text:
NOTE : Activation key must be used on a valid Steam account, requires internet connection.

About the game

[TheTechnomancer_Title]
THE TECHNOMANCER is a sci-fi RPG set on Mars, featuring dynamic combat and an epic story line, where your choices will affect the fate of the Red Planet. You are a Technomancer, a formidable warrior harnessing destructive electrical powers. Embark on a perilous journey across a planet torn apart by conflict and infested with mutant creatures.

Travel with your companions, choosing between diplomacy, combat or trickery to resolve quests. Gain experience to level up your character, and learn new skills or upgrade perks across 4 unique skill trees. Loot, buy and craft more powerful equipment and weaponry for yourself and teammates, to stand a chance of surviving!

Only you can forge the destiny of Mars.

[TheTechnomancer_Features]

-   An adventure set on the terraformed deserts of a post-apocalyptic Red Planet
-   Three combat styles with deep character customization
-   Unleash powerful Technomancy abilities on your foes
-   In-depth crafting changes the appearance and stats of weapons and armour
-   A world that reacts to your decisions
-   Relationships with your companions open new pathways and quests

system requirements

-   OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 (64-bit versions only)
-   CPU: AMD FX-4100 X4 (3,6 GHz)/Intel Core i5-2500 (3,3 GHz)
-   RAM: 4 GB
-   GPU: 1 GB, DirectX 11, AMD Radeon HD 6850/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
-   DISK SPACE: 11 GB
-   SOUND CARD: Compatible DirectX
-   Internet connection required for game activation

© 2016 Spiders Studios and Focus Home Interactive. THE TECHNOMANCER is developed by Spiders Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive. THE TECHNOMANCER and its logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Spiders Studios. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved.

question: What type of article is this?

answer: A game description promoting the sale of a game.

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: The game promoter.

question: What three game styles can the player choose from?

answer: Diplomacy, Combat, or Trickery.

question: What obstacles will the player encounter?

answer: A planet torn apart by conflict and an infestation of mutant creatures.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The Technomancer is a sci-fi RPG set on post-apocalyptic Mars. Featuring dynamic combat and an epic storyline, your choices affect the fate of the Red Planet. You are a formidable warrior harnessing destructive electrical powers travelling with your companions as  you encounter mutant creatures. You must choose between diplomacy, combat, or trickery to resolve quests unlocking 4 unique skill trees, loot, crafts, and equipment.


split: test

text:
Once upon a time there was a King who had a beautiful daughter. She was his pride and joy. One day the princess was tending her garden in the sunshine.  She did all of the raking and hoeing and pruning and at the end of the day she was happy and tired.  Her father came to see her and when he touched her hand he felt her calloused palms and saw scrapes and cuts where she had been working.

The king was angry that her soft beautiful hands had been marred that he ordered the royal glove maker to make her some gloves. The king forbade her from ever being outside without her gloves on.  The princess protested that she would never feel the warmth of the soil on her hands again. The king refused her request and the princess was from that day forward forced to wear gloves.

One day while the princess was walking through the halls of the palace where she was approached by one of the king’s duke’s who asked her why she always wore gloves. The Princess replied that her father felt that her royal hands were too beautiful and too delicate to be outside without gloves. The Duke was jealous that the king’s daughter was thought to be so precious that she needed to wear gloves.  When the Duke told his wife, the Duchess, of the Princess the Duchess insisted that her hands and that their daughter’s hands were as precious as the Princess’s. The Duke had gloves made for his wife and daughters so that they could always have gloves when they were in public.

The Royal Court of the King soon saw that the Duchess and her daughters were always wearing gloves and so they began to wear gloves.  Although many of the wives and many of the daughters complained about how warm the gloves were in the summer, their fathers worried about the loss of self-esteem they forbade their wives and daughters from removing the gloves.

Soon the rich merchants of the kingdom saw that the women of the royal court wore gloves. The Princes and Lords interested in their advancement in the court were now only interested in marrying the girls who wore gloves. Merchants who wanted their daughters to marry well and wives who wanted to been seen as prosperous started to wear gloves. And so it became in the Kingdom, that all of the women wore gloves so that others would think well of them.

Many Daughters felt the gloves were too warm in the summer and wanted to take them off. Fathers pleaded with their daughters and many of the girls defied their fathers. “Their my hands!” they would proclaim. Frustrated fathers and brothers and uncles would take their daughters and nieces and sisters to the king.  The king being wise passed a law that all girls in the kingdom were to wear gloves at all times or face very, very stiff punishment.

For many, many years the women of the Kingdom wore their gloves. Many Kings came and went and the law stayed in place. So many generations passed that everyone forgot the reason for the law.

One day a little girl was in the park and she wandered up to the pond.  She desired to feel the water so she slipped off her glove to touch the sparkling water. The wind came along and blew her glove into the pond.  She could not reach it and she was afraid. Her brother who was her escort for the day saw that she had taken her glove off. He was a law abiding little boy and he knew the law. So he ran and told a policeman that his sister had removed her glove.  The Policeman praised the little boy.  Proudly he led the policeman to the little girl. The girl was terrified.  The policeman explained the law and the girl nodded that she understood. With one swift strike of his sword the police cut off the little girls head.

A woman walking by saw what had happened. She was horrified.  She had herself taken her glove off to touch the water. She saw how proudly the little boy walked with the policeman to tell his parents what a good job he had done to obey the law. It could not be right that a girl’s life was the same as a bare hand. But it was the law what could she do.

The woman didn’t sleep for many, many nights and finally she told her husband the story. She expected him to understand her fears but in the end he said that the law was the law and that little girls who took their gloves off needed to be made an example of else everyone take off their gloves.  The woman was mortified. How could the man she loved be so callous. What about their own daughters? or their daughters in the future?

But her husbands comment that the little girl needed to be made an example of else everyone take of their gloves gave her and idea.  “What if every woman in the Kingdom took off their gloves at the same time?” “They couldn’t kill them all could they?” She would have to be cautious.

The woman quietly and cautiously told the story to any woman who would listen. If the woman agreed what a tragedy it was that the little girl was killed she would share her plan.  In one year, on the anniversary of the little girls death, all of the women would go to the town square and all at once, they would remove their gloves. They would not leave until the law was repealed and women were able to choose if they wanted to wear gloves or not.

So the news spread quietly at first, then more and more women heard about the plan. The woman told every one that they should not say where the idea started but that they should pass it on. When a strange woman in approached her in the market and told her the story she was both afraid and excited. When her husband came to her and asked her if she had heard of the plan she was horrified. Did the men know too? What if the king and the policemen came to stop them? It would be a disaster.

When the woman would not tell her husband if she was going to attend he was very angry. “The law is the law.” He would proclaim arrogantly, “No wife of mine will obey the law and shame me!” “No daughter of mine will dare disobey me.” And with that he would go out with his friends. When he would come home at night with beer on his breath he would be afraid and he would beg his wife. “Please do not go. I could not bear to be without you.” And he would cry himself to sleep.

The day came.

The woman took her two daughters by the hand and began to walk to the town square. On the way they were joined by many of the other women in the town. Soon the procession to the town square was crowded with women and their daughters. When the women reached the town square they were shocked to see that the king had all of his policemen on horses guarding the square. They would not be allowed in. The king himself stood on a tall dais erected during the night and proclaimed that the nonsense was to end.  All women were to leave the area with their gloves on and this incident would be forgotten.

The women stared around at each other. “What are we to do they muttered?” The Husbands, and fathers and brothers and uncles who followed them to the square nodded. One of the men spoke. “Yes, the king is right. The king is just. Please come home and all will be forgotten.”

One of the women sat down. In the middle of the road. She just sat down. Another woman sat next to her. Then a third woman with three daughters joined them and in a very short time every woman who had planned to take her gloves off in the square had joined them and was sitting in the square.

The King was furious, the Dukes and Earls and nobles were furious. The husbands, and fathers, and sons and brothers were all furious. Then it happened. One of the women took off her gloves. At that moment the King yelled. “Kill her!” and one of the kings archers deftly fired an arrow that struck the woman square in the breast and she died.

There was a pause. A quiet filled the square. A man and a boy made their way quietly to the woman tears streaming down their faces and sat with by the dead woman’s body.  Everyone was in shock.  A little boy was the first to speak. “The law is the law.” He said.

A moment later another woman took off her gloves quickly followed by several more. There was a pause. The Kings face was red with anger. “I have offered mercy!” he shouted “I have shown you that I will not be defied and you still defy me!” The Law is the Law!” But there was fear in his voice. “Now please go!” he shouted.

Several women stood and took off their gloves.  And several of the policemen drew their swords. Several more women stood and removed their gloves. And several more of the policemen drew their swords. And in few short moments there were hundreds of women with bare hands facing dozens of policemen with swords drawn.

Then an old man, with a bald head and a cane made his way from the back of the crowd and he stood next to an old woman and helped her as she took off her gloves. He kissed her on the cheek and stood beside her. Not in front of her, not behind her but beside her as he had done since the day that they were married.

The King realized that things were quickly getting out of hand. He needed to act or the day would be lost. He acted. “Kill them, Kill them all!.” He screamed.  The guards hesitated, the fathers, and sons and brothers and husbands gasped. Some of the men nodded “The law is the law.” They muttered. But some of the men, most of the men loved their mothers, and wives and sisters and daughters more than they loved the law. Those men walked made their way through the crowd to stand by their wives and daughters and sisters and mothers.

The woman who started it all was certain that she was about to die along with her daughters in the dusty road on this hot summer day.  Then she felt a familiar hand take her bare hand. It was a strong calloused hand. She looked into the worried face of her husband and he smiled an awkward smile. A tear was on his cheek. He looked at his wife again and whispered. “Maybe laws can be changed if enough people will it.” And she smiled and cried and she planned to die happy.

“Kill them! Kill Them All!” Shouted the King. And the dozens of policemen with swords ran towards the crowd.  And the hundreds of men and women and fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers ran towards the policemen. And in moments it was over. The mob tore through the line of policemen. The swords were left on the dusty road because of the symbol that they represented.  When the crowd looked for the King they saw that he had run from the dais and had hidden behind the palace wall.

