Thank you, Sebastian, for the kind introduction. So I'm happy here to present for you the developments of Working Group 2. I'll do this together with Michael, who will join me on the presentation. And the presentation was also prepared in close collaboration with Magus Crisantopoulos from the University of Surrey, who could unfortunately not be here, but since he's in regards to all of you. So as the title of the Working Group says, what we are looking at here in Working Group 2 is the link between structural health monitoring, technologies and structural performance. What I'll do is briefly recapitulate the aims of this Working Group as they were set forward in the memorandum of understanding. I'll summarize the achievements, some activities for dissemination. The two main outcomes of this Working Group are the framework that we have delivered and then more recent work on the treatment of uncertainties. So we'll get some more attention in this presentation and then at the end we'll wrap up with some conclusions. So we had two aims. So one, this proposal was written and looking at the large amount of variability of structural health monitoring technologies. There was a clear need identified to somehow structure those and categorize those, so categorizing as HM technologies. So looking at what type of observations, what type of information they provide and then relate this to structural performance and somehow identifying their best practices was the first aim for this Working Group. And then the second aim, when we are discussing information provided by observations, information provided by structural health monitoring, you can only quantify the information content when you identify and treat all uncertainties in a consistent way. So quantifying the links between measured quantities and structural performance and treating consistently all uncertainties therein was a second aim of the Working Group. Now at the start of this cost action, we were very happy to attract the attention from a large number of people, many of you who are now in the room have contributed to Working Group too. And we've had input from people working on different structural types, not only bridges, but also on antenna towers, historical masonry structures, different SHM technologies, probably interpreted in a wide sense as also including corrosion sensors apart from accelerometers, fiber optics, so many possible technologies, data analytics. So how can we translate those observations into information or at least take a first step in that process than a number of other things? So this was the basically established or identified in the first phase of the cost action. So we've had significant activities in the first four workshops and we've had more than 20 presentations and fact sheets that record current practice feeling with all this. So having this wide range of input dealing with different structural types and technologies helped us to set up a categorization framework to structural all these contributions. The aim was to have something that promotes the use of a common language terminology, so what these performance, what are performance indicators, observations, technologies and so on. As was very well explained in the first presentation, the aim at the end is to come to informed decisions. So the start is a system or a structure types of performance and then we want to come to informed decisions or ranking of decisions that can be taken. The framework also we need to be or enable let's say the identification or setting out different generic paths, different types of technologies, strategies that could be compared and then evaluated. And then the framework of course also needed to be useful for the overall theoretical framework from working group one and should also allow working group three to identify the different points at which the methods and tools intervene. So this categorization framework was described in a first fact sheet on SHM technologies and structural performance. Now for the second part of the work, we've also started by looking at the current practice. So we've basically asked people in the working group to fill in a questionnaire that allowed us to also identify the current practice in the treatment of uncertainties. And this work was recently finalized or brought to a next step in a summary fact sheet on the classification and treatment of uncertainty. So on which we'll tell a few words more. The dissemination is of course partly through the fact sheets. Those from the first workshop are probably available on the website. A number of others are available to all people in the cost section and then of course also contributed to some of the sessions that were also listed by Sebastian. Now this framework has been presented a number of times so I'll be very brief on it and I'll just focus on those points that are also important in view of the discussion on uncertainty that is following up next. So basically what we've realized is that if we're talking about performance, the different types of performance are also determined by the different structural types. And as said, we've had contributions with dealing with different types and not only bridges but also other types. This is the performance structural health monitoring or the experiments from the first presentation. They provide us with information. They allow us to make observations that link back to the indicators at the end with the aim of making informed decisions or ranking decisions. I'll give a few examples next but let me focus on this link here between the observations and the indicators. In what follows next we'll make a distinction between direct links and indirect links in a sense that in some case there is a straightforward link from the observations to the indicators. For example, if we consider data from accelerometers that are deployed on a structure, the vibrations that are picked up will help us to or from those we can extract model frequencies or mode shapes with system identification algorithms. So that's a more direct link. But of course the observations can also be used in an indirect way. If we think of the same vibrations and the same mode shapes and natural frequencies, those can also be used to update or to calibrate a model which would involve solving an inverse problem. So this would be an indirect link and when I've already made reference to the uncertainties, the way in which the uncertainties are treated could also be somehow different or perhaps different types of uncertainties will intervene. So two examples from the fact sheets that were collected within the frame of the working group. This one by Marius Crisantopoulos and his team on the Great Belt Bridge, a type where fatigue is of a concern and what you can see here are two optional parts that could help on making decisions on the live extension, also including or taking into account possible actions such as strengthening. So fatigue can be monitored by keeping track of the stress ranges. Stress ranges can be identified by measuring strains and then this can be used in this process. Alternatively, we can try to measure crack widths or the indicator is the crack width. We can try to measure those and then also come to decisions. Another example is the Z24 bridge that was also presented a couple of times in the course of this action. So the Z24 bridge was tested within the frame of a bright Europe and European project. It was monitored for one year, vibrations were picked up and at the end of this year, this information was used to set a baseline model that was used next to see if damage that was on purpose applied to the bridge could also be identified from changes in mode shapes and natural frequency. So if such a monitoring system would be deployed on a real structure or on a structure that was actually in use because it was a real structure that would help to, let's say, to plan inspections or repairs and at the end ensure the safety of the structure. Now it comes to the uncertainty. This life cycle assessments finds it based in the general framework of structure liability. Well, this distinction here comes from a publication by Michael, the reference is not here included in these slides, but you'll find all references in the two fact sheets that we have written. So in structure reliability, the distinction is made between different types of uncertainties, physical, which could be considered as inherent and the statistical and model uncertainties which could be considered as epistemic or reducible uncertainties. So these will make the failure probability also uncertain and of course this is also something which can evolve or which will evolve over time as actually we'll also do the distinction between the different types of uncertainties. So that's the general framework and what we've tried to do is see how structural health monitoring adds a layer of uncertainty on top of that. So I'll start here by discussing uncertainties that are involved in model calibration. So this is the indirect link between the observations and the indicators that I just referred to and then Michael will take over to discuss the uncertainties that pop up when let's say we have a more direct link between observations and indicators. So the idea here is that the information or the observations that we collect from a sensor network can help us to update a model of the system and also the predictions that we make in the field, natural frequencies and mode shapes are often used for updating or calibrating models simply because they can be extracted from the structure while it's in operation. What we have as excitation under ambient vibrations is sufficient for identifying those and then this model calibration is usually done by solving a non-linearly squares problem using optimization methods. Now what is important is that it's an inverse problem and often imposed which means that uncertainties will have a big effect on this process. Yeah, that's the one we need. Now of course in the framework that we can apply to treat all these uncertainties in the model calibration process is the Bayesian framework that was already referred to in the first presentation. And it's important to know or to realize that many different types of uncertainties are involved. This is from a paper by Kennedy and O'Hagan that is cited a lot in the literature and they distinguish between parameter uncertainty, model iniquity, residual variability, parametric variability, observation hours, code uncertainty. Now distinguishing between all of those is a challenge because there is a limit to what you can identify from data and taking the model into account is also highly challenging and what we see is that although this general framework is available and everyone will acknowledge the importance of these uncertainties in a lot of work, the focus is only on a few of these and using a quite simplified representation of the uncertainty. And I think here is also the risk for bias that was already referred to in the first presentation. So this is definitely a challenge for us to continue working on in the future. I can't be brief on these, the non probabilistic methods, since we've already heard that the probabilistic methods were superior, but when you're reviewing this work, you'll see that the probabilistic approach is not the only approach, especially