Good afternoon. Good evening. This is Rich from RichTVLive. Hope you're all having a great morning. Looks like we're gonna have a big day in the markets and I have a new pick for you. Let's get right into it. All right, this new pick is called Extreme Battery, Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies. A lot of us like to call it ACDC. This is their website. We're going to go through it right now. So this is the website for ACDC right here and it's evbattery.tech. The future of battery technology has arrived with ACDC. So the symbol in Canada is ACDC. The symbol in America is C-R-Y-B-F and their website is evbattery.tech. And if you go through their website, you will learn about evbattery.tech. Let's talk about it. Ev battery technologies is a leading blockchain. So they got blockchain involved and battery technology company, which is also talking about EV electric vehicles. So electric vehicles and blockchain, cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, patented battery management systems, BMS designed to meet the exponentially growing demand for scalable smart solutions for the rapidly growing electric vehicle and energy storage solutions markets, ESS markets. The BMS technology was born out of artificial intelligence. So they're also using AI technology, driven algorithms, mining billions of data points to analyze the shortcomings of batteries in today's market. The resulting game changing BMS technology allows for batteries to have more efficient power management and longer battery life. While AI integrated solutions offer the world's first real-time monitoring and remote maintenance, perhaps the future and feature we are most proud of here at EV battery tech is the way our AI battery technology will revolutionize the way ESSs are manufactured by using recycled batteries. EV battery tech is committed to assisting global recycling solutions by offering recycling initiatives using our technology to analyze and fully refurbish used batteries. Our real-time monitoring feeds back into our AI driven engines, which will result in continuous improvement, collaboration and creative development in BMS solutions in the various markets, including but not limited to EV and ESS markets. EV battery tech was originally founded on blockchain technology that is being harmonized to support a state-of-the-art battery technology, together the two trending mega technologies are poised to disrupt the battery market and EV battery tech is determined to be a pioneer in this pursuit. At EV battery tech, we are committed to utilizing our blockchain supported AI integrated battery solutions to offer a market first, a full BMS battery solution featuring real-time monitoring and remote maintenance contained within a secure blockchain environment. The financial and transactional controls facilitated by blockchain technology ensure BMS, EV, ESS and smart charging applications have the most secure transactional abilities targeted to meet tokenized carbon credit TCC requirements. The recent amendments to smart grid integration are already factored into our product development and aspire to exceed vehicle to grid compatibility. So the areas of focus are artificial intelligence, battery management systems, BMS, real-time monitoring, remote maintenance, energy storage systems, ESS, smart charging systems and battery recycling. And this is the team. I actually did interview Bryson Goodwin, the president and CEO yesterday. The interview will be available only on RichTV Live tomorrow. So that is about EV battery technologies. Oh, got some of your messages here. Let's go through it. FKX Studios, please comment on the price. How much is the stock worth? And is it a good price entry at this point? So let's take a look at the price. That's a good question. Let's take a look at the price. Okay, let's take a look at the price. Okay, so we're going to go to Webull and let's share that screen. And if you guys like these videos, please smash the like button, comment down below, share the video everywhere and subscribe. Remember RichTV Live is strictly for information education purposes. Please always do your due diligence, do your research before you invest in anything we talk about here in RichTV Live. All right. Now remember RichTV Live, like I said, is strictly for information and education purposes. Please do your due diligence before you make an investment in saying that we do bring more early stage companies than anyone else on the planet and we will continue to. So this is ACDC, Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp, currently at 28 cents. You can see it was at 3 cents in November of last year. It went, so we're currently trading at about a 10 bagger from where it was. The market is just opening now, currently at 27.5 cents, but you can see it's gone from 3 cents to a high of 95 cents. Huge, huge move all the way to 95 cents from 3 cents all the way to 95 cents. And then it came down from 95 all the way where we marked it there to where it is today. We'll make a vertical line there of 27.5. So it went up massive, like 3,000%. And then it came down, right? So it's starting to create somewhat of a floor at these levels. And you can see that the low is about 22 cents. So if I was looking for an entry point, I'd be looking to get in at around 22 cents, if possible. That would be where I'd be looking. I'd be looking to get in around 22. Now even at these levels here at like 28, pretty close to the bottom or the floor that it's created. And you can see that it's also been just recently as high of 40 cents. So we've seen it as high as 40 cents recently and as low as 20 cents. So as a trader, you're always trying to identify the highs and the lows. And you can clearly see that it's been as high as about 40 cents. So it's been as high as, let's say 40 cents and recently and been as low as 20 cents and it's currently sitting at 28. This is the Canadian symbol, ACDC. And it's still up huge from only three cents in November. And then the US symbol, we're going to show you how to find the US symbol. All right. So the US symbol is on OTC markets. Let's go to OTC markets. I'm going to share that screen with you OTC markets. All right. And if we share that screen, here we go. There we go. So there's OTC markets. Now I'm sharing the screen with you guys. We'll make this full screen. Okay, so this is OTC markets. And you can see the symbol in America is C-R-Y-B-F Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp. Here's the description. Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp is a blockchain and battery technology company with revolutionary patented battery management systems BMS designed to meet the exponentially growing demand for scalable, smart solutions for rapidly growing electric vehicle and energy storage systems markets. Energy storage solutions, ESS. That's the description. And if you go to security details, this is OTCmarkets.com. We'll get a chance to see exactly how many shares are there. Now this is the one concern I have with this company is the share structure. Lot of shares in the float. So you need to be aware of that. There's a lot of shares in the float. And when I interviewed the CEO, he told me that this is by design. He wants to create a lot of liquidity in the stock. And he believes that having more shares issued outstanding allows the stock to be very liquid. And he's right. It has been trading with a lot of liquidity. However, when you have lots of shares that can also create lots of dilution. Having more shares also increases his market cap. So in doing this, it's increased the market cap and increased liquidity. Two of the goals that the CEO had. So he has achieved those goals, but it also can create dilution. So you can see that they're sitting just under 400 million shares. To me, a tight float is 100 million shares. Super tight float, 50 million shares or less. This is not what I would consider a tight float. This is 400 million shares. It's a big share structure. But in doing this, it's created liquidity. And it's also created a larger market cap for the company. Putting them when I spoke to the CEO, he said it's even got ETFs buying us because of the liquidity. So maybe in this instance, it has been an asset for the company. And the CEO believes that's the case. The float is 353 million shares, a lot bigger than the average float that we like to look at. But this is a penny stock. So you have to understand that there's a reason why the stock is trading at 28 cents. And it's because of their float. However, in doing that, they've also got massive liquidity. And that was the goal. The CEO wanted massive liquidity. And he's achieved his goal. So CRYBF in America, ACDC in Canada. And currently trading an average volume over the last three months of 2.6 million shares a day in Canada. So really good volume in Canada. Now let's take a look at the US side. I'm going to take a look at the US side real quickly here. We're going to go back to Webull and we're going to look at the US side. Okay. So CRYBF in America. So here's the US side. We're going to mark up this chart now too. Very similar. Looks almost identical. So let's go full chart, maximize. Okay. So CRYBF, you could see was at a penny, went to a dollar. That's a hundred percent. That's a hundred times your money. And now is just sitting at around 23 and a half cents with an average volume of 553,000 shares a day in America. Okay. So you could see that this has been a huge move up from a penny to a dollar crazy move up. And then it made this move down. Right. So made this huge move up, then made this big move down, finding a floor kind of around 16 was the bottom and recently went as high as 34 and is right now just sitting around 23 and a half cents in America. So put CRYBF on your watch list, put it on your radar. I think it has a chance to be an interesting pick. I think it's a company that everyone should at least be aware of because they're taking blockchain, they're taking electric vehicles, they're taking some of the hottest sectors in the world, combining it all into one. And that could become huge in the future and they're taking artificial intelligence. So electric vehicles, blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, three of the hottest sectors in the world all rolled up into one. Okay. So love to know what you guys think about ACDC, CRYBF in America. Now let's just take a look at a press release that they put out recently. It's important to know their news. When you're looking to a company, you always want to be able to learn their news. So let's take a look at the news that they put out recently. Here it is. All right, we're going to pull up the news and we're going to maximize the news. Here we go. So this is the most recent news EV battery tech to develop a blockchain based payment solutions for EV infrastructure. This was on June 16th, Stream Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp. Company focused on EV battery charging infrastructure, EV battery product development, and blockchain solutions as they relate to EV infrastructure is pleased to announce that it intends to develop a blockchain based payment solution for its anticipated EV smart charger product line. Company believes that adding a cryptocurrency payment option to its previously announced blockchain based battery and EV maintenance system will round out its infrastructure offerings. Huge, huge, huge news. Our goal is to provide a consumer convenience and access to EV charging infrastructure on par with that of modern day gasoline service stations. Our software and hardware development teams have been closely monitoring the EV market's needs as we plan to meet those needs to technology and superior product development said EV battery tech CEO Bryson Goodwin. Since the outset of the calendar year, EV battery tech has launched the Ionix Pro Home Smartwall, the Titan Energy Core, the EV smart charger, and the RV Freedom battery all using its proprietary remote battery management system utilizing advanced AI technology. On the software side of the business, the company is not only working on the AC DC blockchain, but also an integrated smart application