A day of innocent winter fun ended up with 14-year-old John Smith being rushed to the hospital with no pulse and, according to doctors, no hope for survival. That's when his mother Joyce took action and moments later was able to witness her son come back from the brink, leaving doctors in a state of shock. This is the true story of how one young man quite literally came back to life. At the beginning of the millennium, St. Charles, Missouri locals Joyce and Brian found themselves in two similar situations. They were both middle-aged, divorced parents of adult children. But beyond the rhythm of everyday life, they had something bigger going for them. They both had one thing to be grateful for, and that was their church community. While some people at a similar stage of life might pass the time by watching Will of Fortune, these two were lucky enough to come from a tight-knit community where their church was at the center of it all. They were constantly being kept busy with activities. And it was thanks to these very same activities that something beautiful happened. Perhaps it was bound to happen. Joyce and Brian eventually crossed paths and were amused by their similar situations. Their common ground eventually turned into romance, and then at last marriage. The Smith family was born. Their lives quickly ascended from the quiet of middle-aged routine and began to resemble their younger years, as they now had more possibilities for excitement. However, there was something missing in their union. Most marriages kick off with a honeymoon and then eventually go into the direction of children. Given their mature age, having a child wasn't at all a possibility. This left somewhat of a missing piece in their household. However, all hope wasn't lost. The two would find significant change while Brian was on a trip to Guatemala. Like many church communities around the United States who volunteer abroad, Brian and Joyce Smith's church would take an annual trip to Guatemala and build houses for the less fortunate. Over there, many of the poorest live and make shift homes that consist of stray pieces of metal and would tie together. They are also without electricity or running water. It was during one of these trips that Brian got the notion to adopt a child. He immediately called Joyce back in America and asked her if it'd be okay. She loved the idea. When he came back to America, he brought with him John, their new family member. It was clear from an early age that this kid was something special. From an early age, John was already a vocal and vibrant child. This would be a sign of things to come. In school, he proved to be a kid defined by achievements. Not only would he get great grades, but he was also an extremely promising athlete. While he liked a variety of sports, he found his passion in basketball. John was not the typical basketball player. When compared to the other boys at his school, he was on the smaller side. However, this wouldn't stop him from being one of his school star players. Anybody who knew him then would have said that John was a kid with a bright future ahead of him. However, John's life was all about to be turned entirely upside down. It was January 2015. With Martin Luther King Day falling on a Monday that year, John and his friends decided to make the most of their three-day weekend by having a Sunday night sleepover. The next day would see the three boys walking toward the nearby Lake St. Louise. Given the harsh winter that year, the lake was almost completely frozen over. As the boys played on the slippery surface, it suddenly cracked and gave way. The three boys suddenly found themselves submerged in the icy waters. Two of them were able to climb out. But the third, John, was not to be as fortunate. After a brief struggle to stay afloat, John sank to the bottom of the icy lake. It didn't take long for the police and paramedics to rush to the scene and begin searching for John. After 15 minutes, they were able to pull his lifeless body out of the water. There was still a chance he could be saved, but to do so, the medical units would need to act fast. John was immediately put into the ambulance, which rushed into the emergency room. He was left in the care of Dr. Kent Sutter, who began CPR. After 43 minutes of trying to revive the boy, he came to a dim conclusion. From the moment John entered the emergency room, Dr. Kent Sutter tried his hardest to revive the boy, but had low hopes from square one. His condition wasn't looking good. Due to prolonged exposure to the frozen lake waters, John's body had already begun to turn cold and stiff. To top that off, the doctor had never seen anyone come back after having no pulse for 25 minutes. John's lack of pulse almost doubled that time. At some point, he knew he had to let the boy go and to do something that every doctor dreads. There was a long haul in the hospital, and at the end of it was a waiting room with a very worried Joyce inside. He'd have to walk down to her. After trying everything he could and getting no results, Dr. Sutter went into the waiting room and approached Joyce. One can only imagine what Joyce was feeling as the doctor came upon her, an expression of remorse across his face. He didn't hold anything back and immediately told her the grim truth. He told Joyce that it was time for her to say goodbye to her son. He brought her into the hospital room to look at his body and give him a farewell. But Joyce couldn't accept that her boy was gone. There had to be something that she could do. As she looked at John through an eye full of tears, he didn't quite look like the son she had raised for the past 14 years. Before Joyce was a sight that was truly heartbreaking. No mother should have to ever see one of her children colorless and stiff. Joyce put her hand on his leg, and it was cold to the touch. Despite this, she knew from the bottom of her soul that her son was supposed to live. She truly felt this couldn't have been his time. While she recognized that the doctor had done his best, she knew of an even stronger healer. Joyce fell to her knees and began to cry out to her higher power and pray wildly. She looked to the ceiling and screamed, Lord, Holy Spirit, just give me back my son. Almost immediately after screaming that, she suddenly received an answer. Seconds later, to the utter amazement of every person in the room, including Dr. Sutterer, John's heart began beating. It seemed like a total medical anomaly, but he was back. However, this didn't exactly put John on a path to full recovery. While Joyce and Brian were rejoicing, the doctor had to tell them that everything still wasn't okay with their son. He was more or less out of the fire, but back into the frying pan. The human mind deprived of oxygen for such a long period could not make it back to a functioning point. Yet something would then occur that few of any medical textbooks could have prepared the hospital staff to witness. Dr. Sutterer had been in the field for years, but even he was about to be blown off his feet. The doctor told Joyce that John's situation was still extremely dire, and that he'd likely pass on within a few hours, or at most a few days. His blood's pH level had dwindled below the level of a person, who had even an ounce of life left in them. The doctor further stated that if John did somehow live through this, he'd likely spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state. John's condition stabilized after a few hours, and he was moved to the St. Louis Cardinal Glen and Children's Medical Center. Feeling desperate, Joyce brought in some men who she felt would be able to help her son. On the day of the accident, Jason Noble, the lead pastor at Joyce's Church, First Assembly Church, came to visit John at the Cardinal Glen and Children's Medical Center. He said a prayer and then invited five other pastors into the room to join him. With its bright fluorescent lights and the stench of disinfectant, a hospital seems like the last place one would go to feel spiritual. However, Noble's prayer session completely changed the atmosphere surrounding John. During the intense prayer session, Jason saw something over John's bed that he couldn't believe. This vision would eventually result in what seemed like a real-life miracle. As Pastor Noble looked over the other pastors praying over John, he witnessed something straight out of Scripture. He claimed to have had a sudden vision of two angels standing over John, and over his head was a light. According to Pastor Noble, the angels were doing something that no doctor could do. Pastor Noble said the following of the extraordinary vision, what I believe is that God was putting his brain back together again, almost rewiring it. Meanwhile, the doctors continued to emphasize that if he were to make it, John would never be able to function. Yet not so long thereafter, something incredible happened once again. Pastor Noble put it best when he said, I know that sounds strange, but as soon as it happened, John's shoulders came off the bed, his eyes opened, and he grabbed my hand. I knew at that point that God was going to pull him through. The next day, John was unbelievably aware of his surroundings. He was able to dart his eyes from person to person in the room, and could even give a thumbs up to his mother and friends. Doctors had little idea on how to treat him, as they couldn't find a similar case on records. The best they could do was keep him on the respirator for eight days, hoping he'd continue to show improvements. When he was finally off the respirator, his friends and family listened up, eager to hear his thoughts and memories. Many asked John what he remembered about the accident. At the time, the 14-year-old couldn't recall much. He just remembered going out that day with his friends, and then waking up in the hospital. However, as time passed, he'd start recalling snippets of the accident, like the moment the ice broke, and feeling helpless as the cold water painfully filled his lungs. As his condition rapidly improved, John became vocal about what he wanted.  All he wanted was a meal from his favorite restaurant O'Charlie's, and to sleep for an entire day in his own bed. By the time the day of his release came around, many wondered if his accident would have any lasting effects on him. Back into the swing of things. By the time John walked out of the hospital, he was as good as new. Aside from the few scratches on his arm that he'd received from falling through the jagged ice, he had no lasting mental or physical effects. He had clinically died and come back to life, baffling medical professionals. Within a couple weeks of the accident, John was once again dribbling the ball up and down his school's basketball court. His popularity doubled at school, and he found new love with a girl named Abby Metaris. Life moved on, and he graduated, but the lake incident would remain a constant topic in his life in more ways than the obvious.  The teen soon found that he was somewhat of a local celebrity. Along with Pastor Noble, he'd end up speaking about his experience at a number of churches across his state. For many believers, he was a testament to God's power, while for others he was just a medical wonder. Joyce also wanted to spread the news of John's miracle. She began to hastily write a book about the whole ordeal. Titled The Impossible, it was published in 2017, and became an instant hit on the Christian market. As if that wasn't enough of a blessing, the book would eventually lead to bigger things for Joyce and her family. It didn't take long for Joyce to sell the movie rights for the book. Before Joyce and John knew it, they were being portrayed by Chrissy Metz and Marcel Ruiz in a feature film called Breakthrough. Within two days of its release, the trailer garnered over 30 million views on YouTube. Many were predicting the movie to be a smash hit. Upon its April 2019 release, it was an instant success within Christian circles of filmgoers, and became the first Christian-themed movie to hit the big screen in years. On the week of its release, the mass response to the movie left the actors and production crew shocked. With the astonishingly high number of views that the trailer got on YouTube, many were hoping the film would be extremely successful. However, it didn't fare so well in the movie theaters. The movie ended up being the biggest Hollywood flop since 2005. It came out later that much of its failure had to do with the breakthrough's production company. It was the first movie by Fox under the ownership of Disney. Apparently Disney didn't give it a proper push because they didn't want it competing with Avengers, Endgame, which came out at the same time. While it was a letdown for the many involved, John wasn't swayed by this bad news. John has been blessed from birth. While it initially looked as if he'd have a future in the Guatemalan foster system, he was taken in by two amazing parents and given a good life in America. He survived almost certain death and got a successful book and movie made after him. Things only got much better for the kid. He is currently a brand ambassador at American Eagle, he's going to a Christian college in Minneapolis called North Central University, and he's engaged to his longtime girlfriend Abby Metaris. Luck is clearly on John's side and as far as he and his family are concerned, he is truly being watched over.