when it comes to epistemic uncertainty. There are a lot of different alternatives that are proposed with little or no consensus existing on the subject and the preferred method often depends on the background of the person. Everyone who's had a background in reliability engineering will of course advocate the use of the probabilistic methods and also here in this context, these methods, these probabilistic methods seem to be the most widely applicable as they accommodate incorporating the different uncertainties that arise in the process. So with this, I'd like to hand over to Michael. Yeah, thank you very much, Gert. So statistical uncertainties appear in SHM everywhere where we use data and calculate indicators based on data. So there are three main sources of statistical uncertainties. I mean, any observations that are measured with SHM technology are just noisy versions of the physical quantities that we are getting. So if you're measuring accelerations, we don't exactly get our accelerations, but slightly perturb versions of that due to noise from the sensors. The observations that we're measuring are only obtained in a finite time window while the exact computation of, if you're talking about frequencies, for example, from acceleration data, they would inquire an infinite amount of time if we just have ambient excitation to converge to the true values. And we have insufficient information. So in some cases, we could get an exact computation of our indicators if we had just more information. So for example, if we knew exactly the forces acting on the structure, then we could also compute exactly our frequencies from the structure. But since we only have ambient excitation, we just can assume some statistical properties of our unknown information or insufficient information. And then we have statistical uncertainty due to that. So nearly all indicators that are computed from data are actually random variables having some probability distribution and thus some statistical uncertainty. So the quantification and treatment of this uncertainty is crucial for monitoring in general. I mean, we need to know if a change in an indicator is just due to natural statistical variability or if there's actually a significant change in the structure thus indicating some abnormal behavior. So for uncertainty quantification, in the majority of cases, indicators are just assumed to be Gaussian distributed, which is our simplest kind of distribution. That can actually be justified often through the convergence properties of the indicators that we compute. So if we take time series, if we have some averaging in statistics from the central limit theorem, we can actually show that indicators are Gaussian or some of the indicators are actually Gaussian distributed. And then in these cases, the covariance that we can obtain contains all our uncertainty information, which would not be the case with more complicated distributions. Yeah, and then we can actually compute that covariance directly, for example, as a sample covariance if we have several instances of our indicators. And if that's complicated to do, we can also use some kind of sensitivity-based propagation of the covariance from sample covariance that is directly linked to the data, and then we can propagate that then to the computed indicators. In other cases, indicators may originate from pattern recognition or some more sophisticated statistical time series analysis, and then we can derive the distributions from those methods then. Regarding uncertainty treatment, I mean the main point is to obtain confidence intervals on our indicators, which is very easy in the Gaussian case. When we know the covariance, the standard deviation, or we know that in the three sigma interval, we have a 99.7% probability to have the true value in that interval of the indicator. And so if we have some scalar indicators, then we can directly use that to set up thresholds for multivariate indicators. We can use other tools like myelinobus distances, control charts to treat the uncertainty that is involved in the indicators, just to name a few. And in a general setting, we can use hypothesis tests where we can check for parametric changes in our system based on the underlying distributions of the indicators. And set up then thresholds for decisions from there, getting confidence intervals then based on the properties of such test statistics. So that was just for the general framework. And during the activities of working group two then, we launched a questionnaire among the participants to assess the current practice in quantification and treatment of the uncertainties. And the links between our measured quantities and the structural performance indicators. We asked the following questions. So we had the context of the work on the uncertainties, what sources of uncertainties are present in the work of the participants, how these uncertainties can be best described, how they are taken into account in the work and which methods are used to quantify them and to propagate them and to use these uncertainties for decisions. We received 18 responses from the participants that covered many different aspects in the proposed framework. So the main context of the contributions that we got all these five points. So we have analysis of measurement uncertainties of the use technology. We have uncertainties in data-driven performance indicators that are mainly used for damage detection. We have model-based performance indicators where uncertainties are due to unknown material characteristics and unknown model parameters. We have fatigue or reliability analysis where then we have both model uncertainties and measurement uncertainties and some contributions also in decision-making. Yeah, and then just to give an overview of the contributions that we got. So these contributions are on measurement uncertainties to analyze measurement uncertainties due to optical fibers or setting up in probabilistic model for measurement and inspection uncertainties in general. Uncertainties in data-driven performance indicators are mainly linked to vibration-based SHM to know the uncertainties of damage indicators. So here the main sources of uncertainties are measurement uncertainties and ambient excitation. We have a couple of contributions on model-based performance indicators where the uncertainties are due to unknown material characteristics like unknown soil properties, yeah, unknown environmental models. We have FE model uncertainty that is involved. And then for contributions in fatigue and reliability analysis, we have both model uncertainties and data-based uncertainties that are involved. Yeah, and two contributions on decision-making. So to sum up, the sources of uncertainties that are present in the works that we got, where we got the feedback on, are mainly modeling uncertainties due to unknown material properties, imperfect models for changing environmental and operational conditions, imperfect models for soil structure interaction, et cetera. We have measurement uncertainties, as mentioned previously, and we have contributions on the estimation and statistical uncertainties in general. The majority of the contributions that we got describe those uncertainties then through probabilistic models and statistical inference. So the description of indicators as random variables and random processes. And we just got, I think, one or two contributions that mentioned also fuzzy or interval-based methods or scenario-based models. Mainly, the methods that were used by the participants to quantify or propagate uncertainties are statistical methods and Bayesian inference, and also structural reliability methods then for fatigue and reliability analysis. Some contributions also used yeah, uncertainties cast in bounds by engineers, which are not really based on, or not strictly based on probabilistic principles. So, and then I guess the most important question was, are these uncertainties actually taken into account then in the works, or do they have an impact on decision-making actually? So, the presence of very different kinds of uncertainties is really widely acknowledged, and we also had a few contributions on the resulting statistical uncertainty of the indicators. However, though, often, or the uncertainties are at least partly quantified in the works, they are not always taken into account explicitly then in further analysis. So, we know that there is some uncertainty, but it's not actually treated or taken into account for decisions in some cases. Overall, there is probably a lack of consistency how uncertainties are classified, and also methods for the quantification and treatment of the uncertainties is really on a case-specific basis, and somehow a holistic framework or holistic approach is currently missing to globally treat them and classify them. In general, we found also that the concept of confidence intervals should play a more prominent role for decisions given the varied sources of uncertainties that are present everywhere in all parts of SHM and all parts of the treatment of the information that we get. So, there is really a wide range of techniques that has been used and the scope for categorization of them is really to improve consistency and transparency, also with respect to the framework for structural performance that was developed in networking group two. To conclude, so, as mentioned, a formal holistic and consistent treatment of uncertainties is required. We have uncertainties in all parts of SHM, in particular regarding the observations from diverse SHM technologies. The propagation of uncertainties from the data to the actual performance indicators, directly or indirectly with models, and taking into account model uncertainties, and then also uncertainties to take them into account for decisions, for actual decisions in life cycle management. The questionnaire that we have launched among the participants has shown that the importance of various types of uncertainties is really widely recognized. And, yeah, but decision theory tools and decisions that we make should really include then also the uncertainty quantification and treatment to move towards decisions with confidence levels. In general, working group two has evolved in accordance with the objective set and the memorandum of understanding. The big, yeah, the large feedback that we got from the participants during the action revealed that, well, the SHM applications in civil infrastructures are growing fast. We have different technology readiness levels in different sectors. There are big efforts in the links between monitoring data and evaluating them then through structural performance indicators. But the assessment of the SHM benefits beyond component level is still also in its infancy, so a more global approach, yeah, should also be invested in. The developed frameworks in the working group can improve common understanding and achieve desired levels of transparency and consistency, also with respect to the uncertainties that are involved in all parts of that framework. And as we have seen, the treatment of uncertainties is still patchy and more holistic approaches required. So there's probably quite some room for development, also, yep, then thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much, Gerd and Michael, for the overview of