Now, I think the others pointed out the need for quality is a really overarching theme. It's one component, but it also over-arches everything. So we are going to talk about quality assurance in post-secondary education in the US, and we'll ask some questions. And let me introduce the panel first very quickly, again, looking at your bios. So we have a J-Box, Chancellor of Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Kay Gilter, Director of the Accreditation Group at the Office of Post-Secondary Education at the US Department of Education. Andrew Kelly, the Director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute. And Iris Palmer, Senior Policy Analyst at the Education Division at the National Governors Association. So before we get into lengthy questions, just to break things up a little bit, quality assurance in the US post-secondary system, the first three words that come to mind. No more, no less. Three words. Kay, do you want to start? OK, I'll say first, challenged. Second, fractured. And third, this is one word, poorly understood. OK, Iris. A black box. OK, Andrew? Simultaneously rigid and flimsy. I feel like that's four, but that's fine. No, it doesn't count. OK, all right, Jim. Less than needed. OK, well, so we're going to have a whole conversation about this, but I think that's a pretty clear signal of where things are, where at least the panel thinks things are. So this seems to jive with one of the findings of the report, and one of the findings of the report is that in order to fix this, we need to fund, that we need to link the funding to outcomes. I think you just said that other countries are much more demanding about accountability, especially when their public funds provided. And what's interesting about the report, and that I'm appreciative of, is even though in the title, it talks about career technical education. In this country, we have all these different funding streams, and one is a particular funding stream for career technical education. But it's actually a very, very small percentage of I think the federal dollars, at least, that go to what we consider education and career technical education. Sort of the big ones are student loans and Pell grants, over $150 billion a year, which is all part of the, as they refer to the Title IV programs. So I appreciate the fact that you called those out. I mean, that's where the money is. And again, it sort of gets to this idea that we're talking about this false dichotomy between sort of money that's in the higher education pot and money that's in the career pot. And no, in fact, all of these systems need to be talking to one another, and let's use the big levers that we have in Title IV dollars.  So with that in mind, let's sort of jump right into this. So the report spent a lot of time talking about the role of the federal government and accreditation in the quality assurance process. So Kay is our resident expert here. Could you just sort of briefly talk through sort of what this triad is and sort of describe the federal role for us because it's still confusing to me and it would be helpful to hear. Okay, well, as Simon said, we have an extremely decentralized system. And that leads also to decentralization in terms of responsibility for higher education quality assurance. The triad is the Department of Education, the states and accrediting agencies. And many years ago, when we had concern about the provision of dollars from the federal government to support students in their educational endeavors, we made use of an existing system, the accreditation system that had been in place since the 1880s in some cases in order to take care of the main part of the quality assurance challenge. But also in existing are all of the states and many of those states have very robust oversight, particularly at the career and technical education level of the quality of the provision to their students. The Department of Education primarily has the role of oversight of accrediting agencies, that is we recognize certain accrediting agencies as gatekeepers to federal funding. We also have oversight of all of the administration of the monies that go out of our Title IV Student Financial Assistance Program. So there are concerns about the financial stability of an institution, the ability of the institution to actually administer those funds responsibility. So we try to, ideally this triad would be one where there's a lot of communication across and among the players. This has been particularly challenging because the states are not a single entity each. So within each state there are varieties of entities that are responsible for different parts of the educational system. And you may have heard something about the state authorization challenges that plays into it as well. We have tried to specify what it means to be authorizing an institution to offer post-secondary education and we find, of course, that there are great differences in the states. So that being said, the accreditation system is a voluntary system, except that it isn't. As I mentioned, in order to have institutions eligible to participate in the Title IV programs they have to be accredited by a recognized accreditor. So our role in the federal government is to take what the Congress has given us in terms of the statute of what's required for recognition, to elaborate that in regulations and then to apply those regulations in our review of accrediting agencies to see whether or not they meet the requirements. The statute has in it 10 required standards. Leading in those is the standard on student achievement. The standard says that we have to look at, there has to be a standard of student achievement and as appropriate it should include measures of completion, placement, and licensure passage rates. As appropriate is certainly true for CTE programs and when we are reviewing the entities that accredit CTE programs we do ensure that they are looking at those measures and that they have established some thresholds, benchmarks in those particular areas. We are however forbidden from regulating on those required standards areas. So there is very wide variation among the types of agencies that accredit CTE and other programs on how prescriptive those standards are. And there's a rationale for that if you think about how a very large research one institution and the kinds of programs that are offered there may be anywhere from four year program to graduate programs or even a comprehensive institution which has at the associate level as well as a baccalaureate level. And there's a very strong resistance in the higher education community for the federal government to be doing anything very prescriptive in the areas of quality assurance. That being said there is a lot of pressure that's coming from a lot of sides in the current discussion and debate on accountability and transparency. In CTE it's particularly complicated because there are varieties of types of agencies that accredit CTE programs. I don't know if you're aware that we also recognize some state agencies for the approval of CTE programs in an accrediting agency role. So there are four state agencies that we recognize, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the New York State Board of Regents and Oklahoma. In the past there were a number of others but the difficulty of sort of taking the state registration and oversight role and then trying to add in what was required in an accreditation role became particularly challenging for a number of states and so they dropped out. Those are gatekeepers to Title IV funds. So those institutions are not otherwise accredited except by the state agencies. We also have regional accrediting agencies mainly for degree granting institutions and a lot of the community college-based CTE provision is under the accreditation of those entities. There are also regional accrediting agencies focused on CTE offered primarily through K to 12 schools. This has been a real culture conflict in that the K to 12 kind of oversight and accreditation is very much on a school improvement model and our requirements in terms of recognition of accrediting agencies is much more compliance-oriented and we have had actually recently four of those commissions of regional accrediting agencies no longer being recognized by the Department of Education because of that kind of conflict. There are also national accrediting agencies that focus and have historically focused on career and technical education. These are primarily accrediting for-profit providers and they have been relatively good at setting very clear benchmarks and looking very closely at each program at the institutions that they accredit. I won't say uniformly good at do that but there is certainly a lot of practice in those areas to doing that. I think that the one other thing I like to say is that you probably know about our gainful employment regulations which did reach a little bit of an impasse with the court intervening. We are of course rising up and trying to do those again and we will be negotiating new gainful employment regulations. We do believe that those are a very significant way to try to identify the successful programs and those programs that are failing to meet the needs of students. Great. Thank you, Kay. So Andrew, one of the primary recommendations which I've talked about is tying federal financial aid to outcomes. Do we need to do this? What outcomes matter? Should we do it? How could we do it? Tell us and let us. Wow, well should we do it? No pressure but take notes. Yes, that's a lot of questions. So first I want to say thanks to the OECD folks, the researchers for doing this. You're the latest in a long line of people to critique the quality assurance system in the United States for higher education more generally but also for CTE. Maybe some international prodding will drive the change we've been talking about since the early 70s. But the question about regulating on the basis of outcomes and sort of basing decisions about who has access to title foreign outcomes is something that is intuitively very appealing. I think it's, we've heard a lot about how complicated CTE is and how complicated the measurement of the outcomes of CTE are. But I actually think it's much simpler in many ways than the fight about the degree granting for four year colleges and that there's a legitimate argument at that level that