The Shannyn Moore Show – Dr. Rick Steiner Will Resign from U of A.
UPDATE: Dr. Rick Steiner announces that he intends to resign from his 30 year professorship with the University of Alaska. He lost his federal grant funding after years of speaking out against environmental malpractice, including questioning the possibility of responsible oil exploration in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The oil industry funds a large portion of the university, and just this week the Conoco-Phillips Science Building was christened.
Professors must feel free to speak the truth and feel as though their institution stands behind them. Oil companies have permeated everything. Free speech must trump that. He may stay if the University has an epiphany, and realizes the dangerous precedent of allowing the erosion of free speech, but he’s not anticipating that will happen.
It’s one thing to talk about supporting free speech, and another to actually do it.
For some background you can read HERE and HERE.
A podcast of a talk he gave earlier in the year entitled Crisis in the Oceans and Free Speech is available HERE.
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It’s Smarter Saturday again on KBYR 700am! Tune in today to hear Shannyn talk with University of Alaska professer Rick Steiner. You will really enjoy this one. I’ve written about professor Steiner on several occasions. (see links above)
Live Stream it HERE.
Time: 5-7pm Alaska time, 6-8pm Pacific, and 9-11pm Eastern.
Give a call, and live blog it in the comments!
The number is 907.274.5297. The toll free number (in state only) is 866.610 5297
Just to avoid any confusion for first time listeners who may use Google Images to get a mental image of what our host and guest look like, you will be plased to note that they are NOT the Shannon Moore and Rick Steiner of the wrestling world.
Clarification never hurts.
Not that Rick Steiner, and Not that Shannyn Moore.












That might not be the external Shannyn Moore but that day she stood for the press conference to talk about the legal threats from Palin, I think that the World Wrestling Shannyn Moore was happening on the INside.
(and I think this might be a good costume to go with for Shannyn for Halloween)
I just hope RishMan has a chance to get ‘ the tubes ‘ unclogged before the show.
Last week I only got about 15 minutes of the whole two hours. It never would connect no matter what link you used.
I think it is KBYR’s fault ( more hamsters KBYR!! )… so Rishi has no control over that.
While I agree that he is doing valuable scientific work, I wish you knew all the untold facts in this matter. If you did, you would know that there is more going on here than issues of academic freedom.
From Fairbanks…do tell…
We’re in the treehouse early this week, so feel free to drop by and chat
http://www.themudflats.net/forum/index.php?action=chat
If you have any trouble with the chat, we have some other instructions you can try here –
http://www.themudflats.net/forum/index.php/topic,7673.msg76138.html#msg76138
Hope to see y’all there!
Jackie and I are in the treehouse and the radio is on.
Those photos are great! LOL
I’m here, KBYR is loaded and ready to go, and I have a healthified banana-walnut bread baking, even as we speak!
Shannyn is MUCH better looking! Shannyn found her way to the tree house!! Wanted to see what’s she is missing. Says she loves to read our comments on here.
AKM, are you sure about those pictures?????LOL
FromFairbanks, What?
O/T – But very important! I wonder what SP will say in rebuttal!
Obama seeks changes in Alaska hunting, fishing oversight
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/77709.html
Here’s part of the article -
The Obama administration is launching a rapid, sweeping review of the way the federal government manages subsistence hunting and fishing in Alaska, Interior Department officials said Friday.
“The system, frankly, today is broken,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in a video shown at the annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention in downtown Anchorage.
Subsistence rights — the battle over who gets the first opportunity to hunt and fish on state or federal land — is a headline issue at this year’s convention. For decades, the debate has pitted rural Alaskans and Alaska Natives, who say they hunt and fish to survive, against sports groups and urban hunters and fishermen, who argue everyone should have equal access to fish and game.
NYT covering Anchorage’s homeless/addition problem
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/us/25detox.html?hp
that’s addiction
sorry, some stories can’t be told. Just remember there are two sides to every story.
Hey Shannyn. Sorry I missed your visit to the Treehouse… I usually offer newbies a beanbag chair and a fruit roll-up! Next time…:) Knock ‘em dead tonight.
I strongly encourage FromFairbanks to call in to the show, anonymously, and bring forth what is on your mind. You’ll feel better. And you’ll make us all smarter.
