Don't exercise, Hassan. Thank you. So we're back here in London two years after we were here in February of 2020. Christian, this week until the end of this month could be critical. Do you think there's a chance this could be a result of this? I hope it. I hope certainly that this will be the end of it. And I mean it is incredible to think that it's all now for the first time in the power of a politician to end this here on this ground and pretty much tell if she wants to think about her legacy she should think about her legacy as all politicians should do and do the right thing in this case. I mean two years ago, yes, we were entering the courtrooms. Julian has been in the prison for more than three years now. What the court proceedings have basically shown is very clearly the political nature of the case. That is the expose of the judicial process. It's not about the law anymore. So now it's a critical junction. Now it is in the hands of pretty potential to end this and I must be optimistic. When Vanessa Baraitse made her decision, there was some hope obviously that he could be free, but it was political then wasn't as well by the rest of her decision. Well, how did you feel at that time? Well, I was surprised by the decision in the magic court, but I was surprised by the fact that she would only do it on health ground and totally fight with the Americans on the merits of the other points. That was surprising. Now we know the reason because the high court felt that it was easy to dismiss it because of the so-called assurances by the US government. But bear in mind that actually the high court did not change the emphasis on the simple fact that Julian is in a very precarious state, that he is a suicide risk if accepted, but he will not be able to withhold isolation in the cells in Virginia or in supermarkets or any other prison in the US in pre-trial or post-trial detention. So the courts have acknowledged the risk. So it was so surprising to see the high court only on the basis of one piece of paper, so-called assurances that they will treat Julian fairly in the prisoners in the US, especially giving the fact that that document has a clause saying we retain the rights to change our position at any time. So it's nothing but, it's not an assurance at all. So Amnesty International said it's a travesty of justice because what the high court did basically was to sentence man to a possible death according to their own estimate. If you look at the Emeritus of the US document. Pretty much help can end this, but there are still avenues for appeal of course. We call it cross appeal, but it is basically appeal to the high court where you present all the important points that have been exposed and points that have not been discussed in any courtroom here in any details. You know the recent story about that has not been refuted that there was a plot to kill or kidnap Julian here in London etc by the CIA. So, but this will only prolong this misery and enough is enough. The high court didn't dare challenge the condition of American prisons or his health status. They didn't even go there. They just took these assurances. Will they in your view be reluctant to take a cross appeal if it's to come to that? It's the same judges, is that why I understand, right? Yeah, but these judges have not probed into the details of anything except A, Julian's health and B, prison conditions in the United States and the treatment there. So they will have all the other elements, the important elements that were discussed at length in the Magistrate Court, but totally disregarded by the high court because that was not the appeal point. The appeal point was the Americans lost who wanted to, so their job was to convince the high court judges that Julian was not in a poor health and secondly that they could treat him very well and the U.S. prisons were very fair and very cozy. But on the one point the high court did not rule basically alongside the Americans. They did acknowledge the fact that he is at a health risk, asked it for a reason. So the only point that they sort of used in their turning of the decision was this piece of paper called Assurances and it's absolutely extraordinary and I've talked to many lawyers, experienced lawyers, that when the Supreme Court denied to take that point into consideration and basically saying this is not a point of law, that is extraordinary. If you think about it, the anomaly there is over one thing. The party that lost the Magistrate case was allowed to present new things, new evidence, so-called evidence, or these assurances in the appeal process. Usually you're not allowed to do that. Julian's lawyers were not allowed to present the CIA case or the reputation of one of the key witnesses in the case into the appeal process because that's new evidence. You're not supposed to be able to do that. However, the Americans were allowed to hand over the so-called diplomatic assurances and on that basis entirely they overturned the decision. That is a contention for the Supreme Court to decide because this is, we'll set an example in the future and usually in court proceedings, if a new element is presented to an appeal court and the appeal court says, okay, this changes everything. The case is sent back to the Magistrate Court. That is the court that has heard all the evidence over the weeks, not the appeal court. For this case, on the marital one piece of paper, they overturned the decision. Amazing. And the fact that the Supreme Court did not take this up and review it simply was an indication that they did not dare to because they knew that they could only come to one decision in that case, that this was a travesty of justice. So this piles up on and on and that is exposed, as I said, this is not about the law. It's not a judiciary question. It's a political one. The Supreme Court potentially changed extradition law by this decision because the issue was when, at what point in the process, you can put these promises in and by not hearing it, it seems now that it could put it in at any time. And that was something that was a major issue, not just in Julian Assange's case, but in general. Were you surprised that the Supreme Court did not take the case? Frankly, I was surprised because it was such a natural case. I mean, I've never seen a case so fitting to be taken up to a higher court, the Supreme Court here or the Constitutional Court in any other European country, because it's a key point in a judicial process. And now they've set the example. The losing party, if they have good backings in America, especially, they can basically, if they lose, they can come, hang on. All right. Here is a piece of paper, assurances, changes to everything. I mean, the Americans had every opportunity in the Magistrate Court to answer the accusation of bad treatment in free trial and post trial detention. They did not. They went out of the way to basically portray their prison system as ideal, excellent. And even the super much prison in Colorado was basically being depicted as a country club where people could play bridge. And yes, of course, they could communicate. They could shout between souls when they were locked out 24 seven. So they went out of the way to justify the system. When they lost on that point, they decided, okay, then we'll change our tune. Totally unacceptable. James Lewis said, we had no idea that she would take this health into consideration, but we had days of testimony on his health. It's surprising because the Supreme Court took the Swedish case back for 10 years ago or more. That was far less consequential than this. And yet they wouldn't touch this. And I also thought they would at least make the pretence of going through a due process by having by taking that case about about Gillian's health. Of course, we now know that he had a stroke on that very first day. But that stroke had to become known to the high court. This is the question. When did they know that his health had deteriorated even further than what had been when Rachel made her decision? Did they know about it before they decided to agree with the matter? Do you know this? Can you speak about it? Well, I mean, as far as I know, the doctors are cautious and they took them a considerable time to decide that this was a stroke, a so-called menstrual. It does not do lost lasting damage, but in a high proportion of cases, it's an indication of a possibility and a higher risk of a full stroke. So it's a very serious warning. But it did not do lasting damage. And of course, he got medication to counter that. But it took time to process and the doctors wanted to be careful. So it took time for them to come to the decision and basically declared this was a menace. Well, the high court had to know because it was announced the next day after their ruling that he had had this stroke. Now, you know that in Alexander detention center, where he'll first go, there's no doctor according to testimony. Who was the testimony? Gensielis. Yeah, Gensielis testimony said there's no one doctor. What kind of an assurance is that? You will get medical care. The assurances have been taught apart, not by us and by our lawyers, but independent reviewers. I mean, I'm just to say, I mean, Amnesty International did not mention any words when they said this is not worth the paper it's written on. Not just on the clause that they retain the right to change their mind at any point in time. So it's not assurance at all. But simply, you know, that they're making promises they can keep and have no intention to keep. And there are examples, numerous examples of such assurances that have been broken in the past. And that was revealing discussed in the courtroom. So it should be obvious that this is just a facade. It's just a small hurdle they decided to throw in this flimsy sort of document to try to overcome and give the American the sort of safe facing ability or the attempt to save face by relying on it entirely. Now, a judge is supposed to be independent of the political system, make its own decision, cannot yield to any pressure, even though they're in the establishment, and then maybe they understood what was expected of them. But this is, as you say, it's a political decision by Patel here in this building in the Home Office. What kind of pressure do you think she might be under? Aside from the protesters here?  