Days passed and the story spread and soon every woman in the kingdom had removed her gloves. The King sent envoys to the people proclaiming that he would change the law. That was enough for the time. But soon other laws were challenged and other crowds were formed and in the end the people decided that they didn’t need a king and that they could govern themselves.  They elected good men and women to lead represent them.

The King woke one morning to find that he was no longer a King. He was lead to be judged before the people he had ruled. He was delivered the same sentence as the little girl who had taken off her glove. So were the Dukes, and the Lords and the policemen who carried out the bad laws on the good people.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End

title: [FN] The Princess's Gloves

question: What does the story say about wearing boots?

question: Summarize the plot of the story without revealing details about the ending.

answer: There was once a King who had a beautiful daughter. She loved gardening and was doing all the work herself, so her hands became calloused. The King thought his daughter's hands as precious and had gloves made for her, forbidding that she take it off despite her protests. Soon, others in the kingdom followed the King's lead and forced their wives and daughters to wear gloves so that others would think well of them. Wearing gloves became a status symbol, and any woman who wanted to marry well wore gloves. However, some of the women protested wearing gloves all the time, especially during the summer when it was hot. The men took the women (wives, daughters, nieces) to see the King because they thought he would know what to do. The King passed a law that all women and girls in the kingdom were to wear gloves at all times or face very stiff punishment. For many generations, the women and girls wore gloves without question. Many Kings came and went, but the law stayed in place. Everyone forgot the reason for the law and followed it blindly. One day, a little girl playing by the pond in the park took off her glove to touch the water. Her curiosity and defiance would start a revolution.

question: Describe the setting of the story.

answer: The story is set in an unnamed kingdom in what looks to be the medieval age. The royal family lived in a palace. A King presided over his vast kingdom that included Dukes and Duchesses, The Royal Court, Lords, Princes, merchants, and commoners. He had absolute rule over everyone and the King's word is the law. Even after generations and many Kings sitting on the throne, the police were still using swords and arrows.

question: Summarize the primary source of tension in the story.

answer: The primary source of tension in the story is the King forcing his daughter to wear gloves despite her protests. All the men soon followed the King's example and forced their wives and daughters to wear gloves without even asking how they felt about it. Soon, all the women in the kingdom had to wear gloves because the King declared it so, and the law carried the penalty of death. This barbaric and misogynist law was frustrating for the women, so they got together and challenged it, starting a revolution in the process.


text:
As Canada prepares to legalize marijuana this summer, politicians are facing growing calls to grant a blanket amnesty for people convicted under the existing drug laws – many of whom belong to marginalized groups.

Since the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was elected in 2015 on a manifesto promise to legalize cannabis, more than 15,000 people have been charged over marijuana-related offences – joining close to 500,000 Canadians with marijuana convictions on their criminal record.

Activists argue that without an amnesty, hundreds of thousands of people will continue to feel the effects of outdated laws whose enforcement has had a disproportionate impact on racial minorities and the poor.

Last week, the Campaign for Cannabis Amnesty launched a petition asking the government to consider pardons for possession charges. The group hopes to gain at least 5,000 signatures by the end of May.

Annamaria Enenajor, a Toronto-based lawyer and director of the campaign, said the sprawling legislation tabled by the government makes no mention of existing marijuana convictions, which can have long-lasting effects.

A possession charge can show up in job applications and can affect approval for government housing, volunteer opportunities or scholarships, said Enenajor.

“The criminalization of cannabis is so drastic and disproportionate to people’s lives.”

Meanwhile, numerous studies have shown that Canada’s current statutes on drug possession are not equitably applied. “Drug laws are enforced by the police – and we know that the police are not immune from racism and discrimination,” said Akwasi Owusu-Bempah of the University of Toronto.

Robyn Maynard, author of Policing Black Lives, said: “White and black communities use cannabis and other drugs at similar rates, but black communities have been disproportionately targeted for police stops, cannabis arrests and incarceration.”

The discrimination manifests in pre-trial detention and sentencing disparities: in Canada, the black community is incarcerated at a rate three times higher than the general population, she said.

Trudeau has himself admitted to smoking marijuana as a sitting MP, and last year admitted that family resources and connections helped his younger brother, Michel, avoid a marijuana possession charge.

[Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015 on a manifesto promise to legalize cannabis.]

Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015 on a manifesto promise to legalize cannabis. Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters
In January, the public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, said the government was “weighing all the legal implications” of a pardon.

But there remains a significant logistical hurdle in implementing any blanket amnesty. The database system used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police does not always indicate the drug seized during an arrest.

In order to expunge a felony or misdemeanour record, officers would have to manually scour the database to determine the specifics of the drug offence and then vacate the conviction if it fell under the new laws.

Canadians currently have the option of petitioning the government to have the charges dropped, but must pay a fee of $600 and wait five years – a system which critics argue continues to penalize marginalized groups.

Advocates for an amnesty in Canada point to swift moves by state governments in the United States following legalization as a useful model.

In the weeks following the legalization of cannabis in California, San Francisco’s district attorney expunged thousands of felony convictions related to cannabis possession. Cities such as Seattle and San Diego have also moved to clear away records of marijuana possession.

Owusu-Bempah said that in addition to blanket pardons, a handful of US cities have directed the increased tax revenues to communities hardest hit by previous laws – a model he believes could also benefit communities in Canada.

Currently, people with criminal records are unable to work in the burgeoning cannabis industry, a policy that hits heavily policed communities especially hard, said Maynard and Owusu-Bempah.

“It’s one thing to expunge someone’s criminal record,” said Owusu-Bempah. “It’s much more useful to try and mend the very real problems caused by drug prohibition.”

question: Summarize ways in which the existing cannabis laws are affecting communities.

answer: Canada is on its way to legalizing marijuana this summer which has prompted calls for a blanket amnesty for people convicted under the existing drug laws. Close to 500,000 people have marijuana-related convictions on their criminal records. The criminalization of cannabis is often race-based, with people from minority backgrounds being disproportionately charged under the existing rules. This bias exists in pre-trial detentions as well as sentencing as black men and women are given harsher sentences than their white counterparts. Also, there is a hurdle in implementing a blanket expunge of cannabis-related misdemeanors as the database system used by the Canadian police does not always indicate drug seized during arrests. At the moment, there is a chance of petitioning the government to have such charges dropped, however, it costs around $600 and five years in waiting, a system that penalizes marginalized groups as it is difficult to find jobs with a drug conviction.

question: Who are the people opposed to the blanket amnesty being granted for cannabis-related offenses?


text:
SIDCUP is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. The name is thought to be derived from meaning “seat shaped or flat topped hill”; it had its earliest recorded use in 1254.[1] The population of Sidcup, including its neighbourhoods Foots Cray, North Cray, Albany Park, Longlands, Ruxley, Blackfen and Lamorbey, was 43,109 in 2011.

History

[Sidcup ward (dark green) in the Old Bexley and Sidcup constituency (light green) within the London Borough of Bexley (yellow)]

Origins

Sidcup originated as a tiny hamlet on the road from Maidstone to London. According to Edward Hasted, “Thomas de Sedcopp was owner of this estate in the 35th year of king Henry VI. [i.e. in the 1450s] as appears by his deed.”[2] Hasted described Sidcup in the latter part of the 18th century as “a small street of houses, among which is an inn of much resort”, referring to the former Black Horse pub on the high street..
The phrase _of much resort_ means _much frequented or visited_.

The Black Horse is now used for adult education.

Sidcup parish formed the Sidcup Urban District of Kent from 1908. It was initially known as Foots Cray; however, in 1921 the urban district,[3] and in 1925 the parish,[4] were renamed Sidcup. The parish and district were abolished in 1934 and combined with Chislehurst to form the Chislehurst and Sidcup civil parish and urban district. In 1965 the parish and urban district were abolished. Sidcup went on to form part of the London Borough of Bexley in Greater London and Chislehurst formed part of the London Borough of Bromley.

Recent

A number of manor houses, converted to other uses, remain. They include Frognal House, the birthplace and residence of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, converted for use as residential and nursing accommodation; Lamorbey House, now used by Rose Bruford College; Sidcup Place, a bar and restaurant; and The Hollies, converted for residential use.

Area

Sidcup borders Blackfen to the north, Albany Park to the northeast and east, Foots Cray to the south-east, Chislehurst to the south and south-west, New Eltham to the west and Avery Hill to the north-west.

Sidcup has a mixture of large Victorian and Edwardian properties alongside typical 1930s suburbia. It retains many parks and open spaces hinting at the great estates and large homes which once stood in the area.

The town contains Queen Mary's Hospital, a large Leisure Centre, four colleges and three secondary schools. Sidcup High Street is the main retail and commercial street, and there are some other shops and local businesses on the adjacent Station Road. In 2014, Sidcup High Street was the subject of a £1.8 million regeneration scheme In Store For Sidcup paid for by London Borough of Bexley.[5]

Most of the district is within the London Borough of Bexley, however, several parts in the North are under the governance of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, including Southspring, Greenhithe Close, Halfway Street (offsite Avery Hill), Radfield Way, Croyde Close and Overmead.

Geography

Sidcup lies south-west of Bexleyheath; north-east of Bromley; north of Orpington; north-west of Swanley.

Demographics

In 2011 The total population was recorded as 10,844. Many residents are aged 65+ or 85+, in line with the whole of London Borough of Bexley. At the census of 2011, the non-white population of Sidcup was recorded at 10.1%; the largest minority group were Asian or Asian British (5.4% of the total population), with White Other totalling 4.8% of the total population. The number of single parent families was higher in the district in comparison to the rest of the London Borough of Bexley. 63.8% reported Christianity as their religious beliefs which was above the borough average. However, these figures do not include the Blackfen and Lamorbey wards within the district.[6]

Education

    _For education in Sidcup see the main London Borough of Bexley article_

Primary schools in Sidcup include: Birkbeck, Burnt Oak Junior School, Chatsworth, Days Lane, Holy Trinity Lamorbey, Longlands, Orchard School, Our Lady of the Rosary, Royal Park, Sherwood Park, and St Peter Chanel.