I'm Ma Salaitu Mudapujasamas. The oldest woman in Adamawa state has died. Governor Amadev Umarofintiri has joined thousands of Adamawa residents to mourn the 120-year-old woman. She was survived by four children, 45 grandchildren, 128 great-grandchildren, and 815 great-great-grandchildren. While commiserating with the family at Makera, Governor Fintiri observed that the late Amala Atu would no doubt be missed by the state. Among her children was a prominent lawyer in the state, Barista Didi Azura. She was buried at her country home in Hong, local government area of the state. Many shared their views of the deceased in an interview with her correspondent.   She was still seen as a small boy that she could carry on her lives. And anytime we visited her, she was still in her senses. And one thing she used to do was pray for us, asking people that one would not have sometimes even remembered to ask, but she would remember them. Now that she's not here, you see, I have little or nothing to encourage me to come here again. Thank God I'm married. I'll find solace in my wife. If I cannot get it, see our elder sister, who is still alive. She's not the first boy.  And you see, as you can see, she has reached that age also whereby we need to cater for her.  So, and also there are some relations that maybe one can, I don't know, but there's nobody, nothing can fill the vacuum.


I am raising this, I am raising this issue, I am not a protester, I am not an agitator. This is a democratic right, pre-election. Before the election, I want not myself, every citizen in this country to state what they want. See, this is a fundamental thing that we need to change. Right now, the political parties are giving us a manifesto and saying we will do this, we will do that. Why are you telling us? Let us have a citizen's manifesto. What I am saying is just a citizen's manifesto. I am saying this is what we want, who can do it? Till now the whole game has been, who will you elect? We are not interested in who, what will you do? If you tell us what you will do, based on that we will decide who. Because right now who means you will elect them on the basis of their religion, caste, creed or party. None of these things are important for us. What is important for us is, what will you do? Who is not important? What will you do is important for us? So I am giving my five points I gave, only this temple thing has picked up traction, other things nobody is discussing. Anyway, five things I have said, I am saying every citizen, every responsible citizen in the state must clearly state what we want. Well, before the election you don't say anything, after the election you cry, I am not that kind.  Democracy means bowing down to people's will.


Tane Danger here for Give to Gustavus Day, which is coming up October 24th. I'm gonna be here on the Gustavus campus all day talking to students and faculty and staff about why Gustavus is such an important place, why you should support this place. We're gonna have some meaningful conversations with people about why this place has been so special to us. Tune in for Give to Gustavus Day everybody!


Welcome to At the Crossroads. Thank you for joining us today where we have conversations that are real and relevant. I am your host, Keisha King. Today, we open our broadcast with some alarming news. America is in a financial crisis. Now, that's not new information. We, however, have some new statistic from the National College Board that the student loan debt is a staggering $1.5 trillion. The College Board reports that the average college student graduating from a four-year public school has $27,000 in student loan debt. Attending a four-year private non-profit school, the number skyrockets to $33,000 in student loan debt. You can go ahead and put up that number just so that people can see it is staggering. If you don't really know the numbers, you have millions, then you have billions, then you have $1.5 trillion. These numbers are distressing. One that even has our presidential hopefuls discussing and addressing this as a high priority issue on their platform. Many of them have discussed plans to eradicate the issue, including student loan forgiveness, reducing college tuition costs, and free community college. Believe me, there is no quick fix. The young Americans are seeking ways to reduce the debt and around kitchen tables everywhere throughout the country. Families are asking the question, how are we going to afford college for our children and avoid debt in its entirety? With no immediate governmental solutions in sight, one organization offers a glimmer of hope to deserving local students. For over 100 years, Phi Beta Sigma, fraternity incorporated, has offered scholarships for deserving students throughout the nation. Today, we will learn how they are continuing that tradition in a very spooktacular way, joining us is local chapter president George Allen Jr., president of the Zeta Phi Sigma chapter right here in Honolulu, Hawaii. Welcome to At the Crossroads, George. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Certainly, it's totally my pleasure. I love the work that you all are doing throughout the nation as a larger organization and then throughout the state of Hawaii. Thank you so much. Now, I don't even know where to begin. As you heard me mention, in our opening, we have $1.5 trillion worth of debt and that's all student loan debt. It's unreal and the numbers are staggering. There are currently about 20 million students attending college right now and that is a lot different from when your organization was formed in the early 1900s. At that time, there were only about 600,000 students attending school and they didn't look like the demographics that we have today. So let's take it back to the early 1900s.  It was founded January 9, 1914 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. Okay. So you have a rich, rich history. Tell me a little bit about your history and your founders and anything you'd like to say with regard to that. Well, it was founded by three young men, Abram Lace and Taylor, Leonard versus Morse, and Charles and Nathan Sproul. And we was founded on three things, Brotherhood, Scholarship, and Service. Okay. There is strength in numbers. I'd like to know nationally and even internationally, how large is your organization? Nationally, we're probably up to approximately 300,000 members. Wow. That is incredible. And now you have a local chapter, Zeta Pi Sigma. How large is that chapter? We actually have two chapters here. So we have a grad and an undergrad. Okay. Our grad chapter is approximately about 25 members and our undergrad is about five members. Okay. Wonderful. Congratulations on the growth that you all have here in the islands and all throughout the world. When I think about college and fraternities, I think about parties. And so for a little bit, we're going to talk about a party. But before we get there, I want to talk just a little bit about what your programs are with your organization. What, where do you place your emphasis of purpose? Of course, we love to place our emphasis on education. We have four major programs that we do and that's bigger and better, bigger and better business, social action, education of course, and Sigma Beta Club. Okay. You seem to put a great deal of emphasis on education. You all were founded on Howard University's campus. Wonderful. Some people call it the mecca of historically black colleges and universities, but it is a well-known university for African Americans. It's for everyone, but founded in, you know, the history. Please tell me, why do you all put such a great emphasis on education? Here's our future and we have to look at it as nowadays everything is based off of education. We want to make sure that everybody's successful and that's one of the ways that we get back to the community as trying to give scholarships and help others out with education. Very good. I think that's wonderful what you do. I'm an educator by trade, so it is delightful. It's like music to my ears to hear how wonderful or the great emphasis that you all put on education. Now I'd like to know what those programs look like in detail just a little bit as far as mentoring and working with young people. We love giving back to the community. One thing we do, we go to different high schools or different elementary schools and things of that such and we would like to spend time with the kids, teach kids how to tie a tie, just giving them the basic knowledge skills that they're going to need in life. We also give out scholarships and we also clean up the highway, Nimitz Highway. Right out here at Nimitz, I know exactly the area. I think you all have a sign out there. We do. Very good. That's awesome. So you give back in forms of mentoring, cleaning up literally and working with young boys to teach them how to tie ties and do things of that nature. Yes. That's very helpful. Do you have any idea of the numbers that you might have as far as the amount of people that you have helped here locally? Just an approximation. That's over 100. That's amazing. We go everywhere and we try to do the best I can to give it back. Wonderful. We appreciate the efforts that you're making and the things that you're doing to give back. And we love the way that you're doing it now. So I want to get into this because as you can see from our beautiful background, we're excited for the season. If you don't know, we are getting ready for, it's fall here in Hawaii. It's fall everywhere, I'm sure, everywhere in the continental US. And we are getting ready to celebrate Halloween. So you guys have a really spectacular event coming up in the name of partying with a purpose. Tell us what's the name of your event? My event is Sigma Fright Fest. Say that three times fast. Sigma Fright Fest. Yes. Okay, I did it once. Okay. When is this? So this is October 25th and it'll start at 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and it'll be at the artist's. Okay. All right. So we'll give more details about that in just a little bit. But I want to kind of go back to this student loan debt. $1.5 trillion is unsurmountable to me. I can't fathom that number. I agree. So I have to ask you a personal question. Do you have student loan debt? I do. You do? I definitely do. Yeah, I do too. And it's a scary thing when you graduate. That's the beginning you think of your life as an independent adult. And many college students graduate and they come out and they have that debt and they feel overwhelmed. How did it make you feel when you graduated school? I was very overwhelmed. I was having excited that I finally graduated and everything was good to go. However, I knew in the back of my mind that I still owe debt to the school. And you had to find a way to pay because they give you six months to find a job and to get a place and get a car and get an established job and then start making payments. But oftentimes that six months is not enough. And they say, as I mentioned earlier in my statistics that you graduate with at least $27,000 worth of debt. That's just with your four-year degree. Did you go beyond a bachelor's degree? I'm currently working on my master's right now. Congratulations. Will that give you more debt? It will. So if you want to make more money, you got to go more debt. And it's this cycle and so many of us find ourselves there. And so there are lots of ways to eradicate this debt. But if you're thinking in terms of sports, you have to play a little defense, a little offense. Right? Yes. So for me, I found that as I've done the research throughout the country, if you look at the number, let's see, 27,000, it breaks down like this. For the year, that's $6,700. Okay. So you have two semesters per college year. So that's $3,300, almost $3,400 per semester worth of debt that people approve. So I want to get into the scholarships that you all offer and how that works against that one semester, that $3,300 or $3,400.  