Imagine you are chopping somebody's neck that's taller than you in the same technique. Now I want you to go down. Do not go do it too close to your body. Do it out at a 45 degree angle. Great. Now I want you to double time going straight. One, two, three, four, five, six. Try to keep contact as much as possible because you're going faster. You might have less contact, but just make sure your arms are relaxed and you're doing this in a smooth way. Keep going. Now I want you to do as fast as you can for 10 seconds. One, two, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.


Bahá'u'lláh's revelation is vast. This is a statement made by the Universalist of Justice a few years ago in a message to the Bahá'u'lláhs of the world. It added that his revelation, in fact, calls for a profound change, not only at the level of the individual, but in the structure of society. And reminded us of Bahá'u'lláh's own proclamation, that the object of every revelation is to affect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions. It's to this broadest of themes, I would assume, that the association and the conference is bending its energies. Yet somehow, you know how Bahá'u'lláh admonishes each of us to immerse ourselves in the ocean of his words. I have to say, I barely know how to get my toes wet. So I feel quite ill-equipped to comment. But I trust in your graces and nonetheless will venture to offer a few brief words that I hope will be of some use, even if they're all things that you know already, which is probably the case. Now, I'll say that in my capacity serving on the Board of Counselors for the Americas, I bring you the love and greetings of the Board and each one of the 19 counselors who serve on the Board of Counselors. And beyond that, goes without saying that what I'll share is as an individual and shape my own personal experience, which is necessarily limited and doesn't represent the views of any institution in particular, except for the words of the House of Justice that I'll use liberally. Now, the experience that I have is chiefly related to the processes related to the expansion and consolidation of the bi-community, some of which has provided me with opportunities to be engaged in what may be considered very small examples of social action and some very preliminary opportunities in public discourse. My comments, I also wanted to say, will be based on personal study, of course, of the bi-writings, but also of the written works and talks given by many others, especially Mr. Paul Lampol, Dr. Hala Arab and Dr. Michael Kahlberg. And what I hope to share are some perspectives and tentative suggestions that hopefully will contribute to stimulating thoughtful reflection on the theme of the conference. So, thinking about this lofty ideal that the House of Justice has reminded us is our mission. The first question, and it's possibly, how can we take some steps towards this lofty ideal? Now, fortunately, the Universal House of Justice in that same message shed some light on how the Baha'i community is engaged in actually leading toward this vision of Baha'u'llah. Of course, it will take centuries, but I find it encouraging to be reminded of these words. And they write, the work advancing in every corner of the globe today represents the latest stage of the ongoing Baha'i endeavor to create the nucleus of the glorious civilization entriined in his teachings, the building of which is an enterprise of infinite complexity and scale, one that will demand centuries of exertion by humanity to bring to fruition. There are no shortcuts, no formulas. Only as effort is made to draw on insights from his revelation, to tap into the accumulating knowledge of the human race, to apply his teachings intelligently to the life of humanity, and to consult on the questions that arise will the necessary learning occur and capacity be developed. Now, what strikes me from these few statements at the House of Justice is that drawing on insights, tapping into accumulating knowledge, and applying the teachings intelligently, as they say, will all require intellectual development. And applying the teachings intelligently to the life of humanity will also require the Baha'i community to become increasingly, albeit gradually, involved in the life of society. It's impossible to see how it could be otherwise. It seems to me that this is an area that could benefit from our further exploration, especially examining more closely what is meant by the intellect, and particularly its implications for community life. Now, before going any further, I found it helpful to recall what the House of Justice also said about this phrase, involvement in the life of society. They said a few things, but this statement in particular, where they said further involvement in the life of society should not be sought prematurely. It will proceed naturally as the friends in every cluster persevere in applying the provisions of the plan through a process of action, reflection, consultation, and study, and learn as a result. Involvement in the life of society will flourish as the capacity of the community to promote its own growth and to maintain its vitality is gradually raised. It will achieve coherence with efforts to expand and consolidate the community to the extent that it draws on elements of the conceptual framework which governs the current series of global plans, and it will contribute to the movement of populations towards Bahá'u'lláh's vision of a prosperous and peaceful world civilization to the degree that it employs these elements creatively in new areas of learning. So I'm sure you're familiar with this statement. It's very rich, there's a lot to it. But maybe one question that is before us right now is what is this conceptual framework? What are those elements that the House of Justice is referring to because they seem critical in understanding not only the work that we may be engaged in, but how it's going to in time lead to that or the centuries to come to building that new civilization. Now, I wouldn't in the least presume of course to claim to be able to even clearly articulate all the elements of this conceptual framework. But I was thinking that perhaps there are two very closely related concepts that may be useful to highlight for the purposes of our discussion. And in a sense you might even say they're one concept but let's say for the moment they're two that are very closely related and these are knowledge and learning which I think are very much at the heart of the theme of the conference. Already the House of Justice has touched on these concepts of course in several letters and other individuals and agencies have elaborated on them not only as they apply to expansion and consolidation but in several areas of activity, especially social action and participating in discourses of society. You may know of course that there is a recent statement by the Office of Social Economic Development in November 2012 and there are numerous books published by various authors, talks that have been given. So much has already been said and written. But perhaps here rather than delving too deeply into the various perspectives that are offered by each of these sources, maybe we can start with a summary of what I'm going to suggest are a few basic statements on knowledge and learning that may be helpful to our discussion. And maybe if I can indulge you to consider these as premises for some tentative suggestions that I'll make a bit later and it's left up to others to examine the validity of these premises. So I'll just state them and we'll take them as assumptions and then we'll go from there. So the first statement is that human beings are social. That knowledge is central to social existence and its generation is necessary for advancing civilization. In fact, one could say that the generation, application and diffusion of knowledge defines at least in part the purpose of human beings individually and collectively. The House of Justice has said, access to knowledge is the right of every human being and participation in its generation, application and diffusion, a responsibility that all must shoulder in the great enterprise of building a prosperous world civilization. Each individual according to his or her talents and abilities. And then they made this very profound short statement. He said, justice demands universal participation. Now this question of justice itself is maybe another element of the conceptual framework, a critical one in fact, especially since we are seeking to establish a just society. But we'll come back to this question of justice and its relationship to participation, but for now, let's examine a second statement which is that participation in the generation, application and diffusion of knowledge requires a process of capacity building. And what the House of Justice had said about this is that capacity rises to new levels, of course, as the protagonists of social change learn to apply with increasing effectiveness, elements of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation together with the contents and methods of science to their social reality. So then maybe this defines another statement that all three protagonists must participate in a capacity building process and do so harmoniously. Now the vision one can say is found yet another statement of the House of Justice that, and this is an example where they said the individual who wishes to exercise self-expression responsibly, participates thoughtfully in consultation devoted to the common good, and spurns the temptation to insist on personal opinion. That the institution appreciating the need for coordinated action, channeled towards fruitful ends, aims not to control but to nurture and encourage. The community that is to take charge of its own development recognizes an invaluable asset in the unity afforded through wholehearted engagement in the plans devised by the institutions. Now within this beautiful description which then they go on to say their relationship constitutes a matrix within which world civilization gradually matures, one relationship that seems particularly important at this point in history and about which we have now