Secondary schools in Sidcup include Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Blackfen, Cleeve Park, Hurstmere and Kemnal Technology College.

Bird College, Christ the King: St Mary's (RC) Sixth Form College, and Rose Bruford College all have sites in Sidcup.

Sport and leisure

Sidcup has a Non-League football club Sporting Club Thamesmead F.C. who play at the Sporting Club Thamesmead. On Sydney Road, there is a Sidcup Sports Club, housing the local rugby and cricket clubs.

Live music venues include the Charcoal Burner and The Iron Horse public houses, although the larger premises at the Beaverwood Club, Chislehurst, draw a significant audience from this area.

The Sidcup and District Motor Cycle Club was formed at the Station Hotel, Sidcup in 1928. The club owns the Canada Heights motorcycle sport venue in Button Street, Swanley.

Culture, identity and community

[Buildings along Faraday Avenue, reflecting a mix of high-rise and low-rise buildings in the area around Sidcup railway station]

Sidcup is home to the Rose Bruford College of drama and Bird College, both of which have several famous alumni, and the Sidcup Symphony Orchestra,[7] which also serves the wider South East London area. In an interview with Lake Bell (who studied at Rose Bruford College) in 2015, comedian James Corden described Sidcup as “the armpit of England” on his late night American chat show _The Late Late Show with James Corden_.[8]

The murder of teenager Rob Knox at the Metro Bar on Station Road in 2008 was national headline news. Knox was an aspiring actor who had, just before his death, filmed a small part in _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_. He was killed protecting his brother from a group of youths.[9] His murderer, Karl Bishop, also from Sidcup, was later found guilty of murder and sentenced.[10] Following Knox's death, his family have campaigned to end knife crime among young people.[11] The Rob Knox Foundation has organised a Rob Knox Film Festival in Sidcup and the neighbouring town of Bexleyheath, and a bench was dedicated to Knox at St John's Church in Sidcup in 2015.[12]

Transport

National Rail

Sidcup station opened in October 1866, a month after the opening of the Dartford Loop Line on 1 September 1866. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Sidcup town centre. The station provides the area with Southeastern services to London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street via Lewisham, Woolwich Arsenal, Dartford and Gravesend.

Roads

Sidcup High Street is on the A211, following in length the old London – Maidstone – Hythe road. The A211 starts just after Eltham High Street, in the middle running along the A20 Sidcup By-pass before ending at Foots Cray, where the B2173 continues along the former A20 road. The A211 connects the two main roads in this district; Station Road and Main Road.

East Rochester Way on the A2 road runs partly through the district, adjoining Blackfen Road. The road provides links to the Blackwall Tunnel and Kent.

Buses

Sidcup is served by a number of Transport for London bus routes, namely the 51, 160, 229, 233, 269, 286, 321, 492, 625, 669, B14 and R11 [13]

Notable residents

-   F. Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), Australian actor and inventor of the Alexander technique, lived in Penhill House, Sidcup, for 30 years[14]
-   Harry Arter (1989–) footballer (Bournemouth F.C. and Republic of Ireland), born in Sidcup[15]
-   Steve Backley (1969–), Olympic javelin silver medallist, born in Sidcup[16]
-   Sam Bailey (1977–), winning contestant, _The X Factor_, grew up in Sidcup[17]
-   Angela Barnes (1976–) actress, stand-up comedienne, born in Sidcup
-   Michael Barnard, (1976–) darts player, lived in Sidcup
-   Christopher Battarbee (1975–), cricketer (Oxford University), born in Sidcup[18]
-   Lake Bell (1979–), American actress, lived in Sidcup while studying at Rose Bruford College in the 1990s.[19]
-   Doreen Bird (1928–2004), dance teacher, lived in Sidcup and established Bird College[20]
-   Quentin Blake (1932–), illustrator, artist, born in Sidcup[21]
-   Denis Bond (1946–), children's author, actor and scriptwriter, lives in Sidcup[22]
-   Tom Burns (1944–), Catholic bishop, lived and ministered in Sidcup and taught at St Mary's School in the 1970s[23]
-   Garry Bushell (1955–), journalist, lives in Sidcup[24]
-   George Albert Cairns (1913–44), recipient of the last Victoria Cross of World War II, lived and worked in Sidcup[25]
-   Sheila Callender (1914–2004), haematologist, born in Sidcup[26]
-   Ben Chorley (1982–), footballer (Tranmere Rovers, Leyton Orient, now Bromley F.C.), born in Sidcup[27]
-   Charlie Clements (1987–), actor (_EastEnders_), born in Sidcup
-   Jason Crowe (1978–), footballer, born in Sidcup[28]
-   Jay Darlington (1968-), musician (former keyboardist for the band Kula Shaker and currently a member of the band Magic Bus), born in Sidcup[29]
-   Ian Davenport (1966–), abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee, born in Sidcup[30]
-   Douglas Harries (1893–1972), Royal Air Force air vice-marshal and first-class cricketer
-   Joe Healy (1986–), footballer who plays for Welling United, born in Sidcup
-   Deren Ibrahim (1991–), Gibraltarian footballer, born in Sidcup[31]
-   Alfred Garth Jones (1872–1955), illustrator, spent the last years of his life in Sidcup
-   John Paul Jones (1946–), bass guitarist (Led Zeppelin), born in Sidcup[32]
-   Rob Knox (1989–2008), actor, murdered in Sidcup[33][34]
-   Douglas Macmillan (1884–1969), founder of Macmillan Cancer Support, lived in Knoll Road from 1924 until 1966, and also ran his charity from that address. Bexley Civic Society placed a blue plaque on the house in 2010[35]
-   Ivan Magill (1888–1986), innovative anaesthetist, worked in Sidcup[36]
-   Lee Murray (1977–), former kickboxer and mixed martial arts champion, convicted of the Securitas depot robbery, lived in Sidcup[37]
-   Emma Noble (1971–), model and actress, born in Sidcup[38]
-   Mike Rann (1953–), Premier of South Australia, politician, born in Sidcup, lived in Blackfen prior to emigrating to New Zealand with his parents[39]
-   John Regis (1966–), Olympic sprinter, lived in Sidcup[40]
-   Mark Ricketts (1984–), footballer, born in Sidcup[41]
-   Wayne Routledge (1985–), footballer, born in Sidcup[42]
-   Gerard Shelley (1891–1980), author, translator and Catholic bishop, born in Sidcup[43]
-   Nevil Shute (1899–1960), novelist and aeronautical engineer, lived in Hatherley Road from 1924 to 1930 while working at Vickers in Crayford[44]
-   Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), composer and suffragette, born in St. John's Road, Sidcup[45]
-   Gareth Bacon, politician and leader of the Conservative Party in the Greater London Assembly
-   Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733–1800), politician and Cabinet minister, lived in Frognal House, Foots Cray[46]
-   Gordon Watson (1971–), former Sheffield Wednesday footballer, born in Sidcup[47]
-   Elizabeth Wiskemann (1899–1971), historian and journalist, born in Sidcup[48]
-   Doug Wright (1914–98), cricketer (Kent and England), born in Sidcup[49]

Fictional residents

-   Roderick Spode — fictional politician and fashion designer, was the 7th Earl of Sidcup in the Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse.

Bibliography

-   -

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17] https://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/news/bexley-x-factor-star-sam-bailey-reveals-song-choice-1-2903327

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

title: Sidcup

question: What does the text say about religion?

answer: The text mentions that 63.8% of the Sidcup population reported Christianity as their religious beliefs. This was above the borough average, but these figures also don't include the Blackfen and Lamorbey wards within the district. Sidcup is home to St John's Church, which has a bench dedicated to the late Rob Knox.

question: What does the text say about transportation?

answer: Sidcup station opened up in October 1866 after the opening of the Dartford Loop Line. The station provides the area with Southeastern services to London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street via Lewisham, Woolwich Arsenal, Dartford, and Gravesend. The main roads are Sidcup High Street on the A211, and the East Rochester Way on the A2. Additionally, Sidcup is served by a number of Transport for London bus routes.

question: Summarize everything relating to Rob Knox.

answer: In 2008, Rob Knox was murdered at the Metro Bar on Station Road in Sidcup. Knox was an aspiring actor who had just finished filming a small part in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". He was killed by Karl Bishop of Sidcup while he was protecting his brother from a group of youths. Bishop was later found guilty of murder. After Knox's death, his family campaigned to end knife crime among young people.  The Rob Knox Foundation organized a Rob Knox Film Festival in Sidcup, and a bench was dedicated to him at St John's Church in Sidcup.

question: What does the text say about natural disasters in Sidcup?


text:
The Sunspider crawls along my arm, its gem-body focusing the sun, leaving a tingling pain and barely burned line in my skin. It backs along, licking up the cooked flesh. It doesn't bother me, but I know it once made the others squeamish. I've grown used to it, and I love that I am contributing to the next generation of partners in my world. At the end of the hot months, I will spy them among the early ice crystals and know I am part of them. I move my arm down to the sand to allow this little mother to move on, and walk through past the small rock outcrop.

Away from the rocks, the sun seems harsher, and I squint from the pain it brings my eyes. The summer months are still to come; the spring is short. I must find a quiet place to sleep again.

As I move across the dried salt plains, I shield my eyes with my robe and look out to the horizon. The next set of rocky hills are distant. When I sleep so long, all changes. Mountains rise, though the oceans are long gone. For so long here it has been just the Sunspiders and I...I sleep my seasons, awake to greet them, and walk ahead to find the next tomb, hoping I am not the only and the last doing so.

The thousands-of-days winter has led to my travelling springtime. I sleep during the blackness and cold, then again during the fiery long summers as it bakes the world. The short spring and autumn are wonderful to me as I rise again to walk.

