Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. On today's program, Faith Perlow and Andrew Smith have a report on how Taiwan pushed back against disinformation efforts in last month's elections. Brian Lin presents this week's technology report. Finally, we hear today's lesson of the day. But first... During Taiwan's presidential election on January 13th, talk about voter fraud began to spread. In one widely seen video, an election official counting votes mistakenly gives a vote to the wrong candidate. The message of the video was clear. The election results could not be trusted. The stories of voter fraud were not true. Instead, they were the result of disinformation. Fact-checking groups in Taiwan quickly showed how the video, along with many others similar to it, were false. My go-pen is a Taiwanese fact-checking service. It found that the widely shared video had been edited to hide an important fact. The full unedited video shows that soon after the official made the mistake, other election workers corrected it.  But Taiwan's response to disinformation was fast and organized, with fact-checking groups and government working to reduce it. Double Think Lab is a non-profit based in Taipei, Taiwan. It says its research shows that China targeted Taiwan with disinformation ahead of the election. The Chinese government has said the island of Taiwan belongs to China and should not be independent. The Associated Press, AP, reports that the disinformation aimed to weaken support of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, DPP. AP reporters say the disinformation tried to make the DPP look like it was likely to start a war with China. The false stories targeted U.S. support for Taiwan, arguing that America was only interested in Taiwan's semiconductor exports and would not support the island if it came to war with China. AP reporters left messages with the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Saturday. The Embassy did not immediately return those calls. The DPP candidate, Lai Qingde, won the January election. He defeated Kowinja of the Taiwan People's Party and Hoyo'i of the Nationalist Party, Kuomintang. Many experts view the election as centering on the island's relationship with China. Many supporters of the Taiwan People's Party candidate are young. They had shared the false videos widely on TikTok. The videos were then shared on Facebook. However, groups quickly showed how the videos were false. Taiwan's Central Election Commission held a news conference to push back on claims of miscounting votes. Influencers like at Froggy Chu with more than 600,000 subscribers also explained on YouTube how officials count the votes. Kenton Tebow is an expert on Chinese disinformation at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. She said Taiwan has been able to effectively respond to Chinese disinformation, in part because of how seriously the threat is seen there. Tebow said Taiwan has used a whole-of-society response. The government, independent fact-checking groups, and even private citizens are called to point out disinformation and propaganda. Alexander Tai-Rei Yu is Taipei's economic and cultural representative to the US. He said Taiwan's government has learned it must identify and disprove false information as quickly as possible. Find it early like a tumor or cancer. Cut it before it spreads, Yu said. Taiwan's civil society groups have focused on raising public understanding of the issue. Charles Ye is the founder of MyGopen. The group uses a chatbot service to help the public know if a story is false. He said he started MyGopen because he saw how his family members would get confused by online rumors. Educating the public about fake news and the digital environment is growing, but slowly. It's like in the past when everyone dumped bottles and cans in the garbage and now they sort them, said Eve Chu. She is the editor-in-chief of Taiwan Fact Check Center, a nonprofit journalism organization. Everyone needs to slowly develop this awareness, and this needs time, she added. Political divisions may also affect the spread of disinformation in Taiwan. Ko, the Taiwan People's Party, or TPP, presidential candidate, said publicly he did not believe there was election fraud. However, legislators from the TPP held a conference in which they shared videos of miscounting, videos that had already been proven false. I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Faith Perlow. Elon Musk says his company Neuralink has placed an experimental brain device in a person in the first human test of the technology. Neuralink describes the coin-sized device as a brain-computer interface. It is designed to be implanted inside the brain through a medical operation. Musk announced the news on the social media service he owns, X. The billionaire businessman is also the owner of Tesla and SpaceX. His company Neuralink aims to establish direct communication links between the brain and computers. The first human received an implant from Neuralink Sunday and is recovering well, Musk wrote. He added that first results of the implanted device showed promising neuron spike activity. A spike is a term for a method neurons use to communicate with each other. The Cambridge Learner's Dictionary defines a neuron as a nerve cell that carries messages between your brain and other parts of your body. The device includes an extremely small computer and extremely thin wires that connect to a part of the brain that controls intent of movement. Neuralink says the implant is designed to treat brain disorders and help serious back injury victims regain body movement. Company officials also say it might be used one day to help blind people see again. The company has said an early goal of the brain computer interface will be to give people the ability to control basic computer tasks using thoughts alone. Musk says that in the future the device might also be used to improve human intelligence in an effort to keep up with supercomputers and artificial intelligence AI technology. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA approved human testing of the Neuralink device last May. Neuralink reposted Musk's statement about the implant in a message on X. In another message on X, Musk wrote that the first Neuralink product is called telepathy. He said the goal of the product is to permit users to control smartphones or computers just by thinking. Musk also noted the first users would be people who have lost the use of their arms or legs. It remains unclear how well the brain computer interface system or similar devices will work in humans. FDA approved trials like the one permitted for Neuralink aim to collect data on the safety and effectiveness of proposed products. Neuralink is not alone in developing systems designed to link the human nervous system to computers. The website clinicaltrials.gov reports there are currently more than 40 brain computer interface trials going on in places around the world. Reuters reported that in the past Neuralink was fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation for violating rules covering the movement of dangerous substances. The fines against Neuralink totaled $2,480 and the company agreed to fix its problems concerning the violations. The news agency said Neuralink carried out earlier trials of the implant using monkeys, pigs and sheep. Reuters has also reported on the company's animal experiments in the past. Some Neuralink employees told Reuters in 2022 the company had made mistakes in its animal testing. They said the mistakes came because the process was hurried. This led to more animal deaths than necessary, the employees said. In one 2021 case Reuters reported that Neuralink implanted 25 out of 60 pigs with the wrong sized devices. All the pigs were later killed. Employees told the news agency such mistakes could have been easily avoided with more preparation. Last September Musk wrote in a social media message that no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant. He added that the company chose terminal monkeys to limit risks to healthy animals. I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin joins me now to talk more about his technology report. Thanks for being here Brian. Of course Ashley, glad to be here. This week you described the start of new human experiments on a device designed to enable communication between a computer and the brain. As the report noted the company carrying out the trials Neuralink is not the only one doing this kind of work. What can you tell us about that? Yes, so I noted in the report an official government website lists information about more than 40 trials of brain-computer interfaces going on around the world. Now some of these have been going on for quite some time too and at least one of the companies, an Australian one called Synchron implanted its first device in a patient in 2022. I noticed the report pointed out the first people expected to use Neuralink's device will be victims of injuries that left them without the use of their arms or legs, correct? Yes, that's right and company officials have said this kind of technology development does take time and happens in steps. The first major progress Neuralink would like to see is the technology enabling a person to perform an action just by thinking. Once that step is completed the company says it will be centered on building upon that. Elon Musk by the way has said the system could also support future products aimed at improving human intelligence but that development likely remains years away. Well, thanks again Brian for answering my questions today and thank you for that report. You're welcome. Thank you Ashley. VOA Learning English has launched a new program for children. It is called Let's Learn English with Anna. The new course aims to teach children American English through asking and answering questions and experiencing fun situations. For more information visit our website learningenglish.voanews.com And now it's time for the lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast. My name is Jill Robbins and I'm joined by Andrew Smith. Hi Andrew. Hi Jill. Our lesson is based on our video series Let's Learn English. The