This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne Section 1. Dedication and Preface Dedication to Christopher Robin Milne, or, as he prefers to call himself, Billy Moon. This book, which owes so much to him, is now humbly offered. Preface. Just before we begin. At one time, but I have changed my mind now, I thought I was going to write a little note at the top of each of these poems, in the manner of Mr. William Wordsworth, who liked to tell his readers where he was staying and which of his friends he was walking with and what he was thinking about when the idea of writing his poem came to him. You will find some lines about a swan here, if you get as far as that, and I should have explained to you in the note that Christopher Robin, who feeds this swan in the mornings, has given him the name of Poo. This is a very fine name for a swan, because if you call him and he doesn't come, which is a thing swans are good at, then you can pretend that you were just saying Poo, to show how little you wanted him. Well, I should have told you that there are six cows who come down to Poo's Lake every afternoon to drink, and of course they say Moo as they come, so I thought to myself one fine day, walking with my friend Christopher Robin, Moo rhymes with Poo. Surely there is a bit of poetry to be got out of that. Well then, I began to think about the swan on his Lake, and at first I thought how lucky it was that his name was Poo, and then I didn't think about that any more, and the poem came quite differently from what I intended, and all I can say for it now is that, if it hadn't been for Christopher Robin, I shouldn't have written it, which indeed is all I can say for any of the others. So this is why these verses go about together, because they are all friends of Christopher Robin, and if I left out one because it was not quite like the one before, then I should have to leave out the one before because it was not quite like the next, which would be disappointing for them. Then there is another thing you may wonder sometimes who is supposed to be saying the verses. Is it the author, that strange but uninteresting person, or is it Christopher Robin, or some other boy or girl, or nurse, or who? If I had followed Mr. Wordsworth's plan, I could have explained this each time, but as it is you will have to decide for yourselves. If you are not quite sure, then it is probably who. I don't know if you have ever met who, but he is one of those curious children who look for on Monday and ate on Tuesday and are really twenty-eight on Saturday, and you never know whether it is the day when he can pronounce his Rs. He had a great deal to do with these verses. In fact, you might almost say that this book is entirely the unaided work of Christopher Robin, who and Mr. Shepherd, who drew the pictures. They have said thank you politely to each other several times, and now they say it to you for taking them into your house. Thank you so much for asking us. We've come. Signed A. A. Milne. End of dedication and preface. When we were very young by A. A. Milne. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When we were very young by A. A. Milne. Section 2. Corner of the Street. Down by the corner of the street where the three roads meet and the feet of the people has a pass go tweet, tweet, tweet. Who comes tripping round the corner of the street? One pair of shoes which are nurses. One pair of slippers which are purses. Tweet, tweet, tweet. Buckingham Palace. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. Alice is marrying one of the guard. A soldier's life is terrible hard, says Alice. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. We saw a guard in a sentry box. One of the sergeants looks after their socks, says Alice. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. We looked for the king, but he never came. Well, God take care of him all the same, says Alice. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. They've great big parties inside the grounds. I wouldn't be king for a hundred pounds, says Alice. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. A face looked out, but it wasn't the king's. He's much too busy assigning things, says Alice. They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. Do you think the king knows all about me? Sure, too, dear, but it's time for tea, says Alice. Happiness. John had great big waterproof boots on. John had a great big waterproof hat. John had a great big waterproof Macintosh. And that, said John, is that. The christening.  His eyes are small, but his tail is enormous. I sometimes call him Terrible John, because his tail goes on and on and on. And I sometimes call him Terrible Jack, because his tail goes on to the end of his back.  But I think I shall call him Jim, because I am so fond of him. Puppy and I. I met a man as I went walking. We got talking, man and I. Where are you going to, man? I said. I said to the man as he went by. Down to the village to get some bread. Will you come with me? No, not I. I met a horse as I went walking. We got talking, horse and I. Where are you going to, horse, today? I said to the horse as he went by. Down to the village to get some hay. Will you come with me? No, not I. I met a woman as I went walking. We got talking, woman and I. Where are you going to, woman, so early? I said to the woman as she went by. Down to the village to get some barley. Will you come with me? No, not I. I met some rabbits as I went walking. We got talking, rabbits and I. Where are you going in your brown fur coats? I said to the rabbits as they went by. Down to the village to get us some oats. Will you come with us? No, not I. I met a puppy as I went walking. We got talking, puppy and I. Where are you going this nice, fine day? I said to the puppy as he went by. Up to the hills to roll and play. I'll come with you, puppy, said I. End of section. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne. Section 3 Twinkle Toes. When the sun shines through the leaves of the apple tree, when the sun makes shadows of the leaves of the apple tree, then I pass on the grass from one leaf to another, from one leaf to its brother, tiptoe, tiptoe, the four friends. Ernest was an elephant, a great big fellow. Leonard was a lion with a six-foot tail. George was a goat, and his beard was yellow, and James was a very small snail. Leonard had a stall and a great big strong one. Ernest had a manger, and its walls were thick. George found a pen, but I think it was the wrong one, and James sat down on a brick. Ernest started trumpeting and cracked his manger. Leonard started roaring and shivered his stall. James gave the huffle of a snail in danger, and nobody heard him at all. Ernest started trumpeting by such a rumpus. Leonard started roaring and trying to kick. James went on a journey with a goat's new compass, and he reached the end of his brick. Ernest was an elephant and very well intentioned. Leonard was a lion with a brave new tail. George was a goat, as I think I have mentioned, but James was only a snail. Lines and squares. Whenever I walk in the London street, I'm ever so careful to watch my feet, and I keep in the squares, and the masses of bears who wait at the corners all ready to eat the sillies who tread on the lines of the street go back to their lairs. And I say to them, bears, just look how I'm walking in all of the squares. And the little bears growl to each other, to mine, as soon as he's silly and steps on a line. And some of the bigger bears try to pretend that they came round the corner to look for a friend. And they try to pretend that nobody cares whether you walk on the lines or squares, but only the sillies believe their talk. It's ever so important how you walk. And it's ever so jolly to call out, bears, just watch me walking in all the squares. Brownie. In a corner of the bedroom is a great big curtain. Someone lives behind it, but I don't know who. I think it is a brownie, but I'm not quite certain. Nanny isn't certain, too. I looked behind the curtain, but he went so quickly. Brownies never wait to say, how do you do? They wriggle off at once, because they're all so tickly. I never did. I never did. I never did. I never did like. Now take care, dear. I never did. I never did. I never did want hold my hand. I never did. I never did. I never did think much of not up there, dear. It's no good saying it. They don't understand. End of section. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne. Section 4. Nursery Chairs One of the chairs is South America. One of the chairs has a ship at sea. One is a cage for a great big lion. And one is a chair for me. The First Chair When I go up the Amazon, I stop at night and fire a gun to call my faithful band. And Indians in twos and threes come silently between the trees and wait for me to land. If I do not want to play with any Indians today, I simply wave my hand and then they turn and go away. They always understand. The Second Chair I'm a great big lion in my cage and they often frighten any with a roar. Then I hold her very tight and tell her not to be so frightened and she doesn't be or the Third Chair. When I am in my ship, I see the other ships go sailing by. A sailor leans and calls to me as his ship goes sailing by. Across the sea he leans to me. Above the winds I hear him cry. Is this the way to round the world? He calls as he goes by. The Fourth Chair Whenever I sit in a high chair for breakfast or dinner or tea I try to pretend that it's my chair and that I am a baby of three. Shall I go off to South America? Shall I put out in my ship to sea or get in my cage and be lions and tigers or shall I be only me? Market Square I had a penny, a bright new penny. I took my penny to the Market Square. I wanted a rabbit, a little brown rabbit and I looked for a rabbit most everywhere. For I went to the stall where they sold sweet lavender.  Have you got a rabbit because I don't want lavender? But they hadn't got a rabbit not anywhere there. I had a penny and I had another penny. I took my pennies to the Market Square. I did want a rabbit, a little baby rabbit and I looked for rabbits most everywhere. And I went to the stall where they sold fresh mackerel. Now then, tuppin's for a fresh caught mackerel. Have you got a rabbit because I don't like mackerel? But they hadn't got a rabbit not anywhere there. I found a sixpence, a little white sixpence. I took it in my hand to the Market Square. I was buying my rabbit and I too like rabbits and I looked for my rabbit most everywhere. So I went to the stall where they sold fine saucepans. Walk up, walk up, sixpence for a saucepan. Could I have a rabbit because we've got two saucepans? But they hadn't got a rabbit not anywhere there. I had nothing. No, I hadn't got nothing so I didn't go down to the Market Square. But I walked on the common, the old gold common and I saw little rabbits most everywhere. So I'm sorry for the people who sell fine saucepans. I'm sorry for the people who sell fresh mackerel. I'm sorry for the people who sell sweet lavender because they don't sell fine saucepans not anywhere there. Daffodown Dilly.  