At times it gets hard, but I try the best I can. Okay. And I think that's everyone, I think because life treats you like that. Yes. One minute you're okay and it's okay, I can handle this. But let an emergency come across and then you're faced in that cycle of having to just barely make it.  But before we get into that, tell me more about the ways that you give back. How many events do you hold each year as an organization? We like to do two major events every year. And those two major events are our Halloween party. And in January, we always do our strut and stroll. Okay. Strut and stroll. So I've been to one of those. I had a lot of fun. And there were a lot of people there. There is. Yeah. Yeah. Do you expect a lot of people at the, I'm going to try to say it, Sigma Fright Best? We do. Every year is a good turnout and it's for good calls.  Okay. So we're going to get into that. We're going to go for a break. But before we do, I want to make sure that everyone who is watching, I want to make sure that you know, there are organizations out there that can help. And when we come back from our break, we're going to talk some more with Mr. George Allen Jr., President of the Zeta Pi Sigma Chapter of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated. So we're going to come back and talk about his party with purpose right after this break. Hawaii Energy, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, Hawaiian Electric Company, Integrated Security Technologies, Galen Ho of BAE Systems, Kamehameha Schools, MW Group Limited, the Schindler Family Foundation, the Sydney Stern Memorial Trust, Polo Foundation, Yoriko J. Sugimura. Thanks so much to you all. Aloha and welcome back to At the Crossroads. I am your host Tisha King. And today we're talking about the $1.5 trillion student loan debt that most of America is facing. Our young adults are graduating from college with all of this debt burden on their backs. And we have one wonderful local organization that is doing their part to help against this debt crisis. Thank you. I'm here with Mr. George Allen Jr., Local Chapter President of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated. And his local chapter is the Zeta Pi Sigma Chapter. Thank you. So one of the things that we were talking about is how you guys have a party with a purpose and you do this every year in an effort to raise funds for scholarships so that people can avoid having to take out student loans on so much money. So I want to pull up a picture now of some of the men in your organization. We are looking at some of the men from the local chapter. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. And so and then this is also the graduate chapter or undergrad or is it undergrad? Okay. All right. And when you say undergrad chapter, are we talking about locally here at UH? No, no. We are currently trying to get on UH and have a chapter at UH. It's just currently on Island undergrad. Okay. Okay. Understandable. We're a military town, so a lot of people are undergrad someplace else, maybe off Island, online, you name it. So I get it. So now back to the fund. There's a party coming up and it's going to be so much fun. The Sigma Fright Fest. I'm getting faster at saying it. Now tell us, you're doing this to raise funds. Yes. Yeah. And so approximately how much funds nationally, I'm figuring if your local chapter is doing this, they're probably doing it in every state and throughout different countries even. Yes. So how much do you think you've helped raise this annually approximate number? Approximately about 100,000 each year. Yes. $100,000. Okay. You see me here? That's a lot of money. $100,000 helps. 100,000 people or more, you never know. That's a great effort. So when people come to your events, they are making a big dent in that huge debt and they're helping people to avoid that debt as a whole. You must definitely. Yeah. So now tell me about the scholarship recipients. How do they qualify? What are you looking for? We usually ask for students who has a 3.0 or higher GPA, stays out of trouble, and they have to write an essay. An essay? Yes. Okay. They write an essay on why they deserve the scholarship. Simple enough. All right. Any page number or word count? No page number, no word count. Okay. So just make it known that you want this scholarship and here's why you believe you deserve it. Yes. And then the 3.0 GPA or better. Yeah. The higher the GPA, the better. Yes. I'm sure. And then stay out of trouble. Of course. Is this for young men only or men and women? It's not only young men, it's young men and young women. That's wonderful. Okay. So it's for anyone and everyone? Yes. Most definitely. It's not gender specific, so that's really good. All right. So now tell me that that's who qualifies. Approximately how much money do they earn once if they are chosen or selected as the winner? They earn roughly each recipient earns between $500 to $1,000. That's amazing. So let's go back to our numbers. If a person has approximately $27,000 every four years, for four years worth of college at a public institution, doesn't matter which institution they go to, is that right? Can they pick? That is correct. They can pick wherever they want to go. Okay. So they could go to Trump University. Don't say yes. I'm sorry. You said anywhere, but I don't know. Are they even open? I don't even think they're even open. Scratch that. But wherever they decide to go, they can take that $500 to $1,000 with them. Yes. Assuming they had to get loans all four years, if we go back to our numbers, we said $6,750 to be exact as per year. So if you give a student $500 to $1,000, let's say they get $1,000, that $6,700 drops down to $5,700. That makes a difference, especially when it comes to your monthly payments after graduation. Most definitely. Yes, indeed. So you guys are making a huge difference and it shows in the numbers because, you know, as parents when they're sending their kids off to school, that's what matters. The bottom line. Yes. Have you heard from parents who have written or called to say thank you, or do you have any stories, success stories about people who've received your scholarship? Yes, of course. Ever since I'm in the military. So ever since I've been on Island, we do it every year annually.  They definitely keep in touch with us, let us know how it's going. We make sure they have all the resources that they need to be successful in college. What does that mean? You make sure they have the resources necessary. You don't just give them the money and just go on your way. We, no, we do not do that. Okay. We always keep in contact with them and we try to keep in contact with them the whole four years that they're there. So it's much more than just money for you all. It's a relationship. It's built a relationship. I see. I see. So that is amazing. So I know in the community you all are known as the Sigma's. So it's amazing what the Sigma's are doing to build and develop relationships with these students. That's amazing. That's a good thing. Parents, if you're listening and you have a young adult who is ready to graduate, not a young adult, but a high school student who's ready to graduate, what should they do to get in touch with you all to get their child to write the essay and get the information to you? How can they connect? Good morning. Welcome to email myself at alan, a-l-l-e-n, nine two six six at gmail.com. Okay. And I will be more than welcome to send the criteria. Okay. And when they send it back, we'll make sure we'll put them in the shoot and hopefully they win the $500 to a thousand. That's amazing. And can they also find you on Facebook? Yes, they can. Okay. And what's that? You can find me at Facebook. It's just simply George Allen. Okay. So George Allen, or does your organization have a Facebook page or website? Yes, ma'am. We do. You can just type it on Facebook, Honolulu Sigma. Okay. That's easy enough. Honolulu Sigma or George Allen, nine two six six at gmail.com. Allen nine two six six. Allen nine two six six at gmail.com. So we want to make sure we save that a lot. So now in order to get this money to give away to these deserving students, you have to have an event. Yes. Let's talk about this event. We could show the flyer because we want you guys to see it is the Sigma Fright Fest coming up. Tell us all about it. You can hold that picture up. So Sigma Fright Fest, we do it every year. This is our sixth annual Halloween party. And this is something that 21 and older and it's something that you would enjoy. Yeah, come out. We'll have raffle tickets and you have the costume contest and people just come out meet new people have a good time. Okay. Okay. So you have a costume contest? Yes. This sounds exciting. What have people dressed up as in the past? Oh, you can see everything. You have a Bobby and Whitney Houston. I think they won last year. They did. We have that picture. There's she looks just like Whitney. She looks just like Whitney Mid. I want to say 85 Whitney, right? Like 85, maybe early 90s. I can see that. And is that Bobby? It is Bobby. Okay. Looking like a bad boy. And then we also got man to man seem to get a little more creative than the females, especially last year. Oh, what in the world? I know. What is this? It almost looks like Oh, what's the group that sings the YMCA? Looks like the village people. Spider man, police officer, showing his guns biceps. So the men do get a little bit more creative. They love it. Okay. All right. So come prepared, wear your costume and enter the contest. Yes, you have raffle tickets. For prizes such as it could be money prizes, a gift basket, anything of that such. Okay, okay. So you have lots of things going on to make the night frightfully exciting. Yes, spooktacular. And then all of then, of course, a portion of the proceeds go toward the scholarship fund. Yes. And then you give it away at the end of the year. Yes. Amazing. And then you have another major event. Tell us about that. Try to be in January. That's the Strut and Stroll. Like you said before, you've been there before, you know, it's a lot of people there and it's just plenty of stuff going on, a lot of action. We go and we have