Let's talk a little bit about our connected home solution. Yes, so you'll see it here in Q3, we talked about delivery of Z-Wave device control. So from the SecureSmart software today, you can control lights and mocks and garage doors and thermostats. Those are all Z-Wave devices. We talked just a moment ago about the scenes and automation, how we're going to work on that in Q4. But then what's beyond that, right? What's going to be next to come for our connected home solution? And that's going to be reaching out and connecting with all of the other API level integrations. The integrations with things like Nest and IFT and Amazon Echo. We're really excited about what that's going to mean for the platform and what it means to the experience that we deliver to our end users. Okay, so that's some things that we can look forward to in 2018. Scott, let's talk about what future-proof communications means with the Helix system. Sure, so obviously this is an IP first, right? We are all about the Internet port here at IP DataTel. But it's more than that, right? Because we always keep an eye on the ball with respect to what are we going to do going forward. With the Helix device, you're future-proofed in a couple of ways. The first is that it's modular, right? And that means that I can swap cards in and out. So if today's technology is CDMA, great. I can put in a CDMA card and have dual paths. Same with the Z-Wave module. I can add that Z-Wave module and I've got Z-Wave functionality. If for some reason, some way, Z-Wave falls out of favor and mesh Bluetooth or something else becomes the way of the future, you don't have to go reinvest in this hardware. You can simply pop out a card, pop in a new one, and that modular design means that you're future-proof. You can utilize this panel going forward. Okay, fantastic. A lot of interesting things to consider with future-proof communications. Now, you mentioned LTE. Let's talk about the LTE for Helix. Yes, so this is where I get excited because I get to actually announce something. That doesn't happen very often, but this is probably the first time that this has kind of been widely, publicly broadcast. We now have an LTE solution for the Helix panel. It's pretty exciting. One of the things that we found as we were developing our offering on the communicator side of the house was that a lot of other competitor companies, they either weren't delivering real LTE devices. They were kind of pseudo-LTE or they were delivering a device that didn't have multiple antennas. So it was LTE, but it was kind of dumbed down, right? They didn't have the diversified antenna. They didn't have that experience of being able to have great coverage with the LTE solution. So the Helix falls on all of that research and all of the work that we did on that. And you'll have the same thing. There's actually two antennas in here. So if you look at the graphic that we have here, you can see on the top, in the center is a picture of the card with just one of the antennas attached. But if you see on that left-hand graphic at the top, you can see there's one antenna that's kind of pulled up out there. It actually mounts where that red tape is there. And then the other antenna rolls down to the side and mounts in the same position that the old CDMA antenna did. On the card we've got kind of the cellular indicators that we call the link indicators that tell you are you connected to the cellular network, are you connected to the back-end central station. You can see there's real information being delivered from those LEDs. And then obviously you've got your signal bars. So we're incredibly excited to roll out LTE for the Helix. It's something that's from the very first time that we talked about the Helix solution. And we were at the same time talking about the LTE communicators. People were asking about it. So here it is. It's out. So we're effectively replacing the CDMA solution with the LTE solution. All right. And fantastic. Your first product announcement, right? Hallelujah. Great. Okay. Let's talk about alarm signaling notifications and controls as they relate to our Helix. Sure. So obviously we're dual-path. We just talked some time talking about that. But one of the great things about the Helix is this is always on system. And it gives you kind of that instant responsiveness that people are looking for from their apps. So either we go up to whether it's talking about home control or talking about the alarm system. But we also have really advanced network supervision. So all of these transactions, all of the communication between the Helix and our network cloud and the central stations, all of that's monitored. We know within minutes if there's a problem with that device. And then obviously we can deliver notifications around that. And all of that infrastructure enables our smart devices and our secure smart app. Okay. Great. Now this slide is a little bit of a review from our last presentation. But let's talk a little bit about accessories and sensors for Helix. Yes. So one of the incredible things about the Helix platform is the wide variety of sensors that you've got for it and the ways that each of those sensors communicate with the panel. So if you've got sensors that are things like a PIR, an infrared sensor, or the smoke or CO detection, or a tilt sensor, a water sensor, temperature sensors, and your typical window and door sensors, all of those communicate with the Helix over what we call the cryptics network. I think we've got a good slide in here. A couple of slides later, this really kind of breaks out all the antennas. But those are all at the 433 megahertz part of the spectrum. Okay. And they're there for a reason, right? That we're using that part of the spectrum for a reason. And that's because when you're down at 433 megahertz range, that is a really good job putting terrain through windows and doors and walls. The wall. It's a nice, long spectrum. Okay. So there's that. But then it's also broken out, right? Because we've also got devices talking to the Bluetooth radiums and even to the Wi-Fi radios in the device. So each function was separated out. That's a part of the architecture of the Helix. And that's something that a lot of people don't realize. So we're having a deep dive conversation. So I think it's important to kind of break out a little bit. The keypads are talking to the Bluetooth radios. Okay. And the Helitouch, the 7-inch touchscreen device, that's talking to the Wi-Fi radio. Okay. And that design is on purpose. So those things all stay out of each other's way. If I've got a lot of activity happening on a keypad or on a Helitouch, there's no cross talk with that traffic with the sensors that are happening. So it's all by design. Fantastic. A lot of thought went into this. Exactly. That's great. Let's talk a little bit about Z-Wave qualified automation devices for the Helix. Sure. So what we've done is we just completed the capabilities to control these devices. So what we've done is we've put together a list of all of the different things that we've