it a bit closer and it just opens like so and they stand up really nicely like that really really cute you can see that one there and again that one there okay so again all the product they're used in this mainly it's just fussy cut kind of pictures from the papers this is using the shell dye from the under the sea by first edition and I just stamped the little sentiments there myself but the one I'm going to be making today is using the V&A 2 collection and I haven't used this for a while and I thought I wanted to create something a little bit vintage so this is what I've gone for so this is the paper pack I have many tutorials using this collection and you can find all of them over on Pinterest I do have a trim craft board and you'll find all the paper packs all on there as well so this is what I've gone for today I've already gone and cut all my papers and then I'm going to be using the bows which I've already pulled out which are here I've already prepared the bunting but that's what it looks like here you get the string and all the little triangles and different sizes I'm going to use some ribbon so I'll keep that out I might use the frame I'm not sure and I've also got the sequin mix there as well and these are by Dove Crafts it's part of the same company but obviously not the same collection but the birthday wishes here I thought the color would match really well so that's the sentiment that I'm going to be using okay so like I said I've already prepared everything I don't know if I'm going to be using obviously all these flowers and I've already gone ahead and fussy cut these little ones here as well so the size of the card is slightly different to what I usually do because usually I do five by seven or I do six by six this was actually from a six by six card base so this is how this started off so that's the piece I cut off to make it a top folding card and you just want to remove you want to cut this so it's four and a quarter okay so you're just cutting off this piece here if you don't have a six by six pre-made card base then you will need to cut you will need to cut a piece of 12 by four and a quarter and along the 12 inch side you want to score at six fold it in half and it will give you a card base okay so that's that piece then for your mats and layers I've got this one here which is four by five and a quarter and then I've got this one here which is three and three quarters by four and seven eighths of an inch okay and then just what you need to decorate okay so first of all with your card blank you want to make sure you obviously you scored it there and you've got your fold at the top along the open side you want to mark the halfway marker so because it's four and a quarter you're going to mark at two and one eighth of an inch like so okay and then you want to come up two inches so I'm going to use my t-squared ruler it's just easy and I'm going to line that up there and then with a pencil I've already done this but I'm showing you you just want to come up two inches okay like so then with your mat again you want to find the halfway marker so this is four inches so you're going to mark it two and then you're going to come up by two okay so again just going to line that up there and just come up two inches okay and then with this one here I'm going to flip it over because I've got the pattern there and it's easy for you to see so this one here is three and three quarters so you're going to mark at one and seven eighths of an inch and again you want to come up two inches make sure that catches on the bottom there okay so you should have your three pieces like this and then we want to do some cuttings I'm going to cut these ones first and all you want to do now you may want to do a line from the top of that middle score line down to each corner I just cut mine freehand but if you would rather do that to make sure you get a straight line then obviously you can do but you basically just want to cut up from the point to the center make sure you get a nice crisp point okay like so and then with this one here again you can cut up the middle first if you would prefer and then you can just follow these scissors are nice and long which is why I love them because I can do this now in one cut like so and then again come right across like so now if you lay this one over the top fingers crossed there we go you get a really nice border okay I could afford actually to go up a little bit I'm going to just take this in just ever so slightly because when I measured it I did think I did come up I'm going to come in I'm still cutting up to that middle one but I'm just coming up a little bit there on the edge and then kind of just blend it back in again let me just see there ah yeah I'm happy with that it's just a bit thicker here it went a bit thin so yeah you may need to just take a little bit off there but whether I just cut that slightly wrong I'm not sure but that's what you want to have there and then you're going to do the same with this so if you cut through both pieces you may go off slightly as a bit like if you cut lots of pages in a book or something so if you open it up and do one at a time so if you do this top one like so and then lie it down and then just trace like so and open it up and do the other side by doing it this way you just get it nice and lined up there we go okay so that's that one all done I'm just going to burnish that out a bit better there because it was a bit bouncy right so now