folks are there not necessarily just for job training. They're there to become enlightened citizens to go do a mission somewhere abroad. Whereas in CTE it's pretty clear why you're there. You're there to get a job. And what's striking to me is how if you look at title four eligibility versus the way we evaluate, say, WEA. WEA you actually do have to make your employment outcomes public and states have to post them publicly and say this is how we're spending our WEA dollars. This is how we've placed people into jobs and so on. Title four, we don't really expect much of that on the part of providers. So I think the logic of basing quality assurance on outcomes is a great idea. I would posit, though, that what we need is not, we need to get away from binary outcomes, which is what we have now. We have binary outcomes for both state authorization and for accreditation. So what happens when you have a binary outcome? Well, it becomes incredibly high stakes and you see what's happening in San Francisco, with the Community College of San Francisco. They are threatened with losing their accreditation. Looks like they will lose their accreditation pending an appeal. What happens is if you just have a zero one variable, you either have it or you don't, it sets this stage for these high stakes decisions. It's also massively uninformative to students. And one of the things that appealed to me about the talk from the folks from OECD was the notion of posting program reviews and process audits online or in public so that folks can see what's actually happening in these programs. Accreditation reviews aren't even made public oftentimes. It's sort of a private kind of almost collusive deal. So what I would suggest is certainly focus on outcomes for quality assurance, but also don't lose sight of the fact that we need to move away from a binary system of eligibility for these programs. There should be sliding scale for eligibility. If you don't perform well, we should slowly ratchet down your eligibility for aid, I think is the way I would do it. Makes a lot of sense. So Iris, working with NGA, working with governors. So we're talking about the triad, talking about the federal and you have a lot of experience with states. So what is the role of states? What should it be in ensuring quality and post-secondary education? Are they doing this? I mean Kay said some states are doing it really well. Are they doing it by and large? And what are some good examples we can learn from? So I think Kay had a very good point, which is that state authorization is very inconsistent across states, how they actually implement it. It's also by and large focused on consumer protection, which is really important, but doesn't necessarily get to the heart of quality. And most states are pretty happy as far as the quality of education to leave it up to the traditional arbiters of quality, the institutions and the faculty. And that is how higher education has been judged as quality throughout the history of the United States. But some states are really trying to get more of a handle on quality. And sort of the push for this is that they are putting more of their funding through outcomes measures. And I think the worry is, is that if you don't hold quality constant and you don't ensure that quality is constant, it may decline as you tie funding to it. So states are looking at outcomes and quality in two ways. And I'm kind of gonna go put state authorization and the compact for state authorization aside for a moment. They're looking at measuring learning outcomes through standardized assessments. And they're looking at connecting labor market outcomes to programs, particular programs. And in those, some of them are just doing a public reporting piece. And some of them are actually connecting it to their accountability systems and their funding systems. So if we start with measuring learning outcomes, Kentucky is actually doing this for their four year schools. They are posting online the assessments that their students are coming up with. And Nevada is doing the same thing. There are several other states. Then for instance, Tennessee actually has this as a piece of their performance funding formula for their two year schools. And in South Dakota, students actually have to get a certain score on a standardized assessment to leave the general education core. So those are some states that are using it in part of their accountability systems for students and for the institutions. For labor market outcomes, posting it online, I think we've all heard of college measures and there are states, Arkansas, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, who are putting labor market outcomes online in a way that students and families can actually see what the outcomes are for their programs and hopefully use those in making decisions for which programs to go into. Hopefully, I mean, we don't wanna misuse our labor market data. I'll put that caveat out there. But some states are also using it as accountability in their funding formulas. So the Texas State Technical College System is allocating a large amount of their funding based on their labor market outcomes for their programs. The Wisconsin Technical System is looking at doing the same thing and Missouri is looking at the placement of recent graduates as a one option in their performance funding formula as well. Okay, and to the last piece of the triad, although not representing a creditor, but a creditor should represent institutions. Jay, what can institutions do to respond to the ever-changing skills that are needed by industry? It's constantly turning. How can industry and institutions work together to increase both the value and demand for the credentials that colleges are delivering? Thank you. The traditional way that we've always dealt with the changing skills needed in industry is to have advisory boards that work with our programs and give us feedback and then we make changes to curriculum and move forward. That's partially effective, but the reality is those advisory boards meet maybe once a year. By the time the feedback gets rolled into curriculum change, then it's two or three years down the road and we're not as responsive as we need to be. So in Kentucky, we've started turning more into technology and current reporting that kinda helps us understand what we need to be doing on a just continuous basis. For example, we've always used labor market information to track employment needs in certain careers and that helps us make determinations of when to ramp up a certain program and when to scale back. But even LMI information can have a delay time. We've recently started using a more real-time LMI, which has been very, very helpful. But the most- Sorry, do you folks know what LMI is? Labor market information. Yep. Yes. The most recent thing that we've done has been very helpful is that our entire state, through our workforce investment boards and our workforce development area plus our colleges, our community colleges, have bought into a software called Burning Glass and I'm not just promoting the software. I'm talking about the tool that is provided, which takes the job openings that are posted out there by industry, which requires skill sets that are required for that job opening and they post that and we match it back up to the actual programs, credentials that we're offering. And it's been very telling for us because we're able to see what real-time, what the job opening is, and see where we have matched up the skills that we need and if they're missing. For example, what we found just recently, we did a look at our registered nurse, our ADN program across the state and we saw an anomaly that we hadn't seen before and that was in certain parts of the state. All of a sudden the hospitals and the other healthcare providers were requiring Spanish of all of the nurses that they were hiring. That was not in our curriculum. It was not and we said, oh gosh, we're missing something here. So it opened up two opportunities for us. It opened up the opportunity for us to immediately change that as a requirement for our degree, but it also opened up the opportunity for our workforce training division to start going out to those healthcare providers and saying, we can come in quickly and train your current nursing staff and bring them up to speed in nursing. That's the kind of immediate feedback we need to be able to be responsive to the industry. Great, thanks. So there's been a lot of talk about recently, at least in this town, I guess, isn't that the name of the new book? So this town on quality and accreditation and the house just held a hearing to a few weeks ago on accreditation and I think there was really some sort of, not even confusion, but just dumbfoundedness at really what some members of the committee sort of expressed as disbelief that this system, that the accreditation system, which is this voluntary peer-based system, basically holds the keys to the Title IV Kingdom and to these $150-plus billion worth of financial aid and that we have no real guarantee on the other side of basic things like students graduating, getting jobs, getting jobs that allow them to pay back their loans, et cetera. So there's a lot in the ethos and in the air around this accountability question. So I know we want to have time for questions, but just sort of quickly, sort of thinking about that and going forward, what do you think are the biggest opportunities to improve quality in US higher education? What are the biggest challenges and obstacles right now? So who wants to start? Andrew, do you want to start? I made the mistake of looking at you. You did. So I think one of the things that the report highlights and that we don't pay enough attention to here, particularly in quality assurance is the programmatic accreditation versus institutional accreditation. To me, CTE seems really well-suited for programmatic accreditation that potentially spans institutions. The institution-centric view of the world, that the entire accreditation system is built around that. I think that is sort of, we're sort of moving past that, moving past an institution-centric view. And so I think that's an opportunity. I think thinking harder about programmatic accreditation or programmatic certification as it relates to eligibility for various pots of federal money. The biggest obstacle, frankly, is that this has