They think about their next election. They think about their voters. And that's the primary, the homophilicus. That's what makes them tick. But let's hope that there is an inkling of consciousness as well. Everybody was surprised a decade ago when her predecessor, Theresa May, actually overturned a decision by the courts here to extradite an individual to the United States, who was a hacker, who was not well. Glory, love this. No, I'm talking about Karen McKinnon. So, I mean, he was, he had a spiritual syndrome, he had mental issues, and he was deemed to be really a health risk. So Theresa May actually surprisingly decided to end it and stop the extradition. And actually, that sent shockwaves, according to a new book out into the Crown Prosecution Service, who was furious about the overturning of the decision of the courts. The head of the Crown Prosecution Service at that time was Sir Keir Sarmer, now the leader of the Labour Party.  Anything can happen. I'm hoping that this is something that will be taken up in the cabinet, in the administration here. So, I have to be optimistic that a human element that comes into play here, when there has been a total disregard of all other arguments, will have an effect here. Let's not forget that Boris Johnson was a journalist back in the days. He was a horrible journalist, some say. I don't care. He was part of the media community. He should have a better understanding of the implications in this case than many others. So, I'm going to be hopeful. Let's say she does free, do you understand? She says no extradition. What three courses the U.S. have about that? Can they start all over again as James Lewis threatened in the court to start that tradition? Not in this country, as I understand it. I mean, that's the end of the road for the U.S. I mean, they have had the chance to appeal process. I mean, that will be the end on the road for them. That is what I understand. And of course, that should be the natural thing to do. And I would be stunned if the Biden administration would try to push us any further if there is a political decision here to end it. So, that would be a very clear signal across the agenda. That it's over. Joe Biden, when he's vice president, said on television that we can't prosecute Julian Assange. We can't prove he actually stole the documents, if he just received them. But that was 2010. He's a president now, but something happening between that changed the minds of the Democratic Party and the intelligence services. That's very true. I mean, the revenge of certain elements in the empire is strong. And it is vengeance that is at play here. It is not about the law.  That's what is being exposed here. And that is what the campaign, the whole battle has been successful in exposing and the lawyers in the portrait. And people are seeing this. They understand this. More and more politicians around the world understand that they are coming to Julian's side. We have now a list of, I think, six or seven hundred MPs in Europe in 14 countries forming a pro-Assange group, a support group, who all agree this is a case that needs to be ended politically. This is growing day by day. All the organizations, what is it in the U.S., more than two dozen human rights liberties groups that see the importance of this case. So the pressure is growing. So the sooner they stop it, the better, because it could have a serious political implication for the individuals involved if this is allowed to go on and on. On Saturday, there's an election in Australia, a federal election. The Labour Party is poised to win. And they have made statements in the past, including the leader, Anthony Albanese, that he was going to get on the phone with Biden. And enough is enough to use his word. Do you have any hope that that would have any effect on the United States if they follow through? No, Laurie, I've been a journalist for more than 30 years. I've dealt with politicians for more than 30 years. To rely on them is something that I would rather be betting on the car table, so we had the current foreign minister of Germany last fall before the election, being extremely pro-Azans and supportive of his fight. The days he took up the role of foreign minister in the federal government after the election in Germany, total silence on that phone. Albanese, I hope he will stick to his promises and his conviction there. And I hope that the electorate in his country will actually push him to it. As is happening in Germany now on to the foreign minister. But this is, you know, the nature of the peace. That's what Paul is alive. You can't rely on it that much, but at least there's an indication. And you know, politicians are not, or some of them at least, are not very happy when they point to double standards and broken promises. Final question about how the media has been covering this entire, that the corporate media, the big media. Have you seen any change? Are they showing enough interest in this right now coming down the stretch? I mean, there is a little bit of a growing interest, yes. Of course, we are being overshadowed by current events in Ukraine and the state of affairs, which is, of course, horrible. And we are in a very precarious time, actually at a time where the ideals of weak police is more needed than at any point in my lifetime. And I can say that for certain. But yes, there has been a growing interest. And, you know, three years ago, when Julian was dragged out of the embassy, since then, there has been a dramatic change. I mean, he was basically being depicted in the media here in the UK, the mainstream media, as almost subhuman. That was a total disregard for him. That has changed. That criticism has been dying down. That has been a turning of tide. And editorially, they have spoken in his favor and in his support. But they have a long way to go and actually showing a full interest and into the implications it will have on themselves and the future of the media in general. You have any questions? Yeah, I'm just going to ask about the stroke. But the only thing is, and I don't know how many people picked this up, but I did. And so did Mary Costa-Kittis, who's a veteran Australian journalist, that Lord Justice Ian Burnett drew a distinction between Julian's case and that of Laurie Love. Because he said that Laurie Love was suffering from a physical condition as well as Aspergers and depression. So now Julian is suffering from a physical condition as well. Is there not some recourse for medical intervention? Well, I mean, this is in terms of how the lawyers present this to the court. I mean, of course, this will be taken into consideration in the second appeal process. I'm absolutely certain. And it should be. Alongside all the other elements that can be placed into that process, an argument, strong arguments. So this is something that obviously come into play. These presidents are all in Julian's favor, so to speak, whether you look at Gary McKinnon or Laurie Love. And I simply think that it's time for the UK government to show a little spine to actually show that they are an independent country and not just a lacto. If you look at the look at the total imbalance in the extradition regime between the two countries, it is extraordinary. I mean, they had this huge difficulty and still haven't been able to extradite an individual, a lady back to the UK who faces accusation of manslaughter by mowing down a teenager on a moped. That is how bad it is. And then the administrators in the D.C. simply said, no, he's never going to invest without it, so just deal with it. So how can they just assume that automatically the UK government is to throw somebody on a rendition plane to fly over? So it's about national pride and credibility of Massachusetts. I mean, I'm stunned that the foreign office here in this country is trying to portray the UK as the sort of leading nation in the Western world in the fight for international press freedom. I mean, what kind of credibility is in that matters when Julian Assange is in prison here in Belma? Zero, nil. So I mean, that needs to be pointed out. And more and more people, and I'm not talking about Russian foreign office or Chinese officials or dictators in countries like Azerbaijan, who have actually done that in interviews with the BBC, who are you to criticize us, you have to prison Julian Assange. So it is undermining so many things, this case. So I hope this will come to an end. And it can end here with pretty much all. Thank you very much, Kristi. Even Johnson said it was an unbalanced What about the European Court of Human Rights? Is that a realistic option? Have you begun that process of filing with them? I'm in it. There's a look into forking it out, whether it has to come to the end of the road in the second appeal, or whether a separate case can be filed before the old avenues are exhausted in this country. There is some, I'm not on speed on the latest on that. But in the end, it will work.