I agree with Ripley, FromFairbanks… if it’s truth, it should be told.
If it isn’t the truth, go away!!
Here’s Shannyn!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously From Fairbanks. If ou nowsomething, you should tell. Otherwise, why come on here and comment. We’re all grownups on here. Join us.
Channel 11 is in the house…
Acadamia has a huge problem with workplace bullying. I imagine that is part of the story. This sort of thing is going on all over the country.
I’m pretty sure that’s not what I typed.
Seriously From Fairbanks. If you know something, you should tell. Otherwise, why come on here and comment? We’re all grownups on here. Join us.
Shannyn’s phones are getting pimped now!
And now for something completely different……Here’s Shannyn!!!!!!!
I can tell you that academia has bullied me. I’ll never work in a school system again. Hopefully, they will pay for it.
She’s sounding upset… we love you Shannyn!
Part of “push back” against science is “faith based”. Get a grip! The two are not incompatible.
Industry&Religion in bed together and GOP is da pimp!
Steiner calling out Oil companies etc as scientist and activist, Now he has lost his funding.
Ripley in CT, the education realm is one of the worst places for workplace bullying. Anyplace where there are altruistic/helping types.
Shannyn’s wrapping her mitts… Gawd, I hope someone ‘brings it’!
GET ‘EM, SHANNYN!!
Music is awesome, Shannyn!
ick. She said “has a pickle in his hiney”.
Crap, I thought they fixed the problem with streaming.
Oh I am totally with Shannyn over the denial of science due to fundamentalist religious beliefs.
That just drives me crazy!
(I’ve always loved that song.)
Chris is calling in, talking about the Copenhagen (treaty?) Says Akns will be signing over their constitutional rights. He doesn’t know what he thinks, he’s loooking for Shannyn’s ‘take’ on it.
caller is a moran (sic) who’s afraid he’s going to lose rights he can’t even list.
@Celia. It’s working fine for me. 2 weeks in a row.
FromFairbanks, you said you wish we knew what you know. Call in. I like to hear everyone’s side of a story.
this guy is just anti-Obama. “Every one of our rights are being taken away.”
E-mail from a “Jesus liberal”. Shannyn is bugged by folks who have an either /or attitude toward Faith and Science.
Chris asks about Copenhagen treaty.
He thinks we are signing away our rights. Shannyn says,” you mean our right to do anything we want to, no matter what happens to the rest of the world?”
Message…”We hang together or we hang separately!”
Come into your home and tell you what air to breathe?
Paranoid much?
He’s “been readin’.” Really? What?
ACK.. he left NYC and went to AK. He loves it. I bet he also loves his stimulus check.
He thinks Obama’s goal is to make a world government.
He doesn’t ‘get’ that, in some respects, in order for the world to function at non-cross-purposes, there HAVE to be agreements that all the countries will follow. He’s projecting that it’ll inevitably lead to loss of freedoms, on a personal level, I guess…
he’s been “readin” Beck
Ripley, I bet he loves shooting those beautiful animals too, and also
Does Chris not realise that any place can become New York with all that trash if people are not responsible for caring for the environment?
Hello, what about that garbage island in the middle of the pacific thanks to all that plastic trash and other trash that gets dumped in our oceans?
How would Alaskans like it if the next garbage island ends up in their own backyard? The bald eagles and other wildlife that you love are not going to last too long when they are ingesting plastic – seals eat plastic bags because they think they are jellyfish, etc.
Mark Hamilton WAS invited, Shannyn just WISHES he’d be interviewed!
Mark Hamilton? Wasn’t he Luke Skywalker? He has some nerve dissing science!
*wink*
The guy doesn’t even know what that is….he doesn’t even know that conservation would be good for Alaska.
Shannyn, that New World Order stuff comes right out of the Late Great Planet Earth apocalypse stuff-that the Antichrist would take over the world. A whole bunch of people were supposed to be the Antichrist: Anwar Sadat, Gorbachev, Saddam Hussein. Frankly, if there really was an Antichrist, he would have been uncovered by the internet. Who could resist a medium to reach millions with out a filter? So no, there’s nothing of the sort. It’s just us and the Great Spirit.
I see Jesus as the Master of Science, the Creator of this world.