been, this is a game of kind of kicking, handing the hot potato off to one other. So we decided to hand the ball to accreditors, right? To ensure quality. And they said, well, that's not really our job. We're not gatekeepers. They said, well, we'll do it anyway. And then the accreditors say, we don't want to do this. And we'd rather not be doing this in some cases. And but everybody kind of holds their hands up like this and doesn't want to touch it either. And then the last thing I would say is just, I think that the collaboration between employers and the higher ed system is a big area of frustration on both sides of the coin. I think employers feel also that it's not just that they're, I think they're not, they don't feel like they have a very receptive audience often in the higher ed community. And I think that's a big problem. Kay? Well, I think there actually has been a little bit of light emerging out of the higher ed community itself. There has been a drumbeat for many years on trying to better define outcomes and measure those outcomes. The resistance has been within higher ed institutions, I think more than within accrediting agencies. And accrediting agencies have been trying to drive this for a number of years. I think that there is a real sense that the time is getting very short. And in fact, you might have seen this morning within the inside higher ed and the Chronicle, both had articles about yet another new system for that several institutions came together in trying to define what would be the measures that would be made public about their performance as institutions. And there's a lot of thinking that's going along those lines. So it's still very slow, but I think there has been a wake up call that's been heard. I would actually say something that we didn't really talk about here. And that's the sort of rise of competency-based education to which you have been a party at the federal level. And I think that that actually has a huge possibility of certifying and demonstrating actual student learning and holding student learning constant rather than time constant would be a huge breakthrough in this. I think the challenge is what the challenge always is in demonstrating quality. And that is making sure you have valid assessments that actually say these students actually know what we need them to know. And I think that continues to be a struggle. And I think that it's going to continue to be a struggle as states and the federal government struggle to change their policy structure in that way. Thank you, Iris. I stole your one. Yeah, you know that. But of course, Kentucky is highly involved in the driving the competency-based learning approach. And no offense, but accreditation is critical because we have to have the accreditation. But in career and technical education, the bottom line is, are our graduates getting employed? And are they doing a good job for the employer? And so we have a feedback system. What drives us the most is are our graduates successful? And so we are turning much more attention to what are the certifications our graduates have? How quickly do they pass licensure exams? How quickly are they employed? And what is their average salary upon employment? Those are the kind of feedbacks we need to make critical decisions. The accrediting looks at things just, in my opinion, way too broad and doesn't look at really the end results. And that's why I said that at my three words, less than enough for accreditation, I really think accreditation can get a little bit more directed into what we really need, and that is to look at the end results of our graduates. Great, thank you. And actually, I want to open it up for questions until Claire tells me that we have to stop. Hold on, Sharon, she's very excited. But I would actually just, I love hearing your three words again. I would love to hear the other panelists' three words again just so that I can write them down also. Kay, do you remember what yours were? Challenged, fractured, and poorly understood. Oh, right. Mine was simultaneously rigid, and then I used a symbol like an ampersand. Flimsy, and if I could explain what I meant by that very quickly. We don't have very good quality control, but yeah, the system keeps a lot of people out. Right. Do you remember what yours were? Yeah, a black box. So I'm counting the article, and I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Great, thanks. Okay, we have some questions on the front. Yes, the mic is coming. If you could identify yourself and where you're from so that we... Hi, my name is Sharon Boyvin, and I'm from the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education, and Jay was mentioning the difficulty in responding to employer needs because of the time that it takes to set up a new curriculum and get it approved and stuff, and we know that as a result, a lot of the occupational education in this country takes place through the non-credit system in community colleges, and yet those non-credit programs are not subject to these kinds of policy levers that we have. You can't use federal aid for them. States don't count them because they don't fund them with the exception of a few like North Carolina, and there's virtually no data or outcome measures on non-credit, so what policy levers do we have to assure quality in that very large portion of the occupational education in the U.S.? A black box. We've done two things in Kentucky. First of all, we've modularized all of our credit curriculum and encouraged in our workforce training side that they apply a credit type of curriculum in what they're using when it fits, and that allows them for employees who are getting training to be able to work towards a transcripted credential. Now, the other side of it is we've been doing that for several years, but we had never talked about the value of working with that employee and employer to say, how can we transition that student toward a credential, to toward some kind of certification down the road? So for the last four years, we've been tracking how many of our students will actually transition from a workforce training initiative over into a credential seeking student, and we've set performance measures for our institutions to work with those employees to transition them in towards credentials, and we've seen we're up to 8.5%, our goal is 10% by next year, so we're making progress. I think that's a really important question. Three quick points about it. One is it, I think it points out a lot of how we differ from other countries especially, as we don't count a lot of stuff that they do. That's partly what explains our lagging behind, if you wanna call it that. The second thing is on the one thing I would sort of push back on a little bit in the report is that at times it feels like the quality assurance problem is only in the for-profit sector. The for-profit sector has a lot of problems. We know that. I would suggest though that the point you started with, which is nimbleness to respond to labor market demand, that's one strength the for-profit sector brings to this question in particular. And then the third thing is just on the non-credit side versus credit side, one of the things that I think is interesting or I'd be wary of is bringing those programs under Title IV eligibility and what that might do to the pricing of them. So. I think there is an opportunity in terms of the competency-based models so that where you earn your knowledge or achieve those skills is less important than you're being able to demonstrate them. So I love Kay for saying that. So we agree here at New America Foundation and we are actually we are embarking on a research project around non-credit and would love to work with those of you in the audience who are interested in this issue. So look for an event maybe next year on this topic. Other questions? Yes, sir. Good morning. I'm Barry Stern with the Haberman Educational Foundation. Most of the OECD countries, or at least many of them, have what they call employment qualification frameworks. I think we mentioned Scotland as being one of them. It's been very difficult to get anything like that going. We had the old Noik and Soix back in the 80s and 90s. But Kentucky is doing some interesting things in terms of sector-based economic development, trying to align the educational institutions, the colleges, schools, universities and so forth with the economic plans of different regions. Then we have accreditation agencies. But the interesting thing about the European and Asian employment qualifications frameworks is that they're really dominated by employers. They pretty much say here's what you gotta know and be able to do to get employed. So try to help me out with this. How do you relate accreditation, employment qualification frameworks, and what Kentucky is doing in sector-based economic development? And if folks who aren't from Kentucky also want to start. I guess the only thing I would say to that is the call-out that was earlier to programmatic level accreditation. I mean, I think there is more responsiveness at that level and more knowledge of what is required in terms of employment in particular fields. But not a good answer, but... Is anyone... Oh, I was wondering... I was just gonna say, I think this is, I think again, this is sort of a... The political economy here is different, right? Our employers relate to one another in different ways. And there's a high level of competition, a high level of sort of emphasis on asset-specific skills, right? And that makes it harder to sort of collaborate. I think there is a movement, though, to develop certifications across. I know there's something going on in aerospace. There's a bunch of work in manufacturing on this front. So it's not exactly the same as sort of... I don't think it's the same as the employment qualification profile, but it's a similar effort. I would also say that competency-based programs are working very closely with employers to create the competencies, but they're not widespread and scaled in the way you were alluding to. And I think I've gotten the time signal. So I know there are lots of questions. I think we could talk about this forever, at least we all could. But I appreciate all of your questions and appreciate all of your thoughts. And thank you for your three words, we will remember them. And now we'll have the next panel. Thank you guys. Thanks.