This seems like a funny place to begin a discussion on orthopedic examination of air crew members. But it was World War I that proved the need for medical standards. Allied air units had a very heavy accident rate. And no wonder. The British, for example, made pilots out of tired infantrymen. And even they're wounded. Then investigation showed that 60% of the accidents were directly caused by some physical defect of the pilot. We were a little better off, but not much. Out of the bitter experience of those years came a clear understanding that pilots must meet rigorous medical standards. Or they pose a hazard to themselves, their aircraft, and their passengers. Today it seems obvious that a pilot's eyes, hearing, lungs, and heart have to be in prime condition. What may not be so obvious is why bones and joints are important. Consider, a helicopter pilot must be agile enough to make the awkward climb so he can pre-flight the aircraft. Hip, leg, and foot joints have to be flexible and strong. Both in pre-flight checks and while flying, he needs manual dexterity for little tasks, like flipping the correct switch or turning a knob. In flight, he has to be able to look around for safety. He needs strength and flexibility in hands and arms for controlling the aircraft. In short, his orthopedic condition is an important part in answering the questions of whether he is medically fit to fly. The orthopedic examination is an essential part of every aviation medical exam. This film details the procedures you should use for conducting a thorough orthopedic examination of an aircrew member. The examination must be individualized. You cannot successfully do an orthopedic examination on a group of people and mass. The examination is the same, whether for a flight training applicant, a rated pilot, or a non-aviator aircrew member. The standards, however, differ slightly, as detailed in current regulations. There's some terminology we'll be using that you may have forgotten, since you don't have much occasion to need it. Let's review these key terms before we start. Flexion generally means bringing bones together. The opposite is extension, most often used in the sense of moving the bones apart. Abduction, ABduction, is movement away from the trunk of the body. Abduction, ADduction, is movement back toward the trunk. There are some other terms for specific movements. They are external rotation, radial deviation, dorsiflexion, and plantar flexion. The entire examination takes only a few minutes to perform. Basically, you have the examinee run through a series of movements that demonstrate range of motion of the joints, and then you examine the major joints one at a time. Throughout, you should be observing for these things. Movement, is there any less than normal, or any more, as in a flail joint? Power. Is there any reduced motor power, for example, for muscle injury, or lengthened tendon? Strength and coordination. Does he appear to have normal strength and coordination in all test movements? Pain and confirmation. Does he report or show any signs of pain? Is there any swelling, deformity, or atrophy as shown in this demonstration? So much for preliminaries. Now, here's how you actually conduct the procedure. First, range of motion, beginning with the shoulders. Arms to the front, rotate at the shoulders. Then, thumbs on the points of the shoulders. Raise and lower the arms. He should be able to do this in a sharp, quick movement. The next one begins with arms out, palms together, thumbs up. Move the arms quickly back as far as possible. Note that thumbs should remain pointing up. Normal range of motion is like this. Observe for lack of coordination. Ask the examinee whether he has ever had a dislocated shoulder, hips, or lower extremities. The first exercise begins with the thumbs locked, hands overhead, bent toward the floor, keeping the knees straight from the position, hands on hips. Raise one leg, knee rigid. Heel off the floor. Move the foot about the ankle in all directions. An excellent way to judge is simply to observe whether range of motion is the same on each side. Knee motion. Bend the knee freely. Kick forcibly backward and forward with each leg. Ankles and feet. Stand on the toes of both feet. Now have the examinee squat sharply several times. He should be able to get all the way down without difficulty. The final exercise in this series is to kneel, coming down on both knees at the same time. If he comes down one at a time, you should suspect an infirmity. Now for a more detailed examination. Again, we'll begin with the shoulder. Inspect anterior and posterior for any asymmetry, abnormal configuration, or atrophy. Palpate the shoulders for tenderness. The next exercises all begin from the anatomical position. Palms out. Feet apart. Observe the scapulohumeral rhythm as the man elevates his arms to directly overhead. There should be no arrhythmia which might indicate a shoulder joint abnormality. Flexion. Raise the arms from a long side through forward position with palms up to overhead. Palms together. Extension. Move arms backward as far as possible. Adduction. ABduction. Raise arms to the sides, then overhead. Adduction. ADduction. Move the arms back toward the trunk. Rotation. With arms out to the sides and elbows flexed, rotate hands to straight up. External rotation. And to straight down. External rotation. Next the neck. Palpate anteriorly for tenderness and posteriorly for spasms. Test the motions. Head down and back. Tilted from side to side and rotated. A tape measure may be used as a plumb line to check for scoliosis and kyphosis. Palpate for step off defect. Palpate at the lumbosacral junction. Look for scars that might show a previous disc surgery. Observe the general configuration of the back and the symmetry of shoulders and hips. Look for abnormal curvature such as abnormal dorsal kyphosis. A round back or excessive lumbar lordosis. Sway back. Also check for scoliosis by observing if the ribs are higher on one side than the other when he bends over. Observe the ease with which he does the exercises and watch for indications of pain. Have him bend forward as far as possible and bend back. Then side to side and rotation. The knees are another area to check carefully. A tricked knee or torn meniscus is common. Observe the general muscular development of the legs, especially the thighs. Check for crepitus and observe for pain as he squats. Watch for any hesitancy or weakness. Ask about a history of locking, instability, or recurrent effusion. Inspect the elbow function. Have the man assume this position with elbows against the side of the body. Then observe if he has full forearm supination as he rotates his hands upward. And the full range of forearm pronation as he rotates his hands to palm down. Often excessive muscular development precludes the subject from assuming this position. Examine the palms and fingers for excessive