every fraternity and sorority, they'll do a step and we'll have special guest judges. And whoever's the best winner wins, wins money, wins $1,000 for the organization. Okay, sounds amazing. So now I was there last year, I sat at the judges table, but I wasn't an official judge. I was an observer. And I observed a lot. I remember if I'm not mistaken, a military group won. Military, right? Is that right? That's my memory. I'm trying to remember. I do remember they were sharp. They was. They were really amazing. So that was good. Now we're going to expect them and everyone else to step it up a notch this year, but October 25th. So not this Saturday, but next Saturday, I think it is. Is that right? Next Friday night. Yes. From 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. So you're going to party all night long until the next day at the Sigma Fright Test. Yes. We love it. We love it. We love it. Where can we buy tickets? You can buy tickets online on Eventbrite or you can find any brother that's a Sigma and we have a hard copy ticket. Okay. So I want to make sure everyone knows they can buy tickets online at Eventbrite. Yes. And then can we go to the Facebook page of the Sigma's? You said Honolulu Sigma's? Yes. It is currently not on the Facebook page. Okay. We will definitely put the link on the Facebook page. Okay. So you guys can just click on it and go to it and you can also buy tickets at the door. And tickets at the door. Yes. How much for the tickets at the door? Tickets at the door $25. But I bet they sell out. They do. So you don't want to take that chance. Believe me. You don't want to miss a really good event. So don't take the chance of waiting to buy the tickets at the door. Try to get them in advance. Get them from someone who knows how to reach you all. We'll put that flyer up again. There is contact information there. And where is this located? Because I'm not familiar with where you said it was. It's actually on the flyer. It's located at the Otter Street in downtown Honolulu. Downtown Honolulu. You know what? That is going to be so fun. Fun, fun, fun. I don't have a costume yet. I don't know what I'm going to wear. I don't. I might just go as a news reporter. I'm really, you know, not real original with that one. You know, it's not a far stretch. What about you? Do you know what you're wearing? I don't know. It's a secret right now. It's a secret. Tap secret. Every year I come up with something different and something bigger. So I can't let everybody know what I'm wearing. That's right. That's right. Mom's the word. You can tell me. I won't tell anybody. Just tell my friends. You're secret safe. I will not tell it. We will just know that when we get there, it's going to be fun. There'll be a who's judging this by the way. It will be us. Oh, you guys get to judge. But it really is on the crowd. Okay. So wherever the crowd decides. Okay. That's who wins. That's who wins. Got it. So we've got great costume party coming up a spooktacular event for a good cause. I like to call it a party with a purpose with the brothers of the local chapter is the tell us all about that. So I don't mess it up. The local chapter is Zeta Pi Sigma, a five beta Sigma fraternity incorporated. Got it. It's going to be a blast. Probably people from all of the divine nine will be there. Yes. And then of course, people from the community are welcome to come. It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from. Most definitely. Just show up. I promise you, you will have a good time. I love it. I love it. Listen, we've been talking about a fun event that's coming up. And it is the Sigma fright. Yes. And that is October 25 2019. It's going to be a great time, but it's a party with a purpose. And we have to have parties with a purpose like this in order to eradicate the national student loan debt crisis. Keep that number in the back of your mind. The sigmas are doing their part in making sure that students who are deserving earn at least $500 to $1,000 that they can apply toward their student loans. We want you to do your part. Come on out. Enjoy the party. Get your tickets. Don't wait. Don't delay. It's going to be fun. I'm going to be there. And I hope to see you there. Thank you so much for watching at the Crossroads. And I'll see you next time. Aloha.


Happy Aloha Friday, everyone. You are tuned in to Stan the Energy Man. Stan is actually out for today and so I'm filling in. My name is Rachel, the energy woman, and I'm here today to talk a little bit about clean energy and a lot about energy action month, which will kick off tomorrow. Today we have Veronica Rocha from the State Energy Office. She's the Renewable Energy Program Manager. Welcome, Veronica. Thank you for joining us. Thanks so much for having me on the show, Rachel. It's so good to be here. Thank you. So, Renewable Energy Program Manager, what does that even mean? It basically means I helped the state meet the 100% renewable energy goal by the year 2045. And so that's a combination of working on legislation, of course with our legislators and the governor's office, also getting involved in a lot of regulatory proceedings with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission as an intervener and other stakeholders. And then we work on a lot of programs and projects to make sure that we really push the industry as a whole and the market as a whole to be able to achieve the 100% renewable portfolio standard. And that's all under... That's quite a bit. I mean, that's a team of people I'm sure then. Yeah, we actually have a very small team of people, but we're part of a very large integrated community. So, talking about the team, three guys in my group, so there's Cameron, he's been in the team the longest and his background's all about environmental analysis, permitting sighting, that sort of thing. And then we have Ryan Morita, his background is in finance and project management. And then the third gentleman is Sheldon Honda and his background, he actually came from HIKO. His background is electrical engineering. So, we have a really small group, but we have a very robust, well-rounded group. Awesome. And, you know, we have a lot of fun in doing what we do and really believe in our work. Outstanding. Yeah. So, perhaps we could take a step back a little and talk about what the State Energy Office is. You mentioned some of the different ways that they engage with the community and regulatory agencies, but can you speak about what the State Energy Office history has been and kind of what that progression has been to where they are today? Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm going to take a really big step back. So, the Governor's Office has various cabinet level positions, which are all departments. Okay. And the department that the Hawaii State Energy Office is an agency of is the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, often simply called DBET. Okay. So, now, going down to the Hawaii State Energy Office as an agency, we have four branches, my branch, Renewable Energy Branch, Energy Efficiency, not trying, working really hard to get the State to achieve 30% energy efficiency by the year 2030. And then we have the Energy Systems and Planning Group. And that effort, the effort there is to look at the overall energy ecosystem and see how best we can get and plan towards 100% renewable energy meeting our energy efficiency goals and even in transportation. How do we clean up transportation? And then lastly, the Clean Energy Systems Group works holistically with all of us on new innovations, new ways of catalyzing clean energy throughout the state. Okay. So, that's a pretty broad swath of both expertise, I'm sure. Yeah. Wow, what a depth of background and experience. Yeah. Okay. So, in the Renewable Energy Branch, you mentioned intervening with the PUC. You mentioned some other regulatory efforts. Can you talk a little bit about what that entails? Let's say a snapshot, maybe what your day looks like. What type of engagements do you have? Maybe even a week. Let's do a week. Oh my gosh. Okay. A day could vary really depending on what's going on. The Public Utilities Commission issues dockets, which are essentially investigations into specific topics. So, I'll just ramble a few names of dockets that are ongoing right now. Sure. There's a power supply improvement plan looking at overall the electric utilities and how to match the resources, clean energy resources, and other fossil, for example, to match up with the demand towards cleaning the overall sector for more renewable energy. So, that's one ginormous proceeding right now. The other one is distributed energy resources docket, and that's looking at distributed PV and distributed water heaters. And how do we incorporate that into overall planning, the resource planning, right? There's many, many others, but I won't bore you. But let's just say that so the PUC issues these dockets, you can apply to be an intervener, which means you can submit your comments. And those comments would of course be considered by the Public Utilities Commission as they ultimately issue an order. And when they say they issue an order, what that means is this is our decision on how we want to proceed. And based on those orders, that is how ultimately the electric utilities need to proceed and follow what the Public Utilities is telling them to do. Okay, so that sounds like an intervener has a pretty integral part in shaping what policy looks like moving forward for the state, it sounds. Yes, absolutely. Excellent. Yeah. So, a few things you threw out there. I thought a lot. Distributed energy resources. Okay. So I'll preface a little bit by saying, I mean, we've worked together before, which has been excellent. And on a broad swath of projects, we've worked on hydrogen, particularly most recently, but I also was pleased to see you as a panelist in a recent discussion with Hawaii women lawyers. Thank you. And so it's really fascinating to see both the work you do kind of behind the scenes and regulatory space and planning and analysis, but then to also see you carry that work forward and sharing that information with the community and practitioners as well as people who are just interested in learning more about energy work. And so can you talk a little bit about what the state energy office as a whole does? I know I've seen Mark Lick a number of places in panel discussions, but if you could talk about how community members can get some of this information without necessarily engaging one-on-one. Sure. We spend quite a bit of time and resources, both our personal time as well as just like marketing, communications, resources on directed through like our website. Right. We have a lot of information with regards to the state energy goals, but then we do a deeper dive into actual clean energy facts that the industry maybe or sorry, the general public may be interested in such as like how much PV do we have and how much of that is distributed versus utility and how much wind do we have. And then we also provide quite a bit of like latest news as well as to what is happening in the industry. For example, you mentioned Mark, myself, if we have speaking engagements that there's follow-up communications through the press and the media, we tend to publish those on our website. So it's a really good resource, publications. We get involved in a lot of, you know, research whether it's on policy matters or other things and whatever research we get involved in, we also publish in our website. So it really is a wealth of information for anybody that wants to learn a bit more. And then in terms of getting involved, you know, I really have to say that some wonderful ways of getting involved is one through legislation and really telling your legislators what you want in terms of Hawaii and towards its goal of renewable energy or anything else that you want them to know about whether or not you support a position that they have or not. So I think that's a fantastic way of getting involved. The other one, I mentioned dockets. Even if you are not an intervener, you can still submit your comments on the public utilities website. They have a docket portal and you can submit your comments on particular dockets. And those things do get considered by the Public Utilities Commission.  