done a full testing regimen on, which means we know these devices work and work well. Sometimes you'll find that you'll see this qualified list. That means that we've done testing, and we've found either that company's implementation of the protocol was a little wonky, or they didn't fully implement the protocol. And so we know that it will work with them, but we have caveats, right? We'll say this piece of functionality works and works great, but because of the way the company implemented something, we don't have this additional set of functionality. Okay. And that's true for, especially for the more complex devices, things like door locks and thermostats. I think thermostats is probably the place where we find that the most really, really high level of complexity. You'll see that of 12 that were qualified, only six, or would be one that we would say all the functions work, and they work well with our system. Okay. It's not a vagary of our system. It's an artifact of the fact that Z-Wave over time is involved as a platform, and you've got lots of different versions of it out there. Okay. Great. Thanks for explaining that and breaking it down for us. Let's talk about the variety of expansion cards available for Helix right now. Yeah. Again, the great thing about the Helix is its modular capabilities, right? And so the translator card enables you to take with a single card and a very low investment in terms of dollars in time, install the card into the Helix, and take over other sensors that already exist in the space. So you're talking 2GIG, GE, Natco, DSC, Honeywell, the full range of wireless sensors that exist. You can put a translator card in the Helix and take over those sensors. So that makes the Helix a great takeover play, right? There's also a Z-Wave card, and both the translator and the Z-Wave card don't live in slot three, which I think I've got a graphic here in a minute that will show the various slots, but they live in slot three. So we also have obviously the Z-Wave card, that's for home automation, home control. We also have a third card that fits in that slot, and that's a combo. It's a translator card and a Z-Wave card, so you don't have to give up the Z-Wave if you need translator functionality. So there's three cards that live in that slot three. And then you'll see I've got LTE listed here. That's because we really, when we look at it, CMA is the last generation technology. We're moving forward to LTE, and so LTE is going to be our offering going forward on the Helix. If you want or need dual-path, LTE is the way to go. And then in slot two, you can populate that with a Wi-Fi card. We have two different flavors of the Wi-Fi card. One of them is for just communicating with the Helitouch device with our seven-inch touchscreen. The other one is if you want to have either a tripod or to replace your Ethernet cable with a Wi-Fi connection to your home network. So there's two different cards there, and it's important that people understand that they do serve two different functionalities and don't get the wrong one ordered. And as expansion cards, the dealers are able to customize this to fit their end-user's needs, correct? Absolutely. That's kind of the whole point here. Between future-proofing and the customization, the whole idea is this. Don't spend more money than you have to, right? Right. If I have a customer and they want the whole shebang, they want everything, great. I can populate all those cards. I can give them a couple of Helitouches. They'll have a Z-Wave. They'll have home controls. They'll have the entire cabinet.  I just need a simple, simple security system, great. We've got that too. And it starts at the same base, the same hardware. But that person that says today, all I can afford is that simple security system, they're tomorrow's whole-home automation user, and they don't even know it yet because you can always go add the Z-Wave card and start adding Z-Wave twice. Right. You could start off very cost-conscious and then upgrade through time. Absolutely. Right. Now, this is, I think, one of the slides that you were talking about. Let's go over Helix architecture. Yes, I know that when we've had this slide and we've talked about the Helix before, this is a, here's the Helix that we kind of move on. I want to actually kind of walk through some of this stuff and dig in a little bit. So slot one, the slot that's on the farthest left, that is the slot that we use for extended communications. We're talking about dual paths. This is where the CDMA card or the GSM card, if you were in some place where you needed GSM, or in this case, the case of the new card, the LTE card. Okay. That's where those live. It's also where the Wi-Fi card would live if you were using Wi-Fi instead of Ethernet as your backhaul to the network, right? Right. You can put all those in that slot. Next to that is slot two. That's the Wi-Fi slot. So you could put either the Wi-Fi card for backhaul there or the Wi-Fi card for talking to the Helitouch modules. Okay. So that's what we use slot two for. And we actually have lots of plans for slot two, so we have other things that we would like to do going forward. And that's part of this architecture, right, is that we can do that. We can say, hey, you know what? I've got the right bandwidth and the right connectivity there. I can go use that for other things later. Okay. And then slot three is for Z-Wave and translator cards. We've already talked about those some, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. But then the other two things I want to point out here is in the top right, kind of off on its own, it's separate-weighted and those long antennas that come out of the top and run off to the side. Yes. Those are the 433 MHz antennas for the cryptics receiver. Okay. So you've got the cryptics receiver and radio up at the top. And then on the bottom, on the right, is where the Bluetooth radio is. A lot of people ask about the Bluetooth radio. It's there for a couple of reasons. One reason is for installation purposes. When I'm installing the Helix, I can use our HeliLink app. It currently works on iOS, but I can use the HeliLink app to connect directly to the panel. And it will share, it will download all the features of the panel. It will tell me, these are all the zones that are installed. And I can literally walk through on the HeliLink app and make any modifications, configuration changes, things like that that I want to do. But that uses a Bluetooth low-energy signal so that as soon as I get a little bit further away, that signal will drop, right? And that's important because I don't want somebody to be able to do that remotely. I don't want somebody to sit outside with a cell phone manipulating my system. Okay. So you're doing this on site? Yes. It's for the installer, right? And it's a piece of software that was written specifically for installers I'm doing it on site. And then also we've got the backup battery. Look, this is a UL-listed panel. And so I see UL-listed. It's a UL-qualified panel, right? Okay. So the backup