perspiration. Abnormal color or appearance or a tremor. The wrist and hand exercises begin from the same elbow flexed position. Flexion, fingers closed. Note that the fingers should be able to touch the flexion creases of the palm. Extension, hands raised. Forearms kept horizontal to the floor. Radial deviation, hands angled inward toward each other. Ulnar deviation, hands angled outward. There are several things to check with regard to functioning of the thumb. Let's go through it slowly. Observe opposition of the thumb by having the man touch each fingertip in turn. For the little finger, observe the motion closely. Make certain the thumb moves up and around. It should not slide along near the palm and then move upward. Then test the pinch with two fingers and thumb. And the thumb against the side of the index finger. Finally, have him pretend to grasp a beverage can. The fingers should curl around it, closing all at the same time. So much for the wrist and hand. Next, the hip. Have him stand on one foot and flex the other knee and hip. Observe his balance. And note any weakness of the hip muscle or instability of the joint, which would be indicated by a dropping downward of the buttock and pelvis of the raised hip. There remains only the examination of the feet. Check for strength of the feet by having him walk and hop on his toes. Observe the range of motion in ankle dorsiflexion. Raising the feet and ankle plantar flexion. Lowering them. Manipulate each foot to determine spasticity and rigidity. Examine for calluses. Lowering of the longitudinal arch or bowing of the Achilles tendon. Question the examinee about symptoms that may be brought on or exaggerated by the use of the foot. Aking feet, aching in the calf or low back strain. You may also want to observe the gait. A quick look at the shoes can be very revealing. With practice, you can learn to spot a problem by signs of abnormal wear on the sole, heel, and instep of the shoe. When no impairments are found, that's all there is to the examination. But what do you do in the other cases when some impairment is found? You must take goniometer readings of the impaired joint. This technique is outlined in TM8-640. Your basic reference is AR40-501, which explains what impairments are disqualifying. For comparison, you must also take goniometer readings of the corresponding normal joint. In some cases, tape measurements may be required. For example, if there is muscle atrophy, question the examinee. It's important that you gather all appropriate data. Order x-rays when called for. Consider whether to obtain a consultation. When you prepare the record on any case in which the man does not meet the standards, remember that the record has to be reviewed at higher levels by other doctors who will not see the examinee. Standard Form 88 and Standard Form 93 are used to prepare the report. Refer to your notes taken during examination. You are not expected to know all the vocabulary of an orthopedist, but the terms you do use need to be used correctly. Make sure that what you do submit is thorough, complete, and accurate. Army Flight Surgeons Manual's ST-105-8 Volumes 1 and 2 are recommended as references for the orthopedic examination. Flying by its very nature puts men into a hostile and unforgiving environment. If they are not medically fit, the danger becomes substantial. You, as the flight surgeon, need to recognize that the orthopedic examination can be as important for safety as any other part of the flight physical.


We're here at WICCIT 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and I'm very pleased to be joined by Dr Unju Kim, who is regional director for Asia and the Pacific for ITU. Dr Kim, thank you very much indeed for being with us today. Thank you very much for inviting me today. I'd like to start off by talking about the previous meeting, which was in 1988 in Melbourne, and it was called WATTC at the time, or what's I believe, and perhaps you could tell us a little bit about what happened at that meeting and how things have changed between then and now. In fact, the meeting held in Melbourne was very historic and then very exciting meeting at the time with heated debates on the accounting rate in particular, and then at the time all the telecom sector is monopoly and then I was lucky enough to participate at that meeting as a student. And then now the world has changed with the more converse and dynamic and innovative technology we call it ICT or even Internet, but Internet is a part of the ICT technology as a whole. And what have been your impressions of this meeting so far? This meeting is very interesting and also very the right time in a very different world than and now because now we have a more liberalised and a competitive market with also dynamic and innovative technologies and applications that we have. So world needs to have more quality of the service, we call it now broadband, with also dynamic and innovative and creative applications that we are using every day. And what are the most pertinent points going to be in terms of telecommunications for the Asian Pacific region at this conference, do you think? Asia possibly is such a diverse region having countries like China and India on one hand and also the smallest country on earth is like Nauru, New Year and then Solomon Island and so on. And then on top of that we have countries like Singapore, Japan, Korea, who are as a leading and then technology edge in the ICT. So all this issue that you are talking about here, like number hijacking and the country called hijacking is relevant to Pacific Islands like Solomon Island who is now present here. And also we are talking about landlocked country, we have a couple of landlocked countries in our region like Nepal, Afghanistan and so on. And then where the cost of connectivity, especially unconnected areas is very high and also international mobile roaming and where all these landlocked countries and this is that we have as a facing day-to-day kind of very heavy challenges. So all these issues will be discussed here, I'm very looking forward to the positive and then agreed international treaty so that all this country can benefits for all regardless of these locations and gender and even ages and also persons with a disability. So what do you think are the hopes for the region in terms of the outcomes of this conference? As I mentioned, if all these issues that I just mentioned have reached some kind of consensus, this country can have a better access, especially the unconnected areas so that the people, even rural areas and the people with the disability can have a benefit through this kind of agreed tax so that they can just enjoy the information, not only information, now towards the knowledge society and a certain country we are talking about in a smart society connected for all. Dr Kim, thank you very much indeed for being with us today. Thank you very much. Thank you.


