Thank you so much, Dr. Willie, and thank you for the blessing of your son, Nicholas, who does such a great job with us. There's so much I want to say to speak on this theme of St. Joseph, Guardian of the Brightness of Christ. One thing that I want to begin with is to really thank you and encourage you for the theme of this conference, St. John Bosco. We're living in a time when we really, I know for myself and I've spoken to many people, I'm sure many of us are aware of his vision of the church in a terrible storm and the pillars, the anchors that stabilize the church as a ship in a terrible storm. Where we find ourselves now? The anchors, the pillars are Christ in his Eucharistic presence and the Blessed Virgin Mary. I know that for all of us, those pillars are strong and significant, and that is the light and the leaven, the strength that we need to share with the people that we serve. Let me say very clearly that it humbles me to speak to all of you who are catechists with various degrees after years and years of study. Of course, we've all learned that we really never stop studying the mystery of Jesus Christ, the mystery of our God, the mystery of our Catholic faith, but you as catechists are degrade people. You have studied hard. Many of you right here at Franciscan University. I have, because I'm a bishop, they give us these two D's after our name, DD, Doctor of Divinity. I haven't earned it. It came with coordination, sort of a bonus prize, I guess. Maybe in a sense, I'm called to earn that by serving the diocese, by serving the church, but I wanted to be very clear that I don't claim to have the catechetical degrees and expertise that you have, but I do have a love for Jesus Christ and his church, and that's what drives me, and I know that's what drives you, but I wanted to begin with that sort of disclaimer because I don't really claim to approach all of this in a very academic way, but as a man of faith, a man who is called to be a successor of the apostles, imagine for yourself as catechists having that label. Talk about daunting, and so please do pray for the bishops to be true shepherds. It is more challenging than ever, but when we are challenged by serving Christ, we look at him on the cross, so I just want to clearly acknowledge that I don't claim to have your degrees, but I do have a love for the Lord and a desire to serve and a willingness to continue to grow, and maybe that's the greatest gift that I have, that I can bring all of you, is a continuing hunger to know the truth more deeply. Dr. Willie gave us some great reflections, and that image of heaven from St. Anselm reminds us it is always beyond, it is always further away than we can grasp, so as I talk about this theme of St. Joseph, guardian of the brightness of Christ, what I also want to share with you is where does that come from, guardian of the brightness of Christ. There's a hymn that I love, I won't inflict it on you by singing it, but probably many of you are aware of this hymn, and I'd like for you to kind of let it echo through your heart and mind as we reflect on St. Joseph. The hymn is brightness of the Father's glory speaking of Christ, brightness of the Father's glory. I love the beautiful praise and worship music that was offered earlier, and if we pay attention, so much of that is about light, is about brightness. It mentioned diamonds and the sparkle and the joy of our life in Christ. That hymn inspires me to look to Christ, brightness of the Father's glory, a brightness that is beyond our imagining, and I think we always have to really embrace that. As Dr. Willie was speaking, it reminded me, even as I knew what I was going to speak on, the idea that it is always brighter than we can imagine. That is what you long to share. That's the fire in your belly as Catechist. I know, I know many wonderful Catechists, and we have a desire to teach and to share that brightness that we never quite, I can speak for myself, and probably for all of us, we never quite get there. I can tell you, I've been a priest for 36 years, and I love preaching. I love giving the homily. I love to have the chance to share my own reflection on the Word of God. But I can tell you, I've never felt like I got there. I never felt like I really said what was in my heart, because it really is always beyond us, and maybe that's the beauty, to remember, as Dr. Willie said so beautifully, heaven is beyond. It's beyond what we can fathom and what we can embrace. And as I reflect on St. Joseph, I think that's what I hope to remind myself of, and remind all of us of. Here is a man, a real man, a man of fidelity to the Hebrew Scriptures, fidelity to the people of Israel, a true Israelite, an inheritor of the royalty of the family of David. But apparently, we don't know that much about St. Joseph. Some of the great saints and mystics have filled in some of the blanks, at least in their mystical reflections and revelations. But the Word of God tells us very little, but it tells us enough to know that I believe St. Joseph as the guardian of the Son of God does guard the brightness of the Father's glory. And what I would encourage you, we're all aware of the really difficult journey we've had in the past couple of years. It's been alluded to many times, even as we gather this evening, we need to remember that brightness is with us now. And in this year of St. Joseph, I'd encourage all of us to reflect on the reality that St. Joseph continues to guard the brightness of the Father's glory in Jesus Christ. To guard that brightness that for all of us, there probably been moments when it is dimmed, at least for a moment, a moment of fear, a moment of concern, a moment of deep confusion, or a moment of anger, whatever the darkness that encroaches. Let's remember that what we're speaking of is not something in the dim mist of history, it's right now. St. Joseph, in the mystery of our faith, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, in a sense they are all guarding the brightness that glows so brightly in heaven. That's why we rejoice in the opportunity that I had to celebrate the Eucharist right here this evening when we approach the altar of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of love that He has given us to know that He is here, really present now in our world and in our lives. That is St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary and all of the saints guarding the brightness of the Father's glory. And in a very real sense as Catechist, you are the ones guarding that brightness as well. I think we can truly say that, as I spoke to some of the leadership this evening when we had dinner, you are on the front lines. If you are involved in catechetical work, there are many people pushing against the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But we know it is a truth for humanity. The Son of God has come to all creation for all time, for all peoples. So let that fire of love of Christ in your belly continue to burn brightly. And I hope that as we reflect on St. Joseph, he can really inspire each of us to really know from the past and for now. The brightness of Christ is as bright as ever. The light of Christ shines with us in the Word of God, in the sacraments, in the teachings of our Catholic faith. One thing that I've tried to emphasize over the past couple of years, this is good news. I'll mention something from my younger years. I'm 62 years old, so for many of you, I'm the old guy in the room. For others, we're sort of in the same place. But if you're about my age, when I was in high school, I remember it was just a New Testament and it had newsprint on the cover. It was a paperback handed out to us as high school kids. And it said, good news for modern man. It still is good news for modern man. And I think we'd all agree within all the confusion of the past couple of years and before we need that good news and St. Joseph, what I'd hope to help us all reflect on, is that he lived his daily life with the brightness of the Father's glory, with light from light, true God from true God. We can't fathom what that must have been like. But what I would like to do, as we all know, you're better scholars than I am. But there really just a few verses where Joseph is mentioned. Toward the end of the first chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, for the first time we hear about Joseph, after that genealogy, Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. I love the beautiful simplicity of how St. Joseph, the adoptive father of the Son of God, the husband of Mary, is just quietly mentioned. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Not even directly referring to Joseph. If we look at that closely, it mentions Jacob, his father, and it mentions Mary, his spouse. It's almost as if Joseph is just an aside. He's the one that connected the two. He's the son of Jacob and the husband of Mary. I think that tells us a lot about St. Joseph, and what I would like to frame my reflection in this evening is five basic moments for St. Joseph that come from the Scriptures, that come from the joyful mysteries that come right out of the Scriptures, but really also bracketed with the unknown or the hidden years, as I would like to call it. I'd like to begin reflecting with you on St. Joseph as he comes into the world, unknown, unrecorded. I'm not aware of any record of Joseph being born or of his early years. In Matthew's Gospel, we first hear of him as the husband of Mary. He always is sort of in the background, but I'd like to reflect with you. We've just finished in the daily readings. We heard it in today's Mass. From, we've heard about Genesis and that journey from creation through Abram becoming Abraham and then the story of Joseph, the Old Testament Joseph, the son of Jacob, and then we have, of course, the Joseph who is the adoptive father of Jesus, the husband of Mary. I'd like to begin by reflecting on that period of Joseph life. We know nothing about it, but I'd like to use our imaginations and see how he's, I believe, already guarding the brightness of Christ, even before Christ is incarnate, because he's a man of faithful Jew, living the commandments of the First Covenant. We could say he's one of the last in that long line of faithful members of the people of Israel, of our ancestors, living faithfully in the light that had been shared with the world, revealing the one true God. So we have Saint Joseph in that period of his early life. We don't know how old Saint Joseph was when he became the husband of Mary. We've probably all read the speculations of that and some of the mystics