Book 3, Chapter 9 of Corporal Cameron of the Northwest Mounted Police, a tale of the McLeod Trail. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Kay Hand, Corporal Cameron of the Northwest Mounted Police, Book 3, Chapter 9, Corporal Cameron. Jack Green did not die. Every morning for a fortnight, Constable Cameron felt it to be his duty to make inquiry. The sergeant, it may be added, performing the same duty with equal diligence in the afternoon, and every day the balance, which trembled evenly for some time between hope and fear, continued to dip more and more decidedly toward the former. He's going to live, I believe, said Dr. Martin one day, and he owes it to the nurse. The doctor's devotion to and admiration for Nurse Haley began to appear to Cameron unnecessarily pronounced. She simply would not let him go, continued the doctor. She nursed him, saying to him her old, come all ye songs and Methodist hymns. She spun him barnyards and orchard idols, and always continued in our next till the chap simply couldn't croak for wanting to hear the next. At times Cameron caught through the tent walls snatches of those songs and yarns and idols. At times he caught momentary glimpses of the bright young girl who was pouring the vigor of her life into the lad fighting for his own. But these snatches and glimpses only exasperated him. There was no opportunity for any lengthened and undisturbed converse. For on the one hand the hospital service was exacting beyond the strength of doctors and nurses, and on the other there was serious trouble for Superintendent Strong and his men in the camps along the line. For a general strike had been declared in all the camps and no one knew at what minute it might flare up into a fierce riot. It was indeed exasperating to Cameron. The relations between himself and Nurse Haley were unsatisfactory, entirely unsatisfactory. It was clearly his duty, indeed he owed it to her and to himself, to arrive at some understanding, to establish their relations upon a proper and reasonable basis. He was at very considerable pains to make it clear, not only to the sergeant but to the cheerful little nurse and to the doctor as well, that as her oldest friend in the country it was incumbent upon him to exercise a sort of kindly protectorate over Nurse Haley. In this, it is to be feared, he was only partially successful. The sergeant was obviously and gloomily incredulous of the purity of his motives. The little nurse arched her eyebrows and smiled in a most annoying manner, while the doctor pendulated between good-humored tolerance and mild sarcasm. It added not a little to Cameron's mental disquiet that he was quite unable to understand himself. Indeed, through these days he was engaged in conducting a bit of psychological research, with his own mind as laboratory and his mental phenomena as the materia for his investigation. It was a most difficult and delicate study and one demanding both leisure and calm, and Cameron had neither. The brief minutes he could snatch from Her Majesty's service were necessarily given to his friends in the hospital, and as to the philosophic calm necessary to research work, a glimpse to the door of Nurse Haley's golden head bending over a sick man's cot, a snatch of song in the deep mellow tones of her voice, a touch of her strong, firm hand, a quiet, steady look from her deep, deep eyes, any one of these was sufficient to scatter all his philosophic determinings to the winds and leave his soul a chaos of confused emotions. Small wonder then, that twenty times a day he cursed the luck that had transferred him from the comparatively peaceful environment of the police post at Fort McLeod to the maddening whirl of conflicting desires and duties attendant upon the service in the railroad construction camps. A letter from his friend Inspector Dixon accentuated the contrast. Great doings, my boy, wrote the inspector, evidently under the spell of overmastering excitement. We have little thunder again in the toils, this time to stay, and we owe this capture to your friend Raven. A week ago Mr. Raven coolly walked into the fort and asked for the superintendent. I was down at the stables at the time. As he was coming out I ran to him and immediately shouted, hands up. Ah, Mr. Inspector, said my gentleman as cool as ice, delighted to see you again. Stand where you are, I said, and knowing my man and determined to take no chances, I ordered two constables to arrest him. At this the superintendent appeared. Ah, Inspector, he said, there is evidently some mistake here. There is no mistake superintendent, I replied, I know this man, he is wanted on a serious charge. Kindly step this way, Mr. Raven, said the superintendent, and you, Inspector, I have something of importance to say to you. And by jove it was important, little thunder had broken his pledge to Raven to quit the rebellion business and had perfected a plan for a simultaneous rising of blackfeet, bloods, pygons, and sarsies next month. Raven had stumbled upon this and had deliberately put himself in the power of the police to bring this information. I am not quite prepared, he said, to hand over this country to a lot of bawly half-breeds and bloody savages. Together the superintendent and he had perfected a plan for the capture of the heads of the conspiracy. As to that little matter of which you were thinking, Inspector Dixon, said my chief, I think if you remember we have no definite charge laid against Mr. Raven, who has given us, by the way, very valuable information upon which we must immediately act. We are also to have Mr. Raven's assistance. While we had a glorious hunt and by jove that man Raven is a wonder. He brought us right to the bunch, walked in on them, cool and quiet, pulled two guns and held them till we all got in place. There will be no rebellion among these tribes this year, I am confident. And though it does not appear in the records that it is nonetheless true that to the influence of Missionary McDougal among the Stonys and to the vigilance of the Northwest Mounted Police, it was due that during the rebellion of 85, Canada was spared the unspeakable horrors of an Indian war. It was this letter that deepened the shadow upon Cameron's face and sharpened the edge on his voice as he looked in upon his hospital friends one bright winter morning. You are quite unbearable, said the little nurse after she had listened to his grumbling for a few minutes, and you are spoiling us all. Spoiling you all? Yes, especially me and Nurse Haley. Nurse Haley? Yes, you are disturbing her peace of mind. Disturbing her? Me? A certain satisfaction crept into Cameron's voice. Nothing is so calculated to restore the poise of the male mind as a consciousness of power to disturb the equilibrium of one of the imperious sex. And you must not do it, continued the little nurse. She has far too much to bear now.  Night and day she's on the job. I tell you I won't. It should not be allowed. Cameron was conscious of a fine glow of fraternal interest in this young girl. For instance, a day like this, look at these white mountains and that glorious sky and this wonderful air and not a breath of wind. What a day for a walk. It would do her. It would do you all a world of good. Wait! cried the little nurse who had been on duty all night. I'll tell her what you say. Apparently it took some telling, for it was a full precious quarter of an hour before they appeared again. There now you see the effect of your authority. She would not budge for me, but while there she is, look at her. There was no need for this injunction. Cameron's eyes were already fastened upon her, and she was worth any man's while to look at in her tramping costume of tuke and blanket coat. Tall she looked beside the little nurse, lithe and strong, her close fitting Hudson Bay blanket coat revealing the swelling lines of her budding womanhood. The dainty white tuke perched upon the masses of gold brown hair, accentuated the girlish freshness of her face.  But her eyes were quiet and steady and kind. Too quiet and too kind for Cameron, who was looking for other signals. There was no sign of disturbance in that face. Come on, he said impatiently. We have only one hour. Oh, what a glorious day, cried nurse Haley, drawing a deep breath and striding out like a man to keep pace with Cameron. And how good of you to spare me the time. I've been trying to get you alone for the last two weeks, said Cameron. Two weeks? Yes, for a month I wanted to talk to you. To talk with me? About what? About, well, about everything, about yourself. Me? Yes, I don't understand you. You have changed so tremendously. Oh, exclaimed the girl, I am so glad you have noticed that. Have I changed much? Much? I should say so. I find myself wondering if you are the Mandy I used to know at all. Oh, she exclaimed, I am so glad. You see, I needed to change so much. But how has it happened, exclaimed Cameron? It is a miracle to me. How a miracle? For a few moments they walked on in silence, the towed road leading them into the forest. After a time the nurse said softly, it was you who began it. I? Yes, you, and then the nurse. Oh, I can never repay her. The day that you left, that was a dreadful day. The world was all black. I could not have lived, I think, many days like that. I had to go into town and I couldn't help going to her. Oh, how good she was to me that day. How good. She understood. She understood at once. She made me come for a week to her and then for all together. That was the beginning.  