[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That kind of steer the optimization process towards preferring, uh, being closer to the user's original sketch, uh, determined by the similarity value.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for the last technique, optimize within, we simply say, uh, we're gonna expand user sketch, and then whatever is on the boundary, we keep it. Whatever is outside of it, don't do anything. And whatever is inside, follow the optimization function.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, the other interesting thing I think about this tool is how the user can directly edit the AI's result. So how do you do that? Remember we have this design domain that AI work with. So we also create a mask.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So at the high level, you can think of it as steering the optimization towards resemblance of the user's edits.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which we tried to avoid in the first place. And in this way, you can also think of it as trying to counterbalance two objectives back and forth until eventually it converges. We haven't tried the approach we said it could generate equally good or even better result.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we ran a user study and here are the results created by the participants. So I think the highlight here is that by using this tool,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, according to the results here, as well as participants' feedbacks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were able to explore the kind of appearances that were not possible because other tools didn't address both the structural integrity and appearance. So when using other tools, you're mostly concerned about the structures. But Forte allows them to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of balance these two considerations using AI.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After publishing this paper, we also open-sourced it and then we let some CMU designer use it to create furniture. So if you ever visit CMU, maybe in your Simon Hall you would see this furniture. Now it has been, I don't know, six, seven years. Maybe not. We didn't use very good material.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's also available, uh, for Tei on GitHub. I tried to update it periodically, but unfortunately I didn't have time. Recently, the last update was in 2021. If you're interested, feel free to, uh, download the source code and then play with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So Forte takes a human-centered approach. While conventional optimization is often entirely driven by an objective function,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Forte augments user's ability to design both appearance and structure by sketching, annotating, and direct editing of AI's results.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I think this direct adding, editing of AI results is the most important and interesting feature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because it finds a way to assimilate, uh, users' editing intents directly into the optimization process, even without modifying the objective function per se.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I want to switch gear a little bit to talk about, uhm, image generation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For example, a lot of the gendered AI these days only text into explicit intents, mostly as a text plot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But some intents are actually implicit. That is, they are not fully expressed usually or naturally in explicit forms.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For example, if I ask the stable diffusion to generate a surprised phase,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can say yeaah, surprise is an explicit intent, but uhm, what kind of surprise facial feature I want is unclear whether


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What they are. Because I might have some ideas in my mind, but they remain implicit. They are not specified in this text prompt. And I probably wouldn't want to specify it to that kind of details.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the question we're interested at is how we can elicit users implicit intents without the effort or the unnatural process of specifying them in a text prompt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So for those who are less familiar, so GAN is, was a thing before diffusion models took over. So it was able to generate contents from points or noises in the latent space.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So each point in the latent space represents, for example, an image. And if you think of it that way, then a vector that connects two points can be considered an editing of this one image to become another, called an editing direction, such as making the face appear to be older, aging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the question is, uhm, how can the user discover?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Amongst this large latent space, which editing directions will generate images that match the intents?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when we started looking to this question, uh, we found that in the literature, uh, there was something called information foraging theory that's surprisingly relevant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it was a pretty old, uh, piece of work. Uh, it was the, this particular technique that embodies this theory called scatter-gather was published in 1992, SIGIR. The main idea is that when you are confronted with a large collection of documents, you can first


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, cluster them into a bunch of, uh, create a bunch of clusters. And then select some clusters that seem interesting to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then you scatter them into new clusters and then you repeat this process. So you'll see more and more fine grained clusters until eventually all these clusters seem very interesting altogether to you. So we felt this would be appropriate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To help us tackle this intense discovery, uh, for GAN editing directions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we developed this tool called Ganzilla. So here, the user would start by seeing an initial set of clusters. So remember here, each thumbnail is not just an image. It actually represents a set of editing directions that change the original image to the target image, to the end image.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the user might say, hm, these two sets of, uh, adding directions seem interesting to me, because I see what's, uh, inside these two clusters on the right side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I can scatter them into new, a new set of clusters to see more fine, in a more fine grained manner, uh, how these two clusters edit the faces.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then I can repeat this process over and over until eventually I can select the type of editing that really closely matches my intents. So here's how it works in motion. The user can also change the number of clusters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or to get more images if they are not happy with the current batch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then they say they select these two clusters that interest them the most.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then they will scatter these into a new set of clusters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very similar to the technique we just saw in the 92 paper. They can also go back to previous cluster


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they can also test this adding direction on other images to see how they generalize.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And change the strength of applying the editing direction.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how well does it work? Uh, we conducted some evaluations. So here's the close-ended tasks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We gave participants some reference images and asked them, so here are the target images. Try to use this tool to find the editing direction that changed the reference image to target image. And the middle bunch were the participants' work using GANZILLA.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can see they could find a match amongst the many editing directions to move the image from the reference more, much closer to the target images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By comparing the similarities, we found that the similarity between the user-generated image and the target image is indeed greater than the similarity between the reference and the target image. Meaning that what they have found out using GANZILA is indeed closer to the target image compared to the reference images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The second test we did was running some, uh, multi-round, 36-round comparisons. In each round, we compare with 1,000 randomly sampled adding directions from the latent space. And amongst these 36-round,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 33 times we found that the user generated images ranked in the top 5 in similarity to the target images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We also conducted an open-ended task. So here, the user, the participant were asked to make the face in the reference image more, followed by a descriptive keyword. So each row, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] represents a descriptive keyword. So by looking at these results, could you guess which three keywords we gave the participants?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first row is actually older. Second, happier. And the last row, more surprised.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so to verify that they indeed succeeded in some, uh, to some degree, we ran some quantitative tests. We found that in terms of making the face older, age increases by 10 years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And when it comes to happy, the confidence level increases by 45% and then surprise increases by 56.7%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This proves that they were indeed moving along, uh, this intent of making them, this space is older, happier, and more surprised.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some other tests include using clip embeddings to compare the similarity between these descriptive keywords as well as the user-generated images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in particular, we compare these similarities between the user's work and the top 10 amongst 1,000 randomly generated sampled edits.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then we found that user-generated images are more similar to the free text keywords compared to just randomly finding directions from the latent space.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I would say it's still not outdated, this approach, because Ganzilla, our tool,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Assimilates users implicit intents beyond what text prompts are capable of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And why is that? Because with text prompts, it's hard to describe the exact facial features of old, happy and surprised that you have in mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have to look at the results and then maybe tweak the prompt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then try a bunch of results again until you happen to see one that matches what you have in mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Ganzilla allows users to discover what master intends using the scatter-gather techniques.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So some of you might notice a tiny detail in this figure I used a few slides ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, for example, uh, as of November last year, when I asked Mid Journey to give me a successful tech company CEO, often times it would return predominantly male images.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So why is that? It's actually technically a problem called entanglement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's because the attributes of CEO and male are entangled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For some reasons, in the generative process. That's why, uh, these models are always generating male CEO images. Even though it didn't specify that in your prompt.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So entanglement, uh, just shows that there is another problem in using AI.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It causes AI generation to misalign with human values. Because I don't believe any of us believe that human, uh, CEO should be male.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how do we design, uh, ways for users to combat this problem of misalignment?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the next uh, project precisely tackles this issue. Yes?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We probably should have tried other ways as well, but we primarily focus on taking