who have different ideas, but I think there's a message for all of us in the hiddenness of Joseph's life. For me, it opens up the reflection that all of us can relate to him, because all of us in many ways live those hidden lives as well. We live in a time when making the headlines and making an impact in the world is so valued. But I think Saint Joseph teaches us beautifully what we all know instinctively and what we live, but what we need to, I believe, focus on, and I think Saint Joseph can help us to do so, to recognize that the lives we live that are hidden, those tiny sacrifices you make for your spouse and your children or for your friends or your community or for those that you serve in whatever way, the hidden ways that we serve. I think Saint Joseph can really be a patron for all of us of that hidden goodness in our lives that we need to allow to grow and to shine more brightly. In many ways, that is Saint Joseph's work, guarding the brightness of Christ, the light from light in ways that are hidden to the world and remain hidden to the world. But we can imagine and understand those years before he becomes the husband of Mary and the adoptive father of the Son of God. So I'd like to take that period of Joseph's life just to reflect a little bit together and reflect on all of the sweep of the Hebrew story that is our story as well, the people of Israel, the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures. Saint Joseph is the inheritor of all of that. And so in a very real sense, he holds the covenant as he becomes a man of the new covenant. Really, in many ways, the first man to be a disciple after, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary is the first woman to be a disciple, to welcome in the new world, the new life of what we call the New Testament, the time of the gospel, the time when the brightness of Christ is not only a hope for Messiah, but he is truly with us, dwelling with us as he really is in the world today through word and sacrament. That is our Catholic faith. So to reflect on Saint Joseph in those years that we know nothing about, but to reflect on what we do know that he was a man of righteousness, a man of faith, and we can see that in what is testified in the gospels. And then, of course, the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary and Joseph's reaction, the message of the angel, all of that that we know so well leading up to the birth of Jesus. Joseph is absolutely there, and there's so much woven into that story that many of the mystics speak of in various ways. Certainly, that is just mystical reflection. It is not part of the deposit of faith that we can place certainty in, but I think it's a beautiful aspect of enriching our relationship with the patron of the universal church, Saint Joseph. So first to reflect on the hidden years that it begins with, and then on what we do hear about in the scriptures where he welcomes the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, with all the questions that we can imagine, and the gospels touch on the doubts and the questions, but he listens to the message of the angel, he listens to the dreams that he has, and he guards the brightness that is Jesus Christ, newly come into the world. And then we have, of course, Joseph there in the next mystery of the rosary. As Jesus gets a little older, I think there's a lot to mine from that time when Jesus is twelve, and Mary and Joseph go to find him in the temple. And then one of my favorite parts of the life of Joseph, again hidden, is those years between twelve and thirty when Christ begins his public ministry. Again, we hear nothing about Saint Joseph, but we can know that at least for a time he was there guarding the brightness of the Father's glory, their present in the world, Jesus Christ working. Probably many of us have even read in some of the scripture scholarship, they're not sure whether carpenter was translated properly or not, but I don't think that needs to be our focus. Clearly, the Word of God illustrates Saint Joseph as an ordinary worker, but we know that he has a heritage of royalty, and I think that tells us a lot as well that Saint Joseph is there as a patron of the truth, even though he lives in humble circumstances. So the first period we look at is the time before Christ comes into the world, and then as he is conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then in the birth of Christ, the Son of God, and then when he's twelve years old, that finding in the temple, and then to go to the hidden years that we know nothing about again, but I think it's worth reflecting together and seeing how does Saint Joseph guard that brightness even in those hidden years, because at least in my prayer and in my experience, all of that speaks to our time as well, because very often we can feel that we are lost in the darkness, and Saint Joseph continues to guard the brightness of the Father's glory. Let us turn specifically to the scriptures as we reflect on what we know about Saint Joseph, very familiar stories that we've all read many times, but I'd like to allow us to hear where Joseph is mentioned as we reflect on how he guards the brightness of Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus came about. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the power of the Holy Spirit, Joseph her husband, an upright man unwilling to expose her to the law, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream and said to him, Joseph, son of David, have no fear about taking Mary as your wife. It is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.  All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin shall be with child and give birth to a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel, a name which means God is with us. When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had directed him and received her into his home as his wife. He had no relations with her at any time before she bore a son whom he named Jesus. Of course, as I said from Matthew's first chapter, we're all very familiar with that story of Joseph, but I think it's important to hearken back to what that alludes to, the prophets promising a Messiah, promising that the light of the world would come, and so here is St. Joseph poised to be there to guard the brightness, really even before the Son of God is conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and certainly after that. Let's look for a moment at how does St. Joseph guard the brightness even before the Lord is incarnate among us, before he takes on this wondrous mission to guard the Son of God as he is in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then born into this world. St. Joseph, I believe, guards that brightness by living faithfully as a man of Israel, as an inheritor of the royalty of David, as a man who learned obviously from what we hear later on, he knew what the covenant was about, he knew the commandments of God, he knew how to live as a righteous man. I believe that tells all of us a lot about what we are called to do, what you are called to do as catechists, that all of the teaching is about reminding us that the Lord has sent his Savior among us. We know it as a reality. The people of Israel saw it as a great hope. We know all the prophets who speak of that, and St. Joseph is there as a man inheriting all of that history. St. Joseph would have known the stories that we hear in Genesis and Exodus. St. Joseph would have been a well catechized Jew if we can use that word. He knew his faith well, and I think that reminds all of us and you as catechists of how you, like St. Joseph, are called to guard the brightness of Christ in the world today by simply teaching a child, by helping a teenager learn more about Christ and be drawn to him, rather drawn than drawn into the world. I think St. Joseph can inspire, I know he inspires me, and I believe he can inspire all of us, to really embrace that hidden, that sometimes intangible reality that coming to know more deeply the truth of God is guarding the brightness of Christ. The catechism teaches us that all of Scripture is about Jesus Christ. St. Joseph is one who knew that, who knew that Christ was fulfilling the prophecy of the hope for Messiah. And I think we need to embrace that and to rejoice in knowing that St. Joseph, in his early years, as he was a young boy, as he grew as a man in a family of Hebrew origin, as he grew to know the Scriptures, one thing that I love to share that I've shared with my priest is just my own personal reflection. As we celebrate this year of St. Joseph, I think you can tell, maybe it's my namesake, maybe it's just the love of St. Joseph, but I have done a lot of reflecting and prayer on St. Joseph and his significance. I want to give a shout out to Father Donald Callaway's wonderful book, Consecration to St. Joseph. I would imagine many of you have read that and walked through that journey of consecration. If you haven't had the chance yet, I encourage you to do so. It's one of those things that it's never too late. You can consecrate yourself to St. Joseph as many of us have consecrated ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And I think both are critical in this time. I feel Jesus Christ calling me as one man and a bishop and calling all of us to know his mother more deeply, to know his adoptive father more deeply, because we need those models that they offer us. In St. Joseph beautifully, I guess I would frame that first part of the reflection on St. Joseph as he was a man steeped in the tradition of his faith, as he was prepared to guard the brightness of the Son of God as he came into the world. We can imagine, and the scriptures really don't tell us, but we can imagine that St. Joseph was probably surprised. It's exactly how this was unfolding. He would have known absolutely of the promised Messiah, but how the God's loving plan would unfold probably was a huge surprise to St. Joseph, as it can be a huge surprise to us as we reflect on God's wondrous plan. So St. Joseph, I believe, even before Christ is conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, can be a great model and reminder of guarding the brightness, of rejoicing in the light coming into the world, and knowing that all that we have learned, all that Joseph knew is building toward that light that is brighter than we can imagine. Let me just for a moment focus on that idea of brightness that has so captivated me. We all pray that Christ is light from light, true God from true God. I love science, and I've always been intrigued by light and the study of light and