:52:01
gave us this award.
:52:03
A bunch of money to do
the kind of stuff that we do.
:52:08
So we had to come here
and have dinner with him
:52:10
and get the money
and thank everybody.
:52:13
It was very nice
and very surprising.
:52:16
But we're very pleased.
I think we can say we're very pleased.
:52:20
Yeah, it was a big chunk of money.
:52:21
It's gonna bankroll a lot
of future activities like going to Australia.
:52:26
Yeah, so we got
this chunk of money but,
:52:28
of course, now we're
also using this opportunity
:52:30
and this hotel room here in New York
to meet up with Matt
:52:33
who's been working on the PowerPoint
presentation for Australia,
:52:36
and to meet up with Patrick
:52:38
who's been working on animations
for Australia as well.
:52:41
Fortunately we were lucky, too,
because Snafu was in town.
:52:45
He's sort of a European Yes Man.
:52:48
He's been circulating
in the European scene
:52:50
doing Yes Men-type activities.
:52:52
But it's a good thing
he's here in the States
:52:55
so he could go
to Plattsburgh with us.
:52:57
Yes, trade liberalization
is a religious undertaking.
:53:00
A project of faith, a crusade of sorts,
and it has been
:53:02
ever since its founders declared
that financial success comes from God
:53:06
and that wealth
is a sign of divine favor.
:53:09
Now, why is starvation a problem?
First, the facts.
:53:13
As we all know, investment
and exports have been on the rise...
:53:19
There's some bad news.
:53:20
There's some really bad news
that came down in the last two days.
:53:24
The conference in Australia...
:53:27
the people from the conference
in Australia wrote an e-mail
:53:29
saying that the conference has been
canceled because of low enrollment.
:53:34
In some ways
it's really kind of, I guess,
:53:36
a nice thing
that there was underenrollment
:53:39
because it was really
a hideous conference
:53:41
and it seemed like a really dire thing
:53:43
that people would actually
want to go to that thing.
:53:46
And so, it's really
encouraging for humanity
:53:48
that the conference
actually has been canceled.
:53:50
But at the same time, it's really
made things difficult for us.
:53:54
So I wrote back to them
as Hildegard West
:53:56
and I asked them if they
would please set up another venue