text:
This is among my first attempts at writing short stories, so advice and criticism are much appreciated!

Johnny Hall was sprawled on his bunk bed, listening to the heavy rain drops on the train’s sheet metal roof and a faint guitar in another wagon. His former squad mate, now cell mate– Dan Burns, was playing solitaire on the shoddy wooden end table in the other corner of the room. It was kind enough that the handlers had given them a deck of playing cards... too kind for a bunch of no-good dirtbag invaders. This was not an ordinary train, and they were not ordinary prisoners.

The door to the coupe opened, letting in the evening chill. It was pitch black outside. A Russian soldier walked in and laid his heavy backpack on the table by the door:

“Feeling energized, comrade specialist?”– he asked Burns, who didn’t even look at the newly arriving handler:

“The train is five hours away from Houston. There– you’ll be interrogated and, hopefully... recruited.”

“Forget that, Ivan.”– Dan answered briefly, looking into the soldier’s eyes: “No amount of tea and *Pirogi* will make me give away my command!”– he followed with a grin.

“Well that’s a shame... the war *IS* over. You are now officially considered terrorists and government obstructions! If I were you I’d use the chance to land myself in the new government! And you– comrade specialist... you are presented with such an opportunity.”

“Better shoot us on spot.”– Hall joined the conversation.

“It’ll come to that eventually, don’t worry.”– the Russian squatted beside the cell bars:

“But if I were you I’d play nice. I don’t see how your command would even vouch for you! They’re all terrorists, and so are you! And if you don’t abide, you’ll be dead terrorists by dawn!”– the soldier stared Hall in the eyes. Hall stared back.

The rain got heavier. The sheet metal roof sounded like it was being banged on. The guitar in the other wagon faded away:

“The lads were so happy we captured you two that they’re probably too drunk to even play the guitar now.”– the handler chuckled:

“If you were my soldiers, you’d be there with the others– enjoying the victory! *but nooo*, you’d rather die for a failed government that couldn’t even-“– he couldn’t finish the sentence.

A sound Hall and Burns knew too well just resonated in their heads...

*flashbang*

The prisoners got on the floor and covered their ears.

“What the-“– the Russian exclaimed.

*bang*

*bang*

*thud*

“Would you look at that! Two more *meat-shields* for my squad of *terrorists*!”

Hall knew the voice too well– Colonel Bertram Reeves. He opened his eyes and got up from the floor. The colonel was wearing a waterproof rain poncho under a decked out load bearing harness, and a compact set of night vision goggles. In his hands– a decked out specialist AK-12. He picked up the keys to the cell and tossed them to Burns:

“Open it up, Burns, we have to get off this fucking train! Hall– you get the dead guy’s AK.”

The cell door opened. Burns hugged his commander and exclaimed:

“All hail the mighty god-emperor Reeves– the savior of the unbroken and the bringer of doom upon the invader menace!”

“It’s nice to see you too, kid! Now... can you still drive?”

“Yessssir! What are we driving?”

“A trio of Ural motorcycles is waiting in the cargo carriage. Modded to the bone."

"Urals? Not bad, but I heard the clutches are a nightmare to work."– said Hall, putting the dead Russian’s load bearing harness on.

"Don’t worry, we’ll spend most of the journey in 5th gear!"– the colonel fired back with a tone of pride and military spirit:

"The rain is pretty loud, and no one on board knows that the two rear guard carriages are knocked out. Let’s move quickly and get to the cargo bay!"

The three walked out of the prisoner carriage and prepared to breech the next one. The colonel gave a signal to Hall, who was the only one armed of the two captured specialists. Then, he opened the door and threw a flashbang.

*bang*

"Breech!"– the two soldiers moved into the coupe and mowed down a dozen of stunned enemies with controlled bursts:

"Clear! Burns, get a gun!"– Reeves shouted.

Burns picked up a Saiga 12 shotgun from the floor and decked himself out with a scavenged harness, while his two squad mates reloaded their weapons and finished off the injured foes.

"Next!”

They walked out of the carriage and into the next. Same drill, flashbangs flew in and enemies collapsed onto the floor. No one heard the shots in the deafening storm and rattle of the train tracks, so the trio had the element of surprise on their side. One by one, clearing out all the enemies on their way, the party reached the cargo carriage:

“Voila!”– the colonel pointed at three motorcycles in the midst of weapons and other military equipment, pulling out a detonator and a plastic charge from his harness:

“Hall, plant this in the munitions storage! Let’s see how easy it is for the Russkies to get to Houston on a burning train!”