Water lilies. Where the water lilies go to and fro rocking in the ripples of the water lazy on a leaf lies the lake king's daughter and the fate winds shake her who will come and take her I will, I will keep still, keep still sleeping on a leaf lies the lake king's daughter then the wind comes skipping to the lilies on the water and the kind winds wake her now who will take her with a laugh she is slipping through the lilies on the water wait wait too late too late only the water lilies go to and fro dipping dipping to the ripples of the water disobedience James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby George Dupree took great care of his mother though he was only three James James said to his mother mother, he said, said he you must never go down to the end of the town if you don't go down with me James James Morrison's mother put on a golden gown James James Morrison's mother drove to the end of the town James James Morrison's mother said to herself said she I can get right down to the end of the town and be back in time for tea King James Morrison's mother offered tea King John put up a notice lost or stolen or strayed James James Morrison's mother seems to have been mislaid last seen wandering vaguely quite her own accord she tried to get down to the end of the town forty shillings reward James James Morrison Morrison commonly known as Jim told his other relations not to go blaming him James James said to his mother mother, he said, said he you must never go down to the end of the town without consulting me James James Morrison's mother hasn't been heard of since King John said he was sorry and so did the queen in Prince King John somebody told me said to a man he knew down to the end of the town well what can anyone do now then very softly J J M M W G to P took great care of his mother though he was only three J J said to his mother mother he said said he you must never go down to the end of the town if you don't go down with me end of section this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville South Carolina when we were very young by A. A. Milne section five spring morning where am I going I don't quite know down to the stream where the king cups grow up on the hill where the pine trees blow anywhere anywhere I don't know where am I going the clouds sail by little ones baby ones over the sky where am I going the shadows pass little ones baby ones over the grass if you were a cloud and sailed up there you'd sail on water as blue as air and you'd see me here in the fields and say doesn't the sky look green today where am I going the high rooks call it's awful fun to be born at all where am I going the ring doves coo we do have beautiful things to do if you were a bird where am I you'd lean on the wind when the wind came by you'd say to the wind when it took you away that's where I wanted to go today where am I going I don't quite know what does it matter where people go down to the wood where the blue bells grow anywhere anywhere I don't know the island I'd sail my ship through eastern seas down to a beach where the slow waves thunder the green curls over and the white falls under boom boom boom on the sun bright sand then I'd leave my ship and I'd land and climb the steep white sand and climb to the trees the six dark trees the coconut trees the cliff's green crown hands and knees to the coconut trees face to the cliff as the stones patter down up up up staggering stumbling round the corner where the rock is crumbling round the shoulder over this boulder up to the top where the six trees stand and there would I rest and lie my chin in my hands and gaze at the dazzle of sand below and the green waves curling slow and the gray blue distant haze where the sea goes up to the sky and I'd say to myself as I look so lazily down at the sea there's nobody else in the world and the world was made for me the three foxes once upon a time there were three little foxes who didn't wear stockings and they didn't wear socks but they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses and they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes they lived in the forest in three little houses and they didn't wear coats and they didn't wear trousers they ran through the woods on their little bear tootsies and they played touch last with the family of mouses they didn't go shopping in the high street shops but caught what they wanted in the woods and copses they all went fishing and they caught three wormses they went out hunting and they caught three wopses they went to a fair and they all won prizes three plum puddings and three mince-pices they rode on elephants and swang on swings that's all that I know of the three little foxes who kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes they lived in the forest in three little houses but they didn't wear coats and they didn't wear trousers and they didn't wear stockings and they didn't wear socks politeness if people ask me I always tell them quite well thank you I'm very glad to say if people ask me quite well thank you how are you today? I always answer I always tell them if they ask me politely but sometimes I wish that they wouldn't Jonathan Joe Jonathan Joe has a mouth like an O and a wheel-barrow full of surprises if you ask for a bat or for something like that he has got it whatever the size is if you're wanting a ball it's no trouble at all why the more that you ask for the merrier like a hoop and a top and a watch that won't stop and some sweets and an Aberdeen terrier Jonathan Joe has a mouth like an O but this is what makes him so funny if you give him a smile only once in a while he never expects any money end of section this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina when we were very young by A. A. Milne section six at the zoo there are lions and roaring tigers and enormous camels and things there are buffalo buffalo bisons and a great big bear with wings there's a sort of a tiny potamus and a tiny Nussrus too but I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the zoo there are badgers and bidgers and badgers and a superintendent's house there are masses of goats there are different animals and different kinds of mouse and I think there's a sort of a something which is called wallaboo but I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the zoo if you try to talk to the bison he never quite understands you can't shake hands with a mingo he doesn't like shaking hand and lions and roaring tigers hate saying how do you do but I give buns to the elephant when I go down to the zoo rice pudding what is the matter with Mary Jane she's crying with all her might in Maine and she won't eat her dinner rice pudding again what is the matter with Mary Jane what is the matter with Mary Jane I've promised her dolls and a daisy chain and a book about animals all in vain what is the matter with Mary Jane what is the matter with Mary Jane she's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain but look at her now she's beginning again what is the matter with Mary Jane what is the matter with Mary Jane I've promised her sweets and a ride in the train and I've begged her to stop for a bit and explain what is the matter with Mary Jane what is the matter with Mary Jane she's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain and it's lovely rice pudding for dinner again what is the matter with Mary Jane missing has anybody seen my mouse I opened his box for half a minute just to make sure he was really in it and while I was looking he jumped outside I tried to catch him I tried, I tried I think he's somewhere about the house has anyone seen my mouse Uncle John have you seen my mouse just a small sort of mouse dear little brown one he came from the country he wasn't a town one so he'd feel all lonely in a London street why, what could he possibly find to eat he must be somewhere I'll ask Aunt Rose have you seen a mouse with a waffly nose oh somewhere about he's just got out hasn't anybody seen my mouse the king's breakfast the king asked the queen and the queen asked the dairy maid could we have some butter for the royal slice of bread the queen asked the dairy maid the dairy maid said certainly I'll go and tell the cow now before she goes to bed the dairy maid she curtsied and went and told the Alderney don't forget the butter for the royal slice of bread the Alderney said sleepily you'd better tell his majesty that many people nowadays like marmalade instead the dairy maid said fancy and went to her majesty she curtsied to the queen and she turned a little red excuse me your majesty for taking off the liberty but marmalade is tasty if it's very thickly spread the queen said oh and went to his majesty talking of the butter for the royal slice of bread many people think that marmalade is nicer would you like to try a little marmalade instead the king said bother and then he said oh dearie me the king sobbed oh dearie me and went back to bed nobody he whimpered could call me a fussy man I only want a little bit of butter for my bread the queen said there there and went to the dairy maid the dairy maid said there there and went to the shed the cow said there there I didn't really mean it here's milk for his poor injure and butter for his bread the queen took the butter and brought it to his majesty the king said butter eh and bounced out of bed nobody he said as he kissed her tenderly nobody he said as he slid down the banisters nobody my darling could call me a fussy man but I do like a little bit of butter to my bread end of section section seven of when we were very young this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina when we were very young by A. A. Milne section seven hoppity Christopher Robin goes hoppity hoppity hoppity hoppity hop whenever I tell him politely to stop it he says you can't possibly stop if he stopped hopping he couldn't go anywhere poor little Christopher couldn't go anywhere that's why he always goes hoppity hoppity hoppity hoppity hop at home I want a soldier a soldier in a busby I want a soldier to come and play with me I'd give him cream cakes big ones sugar ones I'd give him cream cakes and cream for his tea I want a soldier a tall one a red one I want a soldier who plays on the drum daddy's going to get one he's written to the shopman daddy's going to get one as soon as he can come the wrong house I went into a house and it wasn't a house it has big steps and a great big hall but it hasn't got a garden a garden it isn't like a house at all I went into a house and it wasn't a house it has a big garden and a great high wall but it hasn't got a matri a matri a matri it isn't like a house at all I went into a house and it wasn't a house slow white petals from the matri fall but it hasn't got a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird it isn't like a house at all I went into a house and I thought it was a house I could hear from the matri the blackbird call but nobody listened to it nobody liked it nobody wanted it at all summer afternoon six brown cows walked down to drink all the little fishes went waggle-tail waggle-tail six from the water and six from the air up and down the river darts a blue-black swallow the doormouse and the doctor there once was a doormouse who lived in a bed a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird a blackbird The doormouse looked round at the view and replied, when he'd said ninety-nine, that he'd tried and he'd tried, and much the most answering things that he knew were geraniums red and delphiniums blue. The doctor stood frowning and shaking his head, and he took up his shiny silk hat as he said, what the patient requires is a change, and he went to see some chrysanthemum people in Kent. The doormouse lay there, and he gazed at the view of geraniums red and delphiniums blue, and he knew there was nothing he wanted instead of delphiniums blue and geraniums red. The doctor came back and to show what he meant he had brought some chrysanthemum cuttings from Kent. Now these, he remarked, give a much better view than geraniums red and delphiniums blue. They took out their spades and they dug up the bed of delphiniums blue and geraniums red, and they planted chrysanthemums yellow and white. And now, said the doctor, we'll soon have you right. The doormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh, I suppose all these people know better than I. It was silly perhaps, but I did like the view of geraniums red and delphiniums blue. The doctor came round and examined his chest, and ordered him nourishment, tonics, and rest. How very effective, he said, as he shook the thermometer, all these chrysanthemums look. The doormouse turned over to shut out the sight of endless chrysanthemums yellow and white. How lovely, he thought, to be back in a bed of delphiniums blue and geraniums red. The doctor said, Tut, it's another attack! And ordered him milk and massage of the back, and freedom from worry and drives in a car, and murmured, How sweet your chrysanthemums are! The doormouse lay there with his paws to his eyes, and imagined himself such a pleasant surprise. I'll pretend the chrysanthemums turned to a bed of delphiniums blue and geraniums red. The doctor next morning was rubbing his hands, and saying, There's nobody quite understands these cases as I do. The cure has begun. How fresh the chrysanthemums look at the sun! The doormouse lay happy. His eyes were so tight. He could see no chrysanthemums yellow or white, and all that he felt at the back of his head were delphiniums blue and geraniums red.  