Or simply drop us a line and we're happy to chat with you. Okay. So you mentioned a developer having kind of immediate access. Is that also open to just interested individuals that give you a call and get more information? It really is open to anybody. The questionnaire is more targeted to developers. So sometimes they have questions about incentives or they have questions about permitting or what not. But when we have more information as to what they're looking for, how the type of assistance that they need, we can better get the information ahead of time in communicating with them. But certainly the general public can use it. We also have a public email address where they can contact us or just pick up the phone. We get a lot of those inquiries pretty much on a daily basis. Would you mind providing the email address? I don't have it on the top of my head. But the website. Yeah. If you go to energy.hawaii.gov, you're going to be able to find everything that I just spoke about. Excellent. And the website actually is pretty robust. I signed up for the newsletter. Yay. I appreciate that. Thank you. So I get the regular updates and the information is certainly timely and very useful just to see kind of broad scale what's happening across the state. Well, for a state that's separated by water with its different counties, it's really, really, it's a nice place to go to get singular information on a particular topic. So thank you for your work to provide that information. Oh, sure. Happy to. Yeah. So as you mentioned, opportunities to engage the community as well as informational speaking events. I wanted to mention an upcoming event that you all are partnering on. So for with HECO, I think the 13th year now, they're hosting a clean energy fair. Actually, I'm probably not going to get the name right. We're going to say an energy fair. Sure. So tomorrow at Kahala Mall is October 1st and it's a kickoff for Energy Action Month. And so HECO, along with you, the State Energy Office, as well as Kanu Hawaii, will have activities for the family and information available for what's happened in the state. Can you tell us a bit about engagements like that where you partner? I know the Verge Conference has a partnership as well. So can you talk about some of the partnerships that the State Energy Office has? Actually, again, I don't remember the name. I think we're both trying to play totally okay. That's happening tomorrow. That is a really fabulous opportunity for the KK to get involved and start learning about clean energy. And I think the earlier on that we can introduce them to these concepts, the earlier on that they really value what clean energy has to offer in their everyday lives. So this is fabulous. It's really a learning opportunity. But it's also going to be a fun opportunity. There's going to be games. There's going to be entertainment. I believe in prior events, like this one, I think it attracted something like 3,000 people. Like a hollow mall. I know that I'm going to be swinging by. So hopefully I'll get to see you when I'm there. So it'll be really, really fun. A lot of the engagement that we do does happen through invitations that we get. So, you know, for the general public, if somebody is hosting, I don't know, a community event, but the Hawaii women lawyers. Right. Yeah. So somebody from your organization extended an invitation. I was very happy to participate. So we do a lot of these speaking engagements to nonprofits, or industry organizations, conferences, et cetera. We do host, this is going to be our second one that we're going to be hosting in 2017, Verge Conference. Yes. And that was amazing. I just came back from the one in Santa Clara. And I tell you what I most want to say about Verge and the way that they conduct the conference. It's really focused around expanding one's understanding of the overall clean energy ecosystem. So for example, did you know that in order to have clean water, you need to have electricity? And in order to have electricity, you need water, right? And in order to produce either one of them, there is consumption of electricity and consumption of water. So which begs the question, okay, as we're getting more people in this earth, right? And we have fewer resources. What are we going to do? So it was just a fascinating way to explore that topic at the last Verge meeting, Verge Conference, which happened in Santa Clara. And really excited to see what we have in store for next year, Verge 17. I should say Verge Hawaii in 2017, which is going to be in June. So I appreciate you making that distinction. I was going to mention, for those who aren't aware of Verge, it's an ongoing, I don't know if it's throughout the entire year, but I know there's a series of conferences at different locations, but there's almost a consortium or a cohort of Verge conferences. Can you talk a bit about that, the Verge? What is the Verge? I'm not a Verge expert. I mean, certainly they are our contractor. Okay. Green Tech Media. Yes. They were one of the pioneers, I would say, in really publishing about clean energy and mainstream media. They've been around for a couple of decades now. But besides their publications and how they have blogs and a lot of online content versus like publishing on paper, which is how they started. It's amazing, right? They also do these conferences focused on various topics. Okay. So far I've participated in three. So the first one was Grid Edge, and that was in 2015 in San Diego. And it was all about the Grid Edge. Are you familiar with this concept? No, this is new to me. Yeah, it's super fascinating, super fascinating. It's the idea that essentially, right now, the utility has visibility into one's energy, but also control over one's energy consumption, energy generation, up to basically like your house, your meter, that sort of thing. So that's the Grid Edge. So the idea is going beyond it, right? And now you start getting into like really interesting relationships and dynamic. For example, okay, if you have a PV system and it has storage, and so now you're generating renewable energy and you're maybe storing some renewable energy and you're connected to the grid and now you give visibility to the utility to your system, right? So the utility needs to tap into your system in order to keep the grid up and running, right? So should they be compensating you? How much should they be compensating you? Or is it basically in order for you to be connected, do you give that to them for free, right? So I'm not advocating for either one. I'm simply pointing out there's all these complexities of this concept of the Grid Edge and being able to pierce to the Grid Edge provides, right? So that's one conference. I don't know if they've kept doing it. The other one is Verge Hawaii, which took place 2016, we're starting the planning for 2017 and that's here in Honolulu, it's in June and in this last Verge, we really explored everything about energy, not only in the electricity sector but also in transportation. Too early for me to talk about what we're going to be exploring in the next Verge. They call Verge 16 or Verge 17 and it's really the confluence, I would say of like all all the topics in one location typically takes place in California. There's also like Verge, more focused around New York so they have like a New York Rev. So I'm not an expert on Verge but they're all great learning opportunities, great way to expand your understanding of the complexities related to renewable energy and energy efficiency in smart grid etc but also the vast opportunities and you've come back feeling just very excited. That's super exciting. I hadn't realized the depth and I certainly didn't realize the term grid edge but that's an exciting concept and one we were exploring particularly here in Hawaii but definitely across the nation. So I appreciate you taking this time we're going to give our listeners a little bit of a break and we'll be back in a moment to talk more about Veronica Rich's efforts with the State Energy Office. Thanks for tuning in. This is John and Danelia from Thank Tech Hawaii Keys to Success. We'd like to thank all of our viewers for tuning in and enjoying the show as we enjoy giving it to you. We're very grateful for all the wonderful feedback we receive from our viewers. My name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A and I'm the other half of the duo John Newman. We thank you all. Aloha. Thanks for hanging on and we're back with Veronica from the State Energy Office a renewable energy program manager and we've been chatting a bit about what's happening in the state of Hawaii but also across the nation in clean energy as we kick off Clean Energy or Energy Action Month in October we've just been discovering the many things that are taking place and the projects that are happening here in the state. So Veronica thank you again for joining us today and we chatted a little bit just about broad scale the different engagements that the State Energy Office has the different speaking engagements and regulatory inputs and informational opportunities for entities across the state so I wondered if you could talk in a bit more specific terms about some of the projects that you personally oversee. Oh sure. One of the collaborations that I was involved in helping to craft not necessarily at leading the effort was at Verge 2016 Governor Ige an assistant secretary of the Navy McGinn signed a memorandum of understanding or MOU for the Navy in the state of Hawaii to work more collaboratively on energy efforts right both the Navy and the state of Hawaii we have very aggressive clean energy goals and so therefore a lot of overlap in both our challenges and opportunities and solutions so there were three working groups that were established one of them is on alternative fuels and transportation the second