you've got that one we'll go on top there and then you've got that one which will go on top there and as I mentioned in my live if you are you know a little bit funny here or you've cut it too much one way by the time you decorate it if you look on these here you can't even see that part of the card it all gets covered with your decoration so again I like these kind of cards because you can hide any little you know bits like that that you may not be happy with so now we need to stick it all down but I before I stick mine down because now it's just a matter of decorating so it is a really quick card to do I think I want to wrap a piece of ribbon through one of the yeah so what I'm going to do is I'm going to stick this one down first so I'm just going to run a little bit of glue this is a kind of a like a textured fabric you can hear it there so I don't want to go too mad so I'm just going to pop that one down like so and then this one here just need to check how I'm roughly going to have things displayed here so I think I'm going to have it about there quite near the bottom so I'm just going to snip that piece off there and then I'm going to use some of my red tape here and just wrap that around okay and then again I'm going to stick that about just above the roses there so you get to see all that nice pretty print flick it over and then I can just stick those inside make sure everything else is nice and flat and then actually what I might do is pop this all on foam adhesive just to give it a little bit of dimension just pops three strips through this I think oh just run out of that one so I think this is the same width lay that one down make sure you get your sides nice and even okay so that's that piece and then start decorating it so I've got this bunting so I'm going to have this kind of coming like that okay the bunting looks really sweet and then I've got these sprigs I've got a flower so and I've got my sentiment that I might not even use those really big ones actually I might just use pop these on some foam adhesive and have these three something like that I've got my butterfly which I'll probably have up there I've got the bow which I may not even use and then I've got these green pieces and then I have the birthday wishes which is going to be somewhere here so I'm going to pop this on high speed now and stick this all down okay so I've decorated that's now I just want to add a little bit of sparkle so I'm just bringing in a few of these little um sequins and I'm just going to add a few of them kind of dotted around add one there one there's pop one in here and let's do one over here and we do one up here as well I like to do odd numbers and let's do another pinkie color and there you go guys there is my finished card I think that is really cute just very quick to do it's nice if you've got a collection where everything matches and pretty much everything's done for you the bunting was already the sentiment the ribbon I just fussy cut those pieces and I cut that one there but really really pretty so there's that one and I'll bring those two up again for you just to see all the different put some pieces on it there I've got little rosette on that one as well they were from the dovecraft back to basics collection so yeah really really pleased with these these are my bunting cards and I think they're really cute so I hope you like today's quick tutorial I hope you give it go hope you all have a lovely weekend I'll be back on Sunday with a scrapbook layout I'll be back Monday with another tutorial thanks for watching bye


Greg Williams who's the MVP of the Jets this year might be Greg Williams like I know he's a coach Like that's how good of a job. He's done when you think about how many different corners He's had to use how many different linebackers I mean, it's insane and you when you think back to that game one against Buffalo CJ Mosley gets hurt and then it seems like the bottom fell out from under them Now you would think that they would find a way to compensate for that But they just didn't have any answers week one which in hindsight is kind of surprising and I get Bobby shoes in Yeah, that he said to be any of the year listen This team's gonna have to stay healthy to come on sure they're very thin, but you know what I'm saying I acknowledge the injuries, but you can't lose the sense of Miami. Oh, no. No, no, no They were when you're in and right now that changes the narrative and also one of the thing that I'm a big believer in in sports Would the Jets have beaten the Steelers if they needed to win because I think sometimes when you know your seasons over You can kind of play with that chip on your shoulder It's a little different when the games mean something look at the Giants last year They played themselves back into the playoff race remember right the wins against San Francisco the win against Tampa all of a sudden They're playing Philadelphia the games meaningful. They're still alive and then as soon as it became meaningful 19 Nothing lead at the half they completely spit the bit and guess what they ended up being a bad team again So it's one thing when you know you're out of it and you're playing well with no pressure How would they have played yesterday if they were the team that needed the win just saying don't know I mean You don't know because look they haven't had a meaningful game in quite some time and you know what I will say Don in Credit to Adam Gase okay at one in seven the fact