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, of course there are existing approaches to combat entanglement issues. Most of them are algorithm driven. For example, interface scan requires developers to predefine these entanglement rules for each domain and then human annotators to label large data sets.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So these are great ideas and they work, but I argue that there are still problems of these sorts of algorithm driven value alignment approaches.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] First, it's not possible to pre-define universally agreed upon value. For example, what bias means.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And secondly, even if you already have an algorithm driven disentanglement,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Approach working. You cannot guarantee that when it's shipped to the end users, the model will always generate bias-free images or other contents.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which means that we need to somehow provide the last line of defense for the users to combat entangled biased generation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in this project, we work on a user-driven direction disentanglement approach for GAN.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, here's the initial images. You can see some clear entanglement issues. Uh, when adding glasses to these faces, for some reasons, uh, the generative process is entangled with gender, male, and age, old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, for some reason it has some assumptions that, uh, people who wear glasses are often male and old people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so as an end user, when you see these results on the UI, uh, what can you do? So we came up with this idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, called global disentanglement by end users. So the end user would sample a bunch of positive, which means with glasses. And negative means without glasses. Examples.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And as they sample these examples, they can intentionally select those that are different, that, uh, counter the entanglement issues, like female with glasses, young people with glasses, and give these count examples more weights.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in this process, by providing the examples,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, this tool is able to overcome some of these entanglement issues. So, the results have improved as you can see that now, uh, the gender entanglement is gone. But the age entanglement is still there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then the users just continue to add more images, uh, to combat the age disentanglement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So besides global, you can probably imagine there are some local things, uh, to do for this entanglement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So indeed the user can say, uhm, I want to add glasses so areas around the eyes are okay, you can make changes. But you shouldn't change the background. So these two types of masks kind of provide users additional constraints specified to the model.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so there's a comparison of the three kinds of results before global, after global, and after global plus local entanglement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so how does work under the hood? So for global disentanglement,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We can visualize the problem as, so here's the gray error is an adding direction. So it's supposed to be parallel to glasses, but for some reason it's in between old and glasses. So we want to kind of rotate this, this adding direction more aligned or more parallel with glasses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the way we do that is by using the user's selected example, weighted examples to calculate this vector, add it to the original adding direction, uh, to make it less entangled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This, this blue vector was calculated from the user's selected weighted examples.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And for the local disentanglement, we look at the filters in a game model. So remember there are two masks. So one is here is okay to make changes, here is not okay to make changes. So we're intersecting with the filters so these two masks either strengthen certain edits or weaken certain edits to avoid the local disentanglement, to avoid local entanglement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so here are the results by participants in our study. We can see that using this tool they can deal with entanglement on their own without going through the algorithm driven retraining annotation process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And compared with some existing algorithm driven approaches, we can see the quality of this entanglement from our participants are comparable, sometimes even better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is encouraging because it tells us that the value alignment problem is not just about AI models. It can also be addressed on the user interface level.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so, so far I've talked about three example projects.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Co-designing both structure and appearance as a way to augment human's ability to do mechanical design via interactive sketching. And discovering implicit intents based on information foraging theory.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then allowing users to disentangle a biased image generation on the UI.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Interactive AI systems, it's still pretty nascent to me, at least the last two, uh, space, intents and values. And I believe there is a lot of opportunities for future work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So in interest time, I just want to briefly touch on some of the directions I'm thinking about in the future to see if, uh, some of you might have, uh, common ideas or inspirations we can discuss about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So first for augmenting human abilities, I believe one of the important missions for humanity is to support scientific discovery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So despite the tremendous progress we have seen in the past hundred years or so, surprisingly there's very little changes in certain scientific discovery process. So here's kind of a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But jokes aside, that's actually the case. There's really not much significant changes in the drug discovery process, which I think is still pretty suboptimal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is time and cost consuming? New drugs to the market usually cost a billion dollars over 14 years. And that's already guaranteed 10% success rate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it involves lots of manual work in an iterative multi-phase process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their iteration is really painful. They will start with a hundred case of compounds in the first phase to narrow down to hundreds of hits, and the second phase to tens of leads, and then the last phase to narrow down to one or two developmental candidates, assuming that the previous phases are successful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the question here is, given some existing AI developments that try to help this process, how can we design novel tools and systems to catalyze this kind of AI to actually help accelerate the drug discovery process?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the topic about assimilating human intents I'm thinking about is AI with a theory of mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So a theory of mine is this idea that we humans have some ways of inferring each other's mental states.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the figure here is the classic, uh, false belief test. So the mom asks the child, uh, what do you think is in the box? The box labels as Smarties. But when the child opens the box, it actually pencils. So now someone else enters the room. The mom asks the child, so what does that person think is in the box?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, a child who has developed a theory of mind would think about this problem from that person's perspective, who doesn't have his own knowledge about the box actually contains contents other than the smarties.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So why do we care about this? Because, uh, surprisingly or not surprisingly, AI these days is quite the opposite. It knows very little about the very human that is interacting with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just to give you an example. So here's what chat gbt actually currently sees as a human.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really, not nothing but a text prompt, right? He has no idea who you are, what you are doing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's going on in your mind? It's just nothing but a text box.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the question here is, how to catalyze this kind of AI with a theory of mind to infer a human's unspoken intents? And would that kind of new knowledge allow AI to be more helpful?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the last direction I'm thinking about is using AI to mediate human communication, uh, in support of value alignment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, we have established that there's really no universally agreed upon values. So that's why I think it's important, uh, to enable better communication.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Existing technologies often make communication more convenient, but that doesn't necessarily mean, uh, it would make humans better communicators.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every time we communicate, right, we have to generate thoughts in our brain, translate them into speech, uh, utter the speech which is heard by the other person, and then go the reverse way of becoming thoughts in their brain. So this is a very complicated and lengthy pathway. A lot of things could go wrong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A lot of things could be improved given the advances of AI.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To give an example, so my student Bruce worked on this project called Visual Captions. So trying to make our Zoom conversation more lively by automatically adding visuals. So let's take a look at his demo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, so even though it's not directly dealing with value alignment, I hope this kind of, uh, systems would inspire similar work to think about how we can support humans to better communicate shared values.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And more also importantly, I would like to explore how AI, instead of remaining on the sideline in this project, could take an even more, uh, aggressive or proactive role. How can AI directly participate in human communication?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not just as an observer and someone who suggests what to show but as something, as someone that's really similar to a human communicator in this process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, to summarize, uhm, we have talked about the three things that are certain in life, in 2024 and beyond. We are sure that AI is and will be changing humanity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Despite these promises of AI, we also know there's, and hope has always been, and always will be a gap between what AI can do and how AI can serve humanity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to close this gap, I believe we should be building interactive systems that catalyze AI to achieve these three levels of human-centered objectives.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's a very good point. So is there any way to measure the amount of disentanglement needed on that user interface? Or the amount of effort needed from the user?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the short answer is that we did not provide that kind of support, but it did come to us as an afterthought. So how would users actually tackle these entanglement issues? How many samples they would select? How many ways they would assign to different samples? I think future world should develop some sort of, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, data logging to observe this kind of user behavior and better understand how to use this tool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think there's a lot that could be done in the life cycle of developing these kind of AI models. From responsibly collecting training data.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To verifying the models such as it shouldn't