And as you can see, I did $13,600 in the last seven days, but it was not always like that. After more than one year of not quite succeeding with dropshipping, I finally found my first winning product. In this video, I'm going to show you exactly how I did it, and I'm going to show you the overall strategy that got me to these numbers. So what are we waiting for? Let's get started. So step number one, I had to find the actual product. For this, I tried the classical way. So I created a brand new TikTok account and I started engaging with dropshipping content, meaning that I interacted with every possible ad of a dropshipping product that I saw. After a few hours of doing this, TikTok will understand that you're a degenerate and you only want to see ads. So it will actually listen to you and it will only show you ads. By seeing all of these ads, I was able to make a very long list of all of the products that had potential. In this list, I have included information such as how many views do the ads have and how many competitors could I find selling the same product. After doing a bit of research, I finally found the product that I wanted to start testing. Now, the next logical thing for me to do was to just order the product to my house and start filming ads. As you already know by now, this is a very saturated product. So I didn't want to just copy other people. I wanted to make my own ads because I felt like that was the only way I could stand out. The problem was that on Amazon, this product was priced outrageously high. So I needed to find a better supplier for my product. And that's when I decided to start using Autodesk. This amazing platform that's basically all in one. It helps us with everything, but more specifically with automation. After doing some research on Autodesk, I was finally able to find the product. And as you can see right here, I can import the product from Autodesk to my store with the help of only a few clicks. And I could resume my original plan of ordering the product for myself. Now, after receiving the product, I did a lot of work and I put in a lot of effort to film these ads. In total, I filmed around 45 ads, but unfortunately, all of them flopped. So in total, after all of this process took me like one month, I made zero dollars in sales. But I saw that my competitors were still doing very well. And a lot of the people I knew that were selling the same exact product were doing thousands of dollars a day. So what am I missing? That was the moment when I realized I needed a mindset change. I don't know about any other fields, but I know for sure that in dropshipping, if you have a mentor, that's going to help you move a bit faster. So naturally, I decided to contact my mentor and tell him about the situation that I was in. This is what he told me. Hey, man. So I started selling this, this back product, this poster corrector, and it seems that it's not working quite well for me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I showed you the TikTok post that I did. Hey, can you guide me? Hey, Serban. So this is a very saturated product. You know, a lot of stores are selling it. The problem that you have here is that you're doing organic post on TikTok and that it's not going to work. You know, the strategy works for products that are new in the market, not on what you want to sell. So if you want to have success with this product, I advise you to start running some TikTok ads. And so I did. After making a lot of combinations between the videos that I shot myself with the product and the ones that I could find on the internet, I came up with some final versions of the ads that I wanted to run. Guys, I hit it big. Look at this. This was the first day that I tested this product in the 24th of December, 2023. I had close to 200 sessions and actually did $334 with a conversion rate of 3.5%. This is the moment when I realized that my mentor was right because this is the type of product that you definitely want to run ads on. The reason for that is just as he said, it is a very saturated product. And you don't want to compete with the people that are already doing this for years. After this first day, I did a bit of tweaking on my ads. I changed the hook and I changed the offer. And also I did some changes on the product page, including more gifts and customer testimonials. Guess what? It actually paid off because the next day in the 25th of December, I actually did $5 shy of $1,000, $995 in my second day of testing. This gave me a lot of confidence in the product. So I started recording some ads again by myself. I posted all of those videos on my TikTok account, but then again, all of them flopped. It seemed like this was just an idea that I was hanging onto, but it just didn't work for me. So I said to myself, that's it. No more organic, no more filming ads by myself. I'm going to focus all of my energy on my ads. And this is why the next day I managed to make this was a very good day for me. It was 10 times more than I had in the first day. So I wanted to know what to do next. So I called up my mentor, hoping that he will not steal my product. And I asked for his advice. This is what he told me. Hey, man, so thanks for the advice. I took your advice on starting running some ads, and it went out pretty well. I sent you some screenshots. And as you can see, I did some numbers in there. It's not a lot, but I think this product is pretty much working. So I don't know what to do now because I don't have a lot of money to scale. And I want to know what should I do next?  It seems like your sales started to take off. If I were in your position right now, you know, I would bump those budgets up as much as I can and closely monitor the ad spend. You got this, you know, let me know how it goes. This was a bit uncomfortable for me because I knew that if I wanted to reach my goals, I needed to put in more money in ads, but I knew that I was definitely not going to stay in the same place forever. Guys, I'm very glad that I listened to his advice because as you can see right here in the 27th of December, I did more than $5,000 in sales. And if we go to the next day, which is the 28th of September, 7.2k, the 29th of December got me close to $8,000 in sales. In the 30th of December, I passed $8,000. And in the last day of 2023, I managed to make more than $10,000 in one single day with one single product on one single platform. So guys, as you can see right here, I managed to make more than $44,000 in less than one week of running ads. Don't get me wrong, this was not easy, especially giving the fact that this is such a saturated product. One of the key takeaway here is would be to not run from over saturated products. Yes, if a product is saturated, that means that a lot of other stores are selling it. But that doesn't mean that we don't have any more room left in there to start selling the product ourselves. It just means that you have to be more careful with the way you're selling the product. Also, besides that, it's very good to have someone beside you, someone who has already got to where you want to go. My mentor in this example gave me a huge piece of advice, and he gave me the encouragement that I needed to move forward. And definitely more than anything, you need a tool such as Autodesk for automation and fulfillment. So that's it guys, it was definitely not an easy process, but it was worth it and I learned a lot. And just to give you some numbers for the ending, as you can see right here, we did more than $70,000 and the profit margins were 31%, which means that the net profit was around $22,000. Maybe for some of you, that's not a lot of money. But for me, that is the sign of a very successful beginning to 2024. I promise you that I'm going to document my journey every step of the way, so make sure to subscribe. Thank you for watching, until next time.


Welcome, this is Melissa Arma with the stock swoosh and today I'm going to talk to you about the value of getting a trader education a lot of people Attempt to trade the market. They want to become professional traders or they just want to make money a training They don't really even know how much they want to make or are really even what it takes to make even one dollar in the market Let alone to be consistent in the market and a lot of people just jump in They get a lot of free information education online think they know how to do it take picks from people that they don't know anything about and Then consequently lose so I'm going to discuss this today with you right now This is me if you have any questions you can always reach out to me at Melissa at the stocks wish calm Follow me on Twitter Facebook YouTube or Skype or call me at nine to nine thirty two hundred gap Really training if you want to do this for a job is one of the greatest jobs in the world Why because you only are trading during the market hours, which are very short 930 to 4n it's only money through Friday and you can work from home and it can be anywhere in the world So really when you decide if you want to trade This is really seriously what you want to do and even if you want to do it per time or on the side Meaning just take a couple trades a month not even every day when you decide that you want to do it It's really something that you have to take seriously where you have to educate yourself on Trading and find a good system that you will be able to use consistently to make money So when you choose education, it really is a gift to yourself You are giving yourself the chance to be successful the opportunity by learning a system now for me I created my own system ten years ago now. I began trading 2008 2018 end of 2018 I will tell you that when you choose to trade you have to take it seriously If you don't educate yourself before you risk your own money in the market You're you're going to lose and it doesn't mean that every trade that you take will lose It means that more trades will lose than win if you don't know what you're doing and the stuff that you get online That's free is never going to teach you how to make money in the market. Otherwise people wouldn't put it out there there's always Something when people put information out there that you have to be aware of and I'll talk about that in another webinar Later at some time, but when you're thinking about doing this, I can't stress enough how how serious you have to be So give yourself the gift of education.  