that he kept the room together and look I'm out there each week I'm talking to guys That room did stay together that is still a unified front you look at some of the other examples around the National Football League Whether it's the Jacksonville Jaguars whether it's Detroit whether it's the Carolina Panthers how things just completely Fractured at you know the middle of the year and then went south like one in seven could have become right You know two and thirteen or something and then what we'd be talking about then no I thought it didn't happen and they actually went on a run and played good football the second half of the season I think that says so that's why I'm not firing a guy Yeah, but I also think and I think he would be the first to admit it That if he had done a better job Again Cincinnati in Miami that they'd be still live with all the injuries as you said pitch right They're playing a third string quarterback and that team is still alive. They didn't fold up shop So he still could have done a better job and you can have both you could be critical of Gase and also say that injuries Played a factor both things can still be true You know what's funny too that if you had to maybe go back and play some of those games from earlier in the year again Like the Cleveland game the Philly game both Luke Faulk starts like if they played those games today Jets have pretty good shot of winning both of those games now where they didn't have back in September because you're playing a third string quarterback Absolutely.  Well, you know, we'll see how it ends up playing itself out Let's see if they even beat the bills They get the bills can play nobody and you still lose the game But still you're looking at probably a 7-9 team and I think you're looking at what might have been not because of injuries But what might have been if they just did their job and beat Miami in Cincinnati, it's


Hello, and welcome to this CUBE Conversation here in Palo Alto, California. I'm John Furrier, host of theCUBE. Today we're joined by PTP, part of the Avis Simms and Cloud event in New York City next week. A little preview. We're fortunate to have Ethan Simms, CEO of PTP. Love the URL, PTP Cloud, check it out. He's here to discuss the relationship between them and spot by NetApp. Talk about the savings in the cloud. Again, this right size is happening. Ethan, welcome to the show. Great, thanks for having me, appreciate it. Love the flag. First of all, flying in the background. I just had for the July, great to see that. Let's dive into the relationship between PTP and spot by NetApp. How do you guys work together? What are you guys working on? Sure, I mean, we have a long relationship probably back since 2016. We're originally a cloud checker partner. We use cloud checker extensively for both our customers from a cost optimization and a management standpoint, compliance and security. We also use it as our billing platform for our customers where we provide the AWS resale for most of our customers. And as part of that, our managed services uses as a tool to help our customers cost optimize their AWS environments. What are some of the value that you guys work together with NetApp on? What's the key value provisions for you guys? What's the benefit? Yeah, I think for us it's really the, they have a deep understanding of the intricacies around cost optimization and really what to look for in the environment. If you try to do manually what spot does between an all, so spot and cloud checker together, if you were to try to do that manually, it would be an impossible task to do in real time. So having that automated AI approach to cost optimization really takes a lot of the legwork out of doing the manual piece of cost optimization. I love this conversation of savings in the cloud, cost optimization and the heels of this so-called recession people talk about. But in some areas it's not just a headwind or a recession, in some places it's a tail when you're seeing the growth of AI, you're seeing more open source software hitting the scene, a lot more cloud action happening, more data coming in. So this right sizing trend is really to me is just natural evolution of the next gen cloud, which is get your house in order and move from being a janitor custodian to operationalizing some of the mechanics and KPIs needed to scale cloud and automation is one of them. This is a huge shift. This is not just a one-time thing. What are you seeing with customers when they get into this? It's like, okay, did they get it? Are they totally on board? Are they leaning in? What's the perspective of the customer? Yeah, I think it's interesting. For a long time, we were leading with a cost optimization story over the last couple of years and really sort of fell on deaf ears. Wasn't a great conversation piece. People really didn't care. I mean, it's kind of boring, a lot of bean counter type stuff. So no one wants to talk about it, but over the last, I'd say starting last fall, we had more and more customers coming to us. They say, hey, I remember when you guys were talking to us about how we can save some money in AWS. How do we do that? So they definitely started coming around for us. It was an opportunity creation engine where customers were paying us or consulting with us to help them save money. So it really added on to our managed services interaction with these customers. So it was sticky, helps them move stuff forward as far as I can do other projects