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, only recognize certain people because they dominate the training data.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To the design of user interface to inform


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so in the visual captions project we already developed, uh, the, the solution to your question is we let the user select three ways of AI proactiveness. So AI could either, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] suggest visuals on demand, so user have to press a button or AI would suggest the visuals automatically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you see a suggestion, but nothing would happen. You have to approve. All AI can add visuals automatically. So you trust it that you can allow AI to add visuals without you doing anything. So having these different levels of proactiveness for the user to choose from is our current approach.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To express their own creativity. So not everyone has to order from the same manufacturer to buy robotic leg. Each of us can create their own design.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While these tools help them ensure that their creation, uh, has sufficient structural integrity.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My understanding is that what you refer to is the more algorithmically driven approach where your developer have to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Disentangle. The model. Or they could have to train recognition.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Model to say, well, this is getting older, this is getting more surprised. And use that kind of additional models to enable semantic control.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, if that's what you mean, then yeaah, indeed, yeaah, that's already happening in the AI community. There's been a bunch of work, uh, using this kind of approach. And, uh, our work is almost complementary to what they do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So instead of, uhm, working with the model directly, we try to allow user interface level.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By developers. But it might still be problematic. Or you might still struggle to find what you want.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That means, uh, you would start from some sort of latent representation of an image or whatever you want to create. And then you would manipulate it through the network.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As long as you have this notion of editing direction, then the user interface doesn't have to change a lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we actually changed a bit from GANZILA to GANREVL. Instead of just working with vanilla game, we're actually working with style game. So it's not exactly the initial latent vector. It's actually the style vector. It's different, but it's the same concept. So that somehow shows


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We have some sort of generalizability beyond being coupled with just a static model.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Image generation. So whatever you use image generation for, it could be making a thumbnail of your YouTube video, creating a company logo. If you care about quality, then entanglement is a almost universal problem. And then those people can use this interface to improve the quality of the outcome of the AI models.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A hundred and eighty three dollars and sixty cents. Hey, Buzz, come here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kevin gives us our relatives, but we... Oh, it fits him good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right gents, turning my day meeting for week ending November 11th.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're just going to pick up a few players that have been flagged to go into the talent poll.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, obviously the performance gaps that we're looking at for 16s and 15s, uhm, are still the same position, so that's a right side centre back in the 16s, uh, and a holding or attacking midfielder in the 15s. Two players of interest that have been flagged up, so...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maldini Kukuri. Stevie Leonard did flag him up June.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Errol, would you stick you down at West Ham vs West Brom? Holding me field player there, doing well at the moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some players you'll have will have footballing ability, and they will have good executive decisions, but they'll lack physicality. You won't release those players. They're whispering talents, slow burners, so we'll sit on those players and allow them to develop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A player that can support the weaker units. So someone like Amaldini, we didn't just look at his...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Executive decision making, his mobility, but we also looked at his physicality.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and initial action in the moment for best, best outcomes is very, very good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Played against another target that plays for Fulham. Thought he'd done quite well in the position. Sort of stopped him from playing his usual game and that was why he stood out for me. Realistically, for me, he fits into our pillars.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I know she'll come to no harm while he lives. Meanwhile, Ham was blushing too. I did not know what to say. Unsure whether I still loved Emily, and was therefore jealous of Ham, or whether I was glad they were going to be happy together. But Stierforth always knew the right thing to say. And with a few well-chosen words, he made us all feel much more comfortable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we know that, uh, Mr. Harvey was a, uh, the former attorney general for the state of New Jersey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was not elected, but appointed, right? There's nothing wrong being appointed to position, right? I'm sure served a well, democratic, uh, uh, he's a Democrat. He is on the NFL's the racial and diversity committee is given recommendation NFL before a former prosecutor. Um, and I can just say this. I thought about it yesterday. Do you on my way home driving home? The son watching the screw. He's screwed. Yeah, you've been screwed from the beginning, right? And


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm just going to say this, right? Because we're on Friday, we're going to keep it real.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I'm in one of the best, I was in one of the best professional sports league unions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think the two best are the NBA and I think above the NBA, I think Major League Baseball is the best. I think we come in under second under the Major League Baseball.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've always been disturbed because I've never felt like the football players really exercise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The power that they had, right? And it's not even about a power play. It's just about a level playing field in the world of, of employment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if you don't, the union's job is really to protect the plate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're not standing behind the calls. We're not standing behind this. Your job is to represent my interests.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, as I put this together, I don't think that Sean Weiss is being represented to the fullest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've been saying it from the beginning. I say if you go back to the beginning of the deal, there's no way I would have had a collective bargaining agreement where I ever agreed to the beginning to say that, that we're going to have arbitrary to come in and if I don't like your decision, it's going to come back to me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They take these lump sum payments up front, right? And they just use that as, as, as clickbait for them later on. It's like the somebody holding a carrot in front of the horse. You keep coming for this carrot because you gonna need this carrot. Now, so when I was in the league, right? So Isaiah Thomas was running the Player's Association.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zeke gonna be on the show. You know, I had a talk with him. He will be on the show. And so Zeke, Zeke, Zeke kept, Isaiah Thomas kept it 100 with everybody. 100. And he said, look here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because they have to know that you will go to the mat for a position, right? So this is not even about, this is not even about Watson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The argument that's before you now is not even about the Sean Watson and the shenanigans, right? It's about equality and fairness in the process for all levels of employment here. Zeke told her, he said, listen, we're gonna just keep your money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It tells people low man on totem pole. Low man on totem pole is the person that's not making the most money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know what to tell you. We going to the mat on this one. I don't know how it's going to work out for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that's how we move it. That's how we move it. That's how we move it. And so when he's speaking, I know Magic running with it, MJ and them running with it, right? Because they not gonna buck the system, right? Because the only thing you have here is they must know that you will walk out the door at a time, not in the off season. Right? We, everybody,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gee, but you're leaving out a big portion of this here. And am I saying the guy not fair? I don't know him from Adam, but I know this. He's a prosecutor by nature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here, this is not despair. It's Peter C Harvey. I don't know him from Adam, right? But I know what I can read. I know I've been in the game. I know what the game can look like if you're not paying attention. Here's the story. He's a prosecutor by nature, right? By nature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you think he, he helped the NFL craft the discipline, disciplinary policy that you have today. How can, this thing is so incestuous.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't even know how it can even exist. I'm going to bring somebody because this has to be at a place where the you had a you had independent arbiter Sue Robinson first. I don't like that decision.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That decision don't fit, which is fine in the process, but we're not kicking it back to somebody internal that I could kick him in two days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, let me, let me, let me just go with this, right? Because I surveyed the landscape here and I said, I said, Watson is in a bad way, right? He's in a bad way. And here's the first thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I could never understood, I never understood at the beginning why the NFLPA came out the day before the decision by Sue Robinson and say that we're going to stand by, I don't know what you're going to do, I'm not agreeing to nothing until I see what you do, right? So now what happens is because they said they have not appealed, right, they would not appeal, so


