Okay, cool. So yes, today I'm going to be doing a Q&A for the Asperger's in Society documentary. So if there's anything that you want to ask, you are very welcome to put it down in the comments. I am also on YouTube as well, so if there's any comments over on YouTube then please let me know if there's anything that you want me to talk about. I do have some questions already drafted up from people from the questions section of the Instagram. So yeah, for anybody who isn't already aware, the Asperger's in Society documentary is a documentary that I made by myself. It's the first documentary that I've ever made and I started off the documentary with literally about zero video editing skills. I suppose like the majority of the editing skills were in like iMovie, so it's not really that great. I had very minimal equipment and this whole sort of process was me trying to contact different people and getting in contact with them. Shoot a few videos around Manchester in my own time and before the documentary I wrote a literature review which was like just going into the aspects of autism and the co-occurring conditions of like mental health and stuff. And it was very, very interesting to go through that because I realised that mental health was something that is quite common but I didn't realise quite to the extent that it was and so that sort of spurred me on even more to try and make the documentary as good as possible. And I'd say that it was a very difficult process. It took me around over 300 hours to plan it and this is excluding the literature review. Get all the sort of the content forms and video release forms and all that. Shoot the videos, plan the interviews, edit it all. I finished the project in my final year but it wasn't quite to the level that I wanted it to be and when Covid sort of came along and isolation came along then I started and sort of used the documentary as a bit of an anchor in that time. And over the three weeks that I was editing it I had to change a lot of things basically. I had to apply some of the knowledge that I have now to what it is now to the documentary process. So it's a very difficult sort of journey that I went on obviously because I'd never done anything like that before. It was quite hard. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears going into it definitely and there was a lot of occasions where I was so engrossed in fixing a tiny issue and having to redo things over and over again to get it to the standard that I wanted it to be. But I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far. The people that I had on were amazing and I think I did a good job of delivering the interviews in stages, more appropriate stages I suppose. And yeah I'm quite pleased with it. I think one of the questions that someone's asked me is how did I feel when I watched it back? And the funny thing is is that I haven't watched it since it's gone live on YouTube. I sort of paused it during the premiere because I decided to sort of get out of the house and try to chill out because the nerves were building up as I was getting into the premiere. So I paused the premiere and I sort of interacted with people and stuff but I haven't watched it since because I can literally recite the entirety of it for you if you've wanted me to. That's how much I've gone over it and tried to tweak it. So if there are any questions as I said please put them down in the comments. It can be anything to do with the documentary process or the meaning behind it or pretty much anything that you want to ask about it. I'm very open to answering any questions on this little Q&A live stream. But until we get one of those I will go through some of the previous questions. So there's this one here. When you felt drained and exhausted what did you do and how did you keep yourself motivated? That is a very difficult one. I think I've always got the motivation to do projects and to make videos and to pop things out. But I did on many occasions get so into the editing process that I forget to eat and I'd sort of work on into the night and stress myself out and have a difficult time sleeping. But I think as the editing process went on and I got past a few of the big stages that's when I started to sort of schedule in times in my diary in order to finish the editing. It was very difficult. I think my girlfriends and my family and friends where I've always been a very big source of comfort during those times. I usually put quite a lot of pressure on myself in every aspect of my life so it's sometimes quite difficult to cope with that. What is the background meaning behind the documentary? I think this is an important one to cover. The meaning behind it, the reason that I made the documentary is because of those mental health statistics. The way that I wanted to go with it was to give people a more personal understanding of autism and how other people view it and the type of things that go on in daily life for autistic people at all stages. So just in a general sort of take one local environment to school, to adulthood. And that sort of awareness is a very core sort of integral part of it. It's not one of those documentaries where it's just personal and emotional and story driven. And it's also not one of those factual videos and films and that's all about these other traits and this is what you should know about autism. It's not like that. It's a combination of the two and it was a difficult job to try and combine the two but I think I managed to do it. I wanted originally to call it the mental health crisis in the title. That's what I just said, the mental health crisis because the intention of it is to shine a light on the mental health stats for autistic people with severe co-occurring conditions. The fact it being quite a big sort of social model of disability kind of thing. And then I guess I'm hoping that this documentary will open avenues for me and other people within the community to go and talk on actual mainstream platforms to get these messages out. And I think being able to get into that mainstream arena is very important for influencing policies.  First being mental health specialists for autistic people, autism specialists in the mental health and counselling and all of that kind of stuff. I think that's a very important thing because we don't have a lot of that stuff and we know that traditional mental health work for autistic people is not as effective as it should be. Second thing would be education at a young age. It doesn't have to be like a whole course on autism but if we can get children to understand what autism is at a younger age and sort of have that exposure to it and I guess sort of empower autistic kids to tell people that they're autistic, then maybe it will become less of a difference and more of something that's common to life I guess. And then lastly it would be to do with workplaces and we know that workplaces aren't suitable for autistic people in many situations. There's a lot of difficulty with being autistic in terms of it's quite similar to the struggles that you have at school and it's hard to cope with that and we need some way of educating people about what autism is and why we need to change stuff. So that's sort of the meaning behind it, that's the background sort of processes to why autism is part of the documentary and why I put so much effort into it. So I've got the next one which is how did you know when you finished the documentary? How do you know when to finish? I think I never really knew when I was finished to be honest. The problem was that the quality of the audio and the video in some of the scenes was not up to scratch. It wasn't good enough and I had to learn lots and basically just try and tweak it around as much as I can by listening to other content producers on YouTube and things like Skillshare and stuff like that. But I never really knew when I was finished and even when I put out the documentary I still felt like there was something that I had to do. And I guess there is a couple of, there's like two spelling mistakes in some of the slides that I've been made aware of but I decided I've put so much into it that it doesn't really matter those little quotation marks or spares. So yeah, no idea, no idea when I knew when I was finished with it. It was very difficult to get that straight in my head. Alright, so we've got another question over on here. If you had endless financed time resources, what would you have done differently? I think that's a good question. Well, I think I wouldn't have, I've had to put so much time into editing if I did have that endless finance. It was a big limiting factor and I did have to put a bit of, probably about 100 quid of my own money into making it. There wasn't really that much support in terms of monetary support from the uni. And I think I would have liked to have like a bit more lighting and just stuff that makes it a little bit, little bit more nice and clean and high quality. The thing that you've seen is really the height of the content that I've put out, even with the sort of background noise and some of the interviews and some of the choppy audio. That choppy audio and that stuff is processed quite a lot to make sure that it's alright. I think finance is definitely the biggest thing. It would have been nice to have like a co-producer or something, but I think it's nice that it is something that I've done. So we've got a question over here on Instagram. Ian Lowe has said, hey, how are you doing Ian? Ewan, sorry, Ewan. But we've got a question here as well from WSky783. Hiya Tom, where can we find the documentary? You can find the documentary over on YouTube on my Ask Burgess Grove channel. It is at the moment completely unmonitised and ad-free, so it's very clean, easy watching. But if you want to sort of see some of like the blog posts and the behind-the-scenes content and the stuff that I've been doing around the documentary, then you can find it on my website which is AskBurgessInSociety.com. But yeah, that's where you can find it if you didn't already know. We've got a question here. What personal barriers did you have to overcome during the production of the documentary? I think for someone who struggles with mental health to accept that I do, there's a lot of personal barriers to overcome. There's a lot of things that you've got to tell yourself that it is good and you've got to reassure yourself. Sometimes taking a break from the editing is something that I needed and it's something that I guess I've learnt and instilled more in myself since the sort of editing process of the documentary. Usually with YouTube videos I'd just be going through and I'd be shooting it, editing it, uploading it. But I guess with the documentary you can't really do that, so it's more of a slow crawling process. And there's a lot of personal barriers. I didn't have much experience as I've said. I had to learn all of it myself from scratch. I had to deal with some difficulties in terms of promoting it. The University of Manchester said that they would put a lot of effort into trying to promote it for me, but the PR campaign they did didn't really do much. I guess that gave me more time to make a website and put the behind the scenes content out and stuff. What were your desired outcomes for the documentary? Well, as I said, I want people to watch it. I want people to be aware of autism. I want autism to creep into the mainstream media and make a bit more of a big impact on people rather than just be a standalone project that is primarily by autistic people. It's nice to have that as well because I included so many personal accounts of autistic people. It's obviously in the best interest of autistic people, so it's nice in that sense. But in terms of actually making a vast difference in the world, it's got to be a mainstream thing. How did you learn all the skills required to make a documentary? YouTube Skillshare. Any videos online, just those videos that you can search for? I never did a course or a degree or anything that I had to pay for. It was all freely available information on the internet that I'd searched for. Every time I hit a barrier and I didn't know what to do and I wanted to make it better, I searched around that and I taught myself and I implemented that into the documentary. But yeah, the skills were hard to learn and that drew out the length of the project quite a lot. Quite a lot. I think if I was to do it again, if I was to make another