battery means that we have to have at least 24 hours. This actually gives us a little bit more than that. And then you've got the siren. It's important to note that you can, in software, you can turn the siren off. So some people say, well, why in the world would I want to turn the siren off? Well, what you might do is you might, your situation might be like mine. My HeliLink is upstairs in my game room behind the entertainment center. Okay. And that's not the great place for the siren to go off. And if I've got an intruder, I don't want them to run upstairs and find the HeliLink and yank it out of the wall and pull things, pull the battery out, right? They might do that. They might destroy the panel. Absolutely. So what I can do is I can turn this siren off, but then have a remote siren. And that's actually one of the, to me, one of the great features. I can have remote sirens in a couple of rooms. I can put one in the attic like you've done in the past. And then obviously kind of continuing around, you've got the device enrollment button and the Ethernet port. Remember, we're IP first. So that Ethernet port is really our gateway to the Internet and to the security cloud. Fantastic. Great architecture there. Let's talk a little bit more about HeliLink's security. Sure. So the HeliLink was built from the ground up. Obviously it's a security product. So we took every pain to sort through all of the possible ways that the system could be attacked. And that all starts kind of with the root, with the kernel, the smallest component of the operating system. We designed that from scratch, right? So it was designed specifically for the HeliLink. It's not like Linux or Android. It's not something that, you know, that patching and all those types of things that you kind of think you have to worry about. Okay. Don't need antivirus or anything like that for this thing. But it's, the thing to remember here is that all of the services, everything that runs on it, the only way to modify it is from us. We're the only ones that can touch it. Okay. And it's encrypted. So, you know, a lot of people say, oh, that's bad because that's a closed system. But what we've done is we've designed an API stack in our cloud. So if we need to integrate with other partners, we absolutely can. Okay. And we've got other methodologies to do that. But the key takeaways here was this was designed from the ground up to be hyper secure. Even between the cards, we saw the architecture where we've got the different cards. Between cards, the data is encrypted. It moves from one card to the other to the next card if that is the pathway it needs to take. So on device it's encrypted. So if you think about the system as a whole, it's got no built-in user interface. So there's no way to attack it from a touch screen perspective, right? Even when we've got touch screens, they're separated physically from the panel, right? It's all one built-in thing. And the idea is that your interface is going to be your cellular device or some iPad, your tablet. So that gives us a leg up right from the start. Okay. But the key takeaway here is that literally from the sensor to the panel, from the panel to all of the cards within the panel and from those cards or the ethernet port all the way up to the cloud, all the data is encrypted every segment across the way and it rests in the cloud. So that's really the important takeaway here. Okay. And now on this next slide, you dig a little bit deeper with security. Yeah. So some people want to dig in, and this is a deep dive, so let's talk about how that works, right? And really this is all done using really standard asymmetric cryptography. We took standards that were developed for department of defense and those types of things, and we adapted them to these use cases. Okay. So you've got a set of keys, and those keys are shared and exchanged between the panel and the cloud and between the cryptics devices in the panel, and that keeps all of this secure. And that security is there for a whole bunch of reasons. It's not just there because we want to have a secure panel. It's also, it protects, you know, takeover of those cryptics devices, right? You take that panel and throw another one in, and it all works. You've got a takeover protection there as well. Okay. Fantastic. Let's talk a little bit about the secure smart apps. Yeah. So this is kind of near and dear to my heart. I work on these apps every day, and I spend a lot of time with the developers. So these are my babies. But the main thing for me that is important about the apps is that we always, we are always moving the apps forward, right? We just released, you would never know it, but we just released a new version for Android. And you actually have two choices in the settings. You've got a choice to kind of take a step back and use the old version, or you can change the setting, and you've got a completely new version of the Android app that kind of swipes left and right, and you've got different, you know, the panes and panels that you can use. We're always pushing these apps forward. And it's something that anybody who calls in and says, hey, I'm having a problem with that, I'm going to say, make sure you're on the newest version because we're iterating very, very quickly on the apps. And as always, and it's a core tenant of how we do business, dealer first, right? So you're always going to find a dealer logo in the apps, even though we like to talk about SecureSmart, but SecureSmart's generic, it's generic on purpose, so that the dealer logo can be first and it can be about the dealer app. Fully customizable. Fully customizable. That's fantastic. And we intend to advance these. I expect that into the year early in Q1 you'll see huge advancements in the apps, but that's with lots of incremental steps along the way. Okay, available at the Apple App Store or Google Play. Scott, now I know a lot of the folks out in our audience are already with IP Datatel, but let's talk a little bit about doing business with IP Datatel. Sure, so we've talked as we've gone through this about some of our core tenants, right? We like to talk about being future-proofed, but part of being future-proofed is about having really reliable service. And so IP Datatel is reliable alarm communications. Absolutely. One of the things we like to talk about is universal panel compatibility. Helix is not only on the communicator side, where we've got a huge array of panels that we're compatible with, but also on the Helix side, right? You've got translator modules. We can take over a whole bunch of sensors. We're compatible with an amazing array of devices in the marketplace. We've talked about how simple it can be to install Helix. I think that the same applies for our communicator line. The interactive services, the software, we're one of the few people in the marketplace that can deliver the entire experience, right? Everything from the hardware, the sensors, all the way through the interactivity components, through the cloud, and all the way through to the actual software, the user interface. That makes this unique in the space. And we've focused on helping the dealers, helping them run their business, rather than look how awesome our app is, right? We think our app is awesome, but that's not the focus. And then smart devices. We focus on, because we're focused on your business, we're always trying to eliminate truck rolls and keep your costs down. Fantastic. 