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] De facto, by de facto way, they now have agreed to the six-game suspension. Unless they file an appeal to the six-game suspension by today. Right? So the first, so people run around and talk about, watch him go to court and he gonna play in the first, no he not. That's already done. Unless they file that appeal today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Secondly, that's the next question. Secondly, here's the only route. So let's let's say by what we see it's going to go bad because they don't feel coming for blood. They're not coming for six games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They want games and money. They want games, money and treatment the whole night and be able to do the perp walk. You gonna do the perp walk today? Yes, you are. I said, this is where the union is supposed to protect the interest. I don't know what the hell Watson does, but I know this. If I'm paying


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And my man showed me some of the fees they paid here. I said, the player association do fees. I said, this is what you get for your representation. A week. I said, this is what this is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But of the group. That's your job. I'ma tell you this. The Proggy, they will get, they will get


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The player association and the league, they have a, they have an incestuous, incestuous relationship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The way Watson is, where I left off on the Watson thing is, so, unless they file that appeal by today, right? The six games was a foregone conclusion. Yes. Right? And I will tell you this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause I even got on the phone, I said, let me call some folks I know in labor law, right? And I, cause it disturbed me. I'm putting all of this together now. They say Watson got two chances. Two. Let's talk about it. The two chances are one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The NFLPA better be racing to Delaware to file that case in Delaware. They say there's two things. You either file in Delaware or you try to figure out how to get it to Cleveland. They say that's the only place you can go. They say what you better not do is let it go to New York.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So why do you think it is that you, if you're paying attention to this, why do you think it is that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In every statement that NFL has released in the last 48 hours.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They put that last clause in there about this ruling is binding. Yup. They want you to know this, right? And so my folks say, you gotta get to Delaware.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They said, why, I said, why, why you go to Delaware? I said, because Delaware is a little bit more liberal about the thing, right? About how they adjudicate things. And the other case is this. Sue Robinson from Delaware.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The people that would hear this are probably friends of Sue Robin. Wow. They're not gonna let her be undermined here, right? That's a very great. So it better. I say so, but the case for the NFLPA is you have to be willing to go to the match.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That means the mad is, you gotta be willing to go to the man on this thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If it's cash and checks. Cause this is, this is, this is not as so I'm talking to you. This is not about Deshaun Watson. I ain't hit you by wagging to Deshaun Watson. I don't know what happened.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I'ma tell you what though, if I saw that money you paying, paying as a fee. Oh no, you're gonna represent my interest. Yes, you are. That's what your job is. Because your job is to keep it level here. To keep it close, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the way this is set up, if anybody who got two eyes, a good vision, 20, 20 vision, you'd be 20, 40 vision 20. He on the road to a pathway here that is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Go ahead. Let's see. Here we go. This NFL's appeal is to try and watch the sanctions for multiple sources. They want one year. I told you they come for blood here. One year indefinite suspension plus treatment plus let's say no fine. Oh, they want some money. Oh, yeah, because they're gonna trade off something for the money. Well, that's the biggest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why he ain't even losing no money. Honestly, the NFL is not be made a fool of, right? Yes, the Browns, the Browns, this contract are making a mockery of the NFL, right? Because they're trying to hold this one thing together. They said, we know how you stage this contract. Tell me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm looking bad. It looks bad. So I'm not saying they here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're not trying to malign anybody. They only operated within the rules that are on the table. Yeah, right. So don't get mad at them because the rule your rules allowed it to happen. So again, I say this. I say I'm not hitching my my wagon edition. I don't know what happened. I've been saying that from the beginning, but I and to your


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, and I'll say this to you, De'Quil, I think that, you know, I'm glad that you said that. You never know as a young player, you really understand, you don't really understand how this game can affect.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People going down the line. Cause when you're negotiating these collective bargains, it's not really for you. You're gonna get a little bit of it. It's for the people that come behind you. Cause you setting the trend for everybody else that comes behind you. I will say this though.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And listen, I'm, well, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm emphatic about this. I'm not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the shine. Why is this going to go where it go? Right? Only I want to see is that the process is a fair process, right? Somebody hears the case and all the merits of the case and then makes a decision from there. What I don't like is this. The game is rigged from the beginning, right? And NFLPA agreed to it. I'm stunned by that. I'm stunned and I won't even go to the players who is representing the group.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because if you don't like to do it, you go, go get the baseball boy. He the baddest boy out here. Go get him because the one thing that they will do is this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm with them, not with you. I'm with them, right? My answer is I'm getting paid from this group. I'm going to represent them to the fullest. Now you tell me you who their right mind would have agreed to a process like this and then to the quells point the quell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, well, let me ask you, because G and I have had these conversations. I mean, the way, the way I see it is this, that there's not much wiggle room here, right? So either the player association is going to go all the way in, and that means starting with today, found an appeal against Sue Roberts, going against their own thing for the first six games.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unless they do that, he doesn't have a chance to play in, in, in the beginning games because they've already basically agreed to the six game suspension. So unless they're going to go all the way to the mat, the only role I see out here before, uh, for Deshaun Watson is basically this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To negotiate a settlement with NFL, which is going to give them more game than some money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so we're going to be able to walk this back because if he, if they're not willing to go all the way to quell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is going to be a circus and a sideshow here for a long time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unless, only, the only way forward is a settlement with Delete. Because unless you disagree, because in Sue Robinson's report,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She basically said I found just cause, uh, uh, that you can believe that there was a, there was a crime committed, right? And so I'm going to give you the six game. So unless you dispute that finding.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're agreeing to the personal conduct policy problem that exists, right? So unless the league is ready, the player association is ready to play this game all the way out. There's only one avenue. But I said, I said this from the beginning, G. Here's the problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Players Association has been playing one level chess.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause anybody tell me was it worth the three million because I'm not even on the Watson thing. I could go any other case that just went down. I like somebody has to represent the interest of the group first that just just the flagship for us to even get to the question of having a legal. I mean a fair play level playing field.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause I, I go back to Mr. Quell, I mean, listen here, I, and I hate to bring up old news and old dirt. Then we forget about what happened to Ben Roethlisberger.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would, I would go back to the people that were involved. I bet you they would dispute that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the words of, in the words of Rick Patino, Baker Mayfield now walking back through that door. Now, so Jacobi Brissette, I'm gonna need you to get in the, uh, the, the video room and the paper and go over to the house and hunt house and stay there for the weekend.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, Carlos, to your point, I mean, I think those times are unrivaled here in Cleveland. I mean, for those that have followed you guys for the duration of that time, it was a special time here in the city.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me ask you this, now we fast forward to 2022.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the direction has changed. And you know the market. What do you think? What do you think the position that they're in now? And what do you think the future holds for the Guardians?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, you know, obviously we, it's a new dynamic here. You play for the Indians. It's now called the Guardians. Which one do you prefer?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right here. I know that there are a lot of people here sympathetic. There he is. There he is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and I agree. You have to be sympathetic to both sides of it, right? You know, as a kid growing up here, a kid growing up here, not a kid, but as a young adult growing up here that Indians team in the 90s. Awesome.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you saw him everywhere. You saw the guys there. I saw, I see, I would see Kenny Lofton everywhere in this town. Yes, I would. Right. And you were embedded in the fabric of the city of Cleveland. And that's why I think most people appreciate about that team because we were just riding the ride. Hell, we had been nowhere near where you guys have been in a long time around here. It was just fun to be a part of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right, that's right, that's how you get better out here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Last question to you, Carlos. Out of all the players on the Guardians roster, who's the one that you're most intrigued by?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Free agents. That's the last time free agents wanted to sign and come to Cleveland. That I can remember in any sport really, right? They just, I mean, Winfield, Hirshheiser, all of them showed up here. Dennis Martinez, Eddie Murray, Eddie Murray, all of them showed up here. I mean, because it was, it was that hot here, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was, it was filled with hot. HOT! And so I know, I know in a couple of weeks, a week or so we're gonna have Neil Weiss and the Guardians on, uh, on set with us or online now to how we plan it. Uh, to explain about the new, uh, progressive field expansion project and what all is happening here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was to G's point when Jekyll Field, it was state of the art. I mean this thing was, I mean you couldn't even get a ticket to go down here. That's how hot it was. If you got in the building, it was unbelievable. And to be honest,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I guess I'll just say this, so to tie this to your point, Buzzy got his money off, right? He don't tell you how much of a split he got. Did he get a 60-40 split? He takes 60, the girls take 40, it's a 50-50 split. It's a significant sum.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has some, he has some responsibilities of being an advocate of the court. Like that statement there like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, this has not been adjudicated all the way out yet. It has not. So why are you talking about Gadiel? What are you going to do? It's still not too late to do the right thing here, right? And so again, it kind of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Get away from, there was a, there was a, there was a criminal proceeding in Texas where they're all from, right? There's a criminal proceeding in Texas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It discounts that and you know, again, we're just lazy. We don't know the inner workings of everything. There's been more people see more than we've seen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As we go down this, they kind of get away from what happened in Texas and kind of discard it like, like, like it didn't even exist. So there's something that folks saw in Texas that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, now, now we get to the, the other side of it. There's another side that says, okay, this is what we see. We're into the two worlds coming together, but I don't think Busby should be out here talking about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You tell me, is Deshaun Watson playing the Player Association monthly dues? Is he playing? It's check to check. So he's still paying it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not one press conference. Not one. Like, you just want to keep the playing field level. Right? Right. Level.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just level. So you have a, you know, so you could adjudicate your case in the court of law. Now, they're frying you in the public here. You're getting fried here in the public. You're getting fried and nobody from here sees me on his side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You sit here and say you're not here arguing Deshaun Watson's case.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how are you going to make me guilty? You're talking criminal versus private enterprise. So you got a private enterprise. The only thing you can push back is the union is the way to properly push back. And the only way you get to a fair settlement here is that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The player association has to be willing to put forth an effort saying that. They gotta go to the mat. You gotta go to the mat here. Alright, and the mat is, but let me just say when I say go to the mat so folks will know what I'm talking about when I say go to the mat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You gotta be willing to bleed some. And bleed in this business is in money, right? It's in, it's in money, right? That means that everybody's not gonna make it, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The city gonna lose on, on the parking tax, the emissions tax, everybody gonna lose, right? You're gonna bring all arms to bear, not to bring them down, but bring it to the table so we can have a real discussion about