documentary again, then it would be a lot more fluid and it would flow a bit more and I'd be able to get it out quicker. A bit less stressful as well, definitely. So this is the one that has been asked by three or four people. What is your next project going to be? I think for the time being, I'm going to take a little bit of a step back from those massive projects because obviously the documentary took so much time to produce. I had to take a step back from my other media responsibilities. So I stopped doing as many YouTube videos. I tried to keep up the 40-odd podcast as much as I could but maybe skipped and missed out on a few of the deadlines that I'd usually set bi-weekly. But yeah, that seems to be the next project. I want to make something that's more in-depth into the autistic community. I want to actually go around autistic advocates and influencers and produce a documentary around that. So I feel like one of the difficulties of the autistic community on Facebook and in those groups and the ones on the arena of people on Instagram is that most people on there are most followers would be primarily autistic people or people who are parents of autistic people. And it's not really information that's not already readily available and not understood and relatable to some extent from autistic people. But this stuff doesn't get out, it doesn't escape. Obviously there are some great work that autistic advocates are doing and I'm definitely not taking away anything away from that. Like I'm doing the same but it's very hard to get that information out and these experiences to outside sources and different people. Now here's one that's quite similar to the last question. Have you ever considered doing a documentary featuring neurotypical people discussing their views of autistic people? Sort of like an open educational session, obviously in a positive sense but something which highlights the myths. Yeah well I think obviously the documentary that I did was partially neurotypical people apart from Peter Bainbridge and sort of the main storyline. I think the difficulty of producing something about autistic people just talking to neurotypical people is that it's not going to feel very good for autistic people to watch it because there's always needs to be some aspect of the personal views of autistic people or else it's not fully representative of autism. Maybe it'd be nice to sort of put together something that's to do with like for example parents and maybe make them have conversations with autistic adults or relationships that could be another sort of topic that we could cover. But all of those things are sort of on the back burner and it is something that I'm thinking of doing and I would like to produce projects like this in the future. It just depends where I can get funding and the support and the equipment that's needed to do that kind of thing. So I've pretty much gone through all of the questions that I have received. There are some questions that people have sent me but they haven't particularly... I tried to go through them and tried to find the other questions but I couldn't find them. I couldn't find them anywhere and just seeing that Instagram has just deleted all of them. So if you are watching and you do want to ask another question please feel free to. We do have some personal questions that are not related to the Asperger's in Society documentary but I'm not sure whether that would be appropriate for this live stream. Is there any other questions that anybody wants to ask about Asperger's in Society? Please let me know. Please send it over. Well I have a drink of water. Good old age too well. Hashtag, hydrate the aspies. We do need some hydration. One thing that's funny about doing a podcast is that I've realised just how unhydrated most autistic people are. There's so much lip smacking in the podcast that I do. It's quite funny because I do it as well. It's not just of people. So that's where the hydrate the aspies comes in. Yeah, hashtag hydrate the aspies. That's the new meme. Definitely. Are there any questions anyone wants to ask? Or else I will just keep rambling on about the documentary until it's finished. I think if I remember correctly the actual interviews that I did the ones that really stood out to me were obviously I was quite surprised with Rick Simpson, my Daikonno instructor with his ability to please very nuanced views and experiences with autistic people. With Michelle she's my mom and she's amazing. I never really heard her talk about autism to an audience. She speaks really well and I was so surprised at just how amazing she was at speaking. She produced some very important points. I actually had to read just some of my motives for the documentary just to include those bits because I thought it was impactful. Then I guess Peter Bainbridge obviously gave a lot of different strong opinions and that was really great to hear from him. He was a brilliant guy to talk to about these things and he's obviously had a lot of experience. There was also just to see how the difference between the views and personalities and the experience of just five autistic people. It was crazy. It was very different and the levels of different traits all seemed to be on a different level to each other. It was quite eye-opening just to watch that. I was given a lot of help to find these autistic people from Norman Darwin from the Access Summit and he did a lot of work to pull people together and encourage them to do the documentary and to speak. So I'm really grateful for him. We've got some questions over on Instagram. Are there things people can do in the workplace to make it easy for us bees? Yes, be nice people. Be nice people, listen and be kind and don't be too quick to judge. It's all very basic stuff like basic human qualities of just being kind and friendly towards people. I think that's very overlooked. Beyond all the traits and stuff, you don't really need to know about autism to be good to an autistic person, to be a good friend or to be a good colleague. It's not really a difficult task, but people need a reason to do those things against a lot of scenarios. So training for managers is very important, giving them some guidance on introducing autistic people and putting in place different things to help with the difficulties that they have and also to try and maximise the actual productivity of them. And then I guess the awareness in the workplace would be something important to work on just in terms of just being a little bit more kind and aware. Yeah, definitely. Hashtag be kind. We've got another question from WSky who's giving me a lot of nice little questions. Do you think it was easier or harder for you as an aspiring to make a documentary because our space can be more focused? Yeah, I think the concentration definitely comes in there. It's easy for me to get carried away. I'm not the type of person to go with something faced by a big obstacle to sort of go out and care and pass it to the side and not do it. I'm very much an anxious worker. I'm very much an anxious worker, so if I have something in my head that I need to do that day and I haven't done it, I will continue working on it until it's finished and it doesn't matter if it's like 1am in the morning or anything like that, I'll get it done, but I suppose that has some impact on my mental health and my ability to work, which I guess could be a negative as well. I think most of it is just my motivation to do it and the documentary is part of my mission to try and raise awareness of autism and to educate society on how to better include autistic people. With me having such severe mental health conditions, it's very much an anchor for me. It very much keeps me around this goal that I have. I don't particularly enjoy life just in general. It's very difficult for me and having that sort of outside motivation to keep going is important for me. Is there a different response to the documentary from Aspies and Neurotypicals? Well, to be honest, most of it has been extremely positive. There's been a few comments about, the only negative comment that I've got is from an autistic person saying that I should delete my taekwondo instructor's interview because he says that autism is not a disability per se, which I don't understand. I think that's a good point. I think if we're talking about the asperger's aspect of things, that's a good point. Of course people have... The recent podcast that I did with Esme Hayes, one of the autistic interviewees that I had on the documentary she talked about the difference between autistic traits and autistic impairments. The co-morbid traits that come along with being autistic can impair daily functioning and stuff like that. I thought that was a really important thing to highlight. There's always the elephant in the room when we talk about autism awareness and acceptance. What about those people who can't communicate and do need 24-hour care? I feel like that addition of the distinguishing autistic impairments is quite an important thing. Yes, everyone is going to have different viewpoints and that's the point of it.  It is a university documentary and I'm supposed to keep it PC and a little bit less inflammatory for that purpose. But maybe in the future, maybe we could get some cool-toned children's puzzle piece company on to talk about it now. They'd probably sue me to be honest. It's more other people's reactions to aspes that causes problems. Yeah, I think in real life, in daily life, it is very much a social... It is very much attributed to the social model of disability. I think that's important and it is characterised by difficulties. I did a video interview with a guy called Guy Shahar from the Transforming Autism Project. He actually told me about the study that they did about three groups of people. It's supposed to show the difficulties in social communication and social cohesion that autistic people have. They broke up into three groups, half and half autistic and neurotypical, fully neurotypical and fully autistic. The neurotypical group performed really well, they were amazing at the group tasks and they did well. The funny thing is that the actual full autistic group, 100% autistic group performed equally as well on all of the tasks that they were given. Which is very cool. The problem came in when they had 50-50 autistic and neurotypical. They performed a lot worse and I think that really highlights the fact that the way that we communicate isn't necessarily bad. It isn't necessarily a difficulty and an impairment, it's just that we communicate differently. I thought that was an amazing, amazing thing. I'm going to ask him to send me it soon. It is a brilliant thing to talk about. Are there any other questions that anybody wants to ask me? I know WSky has given me a lot of awesome questions and I'm very appreciative of that. Yeah, you should read it. I need to read it as well. It's just a comment. Don't quote me on that but I just found that quite interesting. I'll have to ask him. I'll send it to you Vicky once I get it. What are the kind of stuff that I've done around the documentary? I've got the website, the Aspergian Society website that I made myself. It took a long time. It took about two days of solid work to sort of iron it out and learn all the ins and outs of website building. That has, I think, currently about two blog posts on my experience making the documentary and also a topic that Esme wanted to talk about, one of the autistic interviewees. We had a little bit of conversation back and forth on the 420 podcast about the media representation of autism. That was a very productive article and I sort of laid out all of the things that I wanted to change in society for it to be better for autistic people. Then I guess you've got the behind the scenes video series that I'm going to be doing. Esme's has already gone out. What it is is basically the full interview rather than the little snippets that you see in the documentary. Just to give you a better background into the actual views and opinions and experiences of these autistic people. Sadly, if I was to include all of the interviews, it would be a massive film and it wouldn't really be a film anyway. Those are really interesting. I only chopped out a few things that Esme didn't want to go public. It is a nice little video and I think I've got about everyone but one person that has got back to me about being on the behind the scenes series thingy. The 420 podcast will be going out on Saturday with Esme and it's a very long one. Esme has a lot of strong and very intricately worded opinions on autism and media and it's a very interesting interview that I did. That will go out on Saturday at 12 on the YouTube channel and Spotify and Apple podcasts. That could be quite a nice good listen. I've also got James coming on to talk on the 420 podcast at some point and there's Adam and Nick who may come on to it. If they feel so inclined I suppose. There's a lot of stuff going on around it. I've done a lot of video interviews with the National Autistic Society which is going on Friday. I've done obviously the one with Guy Chahar. There's this big BBC producer and broadcaster freelance director called John Offord who has started his new podcast. And he wanted me to be the second interviewee on that. It's pretty good.  