series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington DC. Here's Anna introducing herself. Hello, my name is Anna Matteo. On today's podcast lesson we're going to listen to lesson 16 of level 2 of Let's Learn English. This lesson repeats many times, two ways we can talk about things we did or experienced on a regular or habitual basis in the past. A habitual basis means things that happened on a kind of regular schedule or that happened very often. For example, if you go to school five days a week, that is a habitual action. Now here are the two ways we can talk about habitual actions, feelings or states of being in the past. The first way uses the modal would. The second way uses the two words used to. The best way to learn to use them is to hear some examples. Listen to the beginning of lesson 16. Hi Kave, let's go to lunch. Oh, I know a great place. When I first started working here, I would go every day. Great. Oh no. What's wrong? I lost my key. I just had it this morning. You should check the lost and found office. Great idea. Where is it? Oh, it used to be across from the cafeteria, but now it's down in the basement next to the elevators. It's really hard to find. The lost and found is hard to find. That's funny. It is. You can hear the first habitual action when Kave says, Oh, I know a great place. When I first started working here, I would go every day. And then Kave talks about another situation that existed for a period of time in the past. Oh, it used to be across from the cafeteria. Here, the words used to be just mean the same thing as the verb was. There are some small differences in how we use the modal would and the verb used to when we describe habitual past actions or experiences. Here's Professor Bott explaining these differences. I hope Anna can find the lost and found office. Used to and would describe something that happened repeatedly in the past. Kave uses would when he says, When I first started working here, I would go every day. There are two differences between used to and would. Number one, we use would only when we say the time period first. Number two, for verbs like be, think, feel, see and understand, we can only use used to. Kave says, It used to be across from the cafeteria. Thanks, Professor Bott. That is a helpful explanation. Verbs such as be, think, feel, see and understand are more like states of mind or states of being rather than actions such as the verbs go, eat, play and so on.  Listen for how we use would and used to. Andrew, do you have any special memories of something you would do with your family when you were young? Um, I do. Yes, I do. So one example is from the age of 11 until about the age of 18. I would go with my father every year to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That's in the southeastern United States. And we would hike up a mountain called Mount Laconte. At the top of the mountain, there were cabins where we would spend the night. And I remember I would get up very early in the morning and go watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain. Those are special memories. How about you, Jill? My family used to travel around the country in a Volkswagen bus. When I was little, all seven of us would sleep in this big blue tent. My dad once said he wanted us to see all parts of the country, so we went there and camped. I think that's where I got my love for traveling to new places and meeting people from other places. That sounds so great. I think I would have loved to do that. Maybe I'll get a van when I'm older and try to do something similar. Now, let's hear more from Lesson 16 of Level 2 of Let's Learn English. Anna goes to an office to try to find her lost key. The person in the office thinks Anna wants to find the key to happiness instead of a key to her door. In this part, you will hear many examples of the words used to when the speakers describe habitual actions and feelings from the past. Come in. I am Serenity. Hi, Serenity. I'm Anna. Please, sit down. How can I help you? I lost something very important. Shhh, I already know. You need help. Yes, I need help finding the key. You need to find the key. The key that will give you happiness. Yes, finding this key will make me very happy. First, Anna, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I used to be a very important person with a very important job. I made a lot of money. I mean a lot. Wow, good for you. No, no. It was bad for me. I lost the most important thing, the key. You've lost it too, haven't you, Anna? Haven't you? I guess. So how does this work? Do I have to fill out a form or something? No, no forms. Just answer this one question. As a child, what did you used to do to feel happy? When I was little, I used to sing all the time with my family. Those were good times. Singing is so joyful. I used to sing. But now that I started my business, I've just been too busy. Too busy. Why don't you sing again? I sing everywhere. I sing in the office. I sing on the metro. I sing in the elevators. I sing on the escalators. I sing in the bathroom. Serenity, serenity. I really need to find my key. Yeah. Yes, we need to find the key. The key to happiness. No, no. I just need to find the key to my apartment. I used to know. But now I don't. Do you, Anna? I don't know. I think I left it in the ladies room. You know, this isn't the lost and found, is it? It could be the lost and found. I'm lost. And I used to find joy for people. I used to find joy. You know, this is a bad time for you. I'll find the lost and found myself. Bye, thanks. I used to find joy. I used to find joy. I used to find joy. I found my key. I used to find joy. Oh, the sad woman in the office used to find joy. Well, hopefully she will find it again soon. Listeners, what are some things you used to do when you were younger? What would you do when you played with your friends? Write to us and let us know. You can send your email to Learning English at voanews.com. Remember, you can always find us on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Thanks for listening. I'm Dr. Jill. And I'm Andrew Smith. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.


This ThinkTech commentary is dedicated to the residents of Honolulu, and especially the young people of Hawaii. Thanks for your consideration of the views expressed in this commentary, which is entitled, Keeping Kakaako Makai. Lord knows we have a myriad of serious issues to handle in our city, but as the city becomes a mass of high-rise condominium towers, the preservation of open spaces for the people who live, work, learn and play here is one of the most important of all. Kakaako Makai is breathtakingly beautiful open shoreline space, which makes it a favorite target for those who would like to earn huge profits by taking those spaces away from us permanently and developing luxury high-rise condominium projects. We rely on government to protect these spaces and protect us from losing them. Kakaako is the gem of the city, and Kakaako Makai is the only open space left to the people in what has become an increasingly dense and crowded city. The sense of place of this land requires that it stay that way, so we can see and touch and feel the ocean, the sky and the mountains. Its value is incalculable. We must care for this land and make sure that it stays that way, for the people, for the children and for the generations to come. Of course, we all know that the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. But the land is under attack. Oha wants to build a 40-story high-rise luxury condo on it, despoiling and changing the land forever, and depriving the people of its use for a hundred years or more. Oha is lobbying the legislature for permission to do just that. Oha should know better than anyone how important it is to care for the land and to preserve and steward the land. And not to seek a quick profit from it, at the expense of the people of Hawaii. This is not Pono. The land is fragile and subject to a myriad of environmental risks and dangers, including flooding by king tides, sea-level rise, and extreme weather and storms resulting from climate change. These things will make it difficult or impossible to design and build, maintain, own and live in a project like that, and will present serious problems with feasibility and make the units far more expensive than most local people could ever afford. They may also release dangerous toxins from the landfill there, and contaminate the aquifer and the city water system in the ground below. There are a number of planning, engineering and environmental issues that will have to be investigated before the project can be properly considered by the legislature. This examination will take some years, and will be very expensive. For now, we simply don't have the answers, and neither does Oha or the legislature. In any event, a full environmental impact statement must be done first. This land is state land, and Oha is a state agency. That being the case, a full EIS must be done as a matter of law on all these planning and environmental issues, and also on cultural issues, before the project can be properly considered by the legislature. Of course, the legislature should not be subjected to, or influenced by political or commercial interests for a project like this, including the real estate development aspirations of Oha itself. The land is far too important to the larger community and to the people of Hawaii. And the extraordinary risks inherent in a project of this kind are also far too troublesome for that. The stakes are simply too high. We must therefore insist on a careful and completely transparent examination of all the effects and implications of this project. Indeed, if the legislature takes up this bill before the requisite EIS is done, public confidence in government will be further undermined, and the bill will be at risk not only for constitutional litigation as quote special legislation, but also for public criticism for its failure to consider these issues and risks, and the views of the communities affected. That criticism will grow exponentially if things then go wrong. Thanks for your consideration of the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary. Aloha.