working group two activities with the focus on uncertainties, especially on the side of SHM. So this provided clearly the basis for one part of guidelines. We are, yeah, just producing. And of course, some of your points may be debatable, but I'm looking forward to that in the future. So for the moment, a few questions. We have some time, Michael. Yeah, thanks for nice presentations. I should say it was a very good overview and quite informative. I was a little bit puzzled by the second last slide, where you mentioned that the decision ranking should account for or should be undertaking with confidence levels. That I don't really understand what you mean. Maybe you can elaborate a little bit. Well, I guess the idea is that if we get some performance indicators, they have some uncertainty. So if we go to some thresholds where we know that with some confidence, everything is in order for our structure. We should take decisions and also based on these confidence levels in order to see with which probability things are actually in order or which are not, for example. So fundamentally, Neumann and Morgenstern they told us that we should rank decision alternatives in accordance with expected value of utility or benefit or whatever we call it. And that implies that all uncertainties are accounted for in the assessment of the expected value and that we don't, let's say, simplify or somehow... I don't know how to express it, but develop uncertainty representations which do not allow for consistent evaluation of the expected value like introduction of confidence intervals and corresponding values. So my proposition would really be to not account for uncertainties by introducing confidence intervals in any step of the process but simply to include all the uncertainties, of course, consistently as you also have underlined many times and then based on that to do expected value operations. I guess the uncertainties are already treated consistently during the analysis for the expected utility. Then that's fine. And then at the end the expected utility or what we get at the end since the uncertainties are included already we already have some confidence level then that we get at the end on the expected utility as well. So that's propagating then through and if you take decisions then those decisions are based already on those uncertainties with respect to some thresholds that are involved so there is also some... But if there are uncertainties associated with the threshold just include those uncertainties in the general model. Yeah, but if they are included then we get some confidence levels with which we take... Confidence levels? Okay, I think we will take this in some of the discussions and projects afterwards. Not on yet. No, it's on. Yes, this was actually one of the debatable points. Well, there may be something in it. To my view, I'm sorry, Mike. But on this level I think we need to be very aware of what Michael said, the foundations, which is the expected value of the utility and the axioms of utility theory. We should be aware of first point. Second, I think it's good to discuss and also to work on this basis. So in this sense, I would like to put this in this context, these debatable comments here or statements. And actually, I'm looking forward to take this later in the project. Thank you very much. Okay, there's one more question. Okay, there's still the morning, I think even Costa raised her hand before. I'm sorry, Mario and Fina. Actually, I wanted to make one point that probably you are actually very well aware, that once you use various theories, another issue is that you introduce a complexity. Everything depends on how you will build your likelihood. You assume a prediction model, you could assume it uncorrelated, give any correlation structure that you want, you'll get completely different uncertainties. Completely different uncertainties, posterior uncertainties. This is, I think, a problem that we have to really consider. I don't know if you have any thoughts about that. I know Gerda knows very well about that. I fully acknowledge and also in the fact sheet we've added a little bit of more detail on indeed the model that is postulated for the prediction uncertainty. And this is a key point because it's important to consider all possible sources of uncertainties and what you'll see in the literature is that in many cases, also in our work, we are using a simplified representation that is not covering everything. And we need to be well aware of all the limitations therein if we introduce those in a decision-making framework, so I fully support the statement. Okay, one last question, Maria Pino. It's a question that is a request of information. In the papers that you collected, is there already something about the probabilistic modeling of the indicators from vibrations, vibration-based indicators of damage? For the probabilistic framework of vibration-based damage? No, I mean... What you're asking is if statistical models for the indicators have been... Yes, indicators from vibration data. Yeah, sure. There are works that quantify the uncertainty from the indicators based on the properties of the data. So we propagate the uncertainty of the data basically to the indicators. So a statistical model is basically telling us that we've got some probability distributions of these indicators that are caused in most cases with a certain covariance. Well, that's the outcome of the direct propagation of the uncertainty to the indicators. So there is some paper about this. Yes, there is some paper about this. Thank you.


Media does a really great job at glorifying and putting white privileged kids, as you said, at the center of every movement. I've met so many black and brown girls who have experienced violence and who have to duck from bullets to get to school, but then we think of who we actually see on TV talking about those kind of situations. There are so many young girls of color and women of color who have been working their entire lives fighting for their voices to be heard, knowing that they don't have an equal chance at gaining that attention and getting that recognition, yet they still continue. I think that that resilience is so admirable, but it's sad when we don't hear their names and we don't know who they are. And they're just, they're non-existent to us because when we look on the news, we see the white kids who are making a difference and we see the white kids who are speaking out, but then we see some of the same black and brown kids who are saying the exact same thing and are not getting any attention for it. So I think that it's the media's problem. How could we go about fixing it? I think that we can raise awareness and we can stop being so comfortable in the way we look at things. I think that we can challenge ourselves in the certain faces that we think of when we think of somebody who is successful, somebody who has a lot of money, someone who is educated. When I say those words, you might think of a white person, but maybe we can start thinking of other people. We can challenge ourselves in the way that we think, like I said. So I think that the media and TV shows and books and movies have conditioned us to think a certain way. So I think it's important if we start to look outside of that box, because even I, growing up, have always wanted the white doll or have always wanted to be like the white princess. And just seeing how that is scary, seeing how that affects us, but I think that there's nothing like you said we can really do about the media because that's a really big issue and it's a culture. I think we can do it ourselves and change the way that we think.


Good morning again. We're in an unprecedented time, not only in the life of our country and the world, but also in the life of the church. Things have changed dramatically over the last six months. So we began to change even how we would begin to focus the work of this annual conference and what we would do, especially the theme. And I'd like to set the stage for you with a text that we've been using from the prophet Isaiah from the 43rd chapter. These are the words that have formed much of what we have chosen to do during this time. Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Sometimes we need to be reminded about what really is happening when we read just a small text like this from the prophet Isaiah or any other prophet or any other reading that we may do in the Bible. What's happened is, is a group of people, in fact, if we were to sort of describe them, the upper and the middle income folks have been carted off into exile in Babylon. It's because they were defeated. And so they find themselves among people whom they do not know, who do not share the same kinds of religious practices that all of people whom they think simply are not really anything akin to them. And they are like strangers in a foreign land. And they long for home. Where do we worship now? They're in exile. And I would imagine they began to think about what is home? What are we doing here? Can you imagine what it's like? In some respects, they have a large liminal space. I'll talk about that more in a few moments. And that is, is they are in a strange foreign land. How will they sing the Lord's song there? How will they even worship in ways that they never thought they could? Do some of those questions sound somewhat familiar? Susan Beaumont over a number of years, because of what's happening in the church, not just any kind of upheaval of things that we know about, but just the clash of the culture and the church in so many ways, said what we are really in in terms of the church are liminal moments. This is between the no longer, which is not was, and the not yet. The tendency is to look back because we can't see what lies ahead or imagine it, and so we begin to think about what this time is like even in our church. We think if we can just get back together, that's a valuable piece to do, that everything will be all right, but will it? We're between no longer and not yet. And on a couple of occasions, I've heard it described like this, if we could just get back to normal, and normal's different for each one of us. I can remember at times when people would talk about, can we get back to the good old days and I'm reminded of something I learned from my father, it's a little boy, and he said to my brother and me, he said, I remember the good old days, and I remember that our house burned. My father died when I was two. I was raised by my mother and my older brothers and my older sisters. He probably had too many mothers when you think about that. But he knew that they lived in a barn for a couple of years, had a small dairy farm. And he said every time somebody talks about the good old days, they were not good, but it got awfully old. Sometimes returning to what is really is not as good for a lot of people as we think it should be. We don't know how to define normal, but it's normal. There will be no new normal when we are able to sort of move past this time. What we know is what we really don't know much. But I will say is that something of which I've been very proud and has been very inspiring for me is to know that the lady and clergy of the North Texas Conference have responded and lived out in some very imaginative, creative, and faithful ways about what it