because I'm saving money here on this sort of my steady state AWS environment. And now I have more money to invest in moving projects forward. Certainly budget cuts are any kind of focus on cost. We're going to find that budget. Well, you know, if I can get tight here on these instances, I can use that dollars to buy some more higher level services or fund another, keep that project going. And then, oh, there's classic over provisioning from the app side. So these are all kind of factors in the current situation. How does it fix going forward? In your experience, what are the best strategies to take it to the next level? Obviously getting your hands on the tools to get it done. What is the best strategy? And what are some of the easy wins you'd see out of the gate for customers who want to start really going down this path? Yeah, I mean, selfishly, I'd say they should work with a partner like BTP. But I think the, you know, you really need to have a tool to do what you can.  And it's just sort of a, you know, it's a wasted resource where it's something that can definitely be automated. So I think looking at, you know, the right tool set like spot, like Cloud Checker that can, you know, has the intelligence to do that type of cost optimization in real time and do it seven by 24. Cause cost optimization isn't sort of a said and forget type of thing. It's a, it's an ongoing service that needs to be looked at all the time. A lot of our customers don't have those resources. So they would look to PTP to provide that as a, you know, it's part of our managed service offer. Talk about PTP and NetApp, the relationship. You guys said, since 2016, you said you were together. How do customers engage with you guys? They go through NetApp that for you as a, what's the partnership? Can you explain more about the partnership? Yeah, sort of two-fold. Initially it was, we were working with Cloud Checker prior to the acquisition by NetApp.   So for us, it was a two-pronged approach. We were using Cloud Checker for sort of their traditional services and we're heavily using Spot for their RI management capabilities. And now those tools are merging together. So it's nice to have one tool rather than managing two. Our managed services team, you know, sort of has tool fatigue at times where they have all these different tools to manage. It's nice to bring that into one platform going forward. But I still think from a customer standpoint, they don't want to go out and buy these tools. They don't have the staff to use them and learn them. So again, I think for us, it's a great opportunity for more managed services. Yeah, and also there's a lot of discounting opportunities instances. What percentage of the workloads you think it gets covered by discounts over time? Is there like a order of magnitude, kind of like a best practice kind of vision and customers saying, okay, can you paint the picture for me? When I look at savings plans or reserved instances, things like that, I got workloads, I got my operations. Is there kind of like a way to describe it from a benefit standpoint to give people a taste of what's going to happen? Yeah, I think initially it's, you know, most of the kind of customers, you know, unoptimized, they haven't done a lot of work on it. It's a pretty quick, you know, 25% type of savings they can receive by their monthly bill. And then after that, the savings is, you know, you have to keep on doing it. Like I said, it's not something you just do once and forget about that people spin up new instances, create new S3 buckets, you know, turn on new services. So having those, you know, that real time always looking at the cost savings opportunities is key. And I think there's a, you know, it's a combination of things too. Like you said, there's over provisioning. So looking at right sizing, there's right typing. So am I using the right instance type? And then there's, you know, RII savings and savings plans, opportunities to save.  Storage is usually the largest, you know, cost that most of our customers have.   And helping them identify those wasted resources that's a key part of, you know, things that they need to look at to, you know, heavily optimize their savings. I can imagine automation is going to be a great positions as being now with all the AI coming. I mean, storage has always had kind of storage tiering of data. Now with real time, you see AI start to get much more granular around where to store things more cost effectively. I'm already seeing conversations on the LLM side where people are looking at foundational models and, you know, the cost could be out of control there. So, you know, even around the corner in the future there's going to be more cost management challenges. This is just the beginning as someone who's been in the industry for many cycles, IT's changed a lot. There's the human capital side of it where the automation is really going to augment the human and there's a lot more to figure out going down the road. What's just your vision as you start to see automation really take us into this next wave of the role of AI and data and whatnot? Yeah, I mean, you've seen a lot of enhancements to, you know, cloud storage as three with auto-tearing and moving stuff faster after cold storage and more intelligent tiering of storage. Then now you have the LLM, the large language model. All this data now needs to be in hotter storage. So that's what's driving a lot of the costs where these algorithms