In 2010, out of our apartment, the high school was 9-11. There were oil wars all through my formative youth, and this was an important issue for us. Brett and I graduated in 2020 when there were not a lot of jobs, so we decided, okay, we'll make our own jobs. Let's see if we can tell eBytes, and that's how we ended up opening the new wheel. And it's been phenomenal to see the distance one can take, a city or a group of riders in a rather short period of time, just by carrying deeply. And so I'm really stoked at the opportunity that we have as a state.  A lot of trips. Great. So thank you for our panelists for being here. So let's start today with a little bit of a conversation about the advantages of eBytes today. We know that a lot of folks will use eBytes recreationally, but also we're seeing more and more folks switch to eBytes for commuting. So Pete or Karin, you want to spin? So a great example. Okay, kind of. All right, so a great example of this is yesterday. We took 15 people across and did a samples to the bike tour, and there was a number of people around in eBytes for the first time, and when we got to the hills, it just changed the way that they could get up the hill easily with less effort. So when you think about commuting, what's the big challenge when you're trying to commute into work? You show up, you're sweaty, you're hot. eBytes open that up differently. You can commute easily. You can also turn the power off on a bike and get the exercise you need, but it just opens up that door as far as capabilities of where you can get to and from, especially a city like San Francisco, right? And there's so many hills. We were getting on the ferry last night after a ride, and I saw a lot of people commuting off in bikes, and I looked behind me at the hill there about to go up, and I was like, well, I hope most of them are on eBytes because I wouldn't make it otherwise. But I think that's a big thing that it does. It opens up not just the topography, but the distance as well. So most eBytes are then built, and so just think of, you know, if you can do, you know, a class two eBytes does 20 miles an hour at max speed. So if you could do, let's say, 15 to 20 miles an hour, you could commute on a bike a long distance, saving the environment, helping the environment, and just enjoying the ride in a lot more than I think you would behind the wheel of a car and the frustration and stuff and go, I know every time I bike into an office or a location we have, it just changes the way I feel in the morning. How many people here have ridden an eBike? How many people had ridden an eBike five years ago? What's your name? Hi, Smitty. That's okay. Okay, so the number one thing that has changed in eBikes is how many people have ridden them. How available they are, how the price points, the quality, all sorts of things. It will surprise you to know that 10 years ago, bikes at the lower price point were actually pretty widely available in America because stores like, oh my God, I'm having a total brain fart up here at the second, but at Best Buy sold basically class two eBikes 10, 15 years ago, the thing that didn't exist was higher quality, vehicular quality bicycles that were really built to replace cars, built to climb and descend, really steep hills, and built to last in the way that an item that costs $1,500 to $10,000 has to be reliable. And so I think the question was what, like where are we at in the industry? What's up? Okay, well, at the new wheel, we've been seeing all sorts of people, like I've been telling the whole bike industry, well, this is not, there is no demographics for eBikes.  So we have been helping people who had various abilities, various income levels, various needs for 10 years. The thing that is so exciting right now is that we have a much more open mindset around it. We used to have to explain to people at such length what an eBike was before they would get onto it.  This is gonna make bicycling fun for me because the reality is bicycling has not always been fun for everybody, right? Like I was born in Copenhagen and in Copenhagen, bicycling is fun and convenient and accessible in San Francisco. I don't care how many bike lanes you have, it's hard. Like it's really hard. For example, like if you just had a kid or if you broke your knee or if you didn't sleep well last night, it's really hard. And so the doors are open. People understand this as a potential solution to all those things. So what do you think is the problem? He's not first, he's not second or second. But finally, he needs a partner. So what we're looking at is what's going on. Tyler's so fancy, the delivery operation is done. He's sooner, he's comfortable, but he doesn't fit into the federal office. He's not, he's working really hard. He's by that, he's got everything he has to cut it. He's the first to put it in his bike. Because we know that he likes to do his kind of stuff with a lot of people. He's actually doing his thing. He's actually not trying to do his thing. He's looking for a moment to know what's going on. So he's pretty connected with the bike that's a lot heavier. He's been so kind, he's got the ability to do it. So we're finally getting to that. He's done the education on his bike. He's done some, he's done a lot of college and he's got a quite good connection. But once I get it, now that I've got the same connection, let's get all these students happening. So we're going to have three, we're going to do three. Thanks for your question, Noah. So it strikes me on these policy levels that most Americans, many Americans have made a massive investment in our transportation infrastructure that's called like a personal vehicle, right? And they pay every month for gas and insurance and all this stuff. And so when we're asking them to make another investment, that's, it's a tall ask. And that's one of the really cool things about the rebates. Have you thought about pitching trading programs for cars? We pitched it all. We were proud to get it at the Wall Street stuff. No, absolutely, you know, here in California, here on the precipice, you'll have to come to a program. It's a different air quality program, but I think that all of these things are, I mean, as it is, that you can invest in many things so far, but it's really, it's the federal level, it's the hardest to do everything, but, you know, tax credit is sort of the first thing you can ever do as the kind of thing you have in the country here that may be better. What's the standard that the people who support the federal government? What makes this the country's most federal rebate policy? You go over it. So I think the tax refunds are in the trading program for the next few months or years, but I think it's more, putting taxes on the state and local level, but it's not going to be the ability to answer that. Thanks. Actually, this morning, Brexit, Noah and I were also talking about how we might do with our businesses, how we might be able to support the transition to the private sector. That's an example of how we can do, how we can develop better programs where when you're thinking about the future, you're always interested in the future of how we're going to be able to hold there and also look for the part of the people that are going to be able to do all of this. Just one of the ways in which one of the, that they have a lot of tools in the right-hand side. 12-year-olds on e-bikes is like one of my favorite problems in the world. It's a significant problem. I see it in my neighborhood, but how rad, right? Like totally rad. I wanna first start by saying that I think it's our job to be really positive. There is too much negativity. These kids have a big, big problem on their hands and it's the making of the last 150 years that we've cooked up the problem we've got. But there's good news. The carbon cycle is like 125 years, which means that when their kids are adults, if we make major changes in our behaviors or if our 12-year-olds make major changes in their behaviors, there's actually hope, right? So this is not like the end of history. We can't see assholes. Like it's really important. I think it's like this one on stage. But so anyway, that's the first thing. The second thing is from a really actual standpoint, I think there is a lot that we can do in terms of just getting into schools through like, through, oh my God, what is it called? Safe Routes to School. But just through direct work with educators, with libraries, with parents. I think the work that bike coalitions do is really important. I do a lot with the San Francisco Bike Coalition. And honestly, one of the really big benefits of the pandemic was that being able to bring education to a digital platform makes it more accessible for people who have kids who are busy, who can't like drop everything and show up somewhere. And so I'm a big fan of the idea of like creating classes for 10 and 12-year-olds on a computer. Well, we can just be like, hey guys, this is what it's like to have responsibility when you're 12. It means that the sign that it says stop, you actually have to read it and you have to stop. And you know, et cetera. So I don't know, I think 12-year-olds are pretty smart. I think we should treat them like they're smart and we should start educating them. But that's the flip-in like retailer. Oh, thank you. I would just add to, I think it's, you know, people riding on a sidewalk of any age is a policy failure. It's a planning failure. That's not, you know, the behavior isn't the problem. It's the lack of access to a safe, protected, connected bike infrastructure network. Thank you. And that doesn't even have anything to do with e-bikes. The e-bikes are just amplifying what we're calling a problem of kids riding on sidewalks. But that's existed for a long time and it's not just kids. It's in a lot of places outside necessarily. The specific areas in Southern California, it's black and brown riders. It's low-income riders that are being criminalized for riding on sidewalks when that's their only safe option. You know, whenever we're talking about, there's too many riders are getting in the way of pedestrians. It's not regulating behavior. That never works. We've seen that tried over and over again in so many ways. It's infrastructure. It's finding the systems, investing in the systems that make that movement safe. And so whenever that issue is presented to me, it's like, oh, but these dang kids on e-bikes, I'm like, give them a bike lane. And then they won't be on the sidewalk. And that's it. Absolutely. And I think that makes the safety conversation and making infrastructure more available is absolutely something that is a big part of how we get more people out on e-bikes and on regular bikes as well. So, Pete, I wanna ask you, as someone who is from the industry, can you talk a little bit more about what the industry is doing in terms of safety and also security for e-bikes and for regular bikes as well? Yeah, you brought up two problems. And Karen addressed the one a lot, which is younger riders who are either uneducated or unaware of the challenges. So that's our biggest thing before us and other retailers are selling a bike, I think education, a bike school program or something you take a consumer through. We do it with every transaction we have with customers. We either send it to them or we do it in person in our retail stores, because I'm sure you and other retailers do as well. So I think educating them on the safety and understanding. We also advise that children under 16 don't ride an e-bike at the start. You know what I mean? You wanna make sure that it's traveling 20 miles an hour. If there's not bike lanes, there's a lot of safety issues. So