means to be the church. And they've been able to worship virtually online and I have to admit there are times I wish I could just be with a few more people. But it's not that they've only worshiped virtually online, they have been in mission deeply, passionately, faithfully in the communities in which they are. New ministries, new spaces, even gathering new faces that has required their imagination. There are times there have been failures, but we would never risk anything if we were not aware that we might fail at something too. But what is happening is the broadening and deepening of the faith in creative ways. And I want to say thank you. A simple word of thank you to all of you for the way in which you've continued to live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus the Christ. We gotta think of the church in a way, I've been thinking about it for some time, but in a group that I'm in, studying something else, somebody, one of my colleagues, held up before us a book by Jonathan Sacks, called Morality. Jonathan Sacks was the chief rabbi in the United Kingdom. And he really began to talk the difference between contract and covenant. And we had to talk about it in this way because somehow we've gotten into the idea that our relationships are contracts with each other. That our work together as a church is a contract with each other. When in reality is it a covenant, it is a covenant. In the church, we're prone to see our relationships too often time as a contract. I can see it in a number of ways. I'll just sort of be very quick about the ways I've heard. If you don't get back to worship online, I'm going to another church. Friends, I know it's not what is pleasing, but you're in a covenant and you're all in this together. We're all in this together. Because it's not just about gathering on Sunday. But think about worship is really the rehearsal for what you do in the week. That worship is a rehearsal of life as it is meant to be lived. And this has been the opportunities for the gather virtually, but also even live more boldly and deeply into the communities in which we live. We really want things to be certain in life, don't we? It's really difficult, but we need more than anything as a clarity of our purpose, what it is that God is calling us to do. And knowing that we embark on that journey, that certainty will always elude us. But what happens in the midst of that journey will become clear that we will be continuing and what it means to be faithful stewards. So what did we learn? I must tell you that in March, when I said to the churches in both the districts of these districts, Metro and North Central, that we will cease gathering publicly face to face for a few weeks because of COVID-19. A week later, we said the same things to both the Northwest and East districts. We began to work at home. We began to do online worship through different platforms, and some of us learned a great deal. We knew that we had guiding principles to guide us. For me, always it was this, do good, do no harm, and stay in love with God. And I would offer to you that no church really closed. It just did it differently. The Bible faith of many of our laity and many of our clergy were evident. And just seeing your stories and hearing about some of the things that were being done through emails or word of mouth from a district superintendent really made me think that things will be well, all will be well when this time comes to an end. Well, the number of COVID-19 cases were increasing. You were still deepening your ministry in Jesus to the Christ. In fact, born out of one of our churches or one of our ministers and one of our lay persons began to gather we test, which is a way to test persons and underserved communities and three of our United Methodist churches that chose to host them about testing persons for the COVID-19 bars who are unable to get testing anywhere else. And I want to remind you about exile that there was a group of people who were locked back. And nobody thought about them. And one of the things that we've learned during this pandemic and this virus is there's a group of people that we know and it's become so clear is underserved. And I even unable to get a simple test to know if they were carrier, very symptomatic. I'm grateful to Dr. Reverend Richie Butler, the pastor of St. Luke and Dr. Chris Crow who's a lay member of Highland Park who engineered and recruited volunteers and raised funds. What did we learn? We learned to pass the ministry. We did learn it or it's made more evident. Questions I ask is what differences are we seeing? What's changed in the Christian community? What's changed in our community? And I have to admit there is even for me today that I'm sad that we cannot all gather in this sanctuary at St. Andrew, but we're still the church. What we learned is the United Methodist Connection is not built upon agreement about many things. It's except for the essentials. The United Methodist Church is really connected about its mission. It's mission that we have really begun to recover in some of your alarming, unique ways in the last several months. Related to what John Wesley did in the very beginning where in Bristol he discovered it's not just about saving souls, that was the most important thing. So don't hear me say anything less than that. It is the most important thing. Pissing children on the streets, knowing the fragility of life for so many people. The leaders of the town came to and said, what can you do? Well, we can teach children to read. We can offer ministry and prisons. We can help people's healthcare and those are the things that they did and more. So this connection really is a time in which we had allowed us to focus on our mission in so many unique ways and really explore what it meant to be made more perfect and love in this life. See, growing in perfect love is not how much knowledge we can accumulate, but how much of the love of Christ and the compassion for all of humanity we can get. I've asked it two or three times around the all different people. I said, it would be interesting to know how many meals United Methodist Church has served to people during the last six months or how much food was distributed. I'm reminded of a partnership and there's several of partnership between Lubbers Lane United Methodist Church and Christ Foundry who are close to each other. Dr. Stan Copeland and Espar are the past of those two churches and how they were able to secure produce from East Texas, how they were able to feed several people in the Christ Foundry neighborhood who literally were without a job because of the pandemic and the stay at home moors. And they learned that they could feed so many people between them and what they learned is with that market from East Texas of produce and the generous gifts of so many people and the work of those two congregations and other volunteers, people had something to eat. Looming hunger was a challenge before. It became more apparent during the pandemic and it is something we shall never forget to continue our work. I'm reminded about how many people really needed just a pat on the back on affirmation. Again, my affirmation, my appreciation for all of you but the Calvary Church in Paris, they took it as a step of ministry encouragement and they were looking at who really needs just affirmation in the Paris community. Is the medical community? People work in hospitals, school teachers and so they wrote note cards, they gave gift cards, they found ways to just simply affirm people's being and doing in such a way. How else did it happen? Were so many children now being educated online or learning online, especially in the spring and we know that there were so many people, so many children who probably were simply lost in that transition because of the lack and access to the internet. Their congregations have done some remarkable things, finding ways to run a virtual school. First, I met this church in Mesquite, has been doing it and is committed to doing that to help those in their neighborhood who have no access to help those children to have an education. The church in powderly is looking to do the same thing and how it is they're seeking to make that internet work so that it can be done. These virtual learning centers are way to be helpful to parents, single parents, two parents are working three jobs or any number way with people have no access or help. I think churches have begun to see some of our, see in our communities, see our communities with a greater vision of what it is God may be calling them to be. And while it was not safe together in the person, we've learned of what we could do. We could volunteer at a COVID-19 testing site, we could cook meals, we could distribute food, we could be even more generous and we could learn to use what skills, what skills for the benefit of people in our communities. You know, it's important to remember that Wesley was teaching children, as I said earlier, the prime music was also seeking to provide healthcare as fast as possible to those who didn't have any, but there's something to remember about Wesley and those early Methodists. They were ardent abolitionists in England and Wesley found the slave trade evil. You know, during this time, we've also discovered the deep fissures which exist in our society. We knew them, but now they are front and center.  I simply said that the sin of racism must be eradicated. You really do not need to read any other than the first chapter of Genesis and the story of God's creation when God simply made man and woman in God's image. That means it doesn't matter the color of a person's skin or his level of income or her inability to find a job that really creates any difference in how we see the person. That is if we see each one with what I call God's eyes, that each and every one of us and even persons whom we sometimes talked about as they for them are as loved by God as you are. And if they're loved by God and then perhaps we will start to think of them as our brothers and sisters, perhaps we begin to see them with God's eyes and we remind ourselves that racism is a challenge, not only for our country and our community, but even for our churches. Even before the incidents of the spring, last summer, I've been having conversations with a number of people about this and about how we really address racism and systemic racism as a church. Those conversations began last summer. We began to sort of think about how it is we would proceed. We knew that it's not something that we could simply have a simple program and say, now we've done it, it's over. In fact, we've done a number of those things before some of them have worked, they've been ongoing and it's time to retool and rethink. And that began in a public way with clergy at the clergy retreat last year, fall with fearless dialogues, which is a very fun way in which to have serious conversations that really speaks to those things that are challenging most of us don't wanna talk about. The things that we don't wanna even talk about at Thanksgiving with our families, what they're important for us to do. Those conversations continued with a vital conversation with Bishop Gregory Palmer being with us, talking about baptism, using the questions of baptism that we asked just a few moments ago about how we eradicate the