Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for joining us. I realize nobody has any plans for 4.30 on a Friday afternoon. You didn't have anything else you wanted to do than to come to CSIS, so I'm glad that we could help out. No, I'm seriously, I'm very flattered and honored that you would come, and I would like to think it was us, but I really know it's our speaker, and we're very honored and pleased that the Defense Minister is joining us today. We thank him for making a part of his program while he's in Washington to speak to the policy community in Washington, and it's a great privilege to be able to welcome Minister of Defense Odin Onidera. I've had the privilege of meeting him on a number of occasions, and he's exactly the right man at the right time. These are challenging days in Japan. These are hard days in Japan, and these are a challenging environment. And the Minister is, I think, exceptional in his calm assurance. He reassures the American people, as he does the Japanese citizens, that there's a solid, wise, thoughtful judgment that's informing his leadership of the ministry. This is an important thing, and we're all very lucky to have a man of his character and his background and his experience as the Minister of Defense in Japan these days. Now, his second home is Washington. He was a student and a fellow here in Washington just up the street at the School of International Studies, Johns Hopkins. Now, I want to point that out. At least there are two graduates, one who did well of Seiss, and so I'm very happy to welcome him and to celebrate the fact that we went to the same school together. My job here today is not to formally read a biography, but I want to give you an insight into his character, because I think that's the most important thing, and it wasn't until just in preparation for this that I came to learn that Minister Odidera has a personal motto that he's used throughout his professional life, and that motto is Ichigo Wo Terusu, which means light up a corner of the world. I think that's remarkable, and I think it's an insight into his character. His character in public leadership is to bring insight and calm reflection to help all of us create a better world, and I think that's exactly what we want to have in a Defense Minister. So could I ask you with your applause to please welcome and thank the presence of Minister Odidera who's with us this afternoon. President Hammering, Senior Vice President Green, thank you so much for this invitation today. I see there's a brand new building here, and this shows how much CSIS is making. Once again I feel this. There were a lot of students at size, but I was the only one that was this poor in English. Now with President Hammering, he came to see me in Tokyo in January at the Ministry of Defense, and he told me that a speech at CSIS would be more important than having a meeting with Secretary Hagel. Actually, I just had a meeting with Secretary Hagel before coming here, and I relayed what Mr. Hammering had said, and I'm very pleased that I'm able to fulfill the promise I made to Mr. Hammering and to cap off a week-long visit to the U.S. with this most important event. I went to Dallas and Omaha after San Diego and then Washington, D.C. I saw various U.S. military installations and was able to see some very important places. Also, President Hammering invited Prime Minister Abe to CSIS last year, and in his speech he strongly declared that Japan was back about a year and a half has passed since that, and not only is Japan back, but under Prime Minister Abe's leadership we have made great progress in our security policy. In the Asia-Pacific region, what challenges does Japan face? How does Japan intend on fulfilling its responsibilities? That will be the topic of my speech. For more than 70 years, we have consistently protected an order that has provided peace and prosperity, but it's facing serious challenges now. The nations of the Asia-Pacific region are connected by a great ocean. Since time immemorial, we have used the sea for exchanges and to develop. Now, the Asia-Pacific region is at the center of the world economy. It accounts for roughly 40 percent of world trade and constitutes a huge trading block. The Asian middle class is expected to add a billion members in the next 10 years. The importance of the stability of the Asia-Pacific region to the U.S. economy goes without saying as well. Today, I would like to seek your heightened awareness on this point. The U.S. stands with the Asia-Pacific, and the Asia-Pacific has no future without American participation. Japan and the U.S. must never forget this. In April of 1996, then Prime Minister Hashimoto and President Clinton said that they were preparing the U.S.-Depran alliance for a new stage in the 21st century and issued a joint declaration on security. The declaration began by saying that our strong bilateral ties had contributed to the peace and the stability of the region and that they also supported the dynamic economic growth of the region. Creating a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific is a clear, common objective of Japan and the United States for the peace and prosperity of the region, including during the Cold War. Japan and the United States have supported a free and open maritime order, even at times risking lives, also based on the rule of law. However, recently there have been attempts to unilaterally change this order. The incursions into the territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands, which are inherent to Japanese territory, or targeting fire control radar on a self-defense ship engaged in patrol and surveillance, unilateral designation of an air defense identification zone, abnormal approaches by warplanes.  The front lines of Japan's defense, an expansive ocean, the skies above it, and roughly 6,800 islands. Since taking office, I have visited facilities of the self-defense forces on 13 remote islands where self-defense members are 24 hours a day conducting surveillance and I have encouraged individual self-defense force members. One must defend one's own territory by one's own hands. This isn't unique to Japan. Along with encouraging our own units, I have gone to areas around the South China Sea, Cameram Bay and Vietnam to the west, Subic Bay and the Philippines to the east, up to Guam, islands on the so-called first and second island chains, and met with Defense Secretary Guzman of the Philippines, General Tan of the Vietnam and Hishamudin of Malaysia, the United States Minister, exchanged views with them and they agree. One must defend one's own territory by one's own hand. But in this age, in defense, countries cannot stand alone. These countries now want stronger ties with Japan and the United States. Minister Abe, as on his first overseas trip, went to Vietnam. And before his first year in office was out, he visited all 10 ASEAN member states. I have visited six ASEAN member states and taken advantage of the Shangri-La Dialogue and the ADMM Plus to have meetings with all of the defense ministers of ASEAN member states. Also, thanks to a Japanese initiative, the first Japan ASEAN Defense Ministerial Roundtable is to be held this year. In this manner, Japan has steadily worked to advance its ties with ASEAN member states. The U.S. has also worked on deepening its relations with ASEAN. Last June, last year, I visited Subic Bay in the Philippines and I saw USP3C flying toward the South China Sea into the clear blue sky. And I felt, as one only can on the ground, the importance of the U.S. military presence. Rotational deployments of littoral combat ships to Singapore and the agreement signed in April between the U.S. and the Philippines deepening defense ties I hope will lead Asia to greater stability. Now, since the OPEC government was formed, we have seen a marked increase in the number of members of the U.S. Congress visiting the Japanese Ministry of Defense. I myself have already met with upwards of 30 members, mostly from the Armed Services and Foreign Relations, House and Senate committees. And I've seen others from the U.S. such as President Hamry of CSIS and others who have experienced in senior posts at state and defense. Now, these experts and these members, why did they all come to see me? It's because I think that they all had a certain doubt. What is this defense minister aiming for? Is he trying to start something with China? Is he trying to get the U.S. dragged into that fight? I think that's what was on their mind. One former secretary of state made me feel as if I were undergoing an oral examination at university by firing a lot of tough questions across the table. But after my response, that former secretary of state invited me to Stanford to give a speech, which must mean that my explanation was understood. Now, on that occasion and on others when I had visitors from the U.S., this is what I said. I am not seeking confrontation with China. We wish to lead China to becoming a country that is responsible and that contributes to the peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region. Japan wishes to prevent and avoid unintended situations and is energetically reaching out to China for that. We are reaching out to them to try to make Japan-China hotline operational, a maritime contact mechanism. When Prime Minister Abe was in government, the first time with then-Premier Wen Xiaobao, they almost got to the operational stage. But after that, there was a change in administrations, and we haven't seen much progress, but Prime Minister Abe continues to believe that such mechanisms will contribute to the peace and stability of the region. We will continue to reach out to China on this matter. The U.S. has also reached out to China in various forms. The U.S. Navy is hosting a multilateral exercise called RIMC PAC, and now China is participating for the first time thanks to a U.S. invitation. We very much hope that the Chinese Navy will learn seamanship through this exercise and we welcome their participation. Our door is always open to dialogue, but on the other hand, if against the background of force, there's unilateral behavior that disrupts the order, we must respond firmly, and we must not forget this either. Japan, also the U.S. and China, which are included in the Asia-Pacific region, and the international community as a whole for its peace and prosperity, we must not tolerate unilateral changes in the status quo through force. Now, by coming to this speech today, I said at the outset that I'm fulfilling a promise to Mr. Hammering. It's sometimes said that once Japanese people promise, once they make up their minds, then they follow through. They do get things done. North Korea has continued provocative statements and behavior, including suggesting missile launches and nuclear tests. Last year they mentioned not just Japanese cities, but Hawaii, Guam, and the Washington D.C. as being within the range of its ballistic missiles. This was the North Korean threat. North Korea has steadily continued its development of ballistic missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. Based on this situation in February of last year, Prime Minister Abe agreed, along with President Obama, to add a second installation of a Tipi-2 radar in Japan. And following that, we were able to put things on track for creating a site in Kyoto where there had been no previous U.S. base, and the construction has already started, and it's expected to be operational on schedule. So, Japanese people getting things done once they decide, a great example of that is the BMD system. When Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, Shigeru Ishiba was Director General of Defense, the Japanese government decided to build a BMD system 10 years have