gained a few insights is the one binding the individual and the community. Indeed, what we're finding increasingly is that often the most effective contribution of an individual are those that are made in the context of the collective and that the healthiest communities are those in which the powers of the individuals are multiplied in collective action. The capacities of the individual in this way develops as each one works towards the betterment of the community and the community develops to the extent that it provides environments conducive to the well-being of each of its members. Now the key again here seems to be the conceptual framework that governs the current series of global plans. Because the House of Justice said that the framework promotes the transformation of the individual in conjunction with social transformation as two inseparable processes. Now at the same time much remains to be learned in practice how these relationships mature over time. Okay, so the combination of these statements the centrality of knowledge to social existence the need for a process of capacity building and the necessity of the participation of all three protagonists for social change maybe point to another statement and that is that the mode in which all must operate is one of learning and just so that because that word is used a lot nowadays let me just be clear what I understand how it's being used in this context it's ongoing simultaneous iterative and mutually reinforcing study consultation action and reflection and this particular mode this mode of learning the House of Justice says fosters the informed participation of more and more people in a united effort to apply Baha'u'llah's teachings to the construction of a divine civilization. Now having defined these few statements I can offer maybe just a few thoughts about their implications for what we might call scholarly pursuits especially as they relate to the generation of knowledge and learning in action. Now each one of us can examine the forces operating in society consider the discourses that are prevalent in the social spaces in which we're present and then try to introduce some aspect of the teachings that seem relevant that's at the level of the individual but then even at the level of the individual how do we develop our capacity to do this? I think this is an important question to consider and I wonder if this is actually a question I don't think there's an answer to it but it's something that the association can be of particular assistance especially as we try to promote learning across a wide range of disciplines. Now something that struck me is that I was trying to think of that how how do we develop capacity? It was something maybe at first for me at least it was a bit surprising as I started to really think about it and look more deeply into some of the statements of the House of Justice. House of Justice in one of its messages made this interesting statement. They said those who serve in these settings and these are these small settings where Bahá'ís and others are learning to build community. Both local inhabitants and visiting teachers would rightly view their work in terms of community building. A process that seeks to raise capacity within a population to take charge of its own spiritual, social and intellectual development. I'll note here this reference to intellectual development. Somehow this seems particularly relevant I think to scholarly activity which intrinsically seeks to advance knowledge and especially so for Bahá'ís. You see because I think that some of the implications in particular include the notion of social or collective generation of knowledge and the imperative this is the interesting part the imperative of action as a necessary component of learning at least in this context. Now I base that last suggestion about action on another statement of the House of Justice where they said that understanding the implications of the revelation both in terms of individual growth and social progress increases manifold when study and service are joined and carry out concurrently. There in the field of service knowledge is tested, questions arise out of practice and new levels of understanding are achieved. Now I have to emphasize that I'm not suggesting that all intellectual development is reduced to the work of community building. Rather what I'm suggesting is that the work of the Bahá'í community in this respect is opening perhaps new vistas that we may want to consider. So let me give a couple of examples here. And again these are just some initial thoughts. What if we thought of how to foster a clear and compelling vision of the collective generation of knowledge in relevant social spaces such as in academic or disciplinary spaces. So we'd have to think about how we do that. Now as a starting point I can offer maybe two simple examples among many that could be conceived. Each involving let's say a group of Bahá'ís and others who are like-minded who wish to pursue scholarly activity alongside each other. So the first example might be that they would focus on generating knowledge through a specific research program within a given disciplinary framework. The second would be for them to focus on generating knowledge taking the form of learning in action about how to contribute to the evolution of broader discourse within each of their disciplines respectively. So this could involve individuals who are working on diverse research programs of their own but who begin to align those research programs with a shared goal of challenging erroneous assumptions that they find within their fields. Now clearly both have merits and could even overlap to some extent. But I wonder if the second example represents a broader and fuller conception of the collective learning and action process that the House of Justice is beginning to define for us. It also seems to me a little easier to understand in that case that second example what the action reflection process would look like because it would be directed not simply toward a single research program but toward learning about contributing to discourse. Now I suppose in the first example learning action could also take the form of action research which is also methodology found in the social sciences and has clearly some merit. But yet it still seems to maybe represent the narrow conception of that learning and action process. Now even though we're talking about collective learning this doesn't of course invalidate the contributions of individual scholarly activity in the least. Which in their own right could aim to contribute to the discourses within a discipline or even an interdisciplinary space. What I'm trying to raise here instead is the possibility of enhancing our ability to pursue also collective generation of knowledge and to do so in a way that multiplies the powers of each of the participants in that process and to become increasingly coherent in the areas of Baha'i activity. Now if it makes sense to begin to conceive of a group of people contributing to discourses within and across various disciplines then again the question of how we do so becomes critical. And I'm going to suggest here the drawing on lessons learned from the work of the Baha'i community in the area of expansion and consolidation could provide some helpful insights. With one might say that the primary knowledge being advanced for Baha'is concerns from a certain perspective the application of spiritual principles to the construction of a just and harmonious society. Now in that sense let's go back to that statement where we said one of the concepts is justice and the statement that justice demands universal participation. That same letter earlier on the House of Justice this marvelous statement it says that if the friends persist in their efforts to learn the ways and methods of community building in small settings in this way the long cherished goal of universal participation in the affairs of the faith will we are certain move by several orders of magnitude within grasp. So it seems that the capacity to learn in a certain way is being developed profoundly in these small settings. So maybe the question is there anything in that experience that helps us. Again not to reduce everything to community building but maybe there are some insights that we can gain. I think clearly the overarching method at least in that setting is one of study action reflection and consultation which action actually often occurs simultaneously they're not even sequential but it's the expression if we were to carry that let's say let's say we were to carry that methodology into how we learned collectively to contribute to discourses its expression depends on the area of activity and even can vary within an area of activity. For example in this case within different disciplines it could look different. What study means to a sociologist will necessarily be different than it does to an engineer. One of the questions of a lawyer is clearly going to be distinct from that of a physician. Further in the case of inter-disciplinary work it may look even different than any of the component disciplines. In any case many questions about method and approach especially will need to still be addressed. But perhaps the experience of the Bahá'í community with learning about expansion and consolidation may be of some value in this respect. It can for example provide some initial thoughts or insights into the methods even as they are adapted for each specific field within which knowledge is being generated. It can help clarifying that evolving conceptual framework that the House of Justice referred to which in turn will ensure that this area of activity becomes increasingly coherent with other areas of activity being pursued by the Bahá'í community and others of like mind as we work together to construct a new civilization. Now all of this especially early in the morning probably sounds quite big. So let me draw on an analogy from the institute that may be of some value in illustrating what I'm suggesting. And I do so because of what we said about community building about participation, about justice and the generation of knowledge and