The days are brilliant, and each step forward is a memory so many before. The tap of my feet in the dust echoes the past. The nights are my calm rest, as I stare at the stars. I remember clouds. When they existed, I ignored them except as they prevented me from seeing into the distances. I know all things move, even those stars, but I'm not able to visualize the changes that have happened since my youth, though it's been so long that they must have.

I'm not sure what to expect. I spend all these times thinking that this will be the moment when I see something left behind from when I was not alone. Yet I know that with each sleep and each cycle around the sun the chance of spotting a connection to history lessens. Apparently I am the only thing made to last forever, as even the decaying foundations of our previous civilization fade away into oddly-coloured dust, and then disappear entirely in the winds.

I don't count the days walking toward my goal. I note that it gets hotter as I move along. The spring seems shorter each time, and I wonder if next time I will remember to keep track.

And then I am at the bottom of the outcropping. I stare up, the sun behind me, looking for glints and squared shadows that might be some sign. I am not disappointed when I don't find what I did not expect to see. The next morning I climb, and move sideways around the rocks, stopping frequently to stare again. Nothing.

I climb, and seek the caves, cracks and shadows...seeking a safe place to retire. Each small shadow is a relief from the sun, but not accommodating to my form. With practised effort, I pull myself up on a ledge and stop, as everything inside me screams. From deep within me, I yell and shriek, while standing utterly motionless.

A line! A depth! The remains of an old fire! A scrap of metal! My eyes are on fire, pupils opened as wide as they can, taking this simple but incredible view deep inside me!

I clutch at my sides and shake. I cannot move forward. I cannot risk this being a mirage.

I turn away, overwhelmed with everything...and fall. With shock I don't scramble to find hold in the empty air. I watched what I have sought for so long disappearing away from me in the distance, like it were falling away from me, and the whole world shifting in my view.

I think I remember bouncing. I don't remember coming to a stop between two jagged boulders. I am broken, flesh torn and whatever has been keeping me going all this time falling apart and falling out. It's early morning and I am looking up toward the sun. Its heat shines at my eyes and I watch where I hope shadows begin to appear.

A fire glints above me. A Sunspider, an identical diamond to the ones I have known. Not quite alive, and not dead. Much like me.

Another, and another...and soon hundreds. A thousand Sunspiders above me, their scattered light twinkling on everything around me. I cannot move, but I watched. I could not begin to count them above me, as they crawl over each other, refracting each others light, sending it in all directions. The are joining, separating, and spreading across the gap above me, creating a glowing shield. It's like nothing I have seen before, and I nearly forget my state. As they lock together and slow their frenzied actions, I seem them adjust, like a ripple on a pond, and I am struck that I still remember water.

They are focusing that light, and that sun. Together, like a giant lens, and I know they are part of me from all the times I've taken care of them. A shudder, and I know. They are finishing things. With that much power together, they are taking care of me. A funeral pyre. I think I smile, as they put an end to my journey. I'll become the dust in the winds and still keep travelling this world.

title: "Sunspider Sunset" - please comment and constructively critique. Note that nameless/ageless/genderless is entirely intentional.

question: Summarize the narrator's journey.

answer: The narrator moves across the dried salt plains looking for a quiet place to sleep. They reach the bottom of an outcropping and climb up it. They fall when they see the remains of an old fire.

question: What does the story say about why the narrator is alone?


text:
1.  []

    We have fixed a login issue with some version of Firefox browsers. If you are using Firefox and was having login problems, please try it now.

    -
    -

2.  []

    Hybrid login with smarter captcha verification is now active. The modified login system will now take into account your recent activity and skip captcha verification when conditions are met. Multiple device login and frequent login/logout will reap the most benefit.

    -
    -

3.  []

    Please note yahoo/aol email account users may currently experience a delay in receiving alerts of registration/reset emails. We expect the delay to resolve itself in the coming days.

    -
    -

4.  []

    Update on new login anti-bot measure. We understand the captcha can be a pain but security is our top priority. We are working on a hybrid solution so verified users may skip additional checks on another computer or mobile device. Hybrid solution will be ready in 24 hrs.

    -
    -

5.  []

    Extra security to stop automated bots have been added. Website uses will need to re-login. We will monitor the results and tweak the system as necessary.

    -
    -

6.  []

    ...We will also be adding extra protection to both PM and Story submission later today to further combat these spam bots. Some users may be required perform extra captcha verification.

    -
    -

7.  []

    For the past week we have been in constant battle with bots and spammers. These bad actors have almost limitless number of email domains and IP addresses for which traditional protections do not work. We have disabled web PM email notification from untrusted accounts...continued

    -
    -

8.  9.  []

    Please note we are aware the mobile site is having ads incorrectly injected into chapters by 3rd party ad system. We will be resolving the core issue within the next 24 hours.

    -
    -

10. 11. 12. []

    Pest control update: over 200K bot accounts have been removed thus far. We will be introducing defenses to make it harder for the spambots to survive.[🧯][🐀]

    -
    -

13. []

    Spambots are hitting users PM inbox with adverts. We have removed over 20K spambot accounts and counting. We will be installing additional anti-bot measures in the PM feature to combat these pests.

    -
    -

14. []

    Email delivery issue to Gmail accounts have been resolved.

    -
    -

15. []

    We are currently resolving an issue with deliverying some alert/account emails to gmail addresses. An update will be made when the situation has been fixed.

    -
    -

16. []

    We are clearing out a backlog of delayed alert emails. Please note due to the delay, the emails may contain outdated alert links.

    -
    -

17. []

    A rare bug which caused some Android OS 5.0/5.1 users to experience connection issues via our app has been resolved.

    -
    -

18. []

    We have enabled web/app Facebook login with accounts registerd with mobile phone number. Previously only accounts with email was allowed to login.

    -
    -

19. []

    We have resolved a Facebook login issue via web/app due to recent changes made by fb. Please note Facebook login requires registered email account. We are currently working to allow fb login with mobile number.

    -
    -

20. []

    For the start of 2019 we have improved the performance and reliabilty of app access (android/ios) significantly and are still hard at work to make sure it gets even better.

    We are currently resolving a website issue regarding stats.

    -
    -

There are no more Tweets in this timeline.

question: Why is there a need for captcha verification during login?

answer: Captcha verification login is a security feature designed to counter spambots.

question: Why is there a constant battle with bad actors and spammers?

answer: Because bad actors have a limitless number of email domains and IP addresses, traditional protections do not work.

question: How many spambot accounts have been removed in total?

answer: In total, 220,000 spambots have been removed.


text:
A COBALT BOMB is a type of “salted bomb”: a nuclear weapon designed to produce enhanced amounts of radioactive fallout, intended to contaminate a large area with radioactive material. The concept of a cobalt bomb was originally described in a radio program by physicist Leó Szilárd on February 26, 1950.[1] His intent was not to propose that such a weapon be built, but to show that nuclear weapon technology would soon reach the point where it could end human life on Earth, a doomsday device.[2][3] Such “salted” weapons were requested by the U.S. Air Force and seriously investigated, but not deployed. In the 1964 edition of the U.S. Department of Defense book _The Effects of Nuclear Weapons_, a new section titled radiological warfare clarified the “Doomsday device” issue.[4]

The Russian Federation has allegedly developed cobalt warheads for use with their Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System nuclear torpedoes.[5][6][7] However many commentators doubt that this is a real project, and see it as more likely to be a staged leak to intimidate the United States. Amongst other comments on it, Edward Moore Geist wrote a paper in which he says that “Russian decision makers would have little confidence that these areas would be in the intended locations”[8] and Russian military experts are cited as saying that “robotic torpedoes could have other purposes, such as delivering deep-sea equipment or installing surveillance devices.”[9]

The Operation Antler/Round 1 test by the British at the Tadje site in the Maralinga range in Australia on September 14, 1957, tested a bomb using cobalt pellets as a radiochemical tracer for estimating yield. This was considered a failure and the experiment was not repeated.[10] In Russia, the triple “taiga” nuclear salvo test, as part of the preliminary March 1971 Pechora–Kama Canal project, produced relatively high amounts of cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co or Co-60) from the steel that surrounded the Taiga devices, with this fusion generated neutron activation product being responsible for about half of the gamma dose now (2011) at the test site. This high percentage contribution is largely because the devices did not rely much at all on fission reactions and thus the quantity of gamma emitting caesium-137 fallout is therefore comparatively low. Photosynthesizing vegetation exists all around the lake that was formed.[11][12]

Mechanism

A cobalt bomb could be made by placing a quantity of ordinary cobalt metal (⁵⁹Co) around a thermonuclear bomb. When the bomb explodes, the neutrons produced by the fusion reaction in the secondary stage of the thermonuclear bomb's explosion would transmute the cobalt to the radioactive cobalt-60, which would be vaporized by the explosion. The cobalt would then condense and fall back to Earth with the dust and debris from the explosion, contaminating the ground.

The deposited cobalt-60 would have a half-life of 5.27 years, decaying into ⁶⁰Ni and emitting two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall nuclear equation of the reaction is:

+ n → → + e− + gamma rays.

Nickel-60 is a stable isotope and undergoes no further decays after emitting the gamma rays.

The 5.27 year half life of the ⁶⁰Co is long enough to allow it to settle out before significant decay has occurred, and to render it impractical to wait in shelters for it to decay, yet short enough that intense radiation is produced.[13] Many isotopes are more radioactive (gold-198, tantalum-182, zinc-65, sodium-24, and many more), but they would decay faster, possibly allowing some population to survive in shelters.

Fallout from cobalt bombs vs. other nuclear weapons

Fission products are more deadly than neutron-activated cobalt in the first few weeks following detonation. After one to six months, the fission products from even a large-yield thermonuclear weapon decay to levels tolerable by humans. The large-yield two-stage (a fission trigger/primary with a fusion–fission secondary) thermonuclear weapon is thus automatically a weapon of radiological warfare, but its fallout decays much more rapidly than that of a cobalt bomb. A cobalt bomb's fallout on the other hand would render affected areas effectively stuck in this interim state for decades: habitable, but not safe for constant habitation.