Foolish? Yes, wildly foolish. I was like a mad thing, but I did not know then and I could not help it. Help what? Oh, everything. But the nurse showed me. She showed me. Showed you. Showed me how to take care of myself, to take care of my body, of my dress, of my hair. Oh, I remember well, she said with a bright little laugh. I remember that hairdresser. Then the doctor came and gave me books and maybe read and study and then I began to see. Oh, it was like a fire, a burning fire within me and the doctor was good to me. So very patient till I began to love my profession, to love it at first for myself and then for others. How good they all were to me in those days. The nurses in the hospital, the doctors, the students. Everyone seemed to be kind, but above them all my own nurse here and my own doctor. In hurried eager speech, she poured forth her heart as if anxious to finish her tale. Her voice, her eyes, her face all eloquent of the intense emotion that filled her soul. It is wonderful, said Cameron. Yes, she replied, wonderful indeed. And I wanted to see you and have you see me. She continued still hurrying her speech. For I could not bear that you should remember me as I was in those dreadful days.  The appeal in her voice and in her eyes roused in Cameron and overwhelming tide of passion. Pleased, he cried, pleased. Good heavens, Mandy, you are wonderful. Don't you know that? No, she said thoughtfully, but she drew a long breath. I like to hear you say it. That is all I want. You see, I owe it all to you. The face she turned to him so innocently happy might have been a child's. Mandy, cried Cameron, stopping short in his walk. You, I. That Frank, childlike look in her eyes, checked his hot words. But there was no need for words. His eyes spoke for his faltering lips. A look of fear leaped to her eyes, a flow of red blood to her cheeks. Then she stood, white, trembling and silent. I'm tired, I think, she said after a moment's silence. We will go back. Yes, you are tired, said Cameron angrily. You are tired to death. Mandy, you need someone to take care of you. I wish you would let me. They were now walking back toward the town. They are all good to me. They are all kind to me. Her voice was quiet and steady. She had gained control of herself again. Why, even John the Chinaman, she added with a laugh, spoils me. Oh, no harm can come to me. I have no fear. But, said Cameron, I, I want to take care of you, Mandy. I want the right to take care of you always. I know, I know, she said kindly. You are so good. You are always so good. But I need no one. Cameron glanced at the lithe, strong, upright figure striding along beside him with easy grace. And the truth came to him in swift and painful revelation. You are right, he said, as if to himself, you need no one and you don't need me. But, she cried eagerly, it was good of you all the same. Good, he said impatiently, good nonsense.  I want you.  I want to marry you. Oh, don't say that, she cried, stopping short. Her voice disturbed, but kindly, gentle and strong. Don't say that, she repeated. For, of course, that is impossible. Impossible, he exclaimed angrily. Yes, she said, her voice so quiet and steady. Quite impossible. But I love you for saying it. Oh, she suddenly caught her breath. Oh, I love you for saying it.  A horseman was galloping swiftly toward them. Oh, hang it all, said Cameron. What the deuce does he want now? We must talk this out again, Mandy, he said. No, no, she cried, never again. Please don't ever again. I could not bear it. But I shall always remember. And I am so glad. As she spoke, her hands with her old motion went to her heart. Oh deuce, take it, said Cameron, as the sergeant flung his horse back on his heels at their side. What does he want? Constable Cameron, said the sergeant, in a voice of sharp command, there is a row on. Constable Scott has been very badly handled in trying to make an arrest. You are to report at once for duty. All right, sir, said Cameron. I shall return immediately. The sergeant wheeled and then was gone. You must go, cried Mandy, quick fear springing into her eyes. Yes, said Cameron, at once. Come, I shall take you home. No, never mind me, she cried. Go, go, I can take care of myself. I shall follow. Her voice rang out strong and clear. She was herself once more. You are the right sort, Mandy, cried Cameron, taking her hand. Goodbye. Goodbye, she replied. Her face suddenly pale and her lips beginning to quiver. I shall always remember. I shall always be glad for what you said today. Cameron stood looking at her for a moment somewhat uncertainly. Then, goodbye, he said abruptly, and turning went at the double toward his quarters. The strikers had indeed broken loose, supported by the ruffianly horde of camp followers who were egging them on to violence and destruction of property. At present, they were wild with triumph over the fact that they had rescued one of their leaders, Big Joe Coyle, from Constable Scott. It was an exceedingly dangerous situation, for the riot might easily spread from camp to camp. Bruised and bloody, Constable Scott reported a superincendent strong lying upon his sickbed. Sergeant, said the superintendent, take Constable Cameron and Scott to arrest that man at once and bring him here. In the village they found between 800 and 1,000 men, many of them crazed with bad whisky, some armed with knives and some with guns, and all ready for blood. Big Joe Coyle, they found in the saloon. Pushing his way through, the sergeant seized his man by the collar. Come along, I want you, he said, dragging him to the open door.  All right, Bill, shouted the man called Hep, spring into the door. But before he could make it, Cameron had him by the collar. Hold on, Hep, he said, not so fast. For answer, Hep struck hard at him and the crowd of men threw themselves at Cameron and between him and the door. Constable Scott, who also had his hand on from the prisoner, drew his revolver and looked towards the sergeant who was struggling in the grasp of three or four ruffians. No, shouted the sergeant above the uproar, don't shoot, we have no orders, let him go.  There was a loud chorus of derisive cheers. The crowd opened and allowed the sergeant and the constables to pass out. Taking his place at the saloon door with Constable Scott, the sergeant sent to Cameron to report and ask for further orders. Ask if we have orders to shoot, said the sergeant. Cameron found the superintendent hardly able to lift his head and made his report. The saloon is filled with men who oppose the arrest, sir. What are your orders? My orders are bring that man here and at once. Have we instructions to shoot? Shoot! Cried the superintendent, lifting himself on his elbow. Bring that man if you have to shoot every man in the saloon. Very well, sir, we will bring him, said Cameron, departing on a run. At the door of the saloon he found the sergeant and Constable White hot under the jeers and taunts of the half-drunken gang gathered about them. What are the orders? Constable Cameron inquired the sergeant in a loud voice. The orders are shoot every man in the saloon if necessary. shouted Cameron. Revolvers commanded the sergeant. Constable Cameron, hold the door. Constable Scott, follow me. At the doors to the man named Hep, evidently keeping guard. Want in, he said with a grin. For answer Cameron gripped his collar, with one fierce jerk lifted him clear out of the door to the platform, and then, putting his body into it, heaved him with a mighty swing far into the crowd below, bringing two or three men to the ground with the impact of his body. Come here, man, cried Cameron again, seizing a second man who stood near the door and flinging him clear off the platform after the unlucky hem. Speedily the crowd about the door gave back, and before they were aware, the sergeant and Constable Scott appeared with big joe coil between them. Take him, said the sergeant, to Cameron. Cameron seized him by the collar. Come here, he said, and clearing the platform in a spring, he brought his prisoner in a heap with him.  Let him go, shouted the man with a goatee, named Bill, rushing up. Take that, then, said Cameron, giving him a swift half-armed jab on the jaw, and I'll come back for you again, he added, as the man fell back into the arms of his friends. Forward, said the sergeant, falling in with Constable Scott behind Cameron and facing the crowd with drawn revolvers. The swift fierceness of the attack seemed to paralyze the senses of the crowd.  Don't let the blank, blank, blank rattle you like a lot of blank, blank chickens. Come on. At once, rose a roar from 800 throats like nothing human in its sound, and the crowd began to press close upon the police.  Ah, come on, yelled a man half-drunk, running with a lurch upon the sergeant. Crack, went the sergeant's revolver, and the man dropped with a bullet through his shoulder. Next man, shouted the sergeant, I shall kill. The crowd gave back and gathered round to the wounded man, a stream lay in the path of the police, crossed by a little bridge. Hurry, said the sergeant, let's make the bridge before they come again. But before they could make the bridge, the crowd had recovered from their momentary panic, and with wild oaths and yells and brandishing knives and guns, came on with a rush led by goatee Bill. Already the prisoner was halfway across the bridge, the sergeant and the Constable guarding the entrance, when above the din was heard a roar as of some animal enraged. Looking beyond the police, the crowd beheld a fearsome sight. It was the superintendent himself, hatless, with uniform and disarray, a sword in one hand, a revolver in the other. Across the bridge he came like a tornado, and standing at the entrance roared. Listen to me, you dogs, the first man who set foot on this bridge, I shall shoot dead, so help me God. His towering form, his ferocious appearance, and his well-known reputation for utter fearlessness, made the crowd pause. And before they could make up their minds to attack, that resolute little company, headed by their dread commander, the prisoner was safe over the bridge and while up the hill toward the guard room. Halfway up the hill, the superintendent met Cameron, returning from the disposition of his prisoner. There's another man down there, sir, needs looked in after, he said. Better let him cool off, Cameron, said the superintendent. I promised I'd go for him, sir, said Cameron. His face all ablazed for battle. Then go for him, said the superintendent.  