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What's up, everyone? It's your girl, Kenty here from Layton Sports Cards and I'm ripping 21-22, Panini Prism Basketball Hobby, 3 box break number 13, Random Teams. Again, here's a look at the random results. You can always find these at LaytonSportsCards.com. Underneath the results tab and the link is also in chat for you. All right, best of luck everybody. Here we go. Again, let's get the full case break starting to get filled up. Again, I believe there were 7 spots to go in that. You mind dropping the link for that one? A full case. So we've got one more three boxer after this and then we'll get to the full case. Joe Weisskamp, manual quickly silver, prismatic silver of De'Aaron Fox. We've got Lakers, Rookie Otto, Joel I.I. Lakers. There is the link for it. If you want to check that out, again, tier random teams, so 2 teams per spot.  We have a Franz Wagner Rookie, Magic, Billy Rookie, a Red, Zyra Williams, Swape, Grizzlies, Bogdanovich, Hyper, Prismatic, Jalen Brown. Got Kade Cunningham, Rookie Base Pistons. Didn't see him in the first 3 boxes. Silver Rookie, Tray Mann for the Thunder. Nice one there. Red, Sir Jabaka, Clippers, Bradley Beale, fearless. Isaiah Todd Rookie, Donovan Davion, Mitchell Rookie. Got Damian Lillard on the Hyper. Got Santiago Dama Rookie on the 75th anniversary to 75, Grizzlies. Nice, love that insert. Zion Fireworks. Isaiah Jackson, Tim Hardaway, Jr. Got Devon the Cell, Hyper. Mindset, Steph Curry, Aaron Sharp. We've got Blue Rookie, Marcus Segaroski, Nets. Speaking of Nets, how about a Jason Kidd Otto? There you go, Nets. That's sick. Don't hang L. Nice, Jason Kidd. That's really cool. Herbert Jones Rookie, Toscato Anderson, Silver, Kemba Walker. We've got Fearless, Silver of Devon Booker. Fireworks, Trey Young. Kessler Edwards Rookie. We've got Red Wave, Thomas Bryant for the Wizards. Hyper of Eric Gordon, Rockets. Charles Barkley, Fearless. Josh Guinea Rookie for the Thunder. Sheet Wallace, Jalen Suggs Rookie, Magic. Kessler Edwards, Silver Rookie, Nets. Jaden McDaniels, Purple, T. Wolves, 75 years of Jalen Green, Rockets. I'm all Murray. Kai Jones Rookie, JT Thor. Got Red Wave of Devonte Graham, Pelicans. Purple Ice Rookie, Joe Weisskamp for the Spurs. It's pretty off-center there. Prismatic Anthony Davis. Austin Arievous Rookie. Silver Derrick Weitz, Hyper Zeezy. Fireworks. Miles McBride Rookie, Zyrowski Rookie. We've got Blue, Kai Jones for the Hornets. Widescreen Yolkich and Paper. That will do it for the first box there. Box number two. Let's see where we are on the full case. Again, still seven to go, everybody. Let's get this filled up. Again, tiered random teams. Seven to go. Full box. Case break. Full box. Breaks after the next break. Cade Cunningham Rookie, Pistons. All here. So Isaiah Todd. We've got Pulsar, Isaac Acoro, Cavs. Orange to 60. Michael Bridges. We call Bridges Sons to 60. Nice. Prismatic Devon Booker. Maybe on Mitchell Rookie. Silver Marcus Smart. Eric Gordon on the Hyper. Rockets. Simonovich Rookie. Isaiah Jackson Rookie. We've got Hyper Prismatic of Julius Randall for the Knicks. And we've got Pacers. Silver Rookie Otto. Sorry, not Silver. Just Base Rookie Otto. Chris Duarte. We go Pacers. Zagorowski Rookie. Zire Williams. Silver RJ Hampton. Fearless Silver of Kevin Durant for the Knicks. We've got Scotty Lewis. Rookie Otto. Hornets. Scotty Lewis. Joe Weisskamp from Zogner Rookie Magic. Got Red Wave Rookie Corey Kisper. Wizards. Hyper of Giannis with his trophies. Again, everyone, let's get this full case of Prison Basketball filled up. Billy Rookie. Nemesis Kita. Silver Rookie. Bill Russell. Celtics Red. Rakes. Just after the next one, it is a full case of 12 boxes. Teared Random Teams. 11-19-99 is Fox. Jalen Suggs Rookie Magic. Stocked in. Red Wave of Devon Vasell for the Spurs. Purple Ice of Jalen Noel. T-Wolves. Kai Jones Rookie. JT Thor Rookie. We've got a Silver LeBron James. Nice one there for the Lakers. Hyper of Wang Zizi. Maths. Miles McBride Rookie. We've got Blue Andre Drummond for the Sixers. Prismatic LeBron. Josh Christopher Rookie. Silver Thaddeus Young. Silver Fireworks. Giannis Antedicumpo. Prismatic Joellen B. Herbert Jones Rookie. Toscano Anderson. We've got Red Wave of Deandre Jordan. Nets. Hyper Lou Dort. Thunder. Pat Fox too. Ooh, we got a Mojo coming up. Kessler Edwards Rookie. Josh Getty Rookie for the Thunder. Silver Jermaine O'Neill. We've got a Laurie Markinen on the Mojo to 25 Cavs. Nice 75 year anniversary of Mutombo. All right, box three here. Last box. Refresh this. Still seven to go, everybody. We've got to get this one filled up. Breaks after the next break. Full case of prison basketball. Teared random teams.  Kessler Edwards Rookie. Silver Robert Williams, the third. Anthony Edwards on the Silver Fearless Rookie. T-Wolves. It's crazy how those are rookies. Tim and Mel are on those insects. We've got Josh Getty Rookie. Yeah, they did. Jalen Suggs Rookie Magic. Royce O'Neill Redway. Marcus Howard Hyper. Prismatic Yannis. Marcus Morris Sr. Isaiah Todd Rookie. Davion Mitchell. Koukouche. We've got Blue Nicolo Vucevec for the Bulls. Nielbo. Isaiah Jackson. We've got Polsar, Kyle Kuzma. Orange Nicholas Claxton. Nets. Prismatic Anthony Edwards. Silver Dennis Schroeder. Hyper of Evan Fournier. Nix. Yannis Fearless. Bobon. Simonovic Rookie. Darren Sharp. Joshua Primo Rookie. Gared. Jared Butler for the Jets. And Otto to 25. Sensational Signatures Rookie Mojo Josh Christopher. Rockets. There you go, Houston. Nice hit. Franz Wagner Rookie. Billy Rookie. Wendell Carter Jr. Firework Silver Ben Simmons. We've got Raptors Rookie Otto of David Johnson. David Johnson Rookie Otto. Got Cade Cunningham Rookie Pistons. Paul Pierce. Red Wave. Vince Carter. Raptors. Alex Caruso Hyper Bulls. Ganns 7 to go. Let's show some love to that basketball. Kai Jones, GT Thor. Silver Rookie of Denalo Banton. Raptors. Blue James Wiseman. Little color match there. Warriors. 75 years in the NBA. Devin Booker. Sons. Jay Crowder. We have a bio. We've got Red Wave. Evan Fournier. Nix. Red. Isaiah Stewart. Pistons. Fireworks. Ross. Miles McBride Rookie. Zaharowski. CJ McCollum. Silver. Kessler Edwards on the Hyper Rookie Nets. Fearless. Devin Booker. And last pack here. Zair Williams. Joe Weisskamp. We've got a shake mill on the 75th anniversary to 75. Sixers. Prismatic the Iron Fox. And base. All right. Quick recap here. We've got David Johnson. Raptors. Josh Christopher. Sensational signatures. Mojo to 25. Scotty Lewis. Hornets. Chris Duarte. Pacers. Jason Kidd. Cool one there for the Nets. N.A. Joel I. Lakers. That'll do it for the second one. We've got one more. Three boxers coming right up.