I'm gonna invest in myself I'm going to like you would take any class at any college at any university Any time that you would decide that you would have become better and smarter and more proficient And you're and you're actually putting your money in yourself You're investing in yourself investing in yourself is something where if you're not willing to invest in yourself Then who else is going to and if you want to be successful in the market It's something that you have to take seriously And I think one of the reasons that a lot of people lose money in the market is that they do not take Trading seriously that don't take risk seriously They don't take a learning seriously before they place trades in the market anyways This is a classic example classic Melissa because it was a great call on big This was Friday December 7th great call Why because a lot of day traders probably lost them big because they were in the wrong direction They went long and big was a short so you wouldn't learn in my system how to find stocks like big and How to take them in the right direction because big was a short it was not along this tail here though Shows you how the stock lifted first and people tried to push it back thinking it was going to fill this area And it didn't do it. It was a short and was a nice nice trade if you did it correctly Anyways, here was a one-minute chart stock close to your gap down fell Rallying we were in it had to stop at the correct place and then it got the drop So if you were short this you made money now without going into a lot of detail here This is what you learn in my class But when you short a stock say at 33 and it drops to 31 your profit is two dollars times the amount of shares You have so if you have two thousand shares in a stock drops two dollars and you're short it You would make what four thousand bucks. That's how you do it that's how you pull money out of the market and So this is what I teach really in my class how to find the ticker symbol how to trade in what direction the entries and The system itself. It's really a lot less stressful though when you follow someone if you decide to do my course You are eligible then after you pass the class in order to join the live training room It's a lot less stressful when you can follow someone in the live trades in the day in the live moment And it's a lot less stressful when you can learn from someone instead of creating your own system Creating your own system takes a lot of work a lot of energy a lot of time a lot of effort and a lot of money too And many people will never even attempt to do this So it's very important to find someone that you can follow that you trust it makes it less stressful for you And ultimately it's just common sense to learn how to do anything I mean you would never go out and Attempt to do any type of professional job without learning how to do it first I mean it's just a crazy thought and yet people do it all the time with the market They think that the free information they get online is going to teach them how to make money and it fails It fails even if it doesn't fail every trade it fails in the long run or even in the short term Because you will take more trades that lose than win So in the bigger picture investment is really an investment in education Which is an investment in yourself and a lot of people are just out for the immediate gratification They want to join my live trading room take the trades Make money and then not paid for the education. I don't allow that so one of the best decisions I've made for individuals to mold good traders and for the stocks which business is to have people come to me They're serious about learning how to trade so that they are serious about their own success And I know when someone pays for my class they're serious about learning and they're also serious about their own success And they're willing to invest in themselves And if someone isn't willing to invest in themselves in their own learning process and education then you know It'd be ridiculous for them to have the To be able to let them come in my trading room and have the benefit of taking my great calls Lots of them that I have just like big And he was many people and again, I've had the business now for six years It's a six-year anniversary the business year 2018 many people would prefer to slowly be in pain Losing a little bit of money slowly day by day and week by week or making a little bit slowly slowly slowly slowly But usually they're losing they're losing week by week month by month and year by year of the market versus investing in education Up front in one chunk of money So somehow people like the idea of just dragging out the pain or the cost of losing And it's just and this is all the cost to trade rather than to save themselves time But just paying for education and learning what to do and then beginning to make money ASAP people would rather For five years ten years lose slowly in the market Hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of dollars rather than invest in one class learn how to do it and then move forward in their trading and their life so many people would rather just go through the slow pain of losing their accounts rather than pay for education and and and Really they're doing this because I think the pain is less But it's not so are the losses any less or slower? No, typically there more This is a story. This is an unfortunate story But a man that I spoke to who called me on the phone It was going to the class in September for whatever reason he chose not to do it He chose not to do it He told me at twenty thousand dollars in his trading account a didn't take the class in September still has not taken the class Then I followed up with him In October to see if he was ready and he said no He said he couldn't afford it because he didn't have the money. I said, what do you mean? What are you talking about? He said he lost half his account I said wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute you had twenty thousand dollars in your account You lost ten grand in the last month and he said yes He did so in September he told me he didn't have enough money to do my class Which he did my class is six grand and he had twenty thousand dollars and then when I talked to him in October He still had enough money for my class. He had he had ten thousand dollars, but he had lost ten Okay, which was more than the cost of my class lost ten thousand dollars in a month Which is a huge amount of money to lose in a month and then still said he didn't have the money for my class But he did he had ten thousand dollars I don't even know where he is now haven't talked him for months. It's December He may have blown up his whole account by now because it's December the last time I spoke to him was October And this is many many people's stories. They hate to invest in education And yet they will lose lose lose money in the market And I'm sure he didn't lose in a one-full sweep on one trade the ten grand that I know that he lost I'm sure that he probably lost it over a period some winning trades some losing trades But in the end chasing it back trying to make back the money that he was losing and not understanding that he really was never gonna Ever make money in the market without the proper education. So it's very very unfortunate story He wouldn't listen to anything. I said he wouldn't take my advice. I don't know where he's at right now But this story is many many many many many people's stories that are out there And they'd rather the pain of losing the money in the market somehow that that's that works for them but it's just so dumb it's just so dumb to trade without knowing what to do and Ultimately many people lose as traders or investors in the market because they do not know what to do So while it's true that not all trading education out there is good In fact, a lot of it is crap because when I wouldn't have had to create my own system If a lot of it was good out there, okay, because I checked out a lot of places myself But even though Okay, while it's true that not all trading education out there is good of quality It is also true that not all trading education is bad Okay, the problem is that people never are sure if they will learn enough to cover the cost of the education They feel like they're losing by paying for education Meanwhile, they lose in the market year after year without knowing exactly how long it's going to take for them to Make the money back for the class But I must be honest with you at the point of doing my courses to learn how to trade the market It's not to worry about how fast you're gonna make back the cost of my class Although it's great if you can make it back in the first week or the first month or even in one train I've had people do that's not the case for every single person because every person is risking a different amount in every trade that they take so the reality is that When you come and decide that you are investing yourself and you want to learn my system on my method you have to look at it and the bigger picture the bigger picture is you're gonna get good and Maybe you'd even get good as good as me But the idea is really to learn what I know so that you can use it for the rest of your life So that's what people should do is come with an attitude that they're gonna get better and smarter and better at reading charts They're gonna learn how to reprice action for me They're gonna learn how to trade they're gonna learn how to make money And they're gonna make back the cost of the classes ever as long as it or short as it takes them to make it the point is that they're gonna do the right actions the point is that they're gonna move forward and be profitable by following the system and Not deviating So how should people think about making educational choices? This is this is this is something that since I've had the business for six years I'm just a gas like the story I told you about the gentleman