But I am done, just now. We will see you up the hill, sir, said the sergeant. Come on, Scott, said Cameron, setting off for the village once more. The crowd had returned from the bridge, and the leaders had already sought their favorite resort, the saloon. Straight to the door marched Cameron, followed by Scott. Close to the counter stood goatee Bill, loudly orating, and violently urging the breaking in of the guard room and the release of the prisoner. In my country, he yelled, we'd have that fella out in about six minutes in spite of all the blank, blank police in this blank country. They ain't no good. They're scared to death. At this point, Cameron walked in upon him and laid a compelling grip upon his collar. Instantly, Bill reached for his gun. But Cameron, but Cameron, swiftly shifting his grip to his arm, wrenched him sharply about and struck him one blow on the ear. As if held by a hinge, the head fell over on one side and the man slithered to the floor. Out of the way, shouted Cameron, dragging his man with him. But just as he reached the door, a heavy glass came singing through the air and caught him on the head. For a moment, he staggered, caught hold of the lintel and held himself steady. Here's Scott, he cried, put the bracelets on him. With revolver drawn, Constable Scott sprang to his side. Come out, he said to the goatee man, slipping the handcuffs over his wrists while Cameron, still clinging to the lintel, was fighting back the faintness that was overpowering him. Seeing his plight, Hep sprang toward him, eager for revenge. But Cameron, covering him with his gun, held him in check and with a supreme effort getting command of himself, again stepped towards Hep. Now then, he said, between his clenched teeth, will you come? So terrible were his voice and look that Hep's courage wilted. I'll come, Colonel, I'll come, he said quickly.  In three minutes from the time the attack was made, both men, thoroughly subdued and handcuffed, were marched off in charge of the Constables. Hurry, Scott, said Cameron, in a low voice to his comrade, I am nearly in. With all possible speed, they hustled their prisoners along over the bridge and up the hill. At the hospital door, as they passed, Dr. Martin appeared. Hello, Cameron, he cried, God am I, great Caesar man, what's up? He added, as Cameron, turning his head, revealed a face and neck bathed in blood.  Get me a drink, old chap, I am nearly in, said Cameron in a faint voice. Come into my tent here, said the doctor. Got to see these prisoners safe first, said Cameron, swaying on his feet.  Go in, Cameron, said Constable Scott, I'll take care of him all right, he added, drawing his gun. No, said Cameron, still with his hand I'll see them safe first, saying which he swayed drunkenly about and but for Bill's support would have fallen. Go on, said Bill, good-naturedly, don't mind me, I'm good now. Come, said the doctor, supporting him into the tent. Forward, commanded Constable Scott, and marched his prisoners before him up the hill. The wound on Cameron's head was a ghastly affair, full six inches long and went to the bone. Rather ugly, said the doctor, feeling round the wound. Nurse, he called nurse, the little nurse came running in. Some water and a sponge. There was a cry behind her, long, low, pitiful. Oh, what is this? With a swift movement, nurse Haley was beside the doctor's bed.  I feel fine now, he said, and closed his eyes again. Let me do that, said nurse Haley with a kind of jealous fierceness, taking the sponge and basin from the little nurse. Examination revealed nothing more serious, however, than a deep scalp wound and a slight concussion. He will be fit enough in a couple of days, said the doctor, when the wound was dressed. Then pale and haggard as if with long watching, nurse Haley went to her room there to fight out her lonely fight while Cameron slept. The day passed in quiet, the little nurse on guard and the doctor looking in every half hour upon his patient. As evening fell, Cameron woke and demanded nurse Haley. The doctor felt his pulse. Send her in, he said, and left the tent. The rays of the sun setting far down the pass shone through the walls and filled the tent with a soft radiance. Into this radiance she came, her face pale as of one who has come through conflict and serene as of one who has conquered, pale and strong and delight, not with the radiance of the setting sun, but with light of a soul that has made the ancient sacrifice of self-effacing love. You want me, she said, her voice low and sweet, but for all her brave serenity tremulous. Yes, said Cameron, holding out his arms, I want you. I want you, Mandy. Oh, cried the girl while her hands fluttered to her heart. Don't ask me to go through it again. I am so weak. She stood like a frightened bird, poised for flight. Come, he said, I want you. You want me. You said you wanted to take care of me. She breathed.  Now I know what I want. I want just you. Come. Again he lifted his arms. Oh, it cannot be. She breathed as if to herself. Are you sure? Sure? I could not bear it if you were not sure. Come, dear love, he cried. With all my heart and soul and body, every single moment longer she stood, her soul searching his through her wonderful eyes. Then with a little sigh she sank into his arms. Oh, my darling, she whispered, wreathing her strong young arms around his neck and laying her cheek close to his. My darling, I thought I had given you up, but how could I have done it? At the hospital door the doctor was on guard. A massive figure loomed at the doorway. Hello, Superintendent Strong. What on earth are you doing out of bed? Where is he? Said the superintendent abruptly. Who? Corporal Cameron. Corporal Cameron? Constable Cameron is. Corporal Cameron, I said. I have just had Constable Scott's report and felt I must see him at once. Come in, Superintendent, sit down. I shall inquire if he is resting. Nurse, nurse, inquire if Corporal Cameron can be seen. The little nurse tiptoed into the doctor's tent, lifted the curtain, glanced and drew swiftly back. This is what her eyes looked upon. A girl's form kneeling by the bed, golden hair mingling with black upon the pillow, two strong arms holding her close and hers wreathed in an answering embrace. Mr. Cameron, I am afraid, she reported, cannot be seen. He is, I think, he is engaged. Ah, said the doctor. Well, said the superintendent, just tell Corporal Cameron for me that I am particularly well pleased and that I hope he will be very soon fit for duty. Certainly, Superintendent. Now let me help you get up the hill. Never mind, here's the sergeant. Good evening, very fine thing, very fine thing indeed. I see rapid promotion in his profession for that young man. Inspector A, said the doctor. Yes, sir, I should without hesitation recommend him and should be only too pleased to have him as inspector in my command. It was not, however, as inspector said. But in another equally honorable capacity did they ride away together one bright April morning a few weeks later on duty for Queen and Country. But that is another story. That message ought to be delivered. Nurse said the doctor thoughtfully, but not at once, replied the nurse. It is important urged the doctor. Yes, but there are other things. Ah, other things? Yes. Equally pressing, said the nurse with an undeniably joyous laugh. The doctor looked at her a moment. Ah, nurse, he said in a shocked tone. How often have I deprecated your tendency to, I don't care one bit, laughed the nurse sossily. The message ought to be delivered insisted the doctor firmly as he moved toward the tent door. Well delivered then, but wait, the little nurse Hayley. All right, called Cameron from inside, come in. Go on then, said the little nurse to the doctor. You wanted to. A message from the superintendent said the doctor lifting the curtain and passing in. Don't move, Mandy, said Cameron. Never mind him. No, don't I beg, said the doctor ignoring what he saw. A message, an urgent message for Corporal Cameron. I go to nurse Hayley. He distinctly said and repeated it, Corporal Cameron. And the corporal is to report for duty as speedily as possible. He can't go, said Mandy, standing up very straight with a light in her eyes that the doctor had not seen since that tragic night nearly two years before. Can't A, said the doctor, but the superintendent says Corporal Cameron is, Corporal Cameron can't go. You, yes, I forbid it. The corporal is, yes, she said proudly. The corporal is mine. Then, said the doctor emphatically, of all the lucky chaps it has been my fortune to meet, by all the gods the luckiest of them is this same Corporal Cameron. And Cameron, drawing down to him again, the girl standing so straight and proud beside him, looked up at his friend and said, yes, old chap, the luckiest man in all the world is that same Corporal Cameron. Mark three, chapter nine. And the corporal Cameron of the Northwest Mounted Police, a tale of the McLeod Trail by Ralph Conner.


Human visual performance varies significantly both across the visual field and around the polar axis. At the fovea, performance is highest, but decreases with increasing eccentricity. Additionally, performance is better along the horizontal than the vertical meridian and along the lower than the upper vertical meridian. However, these differences can be largely explained by cortical magnification, which scales stimuli according to their eccentricity and polar angle. When stimuli were scaled according to eccentricity, performance differences across the visual field were eliminated, but performance differences around the polar axis remained. These findings suggest that limits in contrast sensitivity across the visual field and around the polar axis are mediated by different anatomical and computational constraints. This article was authored by Michael Jigo, Daniel Tafdie, Mark M. Himmelberg, and others.