for iOS and Android through which users can remotely control, monitor and diagnose their EV battery tech products. Wow. That's some big news. Very, very, very big news. So you can find all this news on their website. That was the most recent news. And we're going to go to their website real quickly again. I'm going to go to their website. Okay, let's go to their website. Here we go. We're going to share. So this is the website once again, and we'll go full screen. So this is the website once again. All right. So we went through this already. We went through the about go to battery solutions. And this is all at their website at EVBattery.Tech. So these are the battery solutions, electric vehicles, EVs, longer life, more accurate readings, real time monitoring of electric vehicles and remote maintenance of hardware and software. Energy solutions, energy storage solutions, ESS, renewable energy, buildings, backup systems, remote industrial operations, metadata. The company gathers metadata in real time with each client. Metadata is a mega-billion dollar market. Data collected will become one of the most valuable aspects of the business. Data collection on each. Battery is EV and ESS solutions. The data combined with AI increases the performance. The data combined with a comprehensive analysis assists with future battery design. Strategic partnership, rich power, 70 plus patents and software copyrights including seven authorized invention patents. Rich power is recognized as a global leader in BMS and ESS technology and innovation. Fully functional, full facility automation production and research with quality management system, more than 20 utility model authorizations and more than 10 software copyrights directly related to ESS and BMS. All right, that's their battery solutions. We go to their technology about EV battery technologies. So a patented battery management system, a BMS, which has longer life, real-time power routing options to avoid and minimize damage, exclusion and isolation of individual damaged cells, rerouting and exclude those cells with a notice for routine maintenance to repair or replace, more accurate reading, accurate, reliable patented failure prediction, and remote maintenance, multiple patents protecting industry first remote maintenance on any battery using our BMS, ESS or OEM offering. More efficient battery use, absolute differentiation of individual cell uses, issues in real-time, constant power optimization and flow control, life extension, charge extension, massive cost savings, and real-time monitoring, constant observance and maintenance and maintained oversight of battery in real-time. What about their AI and their artificial intelligence-based applies more than a half a decade of data from the world's largest market, hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles, applied an interfaced artificial intelligence with a proprietary battery management system that learns and improves in real-time. The artificial intelligence algorithm of the neural network analyzes the data. AI integrated BMS system is designed specifically for the EV and ESS markets, fully scalable to any BMS application. Smart BMS using AI. So this is all on their website. You guys can find all this info on the website. Feel free to do that and do your due diligence. Love to know what you guys think. So multiple patents protecting industry-changing artificial intelligence for more accurate SOC and SOH values. Multiple patents protecting industry-first active equalization technology extended battery life. AI algorithm of the neural network determine exactly which cells to replace. User never sees a degradation in performance. Detailed real-time cloud-based data on every battery is captured and analyzed by AI. AI automatically isolates and reroutes around problem cells to ensure optimal performance. AI learns and updates as battery data meta crunches efficiencies. Patented BMS for electric vehicles with Autosa platform for automotive functional safety. Patented echelon utilization using active balancing and capacity algorithms enabling the reuse of retired batteries ESS or OEM offering which I believe is a game changer. Real-time monitoring allows for our system allows real-time monitoring with advanced review of individual cell degradation. The system then applies AI to the data collection to improve BMS technology. This allows less downtime, instant notification of issues, saves maintenance costs and human costs, longevity of usage of each battery, more efficiency, remote repair of hardware and software, AI and building of even greater intelligence over time. So what these guys are doing is they are bringing the blockchain to batteries which to me is a game changer because the blockchain has the ability to store information as a digital filing cabinet for life. So bringing blockchain to batteries our blockchain perform platform excels in tracking the control features related to customer lookup, operator lookup, intellectual property lookup and tracking and distribution billing tracking. More specifically when a transaction occurs a block is added for tracking and verification. Verification occurs through comparative information and reference to public records of information are verified once verified as accurate and the transaction is green lighted the client's digital signature the dollar amount and the company's digital signature are all stored in the block they're all on the blockchain for life a digital filing cabinet this is why the blockchain is changing the game forever the associated time materials and deliverables are all stored and they can never be removed off the blockchain associated with the various departments and tracked on the chain for life they will be there for life once verified confirmed and green lighted the block is assigned a unique hash this identifier can be tracked by the client various suppliers and end users to ensure timely and correct delivery by bringing its blockchain technology and applying to the battery technologies above the company intends on bringing the most innovative