sin, what do we do to live out what it means to be faithful. Again, that was a conversation of clergy around tables, a rich conversation last January, Covenant Day. But you know, we were all learning what systemic racism is, how it is that the people of God are really called to address that, how it is that we're starting to look at things a little differently and again to hear and understand things that I as a white man born in the 1950s, we just think that one time we had the Civil Rights Act passed, but it goes deeper than that. To the telling thing that happened to me happened, not happened to me, which I was made aware, was really not about George Floyd, although that was a marking point in terms of a deeper understanding, really began with an understanding of what happened to a jogger in New Brunswick, Georgia. A jogger, an African-American man who ran through that particular place in which I have passed through because of being at a Council Bishops meeting several times on St. Simon's Island, who'd run through and always sort of look at the house that was being built. I walk through every house in our neighborhood that's been torn down and has a new one being constructed. I like to see and trying to figure out, what is that room going to be? I imagine he had that kind of curiosity, but it's evidently something that happened a couple of times that so two white men in the neighborhood decided they saw a black man who maybe looked like the somebody they've been hearing about, and so they chased him down with guns. And shooting. And he dies. And the police come. And you want the police to? Well, they know those good old boys. And so they do nothing. Nothing would have happened except Ahmed Arbery's cousin was horrified. And he knew a reporter based in Atlanta for the New York Times. The reporter asked his editor, I'm gonna go cover this story. You have one day you cannot spend the night as during the height of the pandemic, you cannot spend the night and get the story. And he got the story. And only did the outside pressure from around the country and especially in the state of Georgia began to weigh upon them. And now those two white men were arrested. I wonder how this really would have happened for, I don't know perhaps. If it had been two black men who had killed a white man. I think this is where systemic racism comes in. Those two black men would have gone to jail that day and not over two months later as the white men did. You can, we inside a lot of statistics but the African American community suffers from the knowledge that somehow it's not right but they are immediately sucked back. Friends, that is called systemic racism. And it's wrong. And we need to speak out about it. And we need to be clear that all of God's children, all of God's children are making the image of God. So we've begun the work for the journey toward racial justice. It is work in which you will hear about many times over the course of the next year. There are three things in which we choose to do. Vital conversations first. The vision of vital conversations of which I've been apart and some of our clergy have been apart especially at Covenant A, calls us to engage one another in conversations about racism, cultural diversity and institutional injustice in ways that are candid, respectful, holy and transformational. What I've learned more than anything for me to do is to simply listen. Listen more than I speak. And from the musical, Hamilton. Hamilton was told by Aaron Burr. You should smile more. You should talk less, smile more and listen. I think the tendency for those of us who really understand racism is that, yeah, but, and I've discovered that I will never have a conversation for the next several years with yeah, but. Trying to make some kind of justification. Vital conversations are important and we will have many of them throughout the annual conference all over the annual conference in which I hope that you will engage and listen and speak with each other and not to each other. The second thing that we'll be doing is has to do with intercultural competence. One of the things is that we all sort of move through different cultures. And there are times I'm in a culture that I understand somewhat and there are times I am in a culture that it's really challenging to make. How do I navigate this? There are cultures in which I find myself most comfortable. Probably it's because I don't share their language, but I know it. There are times in which I don't understand how things happen, but what I do know is it's not just in Dallas, but throughout the whole North Texas conference. We're becoming a very different looking group of people. I'm not just talking about the church, but in terms of the state of Texas. Hispanic, Anglo, African Americans, people from South Asia, people from East Asia, Southeast Asia, people from Central America, South America. And that's a challenge. And in fact, in terms of intercultural competence, I'm very grateful to Reverend Tommy Palmer in the cocktail church who saw and looked around their community and they realized there are a number of people, a growing population of people who have moved here from India and they're Christians. And so this was a providential moment in which we were able to actually appoint and assign a person there, Samish Jacob, to be the associate pastor, a Methodist from India who will be serving there. It's the way in which we'll begin to make cross-racial appointments. We've done the same thing with two associate ministers who've been appointed to Custer Road United Methodist Church, David Rangel and Daniel Kim. Every neighborhood, every community, or I should say most, are changing in many different ways. But the change as always comes with children of God. The last thing we'll focus on and I have to tell you is one that we really do not know how to get to and we're in conversation with people about how it is we address this. The vision of institutional equity calls us to build systems, policies and processes in the North Texas Conference that level the playing field for all people. We've identified some of those inequities and really are beginning to work and think about how do we address them? What do we do? We work that we will all engage in as a conference because what it is, is we need to remember that God wants to introduce us to people whom we do not know or maybe people we have never met before from that particular region of the world wants to introduce them, us to them, so they may introduce them to the loving God. Frankly, we live in a covenant, not a contract. We live in a covenant with all of God's creation and that includes people who are different than we are. What reminds you about something that Martin Luther King Jr. said in a real sense, all life is interrelated. All are called an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny and whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.  We are connected, not just our churches, but with all of God's beloved children. This is the time in which the church and it's not only about racism, the time in the church's life in which we really will be embarking upon a new future. We are already living into it. Virtual worship has drawn more people to our churches than we can begin to imagine. I learned shortly after the pandemic began that some people were discovering many of our churches. They were meeting people virtually online. They'd never seen before people who lived in the community and it's like any crisis or anything that happened. Somehow people find a way as if we are wired to somehow have a relationship with God. And so one Sunday a family joined North Haven United Methodist Church virtually. I did ask the question, we didn't do a virtual baptism, did we? To which the answer was no, for which I was most grateful. But a family had to begin to worship with one of our churches and decided, I wanna be a part of that. And that's not only happened at North Haven, that's happened at any number of our churches and we probably could have testimonies for a period of time of how people have found your church. And it reminds me that no one church can appeal to all people, but all of our churches connected together with the different gifts and grace and the different passions that the lady in the clergy have in those churches really provide another place where someone defined the deep well of grace that resides in the United Methodist Church because of our essential teaching about what it means to understand convenient grace that even when we do not know it, that's how people get drawn to a church during this pandemic, even when we do not know it, that our God is always present, beckoning us into this grace. It's that God is going to meet you at a corner and you do not know. We're really good at justifying grace and knowing that it's the way we talk about this moment. We need to make sure these people have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but that relationship with Jesus Christ, Wesley was really clear. It's not just a one-time moment, but it's the span of life in which one grows more and more into the very likeness and life of Christ. And so it's like they put on the coat of Christ and they become made more perfect in love. And so finally what it really means to be Christian in our tradition is it's not about us. We all have desires and I want them as deeply and badly as most of you do about being in a full sanctuary with people singing, but I may have been as moved by what's happened outside the church as anything in my life. And maybe we've seen some other new things. We've actually broken ground in the new church. The militia United Methodist Church. I love Tommy Brumette and Stacey P. Eakin because I'm telling you they had that thing so we were all socially distanced. You didn't get out of the car without putting your mask on and you didn't get any closer than six feet. And Cammie Gaston, Matt Gaston were there and Ron Henderson were there, Owen Ross was there. And I mean, we were sort of like, we kept our distance and that was the first time I'd seen an event since the pandemic had begun. We were still being and doing the church and some of the ways we always had, but we will be a new church. And it's not that we can go back because it's no longer an either or it is a both and. So what I would say to you today, I think there's the challenge that in this liberal space we may have gotten a glimpse of a future. I pray to God that we have. Because remember, God does want to introduce to you to someone whom you do not know. So you may introduce them to the love of our Christ. I want to thank you again for the way in which you have responded in the last six months. What I thought would be six weeks is now six months. While some of our churches opened around the conference, we will now start beginning to speak with the churches in the messier district about when we will open. But we will do it with the protocols that are outlined. And we'll do it with the grace that is really becoming for who we all are. Do all the good we can. Do no harm. And help people understand that even during this challenging time, we have stayed in love with our God and Christ. God bless you. Thank you for who you are and what you do. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be in ministry with all of you. Thank you.