Initially, gamma radiation from the fission products of an equivalent size fission-fusion-fission bomb are much more intense than Co-60: 15,000 times more intense at 1 hour; 35 times more intense at 1 week; 5 times more intense at 1 month; and about equal at 6 months. Thereafter fission product fallout radiation levels drop off rapidly, so that Co-60 fallout is 8 times more intense than fission at 1 year and 150 times more intense at 5 years. The very long-lived isotopes produced by fission would overtake the ⁶⁰Co again after about 75 years.[14]

Theoretically, a device containing 510 metric tons of Co-59 can spread 1 g of the material to each square km of the Earth's surface (510,000,000 km²). If one assumes that all of the material is converted to Co-60 at 100 percent efficiency and if it is spread evenly across the Earth's surface, it is possible for a single bomb to kill every person on Earth. However, in fact, complete 100% conversion into Co-60 is unlikely; a 1957 British experiment at Maralinga showed that Co-59's neutron absorption ability was much lower than predicted, resulting in a very limited formation of Co-60 isotope in practice.

In addition, another important point in considering the effects of cobalt bombs is that deposition of fallout is not even throughout the path downwind from a detonation, so that there are going to be areas relatively unaffected by fallout and places where there is unusually intense fallout, so that the Earth would not be universally rendered lifeless by a cobalt bomb.[15] The fallout and devastation following a nuclear detonation does not scale upwards linearly with the explosive yield (equivalent to tons of TNT). As a result, the concept of “overkill”—the idea that one can simply estimate the destruction and fallout created by a thermonuclear weapon of the size postulated by Leo Szilard's “cobalt bomb” thought experiment by extrapolating from the effects of thermonuclear weapons of smaller yields—is fallacious.[16]

Example of radiation levels vs. time

Assume a cobalt bomb deposits intense fallout causing a dose rate of 10 sieverts (Sv) per hour. At this dose rate, any unsheltered person exposed to the fallout would receive a lethal dose in about 30 minutes (assuming a median lethal dose of 5 Sv). People in well-built shelters would be safe due to radiation shielding.

-   After one half-life of 5.27 years, only half of the cobalt-60 will have decayed, and the dose rate in the affected area would be 5 Sv/hour. At this dose rate, a person exposed to the radiation would receive a lethal dose in 1 hour.
-   After 10 half-lives (about 53 years), the dose rate would have decayed to around 10 mSv/hour. At this point, a healthy person could spend 1 to 4 days exposed to the fallout with no immediate effects.
-   After 20 half-lives (about 105 years), the dose rate would have decayed to around 10 μSv/hour. At this stage, humans could remain unsheltered full-time since their yearly radiation dose would be about 80 mSv. However, this yearly dose rate is on the order of 30 times greater than the peacetime exposure rate of 2.5 mSv/year. As a result, the rate of cancer incidence in the survivor population would likely increase.
-   After 25 half-lives (about 130 years), the dose rate from cobalt-60 would have decayed to less than 0.4 μSv/hour (natural background radiation) and could be considered negligible.

Decontamination

In practice it is unlikely that people would simply sit and wait for nuclear decay to go to completion, as in all historical fallout cases, decontamination of valuable land has occurred. This is most commonly done with the use of simple equipment such as lead glass covered excavators and bulldozers, similar to those employed in the Lake Chagan project.[17] By skimming off the thin layer of fallout on the topsoil surface and burying it in the likes of a deep trench along with isolating it from ground water sources, the gamma air dose is cut by orders of magnitude.[18][19] The decontamination after the Goiânia accident in Brazil in 1987 and the possibility of a “dirty bomb” with Co-60, which has similarities with the environment that one would be faced with after a nuclear yielding cobalt bomb's fallout had settled, has prompted the invention of “Sequestration Coatings” and cheap liquid phase sorbents for Co-60 that would further aid in decontamination, including that of water.[20][21][22]

Russian “Status-6”

In 2015, a page from an apparent Russian nuclear-armed torpedo design was accidentally or deliberately leaked. The design was titled “Oceanic Multipurpose System Status-6”. The document stated the torpedo would create “wide areas of radioactive contamination, rendering them unusable for military, economic or other activity for a long time.” Its payload would be “many tens of megatons in yield”. Russian government newspaper _Rossiiskaya Gazeta_ speculated that the warhead would be a cobalt bomb. It is not known whether the Status-6 is a real project, or whether it is Russian disinformation.[23][24] In 2018 the Pentagon's annual Nuclear Posture Review stated Russia is developing a system called the “Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System”. If Status-6 does exist, it is not publicly known whether the leaked 2015 design is accurate, nor whether the 2015 claim that the torpedo might be a cobalt bomb is genuine.[25][26]

In popular culture

-   In Nevil Shute's novel _On the Beach_ (1957), cobalt bombs are mentioned as the cause of the lethal radioactivity that is approaching Australia. The cobalt bomb was a symbol of man's hubris.[27]
-   In _City of Fear_ (1959), an escaped convict from San Quentin State Prison steals a canister of Cobalt-60, thinking it contains drugs. He flees to Los Angeles to pawn it, not knowing it could kill him and possibly contaminate the city.
-   In the black comedy _Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_ (1964), a type of cobalt-salted bomb is employed, specifically utilizing a composite called 'Cobalt-Thorium G' with a Dead Hand mechanism, by the Soviet Union as a 'doomsday device' nuclear deterrent: if the system detects any nuclear attack, the doomsday device will be automatically unleashed. With unfortunate timing, a deranged American general mutinies and orders an attack on the USSR before the Soviet secret device, already activated, could be unveiled to the world. One American bomber piloted by a hapless and unknowing crew gets through to their target; the Dead Hand mechanism works as designed and initiates a worldwide nuclear holocaust. In the film, the Soviet Ambassador says, “If you take, say, fifty H-bombs in the hundred megaton range and jacket them with Cobalt-Thorium G, when they are exploded they will produce a doomsday shroud. A lethal cloud of radioactivity which will encircle the earth for ninety-three years!”[28]
-   In the James Bond film _Goldfinger_ (1964), the title character informs Bond he intends to set off a “particularly dirty” atomic device using “cobalt and iodine”[29] in the U.S. Bullion Repository at Fort Knox as part of Operation Grand Slam, a scheme intended to contaminate the gold at Fort Knox to increase value of the gold he has been stockpiling.
-   In the fourth act of the classic _Star Trek_ episode “Obsession” (1967), Ensign Garrovick refers to 10,000 cobalt bombs not equaling the power of less than one ounce of antimatter.
-   In _Beneath the Planet of the Apes_ (1970) the main character, upon seeing that the underground people worship a giant bomb that can wipe out the world, comments “They finally built one with a cobalt casing” in reference to a cobalt bomb that could wipe out the world.
-   In Tom Clancy's novel _The Sum of All Fears_ (1991) it is noted that Israeli Air Force tactical nuclear bombs can optionally be fitted with cobalt jackets “to poison a landscape to all kinds of life for years to come”.[30]
-   In the video game _Metro Exodus_ (2019), the player visits the Russian city of Novosibirsk which was hit with at least one cobalt warhead during a worldwide nuclear war in the year 2013, resulting in catastrophic levels of radiation, and easily the most irradiated area visited in the three ''Metro ''games. While the city is left largely standing even twenty years after the cobalt warhead's detonation, the radiation in the city is so lethal that even with lead-lined full enclosure suits, the player can only spend a few minutes on the surface before receiving lethal amounts of radiation poisoning. During their visit, the player discovers that the survivors of the attack survived underground for twenty-two years, but only due to constant injections of anti-radiation medicine.
-   In the video game _Detroit: Become Human_ (2018), the player has the option of detonating an improvised cobalt bomb during certain endings of the game. The detonation of the bomb results in humans evacuating the now-irradiated city of Detroit and the area 50 miles around, though promising to retake it from the androids in the future. Depending on the player's actions, the city is left empty or the androids claim it for their own.
-   In a 2-part episode of the TV show The Bionic Woman, _Doomsday Is Tomorrow_ a cobalt bomb, dubbed by its creator as “the most diabolical instrument of destruction ever conceived by man” is used as a trigger for a more powerful weapon that can render the world lifeless.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4] Samuel Glasstone, _The Effects of Nuclear Weapons_, 1962, revised 1964, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Energy, pp. 464–465. This section was removed from later editions, but, according to Glasstone in 1978, not because it was inaccurate or because the weapons had changed.

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19] International Atomic Energy Agency International Atomic Enmergy Agency, 2000 - Technology & Engineering - restoration of environments with radioactive residues : papers and discussions, 697 pages

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

title: Cobalt bomb

question: What does the text say about the destructive potential of Cobalt bombs?

answer: The cobalt bombs are nuclear bombs with a second stage that disseminates radioactive cobalt to a large area. The radiation resulting from the cobalt is deadly for up to more than 50 years for less than a week of exposure. Even 100 years after the explosion of such a bomb, the affected area would increase the incidence of cancers due to the background radiation being about 30 times the rate of peacetime exposure.

question: What does the text say about the production and deployment of cobalt bombs?

answer: The text mentions that the US Department of Defense requested such weapons to be investigated, but they were never deployed. The Russians are rumored to have built cobalt bombs or similar devices. However, it's thought that the rumors are only intended to intimidate the US, and Russia didn't actually build them. A bomb with cobalt pellets was tested in 1957 to estimate yield, and the experiment was considered a failure. Russia's test in 1971, however, produced high amounts of cobalt-60. A cobalt bomb works by placing ordinary cobalt (cobalt-59) around a thermonuclear bomb which bombards the cobalt with neutrons during the explosion, turning them into radioactive isotopes, cobalt-60. The heat vaporizes the cobalt, which then settles around the explosion area, carried by the shockwave and the wind.

question: What does the text say about Fallout: New Vegas?


text:
In the beginning there was light and it was good. It wasn't great. It was like a can of Dr. Pepper. Like, hey, here's a can of Dr. Pepper. That's what it felt like when God created the universe.

I was there.