Section 8 of When We Were Very Young This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne. There's a cavern in the mountain where the old men meet, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer. They make gold slippers for my lady's feet. Hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer. My lady is marrying her own true knight, white her gown and her veil is white, but she must have slippers on her dainty feet. Hammer, hammer, hammer, hammer. There's a cottage by the river where the old wives meet. Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter. They weave gold stockings for my lady's feet. Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter. My lady is going to be her own true man, youth to youth since the world began, but she must have stockings on her dainty feet. Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter. Sand between the toes. I went down to the shouting sea, taking Christopher down with me, for Nersig given us sixpence each, and down we went to the beach. We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose, and sand in the hair, and sand between the toes. Whenever a good norwester blows Christopher is certain of sand between the toes. The sea was galloping gray and white. Christopher clutched his sixpence tight. We clambered over the humping sand, and Christopher held my hand. We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose, and sand in the hair and sand between the toes. Whenever a good norwester blows Christopher is certain of sand between the toes. There was a roaring in the sky. The seagulls cried as they blew by. We tried to talk but had to shout. Nobody else was out. When we got home we had sand in the air, in the eyes and the ears, and everywhere. Whenever a good norwester blows Christopher is found with sand between the toes. Nights and Ladies There is in my old picture book a page at which I like to look where knights in squires come riding down the cobbles of some steep old town and ladies from beneath the eaves flutter their bravest handkerchiefs, or smiling proudly, tossed down gauges. But that was in the Middle Ages. It wouldn't happen now. But still, whenever I look up the hill where dark against the green and blue the furs come marching two by two, I wonder if perhaps I might see suddenly a shining night winding his way from blue to green, exactly as it would have been these many, many years ago. Perhaps I might. You never know.  What have you done with your sheep, Bo Peep? Little Boy Blue, what fun! I've lost them, every one.   What have you done with your sheep, Boy Blue? Little Bo Peep, my sheep, went off when I was asleep. I'm sorry about your sheep, little Boy Blue. What are you going to do, little Bo Peep? What are you going to do, Bo Peep? Little Boy Blue, you'll see they'll all come home to tea. They wouldn't do that for me, little Bo Peep. What are you going to do, little Boy Blue? What are you going to do, Boy Blue? Little Bo Peep, I'll blow my horn for an hour or so. Isn't that rather slow, little Boy Blue? Whom are you going to marry, little Bo Peep? Whom are you going to marry, Bo Peep? Little Boy Blue, Boy Blue, I'd like to marry you. I think I should like it too, little Bo Peep. Where are we going to live, little Boy Blue? Where are we going to live, Boy Blue? Little Bo Peep, Bo Peep, up in the hills with the sheep.  I'll love you forever and ever, little Bo Peep. I'll love you forever and ever, Bo Peep. Little Boy Blue, my dear, keep near, keep very near. I shall always be here, little Bo Peep. The Mirror. Between the woods the afternoon is fallen in a golden swoon. The sun looks down from quiet skies to where a quiet water lies. And silent trees stoop down to trees. And there I saw a white swan make, another white swan in the lake. And pressed to press, both motionless, they waited for the wind's caress. And all the water was at ease. End of section. Section 9 of When We Were Very Young. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne. Section 9. Halfway down. Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit. There isn't any other stair quite like it. I'm not at the bottom. I'm not at the top. So this is the stair where I always stop. Halfway up the stairs isn't up and isn't down. It isn't in the nursery. It isn't in the town.  It isn't really anywhere. It's somewhere else instead. The Invaders. In careless patches through the wood, the clumps of yellow primrose stood and sheets of white anemones like driven snows against the trees had covered up the violet and left the bluebell bluer yet. Along the narrow carpet ride, with primroses on either side, between their shadows and the sun, the cows came slowly, one by one, breathing the early morning air and leaving it still sweeter there. And one by one, intent upon their purposes, they followed on in ordered silence and were gone. But all the little wood was still, as if it waited so, until some blackbird on an outpost you, watching the slow procession through, lifted his yellow beak at last to whistle that the line had passed. Then all the wood began to sing its morning anthem to the spring. Before tea. Emmeline has not been seen for more than a week. She slipped between the two tall trees at the end of the green. We all went after her. Emmeline! Emmeline, I didn't mean, ah, I only said that your hands weren't clean. We went to the trees at the end of the green. But Emmeline was not to be seen. Emmeline came slipping between the two tall trees at the end of the green. We all ran up to her. Emmeline! Where have you been? Where have you been? Why, it's more than a week. And Emmeline said, Silly's, I went and saw the queen. She says my hands are perfectly clean. Teddy Bear. A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. Our teddy bear is short and fat, which is not to be wondered at. He gets what exercise he can by falling off the ottoman. And generally seems to lack the energy to clamber back. Now, tubbiness is just the thing which gets a fellow wondering. And Teddy worried lots about the fact that he was rather stout. He thought, if only I were thin, but how does anyone begin? He thought, it really isn't fair to grudge me exercise and air. For many weeks he pressed in vain his nose against the window-pane and envied those who walked about reducing their unwanted stout. None of the people he could see is quite, he said, as fat as me. Then with a still more moving sigh, I mean, he said, as fat as I. Now Teddy, as was only right, slept in the ottoman at night, and with him crowded in as well more animals than I can tell. Not only these, but books and things, such as a kind relation brings, old tales of once upon a time and history retold in rhyme. One night it happened that he took a peep at an old picture-book, wherein he came across, by chance, the picture of a king of France, a stoutish man, and down below these words, King Louis so-and-so. Nicknamed the handsome, there he sat, and think of it, the man was fat. Our bear rejoiced like anything to read about this famous king, Nicknamed the handsome, there he sat, and certainly the man was fat. Nicknamed the handsome, not a doubt, the man was definitely stout. Why, then, a bear for all his tub might yet be named the handsome cub. Might yet be named, or did he mean that years ago he might have been? For now he felt a slight misgiving. Is Louis so-and-so still living? Fashion's in beauty have a way of altering from day to day. Is handsome Louis with us yet? Unfortunately, I forget. Next morning, nose to window-pane, the doubt occurred to him again. One question hammered in his head.  Thus nose to pane he pondered, but the lattice window, loosely shut, swung open, with one startled, oh! our teddy disappeared below. There happened to be passing by a plump man with a twinkling eye, who, seeing teddy in the street, raised him politely to his feet. And murmured kindly in his ear soft words of comfort and of cheer. Well, well, allow me, not at all. Tut, tut! a very nasty fall! Our teddy answered not a word. It's doubtful if he even heard. Our bear could only look and look. The stout man in the picture-book. That handsome king, could this be he? This man of adiposity? Impossible, he thought. But still, no harm in asking. Yes, I will. Are you, he said, by any chance, his Majesty the King of France? The other answered, I am that. Bowed stiffly and removed his hat. Then said, excuse me, with an air, but is it Mr. Edward Bear? And Teddy, bending very low, replied politely, even so. They stood beneath the window there, the King and Mr. Edward Bear, and, handsome, if a trifle fat, talk carelessly of this and that. Then said his Majesty, well, well, I must get on, and rang the bell. Your bear, I think, he smiled, good day, and turned and went upon his way. A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. Our teddy bear is short and fat, which is not to be wondered at. But do you think it worries him to know that he is far from slim? No, just the other way about. Being short and stout. Bad Sir Brian Botany. Sir Brian had a battle-axe with great big knobs on. He went among the villagers and blipped them on the head. On Wednesday and on Saturday, but mostly on the latter day, he called it all the cottages and this is what he said. I am Sir Brian, tingling. I am Sir Brian, rat-tat. I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion. Take that, and that, and that. Sir Brian had a pair of boots with great big spurs on, a fighting pair of which he was particularly fond. On Tuesday and on Friday, just to make the streets look tidy, he'd collect the passing villagers and kick them in the pond. I am Sir Brian, per splash. I am Sir Brian, spur-losh. I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion. Is anyone else for a wash? Sir Brian woke one morning and he couldn't find his battle-axe. He walked into the village in his second pair of boots.  You are Sir Brian, indeed. You are Sir Brian, dear, dear. You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion. Delighted to meet you here. Sir Brian went a journey and he found a lot of duckweed.  