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Saying this, I was going to go down. Trust me and believe that it's going to go down. And if they don't do that, see, because what they do type is see is make sure we peel off a few.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they sit over there and say, well guess what, I'm good. I got mine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm a classic dude. I love the Browns. I just like their little elf. That's all I like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, right. So I would say, and I say this because it's the type of, I'm glad he brought it up because.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Out of anything else, that's somebody's child, right? And, and when you're in a situation where, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Your freedom was taken away and you see her locked in that cage. She was locked in that cage. She was basically locked in the cage and, and be clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I've said it before, the politics behind the scene are going on right now. Brittany, Brittany Greiner is coming home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Come on, the United States is going to give up some substantial to get her home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right? They're gonna, it's gonna take some time. You think, you don't think Poole is taking great joy in this. See, I have played in, I have, Magic, I was on Magic Johnson's tour team. We went to Moscow and played in front of the Kremlin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a U.S.A. vs. United States basketball game. In a summertime friendly game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was on an elevated stage outside in front of the Kremlin with 20,000 people surrounding the, the, the court. This was a bonus and all of them, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I swear I was sitting, I'm sitting there talking to Michael Cooper. I'm like, man, this is, I'm looking around. I'm like, something right here. We gotta get up out of here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I couldn't wait till that plane got up out of there. Cause it was just different. You could tell it was different. So, you know, so you find out when you go to other parts of the country, things happen to you. So be clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you don't think the Biden administration is working on this behind the scenes, they're here. And he's slow walking it because he's trying to extract something. Why? Because we're funding the people in Ukraine to keep firing on them, right? So this is going to take a minute.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This one, they, they gonna slow walk this. So she not coming home anytime soon, but she coming, right? But be clear, if you don't think this is on their agenda, it's definitely on their agenda. It's a, it's a heartache for everybody involved in it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So let me, let me go to this and I'm going to be quick and succinct. You heard something before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I am a proponent of is a fair process for everybody involved, right? And I don't ever like it when it's one-sided and the league must think I'm stupid because I'm not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're playing a, you're playing a game. You're trying to, you're trying to, you're trying to have your cake and eat it too, right? And you're going to extract because what you're doing is you're playing a game of public opinion and you don't care who you're extracting it on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's why I keep asking, is the league ready to, is the player associate ready to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not here to argue what happened to this, that, or the other, right? That's gonna, that's gonna fair itself out at the end. But what I do not like is when you show me


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, if you read between the lines of things that are going on here, they have set the game in motion years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And now they're extracting all the pieces because you're playing one level chess where they're playing three level chess.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So these pieces, look at all the pieces, how they come into play. Everybody's connected to everyone here, right? There's a connection here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The guy who's gonna decide the case is the guy that helped craft the policy for the, the player, uh, uh, uh, personnel, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Somebody with unbiased to the situation, who is skilled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who is skilled at adjudicating such issues. And the only way it happens