passed, and now we have 17 patriot units. We have four radars capable of detecting ballistic missiles, seven radars capable of tracking ballistic missiles, four BMD-equipped Aegis ships. We have a 24-hour seamless system that protects the people of Japan as well as U.S. bases in Japan. When you add the Tipi-2 to this, Japan has a world-class ballistic missile defense system, and we intend to increase the number of Aegis ships by four and to continue to make progress in terms of ballistic missile defense. Japanese people will get things done once they decide to do it. Japan will continue to be an ally that the U.S. can count on. The North Koreans are engaged with us on talks regarding abductions, but this does not mean at all that we take lightly the questions of missiles and of nuclear development. We intend to continue our close coordination with the U.S. and the ROK, especially with the defense minister of the ROK. At any time, I am prepared to have a bilateral defense minister's meeting. The U.S. now has a policy that gives importance to the Asia-Pacific region. It's called Rebalancing, and we very much welcome it. At the 2-plus-2 in Tokyo last year, there was a joint statement, and the Tipi-2, the P-8 patrol craft, and Global Hawk, cutting-edge equipment is being deployed to Japan in April in a meeting with Secretary Hagel. There was a plan that was announced to deploy two more Egypt ships to Japan. We very much welcome the rebalancing strategy, and we'll give our full cooperation to it. In order to achieve stable deployment of the U.S. forces in Japan, it's important to reduce the burden on Okinawa, especially replacing Futenma, is one of the top priorities of the Abe government. We are firmly committed to making sure that this replacement happened. I visited Okinawa seven times, and with respect to moving to Guam, we are also, as a government, committed to this. We have spent roughly $950 million of Japanese taxpayers' money for this project, and we hope that we will continue to move steadily on this plan. We want to have stronger cooperation with the U.S. U.S.-Japan-Australia, U.S.-Japan-India, U.S.-Japan-ROK in order to build a more stable security environment. In partnership with 2014, there were transport ships that had U.S. and Australian forces on them, and for the first time went into the South China Sea. With respect to U.S., Japan, and South Korea, last year Iwasaki, chairman of the Joint Staff Council, and Dempsey, chairman of the Joint States of Staff, for the first time had a trilateral Chiefs of Defense conference. In the previous month, there was also a trilateral Defense Minister's meeting. As to the U.S.-Japan and India, for the first time in five years, we are planning an exercise called Manabar near Okinawa. U.S. and Japan have great ties of trust, and we are becoming something that is a platform for further cooperation. In February, Prime Minister Abe, to President Obama, said that Japan will carry out responsibilities with the United States, and talked about his determination on various defense policies. Last year, for the first time in 11 years, we increased our defense spending at the end of last year. In order to protect our remote islands, the Ares and the Sea, we created a new defense plan and strategy. The maritime and air self-defense forces will be strengthened and have amphibious units for the first time. So, recently, a new legislative effort was the object of a cabinet decision, including collective self-defense. Prime Minister Abe has been telling Prime Minister Obama about these developments for a year and a half. Let me give some details about the cabinet decision last year. In July 1, we were able to have a historic cabinet decision that will change the direction in which we have looked at our legislative structure, not just the country of Japan, but rather the security environment that surrounds us. We will fundamentally revise it to look at new technologies, to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and these threats can happen anywhere in the world and can have direct effects on Japan's security. No country can continue to protect peace on its own. We must increase our defensive capabilities and especially we must increase the effectiveness of the US-Depen Alliance and increase its deterrence. In any circumstance, the lives of the citizens of our country must be protected and based on a principle of international cooperation and proactive contributions to peace, we will contribute to the peace and stability of the international community and we need to create legislation domestically that will make further such contributions possible. The next three points are included in this. First, up to now, Article 9 of the Constitution has been interpreted to be limited to when an armed attack happened in areas surrounding Japan. But now, when other countries that have close ties to Japan have an armed attack against them or when there is a threat to the life or the freedom of the people of Japan, a clear danger, then we will remove this danger and when there are no other appropriate measures then the necessary minimum measures will be able to be taken for self-defense and this was the decision that we reached in looking at the Constitution. For example, if the US was attacked militarily and there were a US warship near Japan between Guam and Hawaii or a ballistic missile that were on its way there, Japan would not have been able to take any measure against it up to now but is that acceptable? When you consider the US-Japan alliance, is it allowable for us not to try to intercept such a missile that has a US target? And if there's a gray zone, let's say it's neither peacetime nor wartime, we have to make our posture more robust to deal with this as well. Now, the US units, in order to protect them, the self-defense forces must be able to use a necessary and minimum use of force and this is the direction in which our legislation will move and when the US and Japanese forces are moving, working cooperatively, the self-defense forces will be able to respond appropriately. The third point, even if Japan does not use force, Japan in certain cases may need to support the US which might be using force and we should create legislation to make that possible as well. The government as a whole will now start creating this legislation and we believe that this will dramatically deepen our ties with our ally, the United States. Also, what was agreed with Secretary Hago, the revision of the US-Japan defense guidelines will be accelerated. Once again, I was able to verify this with Secretary Hago. This is our first revision of the guidelines in 17 years and it will deal with not just Japan's defense, but the security environment of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole and allow us to respond to that environment and the revision work should be done by the end of the year and should contribute to strengthening the US-Japan alliance. I have one more point to add in April. Japan created a new policy on export of weapons. Because of the difficult security environment, we want to have a stronger cooperation with other countries including the US. International cooperative development including the F-35 and repair of equipment and other such matters should be expanded. And we will make even clearer and more transparent the rules governing such activity. And we believe this will allow us to contribute even more to peace and stability. Building a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific. We must not tolerate changes in the status quo via force. Our defense policy is very consistent with that. In this year and a half, we've had many policies in the security area that all contribute to strengthening our alliance with the United States. And trying to change the status quo via force will be deterred by a stronger US-Japan alliance. And also we will be able to prevent unexpected situations. And by having trilateral cooperation with like-minded countries, we will be able to also contribute. The most important thing is that all of these Japanese policies after the Second World War have not at all moved against peace. These measures are to make us even more of a country that promotes peace. In conclusion, Prime Minister Abe, at the end of May, the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore for the peace and prosperity of Asia to be eternal was something that he wished. And he got warm applause from the room. Secretary Hagel at the same dialogue gave a speech, said that the US, as a Pacific power, would support freedom of navigation and would oppose coercion and intimidation and threats, and made a very clear speech as well. At the same speech, I said that we were against changes in the status quo through force and that it was important to insist on the rule of law. Prime Minister Abe, Secretary Hagel, and myself consistently gave out the same message, saying that we attached importance to the rule of law and would not tolerate changes in the status quo through force. This was a consistent theme brought out by the US and Japan at that dialogue. After that, at the G7 in Brussels, Prime Minister Abe stressed that any action to alter the status quo by force should not be accepted anywhere in the world. Again, that message was strongly supported. We will build a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific region. This is why we will not accept the change of the status quo by force. This message, we will continue to put forth and it's very much accepted by world opinion. We will oppose attempts to change the status quo and stand with the United States in doing so. The US and Japan should take leadership in this area because we're both democracies that uphold open policies. And we are two nations that recognize regional common interests and shared responsibilities. In the last year and a half, Japan is not merely back. Moreover, its engagement in developing security and defense policy in the region is very much moving forward. We are taking on more responsibility in the region. There's nothing unnatural about this. It's natural for a great power like Japan to play a responsible role for the region based on the significance of the area and the increasingly acute regional security environment. Japan will play a responsible role for the regional peace and prosperity with the United States and Australia, South Korea and partners in Southeast Asia and India. I cannot guarantee that such a path for the peace and stability of the region will not be rocky. Rather, it may be long and difficult. Japan will continue to walk this path hand in hand with the US as we have for 70 years. I'm so pleased to have had this chance to speak today in a year and a half. I have met with more than 30 defense ministers and directly explained our defense policy. And today I've been able to do so at CSIS. It's truly an honor for me in the future. Japan's security and defense policies will continue to be explained by us with openness and transparency and security in Japan as a country promoting peace will continue to walk this path. Thank you so much for your attention. Minister, thank you for shedding some light on our corner of the world this afternoon. And thank you, everyone, for coming on a Friday afternoon. I'm Michael Green. I'm Senior Vice President for Asia and Japan Share at CSIS. We have about 20 minutes, I think, for Q&A. I'm going to ask the first question since I have the mic. When I call on you and you get a microphone, would you speak into the microphone, identify yourself, and please keep the question short? And let me also add one last point, which is you do not need to take the translation your pieces with you. They won't work very well outside of this room, so leave them on your chair when we're finished. We'd appreciate that. Minister, you gave a very well-balanced and very strategic speech, and I especially appreciated the precise and clear description of the Cabinet decision on July 1st with respect to collective self-defense, which, as you said, is so important for the alliance between our two countries for deterrence and stability. And we'll all be watching the legislative process, the Defense Guidelines Review, which will be the next important steps to this. And I also thought it was very important that you highlighted the maritime communication mechanism and other confidence-building steps that you're ready to take with China, and we're on track to conclude with China. And I think it's important that those also get back on track for the interests of Japan, the U.S., China, and the whole region. You touched on third parties, like-minded states, U.S. allies and friends, cooperation with India, Korea, and Australia. And I noted that you said you're ready to go to Korea as soon as the Korean Defense Minister is ready to receive you. And I wanted to ask you about that. Korea is a very close friend, democratic, treaty ally of the United States, with common values with Japan and similar security challenges. When you do have your meeting with the Defense Minister in Seoul or in Japan, wherever you do it, what's your philosophy for moving forward with Japan-Korea relations, particularly with respect to security, and what kind of areas of defense cooperation would you like to emphasize, if possible? U.S.