one is on resiliency and then the third one is on renewable energy and I'm leading the effort in the renewable energy space so it's a really interesting super fun to connect with the folks from the Department of the Navy to NAFAC Hawaii NAFAC PAC REBO it's been really good so we're really now starting to explore in depth in a bit more depth I should say some of the initiatives that I think both entities have interest on most immediately though we started to take a look at and I can't go into too much specifics but you know micro grids I think that's an area of mutual interest both Department of the Defense as well as for the state of Hawaii so we were able to leverage some non-DOD but still federal funds to help us in evaluating an area and infrastructure towards the development of micro grids in a way that would pull in more renewable energy but then also provide for greater energy security and resiliency so working on that really to disclose more details but excited for the collaboration that we have going on I really appreciate you talking about the collaboration because I think that's a part that sometime is missed because so much of the work happens behind the scenes people don't always have an opportunity to see the levels at which the state energy office engages but also the projects that you all are working on so I've been fortunate to work with you on some hydrogen efforts and just really that have an international scope so we could talk about some of the engagements that the state energy office as a whole has perhaps some of its international partners and some of the things that are being looked at currently I could go on for a long time on that I can tell you that from a personal perspective I've really been inspired by this MOU between the State of Hawaii Department of the Navy and it got me thinking well how can we do more of this whether or not we have an MOU so I keep bringing it up because it's so fresh on my mind it just happened last week but again I'm not sure to what extent you're familiar with this Microsoft, Google, Facebook they have very aggressive renewable energy targets many of those guys 100% renewable energy which leads me to believe that when Hawaii when we passed our 100% renewable energy bill that that really had a ripple effect and inspired others so I participated in a summit with Microsoft and all these people and several utilities from around the U.S. and it was all like how do we move forward and one of the challenges that was brought up and this was in the context of electric vehicles and increasing the electrification of transportation one of the California electric utilities said well one of the challenges that we have is when we have a cool idea for like a new electric vehicle charging station demonstration project it is so hard for us to get it done because of all of the protocols that need to be had because they have limited funds because X, Y, C and so one of the big companies, I'm not going to say which one so I don't want to put anybody in a bad position and they said well if you tell me what challenges you're having then I can test them out in my facility and if you think about it some of these data centers for like Microsoft, Google, etc they're so huge that they're consuming as much energy as a city as a state as even like an island so they actually could be a beautiful place to test some of these things so that got me thinking there's a wonderful opportunity here to work across borders even more so in a very meaningful way so that's something where I'm starting to explore that concept that I just relayed and started to reach out to potential partners in California and also Alaska so hopefully there'll be a little bit more to come on that wow that's really exciting it's exciting to think not only one that people are thinking about broadly but there's a lot more in that type of way I mean for businesses as large as the ones you named it's certainly it's impactful if they're able to make the change but it also speaks a lot to the merit of the work that we're doing for someone to be able to assume that risk and say that this is meaningful and we'll test and make sure that it gets better and we'll undertake that responsibility so I think it's fantastic that you're exploring that yeah I'm excited about it so we'll see it's still very very early on but you know you have to plan a seed and it really makes you right indeed I agree and so we talked a bit about I think when we first met it might have been in relationship to opportunities to engage with Japan particularly but just seeing how we can branch outside of the US and what other nations are doing and what some of the challenges people have experienced both in planning and implementation and it's really been exciting for me to see how different governments move forward with renewable energy efforts from those engagements it takes time and it's all it's very much a relationship based approach I remember actually me you and Stan we were talking and I was expressing some frustration and I'm not going to say which country or why things just take so long and I just don't know what to do what email to send, what phone call to make and Stan actually said well have you thought about just calling and checking in and see how they're doing after you know some event I was like no but I think that really alerted me to it's based on relationships and I think since then we've had a bit more meaningful dialogue and there appears to be more interest in a proposal that we're working together with a potential international partner that's really promising to hear and it's something that's encouraging Hawaii has so many sister-state and sister-sandy relationships it's been nice to work across departments so working with Hawaii National Energy Institute as well as D-Bed and just really kind of spanning the spectrum of engagement across the state in their agencies has been an exciting thing for me I must admit when we think about energy and we talk about electricity and kind of what it means I think we can speak about it in a very broad way and people understand that it's important but when you start realizing the dependency that each of us have as an agency but as individuals as well it hits home a little bit more and so the work that we do I find is pretty meaningful and so when you mention being inspired and just really wanting to think more about how we can explore different types of partnerships it's really inspiring to hear and I'm grateful that we have a lot of people within our state agencies so people like that who are impacting upcoming policies so I wanted to thank you for your time this afternoon and thank you for your ongoing efforts for renewable energy for the state thank you it's my pleasure always great to connect with you and be on your show so thank you Rachel, appreciate it and thank you studio audience for tuning in to Stand the Energyman thank you for allowing me to fill in for my boss and spending a little bit of time as we kick off Energy Action Month this weekend and have an awesome Energy Month Allah Hafiz


Professor at the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines, Diliman, I've been working for 37 years now. I began my work in 1980 as a master student of Professor Ed Gomez who's the founding director of the Marine Science Center, now the Marine Science Institute. I call my work over more than three decades, Experimental Marine Ecology. So that's a title of my talk now. And it has transitioned into work on complex systems. So the title is From Experimental Marine Ecology to Complex Systems. But in this work, I have to credit my students. That's why they're first acknowledged, no? It would not have been possible without a host of very talented, hardworking, dedicated graduate students beginning in the 1980s. My work began in 1980, like I said, with coral transplantation. Fortunately, there's still existing picture of me then. It is not digitized, so it's a bit rough. But that's me over there. I'm transplanting branches of a staghorn hard coral that's common in the Philippines. So my master's thesis was about studying how it grows after being transplanted to a new habitat. But I thought on my own that I could use this approach to also study coral physiology. Okay, so corals are animals.  They respond to environmental factors like light, temperature, and stressors, okay? And a result of that is a paper published in the journal Marine Biology in 1984 looking at responses of coral to temperature and light. Because the Marine Science Institute is quite liberal in terms of the research we could get into and funding has really never been a problem, I was able to expand my research into what is called recruitment, okay? So I had a student as an example who was collecting tiles that we put down on the bottom. And what we were investigating was the different kinds of species on the reef that recruit on those tiles. That picture there is what we call a spaghetti sponge and it's causing a lot of problems on the reef in Bully now because it's competing with coral. We've been studying what we call the energy flow in that ecosystem. So the corals, they produce energy and other species on the reef consume the energy. So here's an example of an experiment we did about two decades ago where we incubated a sea cucumber inside a respiration chamber so we could measure its respiration, which we call energy consumption. This is set up in the laboratory. It's all improvised, studying the photosynthesis and respiration of different species on the reef. And that's an example of one of our publications with my graduate students, both of whom are now PhD degree holders. It's called energy flow and seasonality in the tropical coral reef flat. So that's a picture of my students about to go underwater using scuba. And I'm not in the picture because I'm the one taking the photo. And here's an example of some of our results, a simple energy budget for the coral reef flat in Bully now showing the values of energy production and consumption over a year. We used all of our past experience on coral transplantation, physiology, recruitment and energy dynamics to go into a more relevant thematic now, which is how reef communities are assembled over time. And the reason is we have so many degraded habitats in the marine environment. And we want to see if we could use this knowledge to actually assemble communities from scratch, meaning from bare substrate. And then we introduce coral colonies and then over time, the colonies recruit other species like fish and different invertebrates. And here's an example of a scientific paper that came out of that work. It's called local changes in community diversity after coral transplantation, published in the Journal Marine Ecology Progress series. And future generations of students have carried on this kind of work to see if coral can really be transplanted to degraded reef habitats in the effort to rehabilitate them. So this paper is called Successful Transplantation of a Fragmenting Coral with my erstwhile advisor Ed Gomez and two of my