In this training video, we're going to look at the controlling connection points and adding connection points to Visio shapes So right now I've got a what's called and The brainstorming shapes. I've got a brainstorming stencil and I got a main topic, which is project management and then I've got lots of topics which are on the left and on the right as well as a Multitopic than the bottom right now I'm going to connect these to the main topic But for example, I've got there a wavy connector attached to the first Topic now if I try and connect this to the main topic As I stop getting closer It shows me there only eight connect the points. There's three little gray Dots on the top of the shape of the oval three at the bottom as we can see one left one right So that's 18 total But now I'm going to let go of this wavy connector shape So, you know, you've got eight connect the points. We've actually got six topics on the left hand side A further five on the left on the right hand side plus a multi top. It's in effect. We've got 12 shapes we want to Attach the top to the main topic But only eight connect the points now the only option now would be to Bring these kind of connectors towards and start doubling up you'd start doubling up on Connect the points to make them connect effectively. So the reason for connecting is if the shape moves So does the line go with it? That's that's the benefit of connecting to these connected points So I'm going to add more connect the points here to give me the ability To add more of these connectors to connect the points without doubling up on any of them So to do this you could I select the shape first I Change the zoom now to make the zoom much bigger because this can be quite fiddly work. So I'm going to change the zoom to I'm gonna go for 75% so that lets me concentrate now more on the main topic and to Control the connector points. It's on the home tab in the tools section of ribbon does an X When you turn this X on The second paragraph is what's important where it says hold the control key and click where you want to add that move or delete a connector point So soon you turn it on you got to go to the to the shape and then hold a control key and then click around the Shape where you want to connect the points. So I'm turning X on now And now you can see the little gray dots showing the connector points But I'm going to move my mouse on the outside of the Blue oval hold my control key down as the paragraph instructed me to do And now you you'll get a little hazy kind of X symbol Now this X symbol I'm going to click just on the outside of the of the blue oval all the time So I've got my control key held down and I click and then you get a red dot and the red dot means you connect it You've formed the connector point. So we'll try again. There's another red one another red one So I'm gonna put a couple on some of them are put inside the shape working changes afterwards Okay, the one is inside the shape I can click on and I can delete There's one gone another one done at that one delete So I'm doing a click on and I'm deleting them another one there turns red delete Gonna put one at all more Just click correctly. There we go. That's better Maybe one more here. I don't like that one. That's just a bit too much inside the shape So I'm gonna click on it and I delete it as well. I want it just there It's just going inside the shape a little bit so you can always click on them and delete them I'll delete that one. I think I've got enough. I've got enough units to get get me going So I've got more now, so if I look around I got one two three four five six seven eight nine Ten eleven twelve thirty. I got fifteen of them now so that's plenty for the shapes that I've got as soon as you've finished with the Connection point To you got to go back to your mouse pull my mouse pointer tool to turn me to get your mouse back So point the tool we'll get my mouse back now I can start I Can change the zoom to the standard zoom now, which is a whole page And now if I start pulling the Connectors I can see how many connect the points. I've got to choose from now So I can put one Here and I can move around a bit and I can just copy this This way we connect a couple of times to connect some more So I'll just do one or a couple more. So connect that to there It's one more Move to there Just get the shape back a bit move to there And you get the idea of how it's working. So this and Connectors connected the connector points after added extra extra connection points so this completes the video on adding connection points and also deleting one or two if they go out of sync and Do this effectively by changing this room make this room bigger You've got to go to the home tab turn the X on for the connection points when you've done that Hold your control key down and click on the outside of the edge of the shapes to actually get extra connected points But this completes the training video on connection points and adding more connection points to a Individual shape, but you can also do it for many many different shapes. This can please a training video on adding deleting and controlling connection points for Microsoft Visio shapes If you enjoyed this video, make sure you like and subscribe to our channel Hope to see you for the next tutorial and thanks for watching


hey guys what's up welcome to my channel for today's video we have a negative one i'm gonna be talking about products that i don't recommend for the sephora savings event i've already done my haul i've already done a recommendations video but i wanted to put together a video of things that are from the new arrivals page that i personally wouldn't recommend for you guys now that being said there are a number of products here that i know a lot of people love so don't go just buy my own experiences but i still want to share them with you and why i personally don't recommend these products i love the sephora spring savings event you guys know that it's always a really exciting time of year for me as a creator it's really fun for me as a makeup enthusiast i love to buy so much stuff just a great time for a discount on makeup and you know products that i've just been wanting to test but there are some stuff that i'm like weary about and there are specific brands that i don't think you should purchase from during this event so the first thing we need to talk about brands pay attention to which brands have what sales because there are certain brands that will have better sales than what sephora will offer you for example i did not recommend a single pat macrath product because we know pat macrath has a crazy 30 35 one time a 50 off sale think of brands that go on sale i know urban decay goes on sale a lot fenty just had their friends and family sale make up forever just had a 30 off sale so just be mindful of that that's why there's a certain number of brands that i just didn't recommend but other than that for today's products i pulled new products from these forest lists that i just wasn't feeling so let's get started with foundations this is the new makeup forever hd skin foundation it's not that it's a bad foundation honestly like i like it it does its job it's just that i'm really disappointed that they replaced this the ultra hd foundation was one of my all-time favorites that one is so much better than this one this one does not wear as well it doesn't look as pretty on the skin it still looks pretty on the skin but it's not one of my all-time favorite foundations and i'm just mad that they reformulated it to this because it's just simply not as good i haven't loved a lot of the foundations that have come you know when i tried them they were great i loved the gnar's and one of the d or but the rest i've been like able to make it work able to make myself like it but then i wear a foundation that i really love and i'm like oh these new foundations aren't very good and this one again not on the top i wasn't going to talk about this one but also the costas is not on the top it's not bad but it's not great and as some my ricks not bad but it's not great so many just their middle of the road you know not really worth the money but the next major one that i wanted to talk about was the charlotte tobury beautiful skin i talk about this a ton and not liking it so if you've watched my videos you know i don't like this but yeah i don't like this it's very disappointing and i continue to make a point to talk about it because it is so pricey and i love charlotte tobury one of my all-time favorite makeup brands but this one just wasn't cutting it for me it looks really heavy on my skin it sits on top of my skin it doesn't really ever look like my skin at all it looks very heavy and it also just like wears terribly but there's not really a saving grace for this my face has to be completely unpowdered for this to work for me and in florida that's just not going to work so yeah this is still one of the most popular foundations a lot of people really love it so just take my experience with the grain of soul i do have more dry skin so keep that in mind as well but yeah no charlotte tobury's foundations in general aren't that great so yeah for me at least and then the last foundation that i wanted to talk about i wanted to like this one so bad it had potential but the one size turn up the base beauty blur balm cream did not end up working out for me i was really on the fence i had to wear this a number of times because the first time that i wore it it looked kind of bad up close but then i looked like took a step back and i was like oh it looks really great though it looks light my skin looks really blurred it looks really even but honestly that's the reoccurring trend with this i find it looks pretty good as i wear throughout the day when i look in the mirror i'm like wow you know my skin looks really nice and natural and then i get really close and i can see it swimming into all of my dry patches into dry patches that i didn't know existed it just isn't cute super up close and while it looks fine from the normal distance people are going to stare at you just a lot of other foundations where you look good up close further away i just feel like this needs to be reformulated because it is a unique texture it's a unique consistency it's a unique formula on the market in my opinion but it's just they didn't master it so if we can get it mastered to where it looks good from all angles and all the distances i think i would really like this so hopefully we can get that figured out right because a lot of potential here next up i have a concealer that i did not end up loving that is the kvd good apple concealer yeah it just doesn't look pretty as it wears when i first get it down i think it looks really beautiful but it ends up just looking a little bit too thick and creepy underneath my eyes i don't know i just it looks really heavy on under my eyes i have other concealers that i prefer this is a little finicky with the powders that i use it doesn't accept all powders so yeah i was disappointed because i actually did really love the foundation version of this but nothing about this really reminds me of the foundation formula wise it just feels like a random overly hydrating concealer that ends up breaking up and not looking good and i've heard a number of you actually who said you had mature skin say that you love it but i've also had a lot of people saying that they didn't like it so it seems to be a really mixed bag here but yeah i was on the end that i don't like it so i personally don't recommend it okay let's move on to the eyeballs i was on the fence of mentioning these in this video because it's not that i don't like these it's just that i think you need to make a mindful purchase do your research and know what you are purchasing so these are the new tom Ford formula the eye color quad creams and the reason why i want you to be so thoughtful about this is because these are $89 pallets so there are two shades that i personally own the first one is the one that's currently