the intricacy of that. We know that scientists have learned a lot about light, but it's still, in many ways, it's a mystery. How can light do what it does? And I believe that's embedded in the great mystery of all creation. As always we reflect on St. Joseph as guardian of the brightness. I'd encourage you to reflect yourselves on what that brightness means. He is light from light. What does that mean? The image that I can share with you that isn't adequate, but it's the best I can do that I share, I'd encourage you to come up with your own image. But probably many of us love watching a sunrise or a sunset. And what I like to think of is that brightness, is that first ray of light that shines forth as the sun comes up, or that last ray of light that shines as the sun is setting. To me that captures something of the brightness that is Christ. God is light, and His Son Jesus Christ is the brightness of that light. We need that brightness in a time of darkness, and St. Joseph is the guardian of that brightness. I find a beautiful inspiration. I really believe that this time of the year of St. Joseph, and everything that we're reading about and praying about St. Joseph, I believe that this is part of God's plan. When did it happen? In the midst of this COVID confusion, and all that we're dealing with in the church that we're concerned about, in the world that we're concerned about, and to focus on St. Joseph, I believe is divinely inspired. I encourage all of us to continue to reflect on His role in the life of the church. That is not just an ancient past role, it is right now. As He continues, I believe in my life and in yours, to guard the brightness of the Father's glory, to guard the brightness of Christ in a time when too many want to diminish that light, the joy and the hope that the gospel brings. It is beyond our imagining, and I think St. Joseph can remind us of that. As we move on with the conception of Jesus, what strikes me about St. Joseph guarding the brightness there is the reality of His humanity. St. Joseph is very human in his approach to this. It is not automatic. He's concerned. He wants to support Mary, but the scriptures tell us that he wasn't sure about how he could do that. It's through the message of an angel, the message of a dream, that it's clarified for him. And I think that St. Joseph shows us that we must trust in faith as well. He was a righteous man, as the scriptures describe him. And especially at that moment, when he hears that his betrothed Mary of Nazareth has conceived a child in her womb, he's at first questioning and unsure, but he becomes very sure. And that is where he steps up. Because of his heritage, he steps up to guard the brightness of Jesus Christ, even as he is coming into the world. We all know the beautiful artwork that depicts Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Jesus in the womb, Mary, usually on a donkey, and Joseph guiding them as they journey toward Bethlehem. Joseph is guarding the brightness there. As men and women, I'd encourage us to bring into our own imagination, to reflect on what that was like. Many of you have had children and taken care of the birth of your children, and you know the challenges there and the human reality that Joseph and Mary were dealing with, certainly in the miraculous reality that the Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yes, it was miraculous, but there were real human elements, and the gospel tells us that, where Mary and Joseph are looking for a place to stay. One of the beautiful stories that I remember from Father Callaway's book is talking about, which we don't, it's not recorded in Scripture, and we always have to be clear about that, but it makes sense that St. Joseph very likely had to run into town to get whatever provisions for this long journey they could put together. I think we need to humanize what St. Joseph did, because the message there that I hear is that he helps us as we can feel ourselves mere humans, which we are, but St. Joseph can remind us that we can be instruments of God's plan and grace as well. And as Catechists, I'd encourage you to open your hearts and minds to where that happens, where you, like St. Joseph, are guarding the brightness of Christ, maybe in the life of a child who's just beginning to learn, or the life of a teenager who is doubtful, or the life of an older 20-something, or really throughout life, we can have our doubts. I've had many people contact me with questions and concerns and saying, even at times saying, Bishop, I'm about ready to leave the church. I've had it. I believe we need to cling to that role of St. Joseph, and like him to guard the brightness, we can't control another person's choices, but we can encourage them, as St. Joseph does, to guard that brightness and to protect the light that Christ brings into the world in our Catholic faith. In the, we who inherit the covenant that Christ has established, that St. Joseph is there to celebrate and to support as the first disciple, or the second disciple, I guess we can say. And then we move on to the actual birth and the childhood of Jesus. I love, and some of the artwork really reflects on this. I love to think about and to pray about St. Joseph teaching Christ. I've shared with my priests that idea of St. Joseph holding the scriptures as he holds the Son of God, and showing the scriptures in the form most likely of a scroll as Jesus himself holds it after he begins his public ministry. I love to think of St. Joseph as the first guardian of the body of Christ, which he truly is. That inspires me in praying about the glorious gift of the Eucharist that we're called to guard as well and to be strong in faith that the real presence of Christ is with us. Dr. Willie helped me to find somewhere in the catacombs here a Eucharistic chapel where we had a chance to pray for a few moments. That presence of Christ down in this building is really the same Christ that St. Joseph guarded and continues to guard in the world today. In those years after Jesus there is, is present in the temple as he tells Mary and Joseph. It's beautiful where Mary says, your Father and I have been looking for you. That's recorded right there in the scriptures, and it beautifully reminds us that Joseph, though he is not the biological Father, is truly the Father of Jesus Christ who nurtures him, who plays that role, that significant role of a Father for the Son of God. I think we need to really revel in that and rejoice in the model that St. Joseph offers us. And I like to reflect on those hidden years after Jesus is twelve. The gospel tells us he goes back home and grows obediently and in goodness and grace there in the home in Nazareth. The scriptures tell us very little, but again St. Joseph is there. We don't know how long, we don't know the age of St. Joseph, but he models for us guarding the brightness of Christ as Christ grows from an infant to a toddler, to a little boy, to a young boy, and then a young man. We don't know how long St. Joseph was there, but for whatever length of time he was still with Jesus, we can trust that he was guarding the brightness, sharing with him this beautiful heritage that St. Joseph himself had inherited, the story of the people of Israel that is our story. So St. Joseph I believe really can be a great inspiration to all of you as catechists, because he really lived a life in this world. However long he was with Jesus, he guarded that brightness of the Messiah that he knew would come, and he lived with him in the home in Nazareth along with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary and Joseph are constantly reminders to us as the Holy Family along with Jesus of what families are called to be in the world today. One of the first things we did in the St. Philip Institute that we established in Tyler was to begin working in the formation of marriage, and I think St. Joseph once again is a great patron there to assist us and to help us to form husbands and wives in the light of Christ in that brightness of the glory of Jesus Christ that we need so desperately in the world today. I'd encourage you to rejoice in what St. Joseph lived as his mission in life, because in many ways I think it's our mission in the world today. We would all agree that there's been too much darkness, and too many people are still dealing with that darkness. The light of Christ is as bright as ever, but I believe it's catechist, and I would hope we can all embrace that call to guard the brightness of Christ along with St. Joseph. I want to conclude my thoughts with once again turning to Scripture just a few verses later in the Gospel of Matthew just in chapter 2. St. Joseph by my reckoning is mentioned for the last time in this passage. After Herod's death, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt with the command, get up, take the child and his mother, and set out for the land of Israel.  He got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. He heard, however, that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, and he was afraid to go back from there. Instead, because of a warning received in a dream, Joseph went to the region of Galilee. There, he settled in a town called Nazareth in the way, in this way, what was said through the prophets was fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarian. We're all familiar with that passage, and I think it beautifully illustrates St. Joseph once again guarding the brightness of Christ, bringing him to the fulfillment of prophecy and to the home where he would grow up. St. Joseph, I pray, can be a great inspiration to all of us of living in the light of Christ and trusting that that light shines brightly. Your work as Catechist is invaluable as you share the light of Christ with others. Trust in Joseph as your patron. He is patron of the world of the Universal Catholic Church, and as someone pointed out to me recently, we have the challenge of recognizing that if St. Joseph is patron of the Universal Church and Jesus Christ has come for all humanity, we are to proclaim St. Joseph is the patron of all humanity, calling all to the light of Christ. He has guarded the brightness of Christ well. May we follow him and embrace that called joyfully of guarding the brightness of the Lord in a too often dark world. Let us turn to St. Joseph for strength and inspiration. He will always point us to Christ. He will always accompany us in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who also points us to Christ. Let us rejoice in the image of St. Joseph, guardian of the brightness of Christ. God bless you.