On the breakfast, the federal government says President Mohamed Buhari will sign the Electoral Amendment Bill into law on Friday. And that gives a lot of Nigerians some hope. Zanfar Debti Governor Ledger Lee impeached because it did not defect from the People's Democratic Party to the aggressive Congress alongside Governor Bello Matawale. And as usual, who will also be taking a look through the national dailies and have, I guess, make sense of all of the big stories. Very good morning to you. Welcome to the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. And what is a beautiful Thursday morning? I am Kofi Brotel. I am Messy Buporski to be back in your screen this beautiful morning. All right, lots to install for you on the breakfast today. We have a lot of legal issues to look at, a majority of legal issues to look at. And constitutional issues, Electoral Act Amendment Bill reworked, passed back to President Buhari. We hear that that bill might be signed on Friday, not just on Friday, but we hear might be signed by noon on Friday. So there's a time being put to it by sources in the presidency. We'll talk about that. And also we'll be looking at what's been happening, like we said, in Zanfar State. And also, very importantly, the role of youth in the elections and democracy and politics in the country. Bumper package ahead for you. But of course, are training segments as usual? Well, so we set up with the top trending this morning and we're looking at that usually. We look at issues that are generating conversation across board. Now, the president or the presidency had said that Nigerians would probably not be able to transport themselves from Ligas to the U.S. state capital, but not for the railway project that has been put together by the administration of Buhari. That's the APC administration. And that is a serious conversation that's ongoing. And, you know, in the words that's been put out, legacy by the railway project, Nigerians will be trekking not for Buhari. And so people are talking about it. People are reacting. And up until this moment, that has not, you know, really stopped. But to even look at the case, there's been several arguments around in this particular issue, you know, the legacy by the project. And some people will say the argument, first of all, set up with the APC and the PDP as to who is responsible for all of this project. Is it the APC government or is it the PDP government? But the truth is, government is a continuum. It doesn't really necessarily matter. I mean, who starts it? So that's one of the characteristics of government. We're taught that, you know, at the elementary level of government. Kofi is smiling. But that's the truth. You know, it's a continuum. So it doesn't really matter who started it. If Kofi started it, Messi finished it. It's great. Or at the end of the day, we're talking about a government as a whole. And so that's not even an issue. But some other persons are saying that how could we be making this statement? But to look at it, you know, in this real sense, I feel that it's really, really sad. Because over time, we seem to be applauding things that should come to us naturally. I mean, that should not be a favor. It's just natural. Government is there to provide basic amenities, infrastructure, and ensure that life is comfortable for Nigerians. Kofi, what do you think about it? Well, you know, it's... The president is, you know, basically trying to, you know, tell the world and tell people that there was a bad situation between Lagos and Ibadon Express, on the Lagos Ibadon Express way, and that the road was really not there. You know, it's what he's saying, his words. The road was really not there. And, you know, if he says people would have been trekking because the road was just not there. The rails went just not there. And there was so much insecurity. And maybe he's, it might be an exaggeration of the facts, because he can't trek from Lagos Ibadon. I don't know if it's a trekable.  No, no, no. I'm talking about just people who want to travel from Lagos Ibadon. I don't know if it's a trekable distance. It's not. But it's possible. I haven't been, you know, to Ibadon via Lagos. I've been to Ibadon via other routes. But I think maybe it's an exaggeration for the president to say that, you know, Nigerians would have been trekking if the rails were not there. But I think maybe we shouldn't lose the points he's trying to make. You know, politicians say these things from time to time. There are so many fish to fry. You know, there's so many things to look at in the country. So the quicker Nigerians just realize that, okay, this is just a statement, political statement, just to say, okay, we've done the road, we've done the rail, and it's helping people move, I think, the better for the country.  And if you look at the rail sector, it's a trumpet to be blown in the country as far as this administration. It's one of their trumpets to blow, actually.  But when you look at rails, when you look at rails, that is a shining light as far as the Buhar administration is concerned. That's where they can.  I really don't know why I'm just babing with a lot of fun. So I think whilst the president may have exaggerated, you know, when he said that people would have been trekking, this is what he said, quote, the people from the southwest can tell better because between Lagos and Ipando, by now, if we hadn't done what we did, people would have been trekking because the road was not there, the rail was not there, and there was so much insecurity. And so, like I said, it's an exaggeration. But indeed, that Lagos Ipando Express, we've been hearing of it since we were kids, you understand, since we've been hearing of it. Now, whilst the rails have been done, has the road been done? That's another question to ask. What's the state of the Lagos Ipando Express way? Because are you just going to say, we've done the rails? Which is fantastic. What about the roads? Because you have to have a multi multiplicity, a variety of, what do you call it, of, of transition modes. You know, look at what happened in Lagos State some days ago where you have, I think, a lag ride. You know, if not hundreds, maybe hundreds of blue vehicles on the road of Lagos State, a partnership between the Lagos State government and a private Chinese car company, you know, somebody was asking, okay, do we need more cars, you know, on the roads? Traffic in Lagos is so much. People are already into, you know, boat and Uber and Taxify and all these things. Do we need more cars? Shouldn't the government be looking at diversifying, making sure they focus on the rail and making sure that they fix roads, making sure that they make transition better and also have more BRT buses, you know, have more metro buses and then improve water transportation. You know, do we need more cars? So that diversity is very important and I think the president should also tell us about the roads. So I totally understand where you're coming from but let's also look at it from this angle that the issue of infrastructure. Now when we decided that we're going to hand over a will and submit ourselves to government, so it's called a social contract. We'll pay a taxes, we'll be law abiding citizens and in turn government will do XYZ. It includes provision of, you know, basic infrastructure and the real way infrastructure is not, you know, ruled out of it. So for a lot of Nigerians and for me, the concern is, it's like having a family, okay, so I'm going to digress a bit and then come back to where I'm saying. So Kofi is like, you having a family now and then you have a kid or you have children. It is your responsibility fundamentally that you provide for them, the basic things, food, shelter, clothing and all of that. There's no need to brag about it.  What is that? By nature, by the fact that you are the father of these children, it comes naturally. So this is not a favor. So if we have the railway project, it is not a favor to Nigerians. The fact that we, in a democratic dispensation, this thing should come to us. Nigerians are paying their taxes. I mean, at this point in time, we're talking about the real project. The world has moved away from us. We're talking about it in 2022, 2021. People have moved away. So it's not a favor. But this is what happened because across, but we found that when government actually, I'm back on several projects in different states, I mean, when I was in the south, you know, south, south region, south east, you definitely see government coming to say, okay, so they constructed the road and, oh, we have to applaud for the government. Oh, the road has been constructed. Why? It's just basic. It's natural. It should come to you. And it shouldn't be something, but if you also want to look at it as well, on the other hand, a lot of people have also argued, which is actually true. There's a fact check. And if you look at it, 2018, August 28, in 2012, that was when, you know, this rail project, the Lagos Ibadon project was actually approved. And that has been fact checked. And that was during the administration of Good Lucky Billy Jonathan. So of course, it's the PDP. So, but however, like I always say, it doesn't really matter who started it. It doesn't matter who started it. Whereas the APC is the PDP. The truth is, no, the truth is, it's a project that's ongoing, right? It's a project that is started. So if you have a government started, if you started something and I completed, it's fine, because that's what government is about. It's a continuum. And no one should begin to begin to, I mean, brag about it. I think that the reason why that's been talked about is the fact that, oh, I'm not saying it sounds like you're doing Nigerians a favor. No, not the favor. That should come naturally because we're in the democratic dispensation. These are taxpayer, people are paying their taxes. And what should we expect? The law of social contract, I mean, the social contract would expect that we give our will and in turn government would do XYZ. And so that's it. But also on the other hand, you mentioned the issue of how safe the roads are, right? And even priorities, if you want to even look at it before the real project or the real way, you know, the railway system actually started for legacy burden. People had other means of, you know, moving away. A lot of people also argue that, you know, right now the insecurity on the roads, I mean, the insecurity with the system is more. People had the means of which was even cheaper. I mean, or further belief, that's the word you use because you talk about moving from legacy, but it should be about 1500. But right now you're looking at the real at 3500 and what have you. And so some people say, okay, speed and all of that. So necessarily all of this is that should we be sounding like we're doing Nigerians favor when, you know, you do what you should do. It's natural. You should come to the people. And that's where, you know, the particular arguments come from. But however, that's a good thing. Interesting. Well, for the, the legacy butter expressway, the margin director of the Nigerian sovereign investment authority, he said, you know, earlier this year that the express will be completed before the end of 2022. That was, you know, on Thursday actually stated this during a panel session. So before the end of 2022, looking at completing that expressway, and it's 77.78% complete. This was as far back as January. Yeah, January 27. This is when he said this, it was 77.78% complete. What is left for the express way is the big flyovers that need to be done in certain parts of the road. So the road has been basically done, you know, to almost a complete, complete stage of phase, but nipples and flowers there. And so, so it's good to see that this most of transition are, are there for Lagos, people of Lagos, it will make, you know, business easier. But the thing is, is mercy.  But in politics, you have to sell yourself. You have to say, this is what we've done.   