They took him by the breeches and they hurled him into ditches and they pushed him under waterfalls and this is what they said. You are Sir Brian, don't laugh. You are Sir Brian, don't cry. You are Sir Brian, as bold as a lion. Sir Brian the lion, good-bye. Sir Brian struggled home again and chopped up his battle-axe. Sir Brian took his fighting boots and threw them in the fire. He is quite a different person now. He hasn't got his spurs on and he goes about the village as Bebotany Esquire. I am Sir Brian? Oh, no. I am Sir Brian. Who's he? I haven't got any title. I'm Botany. Plain Mr. Botany B. End of section. Section 10 of When We Were Very Young This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne Section 10 In the Fashion A lion has a tail and a very fine tail. And so has an elephant and so has a whale. And so has a crocodile and so has a quail. They've all got tails but me. If I had six pence, I would buy one. I'd say to the shopman, let me try one. I'd say to the elephant, this is my one. They'd all come round to see. Then I'd say to the lion, why, you've got a tail. And so is the elephant and so has the whale. And look, there's a crocodile. He's got a tail. You've all got tails like me. The alchemist. There lives an old man at the top of the street and the end of his beard reaches down to his feet and he's just the one person I'm longing to meet. I think that he sounds so exciting. For he talks all the day to his tortoise shell cat and he asks about this and explains about that. And at night he puts on a big wide-awake hat and sits in the writing room writing. He's worked all his life and he's terribly old at a wonderful spell which says, Lo and behold, your nursery fender is gold and it's gold. Or the tongs or the rod for the curtain. But somehow he hasn't got hold of it quite or the liquid you pour on it first isn't right. So that's why he works at it night after night till he knows he can do it for certain. Growing up. I've got shoes with grown-up laces. I've got knickers and a pair of braces. I'm all ready to run some races. Who's coming out with me? I've got a nice new pair of braces. I've got shoes with new brown laces. I know wonderful padley places. Who's coming out with me? Every morning my new grace is, thank you, guys, for my nice braces. I can tie my new brown laces. Who's coming out with me? If I were king. I often wish I were a king and then I could do anything. If only I were king of Spain I'd take my hat off in the rain. If only I were king of France I wouldn't brush my hair for ants. I think if I were king of Greece I'd push things off the mantelpiece. If I were king of Norway I'd ask an elephant to stay.  If I were king of Timbuktu I'd think of lovely things to do. If I were king of anything I'd tell the soldiers I'm the king. Vespers.  Hush, hush. Whisper who dares. Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. God bless, mummy. I know that's right. Wasn't it fun in the bath tonight? The cold so cold and the hot so hot. Oh! God bless, daddy. I quite forgot. If I open my fingers a little bit more I can see nanny's dressing gown on the door. It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood. Oh! God bless, nanny, and make her good. Mine has a hood and I lie in bed and pull the hood right over my head.  Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day. And what was the other I had to say? I said bless, daddy, so what can it be? Oh! Now I remember it. God bless, me.  Hush, hush. Whisper who dares. Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. End of section and end of book. Thank you for listening.


In other news tonight, the Bemidji City Council met in a closed work session in a joint meeting with the Sanford Center's management company, VenuWorks. The purpose of the meeting was to give VenuWorks the opportunity to present the findings of their internal investigation into the Sanford Center's former executive director, Curtis Webb, who was accused of using company debit cards for personal reasons. Both the county and state auditors are being included in the findings of the investigation. We've contacted the state auditor, we've been in communication with them about the situation, and both the city and the state auditor's office, we're waiting to have a better understanding of exactly what the extent of the financial propriety is. City manager Nate Matthews added that they hope to wrap up the investigation so they can determine their next steps. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


I've got a simple Godot project here from a past screencast video where the health decreases when you press the space bar just to show off health bars. And while this video is not about health bars, this video is about project settings in Godot and having a project setup already makes it a little easier to illustrate. When you go to project and project settings in Godot, you're greeted with a comprehensive list and guide to all the settings that are available for your project. This can be quite overwhelming at first, so I thought this video would be nice to walk you through what these do and focus on some of the most important ones that I've come across so far. So we'll just start right at the beginning application config name. This is what's displayed in your game when you run it. So I just changed it and I added a space and now you can see up here in the title bar it's Godot health bars. And when I alt tab, well if I exported it and I alt tab, this changes the display of the application. So that would be the name of your game and you would want to name it accordingly. Description is used mostly it seems like it's for the Godot project manager when you launch Godot it just describes it more. So I don't usually set that it doesn't seem like it's used anywhere else. If you want to set your game icon it defaults to the Godot robot but if you changed it to your own SVG icon that's what would show up when you run your game and that's important for PC games that you need that. So that's how you would set that. You would just drag your SVG into here and you know I actually have an SVG probably here. Here's a floppy disk SVG. I'll just import that, go to project settings, we'll quick load it, close it. Now if we run the game instead of seeing the Godot robot the game application icon is this font awesome floppy disk icon. So that's how you change your project icon. Run is just sets the main scene that runs when your game boots this would all most often be like your main menu or just right into gameplay or maybe you have a credit splash screen if that's something you need and you can just change that by going and browsing and finding it. It defaults to the first one you run it prompts and asks you background color is what's shown surrounding your game so like or the boot splash sorry so this background color so like if we change that to a different color like we'll make it a sort of green color and we run our game. There's a lot of running and quitting you can change that that can give it a little bit of feel while still calling out Godot and that's kind of nice. We can also just like turn off the Godot splash image while it boots if that's something you want so we can go ahead and close that and now you'll just see that color while it loads up and then you don't have the good icon but it's kind of nice I think to let people that was named Godot if that's something you want window this is pretty important. This is kind of the impetus for the video so if we made this 640 by 480 and we close it now the size of our game window changes this can be really nice based upon what kind of game you're making and maybe you want it smaller because it's on the web or maybe it's like a retro game and you want it to be a lower resolution for some reason when it launches and then you can also change how it launches so this does full screen not exclusive so you can alt tab and it doesn't change the resolution much for PC games I think that makes a lot of sense but you know it's based on your needs so yeah I think windows also nice you can also say where it gets positioned initially so like we could set it in zero zero absolute it's gonna maybe that's the center of the screen I'm not sure I haven't mess with that much but anyway and you can say you know launch it to the other screen that can be useful while you're developing you can change that here resizable is nice you can make it so your game can't be resized but you probably do want to be resized borderless is I think it gets away from the like yeah you don't have the decorative window management pretty sure you'd want that though especially if you're launching windows so don't do that much but here's another important one which is stretch mode so you may have noticed that when I resize the window here see this area that's like you know represents this area over here in the 2d scene editor but I really don't want that to be present I just want the game to scale with the window size because we don't want more of the like scene view to be visible at least most of the time not so you can go ahead and let's hover over this and just doesn't have a description but if we change it to viewport keep and then we run our game and we resize it see those black bars it's not showing more of the 2d viewport it's scaling our game accordingly so no matter how big you make the window it maintains the aspect ratio of your window and for pixel art games in particular in certain 2d games that you know is probably what you want and there's more settings here like keep width will maintain the width of the game but the height will change so you can see here like we get this area down here but it maintains the width up there you can make it big and then if it gets too wide you get the black bars but this would like show more of the down area that could be nice for phones because like phones have different heights if you made a vertical game and so that's quite quite good to know and you can set the scale of your game like let's say our game was yeah we'll make it that but we'll scale it at 1.5 and we'll just keep both of them now it'll launch zoomed into our world like into our scene here so this is the edge of the health bar kind of weird it doesn't make your window two times bigger it just zooms in on your game haven't messed around that too much but it could be useful and then for handheld games like if you made it for phones you could set it landscape or portrait accordingly you can set the v-sync mode that's to help with to provide screen tearing and some other things so usually just keep that as a default you can set a custom mouse cursor if you want there haven't messed around with too much of this stuff texture filter this is really helpful if you're using a pixel art game you probably want to change it to nearest that'll make it scale really nicely linear is more for like painterly scaling and yeah so if you're using pixel art you come into this project setting and change it to nearest and then every time you import an image into your project it'll have this default filter applied which is what you want so that depends rendering mode is set sort of similar to the renderer you choose and you create your project then you could change it for phones and web it seems like so that's cool haven't done that too much anti aliasing is settings i think they affect 3d i don't know if they affect 2d not too much there physics you can set the gravity and you can set some common settings in your game like how many physics ticks and those sorts of things and then you could then change those code if you needed their settings for xr and things for that you can change your layers and the names for physics layers and stuff this is quite helpful especially as your games get more complex and you can turn on blender importing so that's project settings the basics just really want to show you the ones i use a lot there's advanced settings too so we didn't even get into them but um you know it really there's really a lot lot to it i haven't really gotten into these advanced settings too much there is a setting that i do change from time to time called it's about the dpi i think that it's only visible it's an advanced settings so if you go advanced settings allow high dpi if you're on certain platforms you might have a monitor that has like you know two x the pixels of its resolution and it makes text text look really crisp so you can turn that off and now you see the windows bigger but the text is a little blurry for a pixel art game that doesn't matter because it's going to scale nicely but um for certain games and for certain people you might prefer to have the high dpi on i'll launch that again so you see the differences so that's that that's the project settings and we go in here input map covered in other videos haven't gotten into translation and localization yet i'd like to in the future autoload is for global constants which is a different concept entirely plugins is for adding plugins which i haven't done yet and um don't know much about the import defaults but for your general project settings those are the main ones uh i'd suggest reading the docs on certain ones if you want to learn more but um hopefully what i covered helps and covers the basis um something nice is that when you do change the resolution of the game in the 2d viewport it shows you this blue line it might be pretty thin let me try to zoom in this blue line is what the resolution of the game is and it's quite helpful to um see that while you're working on your game so like since we changed it to be that new resolution let's drag this over move our color rectangle to approximately fit now if we launch the game again you'll see that that's more centered and uh is there those are the basic do project settings that stuff was super overwhelming when i started hopefully this makes it a little less overwhelming for you to see the most important ones and how to change them all right thanks