because of this statement of the House of Justice. It writes specifically the courses of the institute are intended to set the individual on a path in which qualities and attitudes, skills and abilities are gradually acquired through service. Service intended to quell the insistent self, helping to lift the individual out of its confines and placing him or her in a dynamic process of community building. See because I think at the end of the day on the one hand what I've said so far is that community building can help us learn about discourse but also you can't really build community in the end without it at some point participating in the discourses within the community. So let's examine the institute and the example I want to use is the study circle the tutor and the curriculum and how these two combine within the context of the institute. House of Justice described in one of the messages the study circle as an environment conducive to the spiritual empowerment of individuals who will come to see themselves as active agents of their own learning as protagonists of a constant effort to apply knowledge to affect individual and collective transformation. It will enable people of various backgrounds to advance on equal footing and explore the application of the teachings to their individual and collective lives. I think this sounds like a very good environment to build capacity for collective learning and action. Now much also depends on the tutor to help create such an environment and in doing so fostering a process of generating knowledge and in order to do so the tutor's own qualities and attitudes and skills will need to be constantly enhanced and then there's the question of the curriculum which in the context of the institute goes far beyond the textbooks that are used but it rather in one way of thinking about it is that provides the content and structure of the discussions among the participants. Among other things it relates their experience applying the spiritual principles being explored to concrete acts of service which in turn then further enrich their discussions of those same principles. Now if we look at this analogy for me I gain new insights and appreciation for how the framework for action exposes to the participants to environments where spiritual principles are being applied thus facilitating their application in other environments as well including one could say spaces where academic discourses are being shaped. In the area of collective generation of knowledge this may be easier to see in some disciplines than in others. Even in theoretical disciplines although it may not be so apparent at the beginning I think it still is important because theory and thought and therefore particular generation of knowledge are shaped by experience. So perhaps the purpose of this kind of activity would be to contribute to discourses within academia let's say and a significant contribution of such activity may then be more at the level of process than content. So another way of putting this is that the quality of the environments we create, the approaches we take the methods and instruments we use are perhaps of greater value at this time in history when our collective understanding of the profound implications of Baha'u'llah's revelation are still so very limited than any particular statement we may make. How we learn to apply the teachings in the context of academic discourses may be more important than the application itself at this time. Now along the way as experience grows the House of Justice in a recent letter has said that those aspects of the conceptual framework pertaining to intellectual inquiry in diverse fields will become clearer and grow richer. So now this I think is going to take at least one or two generations to develop such an important contribution. And in that sense then a critical ability that has to be developed is to help young people who has the House of Justice in that same letter said have been shaped by the institute process at the dawning of their maturity will set their footsteps firmly and action that will extend throughout their academic studies and beyond. Now in this respect and I'm almost out of time otherwise I would share with you some things from the youth conferences that have been happening. But in this respect as you know of course there's 114 youth conferences called for by the House of Justice across the globe. Is there a few minutes to share? So I've had the pleasure of attending most recently four of them and we're more than halfway through the 114 conferences. And I just wanted to give you a glimpse and I got some permission to share verbally some of this. I wanted to give you a glimpse of the material because all of the conferences as you know they were called by the House of Justice the materials even were prepared under the at the request of and under the direction of the House of Justice. So the material that the youth study conference is in small group settings. There's very little time spent in plenary like this. So the material and keep in mind that the age range of the conference is 15 to 30. So now imagine 15, 16 year olds studying this material and taking their first steps in the path of learning and action. And in one of the in one of the sessions they're exploring this theme called mutual support and encouragement. And it's it's very touching because the material actually tells a story of four friends and how they're learning to learn together. And I'm just going to read for you I hope it's okay I'm just going to go a few minutes over time with this. I'm just going to read for you the exchange of these four friends. So as they're talking about various things they said one of them says I was just thinking that we need to learn a lot about these really profound ideas. Let's take ourselves as an example. We're all animators, right? Now think of what it takes to properly support a group of eager enthusiastic and energetic junior youth for three years, sometimes longer. Then think about building and maintaining really good friendships with other animators and constantly helping each other. Can we become good at these things if we're not prepared to learn? Sanjeev's words send the group into silent reflection again. I think the place to start is what Carolyn said earlier, having absolute faith that if we're sincere God will assist us. Sampa says after a while. We also have to be humble and accept that we do not know everything, that's Rayan. I think we are learning how to learn. It really helps that we often study together, support one another with the groups and regularly meet to reflect and consult. Carolyn says I think we're also learning to listen to each other. A friend of mine used to say I know you heard me but did you really listen to me? Sometimes people give greater value to eloquence and not so much to listening carefully and without prejudice. People can better support each other when they really listen to each other. Sanjeev says listening is also related to how we consult. Abdu'l-Baha says that consultation must have for its object the investigation of truth and that man should weigh his opinions with utmost serenity, calmness and composure. I think part of learning is being sincerely concerned about truth rather than the mere voicing of personal views. It's of course okay to have personal opinions as Carolyn but they must be expressed in a way that invites rather than stifles the views of others. I have to say that when we meet for the reflection meetings and talk, that is how I feel that all our thoughts are appreciated and that you guys really want to know what everybody thinks and feels. I'm learning to be like that and I think it's just great. Now, this story is touching in itself and one can see the seed of a group of friends that are truly learning together and just to let you know that in the story not all of them are members of the Bahá'í community. It's made clear. But I just wanted to point to one question. So there's a series of questions for reflection and here's one of them. It says the conversation above highlights the importance of fostering strong bonds of friendship among people who serve together. What do you regard as a true nature of friendship? How would you determine which friendships are helpful and which ones are detrimental to the progress of young people? So see how little by little these young souls are being nurtured to think so deeply, so systematically, but then not just to think. To actually act, to study, to act together, to consult, and in a word to learn collectively. You see, successive generations of young people will, as the House of Justices have said in that same letter that I think you will receive will have to wholeheartedly address a wide range of intellectual challenges, overcome all pitfalls and obstacles, and render service for the betterment of the world. In the decades ahead then, a host of believers will enter social spaces and fields of human endeavor. Undoubtedly this is an arena pregnant with possibilities and one in which an important contribution can be made. A vision that illumines the array of possibilities is brilliant. And so I want to end with one recent description given to us by the House of Justices that brings great joy to my heart and I hope it does for you as well. I'll end with these words of the House of Justices. It writes, While it is true that at the level of public discourse great strides have been taken in refuting the falsehoods that give rise to prejudice in whatever form it still permeates the structures of society and is systematically impressed on the individual consciousness. It should be apparent to all that the process set in motion by the current series of global plans seeks in the approaches it takes and the methods it employs to build capacity in every human group with no regard for class or religious background with no concern for ethnicity or race irrespective of gender or social status to arise and contribute to the advancement of civilization. We pray that as it steadily unfolds its potential to disable every instrument devised by humanity over the long period of its childhood for one group to oppress another may be realized.