ion uh which is that should be attached in your packet before the deadline shortly after the deadline the district received three additional applications those are also attached all four applicants meet the requirements to be appointed to the committee of the board policy manual states that committee appointments will be reviewed by the full board at a board of directors meeting in december of each calendar year or as soon thereafter is practical public member applications will be reviewed by the full board each committee member shall be appointed by a simple majority vote of the board uh in the second part of this item is also attached uh is a memo from the board president proposing two changes to the previous we approved 2021 board member committee assignments on the budget and finance and administration committees these changes changes require approval by the board to go and affect and in your packet you should have a a copy of a memo addressed to me from chair well hood asking that we place this item on this upcoming agenda uh and currently director fold serves on the administrative administration committee and director henry serves on the budget and finance committee i request that these directors switch assignments so that director folds us on the budget and finance committee and director henry is on the administration she would remain i remain as the second director on both committees i had discussed the switch with director henry and she is amenable brown act rules prevented me from discussing this proposed switch with director folds before the board meeting the director fold states at the board meeting that he is also amenable to this switch i request that the board vote uh to approve these revised committee assignments as director folds does not want to make the switch and committee assignments and would remain as they are and no action by the board is necessary okay that i'll turn it back over to the chair or district council whichever feels what we'll do is we'll just divide these two two things kind of what i thought yeah to vote on um so uh we'll first address the appointing the four members uh to the lay dock committee and we had four applicants and we're basically uh recommending that we appoint all four of them and is there any discussion of this by the board any discussion by people in the audience and chair may hood i just recommend clarifying if you're taking public comments on both pieces both issues divided divided it into okay so we're only talking now about the uh appointing four new members or appointing the members of the lay dock committee for 2021 and are there any comments from the public and maybe we should unmute the call-in user to make sure that he or she gets a chance to speak call-in user one did you have anything you want to say oh hi um i'm christine and felton um i i think i i don't really have much to say but um i'm enjoying listening to the whole thing thank you thank you jamey well we're glad that you applied okay all right um with that why don't we uh can i just make a i'll just make a motion okay um i'd like to move that the board of directors appoint jamey newton mary labama tony norton and norm hagan as public members of the lay dock committee and consider the attached memo from the board president whoop no that's a period lay dock committee okay second okay thank you we have a second so can we have a vote director excuse me president mayhood hi i've president henry yes director foals yes director smiley yes and director two is absent motion okay great okay so for the second half of this um what i'm basically doing is asking for a switch of director foals and director henry on the two committees that they're on administration and budget and finance and as you some of you know they served they the last two years they served both served on both committees so they're both highly qualified to serve on either committee and so that you know that's it's fine in that regard but on the margins i think that as we watched the um discussion of the uh going out for the loan and other things we realized that director foals had more experience in the sort of finance end of things which i thought would be helpful to us in terms of thinking about how we what we might do with that money while we have it in terms of investments and things and on the other hand i think lois has got an awful lot of experience on administering um water districts because she used to run one in the long pico and i think she has a really good sense of how to do that and has a lot of sympathy and appreciation for the staff and those so i'm just would like to make that switch and that's what it's motivated by but as i said it's up to bob because uh i haven't because of brown act i could only talk to lois and she was willing to make this bob and if he wants to that's great if not then we'll just leave things as they are could i um i may be asked for your indulgence because this was quite the surprise as you might imagine given that we had you know kind of set things up for the year in january could we um address this at the next board meeting i'm this is something i need to ponder on a little bit there are definitely some um in my mind policy implications for this and i haven't given it the kind of thought that it deserves so with your indulgence and permission i would like to bring it back um on the 18th well i'd rather um just go ahead lois well i mean there are committee meetings that are coming up so if we put this off then it's okay this is march it'll be april before the switch would really affect committees i would think yeah i understand but i mean again this is uh quite a switch and i need to it is quite a switch bob but i guess my response is if you don't have a clear view on it then i'll just you know i i'll just i could just take it back i mean i you had made a strong case for being on budget and finance um in january and i thought it was clear that you want to be on there and maybe i've made a little bit of a mistake in terms of assigning you and assigning you should have done it the other way and i'm trying to correct that but if you don't feel that that's the case then i'll just let things well i mean if you um i mean i don't understand the burning urgency here a couple weeks is not going to make a big difference and it will give me an opportunity to ponder this a little bit more that's all i'm asking for is sort of that kind of courtesy okay director smalling yes i concur with director fulc's request it's two weeks i think the committees stay with the with the directors current directors staying with the committees for that period of time then we can okay director fulc elects to after that point all right okay i think it would be a good idea for you to uh tell me beforehand so that we can take it off the agenda um oh gee i'm sorry didn't think about that but my apologies um no i mean you don't have to tell me i mean it was you know given you talk to given you had talked to woe us i was concerned about brown act issues well you can communicate it to rick anyway okay let's move on actually that that was the last uh item of new business so um with that oh wait you have the consent agenda i'm sorry so we're tabling uh we're tabling the new business five a do i need to go out to the public if we've tabled in uh something i i don't think it's strictly necessary if no action will be taken but um it wouldn't hurt either to find out if somebody was here to comment on that issue all right i'll open up the or comment by the public okay seeing then we'll just go ahead and table it and move on to the consent agenda is there anything that anyone would like to pull off the consent agenda for further discussion any comments from the public on anything on the consent agenda you don't see anything um shall we unmute the call-in user just to make sure anything from our call-in user okay then i think we're uh wearing that then we're uh go to uh adjournment thank you good night thank you good night everyone


I hate it when philosophers make up beliefs that nobody actually has to prove a point, like last Thursday-ism. Like, come on, at least use some sort of realism. Scientific realism is the position that the subjects of scientific inquiry actually exist, that there is an objective reality outside ourselves that we can know about through the practice of science. In a room full of philosophers, you might get more than a few raised eyebrows or amused chuckles at such an assertion, because it's chock-full of devastating philosophical landmines. Knowledge. Objective reality, you say. And how precisely are you defining science, my friend? We're fighting quite a few bullets at the same time here, and we're going to run afoul of a vicious skeptical gauntlet about all sorts of things. There's an additional complication of trying to keep a healthy distance from scientism, a sort of fanboy attitude that cheers on science as the singular answer to all problems, moral, practical, social, epistemic, even in domains where empirical information can be demonstrated to be wholly irrelevant. A person who advocates scientism will say, well, have you tried doing more science to it? We're going to try to thread the needle here between that sort of uncritical scientism and a hypercritical philosophical skepticism, to simply say that scientific theories tell us true things about the universe, full stop. That doesn't imply that they can tell us everything we can possibly know, or how to solve non-empirical questions, just facts about things that exist. The realist position is sort of the default one. It wouldn't occur to the average person that belief in atoms and magnetism needs some sort of rigorous justification. In a sense, anti-realist positions are a reaction to philosophical questioning that uncovers weaknesses in the default position. Because they arise in response to these weaknesses, they might be imagined to be engineered with the sort of probing in mind, to have ready and convincing answers to these sorts of questions. Postmodernism is very good at responding to the typical critiques of modernism. Anti-realist positions are very good at responding to the issues with scientific realism. But even if they can be philosophically attractive, I think there's something important missing in these accounts, a compelling and unambiguous basis for epistemic normativity. Anti-realist approaches may offer some justifications for preferring a reasonable scientific theory to a crackpot one. Or sometimes they don't. But either way, the normative standards offered by pragmatism, postmodernism, instrumentalism, and so on feel weak compared to the simple and straightforward appeal to the reality of scientific subjects to explain why something is a good or bad idea. It's one thing to say that you think that the Chinese government's widespread treatment of COVID-19 with traditional Chinese herbal remedies designed to balance their yin and yang is unlikely to succeed based on past experience, or conflicts with a more widespread narrative about reality. It's another thing to say that viruses exist, that traditional Chinese medicine does not affect them, so those treatments are going to fail. I'm always happy to experiment with interesting systems of thought in how they work, and I have a great deal of sympathy for the pushback against scientism. But in a world where appeals to reality construction or narrative can leave room for an idea to weasel its way out of a clear and unambiguous scientific death blow, I think it may be worth risking a little credulity if the case for scientific realism is convincing enough to warrant it. I'll leave that up to you. We're going to take a quick tour of the various objections mounted against scientific realism to see why there's so much hand-wreeling over the default view that science really is telling us true things about the universe. I'm not going to take the substantial amount of time necessary to properly diffuse these arguments, if indeed they can be diffused, but I want to plow right into the positive account of why scientific realism is probably right. If it is right, those critiques must be wrong or confused in some way, and if you agree, you can share the struggle to figure out exactly where they go awry with a number of other philosophers. Our first and chief complaint has to do with how human perception works, questioning our variability to acquire objective facts at all. It's commonly thought that our senses are reporting raw information about the world, but that's not really how all this works. What we pay attention to and the concepts that we use to parse what we're seeing and hearing and so on are demonstrably shaped by our culture, our history and our genetics, and have tremendous influence over what we end up thinking our senses are telling us. Different people with different backgrounds will literally observe different things from the same stimuli. In order to be a realist about anything, even non-scientific things, it seems that we have to give some account of how we can come to know objective facts at all, with all this subjective crap setting between our perception and the world as it is. It's only the biggest problem in epistemology, NBD. While we're at it, we can roll in other large-scale skeptical objections like the problem of induction, which undermines our supposed knowledge of causation through inference, and the demarcation problem, knowing which things are actually science and which things are just pretending to be science for credibility. I've covered these