Hall took the charge and planted it in the pile of boxes with RPG-7 grenades, then came back to the three motorcycles and sat on the one beside Burns. Colonel Reeves unhinged the barn door on the side of the carriage and a wall of hail and rain covered their faces. Next, Reeves pulled the brake lever next to the door and the train violently came to a halt in the span of several seconds. Alarms went off in every carriage:

“Just in time, Ivan!”– Burns chuckled.

The trio revved their motorcycles and, one by one, jumped out of the carriage. Hall felt the wind blowing in his face, the stiff suspension recovering from the brutal jump, the nightmare-inducing clutch that was barely even working, and the angry roar of the engine– the magnificent sound that he grew up with! This was freedom!

“Blow it up!”- Reeves shouted once the bikes were half a mile away from the train.

Hall pressed the detonator. The train erupted in flames, throwing up clouds of toxic smoke and debris. Burns looked at the whole thing with the burning passion of a child, crying out loudly:

“Whoooooo! The war ain’t over yet! The war ain’t over!”

*To be continued?*

title: [RF] The War ain’t over yet!

question: What does the text say about the loyalty of the prisoners?

answer: The prisoners are loyal to the US government. They are American soldiers and would rather die than work for the Russian invaders holding them captive.

question: Summarize how the prisoners are saved.

answer: Johnny Hall and Dan Burns are held captive in a train going to Houston. While a Russian soldier is explaining that war is over and they the two prisoners have to serve the new government or face death, their commander, Colonel Bertram Reeves, ambushes the train and succeeds in saving his men. The three then blow up the train.

question: Summarize what the Russians want to do with the prisoners.

answer: Having thought they have won the war, the Russians plan on sending the US soldiers Johnny Hall and Dan Burns to Houston to be interrogated and recruited in the new government. The Russians believe it's an opportunity for the prisoners who are already considered terrorists. If they decline the offer, they will be killed.


split: test

text:
SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor of the bolometer and aviation pioneer. In addition to becoming the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, he was also a professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the director of the Allegheny Observatory.

Life

Langley was born in Roxbury, Boston on 23 August 1834.[1]

Langley attended Boston Latin School and graduated from English High School of Boston, after which he became an assistant in the Harvard College Observatory. He then moved to a job at the United States Naval Academy, ostensibly as a professor of mathematics. However, he was actually sent there to restore the Academy's small observatory. In 1867, he became the director of the Allegheny Observatory and a professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh (then known as the Western University of Pennsylvania), a post he kept until 1891 even while he became the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. Langley was the founder of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. In 1888 Langley was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.[2] In 1898, he received the Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society.

Allegheny Observatory

Langley arrived in Pittsburgh in 1867 to become the first director of the Allegheny Observatory, after the institution had fallen into hard times and been given to the Western University of Pennsylvania. By then, the department was in disarray – equipment was broken, there was no library and the building needed repairs. Through the friendship and aid of William Thaw, a Pittsburgh industrial leader, Langley was able to improve the observatory equipment and build additional apparatuses. One of the new instruments was a small transit telescope used to observe the position of the stars as they cross the celestial meridian.[3]

He raised money for the department in large part by distributing standard time to cities and railroads. Up until then, correct time had only occasionally been sent from American observatories for public use. Clocks were manually wound in those days and time tended to be imprecise. Exact time had not been especially necessary. It was enough to know that at noon the sun was directly above the head. That changed with the arrival of railroads, which made the lack of standard time dangerous. Trains ran by a published schedule, but scheduling was chaotic. If the timepieces of an engineer and a switch operator differed by even a minute or two, trains could be on the same track at the same time and collide.

Using astronomical observations obtained from the new telescope, Langley devised a precise time standard, including time zones, that became known as the Allegheny Time System. Initially he distributed time signals to Allegheny city business and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Eventually, twice a day, the Allegheny time signals gave the correct time via 4,713 miles of telegraph lines to all railroads in the US and Canada. Langley used the money from the railroads to finance the observatory. From about 1868 revenues from Allegheny Time continued to fund the observatory, until the US Naval Observatory provided the signals via taxpayer funding in 1883.