Upgrade your smart phone with Appalachian Wireless. Get $300 off selected models. Capture memories. Stream and stay connected. Put the latest technology. Visit one of our stores or AppalachianWireless.com right now. The town of Mate 1 will be holding the annual Magnolia Fair Festival starting Wednesday, June 21st and running until Saturday, June 24th. Magnolia Fair has been going on for 50-plus years. There was a break in the schedule for approximately, I'm going to say, five to eight years. After COVID, the mayor at that time and town council was able to get the funding back for the fair. The festival will host many exciting attractions ranging from Carnival rides to concerts and even a petting zoo. The festival will conclude on Saturday evening with a fireworks show. I think it helps our businesses in town and it gives people something to do and we're just excited to try to build it and bring more for the people each year just to make it better and build it back up to what it used to be and just get the community excited. The Magnolia Fair Festival will take place from 5pm until 11pm Wednesday through Friday and 1pm until 11pm on Saturday and there's a $15 gate fee. For more information about the event, you can visit the Magnolia Fair Festival Facebook page. For Mountaintop News, I'm Kelcie Dean.


This is an image of the Ghost Nebula that I captured last fall and finally finished processing a couple weeks ago. I printed it out here at 300 dpi, and at arm's length I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. The details, the color, the composition, they all look just as I had in my mind's eye, exactly as I planned. And this is a bucket list image for me. A close-up image of the Ghost Nebula is one of a handful of images that I've been thinking about for years. So I should feel this great sense of accomplishment, but instead all I feel is disappointment. And I know the reason. The reason is I've inadvertently become a full-on pixel peeper. And for anyone that's not familiar with this disease, it can infect any photographer, but I think astrophotographers are especially susceptible to it. When you become a full-on pixel peeper like I have, you can't enjoy the image as a whole anymore. Because you know that if you zoom in far enough, there's a technical fault holding this image back from its true potential. And that technical fault could be any number of things. But in this case, the technical fault is a common one with astrophotography. These stars are not round. They are misshapen.  And you might be thinking, that's nuts. Who cares? They look round enough when you look at the whole image as it's meant to be seen. Not zoomed into 400% like I'm showing here. And I mean, I agree with you, but you have to understand it doesn't matter. For me, pixel peeping becomes this obsessive thought pattern that I can't escape once I know there is a technical issue with my image. And it genuinely feels like the only path forward is to burden this image, move on completely knowing I'm not going to be happy until I can fix that technical issue. And then that loops right into another disease that astrophotographers can catch very easily, which is gas. Gear acquisition syndrome. And let me explain how this syndrome works. Let's say I didn't know why my stars weren't round. I actually do think I know, but let's pretend I didn't know why. And so I go online and I go on the forums. I go on astro bin. I go on Instagram. I go anywhere where there's more experienced astrophotographers that maybe can help me. Maybe even ones that use the same telescope as me. What's the problem? Why are my stars so bad? And I get several answers, maybe a few different answers, but there seems to be a consensus forming. They all say, Oh, that mount you use, the Skywatcher EQ6R. That's a bit small. You're a bit under mounted for the Ascar 130phq. And so all you need is a bigger, more expensive mount. And then my star shape problem is going to be solved and that may be true. But even if I fix this issue with the star shape, will I be finally happy with my next image? Unfortunately, I can already tell you no, I won't because you see when you become a pixel paper and you have gas, gear acquisition syndrome, there is always a new problem and that new problem can always be solved with a new piece of gear. And there is no end to that. It's this unending cycle. And for me, and I think many others in the hobby, this is what astrophotography can feel like sometimes. And there are obviously some big issues with that. If you're constantly feeling disappointed with your images, it can be hard to maintain enthusiasm for the hobby. And then if you're constantly buying new gear, you can quickly justify draining your life savings on the new mount, the new telescope, the new camera, whatever is coming out you know, this week. And what I've painted so far, it may sound like a pretty dire situation and you might be thinking, why does anyone pursue astrophotography at all? Well, I've been thinking about this in respect to myself and I realize there have been periods where I've been much happier with what I was producing and it's not because the images were necessarily any better than they are now. It really just came down to two things. One, I wasn't comparing myself to others. Instead, I was only comparing the quality of my current images to my own past images. And I think that can be a very healthy thing to do. I think you'll find when you do that that you always can appreciate the progress you've made in the hobby. And then the second thing that made me happier is I was committed to just one rig. Whenever I've committed myself to not changing anything out from night to night, keeping with the same camera, the same mount, the same optics, the same filters for month after month after month, I've been able to focus on making the best of that setup. And I think that's when I've actually grown the most as an astrophotographer. When I've slowed down and said, I'm not going to spend any money, I'm going to try to make the best possible image with what I have in this moment.  I'm always wanting to review the newest telescopes and lenses and filters and cameras and mounts and everything else that comes out. Okay, I've gone off track now, because what I wanted to say, I do actually think I know why my stars are triangular, and it comes down to my own laziness. I know quite well that when I put an Ascar 130 PHQ and the three counterweights and all this other stuff on soft ground, the weight of it all can make the tripod sink into the ground unevenly. This throws off polar alignment, then the autoguider has to work harder, and you get ever so slightly misshapen stars in each subexposure. But when you combine all of the data together over multiple nights and different filters imaging on both sides of the meridian, your stars end up looking triangular, because they're misshapen in different directions. And I could have avoided all of that by just remembering to put down some bricks or concrete blocks to stop the tripod from sinking into the ground. It's a very inexpensive solution that I didn't do, but here's the thing. There are hundreds of things like this in astrophotography, things that we do or forget to do that cause small technical issues that hold our images back from their highest potential. So pixel peeping isn't all bad, and I know I've been harping on it for the whole video up until now, but the truth is you can often figure out inexpensive solutions that don't lead to gas gear acquisition syndrome.  