we wanna definitely educate the consumer as much as possible. Another growing challenge that you have, the e-bikes presents is their higher value than most traditional bikes that people have ridden before, theft, theft is a big problem. And it's probably, you know, when I look at social media posts and I look at social media forums, I see about 20% of the threads around safety as well. So that is another big piece that I think we need to do as a community is educate people on safety and protection. Because if I as a consumer go buy a rat power bike and I spend $1,500 on that bike, and two weeks later it's taken from me, I'm probably not gonna reinvest in that again because I don't trust the system. Unfortunately, we have to do a better job. I think all of us of educating everyone on the safety and security, you know, I was riding yesterday with a group and handed an individual helmet. And I said, hey, you need to ride with this helmet. He goes, I don't wanna wear a helmet. I said, well, you can't ride one of my bikes without one. And I was watching throughout the day and I'm like, do you realize how fast you're going up and down hills here? What would happen if something happened to you? So I think that's another educational thing when you think of youngsters or people who bike traditionally that e-bike they need to wear, it was just a safety and that's a primary thing. Yeah, you're absolutely right. And as we talk about, you know, as we talk about safety and as we talk about e-bikes, they are expensive and they are, you know, a lot of legislators see them as toys more than tools. So how do we start to convince legislators that e-bikes really are a tool that can be useful for not just businesses, but also improving some of the transportation challenges that we all face throughout the country? No. Happy to. So this has been an ongoing education campaign from the bike industry, e-bike industry and you all, all you great advocates is helping policymakers make that shift from here's a nice thing for some wealthy people in my community to go out and have fun on to this is a legitimate mode of transportation that's going to improve efficiency, reduce congestion, lower emissions, get people to essential services and work. And a lot of that, you know, our first recommendation at people for bikes is to get those policymakers on an e-bike, do a demo, take them to a local shop, connect them with brands based in their districts and getting that first, you know, touch on an e-bike they get that smile. They're like, oh, I get it now. And, you know, that doesn't necessarily change their policy agenda, but it gives them the foundation to make that change. And from there, you know, we need so much more research. It's something that people for bikes we're investing heavily in is research on e-bike use cases, effects to infrastructure, how much, how many emissions are we taking out? Or, you know, tons of CO2 are being removed from the air by replacing car trips with e-bike trips. What are the healthcare savings by getting more people on e-bikes and outside of cars? And like, what are the social consequences of more e-bike riding? Research, data, statistics, that sells in policy.  And then additionally, you know, getting the advocates, the local brands, the local shops, you know, I work with Rad Power Bikes all the time. Darren over there, to connect with, you know, your folks in the great state of Washington, they wanna hear from the businesses that are doing really well in their areas. And that's a really powerful voice. I think combining the advocacy, the research and data, and then the business voice is really the trifecta of like getting e-bikes to the next level in a policy conversation. I think a great example of where, how far we still have to go in this is just what occurred a few weeks ago in California. So right when gas prices started hiking, the first thing that the government came out and said is, well, we'll give gas incentives back. You're solving the wrong problem at this stage. And so I think we have to figure out how to get our local lawmakers involved more to understanding. And I think test riding is a key example because we talked about commuting, but I tell people a lot, like half of our consumers are over 60 years old. That's what drew me to e-biking. I took a test ride and next to me pulled up, who was older and they're like, you have no idea, I haven't been on a bike for 15 years. This is changing my life from a health standpoint, from an accessibility to a mobility standpoint. So not only commuting, we need everyone. If it's just people talking about commuting only, you're battling against oil, car companies, et cetera. But if you have everyone talking about lifestyle change, I think that's gonna help as well. Okay, I have some things that's, I think that there is, there's the policy side, there's the physical infrastructure side, and then there are two other parts that are really, really important. And that is that there's human capital involved in this change and there is cultural capital. So the first thing is that the bike community has to stop talking about e-bikes as being really expensive bikes, because in fact, they are really inexpensive transportation. They are really quality transportation. They're reliable if they're good and they have to be good to be good transportation. And so it's up to us in the room to change the conversation and to say, hey, what are we comparing this to? Because the minute I start comparing my cargo bike that takes my kid on it with a car, there is no comparison. There is absolutely no comparison. And on the service side, the important thing is that if you look at a service menu for a bike shop from 1989, you'll see that the cost for a tire change was $10. Five years ago in a bike shop, the cost for a tire change was still $10. Bike shop professionals were being, are being paid up until the pandemic, minimum wage. And they are skilled people. They are more skilled than an auto mechanic is today because it is more finicky, more detailed, more difficult work. So with less safety built in, I mean, I could go on and on and on. So finally, we're paying these people okay. But as a bike community, we have to understand that that's part of what we're doing is we are raising all of that. We're raising an entire group of human capital that needs to flourish in order to allow this movement to flourish, so not policy, but culture. Absolutely. And culture is a huge part of how we get people and convince people that e-bikes are more than toys. They are transportation and they are a mode of transportation that makes sense. And Karen, you brought up the pandemic and how in the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in the interest in e-bikes. So share with us, you know, as someone who runs a retailer, share with us a little bit more of your experience of the types of folks that have been coming in and what are some of the conversations that you're having with them about moving from a regular bike to an e-bike or even from a car to an e-bike? Yeah, the first thing I wanna say is that in 2010, when we were telling people about e-bikes and walking around with e-bikes and going to farmers markets to sell e-bikes, cause we didn't have a store, the only people we didn't have to explain what this thing was to and like sell it, were like the homeless people that were with us on the street. Like low-income people and how rad this is, immediate, bam, so and they always have. So I just wanna say it's not lost on all sorts of people, a very diverse group of people. And that has been true for a long time. The, at the new wheel, we've been very focused on transportation quality bikes for the whole time. So we've been selling bikes to a diverse group of people, most of whom wouldn't consider themselves probably regular bicyclists, like wouldn't feel super comfortable going into like a normal bike shop. And so for us, we've seen multiple growth, like multiple X growth every year for a long time. So that wasn't anything new. There were a couple of things that happened during the pandemic. During the pandemic, bicycling became more than just like what people thought broke people do to get to work or really elite people do instead of golf. It became a, it became a safe pastime. And so it skyrocketed in popularity. And for regular bicycle shops who had seen their bike shops shrinking for the last 10 years or more, ever since we got doping going on with our friend Lance, bike shops have been shrinking. And it's been really rough on those bike shops. It's been like you should love and hug every bike shop person you know, because it's hard work. And what happened during the pandemic is everybody all of a sudden had interest in their wares. They sold all their bikes. And the only thing left to sell in like June of 2020 was e-bikes. And so that brought a whole new load of inventory into shops. It brought a whole new load of interest. I mean, there was already, the interest already existed, but it made it so that all of a sudden we added an enormous growth in who could go and just see one of these and try one of these. And their neighbor had a rad power and their other neighbor like went to the new wheel and did a test ride and thought that was cool. And so it was just like, it was a thing. And it exploded. And so the whole tone has changed. And what happened I think for us is that we saw all of a sudden classical bicyclists like people who are hardcore bicyclists for life get interested in e-bikes. And that was the transition that we had to manage. So it's been, I think it's been different for everybody, but it's really that now everybody bikes and specifically everybody e-bikes. And that includes the 12 year olds. It includes the 85 year olds. It includes the people who have MS and the people who are trying to get to their job in critical care or at a corner store or at a school. And so that's been a huge growth. It's been very exciting to see and it's been a huge challenge to rise to for the infrastructure, especially the bike shop and the service infrastructure that exists because it is so under everything. So hopefully. I have one thing for Kevin. So you mentioned usage. We talked about commuting earlier. One of the biggest things we're seeing as well is like cargo, highly utilization of a bike as well where people are thinking about different. Obviously you have like food service deliveries and other things, but we had a customer. Our customers love to tell us afterwards like how they're using a bike. We had a customer the other day who sent us a picture of it and it was the most awesome, radical way I've seen an e-bike used. So it was a wagon bike for us, which is a longer kind of cargo bike. They had a trail hook to it and on the trailer they had a ladder, they had the jewels. This was a handy person who went around and that was their form of transportation in the LA market. And they mentioned that they can get from job to job faster and they were pulling a probably six foot long, three foot wide trailer behind them. And I love the innovation of someone thinking differently about their business. So their business now costs what? Under $2,000 to buy the transportation. Nothing hardly at all, except little small amounts to charge a battery. And they now have a flood, you know, business is growing with very minimal costs and it's helping them do it more efficiently. So it's just really cool when you hear stories like that. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we'd love to hear more of those types of stories, but just a lack of awareness. And so something that Pete that you had sort of mentioned before was you're just starting to see more and more people be aware of what is possible. Are there other sort of stories or other sort of awareness factors that you'd like to share? I think all of us have to help people become aware. That's a big thing because it's interesting. I don't know what you see in your story, but a lot of you, everyone raised their hand when we said who's ridden an e-bike. So who has an e-bike? Okay, so that's somewhat representative.  I think we need to just continue to do a better job of educating and informing people of how different applications of an e-bike can be used. So whenever someone comes in to visit us at Rad, the first thing I always ask the customer is, how are you gonna use it? Like, let's make sure we get you on a bike that you're gonna utilize that you want. So many times people are like, well, some friends had it, or I need to take my kids to school, or I need to do X, Y, or Z. And then what we try to do is say, okay, well, how else would you use it? What are some other ways? And that goes beyond just what you were talking about. Just a commuter or just a once-used thing that becomes part of your life where you're thinking about everything differently. Hey, I'm gonna run down to the local coffee shop. It's only a few minutes away. I'm gonna do that. Oh, I am gonna take my kids to school. Maybe I'm gonna run to the grocery store. And so I think for us, and I'm sure as an industry, we've got to help people better understand that it's not simply just a replacement for the bike you have, it's a different way to move around your city or your community. So. Can I add some in the middle of the book? Go for it. Okay. What's interesting is that changing behaviors is so tricky. Right? And this person, the bicycle industry itself, didn't want bicycles sold in the United States in their cars. But we don't see commercials on TV or media. There's no industry thing pushing bicycles away. We want to use cushions and jam cars out of the field and they create economic. So the politicians, they keep cars on the road. When the industry is going to collaborate and start selling on a national basis or a regional basis or have the club let the audience be asked. I mean, obviously there's a lot of people but you can ask a club and they can't be there. Yes. I think it's more for Noah. I think it's more gonna make yourself so like. No, I think it's for bike industry. Well yeah, he's part of the bike industry. So the leaders of multiple bike companies in the industry. So our founder, Mike Ratnop, which is where he comes from, he participates in working with people for bikes. So we're trying to bring them together to like consolidate efforts because one voice alone can't change it. So we've got to figure out how to bring them together. Yeah, I think it's one, we don't have car money. Something I say a lot, but you're right. Like a national ad campaign, more unified.  But yeah, I mean, we're ripe for it. There's a lot of conversation about it. It's just, it's a new venture in a way that I don't think the bicycle industry has necessarily come together on a national ad campaign before. But it's also, I think the future of advertising is a whole other conversation that I'm not qualified to speak on. And, but I think it's digital. It's on social media. And you're seeing a lot of brands do that. The ones that have the capacity to, but there's absolutely, you know, conversation of people for bikes being the like industry association for bicycles on how we elevate it at a national level, how we elevate eBikes and bicycling. And there was some examples of that earlier in the pandemic that we came around on. But, you know, hearing that it didn't reach you was good feedback for us. And absolutely something for us to work on. I'm gonna say something really controversial. The bicycle industry has a real problem with just being a business, right? So like rad power, they're very focused on hitting a $2,000 price point. You just told me that. That's how I know that. So he told me that. That's right, we want to make it affordable for everyone. Right, so, but that means that you don't have the money for marketing. The car industry has been focused on changing people's behaviors at all levels at deep levels for a long time. So I think the change is required on everybody's part. That means that, unfortunately, we can't just point at Noah and say, hey Noah, can you get it done for us? Thanks, that's a cop out. What we need to be doing on the bike coalition level is acting like the triple A of bicycles. Triple A went in and they went in with the express interest to undermine bicycle infrastructure and to make room for cars.  Where are our bikes coalitions? Like honestly, I belong to the bike coalition board for the San Francisco Bike Coalition and this is my pitch to them over and over and over again. Let's make bicycling easy, convenient, fun and let's just be triple A, let's just take their line and just move it over to the bike industry. So I think that we all have our responsibility in this. We have to stop thinking cheap, we have to reinvest in our companies, reinvest in the market and start thinking really, really big, which is that in fact, especially in California, most trips can be taken by bicycle. So let's just get it done. So I think with that, I wanna open it up for some Q and A and I see a few hands in the audience. So first one I saw was Gary over there in the back. Yeah, I asked him a new person in the neighborhoods of E-Bikes and E-Bikes news group structure. I think a lot of the planning for infrastructure is not meant to be for E-Bikes to go around and go to the city. I'm currently on a stormy day and it was fine, but I couldn't imagine that it's going to be 28 miles an hour. Yeah, that's it. We've got to be like this for my travel and do a lot of that. So I'm wondering, two things are people thinking about changing E-Bikes until they're constructed and E-Bikes and secondly, how do people here use their E-Bikes money with a project like L.A. with a narrow road on Y-Bikes and then what do you think about that? So just to repeat the question, you're asking about whether or not we're thinking about changes to infrastructure to accommodate E-Bikes. So what I'll say at the federal level that people for bikes is doing is having, we're doing a lot of communication, conversations with the Department of Transportation about as we're talking and providing guidance on the implementation of the massive infrastructure bill that includes billions of dollars that could go to bike infrastructure. In that guidance, we need some specifications that are going to cities and states on bike lanes that support commercial E-Cargo bikes. This is actually a really big problem in New York City where their bike lane regulations are pretty narrow and it's making it really difficult for commercial E-Cargo bicycles to do that first-last-mile delivery operation. So where you have specific examples is what we need to be able to show the case this problem to DOT so they can start doing the trickle-down guidance to states and localities as they get this funding to build out their bike networks. So please share your examples with me because that's fodder that I can use as an advocate at the federal level. I just, I mean, what we've seen in San Francisco is that we're already definitely outgrowing our bike in infrastructure. And my pitch to our community is that what we need is we need human-scale bike networks, right? So we just, instead of talking about lanes, like let's just take full street networks and say these are the places where people go as two-legged, two-wheeled things. And here are the places that are really convenient for cars. We're gonna keep those places separate and we'll make it as functional as possible for everybody to share the space. So that's my pitch. Slow to gain traction, but it is gaining traction, especially with the streets that were closed during the pandemic. And now we're in the process of sort of negotiating how all that goes down. But I really think we already have the infrastructure we need. We just have to restripe it and put up some light combs. Exactly, yeah. My name is Kasak. I run a bike mechanic education program over in West Oakland. And you touched on this briefly. One of the things that is great about eBikes is that the salary for a starting eBike mechanic is much higher, high enough that you can get funding for job trainings programs, which is impossible for a regular bike mechanic because basically they start at minimum wage. The big problem is that I've encountered is that while bikes, like the Rad Power bikes and the bikes that you sell are very easy to fix when you work in that shop, you learn how to fix that bike. Do you know if there's any plans in the future for a broader education program to teach people how to fix eBikes in general and not just one brand or another brand? That is a great question. And we, so in LA County, we've actually started looking at partnerships with community colleges and vocational programs to hopefully provide that type of training to some extent. It's just in its nascent stage. It's early on, but it is something that we have started to think about is how do we take some of these programs where people can learn these mechanical skills, the electrical skills that are necessary to actually make themselves be more be more capable and be more marketable to eBike companies or to micro mobility companies that rely on that technology and be able to take advantage of that as a way of making a living. Yeah, I think Darren on our team would know more about it, we just did something in West Virginia, right? Where we donated bikes to a local higher education institution where they're actually building mechanic programs. And I think that's the critical thing is, you talk to, I've got two teenage kids that are coming out of that high school era and they're one of them's talking about like, hey, should I work on cars? And I'm like, no one's talking about bikes yet and we've got to do a better job of helping them understand that there is a career path within this industry that is only going to grow. So there's things that we as companies are doing. High school, thanks, thanks for the correction. So we did a high school program in West Virginia and I think more and more educational, educational foundations or organizations doing that is gonna help. And I think one last note on that is, it's important to actually start to create a pipeline early. So we started looking at how to educate students from as young as the elementary and middle school age to get them into biking and wrenching on their own bikes so that they start to develop that interest and to create a step all every, to create a opportunity every step of the way so that at the middle school, at the high school level and then eventually at the community college or vocational training level, they have the opportunity to move up and understand that there's actually a career path for them to actually work on bikes for the rest of their life. So in Paris, the speed limit is 90 miles an hour. This is the time. Me, Mike, that's 20 miles an hour. No, it's for those. Okay, sorry. So in Paris, the speed limit is 90 miles an hour. Electric bikes make like 29, the higher model. 20 seconds. 