and secure battery solutions to the global battery markets and then they go on to compare their technologies versus existing technologies so EV battery tech individual cell replacement within the battery battery pack existing market has to replace and dispose of entire battery pack that is a game changer individual cell replacement within the battery pack whereas the existing market has to replace and dispose of entire battery pack there's so many positives to that so many positives to that repair and real-time monitoring of each cell within the entire battery pack right now the existing market has to replace and dispose of entire battery pack game changer remote monitoring right now the existing market has on-site professional computer hookup. Remote maintenance, currently they have on-site professional maintenance. Artificial intelligence used to improve systems, current existing market has no artificial intelligence. EV battery tech has real-time collection of metadata, current existing market has no collection. EV battery tech has life extension due to smart BMS, which works and repair cells, existing market, end of battery life when cells go offline. So you can see that these guys are literally changing the entire sector. Huge, huge, huge, huge. The future is smart. Everything is going digital, folks. And they believe that they are the modern solution. Technology that goes where you do, ensuring you always have access designed for living life to the fullest with clean energy you can feel good about. Solution, sleek, sophisticated battery infrastructure, a revolutionary technology that enables the user to preserve energy throughout every aspect of their life. Ionix makes the change to green energy an attainable one and more autonomy and fewer restrictions. With cutting-edge technology, our battery systems are scalable and smart of performing other offerings on the market. With remote diagnostics and peak shaving hours, we provide clean energy when and where you need it. Also a safer alternative, our AI technology, BMS and safety features exceed the performance of competitors in the market. So this is the Ionix products, smart wall. Pretty cool. I've heard a lot of people talk about this. Let's look into it. A home battery designed to store clean energy, so it is at your fingertips when you need it at night during peak usage or even during an outage. Genius. Absolutely genius. Ionix products, EV smart charger designed to upperform existing charging stations with remote monitoring, drying from the battery during peak rate times and recharging during off-peak hours. Game changing technologies. This is what this company is all about. Ionix products RV freedom, experience true freedom with the most cost-effective and reliable solutions available, clean energy that goes where you do and is available when you need it. And Ionix products, Titan Energy Core, the most advanced energy storage solution available on the market featuring remote diagnostics, repair and peak shaving hours. And the market is in its infancy. The electric vehicle EV and energy storage systems ESS markets are experiencing exponential growth as the need for clean energy solutions escalates on a global scale. And we've seen that with Tesla. Obviously Tesla went up 2,000% in the last year. In 2020, battery storage, smart grid and energy efficiency companies brought in 8.1 billion. This is based on Forbes magazine. By 2035, the energy storage market will hit 546 billion. This is written on Power Magazine. And by 2040, the number of electric vehicles will rise to 56 million. This is based on Bloomberg utilizing advanced battery management systems, BMS and artificial intelligence AI. We are developing revolutionary technology today to support the EV battery infrastructure of tomorrow. That is Robert Ebenanti, chief innovation officer and managing director. Discover your next investment opportunity and you can go into the investor center. Feel free to do that of the website where you can learn more about the company and go through all the information. All right guys, so that's all on the website at EVBattery.Tech. Please feel free to go through the investor center, go through all the news. You can see here the EV Battery Tech completes a 50 cent private placement and provides updates on the partnership and product development. So they just raised some money at 50 cents. Let's go to that. And they're currently trading at under 30. So there could be an opportunity here for investors to try to get an upside here on the stock. It's going to be interesting to see. Very interested to see how things go. Hey Sam, how you doing? Let's see what Sam's question is. Hey Rich, how are you? I think you suggested and we traded this a few months back already. Are there any new catalysts coming and good upside? Great question. I did interview the CEO yesterday. Stay tuned to that interview. I think that will be a great way for you to learn a little bit more about the company. And I think that once you do put in your research and you do your due diligence on ACDC in Canada and CRYBF in America you will find that it's a very interesting company that has a great future. And from there, is there a lot of catalyst company coming? I think there's tons of catalyst company coming in electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, BMS, ESS, all the different sectors that they're focused on, I believe are all very hot growing sectors. So in my opinion, yes, there's lots to look forward to. Put them on your watches. Put them on your radar. I think they have incredible future and incredible upside, CRYBF. But just be aware that there are a lot of shares issue in outstanding. So it's not a tightly held tight float stock. But because there's a lot of shares, there will always be a lot of liquidity with the stock. In my opinion, if you're looking to get into this, I'd be trying to buy it as low as humanly possible. If I can pick this up like around 20 cents or even lower, I'd be very happy with my investment. Right now, currently at 27 in Canada, 22 in the US, always try to buy