Because each little fix that you figure out compounds until you're getting really good data out of your setup, as long as you're not changing too many things. And you don't improve in that same way by just buying new gear. For example, if I had just gone out and bought a new heavier mount, set it up on the same soft ground, I would have run into the exact same problem or even worse. And maybe next I'd think, oh, well, well, I guess the problem isn't the mount, it must be the telescope. I need a new telescope now. But because I tried setting everything up on concrete bricks and found that this rig was perfectly capable of getting round stars, like in this image of M81 and M82, I have now used pixel peeping to my advantage. I've internalized an easy fix and know that this rig is perfectly capable of rendering round stars across the field at a 1000 millimeter focal length if I put in all these little fixes into place. But knowing all that, am I cured from pixel peeping and gear acquisition syndrome just because I know what the real problem is and I found a solution to this particular problem? No. Unfortunately, there's always going to be new products that seem interesting. And it's very hard for me not to feel like some new piece of gear is going to be this X factor that brings my images to this next level, even though on a rational level, I know I have everything I need already to take world-class images. I don't need any more gear. And I guess I'll share this. It's all gotten more confusing for me with doing astrophotography YouTube as a career because sometimes gear that I want for the channel, like a full-frame monochrome camera with small pixels, that would be really useful for really showing the differences between different telescopes at the extremes of their image circles and really sort of drawing comparisons. But that's not something I personally want at all. I have no interest in that really because I know that a full-frame camera with small pixels is a nightmare for pixel-peepers like me because there's just so many factors that go into making that work. The main one being tilt can be a nightmare with a camera like that. It's just a whole can of worms, and I usually avoid it. But I'm still toying with getting one because I think it could be useful for making my videos better, the reviews especially. So I've lately felt this struggle between where the YouTube channel is leading me versus where my personal passion in astrophotography would lead me. And something I've been thinking about regarding that is I really want to get back to having a dedicated personal rig where I can just not change anything out, take months or even years to fine-tune it, and just work on my passion projects with it, my bucket list images. So I'm very excited that I'm actually going to be constructing a backyard observatory on my property here in New Hampshire this summer, and I'm going to put in two piers, and one pier is going to be just for me. I'm going to put whatever mount telescope and camera that I'm feeling most in tune with, and I'm going to just stick to that, and probably not even talk much about that rig on the YouTube channel because it's my personal thing. And I'm just going to go after my bucket list of images that I've always wanted to get and really just concentrate on personal growth in the hobby with that rig, with that pier. And then with the other pier, I can test whatever needs testing, continue offering my shootout reviews and other mainstays of the channel. And so even though this video maybe was a little negative, I don't know, but don't worry about me. I have a plan for how I'm going to handle all this and hopefully break out of this cycle that I felt like I'd been in. And if you're struggling with either pixel peeping or gear acquisition syndrome or both, and you want to, you know, share publicly, let us know in the comments. And I hope this maybe can be a little, the comments section can be a little positive support group, maybe with some ideas for how others have broken free and gotten back to just enjoying the hobby and their images that they're making. Well, till next time, this has been Nico Carver. I wish all of you clear skies.


What is going on guys, today I am back with another Destiny video and today I have top five WTF moments of the week. Now guys if you do enjoy the video leaving a like seriously does help me out and if you want to be with a chance of bagging some silver simply drop a like on the video only they comment down below. Winners will be picked and announced from my discord server linked within the video description so join that server people. So guys if you have anything amazing to send in and you think it will be top five worthy it can be a funny clip, a fail, an epic pvp streak absolutely anything send it into the email address linked within the top of that video description ok so let's get straight into this top five. In at number five we have a clip sent in by H04 Nova when a server to makes his own way to fall in heaven and at number four we have a clip sent in by next Fizzle. I am actually confused into what is actually happening here. Someone please try and explain this to me. In at number three we have a clip sent in by just so cruel this is possibly the funniest thing I have seen since playing Destiny absolutely hilarious. In at number two we have a clip sent in by Liar on fire so you guys have probably seen that beast that lurks within the waters of Titan. You know the one if you stand by Solon and look into the ocean you can see the tail of a water beast come out of the water. Here we have a much better view of what this beast is damn that thing is huge. In at number one we have a clip sent in by BlackBout2015 here we have something real strange eight men in a single raid what is going on here. This is literally a glitch I doubt but you won't happen a serious game breaker. I also actually have seen nine people in a single raid two if you search YouTube for that you will see it absolutely crazy it would make the raid so so much easier. But yeah guys that is the end of this top five WTF moments of the week if you enjoyed the video leave a like really does help me out if you are new around here and enjoy daily Destiny videos be sure to subscribe if you never want to miss a video I upload hit that bell button next that subscribe button to receive email notifications of when I do upload but thanks as always for stopping by and people hopefully I will see you on that next one.