And if the Creator didn’t want mankind to know His works, His science, He wouldn’t have given mankind such knowledge.
Great comments, Shannyn! I agree with you on all points!
Calling from a Wasilla number…do the math…RAPTURE WATCHERS!
lol
These wing nut commercials are upsetting my stomach.
We HAVE to get Shannyn onto a progressive station.
Even if we have to start one ourselves.
I personally wish the rapture would hurry up.
Who was this annoyingly-voiced Mark who’s show was just advertised? My goodness, how obnoxious!
“Burning down the House”!
Yep…2012 promises to be REAL interesting, with all those zealots rearing their ugly heads.
Snoskred #48
Great point! Narrow in his views, methinks.
I always have felt that the Scriptures was about learning how to live, not about the science. An omnicient Creator would know that eventually we would learn the scientific information-we were made to be curious-but our real need was to live in harmony with the earth and each other. If we got that right, what we learned would be used in constructive ways instead of destructive, or at least there would be some limit to the bad stuff.
Shannyn @53, could tell…he sorta hesitated before spewing those talking points.
Dr. Steiner up next.
30 years as a professor. Steiner in the house…
What has he done for 30 years…. applying research from the University into the “real world” for application
Works on sustainability. Civilization survival. Currently using more inputs that can be replaced. “Deficit spending on the environment” No bailout for this.
His focus is conservation and sustainability in an oil environment.
Sustainabilty is equated with survival, on all levels. A deficit is accruing, and every aspect of human existence in developed nations right now is unsustainable. Something has to change before it all finally gives way.
Gryph…two words:
Pirate Radio!
arrrgggg maties
The planet will survive. Humans are going extinct as the animal & plant kingdoms are destroyed that sustain them.
YO ! Shannyn!!! Ask him about how the wolves are
NEEDED to sustain a healthy poplulation of Moose and Caribou !! and how the Salmon are being overfished ,,,,, I thought Tenure was suppose to protect professors from this type of harassment!
Online radio-there has to be somebody who could pay Shannyn to broadcast online.
Where are the students? They are typically the ones who would not tolerate the silencing of a professor. The students are the ones paying tuition for censorship.
were the University Admin people appointed by Palin ???
Good point, Wolf Pack!
Shannyn suggests “teabaggers” should be able to get behind that.
Steiner first got in trouble over critique over Exxon Valdez.
University has been on his case ever since.
Not a shy violet, our Professor!
University has cut him out of the loop, due to his activism.
New administration wants to cut out drilling, which is what he has been fighting for.
Now University is behind the loss of funding.
Wow, no consequences? Why does that sound familiar?
I hope the administration does have an epiphany. If Dr. Steiner resigns as he says he will, it will be a tremendous loss to the University and the state.
I love this song, too!
Yes, he is a hero. Many of the professors stay quiet and don’t makes waves because they are afraid. Ivor van Veerden in Louisiana who warned everyone about a disaster in New Orleans ended up getting fired for telling the truth.
I had to talk to my kid — did hear Steiner say he is going to resign?
From an outsider-Alaska needs to get its head out of its…the planet is running out of oil and is hurrying to get off it onto something sustainable. Ever hear of electric cars? What happens when cars run on electricity, and plastics are made out of plant material? Having a state economy based mostly on oil is also unsustainable on the long run-the state needs to diversify both economically and ethnically so that there are other ways to make money.
And Alaska has great natural assets-beautiful scenery, lots of water, uncrowded land. It could do more to promote local industry and handicrafts, be a Northern version of Vermont, which does pretty well.
Unbelievable. A professor isn’t allowed to espouse his views on a subject he’s exceptionally qualified in because they’re worried about money form the oil companies? This country is just embarrassing sometimes. Is it always about money? UA should be completely ashamed. I hope the national media picks this up.
Students there should organize and protest his resignation !! Just on the basis of Free Speech for academia !!
I’ve always felt that those who can teach, teach; and those who can’t teach, go into administration.
GOOD admins appreciate talent, and understand the boat-rocking is part of the package. Bad/lazy admins prefer bad/lazy ‘talent’, since they’ll be easier to handle.
Carol, #77, I have been asking for an electric car for a while! I agree with you!
It’s shocking to me that the Union didn’t stay involved…. what is up with that?