How are you doing? What's up bro? Do you got any questions for me about the Aspergist in the society documentary? I would love to hear some nice juicy questions that I can sink my brain into. Not my teeth because that would be silly wouldn't it? I was trying to think of some more questions so let's have a look. We have had quite a few people tuning in and giving some questions. Less so on the YouTube side of things. We've got some more things here. How does autism occur? That is a good question. Autism is... the research around autism is a little bit mixed. It's not fully appreciated as it is. So you can say that it's partially genetic and it's partially environmental and social. Genetic being that it's likely that if you're autistic that you can have relatives or parents or siblings that have autism or have autistic traits. But it really depends on the environmental and social factors around that person that distinguish whether they have enough traits to be considered to be autistic. It's a very complex way of going about it because it's not like a test for diabetes or something. You can test people for diabetes but you can't test people for autism. You have to look at the traits and make a decision based on those traits and whether the person is autistic and that's not always going to include every single autistic person. And sometimes it's not even needed. Sometimes it's not even needed to have that autism diagnosis because there's no need for the level of support that the diagnosis would bring. But yeah, it's partially genetic, partially environmental. Hi, greetings from Mexico. Thank you for coming in from all the way from Mexico. Greetings from the lovely North Yorkshire in England. Nice to have you on. We've got a few more people joining in but currently I'm not sure. So we've got about 15 minutes left of this little Q&A stream. So if there's any questions that you want to ask me about the documentary, please do ask anything to do with the documentary. It would be always very appreciative because I've gone through pretty much all of the questions that's been sort of pitched to me beforehand. So we've got another one here. How do I know if I'm autistic? My mates keep calling me it. I think knowing that you're autistic is a difficult thing. The best way to know that you're autistic is to firstly read up the baseline medical knowledge of autism in terms of those traits. Seeing whether any of those traits really get you on any level. And I suppose the next step is actually going out there and listening to our experiences of autistic people on YouTube, on Instagram, on Facebook, whatever. Anything like that, having that idea is very sort of mixed understanding of autism is a good way of determining whether you are. Another one. Does autism give you a kind of superpower? I think it really depends on the person. Superpower is a very extravagant word. I think there are a lot of traits of being autistic that make us great workers and make us great at what we're interested in. Being that concentration, being that outside the box thinking because there is no box. Being just the way that we process and understand our environment and ourselves in sort of more of a logical sense and more of an analytical sense. That can be a certain superpower. For me when I was doing my taekwondo, concentration, liking to stay to a routine was a big part of why I got so good at taekwondo. So I suppose in some ways, yeah, yeah, some ways a lot of good traits. Other side of that, a lot of bad traits but you can't have one without the other or at least most people can't. You're from West Yorkshire as well. Hey, another Yorkie. New Yorkie bar. Nice to meet you. Thank you for tuning in from West Yorkshire. You don't think it's a superpower? Well, it's not, is it? But there are some benefits and some downsides. It's just a little bit sort of difficult to know. It depends on the person really, I guess. I guess you have people with like savantism who have like amazing mathematical, I guess you could say superpowers. But then on the flip side of that, they're not very functional in life and they need a lot of support, like a lot. It depends on the person still. Do scientists have a rough idea of the environmental factors? The environmental factors I wouldn't say are completely from, you know, like chemicals and stuff.  It's not about those kind of environmental factors. It's more to do with, you know, how you brought up the way that you taught, the things that you experienced. I think because there is such a neurological difference between autistic people and non-autistic people, a lot of that is going to be coming from the genetics. There are some genes that have been highlighted and there's also some differences in hormones and hormone receptors and differences in the sizes and connectivities of different parts of the brain for autistic people that aren't really a subject to environments, I suppose. But there are always, in terms of the traits, there are always those environmental factors that dictate how the person behaves in the world, I guess. How long did the documentary take to make it from the concept? So I had the concepts already. I wanted to make something about autism and mental health and thought, hey, you know what, we're going to include a main storyline but we're also going to go behind the scenes and include some, I guess, some more personal interviews. It really was just a trial and error process. I thought, tell you what, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to get some B-roll that relates to what the script that I'm putting across is like. I'm going to try and give a bit of an explanation in my own words on my own personal videos about what autism is in terms of the trial and impairments and stuff like that. But a lot of that is bringing it to light in a very slow, constructive and progressive, God, I'm using a lot of buzzwords here aren't I? I basically just winged it. Winged it with a plan, yeah. Was it difficult for you to get a diagnosis? It wasn't difficult. I was diagnosed when I was 10. And it wasn't difficult. I was definitely autistic. And because of them, obviously in the UK, I didn't have to pay for it. My parents didn't have to pay for it. We got a few benefits from it which was good because I kind of needed it. And I was, yeah, 10 years old. It was one of the highlights of my childhood. I don't really remember much from my childhood but that was something that really stands out for me.  Well, my mum's definitely not. I would say that there are some aspects to my dad that are typically autistic. And that is not a bash at all because he's got every base of his life covered at the moment, he's into his fitness, he socialises, he dates, he does all of that stuff that is good for a mum to do, a person to do. But yeah, he does have a lot of traits of autism. But I'm not too willing to say that he is because it's not really my place to do that. I can only suggest and I can only sort of inquire about things. But yeah, I'd say it comes more from my dad's side, especially like my granddad, definitely my granddad. No question about it. He doesn't know it. He thinks I'm the disabled little kid in the family but it comes from him. He's passed it on to me. Can I ask what made your parents think there was something different? Yeah, I used to bounce about a lot on the jump line. I used to bounce by a brother by his pants. I used to spin around a lot. I used to get on my parents' nerves to be in no belief. You really used to annoy them. When I was a kid, I used to go like this. I always used to stand on the edge of new places that I was being taken to. I stood back and I analysed people before I entered situations. And I guess I was a little bit too black and white and direct and stuff and sometimes situations and transitions got the best of me. So we are about 54 minutes into the live stream so it's going to be finishing up soon. I hope that everybody is doing well with the Covid situation. It's not exactly the most fun situation for us. Covid is probably a good thing to talk about. It was really difficult for me to deal with isolation. The first three weeks that documentary sort of pulled me through and gave me something to focus on but it really just wiped out all of the things that I would usually do and that really just stabilised me quite a lot even now as an adult and being able to live independently and stuff. Covid is difficult. There is a joke that we have in the autistic community. It's an autistic world now. There's no social interaction. Everybody moves out of the way of you. We have no physical contact. Stay team is away from me. So that's sort of a meme that's going around in the autistic community which I think is quite funny. The realness of it is that I am quite a social person and I like to see my friends and it's quite hard for me to go out and see my friends in a situation. It's quite lonely as well. It's nice that I've got my family around and stuff. I've got some good contact with my friends and stuff in my video chat with my friends now and again but it can be quite hard. Yeah, it is hard. Love you too bro. Thanks for coming on to support me and Julia. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. So we've got some new people have joined. Hello Beth and hello Auti Evie. We do have only four minutes left so if there's anything that you want to ask me about the documentary you've got to get it out soon because it's going to be over soon. If there is any questions that you want to ask please ask me. There may be an opportunity in the future to do another sort of catch up live stream about it and if it does kick off and we do get interviews on mainstream media sites then maybe it might be worth having another live stream about all the stuff that's been happening but we don't know until it comes along so this could be the one and only live stream and you've only got three minutes. Three minutes on the watch. Where can you watch it? Aspergys Grove YouTube channel and on the www.aspergysandsociety.com There you go. So about that bouncy on the trampoline. Bounced my brother by his pants on the trampoline because I was a naughty boy. Probably gave him some irremovable scars from there. I apologise, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I thought you were enjoying it. You have a scar. Oh god I'm sorry. It's taken a turn for the wrong. Any more questions? We've got two minutes left. Quickfire round to get some questions out. We're going to talk about the dock. Can I drive? Yes, I've got a licence but I hate driving.  I don't find it pleasurable. I like being in the car but no worries. I'm glad that everybody has come on to support me and it's nice to have a platform to talk about the documentaries. I've been so behind the scenes, behind the computer for so long that I haven't really had a chance to interact with you guys. I think it's nice that many of you have come on to watch this and tuned in and out and asked some questions and stuff. I'm very appreciative of it. I'm going to have to round it up now though but if there's any questions that you want to ask you can send them to my DM and I possibly could do it in the future. If you haven't already checked it out there's my YouTube channel Aspergerist Growth Mental Health and Autism Videos Forty Autie Podcast which is available for free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. There's about 13 episodes in total as of this Saturday and there's lots and lots of more videos on the AspergeristInSciety.com website that you can check out. Anyways, thank you very much for tuning in. See you later.