Hey, Lohan, welcome to Stand the Energy Man here on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm Stan Osserman from the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies, and I wanted to wish all the veterans out there a happy Veterans Day weekend coming up. And if you know any veterans, give them a big hug or kiss as appropriate. And if you don't know any veterans, go out and find one. They're really neat people. So we have a show. We're starting a little bit early today. We have a show coming up that is fraught with just current events that surprised us. You know, as we came on the air and I started to talk to my guests this afternoon, we got Mike Strisky, who lives in New Jersey, but does a lot of work in California. So he's coming to us from California right now in the midst of all the wildfires that are going on. And he's literally caught up in the middle of all of it, so he's actually calling in from a friend's house. And we can't even get a Zoom connection with him because he doesn't have his computer equipment. It was all part of the casualty of the fires that are going on. So Mike, thanks for joining us today. I really appreciate it, especially with all the stress going on over there and things that have been happening. But thanks for joining us today. You're welcome, Stan. Like I said, this cause is so important even in the face of disaster. The word still needs to get out. Yeah. And you made a comment earlier that the climate change piece is important and that just kind of drives home the importance of clean energy and going carbon free as soon as we can. Yeah. I mean, as the weather patterns are changing right now, we're seeing severe storms and severe droughts. I'm noticing it back in New Jersey and I noticed it here in California. Over the last 10 years, the seasons here in Southern California are drier than they've ever been. In New Jersey, they've wetter. We've had the wettest year in history in New Jersey with all the rain. I didn't see the sunlight for more than a couple of weeks in the Northeast. And the rains, normally we would get light rains. Now we're getting monsoons. In California right now, that's the biggest story for anybody who's been watching the news. Here in Thousand Oaks and Malibu, we had the shootings yesterday and then the compound that we had the fires last night that burned for 14,000 acres, including, you know, my home at the Calamigos Ranch.  I mean, people are trapped on the Pacific Coast Highway, not able to get out. The fire is being driven by 50 mile an hour winds with zero humidity in it, which means that these fires are very fast moving and they have a lot of fuel to burn on.  Wow. It's just absolutely incredible. The air quality is miserable out here. I can't see the sun from all the smoke that's in the air. But it just goes to show you, you know, we're starting to see that the climate is changing and, you know, the more and more carbon we put up into the air, the more the weather patterns are going to change and wreak havoc, the storms are going to get more powerful and natural disasters are going to become greater, hence we need to start changing our ways, you know, to think that man couldn't do anything to the environment. For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. And for the first time in history, you know, we have two of the largest populations in the world, India and China, you know, helping us throw a lot of carbon up there. So we got to get off of fossil fuels. We got to get into renewable sources and use the big nuclear ball in the sky that shines every day. And, you know, the hydrogen economy is the only thing that's going to be able to turn the ship around and send us the other way. And you're only making pure oxygen and water for your energy. The planet will heal itself a lot quicker. You know, I have to comment on California that they are very proactive in figuring out all of the problems with the hydrogen economies by being the pioneers for this. They've gone through a lot of growing pains with the hydrogen fuel cell technology. Not so much as the vehicles, but a lot with the infrastructure. You know, right now they didn't build stations that were big enough and they had a lot of vehicles that, you know, they sold more vehicles than they had fueling stations.  And Toyota's playing a huge role in this. Right now, you've got hydrogen refueling stations, five of them opening up in the northeast and some of them are already opened and you'll have some more in the next couple of weeks. So we're starting at both coasts and we're working toward the middle. But the good news is, is it's happening. Everybody's starting to get online and knowing the batteries are not the solution. You know, it's going to be like Betamax and VHS. You know, you're going to find out who's going to win out in the end. You know, when you can fill the car in five minutes and you get the same amount of juice out of it each and every charge for 25 years, you know, it's really the cure for the disease rather than the treatment. Right. But we're working in the right direction. And it's just going to take everybody to start voting with their checkbooks to make this happen.  You can go out and buy a Toyota Mirai with free fuel for three years right now for a $300 lease for $56,000, either of which is still, you know, they're giving you a almost a free car when you count in the price of the fuel for three years. So they're putting in some heavy incentives to make this happen and they're getting a lot of feedback from the early adopters on part of the, you know, Toyota Mirai's Facebook pages. So we get to hear what everybody's experiences are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And that's how you work out problems to get this technology implemented. So far, you know, everybody in the trailblazers and, you know, we're making it happen. You know, I'm doing a lot in New Jersey. I bought a Toyota Mirai that I'm taking around to all the schools and government agencies in the Northeast. They've logoed the car with all the components as where they sit in the Toyota Mirai. So when we take them out to schools and organizations, they can see where all the parts and pieces are located. So we have the fuel cell, which is under the seat, the motor controller, which is under the hood. And you have the battery, which is up above the rear seat headrest. So all of these things are, you know, we're educating the public. Not that people don't know what fuel cell vehicles are and what they can do. So education is obviously the first, you know, place that we're going. And then, you know, implementation will be the second chances are in the next five years, you know, if the guys will be getting their licenses next five years, we'll be driving a fuel cell car or at least have the option to it all the dealerships. Next week I'm going to be going to another conference here in California that is concerned over making renewable hydrogen. So, you know, if we can make it from solar and wind, we're on our way to really starting to change the planet. Right now, Texas is the energy capital of the world as far as renewable energy, let alone fossil fuel. They have one of the best sun exposures for solar. They have a huge amount of landmass and they have the biggest amount of wind, you know, of any other state in the nation. And all of that is going to waste right now because they're not harnessing it.  