arguments in previous videos that you can also watch and fret over. Knowledge is hard, guys. The other philosophical complaints are specific to scientific realism, including the problem of underdetermination. For any given set of experimental results, there may be multiple scientific theories that offer functional explanations for those results, possibly making use of different theoretical entities, and the scientific realist position doesn't really give us any clues about which of these theories is supposed to be the truth of the matter. For example, there are multiple conflicting interpretations of quantum mechanics, which is really real, the Copenhagen or the Many Worlds theory. We've exhausted this criterion of science tells us true things, and we're still left with two things that can't both be true. It's underdetermined. There are games that we can play with these theories sharing the same empirically relevant observations of those entities, but it's still a headscratcher. Our third objection should be familiar to anyone who's a fan of science. The missteps in the development of our current scientific theories have been pretty egregious in some cases. Chloric theory, recapitulation theory, study-state theory, the list of entities formally theorized to exist and now resigned to the scrap heap of history is substantial. This doesn't even cover the numerous instances where pseudoscientific results have clearly been driven by cultural agendas, which is a whole other can of worms. It's mitigated somewhat by an acknowledgement that scientific theories are only approximating truth in some fashion, that they are approaching unity with the actual state of affairs of the universe, and we can judge how close they are to that truth by how robust and accurate their predictions are. But it still seems like a bit of an issue. That's a formidable mountain of skepticism that we're trying to clamor over here. But really, what did you expect? Philosophers have found concerning gaps in our naive accounts of much more fundamental stuff. Time, identity, knowledge of the world, in general, even basic stuff like chairs and rocks. When you add further claims about a particular subset of our experience called science, there are going to be some analytical holes that need plugging. But let's take a look at some positive arguments that make a case for scientific realism, that hopefully should provide us with some grit to engage with those problems instead of abandoning ship in favor of an anti-realist theory built to skirt around them. The first such argument is from independent corroboration. Often, when a branch of science finds some entity useful in explaining a phenomenon, the same entity is useful for explanation in a totally different experimental context or field, in a way that would be very surprising if it were just a useful fiction. We look under a microscope and we see tiny critters replicating and we say, those are bacteria. We observe someone infected with pneumonia and we say, that's bacteria. We swab them, grow a culture in a petri dish and say, that's bacteria. We find medication that kills the stuff in the petri dish, give it to the patient and they get better. We say, those antibiotics killed the bacteria. Four very different phenomena with significantly different causal mechanisms, microscopy, medical diagnosis, cultures, meditative efficacy, all explained by the same scientific theory about the same sort of thing. It would be a hell of a coincidence if it turned out that that thing didn't actually exist. Speaking of coincidence, the No Miracles argument is without a doubt the biggest feather in the cap of a scientific realist. Turning on one critical point that bears emphasis, science works. It wins. It keeps winning over and over. In the few hundred years since the widespread acceptance of the scientific method, it's resulted in radio, atomic power, antibiotics, computers, space travel, genetic engineering. Scientific methods just keep racking up incredibly accurate in useful predictions and explanations, in ways that other predictive and explanatory approaches don't. This is probably a familiar refrain, but consider the implications with regard to the reality of the entities that scientists claim to study. It would be an incredible coincidence if all the successful predictions scientific methods achieved were to occur by chance. It all just being some happy accident that they keep nailing the behavior of the universe again and again by building theories about stuff that isn't actually real, or doesn't have any deep relationship to real things. It's certainly logically possible, but it would have to be some sort of freaking miracle. Hence, no miracles. For some philosophers, appealing to something above and beyond the predictive power of science to account for that success is unnecessary, suggesting that it doesn't really matter if atoms and gravity exist. We can just be content with knowing that scientific methods tend to be bang on the money. But scientists don't approach their work by shrugging and saying, is this real? I dunno. They get persistently accurate results by assuming realism. Maybe if we want to achieve similar success in our endeavors, we should take their lead on that one, even if it makes us some distressingly powerful philosophical enemies. Do you feel like the positive case for scientific realism justifies engaging with some of those hairy skeptical arguments? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Thank you very much for watching. Don't forget to bubble, subscribe, watch here, and don't stop dunking.


Hello my name is Brandon Simons. I'm from Edmunds Washington in the United States and Busan, South Korea. I'll be an E4C fellow in 2021 advancing sustainable development goal 7, affordable and clean energy. I'm most excited about this fellowship because of the opportunity to join a cohort of certainly minded and passionate engineers to co-innovate and develop resilient and impactful solutions. As an E4C fellow, I'll be working with SolarBuddy with the design and engineering a cost-effective, modular and easy to assemble solution to provide lighting, device-driven capability, and cooking and cooling functionalities through solar energy. I want to apply my engineering skills for social good because I am passionate about global equal opportunity and as engineers we can have a pivotal role in developing these capacity building solutions. Through this fellowship I hope to design and prototype a resilient product concept that can be used by SolarBuddy and their appropriate partners to reduce energy poverty in various communities.


Glenohumeral instability represents a prevalent issue among active youth. One procedure crucial to the management of this condition is arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilization. The question of the optimal surgical position, beach chair, or lateral decubitus has been the subject of ongoing debate in the medical community, as both positions offer unique advantages. A recent study published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine closely examined the relationship between the choice of surgical position and the rates of instability recurrence and requirement for revision surgery. Researchers collected data from a consecutive series of 641 stabilizations performed solely by Sports Medicine Fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons from 2005 to 2019. The comprehensive analysis reveals a striking similarity in outcome between the beach chair and lateral decubitus surgical positions. The one-year recurrence rate for total cases was 3.3%. By five years, the overall recurrence estimate rose to 15.7%. These figures were consistently observed across the two positioning groups with no significant difference noted. Interestingly, while surgical position did not noticeably influence the recurrence or revision rates, age emerged as a key determinant. In fact, the team observed a significant direct correlation between younger age at the time of surgery and increased risk of instability recurrence. Younger patients were also observed to have a higher chance of requiring revision surgery by five-year follow-up. These findings underline that surgical position does not significantly influence the outcomes of an arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilization. This could allow surgeons to select a surgical position based on their training, comfort, and personal preference without substantially influencing recurrence or revision rates. However, regardless of surgical position choice, the findings indicate that younger patients are at an increased risk of experiencing procedural complications and recurrence. The study, notably, has several limitations. First, the number of subjects in the two positioning groups was uneven, which might limit the reliability of the conclusions. Additionally, this research did not consider important factors such as the type and number of anchors used or the number of preoperative instability events. Furthermore, clinical parameters such as postoperative range of motion and patient-reported outcome measures were not evaluated in this analysis, pointing to potential areas for future research. Nevertheless, this examination of surgical positioning choice for arthroscopic anterior shoulder stabilization provides critical insights for surgical decision-making. Most notably, the findings dispel the perceived disparity in recurrence and revising rates between different surgical positions and highlight younger age as a key risk factor.


My name is Walter Monk, M-U-N-K, and I'm a professor of oceanography at Scripps and have been here since for over 70 years. I have a special chair endowed by the Secretary of the Navy and have held that chair for about 30 years. And the first Allied initiative in fighting back was to be a amphibious landing in Northwest Africa. And I was working in the Pentagon and learned about practice landings in Carolina being carried out with new kinds of landing craft named LCBPs, Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel, boats that would come into the beach and then drop the bow and people would run out of the bow onto the beach and establish a beach head and learned and found that when the waves exceeded five feet height that the landing craft would broach, turn parallel to the beach, waves would break into the landing craft. People would get hurt and exercise would be secured waiting for a day with calmer conditions and I went back to find out about typical wave heights in Northwest Africa in winter and found they exceeded six feet and I wondered what would happen if under those conditions and I asked my commanding officer about that and he told me to just forget about it because he was sure that the authorities had considered that and I should do what I was told. I was 25 and I had no reputation and no background, very junior but I couldn't quite forget about it so I telephoned Harold Sverduk, whom I had met for two summers who had become my teacher and begged him to come out and he very kindly took the next flight and we sat together for about a month in the Pentagon to try and figure out how we could predict waves so one could pick a relatively calm day for the exercise it seemed like the only possible solution and after a month we were satisfied that this could be done and Harold Sverduk had a major reputation in the world they listened to him and we were permitted to participate in the planning and to predict the waves at the landing beaches and to pick a relatively calm two days and the landings took place under relatively good conditions