It is 2007 and an old film is being restored. It has long been thought to have been lost. The movie from French pioneer George Millies has eluded movie historians. It has long been mislabeled as another film by another early director but the lost media has seen the projector once again. The movie depicts in its own unique style the 20th century's worst volcanic eruption in which 30,000 people would be consumed by the disaster in just a matter of minutes. The film's name is exact and to the point the eruption of Mount Pelay, a beautiful island with a deadly inhabitant. Martinique is part of the archipelago of the Antilles located in the Caribbean Sea. The island is beautiful with its most prominent feature Mount Pelay overlooking all who call the land mass home. The highest point at 1397 meters or 4583 feet above sea level and is thought to be roughly 400,000 years old. Although a source of beauty, Mount Pelay has also been the source of death on the island erupting several times in its recorded history. People have been known to occupy the island since the first century initially by the arowax then by the caribs. The island was chartered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus from his vessel. Europeans on another Columbus voyage wouldn't set foot on the island until 1502. Columbus encountered indigenous peoples who called the island Martinio. The name was bastardized into Martinique over generations of European encounters and settlements. Now like many other Caribbean islands, its history was post-European encounter marked by several cases of different settlers. Spanish, French, British and the accompanying battles and naval skirmishes that go along with colonization. And when Europeans weren't fighting with one another, they fought with the indigenous people. But I don't think I can do this part of the island's history justice, instead I'll focus on our main point for our story, the city of Saint Pierre. It was founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain, a French trader and adventurer. It served as the first permanent French colony on the island. It would become one of the cultural and financial centres of the island, but also the source of a loss of poor luck. In 1780 all of the houses in the city were destroyed by a storm surge which killed roughly 9,000 inhabitants. The city was rebuilt and gradually repopulated, garnering the name Paris of the Caribbean. By the end of the 19th century, the city's population was between 25 and 28,000, but the new century would start off with a disaster. Mount Pele erupts. Mount Pele had been indicating it was due for full blown eruption since 1792, with the first of two minor eruptions, the second of which took place in 1851. It would take roughly 52 years for Mount Pele to truly unleash her power. In April 1902, people who had gone close to the top of the mountain noticed sulfurous vapours emitting from newly formed holes known as fumaroles. Not much was thought of this, as others had appeared and disappeared previously. However, this time it was bad. By the 25th of April 1902, a large cloud emerged from the top of the mountain, throwing rocks out. No one and nothing was damaged, and as such nothing more was thought of it. The next day, an explosion near the mountain top occurred, coating the surrounding area with ash, and again authorities saw little to be concerned about. On the 27th, a group of hikers climbed Pele to discover a new lake 150 metres wide, or 590 foot wide, had been formed. The smell of sulfur was unbearable, and over the coming days it descended down the mountain to Saint-Pierre, some 6.4 miles away. The stench made animals and humans feel sick alike. A couple of villages closer to the volcano were increasingly becoming covered in ash. The Riviera de Perez and the river Roxalane began to bulge at their banks, pushing rubble and debris along their journeys down the mountain. Pele was warning it was about to blow. A couple of days later, on the 2nd of May, at 11.30 in the evening, Pele omitted sounds of explosions. The ground rumbled, and the mountain blew out black smoke. Half of the island was scattered with pumice, dust and ash. As the 2nd turned into the 3rd, a change in wind direction pushed the ash northwards away from the island. But on Saturday the 4th, ash would once again fall on Saint-Pierre. Some decided to flee the city, but others from the villages around the area sought out Saint-Pierre for refuge. Brief lull came in the morning of Monday the 5th, but by around lunchtime, smoke and dust reappeared. One of the crater's walls up Mount Pele collapsed, causing a lahar of mud and boiling water to thunder down the Blanche River, flooding a local sugar works. Saint-Pierre received more refugees throughout the day, as well as some residents deciding to flee. You see it was thought that the city would be safe, as such officials encouraged a population to stay put, even refusing ships permission to depart. But it would turn out to be anything but safe. The city was plunged into darkness as the electrical grids succumbed to the atmospheric changes. In the early hours of the 7th of May, explosions rang out from Pele, a mountain top glowed orange. Another lull came in the form of the eruption of Saultierre Saint-Vincent on the island of Saint-Vincent. This smaller disaster was hoped would reduce the pressure on Pele. At 7.52 on the 8th of May, thought difference was receiving a radio transmission from Saint-Pierre. Apparently all was looking good, but suddenly the transmission went dead. A mushroom cloud over Pele had shot up into the sky. A pyroclastic surge shot down the mountainside, sticking to the ground directly at Saint-Pierre. The cloud was traveling at roughly 100 miles an hour, or 160 kilometers an hour, hitting temperatures of over 1000 degrees centigrade, nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Upon reaching the city, it smashed through buildings, animals and humans alike. Anything that could burn did. A ship, the C.S. Grappler sunk, taking all aboard with her. A handful of survivors who were on the fringes of the city managed to make their way out, but most would die of severe burns. The pyroclastic cloud had covered an area of roughly 21 kilometers squared. Saint-Pierre was now silent and cut off to the outside world. The governor of the island, Louis Moutette, was in the city at the time of the disaster. Now leaderless, a standing governor ordered a French cruiser to sail to the city to find out the cause of the silence. She was the French cruiser, Suchet, and managed to rescue 30 people from damaged vessels which had tried to escape Saint-Pierre. The city was ruined and burning, and an estimated nearly 30,000 people had perished. The cleanup began within a few days, systematically rescuers made their way through the ruins. Many of the dead looked calm, almost frozen in time. It just went to show how quickly the city was demolished, aftermath. On the 12th of May, the US Congress voted for a $200,000 available foreign aid for the island. More countries also offered a helping hand. These included Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Russia, and the Vatican. Officially there would be only two survivors from Saint-Pierre. Louis, Auguste, Cyprus, a prisoner held in an underground cell in the town's jail, and Lyon, Compierre, Lundry. In reality there were more survivors, but these two were pulled from the city's rubble, whereas others had managed to evacuate themselves. But Mount Pelé wasn't finished with Saint-Pierre. Thousands of rescuers by the 20th of May had flooded the stricken city, searching for anyone, both alive or dead. A second eruption emerged from Pelé, sweeping a pyroclastic flow into Saint-Pierre once again, killing around 2,000 rescue workers. But that still wasn't the end. On the 30th of August, another pyroclastic flow struck Mourn-Rouche, Adupa, Bullion, Bassier-Pont, and Mourn-Capot, killing close to 900. It would still not be the end of the eruptions from Pelé, however, which, after many lulls and lava flows, would finally end on the 5th of October 1905. Saint-Pierre would never return to its pre-eruption population. In the 60s, the city had a population of around 6,000, but by the 2010s, this had reduced to around 4,000. Needless to say, the disaster captured the imagination of many across the globe. I mean, it is one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in modern history. And it brings us back to the rediscovery of George Millier's long, lost technical marvel of a film. New volcanic eruptions are captured as they happen, but we need to appreciate that this film was made in 1905, using in-camera special effects at the time. And it is very impressive to watch. This is a plain difficult video. All videos on the channel are creative commons actuation share like licensed. Plain difficult videos are produced by me, John, in the currently sunny, but windy corner of southern London, UK. I'd like to thank my Patreons and YouTube members for your financial support, as well as the rest of you for tuning in every week to listen to me talk about random subjects. I've got Instagram and Twitter, so check them out if you fancy seeing other things I do. And if you're enjoying this outro song, please feel free to go over to my second channel made by John. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching, and Mr Music, play us out please.


With copyright, if I scribble something on an appkin, I automatically have copyright protection for it. And it's pretty easy to tell, have I infringed somebody's copyright or not, because you only infringe if you actually make a copy. With the patent system, there's a whole application process that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. It's very difficult to tell, am I infringing somebody's patent or not? And if there's an infringement case, it can easily cost millions of dollars to litigate whether or not somebody's patent has been infringed. And so if you're looking at a movement like the open-source software movement or 3D printing, where the whole idea is that a single individual has these very powerful tools where they can build things from scratch or using building on top of the work of others. If you have a legal system where you really need to hire a patent lawyer before you're allowed to really do anything, which is effectively if people are really trying to follow the rules that the patent system lays down, you really need a patent lawyer to understand and comply with them. That really precludes DIY innovation. And so what happens in practice is that people just ignore the patent system and then they get a nasty shock. If their idea becomes successful, people get all these patent holders come out of the woodwork and start suing them. And it really, I think, becomes a disincentive to the kind of innovation that the patent system is theoretically supposed to foster. So I think that for some categories of innovation, really would be better off without, if we didn't extend patent protection to those categories. So I think software is a good example of this. The patentability of software is really a recent phenomenon. There was some sort of equivocal Supreme Court decision and there was one in 1981, but then some lower courts really decisively said you could patent software only as recently as 1998. And this was a very controversial decision in the software industry. You had people like Bill Gates and companies like Oracle expressing concerns that would really harm innovation in the software industry. And I think they were basically right. And the explosion of litigation we've seen in the cell phone industry, for example, I think is a good example of that. Now in other industries, I think there are industries like pharmaceuticals where the patent system does promote innovation. And so I wouldn't want to scrap the system all together. But I think the first step is to really take a hard look at the recent changes to the patent system that allowed you to patent things you couldn't patent before and maybe reverse those. And I think also there are things you can do, it should be more difficult to get a patent. And it should be harder if someone isn't a court find someone has infringed a patent. It's right now, I think, too easy to get an injunction where you actually force the other company to stop using the patent as opposed to merely making them pay reasonable royalties for infringing the patent.