need, you know, quicker access to data to spit back out these conversational chat scenarios. So, you know, I think it's really, it is that intelligence built into the storage to move it to the habit in the right place at the right time and trying to do it as efficiently as possible. And just another example of something that you can't really have people moving this data around in real time, it just doesn't make sense. It's really exciting. Dave Vellante, I've been saying this since 2010 when theCUBE started 13 years ago, never been against storage. The data is keeping coming. More and more data coming. And then now storage as a platform gets more interesting when you start thinking there's a software aspect of this that's going to be really software defined. Again, that's been discussed for many, many years now. You don't hear that anymore. It's all software still, but now you have this holistic data platform kind of vibe going on with data even more important from a savings perspective as you think about the role of compute and storage as more and more data needs to be integrated into the cloud native world. And this is just the beginning. Yeah, definitely.  You know, they're always adding new features.  So I think that's the biggest part. I mean, if you can't see it, you don't know how to manage it. So having that visibility is key. Give an example of a cool example of a customer that you guys have worked with that had great savings. Give us an example of a day in the life of a customer. Yeah, I just think for, you know, in our space, usually our customers are, you know, it's a scientist, bioinformaticians.   And their goal isn't to spend money on IT or to worry about, you know, IT infrastructure. And they're really, they're focused on time to value. So how can I use the funding that we have in this, you know, there is a startup phase or seed round or A round of funding. How can I get to a point where, you know, I can prove that my science works. And that's, that's really where, you know, our customers are spending their time and we're just trying to help them get there faster.  For the folks watching out here in the CUBE audience and certainly we'll be in New York City for the event as part of AWS summit. It's going to be the cloud stage event that they're building the night before. We're a big panel discussion there. What should people know about SPOT and why it's important? You mentioned cloud checker and SPOT together. If they're watching this, what should they know about it that that's important that they should take a real hard look at it? Yeah, I think there's, I mean, one, I think on the cloud checker side, that platform has, you know, years of experience working with AWS and the intricacies around AWS billing and, you know, looking at all those opportunities for saving. Also, there's, you know, security involved. There is compliance. There's a lot of other aspects with other than just the cost optimization piece that, you know, really brings a lot of value to the table. And then if you're looking at, you know, the SPOT platform where, you know, they're enhancing the security assets of the platform, especially be getting into SPOT instances. Again, another one of those, you know, savings opportunities that are out there that's very hard to do manually that you really need some type of automated platform to take advantage of.  We've seen a lot of competition try and do what cloud checker does, but, you know, a lot of them have given up and sort of moved on and, you know, using their platform for other services. So, you know, I just think that you need that depth of experience in order to, you know, really take advantage of all the savings opportunities. That's awesome. And what's your advice, folks, coming in for the first time? What's your advice, how they get in? And what's your advice to the more advanced customers that might want to start digging in cost optimization? Yeah, I'd say most customers sort of start off with some, you know, low hanging fruit.  And there's also R.I.s that can be applied to other AWS services. So really getting into, you know, all those opportunities for savings is key. And I just think that it's, you know, customers just have to have the mindset of, you know, FinOps isn't just cost optimization.  All those groups need to be working together. And I think that the tools that, you know, the NetApp have help, you know, sort of bring all those groups together so they can see where the opportunities are and how to better govern, you know, their cloud environment overall. Have you found a methodology or playbook or a way to integrate some of these financial CFO kind of incentives into the engineering and IT engineers out there who used to be, ah, leave me alone. I want to just play with hardware and get some software going and stand up resources. Now I love the cloud, you know, it's unlimited free money, the cloud's amazing. Now I was like, whoa, slow down. Let's clean things up a little bit. Let's get operating models. Let's start thinking about scale. Let's look at ROI. Let's start thinking about utilization. This becomes kind of an integrated kind of job discipline, almost like a CIO type thinking where you got to bring in more of that financial discussion. Are there ways you've seen that works well to kind of start bringing in that mindset? Yeah, I think, you know, there's a concept of a cloud center of excellence, the CCOE, which is a, you know, a team of, you know, from different departments across the company to come together. Always hard to sort of pull those people together and give it the right attention that it needs, but you need to have that mentality internally. And I think too, we see a lot of customers, they're like, oh, I'm too small for a tool like Cloud Checker or Spot.  