students, Patrick Kabaitan and Romy Dizon. Romy, by the way, is now faculty in UP Baguio. In fact, he became chair of the Department of Biology there. Finally, this is an interest I've been developing with the National Institute of Physics because the theory of complex systems derives from physics. And I had a student at that time who published a paper on understanding coral reefs as complex systems. And we try to use this knowledge and continue to try to use it in the effort on coral restoration. So this is a paper published in the Journal Ocean and Coastal Management. So these are other aspects of our work, the effects of light on coral photosynthesis. So we use laboratory setups like incubation chambers where we can control water temperature and light, for example. And this is called effects of water motion on coral photosynthesis and respiration. So we're also looking, or we were looking at, the effects of strong water movement on the photosynthesis of coral. And this is a master's thesis of Rex Montabon. You can see it was quite a while ago, 1995. And I had a PhD student whom I was supervising together with Professor Coke Montagno at UPMSI. And he finished a PhD dissertation looking at the effects of natural gas condensate on coral. The natural gas is a product of the Malampaya Natural Gas Project in Palawan by Shell Oil Company. And they contracted our group to look at the possible effects of pollution on coral reefs. And we asked Ronald Villanueva to do a PhD dissertation on that. So we have been expanding this kind of work in different parts of the Philippines and incorporating effects of human impacts. But I guess one of the highlights of this invited presentation is what we did under what is called the Emerging Interdisciplinary Research Initiative of Professor Giselle Concepcion when she was Vice President for Academic Affairs of the UP system. So we called the initiative One Ecosystem because we want to look at different habitats because you cannot protect the ocean unless you address problems on the land. So you need an integrated approach which I call One Ecosystem. So for this program, we have collaborators from Physics, Dr. John Bantang and his students from the College of Engineering, the Department of Computer Science, Dr. Prost Naval and his students, the School of Urban and Regional Planning in the person of Dr. David Yap. And we had a German student from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and we have Marie-Court Soriano from Physics as well. Most of them are from UP Dilliman. So the study area is Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro. It's located on the Verde Island Passage which is considered one of the centers of biodiversity in the entire planet. So a lot of the coast of northern Mindoro Island looks like this. You have boulders on the beach that have been carved out of the mountainside and they roll down the mountain slopes and settle on the sand on the beach. But I am posing the hypothesis that some of these boulders, when they are underwater, they can form the substrate for coral. So in this part of Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro, parts of the coral reef are actually very nice which is a sight that you do not see in many parts of the Philippines anymore. So notice also the fish. So that's me 32 years later. So I began diving in 1980 and I continue to dive still. Okay. And this is a research of Professor Marikor Sariano of Physics. She joined our research effort and did a survey of the northern Mindoro coast using an underwater video technology that she invented. And here is an example of her product which is a picture of the coral reef underwater which can then be analyzed in the laboratory for coral cover and the extent of damage and things like that. So this research we're doing actually right now which is a continuation of the EID are funded by Dr. Concepcion includes habitats like river systems and that river system you can still drink the water. So how many rivers in the Philippines if not the whole world are still like that? And Abra de Ilog is also an important rice growing region in the Philippines so we integrate rice farming also into our research considerations and look at the mountain ranges in the background so it's really a beautiful area. Coconut is another important industry for cobra. Okay. So it was Adrian Wagner who took this picture but unfortunately the island of Mindoro is still covered with communities that are very poor. Okay. So this is a Mangyan village somewhere in the mountains extreme poverty is still something that you witness extreme poverty also in the coastal area. Okay. So in this picture you see on the left side the river which is carrying sediment from the upland and then on the right side you see the open sea so the river discharges sediment into the open sea and in this picture you actually see eroded hillsides which is where the soil comes from and Adrian Wagner the German student studied sources of soil erosion and he looked at soil quality and here's an example of a publication from his master's work which he did in collaboration with Dr. David Yap and myself and it's called Drivers and Consequences of Land Use Patterns in a Developing Country Rural Community published in the Journal Agriculture Ecosystems and the Environment in 2015. This is a result of collaboration with Dr. John Bontang of Physics UP Dilliman and a master's student Jen Jen Manuel and they were looking at the river network in Abra de Elog and what Jen Jen Manuel did was she resolved the different nodes in that river network into different types of land use like agriculture other woodland actually she also examined human use like built up areas for commercial purposes for fish ponds and her work was to look at the input of these different activities into the coast how these different activities cause stress on the coast so this was her master's thesis at the National Institute of Physics another student of Dr. John Bontang at Physics looked at livelihood networks in Abra de Elog and if you could take a look at the picture closely we were looking at agricultural activities like rice, cobra we were looking at fishing which included things like squid we were looking at other economic activities like buy and sell, sari sari also charcoal making also mining of pebbles so all of these are examples of livelihood in that study area and we wanted to see how they are interlinked because the whole point is of this research program which I should have mentioned in the beginning is to preserve the natural environment all of those habitats the mountain ecosystem the forest, the rivers all the way to the coral reef on the coast how can we preserve them while maintaining a profile of livelihood activities for the rural population to ensure an acceptable quality of life so what livelihoods can we recommend or develop to help their economic well-being but at the same time preserve the natural environment this is a manuscript that is under review in a journal right now which is a collaboration with Prof. Naval of the Department of Computer Science of the College of Engineering and Alfonso Labau who actually has a degree in economics and looking at how to induce the rural population to adopt certain types of livelihood through provision of equipment assets and this is an example of one of the results of that paper so this is a bit of a technical figure where we look at how we can promote resilience of rural populations through livelihood switching and in this particular example as Alfonso Labau words it the predicted conditional probabilities of households to choose certain types of livelihood given varying levels of rice and fishing equipment with copper equipment fixed it's very technical but in this figure we are able to demonstrate that when rural folk are given equipment for agriculture so that they can pursue livelihood in agriculture they will decrease their fishing effort and the rationale of this particular exercise is we want to convince fishermen to reduce their fishing if the coral reef is already very stressed and overfished so how can we convince them to switch to other forms of livelihood away from the ocean so this is just an example of our work okay this is the last slide actually our research program in the UP is now in close collaboration with an NGO an international NGO based in Paris called Ecotone Resilience and the significance of this is Ecotone Resilience is people by individuals with different fields of expertise including the natural sciences organic agriculture forestry chemical engineering and importantly international impact investment because some of our collaborators from Ecotone Resilience used to work in Wall Street in Manhattan, New York and they are using their expertise in international finance to try to see how they can convince big investors to commit funds to environmental protection and helping people poor people in their livelihood so instead of the traditional big profits that investment has been seeking it seems that there is a shift now in paradigm towards a real valuation of nature and how nature nurtures people so Ecotone Resilience in partnership with the University of the Philippines is looking at this new paradigm of how to bring in international investment to protect nature and help people especially in the poor rural areas and the Memorandum of Understanding was signed by President Alfredo Pasqual last year so it's based in Paris and in conclusion I'd like to express heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to Professor Giselle Concepcion who initiated this program when she was Vice President for Academic Affairs of the UP system