Hello everyone, I am the Ambassador of Chile in Sweden. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate International IDEA for its 25th anniversary. As you may know, Chile is a founder, member of IDEA, and our commitment to democracy remains stronger than ever. We believe that during this difficult time of the pandemic, the work of IDEA is more important than ever to defend democratic values worldwide. So, I want to congratulate especially to all the staff members, both in Stockholm and in the regional offices, for this anniversary. And I encourage you to continue working to defend the values that founded this great institution.


The project and the work we are presenting is the result of several projects we needed here in Barcelona and collaborating with some of them and just speaking because I'm able to speak English kind of, more or less. We'll present what we did. Now we are working on getting the data out of them, okay? So the general goals of these projects was to bring science, and in particular archaeology, to road neighborhoods, you know, that the city centre in Barcelona can be a bit raw, and also people with social needs here in Barcelona. So we developed actions for all types of public, from children to elderly, for the adults. And the main objective was to make inclusive activities for people that generally don't go to museums or don't engage with science or with archaeology. And in particular, people with disabilities and older adults and also newcomers. How we did it? Well, first, we engaged the participants in the activities. It wasn't just us speaking about something, they were part of it. We engaged also both public and private institutions because there are some collective working already with these groups of people, local charities or the city council. And then we built an interdisciplinary, well, one built the interdisciplinary team with researchers and psychologists, social educators and also journalists. While this, it shouldn't be necessary, isn't it? But it is, because although on the paper, everybody has the right to have access to the base culture of the panamanic and cultural environment and to higher education and reality, there are groups of people that don't have access, don't have really access to several things. And why is this? Because most scientific institutions, including universities and museums, when planning activities, they plan activities for children in school or for families, that in general is the medium class. It's not for everybody, and especially not for people with special needs because they need other things. So the result is that then, people with special needs to do that science is not for them because they don't engage with activity. And it's not because science is not interesting for them, it's just because the format of it is not suited. So here we are going to present three other projects specifically designed to involve people with different special needs. This includes people with disabilities, mental disabilities, especially, then older adults and then newcomers. So this is how we conceive the approach. We are researchers, and then we are working with different people, and then also with the local political institutions and social institutions here. As I said, we can't provide you with data about the benefits of it, but we are going to focus on how we did it. Now we are working on the questionnaires to have the quantitative data. Okay, the first thing in the first group are people with disabilities, with mental disabilities. We did several activities with them. One was to, was an archaeological exploration. So young people with Down syndrome were actively participating in an exploration. Smaller children were allowed to do the exploration, but the families were also there. And they will learn about archaeology and a number of things, because we work with the archaeologists on the side. It was amazing. It was an incredible experience for them, not only for the children, but also for the families who work with them. Their return was very, very good. And we were working with the association for the blood syndrome here in Castle learning. So a personal collaboration with them and also with the University of Barcelona. Other activities included workshops for different people. So we did conferences about prehistory and food in the past. And the key thing here is that when speaking about the Neolithic, it wasn't just Neolithic at all. We needed to try to bring a timeline, to explain, okay, we are here. Then we could go fast. Here is the Neolithic, and my shoulder is the polylipid, because there are concepts to ask them to difficult to understand and to please, time is difficult. So we brought a timeline and a hard timeline. So when speaking about lentils, we brought through lentils. So when speaking about animals, we brought animal siblings, because you can speak about sheep or cattle, but it's much easier to have a cattle and sheep or an animal, so I'm just like, okay, this is much, my shoulder, it's not a cure, okay. So it was very sensorial. And then they prepared a prehistoric menu for the families and friends. And also we participated in a guided visit to a Neolithic mine, where you can enter into the mine and touch the, wow, everything. The exposition is very sensitive, the sensorial as well. The other group, the second group, is the other older adults. Here, the activity was to create a group at home. And the interesting thing here is that the other people made the patterns. And they also did the dance, they allowed the performance. And fun was leaving them, so to create the album at the theater, the funny thing about it or the nice thing about it is that it created an international participation because the other people were creating the, they were doing the puppet show. And then the party for children and also the other, well, the diversity of public and the show in libraries, in six centers, school, setting residence, a lot of festivals, they were doing the show in different audiences. So it created this kind of thing of league between the older adults and all the rest of the participants, the sentence. Other activities included visits to museums, archeological sites, spring, archeologies. And then also conferences and comedy shows, archeology topics were covered. And also this adhesion thing, also with archeological tricks. The last work we are dealing with are new commerce. In this case, we were working with this operative, the same, and these work coordinators were following prehistoric cooking course because they are part of the diploma in order to have work after work, like in kitchens. So first they attended conferences of history foods when we were engaging with them. Then they were cooking products, they could give them history. And then they presented the cooking dishes to the research center and also the family and friends. The outcome of these is that it has been mentioned before the sense of belonging, the sense that you are bringing something to society, to colleagues or peers or family or... So again, the return was very positive. The feedback we got was very positive and was like, okay, when are we organizing the mix? So we are now working towards building this questionnaire to have the data to prove people this is working. And we need more of these activities in the neighborhood. A little by little, we can see that our activities are starting to have an impact. This is the Christmas decoration in one of the city centers here in Naval. So we are integrating with the social tissue here and also with the Christmas decorations here in Barcelona. The lights that you can see there. The reality comes from a picture of three of the researchers at the city. It was a local initiative, it was an ask, but we can't participate in an engagement with this. So if we want to be updated about the activities we're organizing, if I check this blog, or if I try to do fun, it's very quiet, but easy to answer. And well, we'd like to thank you for your attention. And also to all of the people here. Thank you. Thank you.


The DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Robert Taylor. Good evening, this is Robert Taylor. Tonight's cavalcade is called Perfect Union, the story of the great American Chief Justice John Marshall as a young man. Now, he won a beautiful southern girl and a great political victory. But first here is Bill Hamilton of the DuPont Company. Good evening. Fine floors in your home need the protection and enduring good looks that only a fine varnish can give. DuPont makes varnishes for every purpose. The high quality is assured by the experience of 150 years of varnish making. One of these outstanding DuPont varnishes is Supremis varnish, made especially for giving lasting beauty and protection to your floors. It is pale in color and extremely tough and durable, which means that it can stand the hard use to which floors are exposed. There's real beauty and real economy too in Supremis varnish, another of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. Our Cavalcade star tonight, Robert Taylor, can currently be seen with Audrey Totter in the Metro Golden Mayor thriller High Wall. Now, Perfect Union, starring Robert Taylor as young John Marshall on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. It is dawn the morning of May 23rd, 1780, on the playing field of William and Mary College, two young law students prepared to fight a duel to the best with pistols. They stand back to back, awaiting the signal to begin. Mr. Eggman, Mr. Marshall, you'll walk at my count to 10 paces, then turn and fire at Will. Are you ready? I am. Yeah. Very well. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Oh, it's murder. Nine, 10. Bloody murder. Harry's down. Yeah, yes, but why John fired in the air? Gentlemen, it appears my principal is in this pose. He's fainted. He's fainted? Ha-ha! He's in this pose with flaking of the knees. He needs a tonic. You better hoist him down to the tavern if he can't walk there himself. That's his suggestion, but it's practical. Mr. Eggman, I thought you were... Well, I can't say I blame poor Harry much. I wouldn't care to face your woodsman's eye, John. Why do you want to go waving pistols around this time of the morning poor anyway?  We did have quite a set, too. And I can see you didn't like my ideas much, but it wasn't until I mentioned a certain young lady I've got my eye on. Ah, now we've reached the heart of it. What young lady? I'm Mary Ambler, the girl I'm going to marry. Now, wait a minute, lad. You haven't even met her. I will, though, at the ball tonight at Yorktown.  Why not? What's wrong with me? Well, in Virginia, young ladies of her sort are accustomed to gentle manners, gentle men. Well, then I'll send her in those gates with her verses in her ear. That I must hear. The woodsman spouting verses to his lady. Back in the Blue Ridge, Charles, we don't have time for racing and gambling and lopsided duels, but we do take time to read. And did you learn to dance by reading of it? He's right, John.  Or bores her with talk of national constitutions, political nonsense. I saw her on the street. I fell in love with her. She'll learn to love me, too. You wait and see. I'll wait her. She'll have none of you. It's a wait. You're 20 pounds on it. Wait. Do you say you'll marry her within a year? I do. And on that 20 pounds, I'll win from you. Agreed? Agreed. All right. And after I meet her at the ball tonight, I say she'll not only marry me, but agree to my political views as well. He's got a duel, Mary. With Harry Hitman. Almost frightened him to death. And he made a wager about you, Mary. What? He didn't. He did. Tom told me. Oh, it's delicious. I think it's absolutely vulgar. But charming. Back woodsman.  I've heard his answer, but absolutely vulgar. Well, who cares? Did he really think you'd flowered Mary? I gave them to Eliza. Oh, Mary, it's unfair. You've brought too many admirers now. If we can't discuss some other subject, I'm going out to the ball. Oh, but Mary, he's so romantic. And so absolutely vulgar. Is your future bride, John? Have you been introduced? I have. I even have this dance with her. Excuse me. Don't forget our wait. I believe I have the honor, Miss Ambler. I'm sorry. I have promised this dance, sir. Yes, to me, ma'am, it's written on your program, I think. Well, so it is. I had forgotten to erase it. Why did you want to erase it? Sir, a gentleman does not use a lady's name as subject for a wager. And another thing, our young men here don't spend their time stirring up trouble as I hear you're doing. Telling people we ought to have a national government. We do have a national government, but I want to see it strong with a real constitution. It's shameful. Trying to destroy our dignity is the crown of the colonies. Well, if you've been all this time, Miss Mary, we aren't colonies anymore. We're the United States. We're Virginians, and don't you forget it backwards, ma'am. Ma'am, I came here to dance, not squabble with you. Roma has it, you do not dance. Why not try me and see?  They tell me a cat can look at a queen. Your hand, please. Very well. You do dance well. Thank you, ma'am. Your clothes are warm. I'm poor. For a man of taste, there's always credit. For a man in love, there must be savings. You bore me, sir, with talk of that. And you delight me. Do not presume, because your name was written on my program. Will it be written on your heart? So hasty, so presumptuous. Miss Mary, the lad with the fairest prospect may be so defeated if, of his lady's glance, he is but one day cheated. Good day, Mr. Marshall. I'd not expected you to call. Miss Mary, is your father here? Oh, then you didn't wish to see me after all. Well, I'll take you to him. Believe me, ma'am, I'd rather talk to you, but I need his advice. Will you come this way, please? My father studied. Miss Mary, I really... Papa, Mr. Marshall's here to see you. Oh, come in. Come in, lad. Advise him well, Papa. He says he needs it. And I agree. Good evening, sir. Well, son, congratulations. I hear from Mary that you've been admitted to the bar. That's right, sir. I've been dreaming of it for a long time.  I dare say you'll have other things on your mind, besides arguing with your cronies about national constitutions and such. Well, there is, Mary. What was that between you two just now? Not serious differences, I hope. I'm afraid she doesn't think much of my ideas. To thank you, son, neither does the rest of the community. I know. It's easier to forget that we've fought beside the other states to form a nation. It's easier just to drift along the way we're doing. Oh, I haven't forgotten, John, but I remember also to be practical. Virginia has her own problems to solve first. Virginia's an important state. If she took the lead in drafting a real workable constitution, the others might follow. Now, look, look, my boy. If you just calm down a little, think of your own state before you speak about a nation, you might stand for the House of Delegates from your native county. They'd never elect me. Why not? You're well-liked personally, and if your views are different from the others, well, we've tolerance in Virginia. A likable madman, is that it? Uh-uh, there you go. No wonder Mary has the vapors every time you call on her. She does. She's never told me so. You know as little about the ladies as you do of practical politics, I think. Mr. Amber, if I were elected, could the state afford to pay? I mean, would there be funds? Does a member of the legislature earn enough to marry on? Well, as treasurer, I should know now, shouldn't I? All I can say is even I'm hard put to it to support my family. And unless my daughters marry wealthy men... I see. Well, I bid you good evening, sir.  Did I? Mr. Ambler, I'm neither wealthy nor politically in style, but someday I shall be. Because although this country's young, there's opportunity for each citizen to raise it into manhood. And in the doing, every man who participates will find some measure of success. Oh. Have you heard? Life has been nice. To your planter. He's very accomplished.  What about you, Mary? What about me? You'll have to decide sometime. Or resign yourself to be in a maidenhood. I haven't seen her. Oh. What about Major Anderson? And John Marshall? Oh, he's absolutely vulgar. He isn't either. He's very handsome. My child is a gentleman. And very a conflict. Mary, you have a visitor. I'll see who it is. Maybe it's a young gentleman to join our sewing circle. I hope so. Who is it, Kate? Mr. Marshall, where did you see him? Miss Mary. John? I have news for you. If you care to brave my sewing circle, you're quite welcome. Can't we go into your father's study? Is someplace where we'll be alone?  Mary, please. My news is for your ears alone. All right. We'll go into the study. There. Now, John, what is it? I've been elected from my county to the House of Delegates here in Richmond. By all counts, I have a strong majority. Oh, that's a real honor, John. I'm proud of you. It means that I'll have a regular income. Really? It means that... Miss Mary, I've waited so long for you. May I have your hand in marriage? Oh. Your answer, please. But I must have time to think. Fine. As it is, I've lost my wager. The condition's being that I'd win you any year. So we'll start our married life poorer by 20 pounds. Oh, insolent as ever. And you are more beautiful. You... You wish to marry me at once? I do. You haven't even said you love me. I'll say it now. In this way. What? Will you? Oh, John. Yes, I will. You're listening to Perfect Union, starring Robert Taylor as John Marshall on The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the depart company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. John Marshall, the young lawyer from the backwoods, had won not only the girl of his choice, but a place in the Virginia legislature. Both in the 1780s, the people of Virginia thought more of their local problems than of the nation they had helped create. John Marshall was meeting strong opposition in his fight for stronger Union of the States. Help you, madam? Why, yes, I'd like to see Bonnie. Oh, certainly. Did you have a particular color in mind? Well, my husband prefers blue. I was to meet him here. Perhaps I'd better wait. Ah, yes. Yes, madam. I understand. One pleases one's husband in matters of color. Oh, excuse me, please. Uh, yes, sir? Well, sir, was there something? I, uh, well, I... Why, Mr. Patrick Henry? Uh-huh. Good morning, Mrs. Marshall. I just came in to... Oh, by a Bonnie? I'll tell you. Or perhaps it was something a bit more frivolous for your lady? Well, yes. Well, by all rights, I shouldn't offer to help you choose at all, but I shall. Oh, why not? I'd be delighted. The things you say to my husband in the legislature. Really, we should be sworn enemies. Nonsense, Mrs. Marshall. Politics has nothing to do with society. I'm inclined to agree with you, sir, but John says it does. He says we cannot turn an ideal on and off like the spigot in a keg of ale. Hmm, that's very pretty. I wish I'd said it myself. Uh, you, uh, attend the legislative session? I? Yes. Oh, of course not, but John tells me everything that happened. Oh, you must come to the assembly house one day, judge for yourself. Who's right? Sir, please don't think me a disloyal wife when I say that John's foolish to pit himself against a great orator like you. Madam, if I do speak well, it's because I believe in what I say. Mary. Oh, John. John, look who's here. I'm going to help him choose something very frivolous and very expensive. I see. Uh, good morning, Patrick. Good morning, John. You picked out a bonnet, Mary. Oh, I was waiting for you. Well, hurry and decide, will you? Well, a fine way to treat a lady on her birthday, I must say. Perhaps you would like to try this one on. Oh, my God. Well, Patrick, here's a odd place for us to meet, huh? Very.  