20 seconds. Should we limit speed limit for electric bikes? Because it seemed that if we're interested in a whole picture of mobility, there are a lot of people that want to walk on the street, across the street. And if you have these bikes going around at 30 miles an hour, I think that would make our environment more dangerous. So I wonder whether the industry is open to making the bike less appealing by slowing down its speed. So I mean, the European market and the American, the landscape is very complicated and lots of things fit together, right? And so here in California, we have a three class system. It's modeled on the European system, which is true, which is in place in France too. In Europe, class one tops out at 15 miles an hour and class two is or speed pedalex go to 27 and a half. I think it's 35 kph are much more strict with how they maintain where a speed pedalex can go and where it can't go. They are more clearly marked. They're required to have license plates, et cetera. They've been very proactive in Europe around what is qualified as an electric bike and what isn't and how those rules are maintained, especially in urban areas. In here in California, we actually have those rules. It's just that a lot of bikes are outside of the class system and nobody cares. And I mean, there are import rules that need to be improved to make sure that this is not a problem. The problem is not the rules. The problem is not maintaining the rules and especially on the import side, I would say, it's a disaster. Things are coming in from China that are not safe, should not be worked on quite honestly by anybody. And just to speak really briefly to your question, I think that there's an import issue here and there's also a insurance issue because you can't just work on anything. You have to, like if you are gonna be paid a professional wage, there are certain levels of standards of quality that are important. So that's part of our cultural shift too. Obviously, we have to hold companies accountable to following those rules as well. We do not sell a bike that goes over 20 miles an hour because that is the law, that is the rule. And so we are very much following that. And we also think that's a safe speed which someone should travel. So I think you mentioned a perfect car. I'm like getting, not letting people wanna navigate the system in to allow, because you see companies, all they advertise is speed and we're like, this is not a motorcycle, this is a bike, it's a class two bike. This is why we have the regulations on, we do. Thanks. I'm Liza Lester from WalkBike Berkeley. One thing that I, you spoke a little bit to the security issue of people stealing bikes, but this is something that I feel like a lot of people aren't talking about. So I ride what was initially an acoustic cargo bike with my kids when they hit a hundred pounds. I retrofit it to be electric. And I am lucky enough to own a home where I can build a shed, where I can store my bike. Okay? However, work in an office building that has a huge bike room, but every single bike parking unit is a hanging thing. I go to bike link lockers, which are showing up all over the East Bay. Wonderful, huge, secure bike lockers. My bike can't fit in it. If we want to open this up to folks who are living in apartment buildings, who can't lift e-bikes upstairs, to folks with mobility issues, to folks who need to leave their bikes at work. This is a huge missing issue, is the bike security and bike parking issue that I don't hear coming at state levels or at the federal level that I really love. And I just love to hear your thoughts on, as we push for more incentives for people to buy e-bikes, how are we ensuring that there are places for everybody across the spectrum, not just people living in single family homes with garages to park their bikes? Such a good question. And I have two answers to that. The first one from a policy standpoint is that, you're right, we needed to start having this conversation years ago, especially from an equity angle. If we want to make e-bikes accessible to lower income people who live in walk-up apartments in urban areas, we're not doing that by pushing bikes at them and not giving them a safe place to do it 100%. So at a very specific policy level, what I'm doing is working in this called the Charge Coalition. And it's an advocacy organization focused on the electrification of the transportation system, very specifically with focus on the implementation of the infrastructure bill. And so going back to that piece of DOT guidance, something that we're drafting, we're in the process of drafting our principles now that we'll be sharing publicly very soon. And if you aren't on our emails, please get on it. So then you'll be updated. But very specific to that was a very, it was an intentional conversation that I had with folks from groups like Transportation for America and the NUMO, New Urban Mobility Alliance, about how security and storage is part of the infrastructure network that we're talking about when we talk about bike infrastructure. It's not just the moving part, it's the storage. So we're specifically looking at guidance and potentially funding for storage in residential areas and in commercial areas. You may be familiar, there's some programs, pilots that are starting startups in New York City that I think really need to start being replicated. It's a winning business model. And so if you're not like we should, the bike industry needs to be investing in that more and that's what I tell my members daily. But it's, we're starting the conversation too late at a policy level, but it is happening. And then the second part is as we see more incentive programs show up for e-bikes, whether it's rebates, vouchers, tax credits, other types of pilots. One of the biggest pushbacks I get is like, what about bike share? What about storage and what about infrastructure again? And I think, you know, having programs like what could be coming out of California soon, we're not totally sure what the details will be. What was just introduced in Colorado is e-bike rebate incentive programs that give a lot of flexibility to local governments to design what works best for their community and whether that's investing in an e-bike lending library or their e-bike share program where that makes more sense from a storage perspective in their community than individual ownership by all means. And so that's what we're looking for when we're working with city, states and the federal government on designing these types of programs is giving some flexibility and capacity authority to local agencies and local nonprofits or, you know, bids and other things to create the programs that make sense for the storage and infrastructure needs of their community. I think e-bike share is a really great solution to a lot of these problems too, but it just needs more investment. I thank you for the information that you've shared. I'm actually from Los Angeles and, you know, my mind goes kind of everywhere when I even think about how can we introduce e-bikes in particular in communities of color. There is a gap that really stands out in terms of just getting people of color on bikes, let alone e-bikes. I organized an event, a community event about a week ago and the goal was that we would be able to get our predominantly brown and black community out on bikes to ride a new bike lane. But the response was low of the brown and black population that came out. And not to say that the project event was not a success because who was there was supposed to be there, you know, at that time. So basically, I think we have to acknowledge this gap that exists, which is in most cases a economic gap, which is a historic problem in America. But at the same time, why do we have e-bikes? My understanding is it is an environmental number one solution and that our black and indigenous people of color, which is a large population, for instance, in my community, West Adams, we have roughly about out of 30,000 people that live in that community, at least 20,000 of them are brown and black. So they're part of the solution for our climate crisis, yet they're not in this conversation, yet they're not on bikes. So we're not gonna really get to where we need to go until we first make sure that we get our black and indigenous people of color involved in this conversation, that they are economically compensated and that they are trained to become leaders in order to save our planet, in order to save human life. So I guess my question on that is that I do, I wanted to give your take, number one, I think schools, churches, community centers like YMCA would be key locations that we can start developing policy around developing our education. That's just where I go, because we need to start early, like you said. And then in terms of, I just wanted to give all of your takes on how are you gathering data for these issues that I just named from policy level in DC, to how are, what is your equity lens in terms of being able to address this most vital problem, which is that black and brown lives are like, are you crazy?  What I see is that there are, like there's a huge impetus to actually get very serious about what people at the low income, like low income people, generally speaking, what they need in order for this to be viable for them. Because capitalism is, American capitalism isn't doing very well for a lot of people right now. And you see that, this is another unpopular thing I'll probably say, I'll probably tweak somebody out of place on this one, but the privatization of e-bike share and these floating e-bike models are not good for people who need reliability. And if you are low income, you need reliability. I think it's horrible to say, oh yeah, just open up the app and hopefully you'll have a bike you can get to work on. Like, okay, that's not a good solution if I'm at a low income level. And so there is so much room for progress, that's my hopeful side, right? There's also like at our store, and if you look at my store, it looks fancy, you know? Like people think we're really fancy, but the people we work with are very normal. Like very, you know, we help really fancy people too if we have to, you know? But we help people at every economic level because that's our mission. We don't care how much you make, it does not matter. And so there's a, I don't have a really specific answer for you other than that I know that there are so many opportunities and that what we have to do is we have to get, what I see like in the bike coalition that I work with is that they're doing a lot of looking at these communities instead of like just being in them. And so that's what we ought to do, I don't know. And we also have to encourage those people, I think the bike community is very intimidating. Like as a white woman, I am intimidated in the bike community, right? I go into these rooms and like it's a new thing to not just have a bunch of bros at every bike event. That has happened in the last 10 years while I've been in it. And so if you have any otherness about you in our community, you may not be, so I just think, shoot, let's just be so kind to each other. We were talking earlier because Kevin was worried that we were gonna have a bunch of e-bike haters in here, which we might have some quiet e-bike haters. We'd love to hear from you. But my point really is that this platform is a joyous, fricking wonderful thing. Like we get to be so happy on our e-bikes. We get to be so generous and so joyful. And that means we don't have to have any like, weirdness between each other. So that's how I see it. I don't know. I think there's so much possibility, but we gotta get really more real with ourselves and less like us and them and just get in it together and like go on some bike rides. I don't know. This gentleman really wants to ask a question. I know. I've been very concerned with the problem I've had biking and bike planes that have been blocked by cargo vans. I don't know how many people have had that problem. Cargo vans, yeah. Cargo vans. And I think that local government should be working to legislate the laws to...