Once funding was secure, Langley devoted his time at the Observatory initially in researching the sun. He used his draftsman skills—from his first job out of high school—to produce hundreds of drawings of solar phenomena, many of which were the first the world had seen. His 1873 remarkably detailed illustration of a sun spot, observed while using the observatory's 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor became a classic. It is featured on page 21 of his book, The New Astronomy, and was also widely reprinted in the Americas and Europe.

In 1886, Langley received the inaugural Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences for his contributions to solar physics.[4] His publication in 1890 of infrared observations at the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh together with Frank Washington Very along with the data he collected from his invention, the bolometer, was used by Svante Arrhenius to make the first calculations on the greenhouse effect. In 1898, Langley received the Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (the French astronomical society).

Aviation work

[Langley's steam-powered _Aërodrome No. 5_ in flight, May 6, 1896. Photo by Alexander Graham Bell.]

Langley attempted to make a working piloted heavier-than-air aircraft. His models flew, but his two attempts at piloted flight were not successful. Langley began experimenting with rubber-band powered models and gliders in 1887. (According to one book, he was not able to reproduce Alphonse Pénaud's time aloft with rubber power but persisted anyway.) He built a rotating arm (functioning like a wind tunnel) and made larger flying models powered by miniature steam engines. Langley realised that sustained powered flight was possible when he found that a 1 lb. brass plate suspended from the rotating arm by a spring, could be kept aloft by a spring tension of less than 1 oz.

Langley understood that aircraft need thrust to overcome drag from forward speed, observed higher aspect ratio flat plates had higher lift and lower drag, and stated in 1902 “A plane of fixed size and weight would need less propulsive power the faster it flew”, the counter-intuitive effect of induced drag.[5]

He met the writer Rudyard Kipling around this time, who described one of Langley's experiments in his autobiography:

His first success came on May 6, 1896 when his Number 5 unpiloted model weighing made two flights of and after a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River.[6][7] The distance was ten times longer than any previous experiment with a heavier-than-air flying machine,[8] demonstrating that stability and sufficient lift could be achieved in such craft.

[Langley Aerodrome No. 6 at Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh]

On November 11 that year his Number 6 model flew more than . In 1898, based on the success of his models, Langley received a War Department grant of $50,000 and $20,000 from the Smithsonian to develop a piloted airplane, which he called an “Aerodrome” (coined from Greek words roughly translated as “air runner”). Langley hired Charles M. Manly (1876–1927) as engineer and test pilot. When Langley received word from his friend Octave Chanute of the Wright brothers' success with their 1902 glider, he attempted to meet the Wrights, but they politely evaded his request.

[Langley, right, with test pilot Charles Manly]

While the full-scale Aerodrome was being designed and built, the internal combustion engine was contracted out to manufacturer Stephen M. Balzer (1864–1940). When he failed to produce an engine to the power and weight specifications, Manly finished the design. This engine had far more power than did the engine for the Wright brothers' first airplane—50 hp compared to 12 hp. The engine, mostly the technical work of men other than Langley, was probably the project's main contribution to aviation.[9] The piloted machine had wire-braced tandem wings (one behind the other). It had a Pénaud tail for pitch and yaw control but no roll control, depending instead on the dihedral angle of the wings, as did the models, for maintaining roughly level flight.

[First failure of the manned Aerodrome, Potomac River, Oct. 7, 1903]

In contrast to the Wright brothers' design of a controllable airplane that could fly against a strong wind and land on solid ground, Langley sought safety by practicing in calm air over the Potomac River. This required a catapult for launching. The craft had no landing gear, the plan being to descend into the water after demonstrating flight which if successful would entail a partial, if not total, rebuilding of the machine. Langley gave up the project after two crashes on take-off on October 7 and December 8, 1903.

In the first attempt, Langley said the wing clipped part of the catapult, leading to a plunge into the river “like a handful of mortar,” according to one reporter. On the second attempt the craft broke up as it left the catapult (Hallion, 2003; Nalty, 2003).[10] Manly was recovered unhurt from the river both times. Newspapers made great sport of the failures, and some members of Congress strongly criticized the project.

[Langley's -scale model; it flew several hundred yards on August 8, 1903.]