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Aside from Deshaun Watson or Rafflesburg or anybody else, is you have to bring parties to the table that are sitting there in fairness trying to, obviously trying to get the best deal they can, but it has to be some fairness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And time and time again I see the NFL Players Association always coming up short.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Always coming up short. And out of all the players, uh, professional players out here, and I'll say this to Tyvis and Gene, years come down the line, they're always in the worst shape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The players who play football are always in the worst shape because the physical toll that you put on yourself every day is far greater than what the basketball players and the baseball players do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, and I know you have families and they love you and you want to stick around here. So somebody better be at the table.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cutting the deal. And it's these set of current players that will lay the groundwork for the ones that come behind. LeBron James didn't get paid then without Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson cutting the table. And Isaiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan cutting the deals years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because when I got in the league, nobody get no money like that. Nobody getting their money off like this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you think it's because you're the greatest thing out of St. Vincent and St. Mary, mm-mm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The dude out of North Carolina, the dude out of Lansing, Michigan, the dude out of Chicago, Illinois, set the table so you can get this money. Right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now, when the football players gonna set the table for the dude out of, uh, uh, Steubenville, Ohio, that's just four years old now? I'm tired of it. I hope that they become tired of it, too. Right? It's time. And this ain't about to Sean Watson. It's time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it, man. That's it. Listen, we'll see what the table turns here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Book One. The Fellowship of the Ring. Chapter One. A Long-Expected Party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bilbo was very rich, and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The riches he had brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That the hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if that was not enough for fame, there was also his prolonged vigour to marvel at.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Time wore on, but it seemed to have little effect on Mr. Baggins. At 90, he was much the same as 50. At 99, they began to call him well-preserved, but unchanged would have been nearer the mark.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were some that shook their heads and thought this was too much of a good thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It seemed unfair that anyone should possess, apparently, perpetual youth, as well as reputedly inexhaustible wealth. It'll have to be paid for, they said. It isn't natural, and trouble will come of it. So far, trouble had not come, and as Mr. Baggins was generous with his money, most people were willing to forgive him his oddities and his good fortune. He remained on visiting terms with his relatives, except of course, the Sackville Bagginses.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When Bilbo was 99, he adopted Frodo as his heir and brought him to live at Bag End. And the hopes of the Sackville Bagginses were finally dashed. Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September the 22nd. You had better come and live here, Frodo, my lad, said Bilbo one day. And then we can celebrate our birthday parties comfortably together. At that time, Frodo was still in his tweens.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at 33. Twelve more years passed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Each year the Bagginses had given very lively combined birthday parties at Bag End. But now it was understood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That something quite exceptional was being planned for that autumn. Bilbo was going to be eleventy-one. One, one, one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A rather curious number, and a very respectable age for a hobbit. Though Took himself had only reached 130. And Frodo was going to be 33. Three, three. An important number. The date of his coming of age.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Tongues began to wag in Hobbiton and Bywater, and rumour of the coming event travelled all over the Shire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The history and character of Mr. Bilbo Baggins became once again the chief topic of conversation, and the older folk suddenly found their reminiscences in welcome demand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No one had a more attentive audience than Old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the gaffer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He held forth at the Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater Road, and he spoke with some authority, for he attended the garden at Bag End for forty years, and had helped Old Holman in the same job before that. Now that he was himself growing old and stiff in the joints, the job was mainly carried on by his youngest son, Sam Gamgee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Both father and son were on very friendly terms with Bilbo and Frodo. They lived on the hill itself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With perfect truth, for Bilbo was very polite to him calling him Master Hanfast, and consulting him constantly upon the growing of vegetables.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the matter of roots, especially potatoes, the gaffer was recognized as the leading authority by all in the neighborhood, including himself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But he's more than half a brandy back, they say.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Beats me why any baggage in Hobbiton should go looking for a wife away there in Buckland. Where folks are so queer. And no wonder they're queer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Put in daddy two foot. The gaffer's next door neighbor. If they live on the wrong side of the brandy wine river and write again the old forest!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a dark place if half the tales be true. You're right then, said the gaffer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not that the brownie bucks of Brooklyn live in the old forest. They're a queer breed, seemingly. They fall about with boats on that big river and that's- that is unnatural. It's more wonder that trouble came of it, I say. But be that as it may, Mr. Frodo is as nice a young hobbit as you could wish to meet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A decent respectable hobbit was Mr. Drogo Baggins. Well, there never was much to tell of him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Said several voices. They had heard this in other darker rumors before, of course, but hobbits have a passion for family history, and they were ready to hear it again. Well, so they say, said the gaffer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You see, Mr. Drogo, he married poor Miss Primula Brandybuck. She was our Mr. Bilbo's first cousin on her mother's side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Her mother being the youngest of the Old Took's daughters, and Mr. Droga was his second cousin. So Mr. Frodo is his first and second cousin once removed either way, as the saying is, if you follow me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Mr. Drogo was staying at Brandy Hall with his father-in-law, Master Gorbunok, as he often did after his marriage. Him being partial to his vitals, and an old Gorbunok keeping a mighty generous table.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You shouldn't listen to all you hear, Sandman," said the gaffer, who did not much like the miller. There is no call to go talking of pushing and pulling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boats are quite tricky enough for those that sit still without looking further for the cause of trouble. Anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was this Mr. Frodo left in orphan and stranded, as you might say, among those queer book-launders. Being brought up anyhow in Brandy Hall.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A regular war in by all accounts. Old Master Gorbatov never had fewer than a couple of hundred relations in the place. Mr. Bilbo never did a kinder deed than when he brought the lad back to live among decent folk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I reckon it was a nasty shock for those sack wheelback inches. They thought they were gonna get back in that time when he went off and was thought to be dead. And then he comes back and orders them off.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And goes on living and living and never looking a day older. Bless him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And suddenly he produces an air. And as all the pipers made out proper, the Sackville packages won't ever see the insider back in now. Or it is to be hoped not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the top of your hill is full of tunnels packed with chests of gold and silver and jewels by what I've heard. Then you've heard more than I can speak to. Answer the gaffer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know nothing about jewels. Mr. Pilpo's free with his money, and there seems to be no lack of it, but I know