on my eyes this is tiger eye really pretty neutral shades this is the one that i got on my eyes very very pretty and then i have rose topaz i know a lot of you guys were eyeing these this is a new formula from tom Ford it's really creamy it's like a cream to powder kind of situation here not super creamy but it's a hybrid that's a good way of putting it it's a hybrid cream powder and i like her but i don't know that it's worth the price so this is definitely going to be for a specific customer it doesn't really cause any fallout it's super easy to apply but as you can see it is quite subtle and we have a lot of shimmer going on on the lid because there's not a single matte shade if you're looking for quick makeup for work you're going to like these they don't give you too much color or anything if you like the elegant sophisticated kind of satin finish that tom Ford is going to give you then again i think you're going to like this if you like really precise looks you like to see where the different colors are placed you like each color to stand on its own you're not going to like this if you like pigment you're not going to like this if you like extravagant makeup with glimmers texture all of that you're not going to like this so just be aware that it's for a very specific customer if you're liking the description that i'm giving you then i think you will like these and these would be a good pickup for the event if you like the stuff that i said you shouldn't like if you like this then also stay away so just be careful it's a 89 dollar purchase i want you to be mindful and this is not a new product but i did see it was new on this de floral website so i thought i'd throw this in this is the denessa myricks i don't know what these are like the multi chrome flakes i i can only speak on the one color that i have i heard sometimes the colors may work different but at least don't buy moonlight here this is not a pretty glimmer in my opinion at all it applies very uneven you definitely need to have a base underneath but the problem that i have with this is the consistency of it is almost like a gel so even if i put a colored base underneath it breaks it up and causes it to crease so it doesn't end up looking good anyways so i don't like this as a lid top or i don't like it on its own it makes my eyelid feel sticky it takes a long time for these to dry down you literally have to take a fan to your eyes your eyes close in order for it you to be able to open your eyes and not mess up the makeup it's just real finicky and i don't like it i don't like the way that it looks so buy or beware i talked about this in my haul and this is the one product that i decided after one wear i don't really like this this is the melt cosmetic slick waterline eye pencil the word slick on there is key because it is really really slick to the point where i lose control with this and my eyeliner is a mess so you'll see even when i just put it on my waterline i got it kind of clumped up here because it deposits so much color at once i can't control it it is too much of a good thing it really really is i put it on a brush and then i ran it along my upper lash line because yesterday when i tried it i put it along my upper lash line and it was just a hot mess express no control with this the only reason i would recommend this is if you simply are just going to use it in your waterline because i do think it lasts a decent amount of time but even then i had trouble controlling it in my waterline and i just don't think it's worth the trouble really and also my under eyes like it did not wear well yesterday either in terms of i had so much darkness right here by the end of the day it definitely transferred so yeah this is definitely like the only product that i tried in my haul from the first try that i 100 no i don't i don't like this so i popped it in this video there's like a few other products that i tried for my haul that i'm like on the fence about like the hood of beauty while i like it i don't love it but i want to use it some more before i can truly say that the degore concealer i'm messing around with so there's a couple things that cosmetic cc like those i am not sure about but i'm watching but this is the only one where i'm like no i don't like you okay the final category that i have to share with you is lips so the first one is a specific lipstick color because i can't speak for the whole line this is the only color that i have but be aware of the abh lipstick in the shade haze i love always buying the lightest lipstick there's a super duper light i would recommend this only if you're going to put it like right here right in the center but it's not comfortable it feels drying and it gives you a bottle lip and part of that has to do with i bought the lightest lightest shade and their lightest shade is truly extremely light so that also is by your error but if this is a representation of the rest of the lipsticks in the line then i wouldn't recommend any lipstick from the line though you guys have confirmed with me i've had a few for you tell me that you thought the lipsticks were beautiful which is why i'm only speaking of this shade in particular then okay it's not the lipsticks i like the lipsticks this is the fenty beauty lipstick case i actually do enjoy the lipsticks individually so the lipsticks are gonna come like this you know very unfinished packaging very cheap looking and then you don't need to but there's a case that you can buy and oh here's how you open it you twist it and you pop the lipstick in here and here's the lipstick so it's interchangeable it's supposed to be environmentally friendly you can argue that but honestly it's very expensive it's $12 and i think the lipstick is 18 making the whole lipstick and the component $30 that is so expensive that is robbery the fenty bullet lipstick before this was $18 with the case now this is what you get for $18 the lipstick price didn't even go down so i can't respect it as an environmental move if um they're charging you $30 for it when their last lipstick was 18 and it had a case but anyways i like the lip gloss formula i just think the case is overpriced for what it is the lipstick works without the case yes the lipstick case is very luxurious but i don't think you need it and that's that okay the last product that i have in today's video i actually had it in like my favorites i loved it but i've come to the conclusions i don't recommend you buy it this is the natasha denona i need a rose lip gloss there were three shades it was a collection of three lip liners three lipsticks and three lip glosses all corresponding so there were three different shades within the whole line i just don't like natasha denona's lip gloss formula i liked this with the system i liked it with the lip liner the lipstick and then the lip gloss to finish it but if you're gonna buy the lip gloss individually don't even waste your money there are so many better lip gloss formulations on the market that i'd recommend you spend your money on this is really truly subpar she needs to reformulate these they disappear in like three seconds i swear they don't give off too much pigment which is fine if they don't give us too much pigment but they need to last this does not last there's not a special thing about this formula at all so save your money it's not like i said it's not that as bad it's just i'm comparing it to all of the other lip glosses at sephora that are available to you and that just that that ain't it that's not ever one that i would say you should buy all right guys there we have it those were the newer products from sephora that i don't recommend even though obviously i'm a consumer channel i'm constantly testing products constantly pushing out recommendations to you guys as always i want you to be responsible with your money make responsible decisions make thoughtful purchases that's why i do what i do to help you out i love doing these roundups here to help you out and make you think about your purchases and if you're watching this clearly you're doing the research so i hope that this was so somewhat helpful to you so i hope you guys enjoyed this video thank you guys so much for being subscribed to my channel and liking this video and i will catch you guys in the next one bye guys have a good one


Hi what's up you guys, this is the girl so with Whit Whit and welcome back again to my YouTube channel. Today we are going to learn how to alter or adjust bodice patterns. If you remember my last tutorial for bodice pattern making, I wasn't satisfied with the result of my bodice on my dress form. This time I am going to teach you guys the correct way to alter patterns for the right fit on your model or your dress form. Before we move on to the tutorial, please be a doll and make it sure to hit that subscribe and bell button and if you are new to my channel make it sure to check out my pattern making and sewing tutorials. Here are the tools and the materials that we need for this tutorial. Pattern papers, back and front bodice block, masking tape, fashion rulers, paper scissors, pencil, and eraser. First step that we need to do is trace the back and front bodices on a piece of pattern paper. Once we are done tracing, we can now move on to the next step, fitting the armhole. As you guys can see on this video on my thwall, the armhole ease is way too much and we wouldn't want that for our clients or for our own garments. We will adjust the fit of the armhole starting on the side seam of our bodices. Here's a quick illustration how to do it. Next step, here I am doing the same thing as seen on the illustration. I marked in 4 eighths inches on the side seam, extended a line from this mark, blending it to the bodice waistline. So for the back, it's also the same with the front bodice. Mark in 4 eighths inches on the side seam, extend a line from this mark and blend it going to the waistline. Next step, fitting the shoulder seams. As you guys can see on the video, there's a lot of excess ease on the shoulder seam and we will fix that by decreasing the ease. Here's a quick illustration how to do it. On the shoulder length, mark down to 8th inches. From this mark, extend a line going towards the neck tip. For the back shoulder length, we should close the shoulder dart when extending the line. Next is, fitting the gait on the front armhole. Gaping is a default in pattern making. It's alright to have gapings on your first bodice pattern drafts but we should all know how to alter our patterns to remove the gapings. Here's a quick illustration how to do it. Draw a line from bust point going to the mid armhole where the gaping is located. Mark down 2 eighths inches from the mid armhole. From the 2 eighths inches mark, extend another line going towards the bust point. And it will look something like this. Next, cut through the first line making two panels from this pattern. Put the first panel on top of the second panel and your patterns should look like this. Next, we will need an extra pattern paper to attach the patterns in place. And then I will adjust the second panel and the new dart opening. First, I will redraw the second dart leg to the bust point. Next, close the front dart and draw a sliver blending towards the side waistline. Cut this line and now you have your new front dart. So guys, this is my new back and front bodices well altered or adjusted. And of course, make it sure to make new blocks for these patterns. And voila! This is the previous bodice that has a lot of ease and the new bodice with the right ease and movement allowance. And finally, I can truly say that I am satisfied with this new adjusted bodice. Armhole is just the right fit. There are no gapings on the armhole and shoulder seams and it's just the right fit. Anyways, I hope you guys learned something new and thank you guys again for watching. And please please please don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel SewitWitBrit and be part of our growing community. And I'll see you guys again on the next tutorial. Bye!