Snapshots from 1998. A season of greatness. On May 25th at the White Sox, Hideki Arabu threw the first of his four career complete games. He shut out Chicago in a 12-nothing Yankees victory, scattering six hits and striking out six along the way.


My name is Robert Rasmussen. I'm the director of government operations for defense web technologies and I'm a proud Navy veteran. I started out my career as an IT guy in the Navy. I learned quite concretely the basics of ADP and IT and I was a UNIX systems administrator. My service taught me a lot about sacrifice, about relationships. It molded me as a disciplined adult. I got a lot of confidence. Previously wasn't too successful academically. A lot of folks believe in me, tutoring me, work me through those early years in my life. I learned a lot about leadership, taking responsibility quite early in my life, having having charge of other folks at the age of 20, 22 years old and I learned about the idea of having a purpose, of having a purpose-driven career. In fact my first civilian job was also consulting back towards the government so I did exactly what I did in the Navy. How my Navy career helps me with what I do today and today we have the opportunity to deliver software solutions, web-based solutions to family programs that serve active duty military today. It helps me and helps my team that I understand the mission and the purpose and the sacrifice that our sailors and soldiers are putting out there for us. It's an honor for us to serve those who serve and I think that certainly having felt that sacrifice, you know having had two children in the service and a young wife and surviving that I understand and you know it helps. It helps to have that idea of shared purpose and sacrifice.


Hello there, I'm Sandy Olnok, and today I have four drawings that I'm going to share with you today in pastel, and the point of them is not really to tell you anything about pastel because I am just learning, but I wanted to share how I'm approaching the learning and that might help you and give you some encouragement as you start to learn in whatever medium you're trying. I have called this video, be fearless and try things because that's what I've been doing. It took me like a week to get all these pieces done, and I had a good time doing it.  This one is by UART, and out of all the ones I tried out of these four, and there's lots more brands out there, this one is the least expensive out of those. And it comes in black or in a natural kind of color. You could also get trial packs, so you could try just some small pieces and see how this stuff works, and they are listed on the back with what the grit is, so you can try different grits. All of the art papers that I'm going to show you are acid free and pH neutral and all that kind of thing. This one has the widest range of grits, but the smallest range of colors. So it really depends on what you want to do. The really high grits are really good for using with pencils, if you want to use colored pencils with them, if you're looking to get fine detail. But my whole thing with these is to try to figure out if there's one brand or another that I'm going to like better. I have been watching a lot of videos and reading up on what a lot of pastel artists use for doing their art, and I found some of them like one, some of them like another, and I wanted to test and see what's the difference. And I also have realized in the practice that I've been doing of late in the last couple months is that I don't really like using all the tools. There's all kinds of brushes and things, and I bought them and I tried using them and I just haven't found, I like them as much as I like just using my fingers. But using my fingers is messy, so I use gloves.  I wanted the black background because I wanted these chicks to stand out, and I also wanted to get a real good comparison between the four papers because this is really a test to see which one of these works in different ways. And there's some of them that work better than others. And there's one of them I didn't like at all, but the other three I actually like just fine. And this one is, like I said, the least expensive, not by a lot, but it's the least expensive and it works just great. And you know, smushing the color around with your fingers just feels like being kindergarten again. I don't know how many things I'm going to try with a giant black background because that was a little challenging to figure out how to do the edges of the chicks because that was, yeah, yeah, it was just hard. Now this Claire Fontaine pastel matte card pads, now lots of pastel stuff like pastel papers, call it card, don't know why it's heavier than a card stock. So there's that. But I really liked this Claire Fontaine brand and it comes in a range of colors and different companies have different ranges and some of them have them in mixed pads, some of them you can buy in big sheets, et cetera. So you'll have to do some shopping if you want to try some of those.  This one says you don't need fixative, which scares me. So I put fixative on mine anyway, but it is a very velvety surface. I really liked it. I really enjoyed working on this one. The experience of putting the pastel on the paper, the soft pastel, it just layered nicely. And if you know me, you know I love me some layers. If I don't get to layer things, I'm not a happy camper. And with this one, I just had a blast adding on more and more colors to it. And I was testing with each one of these how tolerant it would be. And this one was probably the most tolerant of layers. I could add pencil layers and pastel pencil layers, my pastel pencil set, all different kinds of layers you can add on and keep working it and working it and working it. I didn't find any areas really where I worked it past what the paper could handle. So that was nice. Each of the papers is made of something different, like different ones have different things they glue to the paper and the different processes for how they create the texture on it. And you can also use non-sanded papers with it. I've done that before too, and have not been as pleased with it. And you know, all these professional people told me, oh yes, I use this and such kind of pastel card. So I thought I'd try it. That's what this whole thing has led to. But here I'm using my favorite combination with yellows using my purples. So if you have been around again, that will be a combination that's very familiar to you. During sunflower week you got to see lots of purple and yellow together. This, all this video did get washed out because I had this strong black-white contrast and my camera I think didn't know what to focus on because it had that really strong black. So the pictures at the end of each section of the actual finished piece are more what it looks like in real life. And they are all going to be in my shop and I'm going to try to see if I can figure out how to ship something without messing it up. I love this little guy, isn't he cute? He just looks very, very impressed with himself. I kind of like the way he's standing. Okay, now this is the one that I didn't like so much. And I was very surprised because I like a lot of the Sennelier stuff. I love the colors in this. That was really nice. I love the weight of this. It's a very heavy paper. But I didn't like the experience on the paper itself. It feels a little grittier than the others. And all I could find that anybody could characterize it as was a medium fine grit. I don't know what medium fine is in terms of numbers because I was trying to find apples to apples to compare these and was not successful in finding that information. So I would guess this to be a much lower grit than some of the other papers that I was trying to use. However, it did like a lot of detail. Like it was fine with getting a lot of the detail in there. But the surface just doesn't feel like it should take that much. I don't I couldn't quite figure out what the deal was with this. And maybe somebody's going to come along and comment and tell me what I was doing that made it not work as well for me. But this one took me way longer to do because I just kept having to add more color to it. And every time I touched it to do any blending, it lifted off so much color I had to go back in and put more color in. And even the dark chick on the left that is supposed to have some black. When I put the black background in, I suddenly realized how much black I did not get in there because he started washing out. I mean, you can already see the contrast that I'm getting with that black background is just going to completely overwhelm any of the color that's already in there. Even though, as I said, it's it's blowing out some of the color. I had to go back in and rework all that. So if you're going to add any black backgrounds, then be a little wary of that. I realized after I probably should have just put all the black background in first on all of them. But I was kind of experimenting doing it in different orders for each one. There is an artist on Instagram. I will leave her Instagram link down in the doobly-doo. She is amazing and does fruit in pastel on black backgrounds.  And that was something that was inspiring to me as I was doing this. I was thinking about her and it's one of the reasons I think that I opted for that black background because she just has fun doing what she's doing. Like she never really stressed out about trying to go to art school and trying to figure out how to do it right. And she talks often about how people have told her, well, you're supposed to do it this way, you're supposed to do it that way. But she's self-taught. She just started doing what was working. And that's where the title of this video came in, being fearless and trying things. Just grab something and start putting stuff together and start making. So this pastel board was experiment number four, where I was like, OK, this is an expensive thing. It's it's like 10 bucks for one of these small boards. Well, small boards, nine by 12. Fortunately, I got it at the same time that there was a closing sale at an art store. So I got a good discount on it. I also bought some really giant ones, like ginormous ones so I can do some really huge pastel drawings. But I saved this one for last since it is the most expensive. So I can get some practice done and some of the others. And I opted not to do the black background because I used the last of my black pastel, there's only a sliver of it left. So I figured I probably should maybe do something different. So this one is just going to be the chicks face blown up really big. I had a lot of fun with the beak and the surface of this one and it was just delicious. I really, really, really liked it. And it's a board, as you saw, so it doesn't require being taped down necessarily to stay in place. I put some tape underneath of it and I still put it on the board behind it just so that it will sit in the camera correctly and sit upright so that you could see it. But it was a lot of fun to work on this surface. It blended so nicely. I just really liked this a lot and was kind of bummed that it's expensive because it's not going to encourage me to play a whole lot with it. But the experience of doing it was so nice that I probably will play more. I'm trying to figure out what's going to be a really great subject to do one of these large boards with. Because I want it to be something really spectacular. But it's, yeah, different art supplies give you a different feeling when you're creating them. And the only way you're going to know whether you like that thing or not is by trying it, just giving it a shot and seeing what happens. And a lot of times I know I get questions on different art supplies. Well, you know, will this work with that thing? Will that work with this thing? And my answer is just go ahead and try it. It's just paper. Now, granted, this board is 10 bucks. So this is not one you want to necessarily experiment with. But once I had all those other chicks out of the way, I had spent time trying to learn how to blend yellows and make them work. I felt very confident jumping into this one. So, you know, don't go for the most expensive thing first. But try stuff. Don't wait for me to tell you whether or not something's going to work, because I haven't run all the experiments. There are some where I can tell you that a particular paper maybe won't accept water mediums or that something is not going to work well with an alcohol based medium. So there's some advice I can give you, but a lot of stuff you could just give it a shot. Sacrifice a half a sheet of paper. Try out the medium and see how it works. And it's also going to work differently for you and your technique than it will for me and mine. So I encourage you to be fearless and try something new. Try something crazy. Try something where if you look at that and you think if if I saw somebody try that, I would be amazed and see if you can try it and amaze yourself. This little chick just amazed me. I just think he's adorable. And I had so much fun with that nose that nose was a blast. I think I'm going to keep him. I think he's not going to go in the shop because he's adorable and I think he needs to be in a frame.  You can do the purple sandpaper from your garage like I did or the fancy you art one on the right hand side. Learn how to draw a chick, make an Easter card out of it. And I will see you again next week with more experimenting because that's what I do around here. I'll see you guys later. Take care.