Turkish President explains why he handed over Asovstal commanders to Ukraine despite Russia's stance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that the permission to take Asovstal defenders to Ukraine has finally turned into a positive in relations with Russia. Erdogan said that the agreement that the military commanders who defended the Asovstal steelworks in Mariupol should remain in Turkey has reached bilaterally between Ukraine and Russia. Turkey provided them with asylum to fulfill the Russian-Ukrainian agreement. Initially, it was the result of a discussion between Ukraine and Russia and they were with us, he explained. Erdogan said he handed over the Asovstal defenders only because President Volodymyr Zelensky asked him to. When we received this request, we handed over these commanders, the Turkish President said. However, he does not believe that this has affected relations with Russia. At first, Russia was outraged and then it turned into a positive thing. He said, predicting that the topic would be discussed at his meeting with Putin in September. Erdogan said that Russia had changed its stance on the release of former commanders of Ukraine's garrison in Mariupol after an initial negative statement on the issue.


Types of elements in the periodic table and their properties The periodic table is divided into four main sections. The first section, the main group metal elements. The second section, the non-metal elements. The third section, the metalloid elements. The fourth section, the transition metal elements. The metallic elements, main group metals and transition metals have certain similarities including metals are malleable which means that they can be hammered into shape. Metals have a characteristic luster or shine. Metals are good conductors of heat and electricity. Metallic elements are solids at room temperature with the exception of mercury. Metallic elements tend to lose electrons to form cations. The properties of non-metallic elements vary more than those of metals. The non-metallic elements are not good conductors of heat and electricity in contrast to the metallic elements. The non-metallic elements can be solids, liquids or gases at room temperature. The non-metallic elements tend to gain electrons to form anions. Elements that lie just on either side of the line that separates metals from non-metals are known as metalloids. The metalloids exhibit properties intermediate between metals and non-metals. For example, silicon does not conduct electricity very well at low temperature but shows increased conductivity at high temperature. You have completed this activity. Types of elements in the periodic table and their properties.


I have a brief statement here to read, and I want to warn you now I cannot take any questions because already we're pressing our appointment at the hospital there for the check-up, so I will have to go, and besides, you all ought to get in out of the cold. Well, we've had some more good news on the economic front today, as I've been saying all along, the fundamentals in the United States economy remain sound. Federal production is up, inflation is down, and this country continues on a long trend of sustained growth with low inflation. The trade deficit for November fell 25 percent from the October level, and exports increased to an all-time record. Much of the improvement came from our manufacturing sector, again indicating that our competitive position in the world is steadily improving. This news has had a positive impact on the financial markets around the world, but we should not pay undue attention to any one month's trade numbers. The real significance is that over the past 61 months, the trend for the American economy has been sustained growth with low inflation, and today's signs indicate that it will continue well into the future, and thank you all, and we're on our way. Well, as Barlin said, you're looking forward to this.


I'm Nick Cannon and you can also Instagram Twitter for more juicy content Thank you so much for the subscribe you have like button. You heard about that, right? He had his 12th kid Probably on his 13th now. Well, those are the ones we know about It seems like it may be if I'm we may find out a few years from now That the in the entire nation of Portugal has been populated by Nick Cannon Today we got a new trailer dropped a couple months ago and we missed it I apologize, but it's getting a lot of rave reviews about the film called love today. It's a dominant film cool and it's Really this dropped a couple months ago. Yeah, we missed it. Wow. I apologize everybody. Sorry guys But I've been hearing about it. It was it was unexpected though like Like it wasn't like one that was like everybody what it was anticipating Yeah, it was kind of like a surprise film that got it got everybody after it came out. So is it now out? Yes, it is okay, so you guys can tell us how uh if this one is one that we should watch And what you think about this film without spoilers obvious. Yeah But let's just get into this because I don't know anything about it Hmm looks like denouche You know that is right I If you love someone, you will not know. If you know, what will you do? Prithi, I want to change my phone. Otherwise, I don't want to get married. Sister, I want to get married. If I go to a bad guy, are you okay with that?  I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. I didn't do it. Hey, you should go and see the doctor. Thank you, Gatheti.  Original premise. Yeah, very original. I think it was a little long for me. I feel like it gave a lot away. Maybe it didn't. Obviously, it's been out, so you guys can tell me. What you see in the trailer is what you get, because it looks like, obviously, they swap phones, they find out a bunch of different stuff about each other, blah, blah, blah, they probably come over it, get overcommit and come together regardless. Come together in the end. I mean, that's a fairly standard rom-com style thing. I mean, not the premise of... Maybe there's some twists along the way, obviously. Swapping the phones, but obviously in Indian culture, it's going to be a different from a normal American rom-com. And as is the case with a lot of things, if it's leaning heavily on the comedy, we may not be familiar with it, especially some of the inside wink, wink, nudge, nudges that are demo culture. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I've heard a lot about this film, and so a lot of people are really, really enjoying it. And so that's good. And I'm sure one of the morals to the story here is if you think stuff on your phone is private, don't put anything on your phone that you don't want the whole world to see, because it ain't... Oh, that was it. That was it. Okay, gotcha. That's the moral of the story. If you think the stuff on your phone's private, you're wrong. Mine is, thank you so much. I don't know. Big brother's watching. Nope. Biden? What?  I don't know. No, he's like the old grandpa in the room. Doesn't he look a lot like Denouche? He does, like a young Denouche quality. Yes, to him. Too young lover. I made a exchange for someone there. That was it. That's it. That's a good description. By Pradeep Ranganathan. Ranganathan. And written. Written by him as well. Oh. No, I thought it was different. Yogi Babu is in everything nowadays. I know, right? So yeah, written, directed, starring. Divya. We know her, right? I don't know. You didn't recognize her? No. I thought I recognized her. Who'd you recognize? The dad. Who's the dad? He's from Bahubali. Or I guess he was the guy. He's the one who told me to exchange the phones. Oh, this guy? Yeah. He looks a lot different in his INB profile picture here. He's the old man. Yeah. The general guy? Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. You recognize that guy pretty fast? I don't know why. Like, that's the thing that made an impact on me. He's got a very recognizable face. He's got a lot of screen time in Bahubali. Yes, he does. No doubt. Yeah. Do you think you would feel differently about Bahubali now after having an appreciation for SS Rajamuli? Yes. Having an appreciation for SS Rajamuli. Having an appreciation for the evolution of visual effects in Indian cinema. And in particular, South Indian cinema. And having an appreciation, I think, for... I think it was... It's tough. But I do. I'd be open to rewatching Bahubali. I still don't think... RRR is his best work. And that we've seen, obviously. Yeah. We've seen everything of his, obviously. But I still think that it's far and away his best work. I don't think... There's RRR and then there's two empty slots. And then there's Eega and Bahubali. Yeah, I put for me Eega's way ahead of Bahubali. Yeah. But I do. I think if I rewatched it now, I'd have a better appreciation for it and might even like it. Of just going in for strict entertainment. Yeah, because when we watched Bahubali, it was really at the outset. Yeah, it was our first try. I would never recommend Bahubali to an American who is a cinema lover and has an in-depth history of American Hollywood cinema. I would not make Bahubali their entrance... But granted, that wasn't in the end cinema. Jimmy Cage? Yeah. It may work for some. Their introduction was Bahubali. Yeah, it may work for some. And they loved it. So, like, obviously it might just be us that don't understand. Could be. But again... You can't deny the landscape that it changed for Indian cinema. Oh, 100%. But anyways, let us know about this film. If you've seen it, if you liked it, if you think we would like it and anything else we need to know, what should be our next Tamil film that we should watch, please let us know down below.