-Japan are okay. Not just North Korea. It's important for various issues. In various meetings, I have myself. And I think it might change now, but Kim Gun-jin, the Defense Minister, many times I had spoke with the Minister. The same message of the defense authorities is that if bilateral ties improves, then a defense ministerial meeting will be possible, and it will be easier to have defense cooperation. I myself think that Japan ROK ties are very important. I hope that quickly our relations, especially in terms of diplomacy and government, government will improve. Thank you. Kevin Mayer with NMB Consulting. Welcome to Washington, sir. Somewhat of a down-on-the-wheat question about keeping short, with the change to collective self-defense policy, how far would Japan be willing to go in terms of a real integrated force structure, integrated not just bilaterally with the U.S., but between the maritime self-defense forces and the air self-defense forces, for example, and will this be reflected in your procurement of capabilities for, as one example, your upcoming EX competition, the early warning aircraft. Will you go for things that really allow a real integration with U.S. forces like cooperative engagement capability and integrated fire control? Can you go that far now? Building up its defensive capabilities is mostly based on protecting our territory. We don't have a big role in terms of contributing all around the world like the U.S. does. As much as we can, we want to make it possible for us to cooperate with the United States. For example, we have cooperation that has to do with procurement now, and it's important to continue training as well, and to deepen it will be important. I have been talking about the changes in our defense policy, but I think some of you may have been surprised. U.S. ships that are sent to defend Japan, and Japan has not, let's say Japan has not yet been attacked, but that ship is attacked. The Constitution was interpreted to say that we could not help that ship. So for seven years, we have had that outlook. Not go to the problem, but to try to actually help out is what an ally should naturally do. That's how this change in policy should be understood. We also look at this from the standpoint of deterrence. It's important for U.S. and Japan and China that problems not happen in the first place, including all of our economies. Thank you. Stanley Roth, the Boeing company. As a fellow SICE graduate, I have to agree with Dr. Hamry, as always, that I'm feeling like something of an underachiever personally as well. My question is a bit sensitive one about the Japanese defense budget, and in asking it, I recognize that you could flip the question and ask me about the U.S. defense budget and whether it's adequate for American needs. But since you're the Japanese minister of defense, I'll ask you about Japan's budget. Obviously symbolically very important that there was an increase which you mentioned in your speech. But in terms of the needs of Japan's forces, and in terms of the very dramatic rise for over a decade, maybe two decades in Chinese military spending in particular, and a relative shift in balance of power, what do you think are the main gaps that need to be addressed, and do you think there is the political will to bump up the Japanese budget over time to accommodate at least some of this gap? With respect to our military build-up, we created a national defense program outlined in a midterm defense build-up plan which has been transparently announced, and we want to continue to build up our defense capability. If various countries engage in a build-up race, then you never can see the goal. As I said before, no country can stand alone in terms of defending itself. So we want to have more alliances, and if the other country is not transparent, then we want to ask them why do you have that equipment? So we want to seek transparency from others, and by having such exchanges to increase trust, and we think that's the most important thing. It may not be a question that directly has to do with your line of business, but it is what is needed for Japan's security. I also want to say, so if I can't call on a size person next, or people will think there's a conspiracy, you went to Berkeley, right? Okay. Thank you, Chris Nelson with the Nelson Report. Yes, Berkeley, although I've given talks at Zeiss. Thank you very much for a really comprehensive, very clear speech. Much appreciated. I'd like to ask a question that may be a little more detailed, but I hope it's not hypothetical. In this room this morning, at the really interesting second day of the CSS conference, a former colleague of yours, Admiral Kota Yoji, got all of our attention by saying, you know, we've been so focused on the disconnects on history and the risk of incidents at sea and the air risk that you have said is still there because the Chinese won't talk to us, that we're missing what the Chinese are actually doing. And he said we need to look at three islands or little rocks, really, out in the South China Sea, and he named them, saying the Chinese have already built one air base. And if the U.S. and Japan don't develop a joint, he said naval strategy, but he meant comprehensive strategy, to prevent the completion of those bases. When you combine them with Hainan Island, China will control the South China Sea. That's going to be it. Therefore, we have to work together to stop this from happening. Is he speaking in some ways for concerns that you share and you have some ideas about joint, U.S., Japan, and other cooperation to try to prevent this? And if so, could you share some of that with us? Thank you very much. You're referring, I think, to the South China Sea and problems that have happened with the Vietnam and the Philippines. Japan has, along with ASEAN, held various meetings and sent out a common message. ASEAN is also deeply concerned about this issue. We are also continually seeking dialogue with China. We'd like to get a solution based on dialogue and the rule of law. Unfortunately, we've only seen unilaterally changes based on force. So improved capability of maritime policing for ASEAN countries is important. And we can't just protect the region, but if there's a disaster in the region or a disaster at sea in the region, it will also help. And Japan would like to help in terms of increasing that capability. Yes, Matt. Right here. I'm Nicole Finch here for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. You briefly mentioned a goal of improved technology for weapons of mass destruction, proliferation prevention. Do you see a future for U.S.-Japanese cooperation in research and development? Japan is the only country that suffered an atomic attack and thinks it's important to eliminate such weapons. But as a practical matter, there are countries that do have nuclear arsenals and some of them make provocative statements and are near Japan, and we have to take measures against them. The direction will probably be to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, but all the countries of the world have to, at the same time, go in the same direction, otherwise there won't be progress. So more international dialogue and cooperation. Sorry for a kind of an exemplary answer. Thank you very much, Minister. For your speech today, my name is Jung Yeoboo from the Asan Institute from Seoul, Korea. Recently, there was a summit between President Park and President Xi. Though there is no mention about Japan in their joint statement, but our National Security Advisor just before President Xi left Korea briefed to the press that the two leaders exchanged their views and shared concerns about Japan's collective self-defense. Could you share with us what Japan and your view about this? So since it's a question from Korea, Prime Minister Abe has many times said that including the Second World War, based on deep regret for this, we will continue to walk a path of peace. So for those in Korea, we hope you will understand that the Abe government has no different understanding of this Japanese government's history questions. Dialogue and cooperation is important for all countries, and we hope that China and the Republic of Korea will be able to have good relations, and we would love to get good opinions from the Republic of Korea, and we hope to have a good relationship with China as well. President Nelson and Kevin talked about the jointness and interoperability that might now be more possible with collective self-defense between US and Japan among Japanese forces. Chris mentioned the complex situation in the first island chain, and you talked about how your members of the self-defense forces are every day dealing with these challenges. The front line in many of these cases for Japan is the Coast Guard or law enforcement. And I wonder if you could tell us something about how, from the Defense Ministry's perspective, your strategy is evolving and your cooperation is evolving with these other parts of the Japanese government that are white hull, not grey hull ships that are under different ministry. Including the Senkaku Islands, it's the Japan Coast Guard. It's our maritime police, not the military, that is protecting Japanese territory. But if foreign warships come to have surveillance and patrol, then our warships would be engaged. But in principle, it is the Japan Coast Guard that is responsible. But for the air, for any country, it's the Air Force that's responsible. In our case, it's the Air Self-Defense Forces. So you have to always have a calm approach, of course. But unfortunately, since a year and a half ago, there have been really unusual and normally unthinkable approaches and they have locked on with radar that's usually just used for attacks. And so even in those situations, on the ground and between governments, it's important to have communication in a hotline and we want to make a system that will avoid problems. Good CSIS, I want to thank you. You're Minister of Defense at one of the most interesting times in Japan's post-war history. And I think everyone feels a lot more confident hearing your views and recognizing how much work you have. And so we should let you get back to work. Please join me in thanking Minister Ono Dera.