It's starting now. It's much easier to start now and have the right, you know, compliance and tagging in place so that as it grows, you're not trying to, you know, put the toothpaste back in the tube after you have all these engineers that are out there spinning up instances and storage buckets all over the place.  And then usually, and the cost and the pricing model for these tools is made to scale.   You know, it's like, come on guys, don't leave the lights on, let's get going here. Yeah, there's been a lot of that. Well, now, well, at least now this is more, you know, this is more automated.   Shut the door about the air conditioner now. Secure that S3 bucket. Turn that instance, get the spot instance. I mean, a lot of that's going on. But again, this is operationalizing. This is what I think is the key here is that you guys are on doing is you're bringing that operationalized mindset versus just the custodial, you know, clean out the mundane tasks. Someone's going to have to, you know, clean up the mess kind of thing versus, no, no, this is what we do. This is part of how we fund new services and or take care of the scale. I mean, this is at the end of the day. That's where it's basically money out, line out the window if you don't get it done. Yeah, I think my new hashtag is Phenops fatigue. I think everyone sort of, everyone hears about it and no one's really interested in it because it's work and it's, you know, not always the most elegant part of IT, but it's, you know, a critical part of operating officially in the cloud. Well, Ethan, great to have you on here with ptp.cloud. Love the URL by the way, get kudos to that. While we got a minute left here, give a plug for ptp, what you guys doing? What are you guys working on? What should people know about the company? How do people engage with you as a business? And again, congratulations on your partnership with NetApp, but put a plug in for the company. Yeah, I think our, you know, we're hyper focused on early stage life science companies. We took an approach that these companies are, you know, they're out there with a mission to make the world a better place.  We're not all going to, you know, we're not scientists, we're not going to go invent the next cure, the next drug therapy, but if we have a small part in helping these life science companies do their research faster, do it more efficiently and, you know, bring these solutions to market faster, you know, we're glad that we get to be part of it. The AWS teams that we work with that are hyper focused on life sciences are being great at engaging and we're working with these life science companies all across the country. And it's been, you know, been rewarding for the team and we're looking to continue to grow. There's all these other life science hubs that are starting up around the country. So Boston, Cambridge is sort of known for that, but you look at Bay Area, San Diego, Austin, Seattle. It's an emerging market. And even in an economy that, you know, I guess there's pockets of it that are not doing so well, but in the life sciences space, certainly early stage life sciences, but it's still an exciting and growing market and there's new business creation going on every day. And AWS has a great vertical in that industry.  And again, a great, great market to be in. Ethan, thank you so much for coming on theCUBE. Conversation here for the preview to AWS seems in the cloud event in New York City. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much. Looking forward to next week. Okay. This is CUBE Conversation. I'm John Furrier. We'll be in New York City next week on Tuesday. Check us out. We'll be at the AWS office as part of AWS summit in New York City the night before. Cost Optimization is the topic and saving. AWS saves in the cloud event. I'll be there. I'm John Furrier, your host. Thanks for watching.


For any of you who need this right now listen to me You're doing good There's a lot for us all to carry and process and navigate our way through at the moment isn't it in the world So you're doing good rest Take care of yourself Look after your mental health I know that you are loved and that your life matters. Thanks for being here Love you guys


Hello from Pookie and Buddy who, let's be honest, is the true star of the show, aren't you boy? Now today's video is going to go through five things that you need to understand about your friend or family member who is living with depression.  