This is Start of the Storefront. This episode is part of our continuing series centered around NFT communities. Like any other brand, creating a vibrant and engaged NFT community is no easy feat. Yet it is this trait that separates those with staying power from the ones that are only in it for the rug pool. It requires management, moderators, and members to be aligned and in constant communication. Our guest today is Alessandra Morris, founder of Newdy Community. She has built a fiercely loyal and motivated base through creative and intentional marketing, which led to selling out all 10,000 Newdies in a matter of minutes. So listen in as we cover everything from why NFT communities are like high school clicks, why it's important to hire from within that community, and why your network is your net worth. Now onto the episode. Alright, welcome to the podcast on today's show, NFTs, the Newdy Community founder Alessandra. Thanks for joining. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited to be here. So here in the room today, we have Alexi Oh and myself. Obviously, we all are Newdy Community holders. I think there's like 11 that we hold between us. So thanks, like we're just fans and it's the best. For people who don't know about the NFT community, I'm a startup investor. And so as an investor, what ends up happening is like you're really betting on the person and where you think they're going to go. But you're never invited to like a Discord channel. People don't know what Discord is. It's like a Slack channel or just like a text message for the company. But in the NFT land, it's full transparency. You have 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 people that if they're unhappy, you'll find out pretty quickly. Oh, yes. And the roadmap is there and you know who the founders are. And so you're like examining like, oh, what did this person do? This person, this person. And so there's a lot of information and transparency instantly. You also realize if the project is going to flop pretty quickly, or at least the feeling of flop could happen quickly. Let's take me back to the beginning. What made you want to get into NFTs? So I actually got rugged and that's how I got into NFTs. So I tell people that rug means we have entrepreneurship community, maybe new to the term. So rug pretty much means you get the carpet pulled out from under you. You think that this project is going to be something great. And then either after mint or something happens and the rug just gets pulled. So you kind of get, I don't know. You lose your money.  Scam might be a word to put with it, but it just depends on the community. So I was seeing a bunch of influencers and people posting about NFTs about eight months ago, a year ago, probably now, and I was having FOMO. So I was like, you know what, I need to check this out. So I got onto Discord and I thought Discord was only for gaming. Silly me. And I got thrown into communities with 25,000 people, 50,000 people. And I was like, wow, am I like the last person to know that like this is going on? And I guess I wasn't. So, and I didn't even know how to verify at the time, right? So I was like asking questions and asking help. And I bought into these projects without really knowing what an NFT was. And then I got scammed and rugged on quite a few. And that's when I decided to do the deep dive into NFTs, figuring out like whatever utility is, you know, what's a good project? What's a red flag?  So I was like, you know what, I think I can do this, but I want to do this right where people will feel comfortable buying into a project. And that's where I thought like, okay, I need to put the perfect team together. And Haley was one of the first people that came to mind because she is a fashion designer. She's worked for Nike, Google, Coors, Xbox, Lori L. My little pony, you name it, she's done a collaboration with it. So she's kind of a collab queen. And I just personally love where she stood for morally. You know, she stands for body positivity. She stands for being inclusive. So that was the first stop designer there. And then the second stop, I was looking for developers for a long time. And that's when I was scrolling on TikTok and I came across Katia and she had a great following there and a great following on Instagram. And all the pieces kind of just aligned to make, you know, this, you know, woman led team. So you said you've always been a startup founder. Yeah. So can you give us a backstory on that? Like, what have you been doing before you got into Newtys? Yeah. So before Newtys at 18, I opened up my first clothing store in Logan Beach. I foregoed going to school and things like that. I was actually like a dropout.  So it was actually very successful, but different things were happening in my life where I wanted to pivot away from kind of fashion. And that's when I went into music and arts and entertainment. And I was one of the operators of a arts and entertainment company that was just starting up. So I did everything for them on that end. And then I launched my own music career for a little bit. And then I went back to... As a singer, you would sing? Or what was the... I was a rapper. A rapper. Can you give us some? Oh, no. I'm too shy for that. But that's where like the name Lachey comes from. And also... That was your... Okay, I got it. Yeah. That's like a little tidbit there.  So I currently have a pet line. It's called Purific Pets. I also helped with an immune booster startup. And I was also on the operation side for a lot of companies that were going public. So I do all their marketing, things like that. Influencer marketing. So I've worked with or started over eight startups, some successful, some not. I mean, that's how just the name of the game goes. But that definitely gave me like the knowledge to really put that into NFTs to like make it and to also have that drive. So when you started in October, the three of you get together. Was the art clear to you at the time? Or were you like, what are we going to make? What was that like the creative process there? Yeah. So for October, like I was already starting on the foundation. And then when I brought Haley on, we had a couple of different ideas. So I initially really liked the hairless cat idea. And I had a couple of different mocks made up prior by different artists. But then when we and Haley got on a phone call, she wanted to do six different characters. And we were going to do full body because she's very big on fashion. And then the more we dove into that, we're like, all right, this might be a little too crazy for the first time go here. We went back to the hairless cat idea. She loves cats personally. I own three hairless cats. So that's kind of the muses behind them. And they kind of just fell into place from there. And her best friend owns a hairless cat. So kind of was perfect. Yeah. I am not a cat guy in any capacity.  It's like, not a cat guy, but I actually do like the art.  No, I'm a cat daddy. That sounds so sexy, cat daddy. It really does. You got a nice spin to it. I do want to talk about the 22 minute sell out as well, because that's just so impressive in and of itself. But one of the things that I remember from your Twitter space, like the day you sold out, you said that people were coming to you the day before in the day of saying that you weren't going to sell out. And you got emotional about it. You were saying like people were saying I wasn't going to succeed about it.  Yeah. I was actually crazy. Before I was having DMs on discord from people who have been in the industry and are like in whale groups and things like that.  And I was I was mentally prepared for the best outcome. What did that mean though? So like that we wouldn't sell out. Okay. And it'd probably be like a long process for us to sell out 10,000. And so then the 2500 would have to be burned in order to keep the collections floor price going up and things like that, which a lot of collections have to do. Sometimes when you have a 10,000 piece collection, you don't sell out.  You don't know what that's like though. I don't. I was going to say unfortunately, but no, it's very fortunate that we sold out so quickly. It was incredible. So I still feel like it hasn't sunk in that it sold out that quickly. The day of everyone is celebrating, but I was still like behind the scenes, like doing everything. So it didn't really sink in 100%. I feel like I still haven't celebrated it. Right? I feel like we all need to go to drink sometimes and go sober. So let's do that. But it was really cool. It was really cool just to see that the community rallied around and like all the hard work and all the effort and the sleepless nights. Cause I was literally getting maybe two to three hours a night asleep. So it was like Katya. So it was Haley most nights. We didn't sleep and especially leading up to it. It was insane. But it was also a blessing and a curse to sell out in 22 minutes. And I can cover that as well. Why a curse? So here's what a lot of people don't realize. And I think unless you're on the back end of it, you would never think of these types of things. So when you sell in 22 minutes, it's your NFT gets put onto like IC tools, gets put on all these top sites. So flippers going by and people who are in alpha and will groups, they get sent that project that morning cause it's hot. And so they all buy in. So that means that 90% of the people that kind of bought that day had no idea about our project or like they're not in the discord. They're not active community members. Yeah, they're just flipping. Yeah, just flipping. Got it. And so the other portion of that is since they don't know anything about the community, they're not attached. They're not emotionally attached. And since a lot of community members probably didn't think that it come in 22 minutes, they didn't get a chance to buy in that 22 minute window either. So the biggest thing that came out of that was the whales, right? And so what happens with whales is sometimes they'll buy off of metadata that isn't actually actualized or they'll somehow get a leak to the metadata a few minutes before