uch more at ease with dealing with my teenage students and just regular life now um at the same time realizing that i could still be a carrier uh tony i'm sorry okay uvm students are tested twice a week including those who were probably 18 and 19 i i agree with barbara i don't understand why i believe we this this issue has come up several times in both genie and steven i uh went into not great detail but a lot of detail on the reasons and the complications around it um but it is getting late and barbara i don't want to no it's okay it's not for me it's for the student and the teachers will be vaccinated i'm vaccinated but the students are vulnerable why wait for an outbreak why wait for a kid to get to die maybe test them for god's sake yep i'm sure they we live in a free country and we can't make people do things we can encourage them we can give them reasons to buy into this but as a as a district you cannot mandate as a public and you mandate vaccinations don't you for kids before they can come to school uh i don't want to get into the weeds here yeah we appreciate it is getting late i said my piece do what you know barbara yeah it is important i believe they that we uh yeah everyone heard and appreciate how important it is um that said it is getting late um thank you all for coming and next month we'll hope you'll be our last month without uh having to go over to our wonderful place at st joe's school hopefully for an outdoor event uh npa meeting and hopefully possibly a community dinner if we can possibly think of ways to pull it off in a comfortable and safe manner um is it okay to close it i think liam's probably asleep sounds good to me already thank you thank you for all thank you good night thank you patrick thank you liam bye bye


Hey, this is Brett, and this 2023 Ram 1500 crew cab, short box, 5'7'' short box, Laramie Level 1 Sport Edition is stock number 14083Z. I am here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, your new and used Ram and late-duty truck headquarters. This 2023 Ram 1500 has the 5.7-liter V8 Hemi engine with the e-torque assist. It's paired up with the 8-speed automatic transmission, and this truck has been fully safe and inspected by our service shop, has a fresh oil and filter change, so the fluids have been checked and topped off for the state of Wisconsin inspection process, and it is 100% ready to go. I'm going to go all the way around in the video inside, underneath, start it up and take a look under the hood to give you the most accurate representation that I can of the truck. Patriot Blue is the color. If you like the video, consider subscribing to the YouTube channel. I do videos like this each and every day, and you can get access to all the videos I do, including one of the largest catalogs of vehicle walk-arounds on YouTube. This one has the 20-inch painted and polished aluminum wheels that it has Bridgestone Duler HL tires. These are 275 55-hour 20s, and they have just about all the tread left on them. I think there's only 3,000-some miles on this truck frame and under body looks good. This is a one-owner clean title history, clean car fax out of Michigan. Comes with the LED headlamps. Front fender looked great. Didn't see any dents or dings in there. LED fog lamps, and the front bumper is painted, part of that sport edition package. No dents or dings on that. Like I said, you get all the LED lights. We'll turn those on at the end of the video so you can see just how bright they are. The hood is in excellent condition as well, didn't see any dents or dings on there. I know there's only 3,000 miles on this truck, but I want to give you the most accurate representation possible. Passenger side front wheel, no scuffs or scrapes on there, and these are some of my favorite wheels. They're all polished aluminum, and then the insides are painted. Look really good. Patriot blue, one of my favorite colors as well. In fact, this would probably be how I would spec out my Ram, if I wanted to get one. Had a lot of good metal flake in there. As you go down this side of this 2023 Ram 1500, take note of how clean that body is, how reflective, and mirror like that paint is. Take these HD videos, so if you're far away or even if you're close by and you just cannot make the trip down, but you're still interested in purchasing the vehicle, you can see the truck here, the truck, and have confidence. In the vehicle that you're looking at, so when you get here, there's absolutely no surprises, and you can make a smart and informed buying decision from wherever you're at. Now if this video helps you make that decision, let your salesman know that you saw the video that it was helpful and that Brett sent you. Back wheel is in excellent shape, back tires have just as much tread as the front tires, and you get the plastic wheel well liner. Keeps your frame and underbody looking really good, and lower rockers all look great as well. This passenger side box, no major dents or dings on there, you do get these sport decals, if you didn't like that, you can always remove that. Has the LED tail lamps, you get the chrome tipped dual rear exhaust, painted bumper in the back as well, backup parking sensors, full towing package, which includes a receiver hitch, four pin and seven pin wiring, and the tailgate is in fantastic condition as well. It also comes with a trifecta 2.0 fold up tonneau cover, that's in pretty nice condition, I didn't see any rips or tears on there, has a shock down assist, and it does come with a very nice drop in bed liner, and that is a ramp bed liner. Goes on to the tailgate, which is nice as well. Tailgate shuts nice and easily and solidly. Going down the driver's side just to clean us that passenger side, no dents, no dings on the box, looks really good for full disclosure, this back wheel just as nice as the rest no scuffs or scrapes in there. The new rams come with a capitalist fuel fill, which is a really nice feature, and the cab and doors are in fantastic condition as well, didn't see any dents or dings on this truck. Comes with the heated power mirrors, blind spot monitoring, blind spot mirrors, and directional signals, I'll show you the back seats real quick.   I'll show you the VIN sticker, no Canadian trucks here, as well as the tire and loading information sticker. Inside the Laramie Level 1 package gives you the black and leather bucket seats, no rips, no tears in these seats, you also get the Laramie stitched into the backrest, you get the gray piping on there, factory all-weather floor mats in the front here too, power pedals, auto headlamps, tilt telescopic steering wheel, power windows, locks and mirrors, get the suede inserts on the door, and this is the new trim that comes on the Laramies. It's kind of wood grain. And then these mirrors do power fold in, I was like showing both sides, so you know that both sides are working properly. Hop inside, check out the miles, the radio, and everything that this truck has to offer on the interior. You can see this one has 3,269 miles on it, you get the digital speedometer on that 7-inch LCD display, current miles per gallon, you can change all those corners to read whatever you want. Instrument cluster is very nice and clean, comes with the heated leather wrap steering wheel, cruise controls and gear selector on the right, Bluetooth and information center controls on the left and audio controls on the back of that steering wheel, you get the 8-speed automatic transmission, push button, 4-wheel drive, that's your start-stop capabilities, you can turn those off and on. So it comes with the UConnect 5, 12-inch radio, you get AM, FM and Sirius XM radio capabilities here, all your inputs that you can do.  So it does have the factory navigation system, there's Highway 41, so you can see that is working nicely, and then you get all your different apps on here, I'm not going to go through all of them, just kind of show you them right here. Check out your backup camera, they made those HDs, so they're nice and crystal clear, and you can zoom in on your receiver hitch to get hooked up to your boat camper trailer the first time every time, and there's everything else. Down here you have more tactile, well actually your tactile climate and controls and volume and tune controls are on the side there. Factory brake controller, stability control, tow haul, front and rear parking sensors, two USBs, two USB-C's, and an AUX jack, keyless entry, power drop-down tailgate and remote start, you get a 115 volt, 400 watt plug-in down there, setting cup holders and coin trays, passenger side glove box and seat are in excellent conditional rips or tears on there, and once again it smells very clean inside this truck, I don't think it's ever been smoked in, and you get assistant SOS buttons, map lights, and power drop-down tailgate button, home link buttons for your garage doors, security systems and lane systems, and auto dimming mirror. There's the badge, let me know it has the Alpine premium sound, and did I say 3,269 miles? Super low miles on this truck. Started up here, we'll take a look under the hood, also check out all those lights in the front as promised. Starts right up, no check engine lights, and except for my hood being open. I would personally like to thank you for checking out the video today, and hopefully from this HD video you've been able to verify the quality, condition options, and of course cleanliness of this truck all the way around inside. Now you can see all those lights are very bright and working nicely. Under the hood we have the 5.7 liter V8 Hemi engine with the e-torque assist, it's got the big silver square on there, you know it's got the e-torque, engine base very clean, runs very smooth. Once again this truck has been fully safe and inspected by our service shop, has a fresh oil and filter change, all the fluids have been checked and topped off, and it is 100% ready to go. There's the emissions sticker, and I would highly recommend this truck from a quality and condition standpoint. I'd ship this one to New York, Texas, Florida, California, Arizona. I'd sell it to a friend, I'd buy it myself. That's how nice this truck is, it's like new all the way around, and to see more pictures of this truck or one of our other 550 new new Skars trucks, ICVs, Minimans, Wranglers, Half Tons, Three Quarter Tons, One Tons, you name it, we got to go to the website right there, summitauto.com, full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle all at summitauto.com, and if you like to check out more HD videos you can go to youtube.com slash summit auto, click the bell notifications to get updates on the videos they do each and every day, as well as having access to one of the largest catalogs of vehicle walk-arounds on YouTube, 8,000 videos and counting, in fact in a second you'll see a link to subscribe to my YouTube channel on the upper left, a link to more Ram 1500 truck videos I've done in the upper right, a link to this vehicle on our website in the lower left, and a link to one of our latest YouTube videos in the lower right, click those, check us out. We're super excited to help you with this ultra-glade in 2023. Ram 1500 Crew Cab Short Box Laramie Level 1 Sport Edition in Patriot Blue Metallic. Thanks again for checking out the video, remember to like, subscribe, and share on the YouTube channel. I really appreciate it. Thanks again.