A mysterious bee, Seventeen has found its final resting place in the swampy jungles of Papua New Guinea. In the jungles of Papua New Guinea, the impacts of conflict are still evident from World War II. Some people might not know that Papua New Guinea is actually the scene of one of the deadliest battles in human history. This is the story of adventurers who took a stroll into the jungles of Papua New Guinea and were shocked at what they found. World War II is one of, if not the, single deadliest conflict in human history. This war raged from 1939 to 1945, with the United States being pulled into the conflict by Japan in December of 1941 with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States brought the full force of its massive industry to bear on the fledgling Japanese Empire, however, in 1942, the United States was still relatively new to the fight. They were learning how to manage a military over the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. The United States sent a B-17 flying fortress, a formidable bomber, on a long bombing run across the Pacific. The days of GPS would not arise for some time and, in 1942, people had to pilot their planes using maps and compasses. Somehow, the plane ended up running out of fuel over Papua New Guinea. The crew quickly realized this end, at the time, there aren't exactly airports around on which to land, particularly not in 1942. At this time, the Japanese Empire controlled much of the Pacific Ocean. They looked around but could not find a friendly place to put the plane down over Papua New Guinea. As a result, they knew the plane was likely going to go down. The plane slammed into the ground at high speeds, however, the crew did what they could to find a relatively flat area on which to rest the plane. Somehow, the crew was largely unscathed after the landing. They couldn't seem to figure out why or how none of them were hurt. In many cases, plane crashes end up in a fiery ball of death, however, this didn't seem to happen this time around. Somehow, they had managed to put the plane down in a swamp instead of on hard land. For this reason, the impact was softened and the crew was able to survive the initial impact without suffering any major injuries. The crew took a look around and tried to get their bearings. Many of them were disoriented following the crash landing. They were able to identify some locals on Papua New Guinea who were able to help them figure out where they should go next. Miraculously, they were able to communicate with these people and started the long trek to find assistance. They probably never thought they would see the plane again. After all, it was just going to become part of the landscape of Papua New Guinea. For more than three decades, the plane simply sat there. When it comes to Papua New Guinea, this is easy to understand. Many people who search for treasures in these jungles end up facing mosquitoes, predators, diseases, and other threats. For this reason, the downbeat 17 simply sat there for more than 30 years. It had become one with the tropical jungles of Papua New Guinea. Then, in 1972, all of this changed. Some Australian pilots were conducting a routine military exercise in the 1970s over the island of Papua New Guinea. They noticed that something was sticking out of the swamp. The plane was still largely intact because it had enjoyed a soft landing in the swamp of Papua New Guinea. As these Australian soldiers took a look around, they could see the tail of the downed American plane from 30 years ago. The Air Force was happy to figure out what had happened to the famous plane. The locals of Papua New Guinea had actually given the plane a nickname called the Swamp Ghost. The plane had, in fact, landed in a swamp. Despite running out of gas, the plane was still largely intact. It looked like AB-17. Because it still looked relatively intact the name fit. Even though the plane needed to stay in Papua New Guinea, there were some people who still wanted to learn more. One gentleman couldn't just let the plane be. Alfred Hagan was obsessed with aircraft from the World War II era. As a result, he devoted much of his time to tracking down and learning more about aviation artifacts. When he heard about the aircraft on Papua New Guinea, he decided that he had to learn more. He wanted to see if there was anything that could be salvaged from this plane as well. Now, this gentleman was not alone in his pursuit of this plane. He also gained the backing of a famous restaurant owner. This entrepreneur also spent his time collecting classic planes. When he heard there was a downbeat, 17 waiting in the jungle of Papua New Guinea, he knew that he had to learn more about it. Therefore, he also joined the hunt for the Swamp Ghost. He donated quite a bit of money to the cause and wanted to learn more about the storied history of this great plane. This was only the latest in the long line of planes in which this restaurant owner was interested. Together, the two teamed up to organize an expedition that was set up to locate this legendary plane. The local authorities did not exactly want to have visitors going through the jungle looking for something that had generated so many tourist dollars for the small country. This country depends on tourist dollars to support the small economy and provide for the local population. Therefore, they bristled at the thought of people trying to learn more and possibly seize this legendary plane. They had gotten used to having this plane on the island. It had been there for 30 years. They wanted it to stay that way. Therefore, if the team wanted to learn more about this plane, they were going to have to do so on their own. Next, the team decided to get to work. The airplane had become an important attraction for the island. Therefore, it did not take the team long to figure out where it was located. They simply had to talk to some of the locals and look at some of the pads that have been carved out over time. As I walked down the path, they quickly ran into the crash site. Shockingly, the plane still looked pretty similar to when it first went down decades ago. The team brought in a group of professionals, including cameramen, to oversee the process of learning more about the famed airplane. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to realize this operation was not going to go as smoothly as they had hoped. While the plane might have looked good on the outside, the swamp had not been kind to it over the years. As I learned more about the plan, they realized it was actually in sorry shape. The swamp was filled with chemicals I had eroded the plant over time. In particular, the metal hole that used to support the plane had decayed in the years that had been there. Furthermore, a lot of the wildlife had turned the plane into their home. Even dedicated explorers like the two taking a look at this famous airplane wondered if it could be saved. They thought the jungle of the island had finally reclaimed the plane. They did not give up there. They knew they had to try harder. Therefore, the team decided to stick to its original goal of rescuing the plane. Even though the bomber had to create overtime, they knew it was still going to be very heavy. Furthermore, they felt like if they lifted the plane up off the ground, it will simply fall apart. This brought them cause for concern. Then, they decided that I need to try something a bit unique. They wondered if there was a way for them to relocate the plane piece by piece. Over time, the plane has become famous. In many ways, it was called the holy grail of military aviation. Therefore, the team decided to take his professionals and try to cut the plane into pieces. Then, each piece of the plane could be taken out of the jungle piece by piece. Alone, this process is going to take them weeks. This is going to sink a tremendous amount of time and money into saving a plane that has largely been decayed to by the jungle. While some people might have questioned their dedication, others found an admirable. Slowly but surely, they cut the famous plane into multiple pieces. They tried to work as quickly as possible. They didn't want to give others time to interfere with your work. In addition, they also rent a military helicopter from Russia to help transport the pieces of the plane to a barge that was nearby. Then, this bar to carry the pieces to wherever they need to go. Eventually, the team had cut apart the entire plane into smaller pieces that could be transported individually. This required countless hours but was eventually finished. Eventually, the team was ready to transport the plane back to the United States. It had cost more than $100,000 to complete the project. In the eyes of the team, this was a worthy investment. While many people looked at it as a success, others are not as thrilled about it. The locals were very upset that people were taking away the local treasure. The United States Air Force had already surrendered salvage rights to the plane back in the 1960s. The local Icelanders believed that they were the rightful owners of the plant. After all, the plane had generated countless tourist dollars for them, helping them support the small island country. People local to the area where worried the loss of the plane would deal an irreparable blow to the economy. The people who salvaged the plane insist that it wasn't about the money that could be generated by saving the plane but about the challenge. The plane belonged to the United States Air Force went on down and it simply was going back to where it belonged. Furthermore, the plane is now displayed in a museum where plenty of people are able to come and visit. It serves an important purpose as it educates people about World War II. Furthermore, there are also numerous veterans who like to come by and see the plane for themselves. It brings back memories of the service they provided to their country. On holiday season, a young boy was discussing World War II with his veteran grandfather. This gentleman decided he wanted to share a story from the past. This gentleman told a story of a fighter plane from World War II that crashed behind the farm of his family in 1944. The plane was not present in the field, which was being used for farming at the time. The boy recalled the story of his grandfather and he believed that some of the stories from his grandfather were true while others were not. He doesn't recall seeing any metal to back up the story. Just cattle. As far as the boy knew, the story was just that, a story. Teachers eventually gave his son homework to research World War II. The man joked with his son to go and check out the plane that supposedly crashed in the field. Because the project involved his own family, the boy was excited. He jumped into it wholeheartedly. Therefore, the son decided to grab his metal detector. He and his dad went out there. They were hoping to find something they could show at school.  There was something underneath the boggy ground behind the house. The family started digging with spades first. Then, they asked a friend to borrow an excavator. They had to dig down five yards to make the discovery. The excavator started to make a lot of headway. They pulled out mounds of dirt and discovered metal mixed in with the dirt piles. Some pieces of metal were big while others were small. The family believes that together they collected thousands of pieces of metal. They found that the metal belonged to the cockpit of the plane. They knew they were on to something and kept digging. The family decided they needed to keep digging. They uncovered a motor. It turns out the motor belongs to a German fighter, the BF 109. This was a feared plane. They decided to keep digging. The family found clothes that belonged to a pilot. They even discovered personal things, such as a Bible. Finally, they even uncovered the bones of a dead pilot. The family knew that they needed the help of experts at this point. They contacted the authorities who continued the work and tried to identify the pilot. The experts continued to dig. They eventually found the service record of the pilot. Even though this was degraded, there was enough there to read his name. The pilot was only 19 years old at the time. He was from Lithuania and flew for the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. They also found food stamps and Danish coins. The wreckage was the pilot's resting place for 70 years. They decided to return him home for burial. Clearly, the school project had quickly evolved into something more. The wreckage of the plane, along with the pilot's belongings, was sent to a museum. There, it is on display to educate everyone who comes to see it. Of course, the student earned an A and on his project. He had clearly gone above and beyond the instructions of the assignment. The student was also given the day off from school. He got to watch the authorities work and was even interviewed by a local TV station. Clearly, the grandfather was not just telling a tall story. This is a reminder that everyone should listen to the stories of our elders while they are still alive. Their wisdom can be a powerful source of guidance.