That's right. I was just hanging out somewhere - I had no name for it. But I just kinda sat there and went Dee-dee-dum-dee-dee all the time. It was awesome. It was like being really baked.

Then: Dr. Pepper.

So, this light comes on and I'm like "Whoa". I think I even said that: "Woah".

It took a little bit of time to adjust to the light. It was SUPER bright. Like when you get hit with someone's headlights. But this was like all around me. It was not cool.

All of a sudden I couldn't just sit around going Dee-dee-dum-dee-dee anymore - I had shit to look at. There were like tons of stars. Assloads. I couldn't even figure out which was which and what I was looking at.

Then, dude makes the Earth and I totally start feeling my back and how it's killing me. Did not need that. I felt the entire world pulling down on me and it sucked balls.

So, I get up and I realize I have this huge bag of goo that's now me and I'm like hanging out going "What? What?" to all these animals that start appearing.

Seas and land were made way before that, but that was like this total acid trip that I don't even remember.

Anyway, so the animals appear and I'm like "Hey, dude. Hey, dude."

And the animals are pretty cool at first.

Then dinosaurs start appearing. And then I'm like FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!

But then they disappear. That's when God appears and he's like "Uh, yeah. Let's rethink that one."

"Let's!" I say all loud and pissed and God kinda looks at me, because he's never seen a human being and he doesn't know what loud and pissed is. Neither do I - but that was my first reaction, I mean, shit, one of the fucking things looked like a giant chicken with fangs. You get the idea. You've seen Jurassic Park.

Anyway, so then God explains that the animals are here for me.

So, I start kinda looking at the animals and I give him a shrug. I had no idea what the hell to do with the animals. They were cool looking - except for the possums, those things are ugly as shit. So I go "What the hell do I do with these things?"

"You eat them."

That's what God says to me. Now, I don't know if you've seen a raccoon, but that's what I was looking at when he said that and I was like "No way, man."

God's all like "Way."

Now, this was before mustard, so I had no idea how to eat an animal. At first I tried to you know, be playful and start by biting it, but that didn't work - the fucking thing bit me! So, then I find this stick.

Long story short: raccoon is disgusting.

God saw me eating it and winced. I go "What?"

"That was your first choice?"

"I didn't know what it would taste like."

"Well, look at it!"

Then I got mad again "Fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!"

Me and God did that for like a hundred years. Just back and forth. Then God grabbed me, tore out my rib and beat me with it.

I'm kicking and screaming and God finally comes to his senses and apologizes, puts down the rib, and walks away.

Then, he runs back and turns the rib into a chick and he's all "I'm sorry, dude!" I forgive him, but I have no idea what to do with the woman.

God whispers some real vile stuff into my ear and I nod and walk back to the raccoon and finish.

God's like "What, dude?"

I go - "No way. That's messed up, dude."

"The animals do it."

"In her...?"

"Look, just - here's a movie." So, he gives me a porno and I start to see how it is and I buy her some tassels and stuff from a peacock and then - best thing in the world.

"God, that was bitchin'!"

"Hell yes!" God says. Then he goes "Here's this tree over here, don't eat the fruit off it. Oh, and her name is Eve." Then he disappears.

So, I hang out in this garden for awhile and just kinda have sex and eat raccoons and then one day Eve comes to me and she's got this shit eating grin. "I ate some of the fruit!" She starts laughing hysterically.

The fruit was weed.

"Goddamnit!" I yell at her - but she's totally ignoring me because she's walking around trying to kill raccoons and yelling about how hungry she is.

So, God comes down and he's pissed. Real pissed.

"One thing. I told you not to do one thing and you do it!" So, I just point at Eve and kinda give him a "You're ballgame, dude" look.

"Get out. Party's over. Out." God is totally furious.

"It's her fault!"

"Out."

Then this angel comes down with a bunch of burning swords and I'm like "fuck this" and we leave.

So, I look at Eve and she's like staring at me and giggling, which makes me mad. "Out with it - why'd you eat the weed?"

She kinda stumbles and then points to a snake that's hanging out by a tree. It's got legs and arms, so it looks more like a salamander standing up. But like a salamander with dreadlocks and a t-shirt from Hot Topic (turns out he's The Devil, I don't want to give it away, but I bet you're wondering how he got a shirt from a store that was popular in the 1990s) and Abercrombie and Fitch jeans and he's all playing Bob Marley and I just want to slug him (rules about run on sentences hadn't been invented yet).

So, I walk up to him and I'm like "Hey, chief, what gives? My girl just got us kicked out because of you!"

He hisses at me and then continues listening to his music.

"Hey, jerky!"

He looks up and says "That's not your girl anymore."

I look at Eve and she blushes.

"Fuck this!" I yell and then punch the snake in the mouth. He kinda looks at me and all of a sudden he goes full Al Pacino from that one movie and "Do you know who I am????!!!!!!"

I'm like "No."

Then he kinda looks up and around and "Well. Of course you don't."

Then there's this booming thunder and God appears all bad ass. Check out what he says!

"Snake, you are bad. Here, now you don't have legs."

The snake's legs disappear and he starts bitching about how he can't dance anymore and how he had this new move he was working on - but it doesn't matter, he slithers off.

I thank God (ha) and he's like "We're cool now."

He tries to give me a fist bump, but it's REALLY awkward, then he disappears.

Time goes on and I forgive Eve, because, hey, neither of us were ever told not to have sex with the animals and if truth be tol.....

So, then we have two boys. Killer kids. Really. I mean it. Well, at least one of them.

I get waaaaayyyyyyyyy baked and name them Cain and Abel.

Well, they get older and Cain starts growing weed, while Abel is out hunting raccoons. I mention this to Eve really snarky, like "We know which kid that one is."

Well, God comes down - for no reason at all - and tells Cain he likes Abel better than him.

At this point, I'm thinking: OK, you told the drug dealer's son you don't like him???? C'mon!

So, Cain kills Abel. And I'm like "Father's son!" to Eve and she gets totally ticked and we fight, but then we make up and kinda forget about Abel, because we don't know any better.

But God doesn't.

God comes down, furious again - even though he never told anyone not to ice anyone yet - and tells Cain to literally fuck off and that we can't ice each other no more. Which sucks when you get to the 900 years of marriage part.

So Cain fucks off to God Knows Where (ha) and Eve and I hang back and live wayyyyyyy too fucking long to be married. I mean, death do us part is a joke now a days - try living for almost a thousand years. You know how many times I told her the dumb ass story about how me and this Llama got out of a pit of mud with the help of a horse? Tons. Shitloads. We were so sick of each other by the time we died that we mostly hung out with animals (platonically).

Anyway, so I died and went to heaven.

In heaven they tell you the entire story of the Universe, front to back, and then ask where you want to hang out permanently. I said at a BBQ. So, that's where I am. And now I'll continue with the rest of the stuff that happened in the Universe forever and ever and stuff.

That's, like, the first chapter. Some more stuff happens if you're interested. Like thousands of years of stuff. It's long.

TLDR: God eventually kills everyone.

I'm making burgers tonight at my buddy's, but I'll try to write the rest.

title: [HM] Genesis - Not the Group

question: Why did the narrator eat the raccoon first?

answer: Curiosity, maybe. He observed that the raccoon is more ugly than any other animal he's seen, hence he decides to eat it first as soon as God gave him permission to eat any of the animals.

question: What is the relationship between Eve and the protagonist like?

answer: They seem to like each other; there is nothing to suggest that they hated living with each other.


text:
Excerpt from found journal at site 225-A9.

Author identified as only Doctor S. PHD.

Dated March 14th 2035

Noted location: "Old World," State-run Hospital VA-02295 "St. Francine's"

...
  As I read the chart I noticed the results of the State mandated Gen-PreF tests. It reported that my next patient couple was decidedly more comfortable with a "male" doctor. I was disappointed. I thought about how I would have to announce myself as "Mystr S., PHD." It just didn't roll of the tongue as well as "Miss" did, or even the more simple "Dr. S." and leave my gender neutral. I wasn't worried about passing off as a man though, I had just visited the barb-ilist. The thym that worked on me did a wonderful job, not too long, not too short. The perfect blend of "long-haired man" or "not too short-haired woman." My other traits have all been sculpted to be "visual kei." I still, to this day, swear the hip shrinking pelvis shaving surgery was far more painful than my breast reduction, counter to the common claims of my peers. The State supplied hormone pills took care of everything else.

  When I stepped into the room I took a quick measure of the persons in front of me. The "male" was decidedly trying to be neutral, but his haggard complexion and signs of stubble on his face, gave me the impression of "him" more than anything. I allowed him the improper variance given the womyn in the room. "She" was nervous, her eyes darted down from him to me as I walked in. She was several weeks pregnant, and starting to show.

  "Hello, Miss J. and Mystr K., my name is Docto- I mean Mystr S., PHD," I said, slipping.

  The man narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down, but kept his mouth shut. She was in a sitting position in the chair in the middle of the room, he was standing over her left shoulder, his hand on it.

  "I've been reading your chart, here... no family names?" I asked conversationally.

  The womyn looked up at him and squeezed his hand as he cringed, "I don't have a family."

  She looked back down to me and said, "I used to have a family name, but I went through a deerkin phase and had it legally changed. After I met K. here I changed it back to my given name but kept out my family name for hym." I noticed the inflection when she said "hym." Keeping up appearances I assumed. It was well enough, because I did have the power to incite sanctions against them for not keeping to the rules of neutrality.

  "Ah, so J and K it is then. Not Myssus hmm? You aren't legal life partners yet?" I quizzed sitting down in the swivel chair provided for me.

  The man stood taller and said almost monotonously, "No, but we have cohabited for two and a half years now."

  This response was acceptable, since the State funded OCare that was paying for this visit only allowed them to be here if they met certain criteria. Marriage is no longer a legal coupling, one of the few concessions the retro-conservs won from the peace talks after The Gender Wars, but cohabitation for a period longer than two years was.