Ever heard the old phrase strike when the iron is hot? Well, it's never been hotter than now. All this month at Appalachian Wireless, you can get the Samsung GS6 or the GS6 Edge for just one penny when you send them for service. The Galaxy S6, normally $49.99, now just a penny. The Galaxy S6 Edge, normally $99.99, now just a penny. Strike Now will supplies last. Better service, bigger savings, serving you for the last 25 years at Appalachian Wireless. This morning, live local radio was celebrated in Pikeville as 93.1 WDHR's Daybreak Morning Show wrapped up its sixth year on the air. This morning is a celebration. Appalachian Wireless is celebrating 25 years. Daybreak Morning Show is celebrating six years. And Double Quick, where we are live broadcasting from, is celebrating 50 years. And although today's festivities centered around the Daybreak Morning Show, officials at East Kentucky Broadcasting say live morning shows have been on the air since the company was started in 1949. While the industry in large part has gotten away from a lot of live, local shows, we've really always made an effort to stay plugged into our communities by having local people do local shows. And that way we never lose that connection. It's one of the things that sets East Kentucky Broadcasting apart. And while Daybreak is known for giving away prizes and playing games with its collars, everyone involved agrees the information is the most important part of the show. The community depends on it for information, for road issues, traffic concerns, school closings, things like that. The Daybreak Morning Show airs weekday mornings from six till nine a.m. on 93.1 W-D-H-R and is simulcast on EKB-TV and EKB-TV.com. Reporting in Pikeville for EKB News, I'm Shannon Deskins.


This video is part of the public health to data science rebrand program. Hi everyone, it's Monica Wahee here, your public health data science mentor, giving you unsolicited advice as usual. It's my best kind. Today we are going to talk more about data science portfolio projects. Actually, we are not even going to go that far. We are going to start at step zero. And that is getting you ready to actually do portfolio projects in data science and post them on a public blog. You might ask, why post data science portfolio projects on a public blog? Isn't GitHub good enough? Well, let me show you why GitHub is not good enough. Okay, this is a GitHub link from a little project I posted on my blog that you could consider a portfolio project. See how it just has some code and a read me? Now I'll show you why you need a blog. Let's click on this link in the read me and go to my blog post. Okay, here we are at my blog. What do you see first? Exactly, you see a nice Likert scale plot. You can see that I'm a discriminating data scientist. You will see I did a YouTube video too. It's up to you how much you want to demonstrate to a future employer that you are great at visual and verbal communication. Okay, hopefully I've convinced you that you at least need to set up a blog so you have a place to post your data science portfolio projects to showcase them. And maybe even a YouTube channel depending on how far you want to go and what knowledge domain you are in. Yes, definitely linked to your GitHub from the blog, but the blog is needed to annotate your code and explain your project. You want prospective employers not to be confused when they learn about your past projects. In fact, you want them to be wowed and your blog is your opportunity to do that. Okay, so let's admit it. If we are building careers in data science, we are probably good with data. But maybe we don't know anything about blogs. Well, I admit there was a time when I didn't know anything about blogs at all. So now I'm going to go over what the current decision space looks like when it comes to setting up a data science blog to showcase your portfolio projects today. Let me first define for you what I exactly mean when I say blog. A blog is basically a web interface given to the user that makes it easy to make web pages in a certain format called posts. These blog posts are essentially written articles with links to sources, which is other content on the internet. That's the bare minimum needed for something to be a blog, in my opinion. Now, we want to have a data science portfolio project blog. So we want to add more than just writing and links. We want to add images, especially data visualizations. Some of you might want to make white papers that users can download. Or you might be like me and want to make a YouTube video and link to it on your blog. Also, you will see that some people set up their data science blog to have ads on it. For example, I like to go to the QuickR blog for data science guidance. Let's see all these distracting ads. I feel so frustrated when I try to use this blog. I'm already frustrated enough if I'm googling for code. So my strong recommendation is to avoid having ads on your data science blog at all costs. You will see the only ads on my data science blog are ads for my own stuff. And I try to make them intelligent, creative, and not annoying, so as not to insult my bespoke audience. So that is my first point to make. I would recommend avoiding having ads on your data science blog. And now, to my second point, and that is that a blog is basically a web-based display of data. By that, I mean textual data, like the wording for the blog post, and also image data, like the images of plots you might put on the blog. And if you make YouTube videos like me, well, that video file is now owned by YouTube, theoretically. I think you are coming around to my second point, which is ownership and control of your data. I don't mean your data science data set. I mean the data that make up the content that you post on your blog. Medium is an example of one of those blog platforms that lets you program your blog into their online community. The advantage is your blog post is immediately exposed to a community and is supported and promoted. But the disadvantage is that Medium owns it. I saw a lot of censorship of Medium during the pandemic, and after that, I basically started avoiding it. Some data scientists use another platform called Substack, but I haven't used that. On the other hand, you will see that I like to post articles on LinkedIn, but that's mainly because I'm already a LinkedIn learning author, and I want to continue the dialogue with my learning community on that platform. I admit I actually have used a version of WordPress that is like Medium and Substack and is called WordPress.com. Like Medium and Substack, WordPress.com is free and online and comes with its own community. I have two use cases for the WordPress.com site I want to show you. Here is the first, which is a WordPress.com blog I made myself while at a blog workshop at Mass Hack 2014. I basically made this while at the workshop so I could practice with the facilitator with saying. It was a great workshop. If you want details, go read the blog. But seriously, if you are going on an excursion, maybe on a cruise or to a museum, or you are enjoying nature at a park on a trail, or you are like me and love any excuse to take photos or videos of your pet cat or dog, think of making a little blog. Take a few pictures and some video. Think of a story. Then make a little blog like I did about Mass Hack 2014 in WordPress.com just to practice. Yesterday, a woman commented on the cheerful design on the back of my backpack as I was walking to the train station. That is something I could put in a blog post about walking around Boston, for example. You are going to have to get good at telling stories with data, so it doesn't hurt to practice the skill of storytelling. But there is another use case for WordPress.com besides making a personal blog to practice blogging. That use case is for individuals or groups who want to make a public blog, but don't want all the technological overhead associated with maintaining your own blog. Here is an example of a blog with a lot of technological overhead. It is the blog from Data Robot, a company that hosts a platform for developing artificial intelligence algorithms. Data Robot probably has people hired at their company who can maintain this blog on their servers at datarobot.com. On the contrary, you will see authors on Medium, Substack, and WordPress.com are not writing to promote companies, even if they work at places like Data Robot. They might be celebrities or thought leaders already employed somewhere else who want to have a personal blog that is not connected to their workplace. I see journalists from mainstream media having blogs on Medium and Substack, for example. So now, I'm going to show you a good example of using WordPress.com in data science, an example that is somewhat parallel to celebrity bloggers or journalists using a service like WordPress.com, Medium, or Substack to get their personal views into the public domain. A group of colleagues and I got together to do some voluntary research into the type of child abuse called Munchausen syndrome by proxy. We are all scientists and we just wanted to write a public blog to provide information to the public about this problem. The scientific articles are very hard to understand, so we wanted to explain them to the public and also contribute some of our experiences. WordPress.com was a great solution for us because we didn't mind if there were ads and we didn't have any time or money to invest in actually setting up and maintaining the blog. We also didn't mind that the web address for our blog was proxyprojectresearch.wordpress.com. We didn't care about branding. But, what if WordPress.com decided that what we posted was too controversial? After all, it is about child abuse. They could just shut us down. And that brings me to explaining a more robust alternative with the WordPress software, which is what I use for my company's blog. Now, I'm going to highlight an important point about WordPress. The term WordPress.com literally means that site I just showed you, where you can start a free blog. The term WordPress.org, however, refers to the nonprofit organization that is in charge of the WordPress software, which is open source. The WordPress software is software that runs on a web server. If you have a company like me, then you can create a relationship with a web design company to set up a web page for it, like I did. Then you are basically renting space on that web design company's server. After that, if the web designer and you agree to set up your web page in WordPress, the web designer can download free WordPress software and deploy it on their web server for your company. Then you can program your entire company's web page in WordPress. Let's say you want to do that. I suggest you do what I did and look on the internet for a local web designer. I'm in Boston, so I searched Yelp for a web designer in Boston. I used Yelp, but you can use any approach you want. Or if you know someone with a nice company web page that looks like it is in WordPress, you can try to figure out what company designed it and contact them. Using Yelp is how I found my web designer, Slick Boston Solutions, which is run by Gabriel Goaga. I know almost nothing about web design. But, obviously, I knew how to use WordPress because I went to that workshop. So I asked Gabriel to help me set up my website in WordPress, and he did. He helped me get my domain, which is DeathWench.com. Then he put the WordPress software on part of his server and set up my blank web page in WordPress. We talked about what pages to have, these permanent ones like this about page. You don't need many pages. Then he set up the blog for me. He charges me a very reasonable annual price to keep the blog on his server and to have me be the only person making posts. That way he can keep the security around the server high for a low annual price. But Gabriel and Slick Boston, like most web design companies, can do so much more. If my company grows to be huge, I can just hire Gabriel and other consultants to create content for the web page and blog and build it up. Gabriel also knows how to improve the marketing and visibility of the blog. I could pay him and others to help me with that. I just don't right now because I don't have the need or the money. Do