the general public does. So what they'll do is they will buy the ones that they find rare on like rarity sniper or rarity sniffer. And what happens is when we changed our metadata to be corrected after the fact, the whales were very upset. And I was getting DMs and things like that. Like what can you do to change the metadata back or what can you do to change the rarity to be like when we first bought and got messages like we will undercut you for infinity just for fun. And so I even at the time contemplated changing it and even contemplated changing the weights. But then I was like, you know, I've never been one to rig anything. And I'm also a woman in NFTs, which is not huge. I'm not going to roll over now, especially in the beginning. So that kind of bit us in the butt that we didn't roll over. But it was super interesting to see that type of side of the industry, right? Because you hear about situations kind of like this happening in Web 2 and Web 3. You don't see everything that happens behind closed doors. So to have it happen to you, it's like, okay, you kind of have to learn to pivot. And like that's being reflected currently on pricing and things. So it's an interesting learning experience. And I can't wait to take it and, you know, utilize it in the future. So then how do you handle all the haters? Like I see the comments in the discord about like the floor is dropping. Like how do you respond and like how do you feel confident in your project? Continue to go forward watching that. Exactly. So those comments can be very discouraging, especially when you personally put like, like I said, the long hours of blood, sweat and tears in and you are fully doxxed when other, you know, founders, they're not. And when those comments happen, they leave, right? And they leave with the money. I just love the nudies, right? I'm so passionate about it. It's like what gets me up in the morning. It drives me to do better, not only for the community, but for myself. So when I see comments like that, it definitely at times like hits home, but I have to remember that everything that I'm doing is for the greater good of the community as a whole. And in business, you can't always please everyone. And that's something that I feel like was the hardest realization because for the first two weeks after launching, I was trying to please everyone and I was trying to, you know, bounce back and forth and do that. And then I realized like in order for this to be successful, I can't do that. So difficult. Yeah.  That's at least my opinion on it. And so, you know, not everything that people buy into is successful, but you have to, as a founder, make it successful if you truly love something. How did you go about marketing it? And so I found out about it through an NFT on Instagram. I forget what page covered you guys, but that's how I found out. Was it at NFT? Probably. And it seemed like the discord went nuts after that. It did. It went insane. So NFT actually is no longer a page on there, but we were very fortunate because the new creative director that came on at the time, he was featuring woman artist and he reached out to us. And that was kind of, you know, history there where we were able to connect and he was able to feature our project. And he was also featuring amazing women artists, which was honestly, I think very refreshing for that page to see. And I think that's very awesome for people to see that was lacking in the industry. So we were very grateful. His name is Jeremy Jeremy Fall. He actually has a page now called probably nothing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I love it because it's so educational. Great name, by the way. Epic. Epic name. I think that page is awesome. And I can't wait to see that page grow because it's just super refreshing for the NFT community. So he left and started his own thing or is he still with the NFT? The NFT page. I'm not quite sure what's going on with it now, but I know before like that ended, that's like his own thing. Also, the NFT page doesn't always do research that deeply. And so I think sometimes it's like hit or miss and it's problematic, I think, when you're trying to be like at NFT as an example and you're not doing your research on the projects. Exactly. So I feel like when people like that do take the time, though, to reach out to the founders and reach out to artists, like that sets apart from other people who are just, you know, willy-nilly putting anyone out there. Did you learn this all like, for example, like right now I'm in maybe 12, 13, 14 discord, something like that. And so as I'm like, I'm just analyzing them, startup investor. So I'm just like doing the calculus. And I'm like, the NFT community definitely has it right. Like you guys have moderators. You guys are active all the time. You're creating content, which I think is something people don't, at least when I compare it to the other discords, they don't do. And so you're creating community, you're creating content for the community to share. The Twitter rates are part of that, but it's like creative content. And so it's fun and it's new. Whereas on the other channels, I mean, it doesn't exist. And so did you, is that something that you learned or is that something that you were like, this is intuitively feels right? A mix. So before you've been starting our own discord, I probably was a member of over like 90. Discords? Yeah. And I would go through them daily and like learn from them and like learn certain layouts that I liked. And also just kind of learn certain wordings for like the channels and stuff. And also watching like, you know, the different conversations being had. And I was also buying into some of the time too, but not obviously all 90. So the whole content part, I think was really cool because it's kind of mixing web two into web three, but in a different way, right? Because web two, you know, you want to put out good content. And I feel like for web three at the time when we started, it kind of like wasn't there. So like making custom duties for people doing raids. I feel like people weren't necessarily doing that. Right. Especially on the TikTok aspect. So smart. For sure. I've never seen that. And honestly, I have to give a lot of props to Haley there because sometimes like the day of I'll be like, we need to Justin Bieber one. Like, can you do this? He just bought a board ape. And she's like, okay, okay, I got you. And then she is like adding the tattoos even on the neck and the Serena Williams one we did for the girls and women's in sport day. Incredible. Like she matched the necklaces. She had, you know, the whole outfit, even like the stripes, everything down to a T. She crushes it. So when I'm checking out NFT communities, like seeing the founders docs is like a huge green flag. So I'm like, oh, there's accountability. They got skin in the game. Now the flip side is you were talking earlier about how like some people are mad about the rarity and like the drop and things like that. Have you seen any negative consequences by being docked or people like try to connect with you in real life or anything like that? Not necessarily negative. So I've actually had a lot of positive feedback when people have met me in real life and I haven't really had anything negative no matter like what the situation is, which is lucky, but I know on the flip side, like if it was a whole different situation and I feel like if we didn't build such a great community, then who knows what could have happened because I hear things like every day from certain people that have docs themselves. So I think I'm very fortunate that the community is how it is and I kind of always wanted from day one everyone to be super respectful of each other and there's always going to be flutters and things like that. But the whole baseline was our community, if you're coming in, you kind of need to be respectful and if you're not going to be respectful, we either have to put you on time out or something like that. Let's talk about the roadmap and so how did you guys go about that decision? Yeah, so the main thing I wanted was I wanted a community to be Dow based. So the initial roadmap was kind of some giveaways and things like that. But after the sellout was when I wanted to transfer into Dow, you know, having our Dow up and having voting. And I wanted that because I wanted everyone to kind of feel invested in the decisions.  I always have to like research things and like make sure the team or add more members on, like team members on before we accomplish certain things. So our first style vote was merging into the metaverse. Yeah, how many people voted like percentage-wise? I'll have to double check, but I believe it was over 700 people voted, which is good, but it also shows you, right? There's like the core community members. And then there's people who like either have it, like set it and forget it or the flippers in it. So it was really cool to do that. But the base roadmap, we've pretty much accomplished everything. We actually have some billboard campaigns that didn't get approved like the New York Times Square was. He won. I was the winner of the billboard. Oh, were you really? Yeah, yeah. That's crazy. You're like, what ended up going down? Like you guys got it and then it didn't work. For people who don't know, just describe it. So for people who don't know, part of the roadmap is we are going to get a billboard in Times Square to promote the community. So we had a competition where we all could submit designs to design the billboard. But the catch is that we can't have Newdy's on a billboard in Times Square, despite like that is the name of the community. Like the word is a no-no? The word is a no-no. So what happens from there? Next step. Yeah. So actually the alternative route is, I know you guys see like in LA here in New York, there's posters flooded throughout the city, hundreds of them. So that's the route we're going to go next. We're going to paste up on a thousand. And the vote's probably going to be whether people want to see it in LA or New York, because it's pretty much the same pricing. Let's go to LA. LA, sure. I kind of like LA because, you know, It's also not snowing, so the posters won't get ruined. That's true. And a lot of them stay up for a while, you know?  And that's exciting that you could be up for that long. Yeah. So is it going to be the same art? I think I might have to have you do the art. Love it. Love it. Love to hear it. He was so excited. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to have to have you do that because the posters, we have full creative freedom. You can put anything on them. The billboard in New York, we got not approved by multiple landlords for the word nudie, which was surprising. And I thought about, yeah, maybe foregoing it, but then that's the whole part of it. Like who's going to know the name? Or I couldn't even do a very small at nudie community for like Twitter. They wouldn't even let me do that. And they were even kind of being picky about the scan code to pull up to certain things. I was like, okay, it's not going to work out. What I love about what you're doing too is that you're also like hiring people from the community. Like you're hiring people from the discord. Yeah. And so where did like genius idea, by the way, like that's so good. You just hired two people? I did. Yeah. Okay. So we just hired two community managers and one of them is actually directly somebody that was from the discord there and the community, which is super cool because they give the community's perspective, right? So there are people that I noticed were very active and she would come onto Twitter spaces and she would participate and also be there during the day in the discord. So she was kind of a perfect fit. And she also has already related to the community. She's been in talks of like where their concerns is or questions are or comments. So it's kind of like a perfect integration there. And then going forward, I want to hire as many people from the community first as possible because we put up a hiring duties page. And after going through it, you realize how many talented people lie within your community, which is absolutely incredible. So if I can hire within there, like, why not? Yeah. That's why you're here right now. Yeah. So many cool people, so many fans. And you guys are absolutely incredible. Thank you. I can't believe we got to connect like this, right? Because it's different like being able to talk in discord or other things, but then to meet in real life. It's super cool how NFTs are kind of bringing that together. I was in a Twitter space when I mentioned the space right here. And I was like someone, and then somebody hit me up that was in that space and they came and met with me here. Oh, wow. Yeah. Like they're another, I think they're in Orange County also actually, like they drove here and we just had a chat and they were in real estate development also. See? This is so crazy. You never know where like certain connections will like become or lie. So that's like the super cool thing about Twitter Spaces. Like yesterday I was at an NFT meetup. You guys should go, they have it every Thursday at the coffee shop here in Venice Beach. And it's part of the Crypto Venetians community. And then they also, every single week do like a art gallery after and also like an alpha educational thing.  And it's just really cool to see these in real life events go down to. Yeah. What's like your biggest hope that happens between now and let's say May for the nudie community? For the nudie community, I have a lot of cool things coming. So. Drop it. Let's go. Let's drop it. Let's drop it. So we have had a companion collection. Oh.  Okay. Little bit of a secret. So there was something that was in the original promo banner, right? A character in there. And they did not get added to the collection. So we are utilizing them in a different way for the companion collection. So that's going to be really exciting. And what I want to integrate is if you own a companion and if you own a nudie, you'll be able to breed them. Oh, wow. I'm in. I'm in. Yeah. For sure. That's so exciting. So I think people will be really exciting for that.  How many rugs that are happening? Even like the day before mint things that are coming out. We've always kind of had an idea of like what the future of NFTs would look like. And we want to be involved in it long term. Not only with the nudies. Like the nudies is going to be here to stay. But we came together me and Hailey and decided to make a lab. So it's called the outlier labs. Because as you know, like a outlier is somebody who's like detached from the rest. And that's kind of fits with decentralization, right? You're detached from the rest. And also we want to be different than everyone. So it's rugged. Everyone. So I'm going to be, you know, the president of it. We have Hailey, who's going to be the creative director. And then I've brought in people from real life business world. So I have a CFO who's actually a CEO of a public company.  And I have a bunch of other cool people on the software side for advisors. So we'll put like some more drops and tid bits about that soon. Because you'll be able to buy anything from this lab or invest in anything from this lab. And no, you're not going to get wrecked. Like these are people that sit on SEC, you know, approved public companies. They're not going to rug you. You know, we have a project already out that, you know, we've, we've showed that so far, you know, we've been somebody to trust and we want to continue on that trust with the new community. And then real issue. You really trying to solve the rugging issue. Kind of am here. You're like on a mission. I am. And I want to be in an incubator eventually. So eventually other. You want to create your own incubator? Yeah. So the labs will eventually be an incubator. So if somebody else has a project, but they don't have funding or it's like some sort of idea like that, we have people that are ready to invest and us personally are ready to invest to, you know, help you build out your concept. And everyone's going to be, you know, why Combinator NFT land? That's so fast. Incredible. And the nudies will always kind of be a skeleton key. So if you own a nudie, then you're always going to have access to whitelist spots or discounts or certain things like that for anything that would come out of the lab. So that's going to be super exciting. I love all the art that you guys are featuring, like all the other women art that you've been featuring recently on Twitter. Epic art. Like I think for me, the thing is like, I want to like the art that starts. It sounds kind of like from a startup perspective. If I'm investing in a company, the art doesn't matter. The product matters and the founder matters. But when it comes to the NFTs, like I really want to like the art. That's key for sure. I feel like one of the main things when buying into a project, you have to like the art because whether something goes right or wrong at the end of the day, it's going to still sit in your wallet. You've got the art. Yeah. And you have the art. And I have so many pieces that sit in my wallet, but I like the art. So I'm happy with it. And you also have to be, you know, very careful about the team and the roadmap and things like that. You always have to do your own research and never like buy out of FOMO. Like I've made that mistake. I'm sure maybe some of us in this room have made that mistake. Right. So art is very important. And so that's why we also want to highlight other female artists, like you said. And we have four artists that are, you know, women in NFTs and some that are coming new into the NFT world who are featured in our airdrop of all different sizes. So some have only following size of like 500 to 600 people and some have 20,000 and just bringing together four different art styles to airdrop to the community. And we want to continue going with that.  So every Wednesday we're buying a piece from a woman led community or woman artists and giving it back to the community and then doing a lot of like women led community whitelist spots to everyone. So that's just something I feel like we can give back because we currently have the platform to do so. And so why not utilize it for good? And one of the things I said when we sold out was the sellout was not just for like me or the team. It was for all women in NFTs because we only make up 16% of the artists and 5% of the sales. And for me that is way too low. And so to have that happen so quickly and to sell out and to do that as a woman in the space, you have to help others. So I was actually just going to bring up that statistic because to me as a woman that means a lot to me. So what can we do, including our listeners, what can they do to increase that number and turn it into something better? I feel like some of the main things is, you know, if you see women in NFTs support them as much as you can, right? So a retweet, a like, a comment on their art goes a long way. And if you are viable at the time to buy into their collection, do so. But I feel like even not on a financial side, just a support on social media goes a long way. Also sharing them or for instance if you see a comment or a post from a different community saying like, hey, we'd like to know about women artists, tag them there. There's so much to do on like a social media side. And then I feel like on a different side of things, just bringing more awareness to trying to not repeat our same mistakes that we made in Web 2 and to Web 3, right? And being inclusive, not only for women, but like all genders, all communities, you know, all races. So I feel like the more that we can try to include them into the conversation, the better. We were just talking about this, like right now we're featuring this thing with cat footwear around like women in construction. And it's the same thing. It's like today people are talking about women, but they shouldn't. But it's always the first thing, right? It's like male dominated, then it becomes woman, then it becomes LGBTQA, and then it just continues to trickle down. And so it's like while women have the spotlight, they also realize that they're just ushering in all these other groups later. And I think that's like super powerful. And it's cool to see it. And you guys are kind of leading the charge in some way or part of the charge. Yeah. And there's so many amazing women collections out there right now. Some known, some not known. And you know, people like Fame Lady Squad, they've had their own trials and tribulations, right? And you can look at their chart and see so and see how they're doing now and see the way that they've done things and structured things. It's amazing to see not only their perseverance, but you know, seeing their community rally around them. And then on the outside perspective, everyone that's come in to support them as well. So even communities that are at that size, or even ones that people don't know about, really cool. And it's also really cool seeing different celebrities organically endorsed communities. Any celebrities on tap for duty community? You know, Paris Hill announced to. Is she going to go public? The one? Is she going to make the PFP? I wish. I wish. So Haley was super excited yesterday, actually, because she got a printout of it and she hung it up in her house. And it was actually Paris Hilton's birthday yesterday, but Paris has retweeted a couple of her tweets. She follows us. That's cool. Very awesome to have like a woman in NFTs supporting other women in NFTs. And we've also when we on our whitelist, I feel like we had probably eight to 12 players from the Baltimore Ravens. Why is that? One of my close friends, he's friends with the brother of Kocab, and he kind of brought them in and Kocab is super awesome. Like he's a gentleman that, you know, has a charity for lupus and, you know, he's super cool. And he just recently did the dive into NFTs. And so he kind of brought the whole team with him and was educating. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So I really love stories like that, right? So people from all different walks of life, all different professions are now dipping their toes into NFTs, which in my opinion is kind of going to be the future. How do you view like the future like right now? Everything's on Ethereum, right? Everything. Do you view that changing? Do you think there's like, like if you were to launch a project, maybe in, let's say four or five months, do you think it's Solana? Do you think it's Cardano? Or do you just think Ethereum one? And this is it. This is where it's going to stay for a while. I think Ethereum has won for now. I also think once like the 2.0 comes out, it's kind of going to maybe be game over. Like they're going to definitely dominate the market even though they already have. I think that there's some altcoins and stuff like that or Solana that, you know, is definitely going to be a front runner for people who like that platform. And I think that a lot of people currently are sleeping on Solana, myself included because I know some people that just only buy Solana projects or they're now dipping into Solana and they're going crazy over there and they're doing very well. So I think Ethan Solana probably will be the main ones. I just bought Claymates, Clay Nation, which is a Cardano. It's kind of like a Cardano blue chip. It's like top five, but it's just interesting to see how these different networks operate. And what I learned is like it's kind of like high school where it's like the cool kids are over here and like the super nerdy tech kids are over here in Cardano land. And then like Solana is like kind of a hybrid of both. It's like super fascinating but I'm like, I'm just going to play and see what happens. I have no idea. Right. I mean it's totally different. Like every single currency has kind of its own demographic, but every single community does too. You know, you can be in some communities and they're like super like alpha. You can be in some that super tech. You can be in some that are like super like a mix of everyone. So it's just super interesting. And I feel like as more celebrities come in and as more big brands come into the space, I'm more curious to see where that's going to take it because I think when that happens, it's going to be the real boom. And right now we're kind of in at the infancy state. So to see where this is going to grow to going to be really cool. Right. Yeah. Cardano, prenups, house titles. You never know what you know what could be next in NFTs. And I think it's really cool that art was the front runner because in my opinion, I gave people an easy way in to understand, you know, the blockchain or, you know, to understand how NFTs worked. So it was kind of easier and more digestible before coming in with like the serious stuff, which it could definitely be used in all different ways going forward, especially like in law and stuff. So I'm excited to see that in the future as well. So for people who do want to start their own NFT community, if they choose to do either Twitter Spaces or Discord, what's the best way for people to connect with that audience? Like what do you recommend for them to get more involved in? Because you do a lot of Twitter Spaces and you're active in Discord as well, which is both great. But what have you found brings in the most engagement and connects with people the most? I would say Twitter Spaces. Like if you're going to make an NFT community, or even right now any sort of community, I would highly suggest Twitter Spaces. I wish that I would have hopped on it like a month sooner.  No, when I dove in, it's a big deal. There's hundreds of people in rooms, even thousands of people in rooms at times. And you can literally connect with anyone that likes similar interests. So 100% do Twitter Spaces. And even if you're not opening up your own, go into others. Because the biggest thing that I've probably said so far too when people ask is I believe your network is your net worth in NFTs and in Web 3. So it's all about who you can align yourself with and also who you can meet. And that's what really benefits you at the end of the day is those connections that you make. One thing Diego always talks about is once you change your profile picture on Twitter to whatever NFT community, seeing how many people follow you on Twitter in such a short span of time is an easy way to measure how loyal and dedicated that community is. And the Newdy community was insane. In like 24 hours, like hundreds of hours. I was like, whoa.  I'm not surprised you, I imagine. How quickly it happened, right? Oh, yeah. It was very quick. I, beginning this, right, I was like, oh, we need to get certain numbers. We need to do certain things. Like I need to have like a super hype community before launching. And then we totally pivoted towards no, it needs to be organic. And then seeing how when we switched to being organic, those things that I originally wanted came into place naturally was absolutely incredible. So that's the biggest thing too is like, if you are going to start an NFT community, don't do paid promotions. Don't do shilling. Don't do things like that. Just grind it out. People see through it too. Like that's the thing that bothers me. It's like, it's so abundantly obvious what you're doing. Oh yeah. That's so important.  Right. Like even if you just were like, oh, let's just try this. See what happens. It's like, no.  Now you got to do 14 things to get back. Right. So people like you. Anything we should know, okay. We do have a really exciting collection launching, but I'm not going to share too many details about it, but Haley is on board with it and it's actually going to be a 3D collection. It's not connected to the nudies, but like I said, duties will be like a skeleton key that will always have whitelist spots. And what we're going to be doing is we're going to have to really big billboard campaigns here in LA. We're going to wrap some buildings. We're going to actually have an in real life pop up store for it where we're hoping to do like a live mint for some people there as well. And we're even ordering custom physical goods. And so we want to sell the physical goods that will go on this collection. You know what we should do? We should get like a 10 foot sculpture of a nudie. We really should. And just like place it. Right there. And I really want one. Like I legitimately, like that corner to me says bring a big piece of art. Yeah. That's one of one super unique. I don't even like cats. I can't even believe I'm saying that. It's really that crazy. I'm like not a cat guy. Like I'm allergic. Oh, okay. But not to nudies. Not to nudies. They're so crazy. They're digital. They're not physical. You don't have to touch them. You know, you don't have to you don't have to feed them or scoop their litter box. That's perfect. Anything interesting that you learned like in terms of who purchased like what countries may have been involved that you would have thought like what the heck is this country doing here but they're in. Oh, there's a lot of countries that you'd be surprised. You know, like there's a lot of people from China that came in. There's a lot of people from like Brazil, Argentina, Germany all over that you would never kind of expect. But then you're like, oh when I was dealing with my own startups, you normally focus on like U.S. Totally. Plant your flag somewhere local. Yeah, local. So this is totally a whole different animal than a lot of things that I've done. And I want to say that this is probably the most successful thing I've done just based off of Kudos. Kudos to you. Everything. Crushing it. Thank you. I want to switch gears though. I know a lot of like the pressures probably felt on you, right? So you're you're doing this. There's three of you, the founders, a lot. Right. And so from your perspective like pure empowerment mode, what can the community do to like take this project to the next level? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Because they have a real power outside of the voting. But what do you think they can do to like make this project just a slam dunk? That's something that's big, right? Because I feel like the community is your biggest marketers. And so I'm not going to say if they fall short or something like that, but if they are not doing their fullest to help, it's kind of almost doing a disservice, not only to themselves, but to the community and your own wallet at the end of the day.  Keep certain channels notifications on. Like keep the announcement page, even keep the tweets page.  Like it. Quote, retweet it. Every single time you see an Instagram thing, like it. If you can't put it on your story, if you don't want to, aesthetically, I get it. Don't have to. Put a comment. I say bucket, do it. You need to be shameless about it. I'm an investor in Orabora. I'm sitting right here on purpose. Oh, I love it. Delicious. By the way, shameless plug, best water in the game. But you know, I think that's right, like shamelessly promote. Because at the end of the day, as an investor, there's a reason it's on the table, right? If you're an investor in the community, if you're committed into something and you absolutely love it, you have to kind of be shameless.  I'm, you know, wearing this. I was about to actually wear the full sweatsuit today, but I thought it was borderline too much, but I probably should have, you know, if you really believe in something, you have to like go full force into it. And if momentum dies on certain things like that, like if retweets go down or legs go down, that ultimately can be changed by just the community coming forth. Or even if there's a Twitter space, if you can pop in for five minutes, little things like that, or, you know, wearing your PFP, if you see a TikTok, like save, send it to somebody because the algorithm sees that. So you kind of have to do your, the most, if you want to see, it goes far. You gotta pet the algorithm. You have to, especially like Twitter and things. It takes a lot of work. It does. And being like consistent with it too. One thing that I think is super cool about the community is you guys have a VR app.  How did you guys get the idea to do that? And like, yeah. So the biggest thing is I wanted to have a utility before Mint. So I was looking into different developers at the time that could do that. So I hired somebody to make the app for me, which was super awesome. And they were able to whip it out within like a couple weeks with an approval time. It was a couple weeks too. But I knew I wanted to have it out before Mint. So to have that out was absolutely incredible. I'm not going to like shame other communities or anything like that. But if you don't have some sort of utility out before Mint and you have all these big plans ahead, you really can. It's not like it's going to cost you an arm and a leg. You can do things that don't cost a lot of money. For instance, like our VR Hangout, which was made on VRChat. That didn't cost a lot of money to build out. Technically, you could have a build out on VRChat for under $1,000 if you'd like to. Or you could physically build it out yourself. You know, the app. Different story. But still, there's so many ways that you can find different people or even connect with different people before your things launched to have some sort of utility. It's important, especially if you're going to be here, you know, taking people's money, I guess in a sense, right? To help, you know, the future of the community. It's only kind of right to try to put your best efforts in or to have some utility beforehand. And I'm really hoping going forward, more communities will have a utility out before launch. Yeah. Well, listen, thank you for coming on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Tell everyone where they can buy and should buy a nudie. I mean, you can find your nudies on open seas and it's nudie community official. So what we need to make sure you're on the right page is that it will have our Twitter link to it and it will have a check mark next to that. And then if you want to be ultra safe, which I always suggest, you can go on to our Twitter and on our Twitter or even on our Instagram, which is at nudie community. We always have a link tree in the bios and that has all the official link. So make sure you're not getting scammed out there. And on our Discord, we have an official link page as well. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. This is our conversation with Lysandra Morris, founder of nudie community. We know there's a lot of interest in NFTs right now and our goal is to inform and offer insight as we shift to Web 3.  So consider subscribing if you're not already or better yet, leaving us a review on Apple or Spotify. It's one of the best and easiest ways you can support us. We are at Startup Storefront on every social media platform except Twitter where you can find us at STS Podcast LA. The Startup Storefront team consists of Diego Torres Palma, Natalia Capolini, Lexi Jameson, Owen Capolini, and me, Nick Conrad. Our music is by DoubleTouch. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.