Because there are a lot of people who say, you didn't do that. You didn't do this. And there's a number of things the president hasn't done. You know, security is one of them. That was a high hope, corruption, another one, you know, with all the cases, slavery in the center. So when you're grasping for something to sell to the people, you know, you can't blame politics. And you should also, you know, look at the language. But I think that the, the government has done well, especially in the rail sector. Though I think that the rail line should, we should have a southern coastal line. That is very important. You know, some of the lines we have, you know, where they lead to, you ask yourself, okay, what about the southern, southern coastal rail line? That's very important as well. For business, really, for business, it's very important. All the way from Calabar, you know, the, the westernmost part of the south, southern coastal rail line to the, you know, the easternmost, no south, east, to the west, you know, you have that. It's very important. Well, as much as we would not take out the fact that, you know, this continuing government, and that's what government should be.  So whatever it is, it's a great thing. But I think that the reason- We can go on and on about this.  No, no, I totally, I totally understand. But the reason that why the people are talking now, you're all, I mean, you also need to understand the reason why the people are talking. Because first of all, it's okay to, it's okay. We have been able to achieve XYZ. But maybe the language that's been put in, you can't tell us that, because it sounds like you're doing us a favor. Oh, definitely. That's why I said it was exaggerated. But before now, because people, there was still movement before the railway system. And if we look at it where even, I mean, we're long overdue for all of this, the world has moved away. If we say we're a giant of Africa at this point in time, we even want to look at the railway, if we want to look at the system, the real project that we have right now, I mean, is it up to, you know, international staff can be compared? That's true. We've also had security concerns. You've had several reports where there were attacks. I mean, there was a time where we bought it and then we're supposed to be in it, pardon. And something happened because it was an inspection. I was actually on that particular report. And I remember that it wasn't really like you had the bandits coming out, but it was an imminent threat. And the fact that we had security personnel, because of the people we had on board, you had senators and what have you. But we had young lads and teenage children being children and whatever you want to say, which was an imminent threat. But you know, which was imminent. You had the throwing stones and what have you. Yeah. Well, like I said, Mercy, you know, security is a concern. I already said that economy is a concern, for instance. But it doesn't take away the fact that the roads are built, the rail lines are there. And that's on credit. He never said the security. He just said the rail lines are there and the roads are there. No, which is imminent. I mean, if you want to look at it, that's a given. The rail lines are there. But prior to the rail lines, it is because of how this information has been put. And a lot of people have questions about security. No, a lot of people have actually questioned how, you know, this information comes because it comes, you know, it's been made to look like, oh, this is a lot of favor to Nigerians. And that's why you have to begin to check the facts and say, okay, if you're not beginning to take credit, because this has been a serious argument with the APC and the PDP, who's responsible for the rail project, the legacy burden, to be very specific. And looking at the facts, because it's been fact-checked, double fact-checked, you would want to go check that as well. Okay, okay. Let me get you right. You said the PDP approved the project. No, so yes, of course. You want to go down that road. You said the PDP approved the project. No, the project started in 2012. And who was president in 2012? I mean, I think it was Dr. Goodlock, Jonathan. So good. Yes. So, like I said, I think it's been said at some point somewhere, you know, credit has been given. I'm sure you've checked the archives to see that through the former president.  And of course, it now behoves on the Dr. Jonathan, you know, who, by the way, has been on everybody's lips, a lot of people's lips yesterday with G.J. is coming. It now behoves on him to say, I started it.  I started it. These are politicians. This is what they do. No, no, I totally understand, but you also need to understand where this is coming from. At least we know. We know the truth. When you wake up and tell your child that... I think that's what matters. We know who started it. So, no, but that's not it. The reason why Nigerians are reacting, because we're looking at the reaction that's been caught across for, you need to see the comment.  So now, what can you say? Now, what do we say? We now say, no, we know that you started, you completed it, but it was started by someone, it was signed, okay, let's put a word signed. It was signed by someone, approved by someone. You came and then you did it. You completed the process that started. Then also, okay, completed. Then also, you can say, well, we were not tracking before you came and full stop. What I mean, if I were a politician, I would sell myself. I would tell people what I've done. So now you need to, maybe the presidency needs to look for, you know, another peer, because when you sound this way to Nigerians and say that the legacy by the project saved people from tracking, then that's a lot. What do you have to, necessarily we understand that the government, I already said that.  Yeah, I think it's, but you understand where I'm coming from, and I understand where you're coming from. I do, I do, certainly, which is great. Well, we need to go away right now because I, of course, we would never, just never be on the same page. And when I expected to be on the same page, by the way, we're on the same page in some things, you know, interesting. We'll talk about that off air. Well, that's the much we can take on top trending. We definitely return tomorrow with more interesting issues generating conversation across different spaces. In the meantime, let's take this break. And when we return, we'll be looking at the national daily. So, of course, we have an analyst join the conversation, help us analyze some of the big stories on a national daily. Please stay tuned. We'll be right back.


Woman leaves car and bar parking lot overnight, comes back to note that leaves are speechless. When your day is going badly, one silly mistake can make it ten times worse. Parking tickets are irritating enough, but when there's a legitimate reason for parking, it's infuriating. One Canadian woman forgot about the consequence when she left her car in a parking lot overnight, but she never expected this incredible gesture. Things are used to tough times, from financial struggles to the impact it had on their relationship. Shelly Harrison and her husband were desperate, but no matter how strapped for cash they were, they weren't going to downplay their anniversary. Finally, she had something to look forward to. But just as her hopes began to rise, they were immediately shot down. One day she found a menacing note on her windshield. Was it a joke? A threat? Had she gotten a ticket? What she discovered made her grab her phone. Shelly and her husband settled in Sherwood Park, Canada. Like many, she'd fallen on hard times. Little did she know, things were about to become much worse. Unfortunately, her father passed away unexpectedly. She was horrified, and as she was trying to organize funeral arrangements, she returned to her car to find a parking ticket. Surely, someone would understand her situation and be able to help her, but as she left the courthouse, she was greeted by another police officer issuing yet another ticket. But there was more ill fate waiting for Shelly. Shelly's landlord had issued an eviction notice the same week as her father's passing. Objecting to the unfair eviction, she went to court and, after a long day, lost the dispute. As if her day wasn't terrible enough, she'd been issued another ticket during the court case. She was strong, but everything was starting to weigh on her heart. She couldn't afford a funeral, let alone a parking ticket, or a new deposit for an apartment. She tried to stay positive. It could be worse, became her daily mantra. However, when her husband arrived home and said, we need to talk, her head spun. On the day of their anniversary, she never expected him to say the following words. Shelly waited patiently at the kitchen table. She'd just poured two glasses of red wine that matched the dress she bought for $8 at the charity store. But when her husband asked her to sit down, her heart began to race. I'm being laid off, he said, before throwing his hands over his face. Shelly fought the tears that formed in her eyes and rushed to his side. She wasn't going to let a series of unfortunate events tear them apart. They didn't need much, and the dollar could go a long way if you were smart enough. She refused to let his news spoil their night, but she never expected her entire life to shift that very same night. They were going to spend the foreseeable future pinching their pennies. They would at least splash out tonight. They went to their favorite table at original Joe's restaurant in Sherwood Park, Alberta. They ordered their usual, the pulled pork burger and steak sandwich. As per their ritual, they halved each plate and washed their meal down with a few drinks. They'd planned to leave after one, maybe two, but nostalgia got the best of them. After last call, they made their way outside. Their car was the last left in the parking lot. Shelly stopped. She had a better idea. Shelly was responsible. You don't have to be drunk to be impaired, she shared. I wasn't some crazy drunk lady, but I definitely had no business driving. She knew the dangers of driving under the influence, and she would never put her husband or another innocent person in danger because of her poor decisions. But she was having a terrible streak of luck. Could she really risk leaving her car overnight? The last thing they needed was more debt, but it didn't seem like she had a choice. Unfortunately, Sherwood Park is a very rural area, and every cab they tried to hal was already occupied. They could have ordered an Uber, but there was none in the area and they could have been left waiting for quite some time. But it was cold and they were eager to get back home. Shelly's keys burned in her pocket. The roads were quiet and there were never cops around the area this time. In the end, Shelly made the safe decision and requested an Uber. That night, Shelly slept soundly for the first time in weeks. When she woke, she knew it was going to be a good day. She put on her jacket and made her way to the door. If she was quick enough, she could have breakfast ready and on the table before her husband woke, but first she needed her car. However, when Shelly opened the door, she knew that was going to be impossible. Shelly had slept through the beginning of a snowstorm. She'd experienced countless days of heavy snowfall in the past. After all, Canada was famous for its frosty winters. Usually, she stayed indoors holding a cup of hot chocolate while lounging in front of a fire. Thoreys recommended all residents to stay indoors and to avoid the treacherous roads. So Shelly had to postpone her rescue plans. She dreaded the possibility of getting another parking ticket, but she truly had no choice. After two days, the snow finally cleared and the roads were reopened. But her good mood couldn't last forever. As soon as Shelly approached Original Joe's, she worried. When she saw her car, she froze. Her vehicle was stuck under four inches of snow. Why'd she left it so long? She looked over her shoulder. Her cheeks were red from both the cold breeze and embarrassment. She put on her gloves and began