not be shy about asking for free consultations with web designers like Gabriel. They will talk to you about what pages you want, what you want for your blog and what you plan to do with your business. If your needs are small, like mine, the web designer will quote you a very reasonable price. If you are unsure after getting one quote, get another from a different web design company. Remember, the web designer and you will likely have a long term relationship. So you want to pick the right person to make sure the relationship is good. Which brings me to my next point. Presumably, if you are starting a data science blog, you are a learner near the beginning of your data science journey. You are probably not a data science company like me. So why would you ever go with a solution like mine where I set things up with Gabriel and Slick Boston and have an annual fee to pay? Let me start my answer by showing you two data science blogs I really like. First, here is the blog of Dr. Bob Munchen, who is a biostatistics professor at Columbia University and a very kind man. He writes books on SAS and R and he wrote this amazing blog post where he reported on the popularity of various statistical software based on his analysis of job position announcements posted on Indeed.com. As you can see, there are all those annoying ads on this blog, but that's not because he's using some platform like Medium or WordPress.com. How do I know? See here, the blog is on the server of R for stats.com. So Dr. Munchen has his own Gabriel of Slick Boston, so to speak. This means that if you click on one of these ads, Dr. Munchen actually makes money, not WordPress.com or any other company. So controlling the ads is what you want to be able to do. Either have them and make your own money like Dr. Munchen or don't have them and have a clean presentation like I do on my blog. And you can't do that with one of these platforms like Medium or WordPress.com. So this is the first reason why a regular average Jane like you learning data science might want to invest in a web designer and part of a server. You might really care about making money from ads, or as in my case, creating an exclusive online atmosphere of hospitality. But the other main reason why you might want to invest in a blog like Dr. Munchen is that you are really serious about planning your data science career and you want to create a personal brand. Here's the other blog I wanted to show you. This blog, called Eager Eyes, is the blog of Dr. Robert Cosera. He's a data scientist with a specialty in visualizations who works at the software company Tableau. So this is his blog and it reflects his own personal brand. I strongly encourage you to follow it. It's really interesting. Actually, the Eager Eyes blog has been around a while and has given me a lot of inspiration from my blog in terms of format, tone, and topics. Now, let's pretend that Dr. Cosera decided to leave Tableau right now and get a different job. Don't you think showing his Eager Eyes blog to a prospective employer would be tantalizing to them? He probably can't show any of his proprietary work at Tableau. That would be illegal. So this blog could really bolster his efforts to get a new job. But even better, what if Dr. Cosera wanted to start his own company, like I did? Well, then all he'd have to do is contact his web designer, change his blog around a little bit, and he'd have his whole company webpage set up. Dr. Cosera has been working on his blog for years, longer than I have been working on mine. So if you are the type of data scientist who hates ads and wants to have a long-term career of data science blogging, strongly consider setting up your own blog with your own web designer the way Bob Munchen and Robert Cosera did. I guess you can tell I have a proclivity for data scientists named Robert. So let me sum up the points to consider when deciding whether or not to actually engage in a web designer and pay an annual fee. First, if you want to avoid ads on your data science blog, at least for now until you are famous like Dr. Munchen, then I strongly advise you to engage with a web designer and set up a WordPress page like I did. Also, think of your long-term goals with the blog. Are you laying the foundation for a freelancing career or a personal brand like the blogging Roberts I showed you? Or are you just trying to play around with WordPress software to get good at it the way I was doing at the workshop at MassHack 2014? You also want to consider how much you want to learn about what I call the data science of blogging. In other words, do you really want to learn what you need to know if you were to be in charge of a data science blog at a company like DataRobot? Do you want to expand your learning so that you really understand not only the data part of data science, but the communication part of data science? If that is your goal, then you should really opt for doing it the harder, more expensive way in setting up your own personal blog from the start. And even if you actually decide to do that and you feel weird about it like you don't know if you want to actually use WordPress software like I did and you might be interested in trying out blogging platforms like Medium and Substack, then just start with a non-data science blog on a blog platform like WordPress.com or the other ones I mentioned. So far I have talked about the pros and cons of blogging using an established platform like Medium or WordPress.com as compared to actually setting up your own personal blog, getting a web designer to help you, and using the WordPress software. Now I'm just going to focus on blogs using the WordPress software because it's popular and a lot of viewers of this video will probably end up choosing either WordPress.com or WordPress software on a web designer server as a solution. An important choice that needs to be made at the beginning of setting up a WordPress blog is called choosing a theme. Remember how a blog is just a display of data? Well, the WordPress theme is like a template that shows you how your data are going to be displayed. So while I know that both the child abuse blog my colleagues and I worked on and my company's blog are in WordPress, as you can see, they have totally different looks. That's because they use different themes. Whether you use WordPress.com or WordPress and a web designer, you will need to choose a theme at the beginning. If you change the theme later, it will screw up your blog's display, so you have to choose wisely. WordPress.com offers some free themes. I encourage you to choose one of those if you are making a practice blog. One place you can shop for themes is Theme Forest. Let's look at their technology themes. See this live preview? You can click on this to see how the theme will behave. As you can see in the live preview, they have menus and displays with stock images and fake content, so you can imagine what the theme would look like if it was used for your data science blog. It shows you all the features, but on a data science blog, you will probably just use a few. You have to use your imagination to weigh if you think you'd like the theme or not for your intended use. In my case, Gabriel requested that I use what is known as the WooCommerce theme. This is an advanced theme that is easy for web designers like Gabriel to reprogram. See how my website is red and black and has my logo? Well, a web designer who knows WordPress can make your website look like anything in the WooCommerce theme. So, if you choose the web designer route and choose to set up a WordPress blog, I encourage you to just go with whatever theme the web designer recommends, like I did. They can change it up for you however you want. It's when you are using the WordPress.com site for a practice blog that you will want to be picky about what theme you choose. And this brings me to my last topic, and that is, what about Wix for a data science blog? I admit, I have seen learners in colleges create portfolio projects in design fields like interior design and graphic design in Wix for college assignments. But I myself do not know much about Wix, so I did some research to learn how Wix figures into the decision space around setting up a data science blog. Here is an article from Forbes that focuses on the difference between Wix and WordPress. Now that you know all about WordPress, because I just told you, you will better understand what this article has to say about Wix. Let me read a few sentences that stood out to me. With Wix, you pay a monthly fee that encompasses both your website and hosting. WordPress.org is free, but you pay a hosting company to host your site. While Wix is very easy to use, it's not nearly as customizable as WordPress.org. In the same vein, WordPress.org has a learning curve not found in Wix. So let me interpret that for you. As you know, with WordPress, you can choose the easy, free, ad-written WordPress.com route. Or you can choose the route with more overhead where you have to hire a web designer to host your WordPress blog at a cost. Remember how I said I pay Gabriel at Slick Boston a small, reasonable annual fee? With Wix, you are kind of a halfway step between using a totally free WordPress.com and paying a web designer for web hosting services.  So what happens if you have a Wix blog and, I don't know, mess it up somehow? What could you do to fix it? I know when I mess up my blog, I just contact Gabriel and he fixes it for me. So what would you do with Wix? Well, remember how I said that it didn't really matter what WordPress theme I picked from my company website because Gabriel said he can program anything? That's partly because he's a really good web designer and partly because WordPress was designed to have people like Gabriel customize it.  Even if Gabriel is too busy, I could get someone to work on it. But Wix is not really designed for the designer. Even if I tried to pay Gabriel to go into a Wix blog and fix it, he wouldn't have the same freedom and functionality he'd have at his disposal in WordPress. Remember, Wix is hosted on Wix's server, not the web designers. So what if you don't want to engage a web designer and you want to do it all yourself, but you don't want to use WordPress.com? Then maybe Wix is for you. I admit the learning curve for using WordPress, even WordPress.com, was steep for me. As you can tell, I went to a workshop and made a few WordPress.com blogs before I could get the hang of it. Users of Wix report that it is so much easier to figure out how to use than WordPress. But again, I always come back to who owns your data, meaning who owns your blog's data. If you have a practice blog on WordPress.com, maybe you don't mind WordPress having a picture of your cat. I don't mind them having my MassHack 2014 blog on their server. But if I set up a Wix blog and paid the monthly, I'd be thinking, what if Wix locked me out one day? But what if they said I violated their terms of service or something? And even companies like Xerox went out of business? What if Wix went out of business? I hate to say it, but this literally gets back to the whole concept of open source. WordPress is open source. The software is community built, and it's not going away. Wix is a good company, and everyone I know who has a Wix blog loves it. But those people tend to be interior and graphic designers, like I said, not data scientists. I don't think I have seen a data science blog in Wix. If you have one or know of one, please link us to it in the comments. In fact, if you are watching this and you have experienced making data science blogs, please give us all some words of wisdom in the comments to this video. We could all use the tips and tricks. And if you do start a data science blog after watching this video, don't forget to come back and put a link in the comments so we can all go visit it. And if you enjoyed this video and it inspired you to start your own data science blog, please hit the like button and strongly consider subscribing to my channel. Thank you for your attention and happy blogging. Thank you for watching this video, which is part of the Public Health Today to Science rebrand program. If you are interested in joining the program, please sign up for a 30-minute Zoom interview using the link in the description.