Shannyn, ask him about the destruction of the Rain forests…there is proof that damages the weather patterns.
Man the stream is going nuts. I have two versions of the show taking turns. One in the present and one in the past. Maybe I am caught in a time warp.
Check for multiple windows being open, Celia, I did that 2 weeks ago.
Great show, Shannyn!
trying to find out…about the union…that is. The don’t have enough teeth in their contract to be able to really go to the mattresses…sadly. He thinks their next contract will have better ability to negotiate and make a difference…
huh… a Union commercial. Go figure
Mona Lisa thanks for the suggestion, but I only have one open. The stream is just as bad as ever. The general manager of KBYR promised there would not be any more problems. He said smart radio guaranteed it. Typical bad service for consumers Alaskans are use to. It says it is only reliable for 80% of users.
‘Black oil koolade moustache!’ Haha!!
If the “surplus checks” were rescinded and the money was instead funneled into the University system, all would be right in the world.
Dixie Chicks, woohoo great choice Shannyn.
Academic Freedom is a universally accepted concept. UA students should be burning down the buildings.
What is this the Spanish Inquistion? Brought to us by the oil industry and bought off politicians.
What just ‘popped’?!? lol!!
(Sorry, first timer joke!)
that was the bonne belle lip balm….methinks. It’s like a welcome pop… lol
Ha! you caught the joke! I’m rampin up…just thinking about the University Pres makes me want to punch him in the “constitution”.
FooYoo persimmons!
You rock, Shannyn! ;D
The best Garth Brooks song ever.
Shannyn,
What about the President of the University who removed the art exhibit recently? Is he the same one you’re talking about with Rick or do you have two University Presidents who are out to stifle anyone they don’t agree with? GO Shannyn! GO Rick! Great show!
(* bows to Shannyn and Rick *) Yeah, I’m a perv!
YES SAME DOUCHE
fastest 2 hours in the wooooooorrrrrrrllllld! The Shannyn Moore Show.
When I was a kid, I gave my mom barely-open lilacs (from her garden
) every year for Mother’s Day. Now, those same lilac bushes are over and done with weeks before that date.
I think any long-time gardener can tell you similar things.
“UPDATE: Dr. Rick Steiner announces that he intends to resign from his 30 year professorship with the University. Professors must feel free to speak the truth and feel as though their institution stands behind them. Oil companies have permeated everything. Free speech must trump that. He may stay if the University has an epiphany, and realizes the dangerous precedent of allowing the erosion of free speech, but he’s not anticipating that will happen.”
Haven’t been listening but this is a WTF? moment. I’ve been with my (slightly) higher education institution for 13 years and have never had any pressure from administration to teach a certain agenda. On the rare times I have had disputes with students, the administration has always been supportive of me and, I think, quite fair to the student as well.
What on earth is going on up there? Are the students complaining about Dr. Steiner? If not, why should the University tell him what to teach? They hired him to teach the subject he is knowledgeable in. If he’s doing that, and the students (the customers) aren’t complaining, what need is there of any ‘pressure’ from administration? You mentioned oil. How are AK universities funded? If it’s really a case of “he who pays the piper calls the tune”, then isn’t everyone in AK who takes the PFD in effect a dancing puppet for the oil industry?
Yikes! Wrong on so many levels. I have trouble wrapping my brain around the idea that an institution of higher education would … censor … a teacher, a teacher they hired presumably for his/her expertise.
This issue deserves a more in-depth look at some point.
PFD=Opiate of the masses?
I wonder what Dr. Stiner will do after he leaves the UofA?
What will replace the oil money in Alaska? We are very spoiled in this state with our oil wealth.
We need to create a steady state of balance on the planet asap! No one wants to compost our own sh*t and grow organic food, that is what its going to take to save the planet. Out big public systems like sewer and water, is draining the tank of sustainability.
We like to party too much in America too worry about the environment. American media is having too much fun with the NFL, processed foods, having fun, reality shows, and shopping.