Well, that depends on you, sir. I bear you no ill will, but if you persist in trying to rob Virginia of her right. But I'm not. She can be greater by taking the lead in getting a national constitution. The articles of the Federation are perfectly adequate. The people don't want a stronger Congress.   Benjamin Franklin, James Madison? Certainly not. They want a constitution that will work. It will make us United States in fact, not fiction. And in so doing, Virginia will become a hollow shell of a form of greatness. Whatever we try to do will be stopped by a parcel of New England Puritans sitting up there in Philadelphia. Those men have the interest of us all at heart. I don't believe that. And neither do the rest of our citizens. I warn you, John Marshall, if you insist on this undermining of your state prestige, you will not be elected to the assembly again. There'll always be a way to speak. Oh, really, this is not the legislature. All right. I'm sorry, Mrs. Marshall. John, you and Mr. Henry are really such good friends. Why do you always have to be fighting? And besides, neither one of you has even gained a notice mind you, Bonnet. Mary, Patrick, and I both believe in liberty. He, for the state, I in the union of the states. Even if I'm silenced, there are others who will fight. Furthermore, we are fighting until Bonnet. You have on, Madam. Oh, yes, indeed it is, Mary.  Disapprove that it's ten o'clock and I'm still a bed. Well, sit down. We do have one good comfortable chair. I worry so about you, Mary. You must try, my doctor, dear. He's simply wonderful. But he'd be expensive. That's where you're so impractical, you and John. You allow him to buy you ribbons and gloves and furblows, but you can't afford the leash. John liked to buy me little things. Then his conscience doesn't hurt him quite so much when he denies me big ones. Men are so willful, dear, unless their women choose to direct their ways. Exactly, of course. It's time you learned that. Has he ever cornered you to tell you what he thinks of states' rights versus the national government? You'd forget your method, Sumina. But when it means that you can't afford a doctor... What's money when there's a principle to keep us warm and a dream of glory to feed us? Mary, a constitution is an individual right, and at the same time, securing those rights for all. That's what's needed, John says. Why, Mary, I could almost think you'd believe all this yourself the way you say it. I do. I thought before I didn't care that I was just humoring him. But now, in just the repetition of his words, somehow I begin to understand what John's been seeking all this time. Not been feeling quite myself. So sin! My child tells me I'm becoming absolutely stout. He much prefers in stouty sales. I'm pleased to know you've made him happy, Mother. Well, now tell me all about yourself, dear. I hear your husband's in the legislature come on, like a skittish horse. He's younger than his colleagues. Headstrong. Really, I can't say you look very skittish, though. Mother, you haven't changed a bit. Come on, let's go have a cup of tea. I've absolutely hundreds of things to tell you. Well, I was on my way to the assembly house. And I want to hear him. Why don't you come with me, Mother? Maybe he'll be skittish for your benefit. Oh, very well.  I don't see why you bother. To be truthful, this is the first time I have. And high time. My child just wouldn't approve my meddling in his affairs. I have a personal stake in what he says on the floor today. Very personal. I declare you sound so serious, Mary, talking like a man like that. Why, it's absolutely vulgar. You understand, Mother. They're all against him. He's voted down. He may not be re-elected. He may never have another chance.  Oh, you don't know him very well. Well, how do you feel about it? Oh, I don't know, Mother. I wish I did. Well, here we are at the assembly house. You coming in with me? Only if you'll promise you'll have tea and gossip with me afterwards. I can human be here. Yes, I promise. Let's stand over here. All right. Thank you, sir. Can you stand by and see the rights? The traditional rights of the Virginians trampled on the foot by men who can know nothing of our problems here. Look at that dog. This land is big. How can we hope to draft a set of laws that would apply to Pennsylvania in the same way they apply to Virginia? It's impossible, gentlemen. And I defy anyone to show me how it can be done without diminishing the sacred liberties of our beloved state. Let's go, baby. It's John. He'll enter. I thought... Mr. Speaker, gentlemen, as you know, I come from the Blue Ridge Mountains. When my neighbors and my brothers and my father and I were called upon to fight for liberty and union, we did so. Men from all the colonies did so for the same reason. If we can fight together for an ideal, can we not solve the problems of the peace together? Will it take attack from a foreign power to unite us again? Our colleague, Mr. Madison, warns us that we'll never have freedom of the seas or commerce or the respect of other nations if we do not become a nation strong and integrated. A nation in peace as in war. We must give our great leaders a chance to grab the Constitution that will ensure our states of their rights, our nation of its sovereignty. We of Virginia must lead the way. Mother, take me out of here. I feel pain. Mary, Mary, what's wrong? I'm sorry. Oh, dear. Can you help somebody quick? It's Mrs. Marshall. She's fainted. Mary, what's happening? Mr. Marshall, I'm so absolutely fainted. Bring water someone. Hurry, please. I'll get it. Mary, darling. I'm here, darling. What is it? The gentleman from Boatgate Count. My darling. I was suddenly so dizzy. Oh, Johnny, you were convincing. I must have been. They'll just have to re-elect you and I'll help you campaign.  Our son will be proud too. Was that what you said? I mean, would you say that again? I said our son will be proud. That's what I... I thought you said that. Oh, Johnny, what's become of all your fine eloquence? Mary, for the first time in my life, I'm speechless. A pillow punched, a glass of water, some tea... No, thank you. I only want to look at you. You can't complain. You never see me now. I'm always underfoot. What's with the legislature? I know. You should be with them. Not here trying to keep an invalid wife and you. Well, they're going to vote on the proposed new constitution. The worst is over now. Why, I've heard you say the ratifying convention will be the battle of the century. You've got to be there.  That's final. Johnny, think of General Washington and Madison, Colbin and Nicholas. They're depending on you. I'm thinking of you. Johnny, if you're not there, he'll win them over. You're tempting me too strongly, Mary. It isn't fair. Since when were a woman's tactics fair? Now, come here. Sit beside me. Now, read to me. Shakespeare or poor Richard? The opening words of the new constitution they drew up in Philadelphia, if you please. I know those words without reading. We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, to ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America. John? I'll wager you, Virginia turns down. Mary, what do you mean? I said, I'll wager you, you can't turn the vote in favor of adoption. Done. What can you afford? 20 pounds? I put up 20 pounds to win you, so wait a minute. I'm not going to the convention. Are you accepted my wager? You've got to go through with it. You've vixen, so that's your game. You must go, John. We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union. Oh, John, that's what you stand for. You must go. All right, my darling. I will. And I'll win this wager. So will you. So will our children. And all the children and their children's children in time to come. Thank you, Robert Taylor. Now, is Bill Hamilton of the DuPont Company. Old time whaling. The very words bring up a vivid, exciting picture. A trim ship under white sail, roaming from pole to pole in all weathers. And up aloft, high on the foremost, a lookout scanning the blue water far below him for the white double plume from the top of a whale's massive head. Then it was there she blows, and all hands aloft to make sail, and boats clattering down over the side with strong, willing backs at the oars, a steersman astern, and in the bow, the man upon whose aim and daring and strength everything depended, the harpooner. Today whalers continue to roam the seas, but the business is modernized. It is no longer so romantic, but what it has lost in glamour, it has gained in efficiency. Nowadays, the harpoon is shot from a small cannon. The harpooner has become a gunner. He aims, fires, and the harpoon goes whistling to its target, trailing a thin, strong nylon line behind it. That line is all that holds the whale, and it must not break, no matter how deep he dives, or as a whaler would say, how deep he sounds. Nylon is better than the ordinary rope that used to be lashed to the harpoon. Nylon rope has high strength and outstanding ability to give or stretch and come back. It may be used time after time without fear that constant exposure to saltwater and marine organisms will weaken it. Nylon's great strength, combined with resistance to rotting and tearing, makes it ideal for fishing nets, too. Holds snagged and heavily laden nets mean losses in the catch. Nylon nets are helping to add tons of fish to the world's food supply. Even amateur fishermen who fish for sport today use DuPont nylon fishing leaders and nylon lines. Nylon, delicate enough to make the shearst hosiery, strong enough to hold a hundred-ton whale, is a development of chemical science, one of the DuPont company's better things for better living through chemistry. Next Monday night, at the same time, Cablecade will present the distinguished star Helen Hayes in an original radio play, Good Morning, Miss Typeman, a tender story of an American school teacher. Be sure to join us. Tonight's DuPont Cablecade Perfect Union was written by Virginia Radcliffe, featured in tonight's play with Robert Taylor, with Patricia Ryan as Mary. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryan. And this is Ted Pearson, inviting you to listen next week to Helen Hayes on the Cablecade of America, brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Cablecade is presented each week on the stage of the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.