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There wasn't enough to fill tunnels. But my lad Sam, we'll know more about that. He's in and out of Bag End.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I might say it to others, he added with a look at the stranger and the miller.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the gaffer did not convince his audience. The legend of Bilbo's wealth was now too firmly fixed in the minds of the younger generation of hobbits.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About what you know no more than you do about Mr. Sandy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] retorted the gaffer, disliking the miller even more than usual.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If that's being queer, then we could do with a bit more queerness in these parts. There's some not far away that wouldn't offer a pint of beer to a friend if they lived in a hole of golden walls.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That very month was September, and as fine as you could ask.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A day or two later, a rumour, probably started by the knowledgeable Sam, was spread about that there were going to be fireworks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fireworks, what is more, such as had not been seen in the Shire for nigh on a century. Not indeed since the old tuke died. Days passed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the day drew nearer. An odd-looking wagon, laden with odd-looking packages, rolled into Hobbiton one evening, and toiled up the hill to Bag End.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The startled hobbits peered out of lamplit doors to gape at it. It was driven by outlandish folk, singing strange songs. Dwarves with long beards and deep woods. A few of them remained at Bag End.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the end of the second week in September, a cart came in through by water from the direction of the Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight. An old man was driving it all alone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It had a cargo of fireworks, as they rightly guessed. At Bilbo's front door, the old man began to unload. There were great bundles of fireworks of all sorts and shapes, each labelled with the large red Feanorium G and the Elfroon G. That was Gandalf's mark, of course, and the old man was Gandalf the Wizard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His real business was far more difficult and dangerous. But the Shia folk knew nothing about it. To them he was just one of the attractions at the party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They knew him by sight, though he only appeared in Hobbiton occasionally, and never stopped long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bilbo gave a few pennies away, but not a single squib or cracker was forthcoming, to the disappointment of the onlookers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Shut. The young hobbit stared at the door in vain for a while, and then made off, feeling that the day of the party would never come.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Inside Bag End, Bilbo and Gundalf were sitting at the open window of a small room looking out west onto the garden. The late afternoon was bright and peaceful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The flowers glowed red and golden, snapdragons and sunflowers and asturtions trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm very fond indeed of it. And of all the dear, oh Shire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You mean to go on with your plan then? I do. I made up my mind months ago and I, and I haven't changed it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, I mean to enjoy myself on Thursday and have my little joke. Who will laugh, I wonder, said Gandalf, shaking his head. We shall see, said Bilbo. The next day, more carts rolled up the hill. And still more carts. There might have been some grumbling about dealing locally.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At that very week, orders began to pour out of Bag End for every kind of provision, commodity, or luxury that could be obtained in Hobbiton or Bywater, or anywhere in the neighborhood. People became enthusiastic, and they began to tick off the days on the calendar. And they watched eagerly for the postman, hoping for invitations.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a constant stream of them going up the hill, carrying hundreds of polite variations on, thank you, I shall certainly come. A notice appeared on the gate at Bag End. No admittance except on party business.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even those who had or pretended to have party business were seldom allowed inside. Bilbo was busy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Writing invitations, ticking off answers, packing up presents and making some private preparations of his own.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From the time of Gandalf's arrival, he remained hidden from view.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One morning, the hobbits woke to find the large field south of Bilbo's front door, covered with ropes and poles for tents and pavilions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A special entrance was cut into the bank leading to the road, and wide steps and a large white gate were built there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a specially large pavilion, so big that the tree that grew in the field was right inside it, and stood proudly near one end.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the head of the chief table, lanterns were hung on all its branches.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More promising still, to the hobbit's mind, an enormous open-air kitchen was erected in the north corner of the field.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A draft of cooks from every inn and eating house for miles around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Arrived to supplement the dwarves and other odd folk that were quartered at Bag End. Excitement rose to its height. Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday, the eve of the party. Anxiety was intense. Then Thursday, September the 22nd, actually dawned. The sun got up, the clouds vanished, flags were unfurled, and the fun began.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Many people from other parts of the Shire were also asked. And there were even a few from outside the borders.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bilbo met the guests and additions at the new White Gate in person. He gave away presents to all in sundry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The latter were those who went out again by a back way and came in again by the gate. Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually in Hobbiton and Bywater, every day in the year, it was somebody's birthday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So that every hobbit in those parts had a fair chance of at least one present at least once a week. But they never got tired of them. On this occasion, the presents were unusually good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The hobbit children were so excited that for a while they almost forgot about eating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were toys the like of which they had never seen before. All beautiful. And some obviously magical.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When every guest had been welcomed and was finally inside the gate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But lunch and tea were marked chiefly by the fact that at those times, all the guests were sitting down and eating together. At other times, there were nearly lots of people eating and drinking, continuously from 11 C's until 6.30, when the fireworks started. The fireworks were by Gandalf. They were not only brought by him, but designed and made by him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were pillars of colored fires that rose and turned into eagles, or sailing ships, or a phalanx of flying swans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a forest of silver spears that sprang suddenly into the air with a yell like an embattled army and came down again into the water with a hiss like a hundred hot snakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there was also one last surprise. In honor of Bilbo, and it startled the hobbits exceedingly, as Gandalf intended. The lights went out. A great smoke went up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It shaped itself like a mountain, seening in the distance, and began to glow at the summit. It spouted green and scarlet flames. Out flew a red golden dragon. Not life-size, but terribly life-like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fire came from its jaws. Its eyes glared down. There was a roar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he whizzed three times over the heads of the crowd.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For everyone that is, except those invited to the special family dinner party, this was held in the great pavilion with the treat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The invitations were limited to twelve dozen, a number also called by the hobbits one gross, though the word was not considered proper to use of people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the guests were selected from all the families to which Bilbo and Frodo were related.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the addition of a few special unrelated friends, such as Gandalf.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Four hobbits were easygoing with their children in the matter of sitting up late, especially when there was a chance of getting them a free meal. Bringing up young hobbits took a lot of preventer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were many bagginses and boffins, and also many tukes and brandybucks. There were various grubs, relations of Bilbo Baggins' grandmother, and various chubs, connections of his tuk grandfather.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of these were only very distantly connected with Bilbo, and some of them had hardly ever been inhabited before, as they lived in remote corners of the Shire. The Sackville Bagginses were not forgotten. Otho and his wife Lobelia were present.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They disliked Bilbo and detested Frodo. But so magnificent was the invitation card, written with golden ink, that they had felt it was impossible to refuse.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Besides, their cousin, Bilbo, had been specializing in food for many years, and his table had a high reputation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All the 144 guests expected a pleasant feast, though they rather dreaded the after-dinner speech of their host, an inevitable item.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was liable to drag in bits of what he called poetry, and sometimes, after a glass or two, would allude to the absurd adventures of his mysterious journey.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The guests were not disappointed. They had a very pleasant feast. In fact, an engrossing entertainment. Rich, abundant, varied, and prolonged.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The purchase of provisions fell almost to nothing throughout the district in the ensuing weeks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But as Bilbo's catering had depleted the stocks of most stores, sellers and warehouses from miles around, that did not matter much. After the feast, more or less, came the speech. Most of the company were, however, now in a tolerant mood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At that delightful stage which they called filling up the corners.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were sipping their favorite drinks and nibbling at their favorite dainties, and their fears were forgotten.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were prepared to listen to anything and to cheer at every full stop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] began Bilbo, rising in his place. Here, here, here, here, they shouted, and kept on repeating it in chorus, seeming reluctant to follow their own advice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hooray! Hooray! Many happy returns, they shouted. And they hammered joyously on the teams.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was the sort of stuff they liked. Short and obvious.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Most of them bore the mark Bale on them, which did not convey much to most of the hobbits, but they all agreed they were marvellous crackers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They contained instruments, small but of perfect make and enchanting tones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Indeed, in one corner, some of the young toques and brandybucks, supposing Uncle Bilbo to have finished, since he had plainly said all that was necessary, now got up and impromptu orchestra, and began a merry dance tune. Master Everard Tuke and Miss Mellilock Brandybuck got on the table, and with bells in their hands began to dance the Spring Ring. A pretty dance, but rather vigorous.