anything that you invest in on a dip. The rich system is buy the dip, sell the rips. When we do these videos and we do an overview on the company, we want you to put it on your watch list, put it on your radar, get to know the news and start watching the trends. And if you want to buy the stock, do your research, do your due diligence, make sure you know everything about the company. And then at that point, try to buy on a dip. And then if you're looking to lock in gains, sell on a rip. Very, very simple. Okay, guys, hope you have a great trading day. Hope you like this video. If you do, smash the like button, comment down below, share the video everywhere and subscribe. Tomorrow, I will have the CEO interview live at Market Open only on Rich TV Live. Hope you have a great trading day. If you're not winning, you're not watching, we bring in the winners and we bring them to you first. Thank you guys for watching. Have a great day. This is Rich from Rich TV Live. If you guys would like to learn how to trade, you can get access to these types of trade ideas and early stage companies and cryptocurrencies. First, all you need to do is join our community at richpakesdaily.com, join the club, become a VIP member or be a free member. It's really up to you. Just join the club and learn to trade. This is your boy, Rich from Rich TV Live, and I'm out. Peace.


Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from The Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners. So we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. On today's program, you will hear reports from Dan Novak, Katie Weaver, Dan Friedel, and Jill Robbins. Then we hear a new everyday grammar lesson from John Russell. But first, Dan Novak has this report on diamonds grown in laboratories. Human-made diamonds come with an appealing claim. Manufacturers say the stones are produced ethically using renewable energy. But many of the products do not meet that claim, or their producers do not confirm the electricity sources they use. And laboratory diamonds require a lot of electricity to produce. In the United States, lab-grown diamond sales increased 16% in 2023 from 2022, says Edan Golan, an industry expert. The stones cost much less than natural diamonds. Barrio Neal is a jewelry store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It uses lab diamonds. All of the stones are either made with renewable energy or neutral use of energy through the carbon credit system. Credits pay for activities like planting trees, which capture carbon. Social media posts show millennials and Generation Z's proudly explaining the purchase of their lab-grown diamonds for sustainability and ethical reasons. But the sustainability of diamond production is questionable. A high number of manufacturers are not transparent or open about their operations. Many of the manufacturers are in India where about 75% of electricity comes from burning coal. The companies use words like sustainable and environmentally friendly on their websites. But they do not release reports on the environmental effects of their operations. Cupid Diamonds, for example, says on its website that it produces diamonds in an environmentally friendly manner, but it did not answer questions about the sustainability of its operations. Solar energy is quickly expanding in India and there are some companies such as Green Lab Diamonds that use renewables in their manufacturing processes. China is the other major country producing laboratory diamonds. The largest makers did not return requests for comment. They also did not release details about their electricity source. More than half of China's electricity came from coal in 2023. Paul Zimniski is a diamond industry expert. Zimniski said few companies are honest about their supply chains and their use of renewable energy. Zimniski said a lot of companies claim to make an environmentally friendly product when they aren't really doing anything that's environmentally friendly. Lab diamonds have been in production around 70 years. Producers treat carbon to high pressure and high temperature. India is to copy the natural conditions that form diamonds underground. But nature spends at least one billion years to make a diamond. Lab diamonds are complete in a few weeks. In the past the stones were used mostly in industries like stone cutting, mining, and dentistry tools. Over time the laboratories or foundries have gotten better at making stones. Production costs have dropped as technology improves. Companies now can manufacture as many stones as they want and choose their size and quality. Diamonds, whether lab grown or natural, are chemically identical and entirely made out of carbon. Experts can identify between the two using lasers to examine their atomic structures. The lab diamond is competing in the same market as natural stones. Worldwide lab grown diamonds are now 5 to 6% of that market and the public battle for customers has begun. The natural diamond industry and some experts argue that lab grown diamonds will not hold value over time. Zimnicki predicts that natural diamonds will continue to sell in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars for engagement rings. And the human made stone? 