There are certain things that can exacerbate a sickle cell crisis, and those are usually extremes of temperature, and that is heat as well as cold, high altitudes because low oxygen exists in those high altitudes. Any kind of constrictive clothing or jewelry can preclude a crisis, as well as infections, so we need to make sure we educate our patients about infection prevention, and then pregnancy makes the patient more highly at risk for developing a sickle cell crisis because pregnancy causes more an increase in blood volume in the woman, and then also dehydration is a major cause for causing sickle cell crisis. Please head over to YouTube to check out my full video on sickle cell disease.


Welcome to the Valley Advocate Podcast, featuring interviews that take us deeper into the people and happenings on the local scene. For more podcasts and a closer look at what's going on in the valley, visit us at valleyadvocate.com. Hi, this is Dave Eisenstetter. I am the editor of the advocate. Welcome to the Valley Advocate Podcast, which is a collaboration with Amherst Media. I'm here with arts and culture editor Gina Beavers. Yes, and we are here with Yana Tallon-Hicks, who is our sex columnist. I was going to say sex education columnist, but I can leave that out. Thanks to our sex columnist and relationship therapist. Yeah. Welcome. Thank you. So glad to have you here. So tell us how you got started. So it's a little bit of a long story. I'm a born and bred local, the Western Mass. So I actually went to Hampshire College. And when I started there, I intended to be a creative writing and photography major. But I ended up taking this class called Youth, Sexuality and Education. It's about the state of sex education in our country for young people, which as we know is really bad, which is a big motivator in my work. So I ended up twisting my major that way because we can make our own majors. So I just got really into the idea that sex education is awful and that there are ways for us to make it better. So I really got into that. So with the creative writing, you definitely wanted to be a writer. Yeah, I really did want to be a writer. I was writing since I was a little kid. I would publish books in notebooks. That's so cute. Oh my goodness. They're really cute. Were they one-offs or did you copy them and give us all your people? I had some chapter books that I wrote. My mom's favorite chapter book that I wrote was called The Chubb.  Oh my gosh. So that's going to come out next year under Penguin Press or something like that. You can have a whole new ball game in this thing and be a billionaire. So what happened after you left to Hampshire? So after I left to Hampshire, I ended up going to San Francisco. So I got a grant. I worked with Carol Queen at the Center for Sex and Culture. And then I also worked at Good Vibrations, which is a feminist sex toy store. They are famous for making the Hitachi Magic Wand famous, which as we know, was very important to me. And yeah, I ended up falling in love while I was there. So when I graduated, I moved back. And I ended up living there for a couple of years. And then I also wrote for a national lesbian magazine called Curve while I was there.  I was writing by day. And naturally, those two things kind of went together. Perfect. And then when I moved back to Massachusetts, I just wrote in to the advocate. And I was like, I really want to write a sex column. Like, please let me do it. And they were just like, OK, sure, go ahead. So much easier than you thought. Yeah, it was so nice. And people are like, how did you get the column? And I'm like, well, I did this thing where I asked for what I wanted, which is very translatable to the work that I do. So it's kind of perfect that it ended up that way. And we're so glad to have it. Absolutely. I remember in the advocate a long time ago, there would always be some kind of sex column or something. Yeah, Ask Isadora was there before I came. And we used to read it out loud at my office. And just have such a good time. And I read yours. And I'm just like, she's so thoughtful. She's so thoughtful and so it's so intelligent about this stuff. I bet you get good feedback. Yeah, I do get a lot of good feedback, which is really great and really encouraging.    Statistically speaking, that is like rare.   Oh, something like that. But other than that, I think most people really love it. No, a couple of people have over the years of me doing the column, which has been, I think, seven now over the years, like people have sent in handwritten stuff here. Like I've gotten snail mail and some of the old editors that are no longer here would check in and be like, do you want to open the snail mail?  And I was like, I mean, you have it. So I don't need to see it. Yeah, yeah, that is good. I'm can you talk a little bit about like the state of sex education and what you personally are doing to kind of turn that around? So I mean, right now it's kind of confusing because state by state, all of the sex education laws are different. But generally, I'm hired by private entities in schools. So I don't actually I can kind of skate under the radar as far as what is sort of being funded by the state or the government, which means I get to do all kinds of stuff. So usually that more so looks like I do a lot of consent education for the younger sets, younger being like teenagers, which is often absent. I do a lot of education that includes LGBTQ students, which often it doesn't in state funded sex education. We actually talk about like the pleasurable aspects of sex, you know, in a developmentally appropriate way. But that stuff is so often missing, right? It's all like at the beginning of a lot of my college workshops, I ask them what they've learned about sex in their high school sex education. And, you know, it's all like STIs, the cities and wanted pregnancy, all the risks, which are important to know about. But it's just a lot of like doom and gloom, right? And it's like in reality, kids are very smart. They all have Google. So it's like they're smarter than we were. They're smarter and more resource than we were at their age. And we like to pretend like they live in a box, right?   Like that's like not the driving force. There's like other stuff going on, right?  And there's all these studies. And I've posted a few of them on my website, because they're also great. But there's all these studies like in Norway and Sweden, where sex education is incorporating pleasure, positive stuff, different bodies, LGBTQ students and talking about sex and specifically consent early, early on in developmentally appropriate ways, but early on. And their rates of teenage pregnancy, STI transmission, non-consensual violent acts are all way lower than ours. Wow. So. Yeah. Not shocking. So, honestly, to me, just like popping the bubble that is pretending that these students don't know these things is really important. And I think that goes a long way in kind of like fighting back the stigma of sex and sexuality, because that stuff really sticks with people. Yeah.  You should just like do it if it hurts, whatever. If like, STI has happened, like be ashamed. And that stuff isn't helping anybody, you know, so. That's all. Yeah.  And, you know, I think that it's kind of you're constantly reminding people that like, yes, this does feel good. And yes, we are doing this for fun, and it's not supposed to be this negative thing. Sure. Sure. And sometimes it is. And that's OK. But there needs to be. I mean, it's not OK. But like there's two sides to the coin, right? And we need to talk about both. We can't just talk about what is scary because then we're reinforcing the idea that it's OK, that sex is scary. And that's just kind of like, well, for a lot of reasons. How do the kids take to it? Pretty good. Yeah. So one of the consent workshops that I do the most is called Consent and Cookies. It's really approachable. And like basically what we do, it's like this whole metaphor where we are frosting cookies for each other with decorations and things like that, this whole metaphor about like communicating to get the best possible cookie you could ever want. And we have some little plot twists that we throw in there. Like I always assign like one member of the partner, the cookie building partners, where I'm like, OK, so you are going to be like really pushy. You think that you know what's best for everybody and they really have a lot of fun with it. So like one of the kids will be like, you don't want red M&M. Do you want blue ones? Like I'm pretty sure you want blue ones. And then we talk about it, right? Well, so we're like, what was that like? Like, did you feel pressure? Like, what else could have happened? How could you have dealt with that? Like, what should have this person have done otherwise? And things like that.  