Before I get into this video, I want to remind you to enter our Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition giveaway to enter All you need to do is drop a like on this video Comment down below and the comment is very important because that is how I am able to track everything through You need to subscribe to the channel and you need to hit that bell icon Thank you guys so much for entering you can enter once per video and then yeah, we'll announce the winner at the end of the month Hey everyone, uh, there is something that we need to talk about today. That's a little sad Uh, and that is that nintendo Supposedly not only doesn't have a nintendo direct plan for june, which was announced by venture beat a long time ago Uh, they apparently do not have uh nintendo direct coming at all now This is according to jeff grub who works at venture beat games beat etc Uh, he put up a report today talking about you know What to expect from the big three big three and other major companies for the rest of 2020 Uh, and he just basically talks about things that we mostly already know like how sony and microsoft's handling the events for Uh, there's platforms and all that jazz But what's interesting is that he expands upon his previous report that nintendo won't do a direct in june by saying that Nintendo isn't going to do a direct at least at all There's there's absolutely zero plans internally at nintendo to make a nintendo direct this year Or right now even in the future Although obviously, you know that could change once everyone goes back to work and they're not working from home Uh nintendo plans to announce all of the first party games in the same way that they announced paper mario the origami king Which is essentially social media and youtube They're just going to drop announcements and that is what it is and obviously nintendo will gauge How that works throughout the year how the sales are impacted all that jazz to make future decisions they I have told other companies that are making things To not wait for direct And to just announce the game in any other way they feel fit So like if there's like ubisoft has a partnership with nintendo on something They're not going to be like hey ubisoft you should wait until we have a direct no They're not going to try to control how how games are announced for switch They're just going to say you announce it any way that you see fit. Don't wait for us um So yeah, uh as for obviously what we have to expect venture beat Has proved to report it on obviously the pikmin 3 deluxe news that we talked about on saturday The 3d mario remasters which have been around for a while the super mario 3d world deluxe That was a rumor to drop at the same time that paper mario seemed to confirm because paper mario was part of that original report Um as for any surprises they might have beyond that obviously we have to wait Um nintendo could be waiting until they do directs it could be waiting just because they don't have anything We don't know we don't know if it's just going to be mario remasters and pikmin 3 carrying the way With with mario 3d world ported as well or if there's going to be other things Obviously nintendo keeps that stuff close to the vest I obviously have hopes for breath of the wild to this year even though With everything going on it's probably a 2021 title at this point. Uh still you never know now What I want to talk about with all this that's that's the news in a nutshell Is is this the end of nintendo directs? Is this like the beginning of the end? See nintendo was has been ahead of the curve for some time, right? When they stopped doing the live in person Presentation at e3. Uh, they were the first company to do that To just stop doing that and they replaced it with digital events and nintendo directs Which they had already been doing nintendo directs they just expanded it to their e3 show So nintendo has been ahead of the curve there now We've seen a lot of companies mimic what nintendo was doing in particular to console companies Obviously, we have inside xbox from microsoft and state of play from playstation and both inside xbox and state of Play seem to happen more often Than you know a nintendo direct. They're a lot more consistent. They're easier to predict when they're going to occur And that's that's good. That's good for those companies They took what nintendo has done and kind of normalized it and annualized it to a point Where people know what to expect and when to expect announcements nintendo It sometimes gets in kind of a flow where for like a couple years They'll they'll do things at a consistent pace and then the third year just completely changes and obviously right now We're in the midst of they've only given us two individual game directs, which were to announce dlc And then they have given us one mini direct Which gave us some a slew a smattering of announcements But nothing that really made people jump out of their chairs per se unless you're me and your superintended jala Which is now in delayed. So I mean that's that that happened I think that Nintendo is still going to be highly successful without directs. I don't think that nintendo needs a direct To hype things up and to get people to buy products I think paper mario this summer july 17th is going to sell like gangbusters It's going to probably become the best selling paper mario game of all time And I think we're going to see whenever they decide to drop the announcements for pickman 3 that it'll end up Outselling the wii u version of pickman 3. I think the mario remasters are going to sell really well I think super mario 3d world is going to sell really really well I mean we already saw a new super mario Will you deluxe sell 6 million units? So we know these are all going to be really big sellers And I think what's going to happen is nintendo is going to see that sales don't seem to be impacted by not putting together massive directs and just dropping trailers and stuff randomly On social media that nintendo is going to be kind of ahead of the curve again Where they don't need big Showings to showcase stuff. They could just announce things when they feel like announcing them and they can announce them by themselves There are some things that probably are negatively impacted by this as an example Less eyeballs on some smaller scale games potentially But again, you know the sales numbers are going to bear out if that's even the case if they can just announce some of these smaller games Even indie world games, you know through twitter and and in youtube and see the sales Still say hi since they get individual attention instead of getting buried by bigger titles It's going to be kind of a An experimental year for nintendo as a lot of their employees. I think all of them actually are working from home Now um, if these games do sell really well, that does mean uh, that nintendo could reevaluate whether nintendo directs are worth Doing as much hype as they drive as excited as they get as much attention as they might take for a day or two on the internet They might find that they get actually more attention by dropping things individually throughout the year And uh, never knowing when nintendo is going to announce something you could wake up one morning and they could be dropping uh brand new news about the next switch or You could wake up and they could drop new news about a brand new indie title They could be dropping news about Breath of the Wild 2 or Metroid Prime 4 could be shown off just randomly we don't even know when it's gonna happen and Some people are prefer this method of course because it means every single day of the year is a chance to be excited for Something from nintendo or something coming to nintendo's platform or for a new platform from nintendo Other people will look at it as I like to know when to expect announcements so I could take time off and prepare Maybe you know set up live streams and all that jazz like we do here It's good to have a little bit of warning, but uh, you know Maybe nintendo's going to find that method of marketing just isn't as effective or more effective than just dropping things on twitter And it's a lot easier and cheaper for nintendo to not have to put together a video production to do this so This this begs the question is nintendo going to be ahead of the curve and just be dropping things individually on twitter and facebook and all this stuff and just give up traditional nintendo directs and all that and I think as a consumer as as a nintendo fan The idea of thinking that will that that nintendo could do away with those big general nintendo directs is a little bit sad Because what was cool about having multiple big nintendo directs throughout the year whether it was two three or four of them Uh was it was kind of like having three or four individual E3 like events like nothing's quite like E3 because they expanded with the nintendo treehouse stuff Which is crazy and awesome and amazing But being able to have a major, you know 30 potential 30 to 45 minute direct You know three four times a year was exciting Even if you ended up being disappointed you always knew well, maybe the next one that comes around in a few months I'll be even more excited for So there was always this excitement built around them and a lot of hype and I enjoy hype. I enjoy excitement. I enjoy You know knowing that hey a directs coming and we should get really really pumped about it now having this news That there's no directs coming that nintendo's not even planning a direct that you know Maybe they get one by the end of the year, but probably not is kind of a Watching the way the industry has conducted itself and nintendo has conducted itself kind of go by the wayside In favor of just dropping things randomly on social media.  Is it going to be a podcast? Is it going to be? Um an editorial piece you guys don't know you don't know until it just drops and that's what nintendo's doing We don't know what day what time Um what franchise whatever they're going to talk about we don't know nintendo's just going to Drop it and uh, they're going to see if that's a great way for marketing versus what they've traditionally done So I hope this is not the end of nintendo directs and it's important to know that jeff grubb at venture beat Is not saying it is the end of directs and that they Could even hold back certain big games until they're going to have a direct Um, he is noting that they just don't have any plans for it and they're going to keep announcing things the way they announced paper mario and uh I think the way they announced paper mario has I mean it's got to be viewed viewed as a success Um, you know if i'm just looking over here on youtube I mean that paper mario trailer is is insane with its numbers right now Um, you know, I think it's got like we have 4.1 million views of that trailer on nintendo's channel That's just nintendo's trailer. That's not including all the live reactions That's not including other re uploads of that trailer by some outlets I mean i'm sure the views of this point are probably closer to 6 million If you start including all the extra videos if not more and that's huge That's huge numbers for nintendo For a game like that's more than some paper mario's have sold So clearly the strategy is going to work and this paper mario is going to be super Sell super well in comparison to other paper mario games. I think nintendo Um is going to end up being done with directs I think that you know if we're lucky and this is a big if We still get one per year and that'll be at e3 next year But then this assumes that e3 comes back even though they're planning to come back It doesn't mean all the companies are going to support it And this presumes that nintendo is going to want that same sort of presence They usually have at e3 again in 2021 again a lot of unknowns because that's over a year from now And who knows what's going to happen between now and then So I think right now the only information we can go off of is we haven't had a general direct We're almost halfway through the year and we haven't had a general direct And now we have a reporter coming out saying look, they're not going to be doing a direct anytime soon And there's no plans for no talks not even a whisper inside nintendo of a direct Which tells you that maybe nintendo's done with them And as we see them drop more and more these individual announcements And those individual announcements keep dominating the day and taking all this attention And getting millions and millions and millions of views on youtube and other platforms You're going to see that nintendo might decide they don't need directs anymore And if that's what happens Farewell 2019 the last year that we got real Honest to goodness general nintendo directs. Heck, I don't even know if a minis in the cars a mini we got You might as well put that one in the memory bank because that could be the last one of those we get to Anyways folks, uh, you guys let me know what you think about this Do you want nintendo directs to come back? Do you think nintendo's new way of dropping things? Largely because of the pandemic is actually a better method of advertising than traditional directs Games maybe get more individual attention that could dominate the day You know what paper mario have outshined a bunch of other things that maybe we could talk about on other days I don't know. I'm really confused. I don't know what to think. I want to know your guys's thoughts on this I'm torn between i'm getting rid of directs and keeping directs. I'm not sure which way to lean Uh, but maybe you guys can make a better argument forward down in the comments below for me Anyways, thank you guys so much for tuning in be sure to enter our giveaway and I will catch you guys in the next video


From VOA Learning English, this is the agriculture report in special English. IKEA recently recalled frozen meatballs from its European stores after tests found some contained horse meat. Check investigators said they found small amounts of horse meat in Swedish meatballs at an IKEA store in the Czech Republic. IKEA is the big Swedish company that sells furniture, but its stores also sell Swedish foods. The packaging said the meatballs contained beef and pork. IKEA said meatballs from the contaminated batch were sent to stores in some other European countries. They included Belgium, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands. Recently, laboratory tests found horse meat being sold as beef in a number of European Union countries. The EU law enforcement agency, Europol, is investigating the meat industry. Owen Patterson is the British Environment Secretary. He says the sale of horse meat as beef is unacceptable. He caught it a fraud on the public. Millions of food items have been removed from stores, schools, and hospitals. No one has reported any health problems and the French eat horse meat. But the situation has upset consumers across Europe. In Britain, horse meat was discovered in frozen meals sold by the Swedish-based frozen food company Fendus. In France, an investigation has accused the French meat processing company Spangaro of knowingly selling horse meat as beef. The company denies the accusation. The EU requires the packaging of fresh meat to identify the country where it was produced. But in prepared meals, only the kind of meat used is required to be listed. For VOA Learning English, I'm Laurel Bowman.