If they were making hydrogen with all that, putting it into the pipelines, you know, they could supply the whole entire United States off the existing infrastructure. So all the keys are there, all the solution is there, the will to do it is all we need. Well, we're paralleling you here out in Hawaii. We're doing the same, we've got the same kind of things going. We already have Marais on Island. I just got notified last week that I'm on the list for one of the first Marais. So we're just waiting for that to all step into place. We've got a small consortium started to head up some hydrogen infrastructure here. And so we're right along with you and we're in step with what you're trying to do in New Jersey and in the Northeast. For those stations in the Northeast, are they doing electrolysis or are they steam reforming or are they similar to the stations in California or what? So, you know, Air Lequid is putting these in with Toyota. So right now the short stick and the cost, the most cost effective right now is to do steam reformation. Since New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation, I mean, five stations will do the same as 30 stations in California. Plus we're on the Northeast corridor, which connects all the other states. So basically the whole Northeast corridor is the size of the state of California. So it won't take that many stations in order to put the infrastructure in. In addition to that, since we're an oil refining state, hydrogen has been made there, you know, since the turn of the century. So, you know, they're used to making hydrogen for commercial uses. And, you know, for fuel cell vehicles, it's a quick loop as almost all the refineries have a steam reformation process or a hydrogen process as part of the refining of oil petroleum, natural gas, etc. So they just throw in some pressure swing absorption and clean it up then? Yeah. OK. Yeah, steam reformation. So, you know, what they're also doing here in California is they're building a very large digester system and sin gas where they're actually making hydrogen from biomass. So they're taking all the waste in the garbage and they're going to do something like 2000 kilograms a day hydrogen that's going to be refueling all the ports, all the trucks in the ports. So, you know, we're seeing a lot of things going on in the fuel cell market where you have Nikola, which is the truck manufacturer. They just sold 800 fuel cell trucks to Anheuser-Busch and many other companies, you know, predated sales and they partnered with NEL in order to put the refueling infrastructure in.  So all of this is all in motion on large and small scales. Things like graphene are going to reduce the cost of the fuel cells along with non-noble metal catalysts like nickel and cobalt. All these things are coming as material science is advanced and nanotechnology starts to get integrated into the manufacturing processes. So, you know, unlike batteries that had trillions of dollars invested in it over the last 150 years, the fuel cells at the very beginning of the learning curve. So it's, you know, kind of compared to like the first cell phone that came out and the iPhone of today. There they look nothing alike. So there's a lot of room for improvement. We're going to see it. You know, the big advantages of the fuel cells obviously is the energy density and, you know, you're not paying a weight penalty. You're not carrying around two tons of batteries where if you're doing a semi truck, six tons of batteries and something that goes bad every five years and ends up in the landfill because it's 100% non-recyclable. The fuel cell cars are 96% recyclable and that's a huge advantage. They fill up in five minutes and you're going to get 25 years of use and you're not dragging around two ton battery. The only byproduct of these cars is basically water.  So all the right reasons to do this are in place. You know, as far as I'm concerned, you know, going down the path of the electric vehicle, vehicles right now are basically giving oil another 10 years and we don't have another 10 years.  Yeah, most of the power is coming from an electric grid that runs off coal or oil and things like that anyway. Right.   You know, there are certain diseases of the life we have to cure and energy is one of them. Yeah.  It's just like the drug companies.  Yeah. Well, I tell you what, we're going to take a quick break here and come back and talk more about the actual, instead of treating the symptoms, going for the full cure in about 60 seconds. All right. All right. I'm Jay Fidel, ThinkTech. ThinkTech loves energy. I'm the host of Mina, Marco and me, which is Mina Morita, former chair of the PUC, former legislator, and Energy Dynamics, a consulting organization in energy. Marco Mangostorf is the CEO of Provision Solar in Hilo. Every two weeks, we talk about energy, everything about energy. Come around and watch us. We're on at noon on Mondays every two weeks on ThinkTech. Aloha. When I was growing up, I was among the one in six American kids who struggled with hunger. And hungry mornings make tired days. Grumpy days. That kind of days. But with the power of breakfast, the kids in your neighborhood can think big and be more. When we're not hungry for breakfast, we're hungry for more. More ideas. More dreams.  When kids aren't hungry for breakfast, they can be hungry for more.  Hey, welcome back to Stand Energy Man on my lunch hour with Mike Stritsky. Calling in from California, his second home, at least once he rebuilds a home that he just bought there. Apparently, the wildfires are going crazy again over in California. And it's time that we get our heads wrapped around how to fix that problem. So Mike, what are some of the things in California?  Well, the big things that are going on in California is now they're gearing to go to renewable energy for the hydrogen. That's a big push because you've got to pull the carbon out of the picture. Right. So things that are secondary like making it out of biomass, which is carbon that would normally go into the atmosphere anyway, is preferable over virgin carbon, where you pull it out of the ground and steam reform it from natural gas. So that's what a lot of the environmentalists are arguing about. And they're right. But you have to be able to get the machine built with the technology that's most cost-effective because new technologies are expensive until they get mass production in there and enough people behind it. So we're at the point right now where it's going to take everything. I tell all my colleagues that work for different companies that there are no competitors right now unless we start to make money. We all don't win, then nobody wins. So everybody, that's why you're seeing Toyota and Honda and Mercedes and everybody working together to get this out there to take the automobile out of the environmental equation. And we're at the point that we can actually do that. I've been driving this Toyota Mirai. I drove it to Vegas and back. There weren't enough refueling stations. So I brought my own hydrogen with me to fill it. We're using the same hydrogen infrastructure right now that they're using to do the forklift. My personal feeling is that if everything goes down to 5,000 pounds rather than 10,000 pounds, you're going to get this technology out there a lot quicker because it's going to be at a pressure that's much more manageable for the technical, general, gas distribution population that they're used to working with. How open is Toyota for that? Because I know that Chris McWinnie was trying to convince Toyota that his system can do 5,000 PSI and do a half fill for a car. But Toyota was kind of resisting that a little bit. Are they open now? I don't know if they're open now, but I think that this is going to happen with or without whatever Toyota feels because, obviously, because of the cost difference and because they're putting in infrastructure for these forklifts. I mean, really, all you have to do is add one more tank. As far as hydrogen goes, whenever you double the pressure, you double the storage. So yeah, obviously, they want to get as much in there as possible. And they want to keep the refueling infrastructure as a specialty company. And I'm not in total agreement with letting them have a monopoly on that. By going to 5,000 pounds, it opens it up to a lot more players. And it opens it up to home refueling at that point as well. So I'm building a home refueling station at my house right now that we're going to be able to do four Mirage.  So I'm filling all my Toyota Mirage with solar hydrogen from the Hydrogen House project. And that makes a difference. I have the only hydrogen refueling station in New Jersey right now to fill these vehicles. And I probably have the only one in the country that's doing it off of solar hydrogen. With the exception of Stone Edge Farms. Stone Edge Farms does have a solar hydrogen refueling station using Christmas equipment.  