When you have education, everything else just kind of comes your way. I began taking online classes at WCTC last spring for the nursing program. Before I found out I had to have a hip surgery that made me rethink my career path. So instead, I fell back on my love for children and I decided to make the switch to education. I have always grown up with a love for kids. My cousin is only a year younger than I was and when she was born I literally thought I was her mother. I could barely walk and I was teaching her how to walk. I can be creative and advocate for children and bring the wealth of my diverse life experiences to the classroom. You go in with this idea that you know after high school you go to four-year college but the reality is that's that's not the case for everybody. When I found technical college it was just so much more manageable and just I made the switch and it was a lot more affordable. As students we know that life happens and we don't always have the answers. It can be stressful and frustrating. As district ambassador my challenge to myself in this position is to advocate for students to believe in themselves even in the darkest of hours. Thank you.


Today we're opening a weird booster box. What's up guys we're back with another epic video. Today we have what is either a resealed or an improperly packaged box because if you guys see this flap this usually goes inside of the front of the box but it is sealed like this where there's a flap coming out. Like it's not appropriately on there and the packing is very, very loose so we're gonna have to check out this box and open it up. But before we do that we do have a giveaway. I'll be giving away this Genesis impact booster box. All you have to do is like this video, be subscribed, turn on notifications, let me know what you think. Is this resealed or is it not? And what do you think after we open it you're gonna know the results? What do you think about it? What do you guys think happened here? What's the deal? And before we hop into it I have been streaming on Twitch pretty much every single day when I've been home because I went to YCS Charlotte and then I came back. We've been streaming every day since then. So when you see this video I should be live right now. There will be a link in the description potentially at the pinned comment. So go check me out, go give me a follow. We've been doing a lot of streams over there. We're doing Pokemon Nuzlocs, Master Duel, stuff like that. So go give me a follow. Now let's get into this guys. So as of right now this looks extremely sketchy, like extremely loose. This part is above like this because the actual flap is normally tucked in and that keeps it tighter because it's actually pressed up against it. But now there's nothing to actually hold the whole flap. So it's just kind of popped up like that. The old school expert actually sent me this box. He said if it's real then you're gonna pay me this certain price. If it's not then you don't have to worry about it. But he wanted to see it open on a video. So I was like sure that sounds like a great idea. This is also a bent box. Sometimes this is a bad sign because like that means that the box was bent and then they like resealed it afterwards. But this could have just been like the side just going like that. That's also possible. So we're gonna find out right now because we're gonna open this thing up and see if it's actually resealed. Okay, let's cut this thing right here. I feel like this is just the best spot to do it. Let's cut it open. All right, we ripped off the plastic. Let's see, what do you guys think? Put your guesses in the comments. Do you think it's resealed? Do you think it's not? Here we go, we're about to find out. First edition Rise of Destiny. Okay, so the packs appear to be right from what I can tell. But let's give them a quick check. So these packs appear to be pretty legit. They feel like they're sealed. I mean, they don't look sketchy to me at all. Let's check them all out and see if there's anything going on. We've got, let's count the packs. We've got three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. There's 12 right there. That's the right amount. So it looks like the correct amount of packs in this box. And that means that we are looking pretty good at this point. It seems like it's a legit box. Here's the code. I believe this is a Eurocode, which means one hobby Ultimate Rare and one retail. So you're gonna get one of each. So pretty cool, pretty exciting. We're just gonna open it up now, guys. So basically you're gonna get a booster box opening of this. Is it legit? Is it a scam? I guess if we pull no foils, then maybe we could say it's a scam, but we're gonna see. All right, pack number one. Let's see what we can pull. We would love to pull Creator Ultimate Rare. There's also a perfect machine gang. There's all a machine dupe. There's a lot of great ones to koi cheese in here. I mean, we have both retail and hobby. We can pull any card in the set, which is the cool part about these Europacks. You can pull anything that you want, basically from the set. There's not like, there's a weird split where it's like, you can actually pull that card in Ultimate Rare, but you can pull all of them. Malice dispersion. Raging Flame Sprite. We got the Spell Purification. Mario. Mirage Dragon. And an Ultimate Insect Level Three. So there's our Ultimate Rare right off the bat. It's a legit box. We officially have the other Ultimate Rare, or one of the Ultimate Rare. This is the retail one though. So we still have a chance with the hobby Ultimate. Pretty cool, but not the one we're really looking for. So a lot of times with GX, they're mappable. So I think that this one could be the other Ultimate Rare. So we're gonna set this right here just so we don't open both of them in a row. Let's go like this. There's a lot of other good Ultra Rears as well that we could pull out of here, which should be pretty sick. So let's see what we can pull out of here. One, two, three, four. And by the way, if you guys are interested in the bulk from this, like the Rears and the comments, I will be selling it from this entire box. So if you guys are interested, just hit me up via DM or email, something like that. Instagram or Twitter with isratrucks34. Come and give me a follow there. Rock with a Valley of Haze. Light in the load. We got the Nightmare Pang one. And a Tragedy. What a Tragedy. We got an Ultimate Insect level three. But honestly, this card looks really good. I mean, just check it out. It does look really nice. It might not have the value there, but definitely a really nice looking card. So I can't complain too much about that. Pretty sick. Let's keep it going. What are we gonna get? Can we pull something epic? We already pulled an Ultimate on the very first pack. All right, Heavy Mech Support. Astral Barrier. Harpy Lady One. Fruitsikazaki Studies. Oh, Ruckson Special. Harpy Girl. This has some value sometimes because it's the Uncensored. Homunculus. Minehacksorx. And Darkblade, the Dragon Knight. Hopefully we will get some Takoichi rares in here because those are actually worth a few bucks. Pretty sick. Let's see what we... Oh wait, this is the one we can't open yet. Whoops. Okay, we gotta be careful here. Let's put it at the bottom of the other side. That way we don't accidentally open it because we were that close. We kind of almost opened it. We did that part where you gotta pull it apart. Next pack. Oh, they're sticking together. These are pretty gritty. These definitely feel like... I mean, they are real, of course. So this feels like a lot like a real box. Eagle Eye.  Can we do a Manta? Pretty weird. I'd never seen that before. Mirage Dragon, Raging Flame Sprite. And a Chain Burst. All right, at least we didn't get that... At least we didn't get this as an Ultimate. There we go. I cannot say that. Let's go to the next thing. The next pack. So far, a Super Rare and an Ultimate Rare of what we have pulled. Can we get a Da Koichi Regular Rare? That'd be pretty sick. We have a Moki Moki Smackdown. The Creator Incarnate. Maybe that's a good sign we're gonna pull the Creator. Woodborg and Pachi. Bo Koichi, all right. Rock from the Olive Haste. Maybe that's a good sign we're gonna pull Da Koichi. Element Magician, Black Discourse to Square One. Zinxenhu. And Sasuke Samurai Number Four. Sasuke Samurai Numero Quattro. What will be in the next pack? Harpy's Hunting Ground. Pretty good card. Pretty good card for those Harpy ladies. We got the Creator Incarnate. Another good sign. We got the Element Source. These are really rucks and specialing mains. Making it very difficult. Moki Moki Smackdown. Harpy Lady Three. Harpy's Hunting Ground. Element Magician. Tactical Espionage Expert. Harpy Lady Two. And Machine Duplication. There's a very nice copy of a Rare Machine Duplication. We'd love to see that one. That's a good one. A lot of good rares in this set though. I mean a lot of good ones for sure. Harpy Lady Two up next. What shall we pull? Harpy Lady Two. We got Bokouichi. The Frightening Car. Heavy Mech Support. Astral Barrier. Bullist of Rampart Smashing. The Harpy Lady Two. Creepy Numenta. Tactical Espionage Expert. Nightmare Penguin. And a Trim. A Team. A Trap Disposal Unit. That is not a Trim. That is a Team. The next Packeroon. Here we go. Can we pull something amazing? Will it be the ultimate Rare Creator? I don't know. We have the Ultimate Rare Pack, but I really don't know where it would be. Oh, we almost rocks in special to the right to the front. Creator Incarnate. Woodborg and Pachi. Moki Moki King. Woodborg and Pachi again. The Mirage Dragon. Rock from the Valley of Haze. Harpy Girl. Okay, nice. Mayn Hacksorx and the Rare Metal Morph. This card does look pretty cool in Ultimate Rare though. And it's not a bad card overall. Like back in Duel Links, it was actually okay. Next pack of Rise of Destiny. Here we go. Some of these are like ripping down the middle. It's kind of weird. Unlike the flap, or not the flap, the little pull tab part. Okay. We got the Moki Moki King. Przegazaki Studies. Harpy Lady Three. Harpy Lady One. All Rocks in Special to the Mind Hacksorx. The Harpy Girl. Back to square one. Light in the load and Serial Spell. All right, all right. Serial Spell is pretty cool, but now we're looking for it. Here we go to the next pack. Let's do this. Mind Hacksorx. Okay, very cool, very cool. Moki Moki King. Harpy Lady Three. Moki Moki Smackdown. Elementsaurus. Oh, we got the Magnet Hacksorx. It's always that one that gets Ruxus Specialed. It's a sticky card, okay? Raging Flame Sprite. Spell Purification. Muddy Guard and Rul. It's a perfect machine king. Almost a raging machine king for some reason. Okay, that's an awesome Ultra Rare pull.  