to push the layers of snow from her windshield. Then she discovered a piece of paper beneath the wiper. Had the wind placed it there? But she soon realized that it was, indeed, left for her. Tears began to fill her eyes. She knew she shouldn't have left her car that night. She shouldn't have wasted money on drinks. She should have been more responsible. She wouldn't have been in this mess. After all the time she'd visited the restaurant, they'd never seen any parking attendants in the lot. Her stomach turned. Maybe the owners reported her because she'd blocked their entryway. But when she opened the folded paper, her breath caught in her chest. As expected, the note was from the restaurant's management. Shelly braced herself for the worst. But as she scanned the page, she realized that they weren't pressing charges and they weren't angry. Turns out they were delighted with her decision to leave her vehicle. I'm not sure if you'd consumed alcohol at our restaurant or not, she read from the type letter, but we wanted to thank you for not drinking and driving. Shelly couldn't believe it. Finally, her luck had changed, but there was more to this story. Enclosed as a voucher for one pound of our delicious chicken wings, please accept this as a thank you for being responsible. Life is valuable, have a great weekend. Jay McLean posed the letter. Jay was a managing partner of original Joe's. When he heard of Shelly's decision from the staff, he was impressed. She believed her actions deserved recognition. But Shelly didn't base her decision on a reward. She sighed. A thoughtful gesture was the last thing she expected. She had to share her encounter on Facebook. However, she never thought their actions would receive this reaction. When I found the letter on my windshield, I thought I was getting in trouble for leaving my car in front of the entryway to the pub. Wow, I'm so impressed. Definitely going back. Shelly shared with her friends and family online. She uploaded a picture of the note and clicked post. But strangers soon caught wind of the story, and understandably, her experience went viral for more than one reason. Shelly didn't think much of her post. She shared it to show those she cared about that there are still some kind of people out there. After months of hardship, she'd finally caught some luck. Since sharing her story online, the post has been shared over 5,000 times by friends, family and strangers. Everyone has been touched by her plight. She hoped her experience would inspire more businesses to act in such a thoughtful way. Her family thinks this will also encourage businesses to offer rewards for possible patrons. But it turns out Jay McLean wasn't the first business owner to act like this. Shelly felt compelled to reach out to Jay. He later told her that he'd been leaving similar notes for cars for the past few years. But he hadn't come up with the idea himself. A friend who ran a bar downtown was doing the exact same thing. I just thought operating a restaurant in a rural-type area like Sherwood Park, where transit is minimal and a lot of people drive, I just thought it was the perfect match, he shared. But there were some online users who thought he had some ulterior motives. The majority of online users reacted positively to Shelly's post. However, there were a handful who made sure to express their negative notions. They believed that Jay's actions were not completely selfless. They shared the possibility of Jay only doing this for free advertisement. Shelly was horrified. She had sat back down with Jay and they'd both laid all their cards on the table. She couldn't stand back and watch them tarnish his reputation. Jay's a great guy, truly only doing what he feels is right. I can't believe that some people actually are accusing him of taking advantage of the situation. He's been doing it for over a year with no expectations. Just being a good guy. Shelly commented beneath her post. Whatever his intentions, his positive encouragement was refreshing. And although most establishments discourage drunk driving, few are brave enough to respond to their customers' actions. Mothers against drunk driving estimate one death every 51 seconds. These accidents are caused solely by impaired drivers. Shockingly, the act is currently one of the top causes of death in the United States. Police officers dedicate their lives to enforce sobriety on the road, but those who try to voluntarily raise awareness should be applauded. Jay spoke of how valuable life is to Shelly, and although she had her own struggles, the note gave her a sense of pride, reminding her that one decision can have a massive impact. Would her streak of good luck continue?


Hello and welcome to CMC Markets on Thursday the 28th of September and this quick preview of the week beginning 2nd of October, and it's certainly been an interesting week politically German politics in particular have taken center stage. We've also got Donald Trump's latest tax plans for the US economy. Will they happen? Won't they happen? I think at the moment the jury is out, but there is an awful lot of positivity surrounding that we've come to the end of the month the end of the week and the end of the quarter and by and large It's been a fairly positive outlook for European and US equities. The only downside has been the poor performance of the FTSE 100 and I think that's largely been down to the fact that the pound has staged a significant recovery this year. It'll be the first time that we posted three positive quarters since late 2013 in the beginning in 2014 for the pound against the dollar and that has to a certain extent weighed on the FTSE 100 over the course of the last few weeks. But if you thought that we were at the end of political or geopolitics then you are mistaken because ultimately while we didn't get a significantly positive outcome from the German elections what we got was a significant amount of uncertainty and as a result of that I think it's unlikely that we're going to get any clarity on that much before the end of the year Angela Merkel still needs to come to some form of accommodation to try and form a new government and if that's not bad enough we've also got the uncertainty from the Catalonian referendum. Will it happen over the weekend? Will Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy succeed in subverting the attempts of the Catalan government to try and hold that referendum on Sunday and more importantly will it trigger further significant unrest within Spain and in essence I think starts to weigh on the euro. Now we've certainly seen some evidence of a breakdown in Euro-dollar. We've broken that potential triple top formation that we've been looking at for quite some time now whether you call it triple top or a head and shoulders really doesn't make that much difference. The measuring objective is the same when you measure it from the top of the head here or the peaks here around about 120 70 to the breakout levels that we saw around about 118 20 as well as the 50 day moving average you project that down on this particular chart here And you've got a minimum price objective over the course of the next few weeks around about 115 70 So this euro weakness, how is it going to manifest itself? What's going to be the key drivers? Surrounding it will certainly I think in terms of the economic outlook the inflation outlook is starting to look a little bit more positive for the Euro area and that's one area that I'll be looking at over the course of the next few days But more importantly, it's going to be a very very big week though this coming week of October for US economic data room specifically non-farm payrolls now tune in to the payrolls numbers I will be hosting a webinar on that with my colleague Colin Suzuki at 1 15 on the Friday So cover those numbers live and I think with respect to this US economic data that we're looking out for this week the ISM Manufacturing particularly the prices paid data the inflation data the average earnings data the wages data that we're going to be Keeping a particular eye out for we have to take into account a Significant skew on the data as a result of hurricane Harvey and hurricane Irma, and I think that could significantly impact the payrolls data that comes out for September We're targeting certainly looking at the estimates for non-farm payrolls for September with we're targeting a significant reduction From the fairly low 156,000 number that we saw in August numbers in the region were around about 70 or 75,000 for non-farm payrolls ADP a slightly better number as expected, but we saw a real big blowout number there In in in the August numbers of 237,000 I think that number is unlikely to come in anywhere near that number, and we're looking at a number of around about 160,000 also looking ahead for the RBA rate decision the Reserve Bank of Australia And I think given at the strength of the dollar at the moment that's made the RBA's Decision-making process that much easier the Aussie dollar has slipped back quite significantly over the course of The past few trading sessions and as a result that weaker Aussie I think will make it much much easier for the RBA in terms of keeping rates on hold the big level to keep an eye out Here for I think the Aussie dollar is around about this 7770 area and this series of lows through here just below 78 7720 if we do go much below that we're still looking at the 200-day moving average, so I think I Think the key factor to take away from the RBA is how how dovish or how hawkish they are the data has been fairly positive Going forward, but I don't think they're going to want to be in any rush to start to think about pushing rates higher On the basis that they don't really want a stronger currency other factors to keep an eye out for this week Are the latest manufacturing and services PMIs? from pretty much across the globe Japan China Europe the UK and the US and they should give us a decent indication of How robust the current recovery and economic data has been since the middle of the summer But I think the keynote event for this week is any negative reactions from the Catalonian referendum on the Sunday US non-farm payrolls on On on the Friday and obviously the broader economic outlook For the global economy in respect of the global PMIs. That's it for this week Thank you very much for listening to this Michael Houston talking to you from CMC markets