They know that we're talking about a metaphor here. And then we kind of talk about how this folds into the rest of their lives. How can you advocate for yourself? How can you ask questions? What does communication look like that is healthy? And there's sugar involved. So it's very motivating and it's really good. It's really good. I think a lot of the time, consent like traditional consent education really demonizes. Like it kind of sets it up like all female students are being protected and all male students are being demonized. And I think that what's happening as consent education in a traditional sense gets more and more popular, which is great. I have noticed that when I go into classrooms to teach like consent and cookies, oftentimes the younger male students are really resistant to it because they feel like they're there to be yelled at. And the women tend to be there in a way that's like, okay, like I don't have a lot of agency in this situation. So by doing this activity, I'm trying really hard to sort of even out the playing field in a little bit of a way where like consent is viewed as something that's mutually beneficial and it isn't just about shielding somebody or making sure somebody else is doing something bad. So if we can look at it, and with college students, we do this like, how does consent lead to better pleasure? And with the younger students, we talk about how does your communication lead you to get the best cookie that you want. What age is the cookie one? I mean, because it seems like it could be a number. Yeah, it's really flexible. So I usually start that workshop with like a slide show and we talk about components of consent and we kind of break it down. We talk about power dynamics and age and all that kind of stuff. But so that part is pretty flexible. So if I'm doing, I've done consent and cookies for college students, so we'll talk more explicitly about sex in that workshop. But for younger students, like I think I'm doing one this spring in Brattleboro and we might have students as young as 12, but usually that's a high school, high school age workshop, yeah, it's really fun. That sounds like, that sounds so beneficial. And the parents I suspect are. Yeah, I haven't gotten a lot of pushback from parents, which is interesting because I always expect that someone will have a problem with the tattooed weirdo coming in and talking to their kids about consent or sex or whatever, you know, but. Is that on your business card? Tattooed weirdo. Tattooed weirdo coming in to talk to your kids about sex. Yeah, that's what I do. That's who I am. That's who I am. That's awesome. What can we do to like change the entire nations that we have more tattooed weirdos teaching our kids about sex? Oh God, I don't know.  Yes, absolutely. It's like a big hustle. And we talked about this a little bit.  I'm just like floating around with my cosmos in my Dior shoes. Just like right in my column once a week and like that'll do it, right? But that's like not how it is.  Exactly, totally. And then the advocate's like $7.00 and $8.00 and $7.00 and $7.00 and $8.00 and $7.00. But it's a hustle. It's really hard. And so like it's great because the sex educator community on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all of those people were also connected. And we talk a lot about how people can support us just by supporting our work, right? So I have some people that are like die-hard supporters, right? They always hire me to teach workshops. They always buy my merch. They're always buying like I just printed a zine called explicit permission, which is all about desire and consent. And they bought like a big old bulk order of that. They're always the first people to buy tickets to my events. You know, people that really back the work. It's important because otherwise it doesn't happen. Absolutely is important. And the people that do have state funding are teaching and like that is valuable too in a lot of ways.  And because we're freelancers, we have a lot more like flexibility.  Have you ever tried to get state funding? I mean, like in California over here, I mean, is any state better to work with than any other? I don't actually really know the answer to that. I have not tried to get state funding.  You'd rather just be Carrie Branchoing. I'd rather just be Carrie Branchoing. So if anyone has that button lying around that I can push. We'll see if we can find somewhere in the office, I'm sure. Somewhere in here. Yeah. And like when you're, like when you're writing the column, like what are the questions that really engage with you? Cause I'm always reading this column and I'm always like, oh man, this question is so great. Like, you know, do you get like a whole pile of questions and you choose like, oh, that's the best one? Yeah, it's actually really interesting. So it's kind of like a not super greatly kept secret that many sex columnists sort of make up their questions. Rumor has it. But I will tell you, we don't have to do that. The V-spot doesn't have to do that. Which is amazing. Like I get plenty of questions. And that's so good to know because I've wondered that. Yeah, you're like, who are these people? With almost any column, you know? It's kind of like, oh, I wonder if that's for real. Yeah, no, they're all real. They're all real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is really cool. That is cool. So I tend to just, I kind of pick them. I try to do them in order because people don't like to wait. But I try to just sort of pick the ones that I feel drawn to that day because I like to put my authentic energy into it. And I don't like to feel like I'm like, ugh, what is so hard. I do feel like it's harder. Well, that's not even true. I've gotten really very into answering the emotional relational questions. And I think I just, I graduated with my master's in marriage and family therapy this past May, like probably six months ago. Yeah, thanks. Congratulations to you. Thank you. So I feel like applying that sort of skill set to the column has been really fun. And I find that I feel like it's feeling like a little fresher to me to answer that stuff, which is great. But I also do really like the good old fashioned like sex toy puns. Any time I could like come up with a good metaphor, I'm like, ooh, yeah, I'm gonna work this metaphor until I'm dead. Yeah, yeah. So anything else you'd like to ask Miss Yana? Yeah, I'm good. Do you have anything to plug? Anything coming up? Oh, your website, number one. Oh yeah, okay, so I have a website. It's YanaTalonHicks.com and it literally has everything that I ever do, ever on it. So that's where you can find my therapy work. That's where you can find, I'm doing coaching sessions online now that are themed that are really fun. So I post all those there. All the columns are there. I have resources on there. There's a photo gallery. I'm on Instagram at the underscore V spot, V like vagina. And that's where you can find pictures of me and my dog, Brewster, who I know you all love. Brewster really powers the bills in our household. Yes, so, well every dog should, right? Yes, pretty much. He's gotta earn his keep, you know? Of course, yeah. Those two scoops of web food every day are really costing me. Yeah, and on like the second and last page of every advocate. Every advocate, and online. And online. And online. That's where you can find me. Well, thanks so much for coming in. Thanks for having me. So much fun. Yes. Bye. Thanks for listening. And don't forget to visit us at valleyadvocate.com.