It might be doing the washing up, it might be walking the dog, it might be putting a pair of socks in the washing basket. The tiniest, tiniest things can feel like this massive mountain that has to be climbed and feel completely beyond what is manageable and that can make everything feel out of control and can make us feel completely and utterly useless. What you can do to help with that is actually give a hand with practical tasks. So just come and get your hands stuck in and give us a help with things. Maybe you wash, we dry, doing stuff together is sometimes easier. So yeah, little things feel massive but if we can manage to achieve little things we therefore feel like we have achieved something and that's good. Number two, it hurts. People don't always think about the kind of, it's not just physical pain but emotional pain too but people don't always think about the pain of depression so they think of it as purely a sort of cognitive dysfunction. But when you are struggling with depression, you are experiencing pain sometimes physically and certainly emotionally on a level that feels unimaginable. It hurts so much that you just sometimes wish you wouldn't have to take another breath to continue managing that pain. It's why people contemplate suicide or one of the reasons that people contemplate suicide, it's really, really painful. So if you know someone who's struggling with depression then what you can do to help with that is to kind of acknowledge that this must be really hard, acknowledge that it hurts. But also think about how you would be responding to a friend if the scenario were that they had a physically debilitating illness such as cancer or they had very, very hard flu or something like that where you understand a bit more about the physical ramifications and how painful that illness might be. So yeah, depression hurts. Number three, we're not ignoring you. So what will often happen is that we might withdraw ourselves, become more and more isolated and we may have really good friends who continually try to reach out. You might do that by picking up the phone, by trying to come and see us, by sending us texts or messages on social media. And you might find that you're hitting a brick wall. Please don't stop sending the messages. Sometimes one of the tasks that feels insurmountable is responding to those messages and so we might not get around to responding. But actually when we don't get any messages at all, when we lose that connection with the outside world, that can be really, really tough. So the fact we're not responding doesn't necessarily reflect the fact that we don't care that you've been in touch or it doesn't mean that we're ignoring you. It just means that responding right now is beyond what we can manage at this moment in time. So we're not ignoring you. Please don't think that we don't want to be your friend. Just right now it's beyond what we can manage. Number four is that it's very hard for us to understand why you care. So when you reach out with your kind messages of support and you want to help and you want to listen and you are unconditional in your love and friendship. That kind of creates cognitive dissonance. So it makes a jumble in our head when we compare that with how we feel about ourselves. So often our self esteem is really, really rock bottom. We think we're completely worthless and pointless and there's no point in us being alive maybe. And we have a very negative self dialogue going on much of the time. And then when that comes up against a friend who despite the fact we've ignored all their messages, we haven't been fun for a long time who continues to stick by us. That's really hard for us to understand. Really cannot figure why you kind of keep on being there. And that's difficult for you too because you probably want to help and we're probably not enabling you to help. And I guess the one thing I would say there is just please do try and be consistent and persistent. In the end it will come good. We'll begin to see those chinks. We'll begin to allow you to enter a little bit. It's super hard for us to plan. Now there's a few reasons for that. One reason is that when you are deeply depressed then the idea of making it from the bed to the bathroom can feel beyond what you can manage. So there's that. There's the fact that you can't imagine making it to this afternoon, let alone thinking about what's going to happen next Wednesday evening. And then finally there can be a lot of fear and anxiety that goes with planning stuff, with the potential of what might happen if we were to go out and that kind of thing as well. We also don't really know where we're going to be in terms of our wellbeing and our kind of headspace at the point at which something in the future is happening. So it's really, really difficult to plan. And the way that you can help us with that is to not stop involving us in your plans, but rather to try and find ways of doing things that's in a bit more of an accessible way to us, or perhaps reminding us a little bit nearer to the time and trying to make this sort of a bit more achievable for us. Making some simple adjustments can make it possible for us to attend things we might not have done otherwise. So you might arrange for like a group of a few closer friends to meet up prior to a bigger meet that might be too overwhelming for us, for example. Or you might decide, hey, I can understand you're probably not really feeling up to going out. How about I pop over for half an hour before I go meet the rest of the gang? It's sometimes the small things that make a big difference. So there you go. Five things that it's really helpful to understand about your friend if they're depressed. I hope you found this helpful. I think I could probably list a hundred. If you have others that you would like me to discuss in a further video, then leave them in a comment down below. Please take a moment to like or comment, share anything that you like, and other questions you'd like me to answer or address in future videos. And if you want to be kept updated with me and my now very sleepy, sleepy buddy, subscribe. I hope you liked it. See you soon. Bye.