The Aerodrome was modified and flown a few hundred feet by Glenn Curtiss in 1914, as part of his attempt to fight the Wright brothers' patent, and as an effort by the Smithsonian to rescue Langley's aeronautical reputation. Nevertheless, courts upheld the patent. However, the Curtiss flights emboldened the Smithsonian to display the Aerodrome in its museum as “the first man-carrying aeroplane in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight”. Fred Howard, extensively documenting the controversy, wrote: “It was a lie pure and simple, but it bore the imprimatur of the venerable Smithsonian and over the years would find its way into magazines, history books, and encyclopedias, much to the annoyance of those familiar with the facts.” (Howard, 1987). The Smithsonian's action triggered a decades-long feud with the surviving Wright brother, Orville, who objected to the Institution's claim of primacy for the Aerodrome.

Unlike the Wright brothers with their invention of three-axis control, Langley had no effective way of controlling an airplane too big to be maneuvered by the weight of the pilot's body. So if the Aerodrome had flown stably, as the models did, Manly would have been in considerable danger when the machine descended, uncontrolled, for a landing—especially if it had wandered away from the river and over solid ground.

Bolometer

In 1880 Langley invented the bolometer, an instrument initially used for measuring far infrared radiation.[11] The bolometer has enabled scientists to detect a change of temperature of less than 1/100,000 of a degree Celsius.[12] It laid the foundation for the measurements of the amount of solar energy on the Earth. He published an 1881 paper on it, “The Bolometer and Radiant Energy”.[13] He made one of the first attempts to measure the surface temperature of the Moon, and his measurement of interference of the infrared radiation by carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere was used by Svante Arrhenius in 1896 to make the first calculation of how climate would change from a future doubling of carbon dioxide levels.[14]

Commercial time service

Starting with his tenure at Allegheny Observatory in the Pittsburgh area in the late 1860s, Langley was a major player in the development of astronomically derived and regulated time distribution services in America through the later half of the 19th century. His work with the railroads in this area is often cited as central to the establishment of the Standard Time Zones system. His very successful and profitable time sales to the Pennsylvania Railroad stood out among the many non-government-based observatories of the day who were largely subsidizing their research by time-service sales to regional railroads and the cities they served. The United States Naval Observatory's increasing dominance in this field threatened these regional observatories' livelihoods and Langley became a leader in efforts to preserve the viability of their commercial programs.

Death

Langley held himself responsible for the loss of funds after the June 1905 discovery that Smithsonian accountant William Karr was embezzling from the Institution. Langley refused his salary in the aftermath. In November he suffered a stroke. In February 1906 he moved to Aiken, South Carolina to recuperate, but had another stroke and died on February 27. He was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston.[15]

Legacy

Air and sea craft, facilities, a unit of solar radiation, and an award have been named in Langley's honor, including:

-   Langley Gold Medal by the Smithsonian Institution[16]
-   NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC), Hampton, Virginia[17]
-   Langley Air Force Base
-   Langley Hall at the University of Pittsburgh
-   Langley High School in Pittsburgh
-   Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
-   Langley unit of solar radiation
-   Mount Langley in the Sierra Nevada
-   -   , laid down 10 July 1942 and renamed _Hammann_ on 1 August 1942

-   -   Seadrome Langley, intended as one in a chain of Atlantic aviation way-stations, cancelled due to the Depression
-   , U.S. Liberty Ship

-   Samuel P. Langley Elementary School in Hampton, VA.

Media

In the 1978 film _The Winds of Kitty Hawk_, he was portrayed by actor John Hoyt.

[1]

[2] American Antiquarian Society Members Directory

[3] University of Pittsburgh history

[4]

[5]

[6] Langley Aerodrome Number 5 Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved January 8, 2018

[7]

[8] Smithsonian Samuel P. Langley CollectionHistorical note

[9] Aerostories

[10]

[11]

[12] Samuel Pierpont Langley, at _earthobservatory.nasa.gov_, _“...sensitive to differences in temperature of one hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius (0.00001 C). Composed of two thin strips of metal, a Wheatstone bridge, a battery, and a galvanometer...”_, accessed 31 October 2018

[13]

[14] Archer, David. _The Long Thaw_ (2009 ), p. 19.