And how much battery storage and how much hydrogen storage at what pressure to give us an idea of what a home setup would be like. So yeah, I have 27 kilowatts at the house, which I backfeed quite a bit. I have three or four hydrogen vehicles of various vintages. So I have a hydrogen fuel cell lawnmower. I have a hydrogen fuel cell Polaris Ranger. I have a hydrogen fuel cell boat. And I have two hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, all of which I power off of my 27 kilowatts worth of solar. I have one proton electrolyzer that generates 2.2 kilograms a day. I have 120 days in storage. I store about 125 kilograms in my system at any one time. The house runs on an energy cycle. So during the spring, I use my 27 kilowatts to fill my 12,000 gallon propane tanks with low pressure hydrogen. By the end of June, I'm finished. I backfeed with my solar back to the grid 25 of the 27 kilowatts till the end of September. And then I'm neutral for the fall. And then I siphon off some of the hydrogen at night for my geothermal heat pump that heats the house during the winter time. And then the cycle starts all over again. The battery storage I have is 1 and 1 half days worth of storage. And there's 120 days in hydrogen. So basically, for all the short round trip storage, we use the batteries, which is what batteries does best. They do short high current storage. The fuel cell doesn't kick on until it hits 20% depth of discharge on the battery.  And I've had there since 2004, the exact same battery pack. So if you treat things right, everything works perfect. And it's been 13 years now. My house has been off the grid, and we've done others as well. 2015, we went public. We're the only hydrogen fuel cell company in the world, integrator company in the world that does integration. And we've done celebrity homes and just regular residences for people using our toolbox technology. So all of this is happening in real time. So we're looking for people that are going to vote with their checkbooks, people who can afford to do it, people who want to be energy independent, people who care about the planet. And we need them to purchase this equipment and make a statement. The ones we've sold so far, these are people that want to lead by example and lead by doing something, not talking about doing something. You can have the best ideas in the world, and they're dead brain cells unless you act on them. So this whole life is about what you do, not what you talk about doing or fail to do. Right. So let's spend, we got about a minute or so left. Let's spend the last minute talking about Stonehenge Farms and Craig Wooster's work there. He passed away a few weeks ago and maybe kind of highlighting his contributions to that end. Yeah, Craig was basically another mate. We basically walked along the same lines. I've known Craig for three and a half years and I took a trip with him when we drove the, our Toyota Mirage down to Vegas and back last year for SPI. Your viewers want to check it out. It's a front page on my website. But Craig was a doer. He put together the Stonehenge microgrid project. They had Ford Toyota Mirage. They had a 25 kilogram storage and 12 kilogram electrolyzer driving their hydrogen storage. End of it, they had saltwater batteries. They had a capstone micro turbine. They were experimenting with everything. He operated his nonprofit the same way I operated mine. We made sure that all the projects that we worked on and completed, we taught the student interns so that we passed this technology on. Now, whatever gas that's left in my tank and Craig's tank, he devoted to passing the technology and paying it forward. He was a great pioneer. He was a very unselfish person. He was very smart and he was very devoted to the cause of bringing renewable energy to the next generation and to leave something behind and teach his kids and grandkids the right thing to do in life. He taught people, he showed people how to live. He didn't tell them how to live. And he was lucky enough to have a magic load over at the Stonehenge Farms funding the whole thing which was absolutely great. I was up at the memorial service and said a few words and he was very much loved and he'll be very much missed. Yeah. Well, I'm really proud to have had the chance to meet him and I know we're all gonna miss him and we appreciate his contributions towards effort that all of us are really pushing. And is Stonehenge pretty much safe from the current fires that are going on? I haven't really checked. I know there's been fires in Northern California. I knew they had one of the farms burnt down last year. So, when you live in Southern Caler or Northern California, you're always subject to fires. It's one of the things you live with. It's like living in a hurricane zone. Yeah. So what's your next steps there in California for your hydrogen house? I knew you're kind of at a setback right now. What are your plans for pulling together some funds? We're gonna be opening up a hydrogen house in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway. We've already secured the building and we're in the process right now of building all of the duplicate equipment I have at my hydrogen house to move out there. We've already been in contact with Pepperdine to get student interns involved in helping me run the nonprofit out here and building some of the equipment that we'll be doing demonstrations in California. So I'm gonna kind of pick up some of the slack that Craig left behind to keep the legacy moving forward. So that's been a big focus. Like I said, back at my home in New Jersey, we're doing student outreach programs. We're working with the public service gas and electric internship program. So we'd like to get 27 interns involved in this type of technology. So we're teaching them how to fish, not how to eat fish. So I'm continuing those programs. So it's gonna be education, outreach, demonstration projects on both coasts. So we're gonna start at either end and work through the middle. And we're incorporating new technology as we go as it becomes available. So we're looking for as many people as we can to sponsor the effort. So if any of your listeners are so inclined, they can go to the hydrogen house project, make a donation or get involved in some of the stuff we're doing. Terrific, Mike. And we appreciate the work you're doing, the work being done at Stone Edge Farms. And we'll keep tracking you and talk to you in a few more months and get caught up on how things are going out there on the West Coast as well as we recover from this. But thanks for your time today. I appreciate it, especially with everything going on out there that you could spend some time with us today. And you'll be in our prayers with all the folks in California on these wildfires. And you're right, we need to be focusing on hydrogen and coming up with a real solution here quick. We need to cure the disease, not treat it forever. Yeah, well, thanks again, Mike. And we're gonna sign off for now and see everybody next week on Stan Energyman. And Allah, until then.


So here we have a sample of a few fish that we got from you can get these fish by electro shocking or saining or just pure angling. Anyway, we have these fish here. The reason we got them out here is we're going to measure them and make sure that their ratios and sizes are pretty well balanced because you don't want too many large fish because that means all the small fish are being eaten by the large fish and you also don't want too many small fish because that means that they're stunted and they're not reaching full maturity. So we're going to start with measuring. First thing we're going to do is we're going to turn on our scale, then we're going to hook it to the bucket, then you're going to look at how much the bucket weighs. Once you've got that, I got 1.7 pounds. Whenever we've got the fish in there we see that the weight is 1 pound 14 ounces and what you'll do from that point is just subtract the weight of the bucket from the weight that you've got all together which is the 1.14 ounces and you'll get the total weight of the fish and you'll record that. So the first thing also you want to make sure you do before you handle the fish is you want to wet your hands because they have slime all over their body and you don't want to get that protective slime off of them, especially if you plan on returning it to the pond. So here we're going to measure it in millimeters. In this instance you've got 220 millimeter brim here. So the way we usually handle bass is the easiest way for me and most people is you grab them by the lip. You want to make sure to watch out because they have that sand papery teeth and that can hurt your thumb sometimes anyway. You'll get right below their teeth and you'll hold them up and down like that. A lot of people like to turn it and that's fine if you use your second hand and make sure your hands are wet so you're not hurting the fish or yourself but if you're holding it with just one hand you want to make sure it's up and down so you're not putting too much pressure on the jaw.