I think I did good with the acid rain thing and the brown crap (it ain’t smog it’s brown air crap)
wish I could have brought up the whole coal mining prob here…coal mines ruined our ground water and the coal-fired electric plants on the Ohio River is ruining our air
city peeps have NO idea the damage being caused to the environment so they can have electricity
NAS award to Hamilton… from people who don’t believe in sustainability….. right wing crackpots. Absurd notion.
and our mountains here in Appalachia are being cut down and tailings are filling the hollers and valleys
coal companies believe Appalachia can be a huge golf course eventually
Cluster Douche Awards, Shannyn? Dang, woman, you have a way with words.
Transparency? Who could they be talking about?
The entire show should be about academic freedom. There will be no opposition to industry if professors are silenced and students are made stupid.
This woman needs to start something up, and stop just talking about it. come ON
and I have at least FIVE electric plants within 50 miles of me on the Ohio River.
EPA is trying to nail one now for emissions
the one being nailed is a supposedly “scrubber” facility…yeah….looks like smoke when it happens
Great show today.
I THOUGHT that was you, Justa! I discounted the notion immediately, but my first thought was ‘Justa?’
When you approach NYC from the east, you see the grey-brown haze before you see a single skyscraper. My eyes are burning within an hour after I get off the train in Grand Central. I know what you’re talking about!
It is not just Alaska where this happens. It is a chronic problem is the US. What if a university was doing testing of a drug on lab animals and a researcher noticed a large number of tumors and spoke up about it to warn the public. The drug companies as we all know have a huge amount of power, they would put a lot of pressure on the university to shut the researcher up. It happens all the time.
yepers, that was me, Mona…I blush…
How about an on-line University!! Lots of them in the lower 48!! Kiss my aardvaark, Oil companies!
Gramiam, The “cluster douche” comment must have happened while I lost the stream. Thanks, I would have missed that. I love it. It is going into my vocabulary.
We don’ need nooo… education…..
We don’ need nooo… thought controool……
No dark sarcasm… in the classroom….
HEY! TEACHER! Leave those kids alone!!
Large Corporations do not generally let human or environment issues dictate their policies. Profit, sustainability, and growth are first with corporations. We have seen how they have taken over our government and now we see how they hinder our institutions of higher education. We are in deep doo doo. We need to rein in these corporations. Look what they have done to our health industry and the control they exibit there.
I am very plased… yessiree indeedee.
But not at arriving so late into the program.
I love it when ANYone mentions Tesla!
What a really great show! Thanks Shannyn, and Dr. Steiner, too!
Also the rights of the future generations.
Great show, guys! (Bring him back soon, Shannyn!)
Wonderful show Shannyn as always, I was in the treehouse chatting so I didn’t comment as much as I should have on this thread, =(
Good show Shannyn and Dr Steiner. Thanks for the live blogging mudpups…
Great job Justa! Thanks so much Shannyn & Dr. Steiner.
Good show Shannyn. Thanks for having Dr. Steiner on. There seem to be quite a few inconsistencies with what a University should be standing for, and what they are doing to that man.
great show Shannyn!
I loves me Dr. Steiner!
@107 Gramiam: Precisely. Well said.
This was an excellent show. I think its great that Shannyn’s show is on a conservative station…. Not preaching to the choir, is truly beneficial. Hope conservatives have been listening in, to get some balance. Great Job Shannyn and Rick… We will miss you Rick. Will you be getting hired on to something bigger that will help save the planet??
@justafarmer: In case you missed my comments in the live chat — you did great. Your imagery was good, you were rolling — and you got dropped. I suggest you go again, and start with the local effects of coal-fired electric plants — nobody else seems to worry about following the topic of the show.
thanks strangelet…the coal was gonna be my next point but Dr. Steiner was off and rolling on my first point when I lost my phone connection
justafarmer — I now realize it’s gotta be an “elevator speech”. I have to think there’s a timer, just because the cutoffs come at such random points.
strangelet, I call most every Saturday and I almost always get cut off in mid-sentence
Good show from what I could tell, as I am unable to hear it so I rely on you great bloggers who type it out. I followed the link to read the background info – what a terrible time Dr. Steiner has had! It is amazing that he has managed to stick it out for this long – a less dedicated person would have been gone years ago. To me, this is another nail in Palin’s coffin. She probably was much more involved than what little is stated in the article.