Despite for vaccines introduced since 1983, S-pneumony continues to cause high morbidity and mortality worldwide, with serotypes 3 and 19a being the most common causes of invasive pneumococcal disease, IPD, while non-conjugate vaccine serotypes such as 35b are increasing. This highlights the need for further research into conjugate vaccine design and novel strategies to combat IPD. This article was authored by Peyton El-Wantouch and Fikri Yafsi.


And I had always operated like trying to circumvent the real economy in my own older words that is the same as the transactional to relational pivot. And what I did when I got here was drive down all of the side streets and go to everyone's garage sale, everyone was clearing out their houses, so there was tons of that to get to know people and to get to know the area geographically. And I found lots of things driving around like seed exchanges and little free libraries and parks and open farm stands and berry areas where people would open up like their blueberries for public and flower stands and stuff like binomation or just take one. And I put all of those things together years ago to tell people about, but it was also really helpful because now I know when people are talking about a neighborhood where to place it, it's pretty spread out here. And it did used to be mostly farmland and for that it's still quite spread out. Another thing that worked for me during COVID because churches have memberships and they're set and they're accessible, like you get the whole list, the whole population. And this was partly to deal with what COVID was doing as far as furthering people's isolation was search for people's needs. I divided up congregations and this is not depending on the denomination. It was just a project and most of the time I was met with open arms for getting this together for different churches. But to divide up the people, find out what they needed, find out the best way to get a hold of them, which of their needs weren't being met, what they could contribute for other people who weren't and what I would tell people is that we're trying to make up for that time that you have when you run into each other in the hallways. You don't have a chance to say, my sister's having a hard time anymore or we got a new puppy, like whatever it is you want to share or could use help with. We got to figure out a way to keep track of you and that figured out. And so similarly to people offering what they have to provide, I do home health care. So I do that for people who can't afford it with elderly or recovering from surgery and other people would offer up like yard work or pet sitting or help with the resume. And it was kind of amazing to see when you're calling to ask what people might need, what they were also able to contribute and then match the people with the needs to the people with the resources and keep mainly lines of communication open, which kind of brings me to something I've learned very much about living where I do and that's that communication seems to be what's lacking most. A lot of the community mapping should expose shortcomings and resources and also solutions and things that are there to fill those gaps. And we have an elderly population. It's largely agricultural. There's a tourist influx that's here all summer. There's lots of money coming into the rural areas from Seattle that creates some conflicts. There's a strong tribal presence and and it's a little bit interesting where I moved from. I can see it from across the water was an island with a lot of youth, a lot of art and a navy base and and the same tourist situation. But let's see. I I've found really that what's lacking for me is communication, but I'm looking to see what I was going to say. I'm putting together a resource database, much like one on the website for Code Pink. And I go around and want to interact with people. I'm always paying attention to see what they have to say about what's going on to put into that. So we have places and programs and resources. And an awareness that I'm hoping to make accessible in like a little print directory when it's close enough to done. Most of these things surprise me when I learn about them. We have a pet rescue group there. There seem not to be any way to have your pet found and returned to you should it have gone missing. And they're set up and are getting a new ambulance so they can keep your pet safe while they're rescuing it. And that that that's one interesting thing. We have a hospice medical closet that a lot of people somehow don't know about where you can borrow your wheelchairs or even like beds for. For seniors or people recovering from surgery or even we recently this week found out that they're willing to lend us like 20 wheelchairs to get a bunch of people down to a protest in Seattle. These are all little just little bits and pieces of things I've been learning now with a little more direction. Since COVID one thing that I found really helped me learn about where I live is to take up some kind of like small non controversial cause. Like we're trying to set up a pet emergency clinic. That's aimed to be not profit and we don't have any emergency pet services anywhere in the area. So that's something that I can print something out about and walk into every business without having to wonder about. There being a controversy and and setting foot in those doors and talking to the business owners and seeing the people there teaches me a good deal about who I live with. And and and what they have going on which then goes back into my my catalog of course. Let's see there we've I've learned a lot from social workers when I'm trying to figure out if there is or is not a resource or a solution a social worker. Lots of the churches are pretty gossipy and information can be counted on with a couple in particular out here to get around fast which is good if there's. I'm going to be a power outage or or if somebody needs like a place to stay for an emergency there are also a few people who are incredibly well informed about history here and and have written books and stuff who can answer. Questions history is as part of the culture is always also interesting to check. The pulse with the tribes at the same time as as anything else that's going on. What's the story you've heard and check that story against. Against what you'll hear from. Our First Nations people or what did they have to say about maybe an irrigation project going on. Or what do they have to say about health care out here we also had a real hard hit from the opioid crisis and for that the tribes have stepped up and and this is the first place I've ever lived where I would say there's a like visible recovery community. And And there's a lot of behavioral health in the education system and I don't the college only offers two bachelor's programs one is behavioral health and it seems like it's it's kind of so big here that there there's really little room for stigma. And and those recovery communities do a lot of self sustaining and and it's interesting they're among the stronger microcosm is out here and what what I've been doing with communication.  This helps with just getting to know you and is also good for organizing projects we've got a May Day thing coming up. And it's a bunch of pretty disorganized people on the first step will be running through those three things because most of us don't even know each other there's also something that I've done in the past on called a story census. Where I will pick a topic. And and hopefully something that's exciting to people this isn't especially inclusive at being Christmasy but I asked once. Just about anyone from the most diverse aspects of like our little community that I could find and think of to write a story about a Christmas tree that had been memorable. And and we bound that and it was just kind of interesting because you'd see names that you recognized and and it did a lot to demonstrate the differences in culture and and economics standing and and such. So I'm trying to think about something to do with that and also to set up a favorite trade board, a few of our coffee shops we have some similar things in place, but again with the moving away from the economy with the fashion. So to stimulate community and people talking I suppose that's notes guys. I also subject things to a gossip test. And here the system doesn't work like it did where where I'm accustomed to living in a couple of their small towns word would get back to me pretty quickly like within a week. And here I've been able to tell about 30 people. Three things that changed in our community. We lost our pride organization meals on wheels disappeared in October. And I did say that the pet rescue group has a new ambulance and it was interesting because what circulated was the pet rescue group has an ambulance that went everywhere. And meals on wheels and our pride organization. Nobody had heard anything about so what I'm mostly doing for myself right now is focus on where the brakes and communication and how to get things a little bit more connected. It seems like there's a lot going on and very little getting together on any certain point. But when you set out to map your community I think that it's impossible not to be inspired and and surprised by what you'll find and see people are interested in and putting their energy into and then to make connections between those resources. And and the relationships between causes and people and and and their assets and hopefully use that for for whatever project you're looking to see through. If nothing else just for knowing better your world that you live in your sphere of influence. Well and you're and we know your sphere of concern is huge but your sphere of influence you just what you added to that may see is how you weave it into something strong and how you weave it into something resilient and beautiful and caring and life filled and relational. So you just gave that sphere of influence a whole new image for this community of and also that it's you know it gives back. So may see that was so beautiful. I just like can everybody just like oh yeah cool may see good like amazing sharing and bringing us into what it is on so many levels thank you so much. So I remember what you said once about the basket. That holds everything together and when I was looking for my peace economy that's the criteria that's how I judge it. Is it part of that basket. And it's pretty simple yes or no. It all is right. When we get out of the complicated. I'll also say when I moved here during COVID I thought I just had to wait for COVID to go away and the town would expose itself and stop being weird and impenetrable and confusing and it didn't it didn't. Not on its own. Thank you. So I'd like to move everybody into your groups now and to share anything you want to say about mapping or you know like if you're worried about it some ideas about if there's anybody that's mapped their community to share that. So let's see I think to get three in. I'm going to do groups of five for 15 groups of three for 15 minutes. So you really have a chance to talk and connect remember you can talk about your privates or. But here's your chance to share what's been happening for the last two weeks and what you want to do with mapping or if anyone else has an experience of mapping that they want to share. So we'll see you back in 15. Thank you.  