[15]

[16]

[17]

title: Samuel Langley

question: What does the text say about Langley's early and professional life?

answer: Samuel Pierpont Langley was born on August 22, 1834, in Roxbury, Boston. He attended Boston Latin School, graduated from the English High School of Boston, and became an assistant in the Harvard College Observatory. He then worked as a professor of mathematics at the United States Naval Academy. He was sent there to restore the Academy's small observatory. He became the director of the Allegheny Observatory and a professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1867 until 1891, even when he became the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1887. Langley founded the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1888. Ten years later, he received the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society, the Prix Jules Janssen.

question: What does the text say about the first failure of Langley's manned aerodrome?

answer: Langley sought safety by practicing flying in calm air over the Potomac River, which contrasted with the Wright Brother's design of a controllable airplane that could fly against strong winds and land on solid grounds; it required a catapult for launching. The craft lacked landing gear, and the plan was to plunge it into the river after demonstrating flight. If successful, it would entail rebuilding the machine. However, Langley gave up on the project after two crashes on takeoff on October 7th and December 8th, 1903. The first crash happened after the wing clipped part of the catapult, causing it to crash into the river. The second crash happened when the craft was dismantled and left the catapult.

question: What does the text say about the history of Langley's attempt at making an aircraft?

answer: Langley's two attempts at piloted flight were unsuccessful, but his models flew. He began experimenting with rubber-band-powered models and gliders in 1887, even though he could not reproduce Alphonse Penaud's time aloft with rubber power but kept persisting. He then built a rotating arm - that functioned like a wind tunnel and constructed larger flying models powered by miniature steam engines. Langley understood that aircraft need thrust to overcome drag from forward speed and observed higher aspect ratio flat plates had a higher lift and lower drag.

question: What does the text say about Langley's last days?

answer: In June 1905, when it was found out that accountant William Karr was embezzling from the Smithsonian Institution, Langley held himself responsible for the loss of funds. He then refused his salary afterward. In November of the same year, Langley suffered a stroke. Then in February 1906, he moved to Aiken, South Carolina, to recover but suffered a second stroke and passed away on the 27th. He was buried in Forest Hills Cemetary in Boston.


text:
_RITHĀ’ AL-ANDALUS_ (, variously translated as “An Elegy to al-Andalus”[1] or “Elegy for the fall of al-Andalus”[2]), also known as _LAMENT FOR THE FALL OF SEVILLE_, is an Arabic _qaṣīda nūniyya_[3][4] which is said to have been written by Andalusi poet Abu al-Baqa ar-Rundi in 1267,[5] “on the fate of al-Andalus after the loss, in 664/1266, of several places in the provinces of Murcia and Jerez” to the Christian kingdoms during the _Reconquista_.[6]

This poem is considered the most significant of a series of poems that were written in the classical tradition of _rithā’_ (which denotes both lamentation and a literary genre in itself[7]) by Andalusi poets who had been inspired by the _Reconquista_.[8] Ar-Rundi makes notable use of personification as a rhetorical device.[9]

Context and purpose

Ar-Rundi lived through the fall of most of the major Andalusi cities—such as Cadiz, Cordoba, Seville (mentioned as “Hims”), and others—to the forces of the Catholic monarchs: Alfonso VIII of Castile and his grandson Ferdinand III, Sancho VII of Navarre, and Peter II of Aragon.[10] Most major Andalusi cities fell within the span of a century with the collapse of the Almohad Caliphate.[11]

Ar-Rundi composed his poem mourning the fall of al-Andalus and calling the Islamic kingdoms on the North African shore, particularly the Marinid Sultanate, when the king of Granada started to concede towns and castles to the Crown of Castille.[12]

Composition

The poem is a _nūniyya_, as virtually all of its couplets end in an alveolar nasal—either from the letter (nun) or from nunation. The opening line alludes to that of the famous _nūniyya_ of Abu al-Fath al-Busti:[13][14]

  Opening line of _Rithā’ al-Andalus_         Opening line of _Nūniyyat al-Bustī_
  ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------

  _li-kulli shay'in idha ma tamma nuqsan_     _ziyadatu l-mur'i fi dunyahu nuqsan_
  In all that exists, there is imperfection   The mortal's excess in his worldliness is loss

The poem is full of allusions to figures and symbols from the depths of Arab and Middle Eastern culture.[15] It mentions ancient Arab tribes such as ʿĀd, Shaddad, and Qahtan, as well as quasi-mythic historical figures such as Sasan, Korah, Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan, Darius the Great, and Solomon, asking: “Where are they now?”