Sometimes in life there are these times where you don't know what to do next. You have no clue what the next step should be in your life with that person without that person with that job if you decide not to take that job that you love because you feel safe you feel secure you feel like you have something that's so great you'd have to be an idiot to let it go you don't know the next step because what if you make the wrong decision what if things down that path don't work out and you end up losing three years of your life or you marry the wrong person and you look back 20 years later thinking why did i ever do that maybe it's you know that out there somewhere is the passion or the dream but for some reason you've talked yourself out of it for some reason you've said yeah i mean i've got a great job now but i don't think that's gonna work like look what all i have i've got all this around me a great place a great job all this opportunity that might not even work out yeah it's my passion but i don't know just what if it doesn't work then what and you're standing there at the edge of this abyss in your life you're not sure if this is the right thing if it's the right time nothing feels right internally you don't know what is the next logical step to reach your goals and so you're met with this kind of cosmic irony where's the sign god where's the sign of what i'm supposed to do next where is the the arrow pointing here that says this is what you're supposed to be doing this is not what you're supposed to be doing where is it god i'm looking for it and it's not here it's in those times where you have to decide to be the brave person because you're stepping off the path into the darkness and you don't know what's going to happen and you don't know because there is no guarantee that things are going to work out the way you want them to work out you know sometimes that abyss is at a relationship crossroads where you're either wondering if i get out of this relationship and if it ends am i going to be able to sustain myself and live on my own like emotionally can i make it on my own because what i have here is great or it's good but am i going to be able to find something else if i leave this relationship and that feeling of fear of anxiety of not knowing what's out there even though here is maybe it's okay or maybe something's not quite right about it and so that fear of not being clear on the next step comes in and then we make that choice the bargain with the devil choose to stay with the devil you know versus the devil you don't and even though it's not exactly what we want or something feels a little off or it's not really the thing that we want more than anything it's easy to stay because we're scared and again if i step into that dark forest i don't know what's in that these tigers these pythons these poisonous snakes why would i step into that when i've what i've got is pretty good it's not the most inspiring dream but it's pretty good those are the times where you have to be brave commit take that first step into the darkness and committing means never looking back you know sometimes that crossroads is that you're at the career crossroads in your life and you don't know what you really are passionate about but you know it sure as hell is not this job you're in and you don't know what is the road what is the path to get to where i want to be i don't even know where i want to be i don't even know what my dream even is in the first place and so why would i give up this good cushy job when i don't even know where i'm going i know it's not here where i want to be definitely not here but i've got the whole world in front of me so what do i do you it's in those moments where you have to decide to be the bravest version of you and you have to commit and you tell yourself i don't know what it is that i want but i know it's not this so i'm going to put on my big girl big boy panties and i'm going to figure it out because my i know there's something out there that i love to do for work other than this so i'm going to commit and if it means quitting my job now or quitting it in three years i'm going to commit to the process until i get there of finding the work i love and i feel like i was born to do i'm going to keep going until that happens and if that doesn't happen i'll fight and push my whole damn life until i find it and maybe the relationship crossroads you're in is the commitment crossroads where you're scared as hell because you saw your parents get divorced or you're 35 and you're not yet married and you've seen all your friends or half your friends get divorced by 35 married and divorced and you're like i'm kind of scared i mean that that might be me it might be but that is the definition of being a brave person the warrior is the person who charges in a battle even though they equally want to piss themselves but yet they still get up and they fight it's the coward who caves to that fear and gives into it everyone feels the fear everyone feels the uncertainty everyone feels the i don't know i'm standing at the edge of the abyss maybe my life is going to implode and end when this relationship ends when i quit my job when i book that trip to that far off country maybe my life will end when i jump into this abyss or maybe on the other edge of the abyss is paradise and that is the truth because you don't know and that's the definition of bravery and that's the exact quality that any person needs to live out that most epic and exciting version of themselves and their life because no person that's ever done that or not done that before can possibly know if you've never done this before you can't possibly know what's there but it's in these moments you have to remind yourself to always make the brave decision and not the one that's comfortable and cushy right now because when you make that brave decision your life is going to be such an explosion of awesomeness a fulfillment of success of happiness it'll be everything you've ever wanted will come and find you but only the day where you decide you're going to start living the brave life and not the easy one


I recently did a video on soccer passing drills and in that video there are a bunch of drills but they were all drills that you did with partners and some of them were in two some of them were in threes but I had a lot of people asking me how do I do soccer passing drills or how do I improve my passing skills if I don't have anyone to practice with. So today I'm going to show you exactly how you can improve your passing but also your first touch also your speed of play so very important pieces of your game that I think are overlooked way too often okay today you're gonna learn how to improve all those areas so stay all the way to the end of this video because although I'm showing you drills there are other things I want you to focus on so you can actually apply the practice that you're putting in onto the field to make you a better player. Let's get into it. Alright so before we get into the actual drills that I want you to practice to improve your passing skills I want to talk about a couple very important things. So first of all is quality of your passes and what I mean by that is it's it's easier to see when you're passing with a teammate but by yourself even if I want to pick a spot so maybe I pick a line on the wall and I try to hit that line or like a little dent in the wall or a little spot on the wall and I try to hit it every time okay a lot of us were too comfortable with making passes that are okay but they're not good enough the higher level you get at the more important and more precise your passes need to be okay so you need to put pace on your passes okay it has to have pace to it it can't be soft it's bobbing like that and weak it's gonna get cut out it's gonna get intercepted okay so you need pace on your passes but you also need accuracy on your passes very important so for example if I was like passing with my teammate instead of just passing it to him I want to pass it either to his right foot to his left foot I want to pass it into this space right in front of him to encourage him to go that way or I want to pass it to this space behind him because the defenders on that side okay so think about having a little more quality and precision with your passing don't just pass it over there don't just hit it at the wall okay think about the exact spot on the wall that you want to hit it and put it there okay the other thing that I want to talk about when you're passing with yourself practicing by yourself is your first touch okay yes we're focusing on practice on passing but it's a great opportunity to focus on improving your first touch so when I receive the ball I'm not just again I'm not just taking these touches and not really thinking about it you want to think about getting the ball out of your feet quickly so you can play again quickly okay so I might really overemphasize my touch out of my feet good out of my feet and I can play a nice pass out of my feet play nice pass if I'm going into space out of my feet okay but look at my body positioning I'm not just like up here and letting the ball hit my foot I get over the ball I'm pushing it there with my touch but also my body is over the ball okay I'm really making sure it goes exactly where I want it to go okay so I want you to think about those two things then finally I want you to think about your speed of play okay there's no one around here there's no defenders but you need to imagine that there are okay so when we're playing if we're just doing a simple two-touch drill it's receive pass receive pass okay my passes are sharp my touches are sharp but it's not like okay too casual play like you're in the heat of the game yes everything you do is sharp it's quick receive pass receive pass receive pass okay so quick on your feet speed of play okay so we're gonna go into a couple drills here and as you can see I'm passing against a wall by myself no one else is here okay a ball on a wall it's one of the best ways to improve your skills that thing is gonna pass back to you every time okay this is your best friend it's gonna give you millions of passes in your lifetime if you use it properly all right let's get into these drills are a handful of passing drills that you can use by yourself to improve your skills now before I leave you I want to say a very important thing and that is there's so many of you out there and maybe I'm not talking specifically to you but if I am you need to be very honest with yourself you guys are watching these videos but you're not actually applying what we're talking about you're not actually putting in the practice and you're sending me messages or you're complaining to your friends and your family you're saying I'm putting in all this work or I'm following all this advice but I'm not getting any better well the truth is there are millions of other kids or other players out there in the world who are following this advice who are putting in the practice and are getting better so if you're not getting better well maybe you're not actually doing what you should be doing okay make sure that you're actually if you want to improve your passing you want to improve your first touch you want to improve your speed of play make sure that you're actually practicing these things okay get your ball leave your house go for a jog jog with your ball please don't get hit by a car look both ways when you cross the street but that's what I used to do I used to just get my ball go for a run okay jog dribble the whole way to the field or to the wall wherever you're going then you get here you spend even if you spent 10 minutes go a massive way in improving your passing skills your first touch your speed of play your confidence on the ball if you want to stay out longer you can practice other things too as well you're dribbling you're shooting all this other stuff on my channel all these other drills that I'm giving you guys okay but if you're really focused on becoming a better passer better playmaker someone who doesn't lose possession of the ball has a better first touch has a better speed of play rhythm of play more confidence on the ball then get out there do these drills 10 minutes a day spend one minute on each drill but get those thousands of passes in every day it will go a long way in making you a better player alright guys thank you so much again for watching this video please like comment share this video with your friends shared on social media Facebook Twitter whatever it is if you have teammates or friends and you know they want to get better share these videos with them please like give me a quick thumbs up comment below if you have any questions if you have any comments if you have any other tips you want to share with players who are also trying to improve please comment below and thank you once again for watching this video on soccer passing drills I will talk to you tomorrow


This paper proposes an adaptive observer-based method for estimating the state of charge, SoC, of a lithium-ion battery pack used in an electric vehicle, EV. The RC equivalent circuit model was applied to simulate the battery pack, and its parameters were identified and optimized using a nonlinear least squares algorithm. An adaptive Lohenberger observer was then constructed to estimate SoC from the battery's output voltage and filtered terminal voltage measurements. The observer gain was adapted using a stochastic gradient approach to minimize the error between the estimated battery output voltage and the measured terminal voltage. The validated results showed that the proposed method could accurately estimate SoC with minimal computational overhead. This article was authored by Yuan Zhou, Fengchuan Sun, and Xiao Songhu.