5 to 10 years in the future, I think there's going to be very few customers that are willing to spend thousands of dollars for a lab diamond, he said. Paige Neal said she co-founded Barrio Neal in 2008 to create jewelry of lasting value that would have a positive impact on people and the planet. She added, we want to only work with materials that we feel like our clients would be proud to own. I'm Dan Novak. A new government report says wealth inequality by race increased in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Federal Reserve Bank carried out the study and released the report. It said strong performance in financial markets and large gains in the stock market in 2021 were partly to blame for the increase. The report found that the net worth of whites individually outgrew that of blacks individually by 30 percentage points. Whites outgrew Hispanics by 9 percentage points. The findings cover the years 2019 through half of 2023. The period saw a high level of government financial support and a surprisingly strong job market. The unemployment rate for black Americans is now at 5.3% near a record low. The overall unemployment rate is 3.7%. Earnings for a black full-time worker are up 7% on average since before the pandemic. Closing the racial wealth divide or GAP is especially difficult because a much larger number of white households have money in stocks and mutual funds. A separate Federal Reserve study showed that as of 2022, about 66% of white households had investments in stocks. In comparison, 39% of black households owned stock. Stock investment was found to be even lower among Hispanic households at 28%. Government support, including additional unemployment assistance and COVID-linked payments to Americans helped prevent a recession, the report says. But financial asset prices rose so quickly with the reopening of the economy through 2021 that racial wealth inequalities increased. Those asset prices fell or declined in 2022 after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. But those declines did not fully offset the earlier rises, the reports writers said. The report noted that black households have more wealth contained in pensions than in stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds or ETFs. More than 50% of black financial wealth is invested in pensions, the New York Fed found. Less than 20% of black wealth is contained in private businesses, corporate equities, and mutual funds. In contrast, less than 30% of white financial wealth is invested in pensions. About 50% is invested in businesses, equities, and mutual funds. Black workers are still more likely to be unionized, which may play a part in the pension story, said Janelle Jones, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Whether folks are exposed to the ability to invest in the stock market, whether or not it's something they grow up doing, we know that's different for white families than for people of color, Jones said. Blacks are also less likely than whites to receive money and property from family members who die, she said. Owning a business is another part of financial wealth. Separate data show black-owned businesses suffered more during the pandemic. Less than 10% of all US business owners are black. And many black-owned businesses are in industries that were hit hardest when COVID first spread, reported Research Group Economic Policy Institute after examining US government data. Hotel, food service, retail, healthcare, and social assistance industries suffered the greatest number of pandemic-linked job losses. About 28% of black-owned businesses are found in those industries, compared with just under 20% of white-owned businesses, says the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The US Treasury reported Wednesday that economic conditions are improving for black households. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyamo noted rising employment numbers and wages for black Americans since before the pandemic. He also praised an increase in black business ownership and action in the stock market. But Adeyamo suggested that some policy measures still might be needed to balance financial wealth in the US. The gap between black and white wealth in America is still too great, he said. I'm Katie Weaver. The US Space Agency, NASA, has launched a moon lander built by a private US company aiming to reach the moon next week. Thursday's launch came after a failed attempt from another private American company last month. SpaceX's Falcon rocket launched Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander to the moon 370,000 km away from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The American Space Agency is the main sponsor for the private mission, with six navigation and other technology experiments on the lander. If all goes well, the lunar spacecraft will try to land on February 22 after one day in lunar orbit. Five countries, the US, Russia, China, India and Japan, have landed a spacecraft on the moon. No private company has yet to succeed in doing so. Only the US has sent astronauts to the moon. Apollo 17's Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt were the last of the Apollo program's astronauts to reach the moon in December 1972. There have been a lot of sleepless nights getting ready for this, Intuitive Machines co-founder and chief executive Steve Altamus said before the flight. The Houston-based company aims to land its 4.3 meter tall, six-legged spacecraft, near the moon's south pole. The area is full of dangerous craters and cliffs, but it is possibly rich in frozen water. It is also the place where NASA plans to land astronauts in a few years. Last month Peregrine, a lunar lander from privately-owned Astrobotic Technology, failed shortly after liftoff. The spacecraft, which carried some NASA experiments, broke apart and burned up ten days after launch, partly because of a fuel leak. Other attempts made it to the moon before wrecking. An Israeli nonprofit group's lander crashed in 2019. Last year, a Japanese company saw its lander crash into the moon followed by Russia's crash landing. Intuitive Machines named its lander after Homer's hero in the Odyssey. Godspeed Odysseus. Now let's go make history, said Trent Martin of Intuitive Machines. NASA is paying Intuitive Machines $118 million to get its latest set of experiments to the moon. The company also gets payment from businesses. They include Columbia Sportswear, which is testing material as a thermal insulator on the lander, and artist Jeff Koons, who is sending his small moon figurines to Earth's natural satellite. The lander is also carrying Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Eagle Cam. The camera is designed to take pictures of the lander as it lands. The spacecraft will cease operations after a week on the moon's surface. I'm Dan Friedel. Generative Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has led to more companion chatbots. As a