The Columbia Broadcasting System presents One World Flight. We don't know quite exactly what is going here and we don't know what is going in America. What is going on in America. What are the conditions and so on and so on. Especially social conditions and so on. You are listening to Edward Benish, president of Czechoslovakia, speaking at his desk in the presidential office of the Rachani Palace in Prague, Czechoslovakia. During an interview with the CBS playwright producer Norman Corwin. The voice of Mr. Benish is one among several authentic sounds and voices recorded inside Czechoslovakia. To be heard on this sixth of a series of thirteen broadcasts based on Mr. Corwin's recent 37,000 mile global trip as first winner of the One World Flight Award. This is Norman Corwin from Moscow to Prague as a distance of about 1200 miles as a plane flies and on a day in late July, an unsettled day in which the weather changed from country to country, we flew that leg of the One World Flight. The land beneath us, with its frequent streams and rivers, looked as green and innocent as though it had never heard the names of old wars nor the rumor of new ones. Yet not long ago, over every inch of the distance we were consuming so quickly and comfortably armies had fought, blood had mixed in the streams and rivers, villages had been sacked, cities bombed. A dead man for every foot of the way. We flew over white Russia, Poland, a thin slice of Germany, crossed the Czech border and soon sighted the Vltava, better known through music as the River Moldau, coiling around the terraced hills of Bohemia. And then, in a matter of minutes, the towers, bridges, rooftops, chimney pots of Prague. Prague is a graceful city, baroque and gothic, with a skyline of radio transmitters and cathedral spires. Its ancient history is obscure, but Czechoslovakia's modern history, the whole world knows only too well. This country, slightly smaller than Wisconsin, was the republic handed over to Hitler at Munich by agreement of two sister democracies. It was the vortex down which all of Europe was to be drawn. I was naturally anxious to see what betrayal and occupation and the trials of reconstruction had done to Czechoslovakia, whether its people were happy and confident, whether they were still friendly to the United States, the country which had done so much to create their republic, how they felt about Russia, whether they were, as we'd been told along the way, a bridge between east and west, whether they were in a mood to embrace the concept of one world. I had no trouble getting answers to these questions. In no other country did I find people more articulate about themselves and the world. Nowhere, a deeper sense of anti-fascism. For as President Benish said, in an interview of which you'll hear more later, Every Czech must be anti-fascist. And every Czech must be against any whatever revival of fascism everywhere. Because with the fascism is connected intimately. The greatest unjustice which has given mates against us. This attitude seemed consistent all the way from the Presidential office down to the coal mines. One afternoon we drove out to Kladno, the mining city northwest of Prague, and went down into the Benish pits, named after the President. In no time we were surrounded by miners, each eager to speak into the microphone to be heard above the din of mine machinery. Mrs. Slavko Grigoreva of the Czech Radio acted as interpreter, and in the following exchange I have eliminated for the sake of time all translations going into Czech and the Czech replies. My first question was whether they were worried about another war. Yes, we are afraid of war. Mainly because there is still Germany with so many Nazis and fascists who are allowed to carry on as before. And also the another reason is that there is still the Franco-Spain, which is always a new incentive for another war. Most of the men were internationally minded, but I found at least one isolationist. This fellow told our interpreter. Well, I'm only a simple worker, he says, and I look at the things in this way. You belong to the Europeans, America, to the Americans, and whatever we do at home is our own affair. I asked the miners whether they were inclined more to the east or to the west, and I got an answer indicating how deeply Munich had affected their attitudes and how well they remember it. He says that with 99% we inclined towards the east, and only with 1% we inclined towards the west. We belong, we are Slavs, and we belong to the large Slavonic group of nations. And whenever we look at the past, we know what has happened to us from the west. I asked another miner what if he could make a wish tonight that might come true tomorrow he would wish for. Well, I'd wish this, that all the gentlemen from the west and from the east would realize that we are men, that we are human beings, and that they would adjust their politics according to that, that they would adjust their politics to serve humanity, to serve mankind. And as long as they don't do this, we won't have any peace. Back in Prague, I talked to some students who were planning a World Student Congress for the following month. They, too, were insistent on the anti-fascist character of their movement. One of them, Ms. Masalkova, said... Yes, we feel that there's a great danger. There's a great danger for fascism still now in Europe and in Germany. And I found that in Czechoslovakia, as in most of the Europe conquered and occupied by Hitler, the terms fascist and fascism took on different meanings from what was generally given to them back home. In America, to a great many, fascist is often merely a bad name you call a person whose politics you don't like. It's a term thrown about loosely when a group breaks into heated argument. Some of us are prone to call each other fascists or communists over issues ranging from labor unions through rent control to atomic energy. But in a country like Czechoslovakia, a fascist means something quite real, not theoretical. The people of Prague saw fascism march down their main street. They saw their friends taken out of their homes and shot. They were tortured. One that almost everybody we met had either personally suffered or was related to somebody who had been tortured or killed by the Nazis. Jan Jan Silvera, for example, who assisted us in these recordings. He was the only one of a family of 18, including parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, who was not executed by the Nazis. Yet none of these people seemed bitter or cynical. They were resolved to do everything they could, not to let it happen again. But their resolution was never vindictive. It was calm, reasoning, and vigilant. I asked Dr. Sebe of the Czech Underground, who had been tortured and sentenced to death by the Nazis. I asked him what he, as a man to whom fascism and war held a very deep personal meaning, what he would most urgently recommend to the United Nations. He replied, This is what would be my message, my humble message to the United Nations. Not to breathe the idea that there is a necessity of a war between the West and the East, between the Western and Eastern conception of life. I know that this is the last hope of fascism. They do everything, especially in Germany and in any part of the world, to breathe this conception. One day, Bill Cougerman of the American Embassy drove us out to the town of Dobrish to visit a palace occupied by an association of Czech writers. The drive began in the heart of Prague, which said he is as noisy as it is beautiful, and that's getting into a lot of noise. This recording of normal morning traffic will give you some idea. Prague, after Warsaw and Moscow, had an air of prosperity. It was second only to Stockholm among European capitals we visited in its appearance of well-being. Stocks seemed to be high in the stores, produce was plentiful. You could even buy canned tomato juice, the luxury unheard of in most of the world outside of the United States, for the equivalent of six cents without any ration ticket. We drove through busy, narrow streets, passed a monument enshrining the first Russian tank to enter the city in the battle for liberation, then into the outskirts, followed a bank of the Voltava to the countryside, under the romantic, non-political bohemia of song and legend. We went through magnificent pine groves and wound among wooded hills. My colleague, Lee Bland, reminded us, looking out at this first-class scenery, of how much first-class culture, how much good literature and music had come out of this little country, tunes long familiar to Americans, tunes like Humoresk, and the dances of the bartered bride by the Czech Schmetiner, by the Czech polka by the Czech vine-bagger. Czechoslovakia is understandably proud of its artists, and it seems generally to take loving care of its culture, at least if its treatment of writers is any indication. When we reached the palace at Dobrys, we found it to be pretty much the kind you've built for yourself at some time or other, in an architectural daydream, big, sprawling, opulent, with formal gardens and a swimming pool, library, ballroom, marble bathtubs and all that. The new coalition government decided writers were a national asset, and so it bought and turned over to a writer's syndicate this expensive palace. To join the syndicate, a writer must have three published books to his credit, or three plays produced. Then the writer may, if he chooses, live at this palace for a stated period of the year, meals included, with or without family, for $2 a day. When we arrived, children were running around the palace, chasing puppies. I asked their parents whether they had come there to work or to rest. When they came here, they called it a house of recreation, but they hope it will develop into a house of creation. And now it seems that really people are beginning to work here, and when you awake in the morning, you can hear about 10 typewriters rattling away, so it looks as though something was going to be created here. For a whole afternoon, we talked with a score of poets, novelists, essayists, playwrights, and it was pretty clear that they had a highly socialized sense of art. A young woman novelist, Miss Stenglova, had a personal formula for the relationship of the individual to the state. I am a cheque, and whatever happens to my nation, happens in the first place to me, so that all I can do with my work is to say I am a good cheque. These writers, like most people we met all the way around the world, were very curious about America, and their curiosity took the form of direct questions. I thought you might like to hear what people ask about us in a country like Czechoslovakia, and so I recorded, one after another, a series of such questions. Dr. Yurka would like to know if America has the right information about this country. Mr. Dundar, the novelist, asked whether America with the Lincoln and Washington tradition, and America which has in its hands today the phase of the world with the atomic bomb, whether America would be capable of using this dreadful weapon against progressive democratic regime. What are the American people really like, and what is America? Dr. Nauman would like to know if from the American economic system there's not