What is up guys and welcome back to the John Key channel. Thanks for watching. In today's video I want to go over my top five everyday carry pistols that live in my rotation of everyday carry. Some pistols I carry a lot more and others I don't carry as often but they do live in the rotation of my everyday carry. Now if you've been a follower of this channel you know that one of my very first everyday carries was this the Glock 43x Gen 5. Well technically I don't think there's a Gen 5 just yet but it does have front and rear serrations. It's got a smooth grip but this is not the MOS which is the only thing that I don't like about this. Well the other thing that I don't like about it is that it comes with 10 rounds. I wish I had the 15 round magazine but it is what it is. And before we begin of course this gun and all the other guns being shown in this video are being safe cleared and empty by me. I verify twice so you don't have to worry about that but yeah this Glock 43x has been with me for about three I believe maybe even four years now. I've carried the 43x the longest and I like it so much because it's small it's compact and it's very slim. Like if you see that grip and depending how big your hand is you just bear hug that grip which is I mean to me really really good. Just holding it with one hand it feels like home. It just feels phenomenal in the hands. Like I said the downside it's not the MOS version only has 10 rounds and you can attach a flashlight. Well I guess you technically could but I like the pick rail instead of kind of this smooth smooth edge here. I still have the stock sights and they have not failed me. I do think though this front sight is just slightly bending to the left and for that reason I do have to change out both of those sights. And the fact that it's so slim and fits really well on my body in a holster just 10 out of 10. Next hey guys quick interruption here just want to let you guys know about true shot ammo. If you're looking to get new ammo or even stock up on your ammo make sure to use a link down below in the description and go to true shot ammo and get all the ammo you might need. To be totally honest guys that link down below is my personal link which means when you click on it you go to true shot ammo order some ammo it benefits true shot ammo but also gives me a little bit of a kick back which is just totally awesome and helps me create videos like this in the future. So no matter what kind of caliber you need or may want or just need to stockpile on ammo make sure to use that link down below and visit true shot ammo. You guys are awesome thanks for the support now let's get back to the video. Next on the list is this this Sig Sauer P365X macro. Now this thing is a beast let this kind of be a nudge for all of you who want to get into the X macro you need to go buy it. All in this cost about a thousand dollars and the thing that I love about this macro is that it honestly might even be slimmer than the 43x and so it fits in my hand even better honestly than the 43x which is wild to say because the 43x is small it's compact all those great things. Now with the X macro you do get 17 rounds plus one which means a total of 18 rounds which beats the 43x by a landslide they fit 18 rounds into this tiny compact sized handgun which is just crazy of course I got the hollow sun 407k on here and the cool thing about this is that it comes with night sights which is awesome but also the tip of the slide here has a compensator it's got a two port comp which does help immensely it's not as snappy and does stay flat when you shoot it it's got a pick rail here for any kind of flashlight that you want the grip texture is solid and when I go out to the rain and I'm sweating a ton I don't lose a grip on this pistol group. The X macro has lived in my rotation for about a couple of years now and I got to tell you it's probably the first gun that I grabbed for when I go to everyday carry like this is probably my top favorite I would probably give this a 10 out of 10 for sure. Moving on to the next everyday carry this is the Glock 19 gen 5 of course it's got a trigger con rmr type 2 and it does have the 15 round magazine still has the stock sights which at some point will probably change out it's got front and rear serrations of course it's the gen 5 the grip is fantastic I mean it's a Glock it's the Glock 19 gen 5 you can't beat that it's reliable it's rugged the only thing that I'm not a big fan is that it's a little bulky especially in the grip area right here if I compare it to the X macro it's not as thin but it's not very very thick like a 17 it still feels really good in the hands I will say when I everyday carry this pistol because of its bulkiness it tends to be a little bit more uncomfortable in like the 3 or 4 o'clock position but if I'm carrying appendix it's not as bad and it's tolerable but for those of us who carry a gun every day it's not for comfortability it's for protection and newly added to the collection of everyday carry is the staccato cs now I have carried this a couple of times and the times that I have carried the 2011 staccato cs it's been okay now surprisingly I I I can't believe I'm saying that because I love the 2011 cs so much like when I'm carrying it every day it tends to just because I mean you can you can see right just like how tactical and how maybe not bulky but there's just so many things going on with the cs and so you feel all those things when you carry the gun it's a little bit on the heavier side but hey it's a 2011 staccato what I mean it's not going to be a light gun and I'm okay sacrificing that because hey I freaking love this gun but overall I'd probably give this like I don't know probably good 8 out of 10 I carry this without an optic on there that will soon change but overall I mean it's a solid pistol but when you do carry it just make sure that you know that it might be uncomfortable in certain areas so kind of make sure that you can carry comfortably at like maybe 12 to 1 o'clock I know for me the 3 or 4 o'clock position does tend to kind of be like ah okay it's scratching me I'm sitting down okay now it's kind of like hurting me I mean you could develop a little bit of a rash and it can hurt but hey suck it up buttercup now lastly but not least by any means this is the helicap pro and it also carries 15 rounds plus one of the chambers so total of 16 rounds now when I have carried the helicap pro it's very much like the 43x it's very slim it's very smooth and it's compact but the thing that I do like about the helicap pro is that when you go to feel the actual pistol it's very very smooth I don't know what springfield armory did but it feels so smooth the pistol grip is very thin it's almost like an x-macro but even thinner and a little bit better I would say it's not as aggressive as a pistol grip of the x-macro but it's still when you go to present I mean it feels really good in the hands and the cool thing about the helicap pro is that it doesn't feel like a small pistol even though it is it doesn't feel like it which is honestly probably a good thing for most people it's got a really good reliable trigger it's got a pick rail for any flashlight attachments and you can attach an optic if you want to now as far as comfortability I will say that this might be one of the more comfortable guns in my rotation than I carry I carry this about three or four o'clock and with my holster it's very smooth it's very flat on my body it doesn't rough me up it doesn't scratch me I mean it's got smooth edges there are no sharp pointy things that are going to poke me or pinch me like the staccato cs but overall I probably rate this a good solid seven or eight out of ten so here's what I'm going to say in my rotation there's about five different guns and the thing with me is that I go out and shoot and train all the time with each of those guns so those are my five top everyday carry guns what are your guys please comment down below I would love to know what you guys carry all the time and with that being said guys thanks so much for watching I will catch you in the next Johnny Q video peace


This is the best thing ever You guys are always talking about how bland our house is so today.  I think we should do I think we should attack the camera man Here are you okay though? I swallowed something for sure I will say this all of these are biodegradable and you're made from corn starch And I don't want you guys to think that we're just gonna be thrown this away We're actually gonna be recycling all of this cats in a restaurant right now, and it's been five minutes at this point I think she's just being lazy, so we're gonna pull a little quick prank and trap her inside the restaurant Perfect I actually think I lost my phone. It was my pocket, and I don't have my ringers on We actually still have a whole lot of packing peanuts to unpack So right now I'm gonna call up then and force them to come over and help us do all this You know, I'm sure you guys remember when we said that we would step it up in our YouTube videos once We got re-monitized these packing peanuts cost us over $10,000 and over three days to set everything up So we're gonna ask you guys to step it up and like this video and subscribe because we're posting twice a week now All right, so Ben just rang the doorbell, and we're gonna pull a break on them Just really really needed you over for some help. All right What's about to happen? Nothing is about to happen. What am I walking off? Nothing. What's happening? What? How many freaking peanuts is this? 100 million. Oh my god. This is f***ing crazy. Can I just like lay in it? 33, 2, 1 This is the best thing ever. I love this. So how long are they gonna take you to do this? Realistically like unpacking and everything moving it from like truck to truck took us about three days three days to fill all this up Oh my god, y'all better like the video Hey, he said it 3, 2, 1 First to find the hat wins $100. Where is it? I lost my freaking hat Bro, we need Brett to come in and check on you Oh, get 100 bucks for finding my own hat. I need the judges to give me a score. All right, you got 69 out of 100. Oh my god. No! Yo, that gets a 99 out of 100. Ben, can we get you doing a bathtub up a bit real quick? Yeah Before we move on we're actually gonna be flying out one of you guys to hang out with us for an entire day And be in a whole YouTube video.  You guys have 30 seconds one two three six Seven twenty-two twenty-three twenty-four twenty-nine thirty. All right guys. Where you guys at guys? It didn't work. I hear someone breathing right here It was the first one to be found. There's someone hiding in that corner right there someone back here Okay, wait, let me congratulate you guys because you were the last one you found you want a body slush So, how do you guys plan on cleaning this up? Why do you think we invited you over? I'm gonna have We're still gonna do more stuff like dodgeball and then we've got to pick up dad from the eye doctor No Poor dad. We didn't pick you up from the eye doctor. We were filling up the house. Okay. I remember yeah We were filling up the house for the package Blame them for you guys Dad wait, you're not gonna help us clean nope So right now we're gonna play the craziest game of dodgeball It's gonna be me and Tanner versus Alan and Kat if you can hit you're out ready three two one What we'll actually play for just so you guys know I lost my phone again losing team has to find my phone three two one fresh air Versus twin Decoration so it's time to celebrate. I want to play. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wait Sean.  I was looking for sound and movement. So let's let's look for that Wait, what the what is going on here are you okay?  Hopefully it doesn't deflate. I knew he was gonna say that Why am I Push me around in it. Come on You guys tell me this is not the perfect setup to watch TV. This is like the perfect movie room This is so comfortable guys Tanner was just telling us how he hasn't watched our last YouTube video that he was in you ever watched it Okay, well we want you to live react to this one scene You know honestly this is kind of turned into a 24-hour video We're probably just gonna chill here all night if this video gets 200,000 likes Then we'll become lifeguards for a day and come to a pool near you for some CPR Click here to watch me prank my friends with my new body and click here to watch us surprise our friends with baby tigers