If we got this as an Ultimate Rare, that would be huge. That would be really, really sick. Beautiful card. Wow, that is very good pull. All right, all right. This is redeeming itself from the Ultimate Insect a little bit. That Ultimate Insect was a slow start, but Death Falling Perfect Machine King is one of the better Ultras you can pull out of the four options. I think Creator and Perfect Machine King are the two that you actually wanna think. One's like a Silent Magician or a Misinomistic Swordsman. It's also pretty cool. Honestly, the Ultras are not bad.  Fu Rikishan. Pitch Black War Wolf, the Harpy Lady Two. Tactical Espinage, Element Magician. Harpy's Hunting Ground. And Dukkoichi, the Battle Enchanted Locomotive. The best rare in the set. Still a great goat format card, which is pretty awesome. Nice to see that. And the final pack on the right side of this has to be legit booster box at this point. I mean, there's almost no questioning it. It's a weird flap. I don't know what was happening with that booster box. Never seen anything like that before, but pretty cool to open it up on camera and figure out that it actually is legit. Invasion of Flames, I think that the Malice dispersion. Eagle Eye. Fu Rikishan, Kazan. Zing Zenhu, get the Harpy Tending Ground. Harpy Girl. Homunculus Style, Kemic Being. And Ultimate Insect Level Three. All right, he's added again, unfortunately. It is interesting to see how some boxes, they look really obviously resealed or fake. Those actually tend to turn out to be real a lot of the time. Because I guess if you resealed something, if it was really, really obvious, you wouldn't do it like that because it'd be too obvious. But it turns out those actually turned out to be real a lot of the time, like this one. It looked kind of like Sketch, but it was actually legit. Pitch Black War Wolf, The Bullist of Rampart Smashing. Fox Fire. Oh, Ruxen Special, Nightmare Penguin. It's always the first card of the pack, Element Magician, Bikes Square One, and Big Core, Super Rare, Big Core, man. The core cards are the worst pulls. It's a cool spaceship, but yeah. Hate to break it to you. Just not that great. Will that final pack be the Ultimate Rare? I mean, I have a good feeling that it will be. I'm not really sure. We've already got an Ultra, we've gotten what? Two Supers and one Ultimate, is that right? So we have more Supers to come, for sure. Fruits and Kizakis. I don't even remember what we won out of here. Harpy Lady One in terms of Supers. Astro Berry, Heavy Mech Support Platform. Man, they all do this. Okay, lighten the load. We gotta slow down. Come on, cause that's how chemically being. 12 Purification. And Covering Fire with the Mech Chaser. And the Tune Cannon Soldier. Actually kind of a sick artwork, even though it's a trap card that nobody really wants. Continuing on. What, huh? Excuse me, hello? Hi, there we go. We have Lighten the Load. One, two, three, four. Let's not ruckson special a single card here. We got Bokouji, very nice. Heavy Mech Support Platform. Astro Barrier. Harpy Lady One. Lighten the Load. Harpy Lady Two. Creeping Doom Manta. Tactile Espionage Expert. And the Fusular Dragon. The Dual Mode Beast. This would be a cool Ultimate, for sure. That's a pretty sick card. Still a few packs to go. We are still hoping for an Ultimate. A couple more Super Rares, for sure. What can we get? What even are the Super Rares in this set? I can't remember. I think Monster Incarnation is in here, right? Invasion of Flames, maybe. I could be wrong. Foxfire. Blister of Rampart Smashing. The Pitch Black. Warwolf. Harpy's Hunting Ground. Raging Flames. Sprite. This thing's in here. Moral's Dragoon. And a Flint. We've got Flint. Okay, Flint. Whatever, yeah, okay. It's like Survivor out here. Let's keep going. What can we pull now? Out of the next pack, we need something epic. Rise of Destiny. What will we pull? Narbrux and Special Blastfeet. We're doing pretty good. Blister of Rampart Smashing. The Moki Moki Smackdown. The Creator Incarnate. We've got the Impaché. We've got the Hunting Ground. The Minehack Sorks. Harpy's Girl. Okay, Harpy Girl. We've got the back to square one. Peaker's Circle of Enchantment. He's literally always in Rise of Destiny. I forgot it was in here, though. I still forgot, and yet we still pulled it. Bless us with another Dekouichi. That'd be pretty sick, as well. The Homunculus. The Alchemic Being. Here we go. Moki Moki King. Furikazon. Eagle Eye. Malice Dispersion. All Rucks and Special. Dang it! 12 Purification. We were on a good run. We didn't have one for a while. Muddy Guard. Mirage Dragon. And Gaia Soul. The Combustible Collective. I remember we pulled that against Sam in my very first battle against Team Samurai. That was classic, but it was like four bucks at the time. It's probably worth a little bit more than that now, but I don't know. I really don't. Creeping Doom Manta. What do you got for us? No Rucks and Specials this time. Harpy Lady One. Bokouichi. Heavy Mac Support Platform. We almost did it, but we kind of saved it. Astral Barrier. Creeping Doom Manta. Not really. We got the Harpy Lady Two. Taxical Espionage. Element Magician. And the Necklace of Command. Dun, dun, dun. All right, we're down to what? The final five packs. Okay, this last one is the one we believe might have an Ultrarrier in it, but we could be wrong. We should still have another Super, I think. I think we've only pulled three Supers. So I think we would technically get that, right? Well, the Ultra could have replaced, I don't know. The Creator Incarnate. Element Sorus. Monkey Monkey Smackdown. Harpy Lady Three. Rucks and Specials. No, I know, this might be a record. We've done a lot of the Rucks and Specials. Nightmare Penguin and Gaia, or not Gaia. Dark Blade the Dragon Knight. He's very Gaia-like though. He's a guy riding on the back of a dragon. I mean, it's basically Gaia, okay? Four more packs. The Gaia Imitator. What will be in here? Will we get another foil? Will we get something amazing? Put your likes in the chat or the comments in the comment section to help. I can't, I don't know what I'm saying. Garvey Lady Three. Spell Purification. Muddy Guard. Nightmare Penguin. Back to square one. And a Triangle Ecstasy Spark. Man, the Supers are so bad for the most part in these. Oh my gosh, you know what that means? We're probably getting one of those as an Ultimate Rare, which is unfortunate for sure. But let's see if we can, you know, make that not happen. Let's manifest a great Ultimate, Ultimate Ulti out of here. That'd be pretty insane. Creator Incarnate. Like if it's one of the Ultras, I'm happy. I don't care which one it is. Mokey Mokey King. Woodborg and Pachi. Creeping Doom Manta. Back to square one. Morales Dragone. Raging Glimpse Bright. And we've got a Chain Burst. Okay, final two packs. We might have been right. This might be the Ultimate, unless there's only one Ultimate in here, which would suck. That would be pretty rough. Let's hope that that is not the case. All right, Morales Dragone. One, two, three, four. Let's do this. Foxfire. Eagle Eye. Oh, Rooks is special, though. Fuhri Kishan. Roush Dragon. We get the Rock from the Valley of Hades. The Light and the Load. Hamonku, let's see how Kemic being and the Sasuke Samurai. Numero Quadru. And the final pack of the opening. This is what we suspected to be an Ultimate. So they were both on the top, if this is an Ultimate. Both the top two packs. That would have not have been a very interesting pack. Box Opening if we just went straight to it. Let's see if we can not Rooks and special the final pack. Can we get a Creator? Can we get a Perfect Machine King? Either of those is insane. Monster Incarnation also looks really good. Stuff like, what is it? Divine Wrath? Also a good one. Okay, of course you have the Frightening Car. We got Invasion of Flames. Malice's dispersion. Foxfire. Mighty God. Nightmare Penguin. Back to square one. Creeping Doom Manta. Is it the next one? Is it the next one? Oh, and a Thestalos! The Firestorm Monarch! I just mentioned in the collection video that you guys saw a couple days ago that I really love this in Ulti and I don't have one. And guess what? We do now. Simo's gonna be feeding for this one. Okay, the back is a little bit scuffed up, but I'm definitely putting this one in the collection. Binder, check out that scuffing on it. Rise of Destiny scuffing. But who cares? That's such an amazing pull. I've never pulled this guy in Ultimate Rare form. That's pretty amazing. Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch Ultimate Rare. That went from a potential scan box to an awesome box with an amazing Ultimate and an amazing Ultra. So I'm super happy about that. If you guys enjoy videos like this, make sure to subscribe to the channel for more epic content. Shout out to TCG Trust, regards to ToFo Show, Tomato Juice, Stanley, Mike, Nance, Mehmet Gekko, DraxStream, MrJr. Barting, and then it's high show JT Show. David, FJ, Josh Evans, Clayton Fitzgerald, 87, John, Nolan, and Brett Palmer. Thank you guys for supporting the channel and I'll see you guys next time. Peace.