to read the preamble that as chair of the Rochester select board I find that due to the state of emergency declared by Governor Scott as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to addendum 6 to executive order 01-20 and act 92 this public body is authorized to meet electronically in accordance with act 92 there is no physical location to observe and listen contemporaneously to this meeting however in accordance with the temporary amendments to the open meeting law I confirm that we are providing public access to the meeting by telephone video or other electronic means which in this case is the zoom platform and all members of the board have the ability to communicate and contemporaneously during the meeting through this platform and the public has access to contemporaneously listen and if desired participate but um either contact to request the invitation to the meeting just make a noise there find the links on the um on the uh posted agendas and um we gave previous notice to that and I am trusting that this time we got it right because we had to cancel the last meeting because the credentials were not correct um is anyone in the meeting here someone that has logged in from the the credentials posted on the agenda versus an email link just out of curiosity I came from the agenda not an email link all right good so now we know it's working and here is someone else in the waiting room that I know is testing that so maybe that will work all right so um here we are it's um 602 and I hear my voice echoing because Kim Lee is walking in the stairs with his phone he's in so it worked um does anyone have any additions to the tonight's agenda and hearing none I guess we'll move forward and we have the minutes from the last meeting and I found one small correction in the very last sentence and it says that it would make sense for the town to work Marty and Kristen and then communicate to the wades I think we want to have the word work with Marty and Christian and then communicate to the wades so I I found that one edition I don't know if you guys found anything else in there that you would like to modify no and if uh so I'd move that we accept those minutes with that modification on favor okay good we got those minutes doing well sun just went down again um sue you're a guest tonight and you're on the top row and my screen though all right happening yeah um thank you for having me um the white river valley players have a small request um you may have seen the parade people that were on the park the stick figure people with costumes on for fourth of July and um it it was a real hit people really seem to enjoy it so we thought we would repurpose them for the weekend of the harvest fair where we're sad we won't be having a harvest fair so we thought we would put them in more of a group um somewhere on a hundred on the park and put a sign with them that says um um uh see you see you here next year you know from the white river valley players um and just wanted to get permission to do that uh during during that week so that there's some time that that they're up there making people smile I like that idea to do a formal park use permit for that or is that yeah yeah I can do that yeah I mean that sounds good to me what do you guys think I'm doing I'm on the park committee and that's why I asked her to mention it to you because I thought she did have to fill out a form yeah yeah might as well I did that before I forgot about that so thanks for reminding me yeah we have a little time yet yeah yeah okay well we'll jazz them up a little maybe change their costumes or something but we'll yeah yeah and you're talking about um having them up there for like a week or something yeah from uh Monday the 7th so Monday the 14th okay yeah that'd be good to then just have it um there and then picked up yeah okay great okay thank you well there's a time limit for it that's fine yeah oh yeah yeah all right thank you so no over loitering on the park oh well right no lounge chairs we don't even know where that came from well I stayed there for a while yeah that's that was the issue that was funny yeah do you ever find out who it came from I did no I have some idea that's not at liberty to somebody so um Joan we're lucky we have you here tonight because um I was going to have to read your updates last week but now you're here to join us in person so you're up I'm sure you're happy so okay I'll run through it quick first um on the Mendel property the emergency watershed program with nrcs um I wrote up an application on their behalf and so you're breaking out maybe even four I've lost track are you guys having trouble hearing her too yeah she's froze up on me I couldn't hear her like we can't hear anything from you Joan yeah anyway do well you want um I guess um I could read what you're um what I have printed from last week's meetings and then if you have additions to that you could um maybe slide those in would that help sure am I still frozen no now you're not um I'll tell me if I freeze again and I'll stop okay okay I'll start waving okay so anyway a fund representative was going to be meeting with them sometime soon she offered to just go down and visit with them and in financial and then find out the next couple of steps to figure out if they were uh going to be able to give them a grant and we should know pretty soon I have not heard from Dean yet about whether they've met yet that's at least shows some some sign of hope that they may get some help um and just still continuing to work with our FEMA field wrap to get uh reimbursements for completed roads and for uh to finish up the information that they need for the brook street brook uh retaining wall project which won't actually be done until next year um and there is some reimbursement for the work that's been pleaded completed on the incomplete roads that's still in process but it ought to be coming soon but I'm not even going to try and guess at a date at this point it it'll come when it comes um same with the Bethel Mountain Road reimbursement process um three weeks ago or so I was talking to the person of v-trans who had to submit a grant amendment application to the federal highway administration because originally when they submitted uh the estimate of the cost of the project it was very early on and they didn't know the scope of it so needs to be increased they didn't see that there was would be any problem with that but I have been hearing from other sources like through U.S. Forest Service that um federal highway administration is just moving really slow these days um so that'll come when it comes uh also still no word from v-trans on whether they're going to be funding any of their grant programs this year uh if you remember we had a couple projects we were expecting to do and we pretty well in absence of any further communication from them which was last time was in May um figuring that there's probably not going to be a grant round this year um I get any confirmation of that I'll let you know but it's getting pretty late to you know put out the expect projects to be done in time um discussions are continuing with uh some landowners uh associated with the Mount Cushman over replacement um Frank and I are going to meet with one of them sometime soon haven't set that up yet um so that continues um is me did you see about push notes were submitted for the town garage stormwater project and uh I talked to WRP today and we're in agreement that it's just too late to try and rebit it this year uh for one thing probably a lot of the contractors who would bid on this project ordinarily are all super busy with home improvement projects um in addition there are a few other details that uh need to be looked into that we didn't know about at the time of the bidding and fortunately the grant that WRP has for the work um is good through 2021 so we're going to regroup in the fall with Cooter find out what remaining issues there might be and be prepared to go out to bid uh in January or February at the latest of next year um working still on the Henry property tree planting um that is probably going to be taking place next spring as well as this fall because I did a lot of calling around to various nurseries retail and wholesale and um it's really late to be buying six foot trees of any type they just don't have them in stock anymore uh I do have a contractor lined up uh I think I have to talk to him again but John Gorton said he was interested um so you know he's a known quantity for us of course since he does our mowing I'm meeting with him possibly this coming week um just to take a look at the site and be ready for next year unless he has a source this year for hemlocks which I'll find out about um the West Hill bridge meeting uh Pat was there so Pat jump in if you want to add anything basically um there were two design alternatives that were uh submitted in addition to do nothing or repair the existing bridge none of those those two weren't really alternatives so alternative three they called it consists of a precast pre-stressed concrete slab bridge and their estimated cost there was uh almost 1.2 million dollars um alternative for slightly different well more than slightly different it's a steel beam structure instead of concrete and with a concrete deck and that cost a little bit less than their estimate uh just over a million dollars in any case those two numbers are considerably more than what we are expecting to get from US Forest Service responds by the way also come from federal highway administration um but Brian Austin from the Forest Service pointed out on our meeting that um they had included a lot of pre-construction costs in the the whole construction budget so BHCB has to go back and recalculate the actual construction cost which will be somewhat less but still considerably more than the 650,000 dollars that we believe are committed to us that we don't have a grant agreement yet um so I talked to Brian about that and he feels pretty certain that Forest Service will be able to come come up with some other funding sources to supplement if the federal highway grant program does not agree to increase the amount so I'll have more to report back to you on that hopefully in the next week or two and then last but not least is Cricket and I made a site visit with uh Sean Kelly the geotech engineer from the Bethel Mountain Road project to that spot on the Henry property that uh causes is caught some concern for potential slope failure maybe not soon but possibly sometime in the future and it was discovered pretty late in the process of the Bethel Mountain Road repair project which is why it wasn't caught and something done things look pretty stable there now um but Sean feels a certain amount of uncertainty about what might happen in the future with you know big storms or series of big storms like the only one we had last year so what I asked him to do is to put together a memo that describes a little bit of the history of how this thing was first uh noted uh what he feels the issues are going forward if what the risk is um and what he feels ought to be done in the near term and down the road if if it does appear that the slope is unstable um and with that in our back pocket if something catastrophic or unfortunate does happen in the future we've got all the information we need to go back to VTrand and say okay guys sorry but you need to step up and help us out with this hope failure because it would be because they would fund it because it's you know would be affecting the stability of Bethel Mountain Road so once I get that memo I'll forward that to you probably what's going to happen is they're going to look for just monitoring which means putting a series of stakes across the slope with a string and then once in a while cricket will go out there it might be just you know a matter of a couple times a year to see whether things have moved and keep your fingers crossed that nothing moves for uh a generation or two um so that's all I have oh okay thank you um in terms of the highway we've been they've been working away on the mowing roadside mowing and I know there's a few spots where it looks a little scarified by that um I don't know if that's up to the property owners to go and touch that up or if that's something that um we would go back and clean up some of those ugly stumps but um I guess Cooter's been on vacation so I'll chat with him about that in the future we should probably go back and especially in front of people's houses I had a call on Friday um and went to visit the land owner and he wasn't overly happy but he wasn't really mad either but um when they chopped those trees down and leave a five-foot stump right in front of the man's house they blow some chips on the lawn that makes a little bit of a bad press for us uh I would think they need to go back and think about cleaning out some of the ditches too because that could lead to some issues if a high water event happened so I'd like to see some action on that I know they're busy on Jerusalem right now but they need to really probably take care of some of that because that could bite us down the road if they don't do something but especially in front of people's houses when they chop off three four inch trees and leave a six foot stump right in front of their place uh they probably should go back it's not a lot but it is some and they could probably just drive around and pretty