TalkingPointsMemo has a story about some teabaggers and other disgruntled people (including military) who are promoting a third party (ala Palin) and are openly promoting civil disobedience. It gets crazier by the day. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/tea_partier_uses_army_email_address_to_call_for_ci.php?ref=fpb
strangelet…the elevator speech it it!
I shall prepare better next time.
@justa and @strangelet:
Shannyn doesn’t have a cut off switch. I know when they have a lot of calls, it is generally more interesting to the listener to not have long, drawn out conversations. It’s Rishi’s discretion most times. Perhaps let Rishi know you have more than 1 point to make next time and tell Shannyn as well at the beginning of your call. I enjoyed your call. Best of luck…
I am amazed the Dr Steiner story has not gone viral. It is not very often that fascism raises it’s ugly head to the extent of censoring and the firing a tenured Professor. Why are others silent? The press, the doctors, the lawyers, the politicians who are sworn into office to serve the people, the fellow professors, the accreditation bodies, the student body, local teachers and the teachers union,?
This is a classic case… Socrates ordered to take a sip of hemlock, the persecution of Copernicus, Galileo, Solzhenitsyn, the Spanish Inquisition.
This is what Naomi Wolf warns us about in her book “The End of America”. Naomi Kline discusses in her book “The Shock Doctrine”. Noam Chomsky has also fought censorship of fellow Professors.
Shannyn suggested this is happening across America. No it isn’t! We do not live in Mussolini’s Italy. We do not have Gulags for Professors or authors who are not beholden to authority. We are not burning books, as they did in Hitler’s Germany.
Yes, awarding or not funding research happens by means of corporate sponsors. But, censorship and firing Professors because of their views is not happening.
What is it going to take for Alaskans to wake up? Why hasn’t Kieth Obermann or Rachael Maddow picked up this story and ran with it?
The last place my child would attend is the University of Alaska to be programmed into a corporate moron, a mind tooled for a special interest corporate sponsor. It is not as if the State is broke. The University has a huge endowment as a land grant State University. The State has over $ 50 billion in the bank. There is no means for the University to be a place of higher education when Professors and students are censored and punished for not being puppets to the ruling class and special corporate interest.
This is Orwellian and a major attack on Freedom that America’s Founding Father’s defined as our inalienable rights.
I guess resigning is the honorable way to go when Big Money takes control of ethics in an educational system. It’s happening in Rural Alaska too. Pay the bill for support. This is a giant step backwards for progress in Alaska. What’s the point of an education if we’re going to allow Big Money to bully us around?
I’m surprised Shannyn didn’t connect the dots. Rick’s problems started in 2008. This was under Pres. Bush, the science denier. We all know how Bush tried to silence career scientists by putting his political appointees in charge of agencies such as EPA, NASA, NIH and FDA. Many at EPA resigned in disgust. NASA scientist went public, over the censorship, the rewriting & revision of their scientific work by political appointees, to fit Bush’s drill, baby, drill and the gutting of clean air and water agenda.
@Wolf Pack…did you listen to the whole show??? That was kind of the point. They talked about Steiner’s opposition specifically to off shore drilling in Bristol Bay. The Bush Administration was full speed ahead despite Steiner’s objections…Obama just did a 180 and justified Steiner’s opposition.
Furthermore, they talked extensively about the real beginnings going back in March 1989…
This is a huge brain trust loss…in 2006, when Israelis deliberately bombed Lebanese fuel storage tanks on the Mediterranean Sea (Twice) creating the worst environmental castrophe in history there…They called Dr. Rick Steiner and flew him out for a comprehensive assessment.
The students as well as the community of Anchorage and Fairbanks ought to be rioting in the streets over this…
This is from ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’ by John Perkins, (a must read is you want to understand where the real power in this country is)…”I also realized that my college professors had not understood the true nature of macroeconomics : that in many cases helping an economy grow only makes those few people who sit atop the pyramid even richer, while it does nothing for those at the bottom-except push them even lower. Indeed promoting capitalism often results in a system that resembles medieval feudal societies. If any of my professors knew this, they had not admited it- probably because big corporations, and the men who run them, fund colleges. Exposing the truth would undoubtedly cost those professors their jobs-just as such revelations cost me mine.” Thank you Professor Steiner for standing up to those powers, for all of us 2 and 4 leggers, in pursuit of truth…keep up the good work, there are many of us who will be watching for what’s next.