You see stuck in room one and two still on its way back. Welcome back everyone welcome back sorry Zach that you got such a short amount of time. And so maybe we can do a little recap if anybody heard anything they want to share. Please raise your hand and we can do a little share back from the small groups to the big groups. Small groups to the big groups anything learn that you feel the whole group might want to know. With you and your group that you want to share. Audrey. I mean it's very helpful to talk with other people about the things that they find to do that that they feel make make a difference in other people's lives. And. Yeah so I found that I found that very interesting. Many different. Marjorie that's such a great reminder that you know we're we're here to inspire each other you know it's kind of like when you look at a rose and you're inspired we're all flowers in the field. And you know the sharing is so important and I think it goes back to what Lisa said about communication and and we're. Like learning to communicate again and learning to share from like the authentic experience is so important because there's so much information that's not rooted or grounded that's about nothing instead of like being able to share from our hearts and our experience and our wisdom. And I thought that was so cool that that was the thread that ran through what Macy was sharing. David. Am I audible. You are audible. Well. Guess who makes the bunker bunker buster bombs Israel is using what company is it are you do you live close to that company. I mean. Any the poet William Stafford said every war has two losers. And it gets complex because the FAMAS is hiding in hospitals were using innocent civilians as human shields. How are they defeated you know you could put yourself in Netanyahu's brain. And certainly we want to ceasefire and some negotiations mainly from the the fellow Arab states who don't do anything. Well but so David I think the thing you're speaking to are the lies that are you know that create war because there are no human shields there was no one hiding under the hospital. There were no rapes there were no beheaded babies so you know it's also one of the reasons to be rooted in community so that we don't get used by the lies to do really violent things. Look six million people are dead because of the response to 9 11 the war on Afghanistan and Iraq ruined by lies. Nobody in Iraq had anything to do with 9 11. So you know what we know about wars is they're started by live and they can be ended by truce is one of the things we know it could pink. But we do have a map by the way of where all those weapons are made that are bombing Gaza. And I will give it to Emily or she can get it from the team and we will make sure to include that in the response email to this meeting just in case there's one near you. That's a good place to start on your map of what violence happens in your community. We actually are working on that in Los Angeles and you know it's like how do we approach this. We've always had a divest from war campaign but right now we're going and we're just going to be outside the place when people are coming to work and ask them what it feels like to be creating the weapons that are creating a genocide. You know and I'm sure they're not reflecting on that themselves. So starting with that communication thing there may see so many. Yes I was in a little group with two lovely people and one of them is team race and that's a story to to tell people it was so lovely. This man was had a couple of careers and got involved and I think through the inspired by your work Jody and Emily and code pink to become an urban agriculture do urban agriculture. And I asked him you know have you ever done agriculture before he said no I'm done lots of mistakes. It was and he said well now you know he's working with people who know a little more but it was such a lovely story. I had to share that. Oh thank you Dominique. Yes Tim is a gem a gem of a human as are all of you but yes I think the important thing about that story is that you know it's just set off into an adventure.  Absolutely and I told you I said you you're probably much happier than your previous careers and he said absolutely yeah and and before I am I must say I have a quote in the chat for joy. Well maybe here I don't know if it's join the poet but join the poet. I have had this quote in my little book for you hoping I would be in a group for you but now you are in in the chat because the first time you said you were frustrated because you were just a poet as well as a school teacher. But I came across this quote poetry is always in conversation with public life. So that's for you my dear. Thank you I love that the conversation moves between weeks and sharing. I can see joy smiling. So thank you. I'm happy that was that was a beautiful sharing. All right well Emily's going to give us our assignment for the next couple of weeks. Thank you all for being here. Love you and all that you're exploring. It's an exploring fun isn't like pivoting into this new world fun. All right what are we going to do this week Emily. So over the next two weeks the invitation is to make a map and Jodi gave us so many great examples of the types of map mapping ourselves mapping where we've been where we've lived where we put our energy and love into how we spend our time. So so many options to something that speaks to you if you are looking for more support on page 117 and the local piece economy workbook and that link will be if you don't already have access to it those links will be shared out as well in the follow up email. But there's on page 117 there's a whole section on mapping so there's some great reflection questions in there that can get you started and see where it takes you. I'll also put the link for the mapping that we've been doing. That's on the local piece economy code pink website in the chat that's in there now as well as the link to register for our next call which will be on April 10 so we really hope to see you there and look forward to. Yeah seeing seeing where your maps take you if you feel so inspired to take up if you map something and want to share it please take a picture and send it to I'll put that in the chat piece economy. At code pink dot org. Or you can share it with this nectar in the next call. We'd love to see it and share it with each other and if anybody's in the Bay area. Emily's hosting a little gathering on Saturday reach out to her she can tell you more Emily and Cynthia and Krista in Berkeley at Bioneers so until two weeks much love spread the peace spread the love. Nurse life. Thank you. Bye. Bye.


Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, and the prevalence is increasing around the world. Despite this, most research dollars are spent on adult chronic diseases. One might ask whether this is because our politicians and senior administrators feel themselves to be more likely to suffer from the latter and ignore allergic diseases because they have their major impact on children and young adults who don't vote. Imagine how much more effort would be put into elucidating causes of a disorder that increased at the same accelerated rate in the Middle Ages and elderly. Well, finally, an international study of asthma and allergies in childhood studying more than a million children in nearly 100 countries, making it the most comprehensive survey of these diseases ever undertaken. What did they find? They found a wide variability in the prevalence and severity of asthma, allergies, and eczema. We're talking 20-fold, 60-fold difference in prevalence of symptoms of asthma, allergic runny nose, and atopic eczema around the world, striking worldwide variations in the prevalence of allergic symptoms. What does it all mean? Well, the large variability suggests a crucial role of some kind of local characteristics, determining the differences in prevalence between one place and another. What kind of environmental factors? Like, why does the prevalence of itchy eyes and runny nose range anywhere from 1% in India, for example, up to 45% of kids elsewhere? There are some associations with regional air pollution and smoking rates, but the most significant associations were with diet. Adolescents showed a consistent pattern of decreases in symptoms of wheeze, current and severe allergic rhino-conjunctivitis, and atopic eczema associated with increased consumption of plants. The more their calories and protein came from plant sources, the less allergies they seemed to have. In general, there seems to be an association between increased in asthma prevalence and decreased consumption of fresh fruits, green vegetables, and other dietary sources of antioxidants, helping to explain why the prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms is lower in populations with high intake of foods of plant origin. These types of high-fat and sodium and low-fiber and carbohydrates are linked with asthma, while traditional vegetarian diets are associated with lower rates. For example, if you look closer within India in a study of more than 100,000 people, those who consume meat, for example, daily or even occasionally, were more likely to report asthma than those who are strictly vegetarian, which meant also avoiding eggs. Eggs have been associated, along with soda, with an increased risk of respiratory symptoms, and asthma in schoolchildren, whereas consumption of soy foods and fruits were associated with reduced risk of respiratory symptoms. In fact, removing eggs from the diet, along with dairy, may improve lung function in asthmatic children in as little as eight weeks. So maybe it's a combination of eating less animal foods and more plants. High vegetable intake, for example, has been found protective in children, cutting the odds of allergic asthma in half. And fruit showed a consistent protective association for current and severe wheeze and runny nose and adolescence, and for current and severe asthma allergies and eczema for children. But why? I've talked about the endocrine-destructing industrial pollutants building up in the meat supply that may increase the risk of allergic diseases, but the increase in asthma may be a combination of both a more toxic environment and a more susceptible population. The dietary changes, which have occurred over recent years, may have led to reduction in these natural antioxidant defenses, resulting in a shift to the antioxidant status of the whole population and leading to increased susceptibility to oxidant attack and airway inflammation in adults, for example. The risk of airway hyperreactivity may increase sevenfold among those with the lowest intake of vitamin C from plant foods, while the lowest intake of saturated fats gave a tenfold protection, and presumably, saturated fats have a role in triggering inflammation. The protective effect of plant food may also be mediated through effects on intestinal microflora. It turns out that differences in the indigenous intestinal flora might affect the development and priming of the immune system in early childhood. Kids with allergies, for example, tend to be less likely to harbor lactobacillus, the good bacteria that's found in fermented foods, and also just naturally on fruits and vegetables. And lactobacillus probiotics may actually help with childhood asthma, which may help explain why children raised on largely organic vegetarian diets may have lower prevalence of allergic reactions. Infants raised in this way tend to have more good lactobacilli in their guts compared to controls, though they were also more likely to have been born naturally, breastfed longer and not given as many antibiotics. So you really can't tell whether it's the diet until you put it to the test, which we'll explore next.