You'll never hear me saying ever, I stopped these years ago, hey, I've got to tell you, this is going to change your life tonight.  So when people say, when I'm in a meeting and people say, I've got to tell you, this will change your life, I say to myself, I'll be the judge of that, because you will and I will. I might say something to you and say, guys, this is really, really important. But I don't hear what happens next, which is what goes on inside your head, because there's two voices in this room. There's what I am saying to you, then there's what you are saying to you about what I'm saying to you. And what you say to you is by far the most powerful voice in your life.


So when I teach a class live one of the first activities that I do is have people do a thing I call walk around the room. So first and you can pause this between watch the whole video and get the instructions and then pause between. So the first thing I'd love you to do is just walk around the room that you're in. It might be a small office, it might be a dining room. Walk around the room. Walk around the room. That gives you an idea of just like how you walk normally when you're walking around the room. The second, the second thing that I'll do is it depends if I'm teaching children or adults, but I'll have people walk around with a certain intention. So usually a fun one would be walk as if you are late for a meeting. What does that look like? Walk like you are late for the meeting and it's super important meeting. Now with this one you'll notice some people like immediately go into caricatures of like, wait for the meeting, looking at fake watches, that sort of thing. But generally when we think about late for the meeting, we're like, tighten up, we want to get somewhere, right? Then I'll do one that's kind of the opposite, which is just walk around like you are early for the meeting and don't want them to notice. So how do you walk when you don't want to get noticed? Different, right? So what we've just done is I've shown you really like three different stories of who I am and you know the setup, but regular me. Me when I'm late and me when I don't want to get noticed and I'm trying to be subtle. Acting exercise I'd love you to do next is to think it's the same thing of like moving around the room. But what I would love you to do is today do it just in the room and maybe tomorrow just do it just in the room.  And here's what I would like you to do. I'd like you to first maybe just stand in the room that you're in with this intention. I am awesome. I'm wise. I have something to offer. So first stand as it feel to stand with I'm awesome. I'm wise. I have something to offer. And if any of these prompts feel like me, maybe you already feel that way about yourself or they don't work and you know different things like you know your, if you know your core career stories like your top three in your career stories. You can use those. Yeah, but use two, three things that you're going to embody. I'm going to do awesome, wise, and have something of value. And you can just take a moment, even now just to ground into that and feel it coming up almost like from the bottom of your feet.  And then let's walk around the room like we are awesome and wise and have something to offer. And just feel even how it changes your body, how it moves. You can spend another minute or so walking around the room and then try it tomorrow as well. And then two days from now, I would love you to go out in the world, whether it's on a phone call and grocery store and meeting with your boss and holding in your body. What it feels like to feel awesome and wise and have something of value and notice if it changes anything for you.


Three quarters of the world's poorest people are hungry farmers, unable to grow enough food to feed their families for the entire year. One acre fund changes that. We work in highly remote areas, providing a comprehensive, proven service bundle that doubles farm income and eradicates hunger. We're a non-profit that runs like a business. Farmers cover 75% of our field costs, 98% of our staff, including our CEO, live in rural areas, and we currently operate in East Africa, in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. I'd like you to meet Getrud and her seven children. Getrud was one of our first customers in Western Kenya. She lives in a mud hut. She lacks access to water and electricity. And an astonishing percentage of the world's poorest people live in conditions exactly like this. With roughly an acre of land and nothing more than a simple hand hoe, she faces an extraordinary challenge of growing enough food to feed her entire family throughout the year. It's not working. Her family, like 50 million other families around the world, face an agonizing hunger season lasting up to six months when they will eat 40% less than normal. And the consequences are severe. One in ten does not reach the age of five. Those that do survive, 40% face stunting, mental, or physical as a result of a lifetime of insufficient food. This is clearly a system in need of change. It's also an extraordinary opportunity. Three quarters of the world's poorest people are farmers. And yet they are failing because they often use tools and techniques that date back to the Bronze Age. Simple tools and training can double farm income within six months. One acre fund service bundle is designed to meet all of the needs of the smallholders. We provide access to credit, to good inputs like seed and fertilizer, to training and to storage and market facilitation. Our second innovation is to distribute all of those products and services to the last mile. We have found that unless we bring everything we do to within walking distance of the customers we exist to serve, those services will remain out of reach for the rural poor. As an organization, we also believe it's incredibly important to provide all of these services as a bundle. Seed and fertilizer in and of themselves can be harmful to farm income if used improperly. It's pointless to grow a surplus if there are no harvest markets. So what's really important is the whole bundle being provided together. As an organization, we measure success three ways. Scale, impact and sustainability. Scale, reach as many farmers as you can. Impact, make a real measurable difference in the life of every farmer you serve and cost effectiveness. We're growing quickly. In 2006, we served 40 farm families. Today, we will reach 300,000 farm families with 1.5 million children living in those families. By the end of the decade, we will directly serve more than 1 million farm families with 5 million children living in those families. For every single customer, doubling net profit means an end to extreme poverty, an end to the hunger season, and an unleashing of human potential. Families return their children to school, invest in livestock, diversify and eat different foods and improve their homes. We're just getting started, even though we're off to a good start. But we're thinking about system change. And to change that system, to make credit, inputs, training and market access available to all takes a movement. And that's what we hope, in part, to stimulate. Even if our greatest growth aspirations are realized and we reach 1 million farm families by the end of the decade, that is still just scratching the surface of the global need. Some 50 million farm families, according to the World Bank and FAO, could benefit from these same products and services. So our call to action to the global community, to the public and private sector alike is to join us in driving a distribution revolution, to get lifesaving agricultural technologies into the hands of those who need them most. I believe this is the greatest humanitarian opportunity of our time. Thank you.