  What I found most interesting was their nervousness in using the State funded care. Nearly everyone did now, and since the demand was so low, non-funded health care was pretty cheap. Heck, with nearly everything provided to me at my andro housing barracks, my stipend of 'fun' expenditures could easily afford the cost of a legally enforced gender checkup during pregnancy. Not that I would ever get pregnant, disgusting. Genetic tailoring and the use of synthetic wombs is such a cleaner option.

  "Very good. Let's take a look at your fetus shall we then?" I said as I down the chart, grabbed some latex gloves from the counter, wheeled closer, and pulled the ultrasound caddy closer.

  Everything checked out okay, with one exception. "Healthy, but sorry, it's a boy. As you know our current sector has too many male children. When would you like to schedule the termination, this afternoon, or sometime later this week?"

  The female unit started to cry.

title: [SP] Sorry, it's a boy.

question: What does the text say about the patient's ultrasound?

answer: There had been The Gender Wars which made the patient nervous at their ultrasound. Genetic tailoring and synthetic wombs were more common but the couple continued with their natural pregnancy. At the ultrasound, the doctor confirmed everything was okay except that the fetus was a boy. According to the doctor, the current sector had too many male children and they would need to schedule a termination.


text:
He sat there again, Saturday night.  Not at a bar, not out with friends at his desk.  The monitors he normally gamed on were black and on sleep mode, waiting to be jolted back to life by the movement of his mouse or a click on his keyboard, but gaming wasn’t what he planned to do.  Instead, he sat on his phone, playing 2048.  Occasionally, a bead of sweat would roll down his head, from the intense thinking going on inside his brain.  Sometimes, he wasn’t even thinking about the game, that was just something to keep his fingers moving.  He was curled up in a ball, knees up to his chest and hands resting on top of his kneecaps.  Both hands cupped around the iPhone, right thumb sliding left and right, up and down across the touchscreen, moving tiny squares with numbers on them.  Why was he doing this to himself? It was because it reminded him of her.

Nick had just gotten out of a year long relationship with his girlfriend, he was only 18, well, 19 now, but he had always thought about the long term, he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life if he could.  He loved her but he had trouble showing it sometimes, maybe that’s where he went wrong.  One thing was for sure though, Mary was the only girl he ever loved.  He had crushes, occasional swings with other girls, but he and Mary always clicked, she was so easy to talk to, her smile so vibrant, he couldn’t imagine her sad.  She insisted she would sometimes get depressed, like she claimed she was when she broke up with him.
** **
He was on the phone with her, telling her about a dream he had, it was really all unimportant now what the dream was about, but she listened and she began to speak, the words Nick had feared were coming for a while, but he had always been hopeful.

“I.. I just.. don’t want a relationship right now.”  The words cut deep.  He knew that she had grown distant, but he didn’t realize how bad it was.  He had always been hopefully he could pull her back and make their life work together.  His brain was on autopilot, listening to what she had to say, not entirely believing it was completely over yet.  “I still love you.. I’m just going through some personal issues right now and I need to be alone.” Alone.  Right.. alone.  I don’t want to be alone.  He thought to himself.  He loved her though, more than anything, he could feel himself breaking down on the outside, already broken on the inside as she told him how she felt.  He told her that he was here for her, wanting to be as supportive as possible.  Even if this breakup wasn’t what he wanted, he loved her enough to let her go if that’s what she needed.  Nick said goodnight after a drawn out conversation with her and turned out the light by his bed, but he couldn’t sleep.  He went over every word he said, trying to find a deeper meaning.

He sat up and walked over to his computer, a couple of friends were on Skype, he didn’t want to talk to them though.  He got on his favorite game, and launched into a deathmatch.  He wandered around the map, shooting at pixels mindlessly, thinking about Mary.  He wished to hold her again, tell her he’d help her through all her tough times and depression that she felt.  But he couldn’t.  He wanted to cry, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that.  Not until the realization hit him that he had been dumped and she probably didn’t actually love him.  He turned off the game, went back to his bed and cried.  For the first time in what felt like forever, he cried.  He thought about all the scenarios and good times they had together, all the smiles.  The last month of their relationship had been especially torturous, with her acting on stage and preparing for a show, she couldn’t see him as much as normal, she had started growing away from him.  After a fight about whether he would be going to opening night or seeing friends, he decided to go to her show.  He did it for her.  He didn’t realize how much it meant during the fight, but once he realized just how much it meant, he did it.  He felt like shit for even starting that argument.  After all, he had always thought that they could make a life together and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.  The memory of the last time he saw her came to his mind and he thought about what he would’ve done differently as he lay in bed.
** **
His 19th Birthday party.  It was a small family gathering, she barely spoke.  She sat next to him, but she barely spoke.  I should have tried to talk to her more.  After all the family members left and it was just her and his immediate family, he sat down on the couch next to her, awkwardly sliding his arm around her, trying to see if it would spark a reaction or get her talking, she just pulled out her phone.  He tried to talk to her, but it felt so artificial, she was an actress, and he couldn’t tell whether she was acting right now or not.  She asked if Nick had heard about this new game, 2048.  I shouldn’t have given her my phone, I should have forced a conversation.  He admitted he had not and she installed it onto his phone, a math game, you added tiles with the same number up, over and over, starting at 2 until you reached 2048, you could slide the tiles up right left or down in a 4x4 space.  It was a challenging yet fun game.  She played it once, then passed it to Nick.  They swapped back every once in a while, awkwardly playing a game and not talking all that much to each other.  When they did it just felt like small talk, like a couple on a first date.  They’d grown so apart.  It hurt him to think back to that night.  It was the worst Birthday of his life.  He walked her out to the porch, he didn’t have shoes on and it was raining, so he couldn’t walk her to her car.  She kissed him, a small one, just a goodbye kiss but as she turned he grabbed her, drug her in close and kissed her passionately.  If I had known it was the last time I’d kiss her, I would have held it longer.  Right before they made contact he heard a small “Oh” come out, as if she was taken by surprise.  Did she not realize how he felt?

“Goodnight, I love you.” He tells her.

“I love you too, goodnight.”  Flat.  She turned and walked away from him.

“Drive safe.”  He watched her pull away and walked back into his house, mellowed.

Nothing after that.  Thinking back on it, he wished he’d walked her to her car, even if his socks got soaked, just to try and steal another kiss or two, or a small moment of contact that he just wished he could get now.  Another memory to hold of her.  He went back inside and played 2048 until he went to bed.  He was hardly getting a text from her now, it wasn’t until two days later that she broke up with him.
** **
He doesn’t know how to approach her anymore, after trying to figure out if there was any real reason besides her wanting to be alone for the breakup, he wasn’t going to get it.  He was just hurt and alone.  If it was her depression, he wondered why she wouldn’t use him, her boyfriend, as someone to confide in, someone to share her feelings with and someone to tell her it would all be okay.  Did she not trust him?  He couldn’t change how she felt, that was something he had to come to terms with.

So here he is, still sitting there alone on this Saturday night.  Trying desperately to beat 2048.  In some desperate way, he hopes that when he beats it he will be over her, find a way to move on.  But he can’t beat it.  He looks online, strategy guides on how to win, but they don’t help him.  He’s stuck playing, sliding, up.. left.. right.. but he can’t win.  She sends him texts, small, casual talk.  She calls him her “Best friend” and lingers the opportunity that one day they may be together again, but he doesn’t think that she loves him anymore.  He swears that he won’t check her Twitter, she tells him she’s depressed and wants to be alone, but she’s telling all her friends on Twitter, “Yes, I am single”.  It breaks his heart.  He turns off his monitors, let’s them fall asleep as he slides the number tiles, a text comes in from her, he will read it in a moment and continue to live in a fantasy world where they still have a chance together.  Then he’ll go back to playing 2048.  One day he’ll beat it, he’ll get over her.  But not tonight, tonight, he plays.

title: [Feedback/Critique Appreciated, Still Rough] 2048

question: Why did Nick break up with his girlfriend?

answer: Nick believes that the relationship ended because he had trouble showing her love.

question: What thoughts cross Nick's mind when Mary decides to part ways?

answer: Nick finds it difficult to believe what Mary says. He tells her that he still loves her and is going through a rough patch. He does not want to be alone and feels himself breaking down.

question: Why does Nick try to beat 2048?

answer: It may be implied that he is trying to win the game and using that as a coping mechanism for his breakup.