The paper reviews recent research on the effects of microstructural refinement and nanocatalytic additives on hydrogen storage properties of metal and complex hydrides obtained in allied laboratories at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland. The study shows that microstructural refinement has a modest effect on hydrogen storage properties, while the addition of nanometric elemental metals as catalysts brings about significant improvements in hydrogen absorption slash desorption kinetics. Catalytic precursors react with the hydride matrix to form metal salts and free nanometric or amorphous elemental metals slash intermetallics, which act catalytically. However, these catalysts only change the kinetic properties of hydrogen absorption slash desorption rate but do not affect thermodynamics and enthalpy change of hydrogen sorption reactions. The study shows that a complex metal hydride, Leal H4, after high-energy ball milling with a nanometric NIMel catalyst and or MNCl2 catalytic precursor, can dwarf relatively large quantities of hydrogen at room temperature, 40 degrees Celsius, and 80 degrees Celsius. This behavior is encouraging for the future development of solid-state hydrogen systems. This article was authored by Jersey Mr. Zicky, Merrick Polanski, Les Xbroniak, and others. We're article.tv, links in the description below.


Team keeping clean y'all know Ravens fans they are private investor gators and they do not let anything slip past I was on Twitter early tonight and I don't think I've ever ever seen so many pictures of Lamar Jackson's feet before because every Ravens fan was posted always Lamar Jackson on the way back all Lamar Jackson on the pj oh look at Lamar Jackson is he coming back to all his bills is he on the way to minicamp and that's what we would assume because he has to be back there by Tuesday Tuesday is when mandatory minicamp starts Lamar Jackson has continued to say that he'll be there and it's just a matter of time so yeah he very much could be on his way back and so we won't really know uh until Tuesday yeah till Tuesday that's about to say maybe Monday but Tuesday we'll know um unless he posts something that he's in Baltimore or something like that then it'll be okay yeah let's go but I know like I told y'all because I do the same thing I ain't out here just accusing y'all doing because I do the same thing so if I do I know a lot of y'all do it too I know for every day every time Ravens post something they post a little video they propose a little highlights and stuff of OTAs we were just looking for eight we were looking for that number eight like oh when are you gonna show up but this week like when he comes back if he comes back we expect him to come back but this week if and when he comes back oh yeah I know Ravens fans just gonna go crazy man Ravens fans gonna go crazy man because there's so much love for Lamar Jackson uh amongst Ravens amongst most Ravens fans there's some Ravens fans like oh I don't like Lamar Jackson for so many reasons and we can talk about that another time but Lamar got a lot of love man he got a lot and I think he got even more love because uh for a lot of Ravens fans just football fans period he's somebody that is very relatable yeah he's somebody that you like oh yeah yeah yeah Lamar Lamar gets it he gets it um but anyway um so we'll see this week that it is the expected return of Lamar Jackson but yeah he just got to make it happen so we'll hold out for that now um before we get out of here so y'all can go to sleep and I'm sure again some of y'all probably like oh thank thank you and Raven for uploading because your video's actually put me to sleep so you helped me go to bed so you're welcome but anyway let me tell y'all a little quick story about how tonight I ended up feeling very very stupid been watching the finals been watching the Celtics and the Warriors and I told you I thought whoever advanced from the heat and the Celtics I thought they were gonna get whooped I thought it was gonna be like four one Warriors maybe four two four two at the most but these finals been fire and y'all don't even watch basketball like that but these finals been fire um but I was looking forward to game five uh so I went on ESPN.com went on and went to the NBA section in the schedule and to see what time the game came on tonight so I looked at it real quick and said oh 9 p.m. like okay cool dude that game is in San Francisco uh they like three hours back I think so it's 6 p.m. that time all right cool I get why it starts so late so earlier tonight it was like 9 24 and me and my wife and Carter we was at the grocery store and I look I'm like okay so I'm gonna miss like the the first quarter and change of the game no big deal that's fine if it was Ravens then oh no we wouldn't be in a grocery store but it's it's the finals for NBA so there ain't no big deal fine cool um so we get home and I turn on the TV I'm like all right I'm gonna catch the game let me see how it's going turn on the TV and the game was playing on NBA TV and I'm like uh well that's weird usually it's playing on uh the regular stations local stations sometimes ESPN but I've never seen a finals game get played on NBA TV before should have been a red flag for me but it wasn't because you know my mind don't click with some stuff sometimes so I turned it on and I'm watching it was like the second quarter and I'm like okay this game it's pretty good it's pretty good it was a close game um I think when I turned it on it was like 39 39 so it's tied up close game and the game was going back and forth I'm like all right let's go so I'm watching watching this message keeps popping up that uh on NBA TV uh it keeps saying a replay of Warriors Celtics game for June 10th and I'm thinking okay I guess they're gonna be showing a replay of the game sometimes soon okay cool whatever I don't care about that this message need to go away um so I'm on Twitter and I'm like man ain't nobody like tweeting about the game tonight like what what's that about and I and I checked it briefly I didn't really check it like crazy but I'm like man really nobody talking about the game I usually see a lot of the same people talking about the game I know it's a lot of Ravens fans that are Celtics fans I'm like oh okay whatever so put the phone back down so I'm watching the game it gets to halftime this is where I felt the most stupid it gets to halftime and halftime it was like two or three minutes long and I'm like whoa why was halftime so short I'm like halftime flew by went by like that and I even tweeted about it and all I said man a halftime went by so fast it was like two minutes and then the third the third quarter started and I'm looking and I'm like huh so I uh I checked my phone again and checked Twitter still saw nobody was tweeting about the game and then I thought wait a minute uh oh so I went to ESPN so I could check the score of the game and I went to ESPN and they had baseball uh as on their cover page or whatever I'm like why would they have baseball on the cover page and the finals is going on right now so I said wait a minute so then I went back to the NBA section and then went to the schedule section again and realized the game isn't coming on until tomorrow at nine and I felt so stupid