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Bilbo had not finished. Seizing a horn from a youngster nearby, he blew three loud hoots.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And cried. Cheers from all the assembly. I have called you all together. For a purpose. Something in the way that he said this made an impression. There was almost silence. And one or two of the toques pricked up their ears. Indeed, for three purposes. First of all,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know half of you half as well as I should like. And I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was some scattered clapping, but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And some loud shouts of Frodo, Frodo, jolly old Frodo from the Junius. The Sachtelbaggins is scowled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And wondered what was meant by coming into his inheritance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No cheers. This was ridiculous.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Many of his guests, and especially the Sackville Bagginses, were insulted, feeling sure they had only been asked to fill up the required number, like goods in a package. On gross indeed. Vulgar expression.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion, I was only 51 then and birthdays did not seem so important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very much for coming to my little party. Obstinate silence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They all feared that the song or some poetry was now imminent. And they were getting bored. Why couldn't he stop talking and let them drink his health? But Bilbo did not sing or recite. He paused for a moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He spoke this last word so loudly and suddenly that everyone sat up who still could I regret to announce that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you. This is the end. I am going. I am leaving. Now. Goodbye. He stepped down and vanished. There was a blinding flash of light, and the guests all blinked. When they opened their eyes, Bilbo was nowhere to be seen.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 144 flabbergasted hobbits sat speechless. Old Odo Proudfoot removed his feet from the table and stamped,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then there was a dead silence. Until suddenly, after several deep breaths, every Baggins, Boffin, Toot, Brandy, Buck, Grunt, Chubb, Burrows, Bulger, Brace, Goedel, Brock, Housegood, Bodhi, Hornblower, and Proudfoot began to talk at once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was generally agreed that the joke was in very bad taste, and more food and drink were needed to cure guests of shock and annoyance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even the toques, with a few exceptions, Little Bilbo's behavior was absurd.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the moment most of them took it for granted that his disappearance was nothing more than a ridiculous prank. But old Rory Brandybuck was not so sure.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Neither age nor an enormous dinner had cladded his wits, and he said to his daughter-in-law Esmeralda,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He called loudly to Frodo to send the wine round again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Frodo was the only one present who had said nothing. For some time he had sat silent beside Bilbo's empty chair, and ignored all remarks and questions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had enjoyed the joke of course, even though he had been in the know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He had difficulty in keeping from laughter at the indignant surprise of the guests, but at the same time, he felt deeply troubled. He realized suddenly that he loved the old Hobbit dearly. Most of the guests went on eating and drinking, and discussing Bilbo Baggins' oddities past and present, but the Sackville Bagginses had already departed in wrath. Frodo did not want to have any more to do with the party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He gave orders for more wine to be served. Then he got up and drained his own glass silently to the health of Bilbo and slipped out of the pavilion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even while he was making his speech, he had been fingering the golden ring in his pocket. His magic ring that he had kept secret for so many years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As he stepped down, he stepped it on his finger, and he was never seen by any hobbit in Hobbiton again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He walked briskly back to his home and stood for a moment listening with a smile to the din in the pavilion and to the sounds of making in other parts of the field. Then he went in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He took off his party clothes, folded up and wrapped in tissue paper his embroidered silk waistcoat, and put it away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then he put on quickly some old untidy garments and fastened round his waist a worn leather belt. On it he hung a short sword and a battered black leather scabbard. From a locked drawer smelling of old mothballs he took out an old cloak and hood. They had been locked up as if they were very precious.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And from a large strong box took out a bundle wrapped in old cloths and a leather bound manuscript and also a large bulky envelope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The book and bundle he stuffed into the top of a heavy bag that was standing there already nearly full. Into the envelope he slipped his golden ring and its fine chain and then sealed it and addressed it to Frodo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes I do, said Bilbo, though that flash was surprising. It quite startled me, let alone the others. A little addition of your own, I suppose.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I would spoil my joke. Oh, you are an interfering old busybody. Laugh Bilbo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel I need a holiday. A very long holiday as I have told you before. Probably a permanent holiday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, I don't mean to, and I have made all arrangements.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am old, Gandalf. I don't look it, but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts. Well preserved indeed, he snorted. Why, I feel all thin. Sort of stretched, if you know what I mean. Like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. I can't be right. I need a change. Or something.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gandalf looked curiously and closely at him. No, it does not seem right, he said thoughtfully.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then find somewhere where I can rest. In peace and quiet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Without a lot of relatives prying around and a string of confounded visitors hanging on the bell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have thought of a nice ending for it. And he lived happily ever after.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To the end of his days. Gundalf laughed. I hope he will.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nobody will read the book, however it ends. Oh, they may in years to come. Frodo has read some already, as far as it has gone. You'll keep an eye on Frodo, won't you? Yes, I will. Two eyes, as often as I can spare them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He would come with me of course if I asked him. In fact he offered to once just before the party. But he does not really want to yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to see the wild country again before I die, and the mountains, but he is still in love with the Shire, with the woods and the fields and little rivers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He ought to be comfortable here. I am leaving everything to him of course, except a few ornaments. I hope he will be happy when he gets used to being on his own. It's time he was his own master now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stand at Bilbo. Where is it? In an envelope if you must know, said Bilbo impatiently.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here it is in my pocket, he hesitated. Isn't that odd now, he said softly to himself. Yet after all, why not? Why shouldn't it stay there? Gandalf looked again very hard at Bilbo, and there was a gleam in his eyes. I think, Bilbo, he said quietly, I should leave it behind. Don't you want to?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And a curious change came over his voice. It was sharp with suspicion and annoyance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, yes, there is no need to get angry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can go yourself and be free. I'll do as I choose and go as I please, said Bilbo obstinately. Now, now, my dear Hobbit, said Gandalf. All your long life we have been friends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you owe me something. Come. Do as you promised. Give it up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His hands strayed to the hilt of a small sword. Gandalf's eyes flashed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He took a step towards the hobbit, and he seemed to grow tall and menacing. His shadow filled the little room.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bilbo backed away to the wall, breathing hard, his hand clutching at his pocket. They stood for a while facing one another. And the air of the room tingled. Gandalf's eyes remained bent on the hobbit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Slowly, his hands relaxed, and he began to tremble.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then trust mine, said Gandalf. It is quite made up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have said goodbye and I couldn't bear to do it all over again. He picked up his bag and moved to the door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Goodbye, he said, looking at his old home and bowing to the door.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Take care. I don't care. Don't you worry about me. I'm as happy now as I have ever been. And that is saying a great-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He added, and then in a low voice, as if to himself, he sang softly in the dark.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then without another word, he turned away from the lights and voices in the fields and tents, and followed by his three companions, went round into his garden, and trotted down the long sloping path. He jumped over a low place in the hedge at the bottom.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And took to the meadows, passing into the night, like a rustle of wind into grass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Gandalf remained for a while staring after him into the darkness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Frodo came in soon afterwards and found him sitting in the dark, deep in thought. Has he gone? he asked. Yes, answered Gandalf. He has gone at last.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think really he preferred slipping off quietly in the end. Said Gandalf. Don't be too troubled.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where it is? Frodo took the envelope from the mantelpiece and glanced at it, but did not open it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Said the wizard. You are the master of Bag End now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No sir, I fancy you will find a golden ring.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As Master of Bag End, Frodo felt it his painful duty to say goodbye to the guests. Rumors of strange events had by now spread all over the field, as Frodo would only say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No doubt everything will be cleared up in the morning. About midnight, carriages came for the important folk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One by one they rolled away, filled with full, but very unsatisfied hobbits. Gardeners came by arrangement, and removed in wheelbarrows those that had inadvertently remained behind. Night slowly passed. The sun rose. The hobbits rose rather later. Morning went on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People came and began by orders to clear away the pavilions and the tables and the chairs and the spoons and knives and bottles and plates and the lanterns and the flowering shrubs and boxes and the crumbs and cracker paper, the forgotten bags and gloves and handkerchiefs and the uneaten food, a very small item.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then, a number of other people came, without orders.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bagginses and Bothans and Bulgers and Tooks and other guests that lived or were staying near.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By midday, when even the best fed were out and about again, there was a large crowd at Bag End. Uninvited. But not unexpected.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Frodo was waiting on the step, smiling but looking rather tired and worried. He welcomed all the callers, but he had not much more to say than before. His reply to all inquiries was simply this.