going to develop a new economic imperialism in the world. And Dr. Nauman would like to know how the young American people have reacted to the war and the problems subsequent to the war. And Mr. Schafranic would like to know what truth there is in the rumor that the Americans in the American zone of Germany prefer the Germans to other people. You will have noticed that some of these questions implied criticism of American policy, but it would be a mistake to assume that this meant unfriendliness. The checks from all I gathered have never forgotten America's role in helping them to establish their republic 29 years ago. And it was a pleasant surprise for me on July 26, 1946 to find an American flag made of flowers blooming handsomely at a monument to Woodrow Wilson on one of the main streets in Prague. I mentioned this in the course of an interview with Jan Popanick, Czech minister Plenipotentiary, and he remarked, and they are rather proud of it. They did not change. They continue to have the same feelings toward the United States. They appreciate and are thankful for all the help they have received during the war from them. And this flag is only a small sign of what they feel, what they express, and will be expressing in the future. Mr. Popanick described the changes in Czechoslovak's economy brought about by the coalition government, a government consisting of four parties, Social Democrat, National Socialist, not in the Hitler meaning of National Socialist, by the way, People's Catholic and Communist, with the latter holding a plurality in the number of seats. Mr. Popanick said that these changes such as nationalization of heavy industries while retaining free enterprise in most of the lesser categories were for the good of the country, and though they were at variance with American practice, need not alienate the friendship of Americans. We hope that America will understand us. We are trying to reshape our national, our economic life. We are trying to do it for the best of our people, of all of them, and we are set to succeed. As an American interested in prospects for one world, I shared with other Americans in that country a sense of pride in the example of a scientific body working there at the time. This was the medical mission of the Unitarian Service Committee, a group of outstanding American doctors who had volunteered to bring to the Czech people some of the techniques and drugs from which they had been cut off during the long Nazi occupation. These doctors, working without compensation and taking time away from their practices at home, lectured to medical faculties of universities, performed operations and conducted clinics. It was a gesture of goodwill which had the full cooperation of our State Department, and it was not lost on the Czechs. One of several appreciative articles to appear in the Czech press was entitled, This is what international relations ought to be. Mixed in with the warm sentiment toward America of the Czechs we met, was a genuine love of Franklin Roosevelt. And typical of its expression was a statement by Bretislav Prokowska, President of the Czech Society for International Relations. We met in his office, and the noise is that of traffic in the street below. As the people of United States of America concerns, I would only have this wish. They should be all in their feelings to our country. In this manner, as the late President Roosevelt was, we know very well that Roosevelt was one of the best friends of our country. And if there hasn't been the personality of Roosevelt, I don't know how this last war had finished. This reverence for the memory of Roosevelt was shared by most of the Czechs we met, including the first citizen of the country, President Edward Benish. We went to see him one day in the Presidential Palace. The appointment was made informally through our friend Kugelman at the American Embassy. No pass was required. Nobody challenged us at the gate. If there were guards about, I didn't see any. Somebody had forgotten to tell the President that I was bringing along a wire recorder. Moreover, he had never been recorded in this manner, not even for the Czech radio, and so a matter of precedence was involved. But he brushed all this aside. After a few pleasantries, we plunged right into the interview. I asked Mr. Benish point blank whether he thought there were irreconcilable differences between East and West. I don't think so. On the contrary, I was always the man who tried to persuade that there is no fundamental difference and especially that they are not the reasons for any conflict between the East and the West. I then asked Mr. Benish whether he looked upon his country as a bridge between the U.S. and the USSR. Well, my formula is a little different. I don't say we are a bridge. I say we are not between the East and the West, although it is sometimes said so. I say that we are between the Russians and the Germans. On the West, we are surrounded by the Germans. In the East, we are the neighbors of Russia, of Soviet Russia. And I say if any possibility of a reconstruction of Germany will erase again, and if Germany will come again to the power, or if somebody, either from the East or from the West, would use Germany again to reconstruct them and use their power against somebody, they would be the first always to be attacked by the Germans. I was anxious to find out what the president thought of Czechoslovakia's progress in recovering from the war, so I asked him... Mr. President, before my arrival in Prague, I was told by a number of people that Czechoslovakia was making the most rapid recovery and the best adjustment to international conditions of any country in Europe. Is this true? And if so, to what do you attribute it? According to my view, it is true. There reasons are rather complicated and numerous. First of all, we have not been devastated by the war in such a degree as many of the European countries were. Second, the German occupation has strengthened the morale of Czechoslovakia. The third reason was that we have felt that in Norway we have contributed to the general disaster of the world and of Czechoslovakia. As you know, according to my view, the war began with Munich. The president then emphasized the importance of remembering what Munich had meant to his country. I must emphasize that if America and if the public opinion in America there's one small imagine of what meant Munich for a small nation. Again and again, this plea was made by Czechs of all walks of life. In effect, they all said, please tell Americans not to forget what happened at Munich and the circumstances under which it could happen again. Tell them to try to understand that our attitude toward foreign policy and home economy is different from theirs because our experience was different. The last interview we had in Czechoslovakia was with Professor J.B. Kozak, lecturer in political philosophy at Charles University in Prague. He criticized both the American and Russian definitions of democracy and went on to state the Czech position. In the United States, too much of equality has been sacrificed to liberties. In the Soviet Union, maybe too many liberties have been sacrificed to the ideal of equality. For the time being, we must trace the emphasis on the freedom from want and the freedom from fear. You will understand this, but we are determined to implement all the four freedoms. We shall do so in this country. Take my word for that. The professor said he knew America well, having spent some years in this country, including a period on the faculty at Oberlin College. Out of what he had observed of world affairs since he had last been in the United States, he posed three questions to Americans at large. They were these. President Roosevelt, whom I loved very much, and said that the only thing we must fear is fear. How many of you Americans? My second question. I would start from a similar statement. Persons we should distrust are those who sow distrust. How many of you trust those who are sowing this international distrust? My third question. Do you still believe that free enterprise, I mean without any government or interference, can prevent or solve economic depressions? Are you sure that you are going to have no more economic depression? Of economics in Czechoslovakia, Professor Kozak explained that in carrying out the nationalization of heavy industries, the coalition government had performed a practically painless operation because it meant cutting these industries loose from the tentacles of German financial control and did not therefore dislocate Czech interests. He credited the new government with having brought the Czechs very far, very quickly. And of course, things are improving by leaps and bounds in this country. It is one of the happy islands in Europe as you have probably found out yourself. The professor was not alone in agreeing with foreign observers that Czechoslovakia had made rapid recovery. Amid the general austerity, confusion and devastation abounding in Europe, these people seemed confident of where they were going and had a definite sense of progress. I recalled what Minister Popanik had said. We are moving. We are set to succeed. And of what a coal miner named Spadnik had said in Kladno, Spadnik who had worked in the same mines for 33 years, I asked him... How do you feel about the recent nationalization of the mines? Instead, the work of all our miners is much more enthusiastic because we all feel we are working on our own. And what the President himself had said of the condition of his country one short year after the liberation. You can see in the streets of Prague everybody is working. Everybody is enthusiastic. There is a very great elan, a very great enthusiasm spirit for the work. And all they knew that they are working for a new liberty and for a new independence. This, from the country which such a short time ago was dismembered at Munich and later invaded by the invincible Wehrmacht. This, from little Czechoslovakia, which was to have been an obedient province of the greater Germany for the next thousand years. The thousand years of the fascist millennium. Nine years ago, Czechoslovakia stood at the crossroads of war. Today, perhaps, it stands in the position of a bridge at the crossroads of peace. To many of her people, the way to the future is the middle way, the way they are traveling. A way which reconciles socialism and private enterprise by running them side by side. From where they are standing, looking toward the horizons ringed by Russians, Germans, Poles, Romanians and Hungarians, with a monument to the Red Army on one street and an American flag and flowers on another, they believe this way of theirs is a shortcut to the grand concourse called One World. You have been listening to Norman Corwin, first winner of the Wendell-Wilkie One World Flight Award, in the sixth of a series of broadcasts based on his recent 37,000 mile global tour. All recorded voices heard on this broadcast were transcribed in Czechoslovakia. Next week at this time, One World Flight visits Italy. Tonight's musical score was composed and directed by Alexander Semmler. Guy Della Ciapo was associate director. This is Lee Vines and this is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System.