text:
The sound of water splashing filled the air as I moved my paddles in rhythmic motion. It was a beautiful night out. I glanced upwards while paddling, locking eyes with the huge, looming moon. Darting my eyes around, I could see the scattered stars accentuating the pale blackness of the sky. I tried to find a constellation, but the only one that I knew was Corvus.
“What’re you looking at?” asked Tracy, cocking her head to the side a tiny bit. You could see the childlike curiosity in her eyes. It was kind of cute. “Trying to find a constellation?”
“Yeah.” I chuckled, glad my embarrassment was only known to the night air. “I only really know Corvus. Do you know any others? ‘Cause that’s about it for me.”
“Oh, I know Corvus. I don’t really like that one though, it’s just a disappointing constellation. Ooh, but do you know Columba, right up there?” She accented her query with a slender, out-stretched finger pointed towards a cluster of stars.
“Columba… which one is that again? It’s a bird, isn’t it?” I was surprised that she knew a constellation that I’d never even heard mentioned on TV or anything. I guess I forgot that she enjoyed astronomy.
“Mhmm,” she hummed in affirmation. “It’s the dove. Kind of funny when you think about it, right?”
“Yeah. Maybe. Okay, why is it funny when you think of it?”
“Y’know, it’s a dove. The white bird is found in the depths of space, a pitch black place.”
“I guess that’s an interesting way of looking at it.” I just sighed and looked at the constellation for a few seconds. Well, I looked in the area of it. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make it out. I quickly glanced to Corvus once more just to look at it, and then levelled my eyes back out and looked around, admiring the scenery. The trees all around were silhouetted by the moonlight, just barely blocking the view to infinity. The water shimmered. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but the wakes and waves in the water were washing away the wonder in the stars’ reflection.
	“Now what are you looking at?” She was definitely curious that night. But that’s just one of those things that makes her so easy to love – you definitely know that she cares, even if it’s just because of the sheer amount of questions that she asks. And I don’t know if it’s maybe just me, but the way that she asks is just enticing. “Ooh, I know. Is it the trees? The water?”
	“Kind of. Just the general area, really. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I think I kind of like it and kind of don’t.” She just cocked her head again, donning an inquisitive look on her face. “I mean, there’s… well, it’s a very nice scene. Beautiful, even. But the trees are practically looming over the lake, blocking out the sights of other stars. Then there’s the water. I love seeing the reflections in water, but the movement of the canoe is distorting it so much. And that’s not even mentioning the impossibilities in seeing underneath the surface. Who knows what’s lurking in there?”
	“Oh, wow. You’re really worked up over this now, aren’t you?” She giggled as she delivered the question, entirely unfazed by my comments. “Come on, you just have to either look at this another way, or change what you’re looking at. For example, what’s it matter what’s under the surface of the water? We’re there anyway, so there’s no point in worrying over it. Just embrace it. It’s not like overthinking is going to stop anything from happening. And as for those reflections – they don’t really need to look the way that they did. Sometimes a distortion isn’t just that; sometimes a distortion is a new creation, a welcome idea. Sure, it’s foreign, but just accept it for what it is. But if you don’t like that kind of thing, then don’t look at the trees. Change what you see – look past them. Look at the infinite abyss beyond it. Lock eyes with what stands behind.
	“I guess. I don’t know.” I couldn’t think of it that way. I just couldn’t visualize what she was saying. “I don’t think I can do that. Maybe you can, but I can’t. I just like to look at it the way it is. It’s still beautiful, don’t get me wrong. It’s just a different kind of beautiful.”
	“That’s pretty fair,” she said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. I stopped paddling the canoe. I just wanted to spend this time with her. I wanted to tell her how I felt about her. It had been building up for a long time, but I had still somehow never managed to say anything. Despite how long we’d been friends, I didn’t feel comfortable saying that one thing to her. I didn’t want to ruin the friendship by asking for me. I was scared, so I kept to myself. Then she suddenly started talking again. “So I was gonna tell you…”
	“Yeah? What’s up?” I was glad for the conversation, as it would take away from my thoughts.
	“Well, I don’t know how you’ll take it, thanks to how much time we spend together, and with you being my best friend and everything…” she trailed off and looked down, seemingly nervous to speak. I just waited patiently. “I mean, I don’t want to leave you alone. The thing is, though, I need to go away for a bit. I want to go up to visit my family up north for a bit, and you know the situation there. I might not really be able to talk to you while I’m there. You know I want to, but without a phone or internet I-”
	“I know. You can’t… you can’t talk. Jesus…” It was my turn to trail off. I thought about what she was telling me. I couldn’t very well tell her how much she meant to me, but I didn’t want her to leave, either. I wished that she would pipe up and tell me that she was going to do something different. But after a few seconds, I heard nothing. I only felt my stomach sinking and a boiling anger rising up. “I can’t believe this. I mean, I know that I don’t really facilitate you staying, but Jesus. I’m trying to be fair, but God damnit, Cindy. You’re leaving me no choice. I know I shouldn’t be getting angry, but it pisses me off. I’m sorry, but it just… pisses me off.”
	“It’s alright, I can understand where you’re coming from,” she replied. She smiled softly at me, washing away how I felt. It’s amazing how disarming a girl’s smile can be. It may not have been instant, no, but after a few seconds of just placidly sitting there I was no longer angry. I wasn’t the happiest, no, but I wasn’t angry.
	“Is there no way that you could stay or anything?” I asked – pleaded, almost. “Do you really have to go right now?”
	“I do, unfortunately. Grandma wanted to say goodbye before… before we never see each other again.” Tears were welling up in her eyes, and I suddenly felt terrible for asking her to stay. I had forgotten that was the reason she was headed up there. I knew how much she cared for her family, and especially her grandmother. I should’ve known that this would pretty much break her. As I opened my mouth to apologize, however, she spoke up. “But don’t worry. I’m going to see you again before I go, don’t worry about that.”
	“I’d really, really appreciate that. I’m sorry about asking you to stay, too. I didn’t even think about your grandmother or anything,” I said, trying my best to be empathetic. “I get that you have to say goodbye. It makes sense. Family is important.”
	“Thank you for understanding. It really means a lot to me, and I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to them too. Are you okay, though? I don’t want you to feel bad about any of this. You do understand that it has nothing to do with you, right? Of course I want to stay here and be able to talk with you. I’ve told you over and over, you’re my best friend, and I would never want to do anything to break that connection. You’ll always be my best friend.”
	“I don’t really mind hearing that. Again, I’m sorry that I’m being so terrible about this.” I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, just letting my thoughts collect. “It just sucks, you know? I mean, I really enjoy talking to you. We get along really well, and I love that. I don’t think that there’s another person around that I get along with as much as you. I guess when you’re gone I’m just going to end up a little bit disheartened. A slight bit depressed, even. I don’t need to tell you how often I like these conversations, I’m sure you’ve got that figured out by now.”
	“Yeah, I definitely do know that!” She laughed, forcing a tiny smile upon my face. I re-opened my eyes and looked at her again, looking right in her eyes. I just stared for a bit in an attempt to engrave the picture into my memory. The harder I tried, however, the harder I found it to be. So I gave up on that, and just enjoyed the moment. “So, you’re okay with this then?”
	“I think so. It might take me a few days, but maybe as soon as it all sinks in and everything I’ll learn to accept it. Just give me time, alright?”
	“I’m sure that I can do that. Hey, maybe you’ll even accept it by the time I’m headed up there!”
	“Yeah, that’d be nice. So… you know that I’m going to miss you, right? I made that obvious enough, didn’t I?”
	“I’d say so. I’m really happy to know that. I hate making you feel like this, but I like that there’s somebody that’s going to miss me. And you know that I’m going to miss you too, right? I kind of wish you could come up with me, but that wouldn’t exactly be fair. Plus it would cost a lot, I suppose. It’s already giving my family here a beating as it is, and I wouldn’t wish for anybody else to have to go through that.”
	“Well hey, maybe I’ll make my way up there and be able to see you at some point. I’m sure I’d enjoy hanging out with you up there, too. I’d just end up taking a little bit longer than you to make the trip, all things considered,” I told her.
	“Well, I look forward to seeing you again, then!” She giggled again, replacing my tiny, wistful smile with a larger, livelier one. I really liked being around her. I loved seeing her so happy. That was just the way that I enjoyed seeing her. “Anyway, I guess we should head back. Didn’t you tell Ty that you were only going canoeing for long enough to clear your head?”
	“That is what I said, you’re right. Well, for what it’s worth I’m really happy that we could hang out one-on-one. You’ll always be my best friend too, and I hope that you know that.” As I finished the sentence, I started paddling once more. After I turned us around, I slowly propelled us through the water, not wanting to stop the visit. I wished that I could get more time with her, and hoped that we could see each other a little bit more. I was happy that she said she would see me before she went, but still a little bit disappointed that she was going.
	The trip back was spent in calm, peaceful silence. I did nothing but think about Cindy. I thought about what she said, and looked out at the trees, trying to see past them. I listened to the wind rushing over the water, scattering the surface over itself and making me realize that it was the only part of the water that mattered. I looked up at the diluted stars and tried to find her constellation, but could only remember the one star that she pointed out to me. Columba was a tricky constellation to find, but I wanted to mark it in my memory for as long as I lived. Then I got back, greeted on the beach by Ty.
	“All good now?” he asked. I nodded my head in confirmation. “Alright, cool. Y’know, Cindy would’ve loved going out on that canoe with you. It’s too bad, man.”
	“Yeah, but I’m sure she’s happy.” A bittersweet smile crept across my face. “She always was, after all.”
~~~~~~~~
Oh boy oh boy I'm putting something somewhere.

title: [MF] Stagnant

question: What does the story say about the constellation Leo?

question: Summarize the primary source of tension in the story.

answer: The main source of tension in the story is the narrator's inability to share his true feelings for his best friend, Cindy, because he was scared and didn't want to make things awkward between them. He didn't want to ruin their friendship. When he was about to tell her, however, Cindy told him that she was going away up north to see her grandma and he wouldn't see or hear from her for a long time. The narrator gets angry because he doesn't want Cindy to go and leave him.

question: What does the story say about the relationship between the narrator and Cindy?

answer: It appears the narrator and Cindy are best friends, but the narrator secretly loves her and wants more out of their relationship. However, he's scared that telling Cindy will ruin their friendship and make things uncomfortable for her. They spend a lot of time together and mean a lot to one another. He tells her that he'll be a little bit disheartened and depressed when she leaves and he'll miss her. She'll miss him too.

question: Summarize the story's plot twist.

answer: The narrator is on a canoe with his best friend Cindy. They've been friends for a long time and he has developed feelings for her, but is scared to tell her because it might ruin their friendship. Before the narrator can tell Cindy how he really feels, she tells the narrator she's going "up north to see family". This angers the narrator because he won't see or hear from her for a long time. It turns out, Cindy is dead and he is talking to either a ghost or an imaginary version of her. It seems the narrator has been talking to "Cindy" regularly while out on the canoe. Evidence of her death is clearly stated all throughout the story, and confirmed by Ty in the ending. The line where Cindy wishes the narrator could come with her but says it wouldn't be fair because it would cost a lot is an indicator that she is, in fact, dead.

question: Summarize the advice Cindy gave the narrator while they were talking about the scenery.

answer: Cindy advises the narrator to either look at the scenery another way, or change what he's looking at. There is no point in worrying about things, like what's under the surface of the water, because they're there on the water already, and overthinking won't stop anything from happening. She says that distortions in the water's reflection can be viewed as a new creation or a welcome idea that can be foreign, but needs to be accepted for what it is. Cindy says that if the narrator doesn't like that the trees are blocking the stars, he shouldn't look at them, but look past them, at the infinite abyss beyond.