I first found out about Zack. One of my friends had met him at a concert and asked him to apply to helping the hero.org. And when we received his application, of course, Zack is an exemplary young man who sacrificed for our country and lost both of his legs in Iraq. And so we were thrilled to be able to receive his application and fund this house. And now we're excited to have him move into his home today. Yeah, everybody's here fanning themselves, myself included. I'm about to melt. But we can't even begin to appreciate what you all have gone through to serve this country, to protect the freedoms that we have, to join in a neighborhood gathering like today to say welcome home. Welcome home. And that now has a new connotation. Welcome home. Thank you for everybody for coming out today. It's an amazing experience and I'm happy to be able to share it with all of you today. I love you guys so much. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to be here. You know, it was an amazing day because the Fort Worth community showed up to say welcome home to Corporal Zack Freseno. We are so excited at helpingahero.org to have a great partner in the city of Fort Worth and a great partner with the Fort Worth community. And we really appreciate the city of Fort Worth coming out today and the community stepping up and welcoming home our amazing hero in Zack. And we really hope that other heroes are watching this at home and they send in an application so we can build even more homes here in the Fort Worth area.


From Hollywood, it's time now for Johnny dollar Oh, hi Pat Southern, California my vacation on expense account. I love it now wait a minute you promise full expenses Soon as I clear up the Lamar case one. Okay expenses on it now Yeah, Pat. This is a case that'll make your hair curl Tonight in every weekday night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator yours truly Johnny dollar Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to the Universal Adjustment Bureau Hartford, Connecticut The following is an accounting of expended yours during my investigation of the Lamar matter Expense account forget it. I'm on vacation as far from Hartford, Connecticut Center of the insurance business as I can get Yeah, I'm in La Jolla, California, and I'm staying in a big ritzy motel called El Crescenta alone. Oh There is a girl down here a lot of them in fact, but one in particular Bonnie Lamar her name is Sounds like somebody in show business doesn't it? But she isn't tall five feet eight brunette pretty as the devil And I gave her the line that my so-called business back east consists of nothing more exciting than running a filling station How can you afford to come all the way out here to California for a vacation? To say nothing of staying at the El Crescenta rich uncle Vani died and left me a couple of thousand to do with as I see fit This is the way I see fit only a couple of thousand Gee, that's too bad Couple of hundred thousand I might really fall for you. How can you? Here I thought these last three days and evenings with you were due solely to my Overwhelming personal charms your charm has nothing to do with it Kiss me again anyhow with Vani around Who needed a couple a hundred grand? Yeah, the gal was just about all anyone could ask for and I don't mean for just a quick vacation time romance I'd spotted her the minute I'd landed here at this hotel More like a guest ranch by the seashore Beautiful modern cottages set around the big green lawn with a swimming pool in the center big enough for the Olympics Carports beside the cottages loaded with El Dorados Continentals and a handful of foreign sports jobs and a beautiful big dining room and a building set up to look like an old clippership and Food and service worthy of Oscar of the Waldorf And what was I doing here on expense account remember? I'd spotted Vani the night I arrived from San Diego after clearing up the Jolly Roger matter and set my sights for her immediately Naturally, I wondered what's so attractive a girl was doing alone here. She cleared that up for me at dinner the second night. I Still don't understand why daddy hasn't arrived yet. Oh, he's supposed to join you on this vacation We always spend our vacations together at least we have since mother died a few years ago.  Yes Really a foster child Just as we were about to take our plane some crisis or other arose at the plant We made me come along wait for him Lamar metal products Lamar. Oh, yeah Aircraft components, isn't it South Bend, Indiana? Yes You know how crisis can arrive in a business like that. Sure. I imagine so government orders That sort of thing. Yeah Well, you'll probably hear from him before oh Oh, yeah, wait, would you like to get us in your seniority a telegram for the lady? Oh Excuse me, John sure Dear what's the matter? It's from my father and I don't like it. Listen Must delay departure a few more days. Drs. Orders nothing to worry about stay there in La Jolla until I join you love daddy But doctors orders There's nothing wrong with daddy he had a new insurance examination just a month ago They gave him a clean bill of health What company? Try mutual something or other, but what difference does it make? There's something wrong about this. I'm sure of it. Oh, why don't you phone him? Yes? Yes, I will my cottage is right next door here. Come on It was none of my business, but the name of try mutual rang an old familiar bell. Yeah, I'd handle a lot of cases for them Anyway, she wasted no time and putting through a call to her father's private number in South Bend. Yes operator Thank you. I don't know why I didn't go to my own cottage to make this call my pleasure I guess I'm a bit upset by this wire. I don't blame you. There's nothing wrong with daddy They can't be well, maybe just made the mistake of mixing too many oysters with too many martinis. Hello Hello Daddy, what's this telegram you sent me? Oh I see. Oh Will you had me scared for a few minutes? Oh Yes, fine Mm-hmm Mm-hmm Yes, if you must know the truth I have Johnny dolly Very careful girl. Oh, he says he runs a filling station, but I don't believe him. I'll tell you all when you get here and hurry darling, please All right, daddy. Good night dear Thank goodness, you don't know how close your guess was Johnny. Oh, it was just a slight case of indigestion Plus the fact he wanted another day at the plant. Well, good Now let's go back to the dining room and see what kind of indigestion we can accumulate Three days and nights and as much fun and relaxation as I've had in years a Wonderful place to stay a private beach that I'll wager a second and on on the Pacific coast Swimming water skiing skin diving sailing everything This was it or so I thought Why make any bones about it? I'm a sucker for romance And believe me it wasn't hard to be serious with money Yeah This is nice, isn't it? Mm-hmm I I don't believe in love at first sight Do you uh No No, I um But it is nice, isn't it Hey Oh gal It'll be much too easy to fall in love with you, honey And I mean the forever kind Well, would that be so terrible?  