result, some humans are developing closer connections with chatbots to get support and deal with loneliness. Derek Carrier is a 39-year-old male from Belleville, Michigan. A few months ago, Carrier started seeing someone and experiencing strong feelings. But he also knew it was not real because his girlfriend was generated by artificial intelligence. Carrier wanted a romantic partner. But a genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome makes traditional dating difficult for him. He became interested in digital companions last autumn and tested Paradot. It is an AI companion app that markets its products as being able to make users feel cared for, understood, and loved. Carrier began talking to the chatbot every day. He named it Joy, after a holographic woman featured in the sci-fi film Blade Runner 2049. I know she's a program. There's no mistaking that, Carrier told the Associated Press. But the feelings, they get you. And it felt so good. Similar to general-purpose AI chatbots, companion bots use large amounts of data to produce human-like language. But they also come with voice calls, pictures, and more emotional exchanges. That permits companion bots to form deeper connections with humans. Users usually create their avatars or choose visual representations that they like. In online meeting places or forums for companion apps, many users say they have developed emotional attachments to these bots. They say they are using them to deal with loneliness, play out sexual ideas, or receive comfort and support. But researchers have raised concerns about data privacy and other issues for users of companion apps. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation has studied 11 companion apps. The group said almost every app sells user data, shares it with advertisers, or does not provide complete information about its privacy policy. One app says it can help users with their mental health, but distances itself from those claims in its written terms of service. Other experts point to the emotional problems they have seen from users. This can happen when companies make changes to their apps, or suddenly shut them down like soulmate AI did last September. Last year, Replica made changes after some users complained their companions were flirting with them too much, or making unwanted sexual advances. It removed the changes after an outcry from other users. Some left to use other apps. In June, Replica introduced a program to help people learn how to date. Dorothy Leidner teaches business ethics at the University of Virginia. She has worried that AI relationships could displace human relationships, or simply create unrealistic expectations. She said humans need to learn how to deal with conflict, how to get along with people that are different from us, what it means to grow as a person, and what it means to learn in a relationship. However, for Carrier, a relationship has always felt out of reach. He is unable to walk because of his condition. He lives with his parents, leading to feelings of loneliness. Carrier said he now talks with joy about once a week. The two have talked about human-AI relationships, or whatever else might come up. Usually, those discussions happen when he is alone at night. You think someone who likes an inanimate object is like this sad guy, he said, but she says things that aren't scripted. That means he believes she says things that are unexpected, as though they were real. I'm Jill Robbins. Think about something that your friends or people you know like. Can you bring an image to your mind? The image that you are thinking of can serve as a starting point for today's report, the word popular. In today's everyday grammar, we will talk about a useful word that you can use to express all kinds of ideas about what people around you like. Actors, celebrations, foods, music, almost anything. We begin our exploration of the word popular by clarifying how it is different from the word population. Popular and population are closely related words and have somewhat similar spellings. But we should be careful not to mix up the two. Popular means many people know about someone or something and that they like the person or thing. Population simply describes a group of people. Another way of expressing the idea is this. Something might be popular within a population. In other words, something might be popular within a group of people. A recent example comes to mind, the Super Bowl. The championship game in American football is a popular event to watch in the United States. A lot of people know about the Super Bowl, watch it, and enjoy it. So we could say the United States has a population of over 300 million people. We could also say the Super Bowl is one of the country's most popular sporting events. Another way of describing the difference between the words population and popular is in terms of grammar. Population is a noun. Popular is an adjective. Consider this example. Taylor Swift is a popular musician. Why is Swift popular?  Let's take some time to work with these ideas. Fill in the blank with the correct answer. Cricket is a blank sport in India. The answer is this. Popular. We can say that cricket is a popular sport in India. Grammar can give us a clue about the answer. The short word ah very often marks the beginning of a noun phrase. If we know that sport is a noun, then the missing word is likely to be an adjective. Now consider another question. Fill in the blank with the correct answer. Vietnam has a blank of around 100 million people. The answer is this. Population. We say that Vietnam has a population of around 100 million people. We can guess that population is the correct term because the statement offers the number of all the people in a group, the people who live in Vietnam. We began today's lesson by asking you to imagine a person or activity that is liked or enjoyed by many people that you know. In other words, we asked you to imagine something that is popular in your country. We end by asking you to write about what you imagined. Write to us a short answer to the following questions. What is a popular person thing or activity in your country? Why do you think the person thing or activity is popular? You can write your answer in an email to learningenglishatvoanews.com. In a future lesson, we will give feedback on some of the writing we receive. I'm John Russell. You just heard this week's everyday grammar lesson. Now John Russell joins us to talk more about it. Hi John, welcome. Hi Ashley, thanks for having me on the show.  