In the poem, the speaker eulogizes the fallen cities one by one,[16][17] using religious symbols to concretize the impending, menacing threat of the Catholics' invasion. The speaker mentions the minbars and the mihrabs that “mourn” beside the bells and crucifixes in the mosques that were transformed into churches.[18]

Cultural references

N3rdistan, led by Walid Ben Selim, performed this poem in a musical arrangement in 2014.[19]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

title: Ritha' al-Andalus

question: What is the Ritha' al-Andalus?

answer: The Ritha' al-Andalus is a poem that was written by Andalusi poet Abu al-Baqa. It is about the fate of al=-Andalus after the loss of several areas of land in the provinces of Murcia and Jerez to the Christian kingdoms during the Reconquista.

question: What is the purpose of Ritha' al-Andalus?

answer: Ar-Rundi composed the poem mourning the fall of al-Andalus and calling the Islamic kingdoms on the North African shore, particularly the Marinid Sultanate, when the king of Granada started to concede towns and castles to the Crown of Castile.


text:
If you were to ask me to name my favorite color, I would, without hesitation, say “grey.” You see, if colors could speak, he would have the most to say. Because sadly, my dear friend grey is only a placeholder. For, at some point in my life, my favorite color was red.

I was sitting in my local coffee shop, sipping Chai and watching the crowd of customers seep through the doors, inside from the cold winter snow that still felt so odd to a native Californian. As I sat, watching, I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder, and a soft voice ask, “do you mind if I sit across from you?”

“Of course not,” I replied.  “But let me warn you, I’m feeling talkative today.”

And so, she sat across from me, and her appearance struck me with awe; she was gorgeous. The observer of the small things in life, I immediately noticed her cherry red lipstick, and the stain it had made on the white lid of her cup. Little did I know that she would leave the same impression on me, I the canvas, she the artist. We made small talk, no topic more profound than our wishes for the weather. However, I did learn her name: Catherine.

Eventually I excused myself and went on my way to my nine-to-five. At that time, I was enrolled at Stanford University, pursuing a degree in architectural engineering.  Through my undergraduate program, I had gained an internship at a local home design business. It was mostly record keeping and information management, like any internship, but I would occasionally get to watch the architects do their work.

All-in-all, my life was going just the way I had hoped. I was pleasantly well off, considering that I was just starting my first year as a graduate. I had my own one bedroom apartment in downtown San Jose, along with my trusty Chevy Silverado.

During the next few weeks, I went to the my usual coffee shop, drank my usual chai, watched the usual customers. Every now and then I’d see Catherine and her red lipstick. She’d sit across from me and we would partake in the usual small talk. As time progressed, I grew more used to her long, brown hair, her tendency to rabble, and how she would apologize when it happened.

The next week, four weeks after we had met, we went out to dinner. I wore a pair of black slacks and a grey dress shirt. She wore a short, red dress that matched her cherry-red lipstick. When I took her home that night, she parted happily, staining my cheek. See,  many people believe that Heaven is enclosed by a golden gate, leading into a splendid whiteness. However, it is now my assumption that, while the gates may still be golden, the trinity sits on red thrones. This was the beginning of our beautiful, but tragically short lived relationship.

Around this time, my life had changed dramatically. As a result of the recent increase in property price, my employer was forced to cut people from their payroll. I was, unfortunately, one of those people. Between paying for gas, rent, and the basic necessities of living, I was struggling to make ends meet. This, along with my history of chronic depression, threw me into a downward spiral of despair. If there was ever a time that I needed a companion, someone to talk to and confide in, that time was now.

To put it plainly, Catherine was my saviour. She was my second coming of Christ, my salvation. If religion is the opium of the people, she was my heroin. I, sadly, grew dependent, and as my condition worsened, I could see a physical strain that she persisted to keep at the wayside. She was stronger than me, more stable, my rock.

After a year of dating, we decided to move in together, to test the waters. At this time, we learned countless things about each other. She learned that I was quite disorganized, and that I would often stay up late just to wake up early in the morning. I learned that she was a fantastic cook, which, to me, wasn’t too surprising, as I had taken up a diet of Ramen Noodles and microwave pizzas. I also learned that she wasn’t hesitant to cry, as I would often waken to her sniffles. This was one of the most surprising things I found out about her, as she was never anything but happy when we would go out.