M-o-n-e-y money You lose I have nothing Except what my father gives me, you know allowance and for clothes and things and You know So you see I'm just as poor as you are Only you aren't You wouldn't be staying at a place like this another thing, you know absolutely nothing about me I know you don't make a living by running any old filling station Johnny dollar at the sign of the flying red horse Stop it.  Don't say that Johnny even in fun Had to fill him up Yes, they're mothers Oh dowager's trying to marry them off to another wealthy family Add the name Lamar to their end of the social register listing Ensure the fortune with another fortune. I thought you said you were poor.  That's all they are I've seen better men among the servants and chauffeurs the little mexican boy who helps one of the gardeners And the young businessman there in south bend in other cities Maybe earning just enough to make ends meet but but men Ambitious hard-working willing to get somewhere on their own merit and Well, you know what I mean Why don't you marry one of money? It isn't as easy as that Johnny. You know it Maybe I was waiting for someone like you to I still don't believe in love at first sight. Good Let me snuggle again Right before we started this horrible discussion The sun's going down though, honey. This little mission the rocks is going to get cold Yeah, look everybody else has left the beach once now go. I like Kiss me And I thought I'd have to ask for it Johnny What do you do?  Oh this spoilsport. Well, maybe it's worth me a dad here. Have you come? Oh, I hope so Come on, Johnny Pedro Pedro Over here. Here we are here What's up? Oh, senor senorita telegrams telegrams, but they went for the senor was mark rush So I rush your boy Pedro here No, I'll tip you when we get back to the motel stop on my cottage. Johnny It's what's wrong, honey. It's from our family doctor. I'm afraid Here you read it. Sure. I'll be glad to regret having to inform you Your father died a few hours ago Suggest you return to south band immediately It was a few minutes before vani could pull herself together enough to walk from the beach up to her cottage Where she could pack her things for the trip back to south bend I told her I'd make the necessary plane reservations for her But what I didn't tell her was the contents of the wire. I'd received the one mark rush It was from pat mccracken at universal adjustment bureau a request to call him at his home in hartford immediately I put through the call Well killed joy. What's on your mind? Johnny? That's right. Hey, you got my wire. Why else do you think I'm calling? I tried to get you her. Well, that was my doing they might have spoiled a beautiful romance Well, what's on your mind? Johnny you've got it. Oh, no, you don't and you've got to come back to hartford right away. What now listen I'm just south band. That's right Oh, I get it. This is a gag or did you know I'd figured maybe on stopping over there anyhow How much million now here's our star to tell you about tomorrow's intriguing episode of this week's story tomorrow A set of circumstances arise that are enough to keep a man from trusting even himself Join us. Won't you yours truly? Johnny dollar Truly johnny dollar starring bob bailey is transcribed in hollywood It is produced and directed by jack john stone who also wrote tonight's story Be sure to join us tomorrow night same time and station for the next exciting episode of Yours truly johnny dollar roi roan speaking


Buying a home should be an exciting journey and exciting exercise especially for first-time home buyers and existing home buyers. Buying a home is a very serious investment that one needs to, it's a wealth off and one should be careful when buying a house property. So, one of the things that one should be able to look out for is historical trend of that property that one is interested in buying yet. So if you look at the historical trend you will see how often or how many times that property has been sold, how long has the previous owner tested in that property. So it should be able to fall into that trap that buying someone else's problems has been passed on to you. And most importantly Zama, when going into a property it's important that we should be able to identify some of the defects that will be visible and some that are not visible. So those type of defects are normally referred to as patented defects and latent defects. So patented defects are defects that are be able to visually be able to be seen on the properties. Once you do your property visit of viewing, you should be able to look at the properties, be able to identify items such as cracks on your windows and doors. So you will be able to understand that what sort of properties and damage that you are putting yourself into.


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How much pride does the bullpen take as a whole in a night like tonight? You know, I think a lot of pride obviously, you know, what Greeny did obviously low starting the game for us too in the second one. But what Greeny did was really, really impressive and part of the reason why we won that game.  You want to go in there and do your part, do your job and keep it as close as possible because we know our offense is going to score runs. And if we can keep it close and good things are going to happen for us, how different is it for you knowing it was only a seven?


Welcome to the Department of Development Studies. Here at SOAS we support students to gain the knowledge and critical skills to tackle the biggest challenges facing today's global community. Our undergraduate program, BA Global Development, is an interdisciplinary social science degree focusing on how societies change, debates about what constitutes progress and interventions aiming to bring that about. It explores global challenges and how policies and ways of living in one part of the world impact on other parts, as well as local experiences and what poverty and progress feel like to different people around the world. By the time you graduate, you will have cultivated a deep knowledge of the causes of and responses to poverty, marginalisation and vulnerability in the global south and the processes of dramatic social, economic and political change. You'll be taught in a department that is ranked second in the world for the Development Studies discipline by a specialist faculty that uses interdisciplinary approaches working across a wide range of contexts and research areas. Development at SOAS brings together a collective of diverse, reflective and engaged classmates and peers who are passionate about social justice and grasp the importance of understanding regional and local context. We have a vibrant student life bursting with opportunities to play, debate and network. Our graduates go on to work for NGOs, charities and social enterprises such as Amnesty International, Medicine Frontier, international agencies like the UN, the World Bank, universities, research think tanks and governments around the world. Study at SOAS and join a department and an institution that sets out to challenge the status quo and equip you with the knowledge and critical skills to tackle global challenges.