much do it as they go but yeah I would think they'd want to make sure those ditches were cleaned out yeah leave a lot of trees and then Frank what type of mower are they using uh it's just a flail mower you know a regular roadside mower but you know it's like four feet I think I'd say at least four foot so they they're doing I talked with John about it he said there's been a big learning curve and so I wasn't going to harass him too much about it I know he's busy up there on Jerusalem right now but they're going to want to take a trip around when they can and just clean out those ditches some places they you know they've hacked off pretty good but I know they have to do it every once in a while so you know it's it's just too bad in some places where they leave a mess that they they should go back and just neaten it up a little bit especially in front of somebody's house yeah I would expect that part of the pre-winter checking the ditches and culverts and such that that would be or before that but right now their goal is to use that mower as much as they can for the the period that we have it and then they can go back and right once they once they get over the ground you know I mean it's a like I said it's a learning curve but yeah for them and and they're doing the best they can with it so and I I think they don't have it right now anyway I think he said that was gone for a week maybe or something and then they were going to get it back so they're doing some of the work on Jerusalem I know but all right in terms of utilities we had an issue with the Gordy Merrill had a pretty significant leak in one of his apartments and he's asked us if we could have a little leniency leniency on on his bill for that then Frank had you looked at that and checked into what he had what was going on there yeah I I did a little like talk to Terry about it he he kind of feels like we give uh we need to be a little more aggressive getting word out to like people that have apartment houses and and have rentals that are on town water systems so they can do their own meter check to make sure they're not using any more water than they normally do they can they're all digital so they can read themselves but he's he's under the idea that anybody that has a failure Gordy took care of his failure right off the bat he feels that a one-time waiver is is a good way to handle things and then they're you know on a warning system so that if you have a failure like that in an apartment or whatever you know they can they can get a one-time you know uh freebie so we've done that in the past I think most recently to the Mendel property that we do that so what did we end up doing splitting the difference with them I think you I don't remember exactly what Terry said they did but they came up with an agreement it seemed like it was fair yeah and he seemed good good about it and he was okay with it yeah no I think that's reasonable yeah I do too like but if it happens again you know then it's their own fault you know once they're notified and that should be a warning that we put out to these people a little bit that that do have apartment houses and if they're not all you know filled up and working then you know they they should be checking on them now and then make sure at least it's a quarterly bill not an annual bill so it does get a little little wake-up call but still in a couple months you can run a lot of water down the drain yes you can all right so we'll um figure out what Terry what's an appropriate adjustment for that I think splitting the difference is pretty pretty fair it's pretty fair yeah I do too that's what we have done in the past yeah yeah that's our precedent it sounds like a good way to go excuse me dune yeah because so could I say that the board agreed you didn't vote on it yet or anything but could I say the board agreed to a one-time reduction in his bill basically yeah yeah okay thank you I guess we didn't really it's not so much a voting matter it's just an agreement to yeah okay thank you I wanted to make sure I worded it correct yeah yep all right we got that on there um what else have we got we had um boy it's pretty um pretty clear we had had received a letter requesting us to read a letter from Paul Hammond regarding the um his opinion on surveying Pine Gap Road but that is that seems to be um kind of a moot point as the work has been done on that and in a response was at that basically that um there was not select board was not required to resurvey or to survey a road that's it's it's an option the select board has and seen as there was the the whole survey of the the neighboring tract of the Forest Service um was pretty much definitive about where what we were talking about was so we didn't um didn't really feel the need to be pressured to resurvey that road so that's um that was a response to that letter and that's all I've got to talk about tonight I have a couple other things on the agenda this is an updated agenda oh I'm looking at you're right that's the old agenda that I grabbed for those notes here we go yep one or two but oh yeah yeah we need to um have a suggestion for an assistant town clerk and treasurer um who was that Kristen lapel Kristen lapel and um we worked with her on the um election night the other night counting votes and she seems on top of things and it works well with you guys this is something we'd need to um is this an appointment or is this a hiring we need to hear to fill out um the job application I believe she has and she has okay so um there was a doom yeah there was some talk about uh some increased hours for her maybe Julie you want to explain that a little bit um well Becky currently is only she's only able to give me 17 hours and based on the work that goes on through the office um I'm asking for 25 if that's okay I think that um I'm sure as you could probably use even more than that but that's um I think that it's there's definitely work to be done and um not interested in in um burning you out on the job so I'm in I'm in favor of that what do you guys say yeah I think it'll probably work good do we have a little bit of space in the budget for that Nancy I think we will have when Becky really cuts back her hours okay so if we have if we have a space a little elbow room there um I also wanted to point out that Kristen has taken and uh I believe an accounting class um to to better prepare her for the role so I think that she has a good candidate and we proceed with the appointment or hiring whatever it is thank you yeah um we also have a request to authorize Jeff Gephardt to access the Green Mountain Power Towns digital files so he can um better analyze um where we stand and how we can improve things and I'm totally behind that I'd I'd move to authorize Jeff to have that information I would second that yeah yeah I would be in favor of that too all in favor of Jeff you have something to say about that yeah I get it right the the paperwork that was sent is actually to give me access to they are gmp's files but it's the well some of it is gmp's files the usage is gmp but the rest of it is deals with Efficiency Vermont services that have been provided to the town yeah I think we're going to need that second um you know if you want to vote on the gmp town digital files I have tried to reach Freeman Corey um he I could not find him on their impossible phone list um and I sent an email to gmp and I just noticed uh a minute ago that I've got some kind of reply so I should have information from them very shortly as to who the right contact is and what the form is but I would really like to get both of them so that I can absolutely yeah readily uh see where the town's opportunities are excuse me Jeff I didn't hear what the other one was not not all of it in time to write it down I apologize besides gmp it's a to deal with customer privacy issues the customer in this instance is the town of Rochester Efficiency Vermont needs a consent form signed and so that that if the town approves that I could probably get on the horn with Julie and have her put in the appropriate address information contact information from me and you guys she would know what to put in for you guys and we'll go from there and then I would expect to receive instruction as to how we do the same with gmp's records yeah absolutely I so I'd modify my um proposal to authorize Jeffford those records or access through gmp and Efficiency Vermont that'd be great yeah I also did follow your lead doing and took a look at the town plan and chapter x for for energy I was pretty familiar reading to me it's essentially parallels the state of Vermont's comprehensive energy plan from 2016 it's nice that it lays out specific goals for Rochester and I'm getting a baseline through Efficiency Vermont on how many residential homes have been assisted and how many commercial properties have been assisted now this is different than than say the municipal level look at energy but the town had there are and that's not a town formation but there was a energy committee formed early this year and so I volunteered to get in the middle of that and would hope that with that I can get those folks working and trained and knowledgeable to help their neighbors make improvements as we go forward well we're really thankful for your energies on this Jeff yeah we'll see how long it takes me to burn out okay some water yeah yeah a noble effort thank you I'll do what I can okay thank you thanks Jeff I'm willing to give you a hand in anything I can help you with so sure and let me know you mentioned uh walk through the school yeah bring back those old poor those old hard memories and yeah I'd like to do a do a little walk through on the basement of the town office too I I think we've got some issues there that maybe we could save a little bit on the heating bill there those basements are great opportunities oh yeah that one especially well I look look at the ceiling really look at the ceiling playing first then the basement and then work towards the middle yeah there you go all right so maybe we can get together some time on that before winter and see what we can do okay all right does anyone else have anything I'd like to talk about tonight Robert this is quick I went down and looked at the speed sign on the south end of town and I try to find the model number on the thing so I could contact or look on the website of the people in may could see if we could service them and I couldn't find a model number although it's been disconnected from its uh from its power source from its solar power source probably because it was unreadable anyway if somebody can give me the model numbers I'll be happy to go through the with the company and try to figure out how to service those things get them working again because they work when they work they really slow they work they work so I talked to Julie about this and she suggested I talked to Frank so I guess this is officially me talking to Frank I don't mind at all uh trying to run that stuff down as if we don't forget what the model numbers going on the on the service there's a bunch of different models impossible to tell which is what I believe have an inventory list uh from a couple years ago um from the con when the constable's office had all that inventory so we may be able to pull I see Nancy reaching for something right away we may be able to pull that out of the inventory list because it was really quite detailed okay well if you can just give me that information model number any information on the thing yeah I'll see if I can dog it down and if it's a big deal I'll let you know and if it's easy then it's easy and that's the end of my presentation for today and I think that Tom's novel had expressed um some interest in in being able to provide some support on those because he's he's good with that kind of electronic stuff so um he might be an ally in that okay hey also out of curiosity who mows down by the river the path down by the river behind the school does the school do that or does the town do that um the school was doing it for for bill for their use of it I believe they always took the trip around there but I don't think they're mowing they're down to two people on the maintenance crew I believe so and I don't think they're mowing I think uh uh John Gorton is mowing the school I believe yeah someone walked through there with the clippers and cut back some of the encroaching branches but it's it's um hasn't been mowed in a while has it yeah so is that a town project or is that a school project that's not really a sun private property on the um um bill thrill kills property I don't think he would um mind if someone went and did that but it's not so much a town project that um that's um okay you put that out there it's um it could probably use a walk through couldn't it a lot of people use that yeah well luckily enough people use it that it's kind of beaten down in the middle so it's kind of self mowing but it could use a little bit more yeah no it's getting like the park yeah all right um if that's all I'm I'm hungry ready to go thank you all I um I'm glad that we nailed down the proper credentials for people to join it's um I hope we didn't just um scourge anyone or inconvenience anyone last week but I think we made the right decision to cancel it and and we um keep taking care of business and thank you all for coming tonight okay we'll see you all next week yeah have a good evening