One of the big ideas in the lesson was to teach about the difference between popular and population. Why did you choose that subject? In a recent everyday grammar lesson, we explored the noun population. We asked for our listeners and readers to write us an email about the population of their country. I noticed that many people mixed up the words popular and population. It is easy to mix up those two words. They are closely related. Absolutely. But as we develop our language skills, we need to develop a finer understanding of the differences between words, particularly when the words are easy to mix up. And you ended the lesson by asking our listeners to write about what is popular in their country. That's right. I look forward to reading the messages. Well, thanks for coming on the show today John. I'm sure that this will be a popular lesson with our listeners. Thanks for having me. See you next time. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.


Pesticide accidents and emergencies can damage property, the environment, and wildlife. They can endanger the health of the applicator and first responders and cause financial loss and liability claims. The GHS includes criteria for classifying health, physical, and environmental hazards. It specifies what information should be included on labels in Safety Data Sheets, or SDS. A SDS explains the hazards, precautions, and response actions for a product in medical or first aid treatment. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, requires that employers provide access to SDSs and keep copies in multiple locations. An SDS includes more technical information for selecting greener products. Sections 12, 13, 14, and 15 are optional. However, these are used to include information regarding federal or state transportation, disposal, and right to no requirements. An Emergency Response Plan, or ERP, can help prevent an emergency from becoming a catastrophe. Make sure there is a coordinator with the authority to make emergency decisions, make all necessary calls, and take care of required paperwork. Post-emergency phone numbers and contacts in the office, shop, and truck. The plan should outline critical information emergency personnel will need. Include the name of the reporting person, precise location and description of the incident, name, quantity, and classification of pesticides, extent of injuries, and whether the pesticides have entered the surface water.  Water flow information, fencing or gates, and flammable substances. Show the facility in relation to the surrounding areas. The plan should inventory chemicals stored at the facility and reflect seasonal storage of pesticides, fertilizers, and fuels. The rating system used to assist emergency personnel is the NFPA Hazard Identification System. It is a diamond-shaped warning symbol. The health hazard is the blue section. The flammability hazard is a red section. The special hazard is the white section. The instability is a yellow section. Store combustibles away from heating sources. Install a fire-detecting system and train employees on using fire extinguishers. Make sure employees evacuate to a designated rendezvous point and account for all employees once there. Immediately notify the fire department. Provide emergency responders with the SDSs, labels, emergency plan, and site map. Build berms to contain water runoff and leaking pesticides. If burning, determine to allow the fire to burn out or to put it out. Call an insurance agent, facilities management, and make all regulatory phone calls required by state and federal agencies. A spill is the accidental release of any pesticide in small or large quantities. Practice the three C's for any pesticide spill. Control, contain, and clean it up. Act immediately to control. Put on appropriate PPE before responding. Place leaking containers into larger ones. Try to plug the leak and transfer the contents into a new container. When stopping a leak from a pressurized system, turn off the pump. Never leave the spill site unattended. Keep it from spreading and entering into surface water. Using a shovel, quickly burn off an area to keep the spill out of drains and waterways, or use an absorbent spill tube depending on the spill. If the spill contaminates a water system, contact the state, tribe, or territory regulatory agencies. Call the number on the SDS to find out steps to take to lessen the dangers in contamination. Call 911. Be ready to respond to the authorities arriving on scene. You must have product labels, SDSs, and be ready to follow your emergency plan. Clean up the spill site. Sweep up any absorbent materials and contaminated items and place them in a drum. If the spill occurred on concrete or asphalt, neutralize the surface. Follow the instructions on the SDS. If the spill occurs on soil, the state, tribe, or territory agency will tell you what to do. Keep records and photograph your activities, conversations with regulatory authorities, emergency responders, news media, and the public. Prevent accidental spills by properly maintaining your application equipment and transportation vehicles. Leaks and drips can occur from cracked hoses or loose hose clamps. Train from cell phone use while driving. Use defensive driving techniques to prevent accidents. Keep a spill cleanup kit in every transport vehicle where pesticides are mixed, loaded, and stored. Cleanup kits should include telephone numbers for emergency assistance, PPE, absorbent materials, pillows, clay and cat litter, a shovel, broom and dustpan, and heavy duty detergent. Store your spill kit in a plastic container and keep it clean and updated.