Mr. Chair, Secretary General, distinguished delegates, it's a great honor to address you from this podium again, and I will try to not repeat myself. Certainly it's more challenging to be in this role and stick to the three-minute rule than it was yesterday during the ministerial roundtable when I had to moderate. But let me just say thank you again to the ITU, Secretary General, and leadership team and the whole staff for putting this together, as well as from my colleagues from Romania, and last but not least, our Chairman Sabin Sarmash, who's a great friend and wonderful promoter of this cause. Earlier on, he put on the screen a big word, the word dream. It certainly is a dream come true for this city of Bucharest, this country of Romania, to host you all, to host this landmark event. And we would like you to remember Bucharest, not just for its hospitality and hopefully impeccable organization, but also for the progress that is achieved here. And that depends on us all. I will briefly explain the context of Romania's digital transformation and put forth a few thoughts on best practices and hopefully joint efforts. And first of all, let me say it's a manifestation of the highest level of commitment. From our President, Klaus Johannes, to the leader of our government, Nicolae Csuka, they all strongly support the country's digital transformation. It's priority zero, and I think that shows. Second of all, it's the recognition that to digitally transform a nation, you need an integrated strategy. It's not enough to just have the skills, the upskilling, the re-skilling. It's not enough to just have new technologies. It's not enough to just have fast internet speeds. It's not enough to just have digital public services. We have embarked on a massive, ambitious digital transformation for our country, which includes a governmental cloud close to 600 million euro investment, interoperability, and Mr. Sarmash was fundamental in passing a breakthrough law that changes the paradigm to tell state institutions that they don't own the data. The citizens indeed own their data. And also, we are pushing forward with a national coalition for building skills for the future, especially digital skills, especially for senior citizens, for those citizens who may be marginalized, who may not readily benefit from this important progress. We also have a very strong local market and a strong partnership with the private sector. 220,000 employees in our IT and C sectors, 7 to 8 percent of GDP, very productive key for the country's prosperity. 30 percent of all our graduate cohorts come from the STEM areas, exact sciences, and we're committed at the highest level to push even higher with this percentage. 23 percent, almost a quarter are female, making Romania a best practice example in this regard. And there's a functioning and thriving ecosystem including national public research institutes and national universities, the government, and of course the private sector. I salute again the Buchra's declaration of yesterday and thank you all for the strong support and just to reiterate that we stand through this declaration for an open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet for all that leads to equitable use and bridging the digital divide. I wish you all great success in the days and weeks to come and I'm very thankful for this opportunity to make Romania the host country and look forward to many productive debates. Thank you very much.


Hello, you're watching episode 31 of the Daily Decrypt, I'm Amanda, and somebody got a new shirt for the upcoming Latin American Bitcoin conference. Neat. Today's episode is brought to you by NewBits. There's a handful of exchanges like CCEDK and Polonex and MetaExchange, for example, which are now proving their solvency on the BitShares blockchain. What does this mean? Well, it means that getting goxed is now a choice rather than an inherent risk of trading. Traditional online exchanges, you must give an exchange control of your private keys in order to have access to quickity-quick trading, right? The exchanges I mentioned, plus a few more, have put their order books on the BitShares blockchain so that just by logging into your BitShares wallet, you can trade what all of these exchanges are offering, but you'd never have to give up your private keys to them. It's all done in your wallet while you hold your private keys. There's a new social tipping app called ShareBits that went into soft launch yesterday, and it works like change-tip, right, which lets you tip people over Twitter or Reddit, but this is made by the BitShares people. And so not only can you tip BitShares if you want to, but if you are a person and any person can do this, if you are a person who has issued an asset token on the BitShares blockchain, say an asset token that represents a share in your 3D printing business or your consulting business or whatever it is that you would issue a share in. With the ShareBits app, you can tip people in shares of your asset. Of course, there's an argument to be made that any cryptocurrency, be it a Dogecoin, a Litecoin, a Monero token, it all represents a share in a way in the future profitability of that crypto. Yeah, I buy that. But the cool thing to me about user-issued assets is that you don't have to create a whole new cryptocurrency. You can just issue a token that represents the profitability of your particular business. The popular betting site Sportsbook is now accepting Bitcoin, which is an announcement that has gotten a good deal of fanfare. And as I was looking at the Sportsbook website, I saw that they have a section where people are wagering on the outcome of political elections. And that got me wondering, whoa, like what is Augur up to these days? Augur, in case you don't know, is a decentralized predictions market. I checked out Augur's site and it turns out they're offering an alpha if you'd like to see what it's all about. Augur hopes to be especially useful in what they call getting the wisdom of the crowd, which is based on like this jelly bean experiment, for example. So like there's this big jar of jelly beans and people are supposed to guess how many are in it. And though the average margin of error is really wide, it turns out that the average of all of the guesses of the entire crowd actually ends up being reliable. So if you'd like to start messing around with making predictions about the weather, business, prices, politics, you name it, the alpha is there. Bitholla, Bitholla, Bitholla is a new Android app which seeks to make paying people or or receiving payments yourself in bitcoins, especially in social situations, easier.  You know this, but it can get difficult in that a lot of people use a different address all the time. They never reuse the same address.  I know you always use new ones.  Give me a new address. And then it kicks out a new address so that your friends, you know, much less of having to ask you what your new address is. They no longer even have to scan your QR code or copy and paste anything. They just go to their Bitholla thing, click on your face, and the payment process takes place that way. The crypto store, which is like a mini overstock, I would say, is offering discount codes right now for people who just sign up for their newsletter.  And Heyo to today's sponsor, Newbits, which is a cryptocurrency which has maintained a value of almost exactly one US dollar since it was launched back in 2014. The target audience for Newbits is for people who want the relative stability of widely used fiat currencies while keeping the benefits of cryptocurrency, which is like freedom and censorship resistance. So if you would be interested to learn more, check out newbits.com. Follow the daily decrypt on Twitter, why don't you? Or if you prefer watching videos on Facebook as opposed to YouTube, as I know actually a lot of people do, we've got you covered.