My name is Jeff Weiss, I'm a 30 plus year IT professional and I've done pretty much every job in our field that you can imagine. I came from the era before DOS so you can tell how long I've been doing this. I've done every kind of networking there is out there and I've worked with all the major operating systems and all the major platforms. Today, my primary focus is Windows, Microsoft Technologies and Virtualization. I'm actually the executive vice president in charge of a bunch of companies but the primary one involved with this is VM training. We provide all kinds of training across the virtualization landscape as well as Microsoft and Cisco Technologies. All of them are boot camp oriented so you want to check out the catalog for all the different boot camps that are available through Career Academy. Now my experience in specific is not only just training but also consulting. So I like to bring a lot of experience to the table when we're doing our trainings. In this chapter one, we're going to cover the overview of what we're going to cover throughout the rest of the course. Like many of the classes you've taken in the past which use a show, do, review type of methodology, we do the same thing. We just call it, learn it, do it, know it. And there are expert tips sprinkled throughout the class so you may want to keep your eyes out for that. We have a certification exam called the Certified Virtualization Expert or CVE. The exam is 80 questions, we give you two hours to complete it and you need a 75% to pass. The exam is actually taken depending on where you are at typically the partner site and it uses the same methodology we use for doing labs. If you need to purchase the voucher for the exam, you can go to VMtraining.net slash cart. Again, you have two hours to complete it and you need a 75% to pass. To get the certification, you need to take both this course and pass the exam. The physical setup of our lab environment is that we have Dell throughout. We have a series of Dell R610 servers. We also have a Dell R810 server, although that may have changed slightly by the time you viewed this course. Storage is all based on iSCSI. We have three separate iSCSI setups right now. One is virtual and two are physical. All our hosts are running the current version of ESXi and vCenter. Right now that's 5.5 and 5.5B for vCenter. We're actually going to be upgrading to update one very soon. The setup of our environment is such that when you do the labs, it's a picture of you up top. You connect through the internet using remote desktop protocol. You're connecting to a terminal server in our environment and that terminal server itself is actually a virtual machine. Everything we have in our environment is virtualized. There are no physical servers other than the hosts which are running ESXi. All we have, including our corporate environment, is there as well and everything is virtualized. For those of you that care about the IP setup, this is a do as I say and not as I do. We have our setup as a one large Class B broadcast based network. Now you wouldn't do that in the real world in a production environment. But you see the slash 16, we use the third octet as a way of actually logically subnetting what we have in our environment. So we have an idea when we look at the third octet, which of the servers we're working with. Now if you're taking the labs, you'll notice the pound sign throughout. That will be the student number, server number, that's assigned to you before you start taking the labs. The X relates to this terminal server number you'll be connecting through. If also you are taking the labs, there are several lab terms you need to understand. The first one is RDP in 2. That relates to the remote desktop protocol. Now we've created these terms so that there would be many standards that are used throughout the labs so that we can be consistent. There are many different places that you'll need to connect to and without some kind of consistency you'd get lost very rapidly. Even with these terms you need to be careful as to which thing you're connecting to and which term we're using in the lab manual. Remote desktop protocol is the first one. That's how you get into the entire environment. Once you're in the environment, we have other terms that we use throughout. DRAC into relates to the Dell Remote Access Card. Since we have Dell servers throughout, we use a remote access card to get into the physical servers. Now if you're assigned virtual servers, there will be no Dell Remote Access Card. In that case you'll be opening a console to a virtual machine. VIC refers to virtual infrastructure client. It's the old term that we use for the .NET or FAT client on the desktop that you would install to be able to connect to either a standalone host or a centralized vCenter. The term to use these days is vSphere client. But we like to say Vic into because it keeps it separated from the term vSphere which is often confused by many people. If you've worked with Putty in the past you know that this is simply an SSH client from which you can connect to any host and get to the command line remotely through SSL. Finally we have console into. Often we need you to work inside a virtual machine or VM. When you do that you need to open a console to it. Since many of our VMs are running Windows you may also have to log into using a normal Windows login. Browse to is simply using the browser. The pound sign is going to be the number you're assigned. The X is the terminal server number that you're connecting to. And yes you need to know the Windows key since we are now using Windows 2012 and you'll need that key to be able to access certain features. Now the last thing on the list is help. And what we're saying here is in the lab manual it looks like there's a dash space dash and then the word help. In reality when you're at the command line you're actually going to type dash dash help. There's no space in between. It was just typed that way in the lab manual for clarity. Other lab conventions used throughout the labs are notes, alerts, hints, important, and stop. Now if it does say stop the reason it does before it gets to the end of the lab is simply that these labs have been written from all the way back in version 2.5 of ESX. As a result there is still some information in there that's great for reference but not needed for the labs. And you'll notice at the bottom of the slide is an explanation. Now normally when you're doing labs you would do step numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and each step would tell you exactly what you need to do. In our case in this particular example you'll notice that step 6 has a description of what you're about to do and the actual steps are the lettered steps below. So if you reach anything in the lab manual that is a number and has letters below it's the letters that walk you through how to do it. Don't struggle on just the numbered sequence above.