earlier lost so much money in a month And there's many many people that have lost way more people really have to be smart about it It's almost like you have to step outside of yourself and act like you're giving yourself advice like you were your best friend or even your parent You know, that's that's the best thing that I can say because sometimes people want to have this outlook where they say well I'm gonna do it and I don't really or I I know enough or I don't really need to know anything Or I'm just gonna join this trading room and jump around from trading room to trading room You're never gonna make it that way. Okay, people should not trade with that education Even if they're in trading rooms that allow them to be there and There are many rooms out there that allow people to join the room without learning first It's a terrible decision for for for that individual because they're not gonna become a whole person a whole trader They're not gonna gain the skills. It's a skill set when when you learn how to trade and read price action It's a skill set. Now. What do I mean by price action? I mean, I'm gonna go back here to the start here I mean the ability to see that big in here was a short not a long so my ability my abilities Okay, I have many many abilities But one of my abilities is that I can read that big is a short on 12-7 not a long so if you want to make money and big on Friday you had to short it Okay, so that's a skill set that I can see that and not only that that I can see it before the open Anyone in the world can see it now and see that big goes lower and is lower But I saw this before the open before the stock even open before 9 30 Eastern time before the market even open in the morning In the pre-market is when I rated the gap and I read it and that is my skill It's a skill that I have it's a skill that I've honed and that is the benefit of coming and learning what I know And also to be in the room with me because I have this amazing skill and it's gotten better and better and better over time again Because I've been doing this for ten years and when you choose to really invest in yourself to get good at something You will get better over time the many traders get worse over time because we're so confused and they go around from jump around From thing to thing to thing to thing in fact this gentleman that lost all this money He was honest with me and admitted to himself that he jumps around from thing to thing all the time in different trading rooms Until he decides that he wants to invest in himself and his own Choices in life to actually be successful and make money in the market He should just stop trading because he is jumping around too much and will never never profit from the market it is better for people to Take a class and learn from someone and just fork over the money up front for the course and learn a system That's good and quality rather than slowly lose money in the market. You're gonna save yourself time time is invaluable It's one of the most important things in my life right now, especially in 2018. I'm juggling so many things People that don't make money, you know, they are just at the point where they have to say okay Either I'm gonna pay someone else to learn it or I'm gonna spend this much money and this much time and this many years out of my life to figure it out myself and Most people will never do that and even if they try they will fail because is match money and time as I think it will require It will be even more and I'm speaking from personal experience here now because when I decided I wanted to trade in and create my Own system. I thought I could figure it out in six months. I thought I'm so smart I can figure it out in six months maybe a year It took me three years to create the Golden Gate to get all the points together Everything and I hear it is ten years later and I'm so good at what I do But many people will not be able to do this They won't put forth the effort and time and money is required and they'll never get good They'll never get as good as I am because the fact is they will quit Many people start something and they're totally unrealistic in their expectations and quit You have to look at this as a bigger picture.  This is your attitude. I'm saying if I was you but this is I think it's about myself And I'm saying people should think this about themselves individually, too You should look at yourself as a good investment if you don't look in the mirror and look at yourself as a good investment How could you possibly think anyone else would how could you ever think you could get hired for a job? How could you ever think that you'd make a lot of money in this lifetime? How do you ever think that the market's gonna ever pay you? Okay? You have to look at yourself that you are worth investing in that you are worth your own success That you have to look at yourself and become more confident And even if your confidence level is low because you've lost money in classes in the market in the past You have to say do do I'm gonna have amnesia about all of that. I learned from those experiences I'm not gonna do it again.  I'm not gonna make those same choices Going back to this previous gentleman who lost all this money He's gonna continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over again until he just looks at himself in the mirror And says I'm not gonna do this anymore. I'm gonna do Melissa's class. I'm gonna listen to what she says. I'm gonna pay for the class I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna learn. I'm gonna take your trades and people go through their own process But what I find unbelievable actually I do find it believable, but I'd still find it shocking Okay, I believe it but I still find it shocking that people Would rather waste countless countless months and weeks and years of your lives Trying to be successful instead of just jumping in full-on full-fledged Diving into the pool towards their own success to make it happen as fast as they possibly can and Being on board with that in other words, you got to be on board with your own success You have to be there you have to be present you have to be invested mentally Emotionally you have to get you have to go to bed at night and get the right at number of hours of sleep Don't trade on an empty stomach be there be prepared pay attention in the class listen to me in the trading room I mean take notes all of this stuff So if you really really want it if you really want it and you really want to make it happen You can you got to believe in yourself and even if your confidence is low You can turn that around in a second in a day doesn't have to take weeks and months and years to turn your Confidence around or even to turn yourself into a successful trader Trust me when I say and I will not be wrong that 2019 this is a chart of the QQQ's will be an extremely volatile year for the market for traders for investors for anyone That has a dime in the market, which a lot of people have the retirement accounts in the market and 401k's I had a call from a friend the other day.  I don't know if that makes any sense You have to have a very strict solid system and you have to know what you're getting into in the market for 2019 If you're an active trader, it's a great time to make a lot of money If you know how to play the stocks right, you know what stocks to watch and you understand the market I'm very good at reading the market. That's one thing that a lot of people have given me credit for I have never been wrong since I've talked on national TV about my calls in the market I'm telling you that this is one thing that when you understand how the market works And you understand how the market overall market affects different stock symbols, too It will really help you and benefit you and your overall trading the market in 2019 is going to be extremely volatile Do not trade a risk your money without a system that works. You have to be think the thoughtful. You have to use stops Okay, and you have to understand what you're doing Okay, or follow someone that does and pay for the education of that person like me So there's a there's an old saying out there. I don't know if you ever heard it. Okay. It's a 1990 90 rule Okay, 90% of the people that attempt to trade the market lose 90% of their money within 90 days Okay, that's just like a one of those chains.  Okay You need to think about what you're doing, but a lot of people lose a lot most of what they have at the beginning So if you're new and you've never traded before and you don't have a system or strategy or anyone to follow It's very important to get that right a ways at the beginning You can learn my system without ever knowing anything at all about gaps or ever trading the market before you take my class But it's very important to not be in this group. And again 90% of the people are in this group where they lose at the beginning So don't lose your hard-earned money in the market. However, you earned the money that you saved. Okay, whether it was Your regular job part-time job just savings you've had for a long long time Someone lent you money you borrowed it. You don't want to lose it. You want to be thoughtful and I use this word all the time It's called conviction. I say I have a hundred percent conviction This is gonna work or I say I don't have any conviction It's gonna work in which case we don't do it and I don't even call it in the room If I don't have a hundred percent conviction, I don't do it. I don't even say maybe Okay, you have to have that kind of attitude and confidence within yourself in the system You're trading or trade with someone that does so in my class you will learn the golden gap points. It's a 26 points It's the rating system. This is a meat and potatoes. This is the system It's really the checklist. Okay, and then you learn how to take the trades in the entries. I'm a teacher this is me and Sunday, I may do life classes in New York my schedule this year has been nuts But I will tell you that you get the benefit of doing the class with me if you want to do the two-day course It's a 16-hour class Usually do it in Saturdays and Sundays and learning from a teacher you can you can gain a lot You gain the perspective and being in the trading room really helps too So how much money do you need to trade the golden gap? You have to be able to open up a day trading active brokerage account And if you don't have an active account you could be in and out of trades every day Then you do it as many days as you can or you trade these system using options That's another thing you can do too. So my class is called the golden gap course the last class for 2018 is coming up December 15th and 16th from 9 to 5 Eastern time cost the class of 59 99 US dollars You can be anywhere in the world and take it Email me if you want to register to secure your spot Combo class tuition trends and golden gap is 64 99 classes online again You can be anywhere in the world and take it Email me if you'd like more information email me if you want to sign up think about the things I said today Very very very important. I really want to see people succeed It's one of the reasons I take so much time with my students and and if you want to come and be my student I will take the time with you. Okay, I Don't have time for people that aren't in Aren't invested and interested in their own personal success and trust me when I say I'm getting better and better at Feeling out those people as I email and discuss with them. You know, it's you can you can what's this saying? You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make a drink that kind of thing So, you know, think about what I said today Email me if you have any questions or call me at 9 to 9 30 200 gap. Have a great day


You know, the next thing that I really wanted to talk about is kind of like the strengths because, you know, there are a lot of things which can be quite unique about us that make us particularly good in like the world of productivity at work, but also within like relationships and stuff. Like we have certain qualities that tend to be apart as I said, generalize, like generalize wise, be a part of autistic or ADHD as old HDs. So I guess like if you could think of some strengths, what would those kind of be if you were to highlight them? Yeah, I think so thinking about like the combined ADHD strengths, like things that are common in both and that I see a lot. The top one that comes to mind is creativity and divergent thinking. Almost all autistic people I've known or met have either been a professional creative in some form, right? Like a writer, like they do something related to creativity, or they approach their life or their work in extremely creative ways. And they've maybe created their own job description where they are or they're an entrepreneur. It's also like a very, very common to just like not fit in the corporate world and do your own thing. And having that ability to just like imagine something different and then do it, I think is like a really, really powerful, I mean, it's probably one of our top skills and it helps with a lot of the problems, like it kind of offsets a lot of issues. Another strength I see is hyper, so it's not just hyper empathy, because it can be hyper empathy, it can also be having social skills be a special interest. But I do see a lot of Audi HD people who have become either are naturally or have become very, very aware of the minute feelings of others. And I've talked to other Audi HD people where we're like, one of the problems for me as a kid was that I could see that people's facial expressions, their tone of voice, the actual words they were saying and their body language, all four of those things were different. So I know they are lying to me. That there's this and that I could just kind of pick up on that, or I got very good at picking up on that at some point.   But the sort of skill around that, but there's the social aspect of it. But I think I also see a lot of people feeling like they don't know who they are because they have this really chameleon quality of being able to like mirror back to people. And it can make you very, very conscious masking. Yeah. And it can make you very good in relationships where you are giving a lot.  And I was like, I think their brain just doesn't categorize information about people the way that your brain does.  I don't think they're thinking about you in this way.  They just like, they don't remember these tiny, tiny details about the way you like things to be presented in a particular order. Yeah. So that's like, it's a strength and then it can also be hard to find people who like can match you in that level of empathy and care. Which makes relationships hard. It makes friendships hard. Another, I mean, I know, I know pattern recognition means a lot of things, but like the, the Audi HD kind of particular way I see it is, is not only to having all of this information, but being able to like put it into use. So kind of having, again, whether it's just that whatever, I'll just try it, you know, thing, which I have. Being able to get started and not getting, so not just gathering information and having the information, but like really actively doing stuff with it and trying to like, either create something with it, or put it into practical application, or like come up with your own theories around it, which my brain is constantly doing. Like I feel like, I feel like I have this theory. It's like one of my, you know, main things that I say, because my brain is just always, not just gathering data, but being like, what can I do with this? How can I manipulate this individual parts of different things, either head and red and connecting that to other things that haven't been. Yeah. So I'm connecting things. That's me too. And like one of my, like one of the ways I started to realize I was unusual is that I would go into conversations in areas where I didn't really know anything, except I'd kind of gathered some random data. And then as I was getting, like in the course of it, like I was able to, as a 15-year-old, help my first boyfriend who was a senior in electrical engineering, I was able to help him with his homework. I didn't know anything about it. I was just able to look at it and be like, I understand how to formulate questions around this that are useful. And just having a brain that can do that. And it's not just, you know, being smart. It's like it's this particular pattern finding and application thing that I think is like a particular strength that can be applied in a lot of ways. And then this is an interesting one that I wish we used more. I actually think we're really good at knowing what our own strengths and weaknesses are. Like I think we have a really good sense of what we're good and bad at. But a lot of societal conditioning is like work on your weaknesses. And I actually think that that's a big waste of time for a lot of neurodivergent people.  Like I am never going to be good at meal prep and I don't care and I don't want to.  Or admin. Or communications. Yeah. Yeah. So like that's another thing is, you know, it might be reassuring to have someone outside of you tell you what you're good at. But really, I think you probably already know. Like you probably have a really good sense. It's just that we've been given all this conditioning around how to craft a life path for yourself. Exactly. And being able to figure that out when, again, a lot of my own anxiety was around like, am I doing the right thing or am I doing the wrong thing? And knowing that I've limited energy, am I wasting my energy doing the wrong thing? So there's this added layer, I think, that may be really anxious.


All right, as you can see in the title, strange power is the topic. Strange power. And as we discussed in the class yesterday, so it's not like a superhero type of thing flying. That's not strange. So the emphasis is on strange, strange power. And again, you got one week, 100 frames, you can add sound, music, any type of animation, it could be 2D, can be CG, can be stop motion, whatever you are more comfortable with, as long as it fits the subject, and it's only 100 frames long. And you can send this to contest at spangela.com. That is the email. And the deadline is in a week. So Thursday end of day.  That is when I will accept the last submission. So please email me and put in your full name. So I can put those names when I do my compilation with all the submissions, I can put the names underneath, unless you want to go by whatever username or code word. But that's about it. Strange power. One week. Good luck.


The snowy day by Ezra Jack Keats. In the winter morning, Peter woke up and looked out the window. Noah had fallen during the night. It covered everything as far as he could see. After breakfast, he put on his snow suit and ran outside. The snow was piled up very high along the street to make a path for walking. Crunch, crunch. His feet sank into the snow. He walked with his toes pointing out like this. He walked with his toes pointing in like that. Then he dragged his feet slowly to make tracks. And he found something sticking out of the snow that made a new track. It was a stick. A stick that was just right for smacking a snow-covered tree. Down fell the snow, plop, on top of Peter's head. He thought it would be fun to join the big boys in their snowball fight. But he knew he wasn't old enough. Not yet. So he made a smiling snowman. He made angels. He pretended he was a mountain climber. He climbed up a great, big, tall, heaping mountain of snow and slid all the way down. He picked up a handful of snow and another and still another. He packed it in firm and put the snowball in his pocket for tomorrow. Then he went into his warm house. He told his mother all about his adventures while she took off his wet socks. And he thought before he got into bed, he looked in his pocket. His pocket was empty. The snowball wasn't there. He felt very sad while he slept. He dreamed that the sun had melted all the snow away. Up his dream was gone. The snow was still everywhere. New snow was falling. After breakfast, he called his friend from across the hall and they went out together into the deep snow. Snow outside, walking, walking, window, tree, tree, boys, boys, snowman, snowman, angels, angels, mountain, mountain, mother, socks, pocket, pocket, son, son, friend, friend.