That summer, we decided to go on our first road trip. Excitedly, we packed our suitcases into the back of my old truck, and drove to Seattle for the week. At this point, she learned another thing about me - I had terrible motion sickness. Throughout the course of our drive, which we somehow accomplished in two days, I had to pull over eight times. Due to this, we spent most of our time in Seattle visiting restaurants and shops that were within walking distance of our hotel. To this rule, we made one exception.

On our last night in Seattle, we decided to get reservations for the restaurant on the top of the Space Needle. Coincidentally, for nostalgia’s sake, we wore the same attire that we had worn on our first date. The stars shone above us, her features being exemplified in the pouring moonlight. She was beautiful. Little did she know that, in my pocket, I carried a small diamond ring, purchased with money that I had mustered up over the course of the last few months.

And so, in the night air, witnessed by the patrons at the needle and God himself, I got down on my knee. Never the aficionado of speech, I blushed and, holding my breath, brought forth the small box, accompanied with a single line we’ve all heard.

“Will you marry me?”

Nodding her head and holding back tears, she took the small box from my hands. She whispered a simple “Yes”,  and, her hands shaken removed the ring from its prison. However, I suppose the trembling of her hands didn’t help her in the act of sliding the ring onto her finger. She dropped it. She covered her mouth, an exclamatory “Oh!” breaking from her lips as one of the staff stepped on the ring, producing a crunch loud enough that it was only seconded by my breaking heart. Then, it was an unhappy accident. Now, I believe it may have been a sign.

The next day, both for wanting of our sunny home and the fixing of the broken ring, we left our hotel. We left Seattle early in the morning, hoping to drive as far as we could. While on the road, it began to rain. This, coupled with the darkening sky, made my occasional stops an extreme nuisance. My fiance and I had a small argument, she telling me that it would have been wise to take something before we had left the hotel. For the next hour or so, we were silent, a silence which, unknown to us, would never be broken.

My truck was quite old at this point, at approximately fifteen years old, I had often worried that the airbags wouldn’t function. As it turns out, my cause for concern was justified.

As the downpour of rain increased, road conditions became increasingly worse. This, coupled with the longevity of our drive, and my heated attitude, led me to not notice the headlights in front of me. An oncoming truck in my lane.

Unfortunately for me, my airbag deployed. Unfortunately for Catherine, hers did not. It was at this point that I learned that the only red deeper than that of her lipstick was the tone of her blood. Her head had hit the dashboard, bouncing off of the hard surface and into the passenger side window.

When the paramedics arrived, there was not much they were able to do; she had suffered a brain hemorrhage  due to the force of impact.

The police later told me that the driver of the truck in front of us had been had been drunk. However, I have never shaken the feeling that I had caused my lover’s death. Maybe it was due to my inability to stop the accident, but the more I worried about it, the more I realized that it was due to my stubbornness in conceding fault.

Over the course of the next month, I was reduced to a hermit, only leaving my apartment in order to buy food. The next semester, I failed every class that I had signed up for, ruining my chance to ever become an architect like I had always wanted. The revelation that I had single-handedly ruined my life only worsened my downward spiral into the current state of depression I now find myself in. I didn’t have the income to pay for a therapist or to buy antidepressants, so I was forced to trudge through my daily life, hating myself for every mistake I had ever made.

Today, for the first time in about two months, I decided to go out. Peace hasn’t come to me, and I doubt it ever will, but I can not continue my life as it is going now. When I went out, it was raining; it had been doing so for the past few days. It matters not to me, however, for all I see is grey, all I ever feel is cold. As I walk, I can’t help but think about the humility of the human race. We are the passengers of an overly large atom of dust,  flying endlessly into the void and emptiness of space, with no destination in particular. And so, I went back to my apartment complex, and, looking upwards, decided that it would do me well to gain a bit of perspective. I ride the elevator to the twelfth story, from there proceeding up the stairs out onto the roof.

The wind, of all things, was the first thing I noticed. Wanting to see the street from such a height, I stepped onto the brick railing that separated the roof from the seeming nothingness of air. One step, and I would plummet to my death. The rain, helped by the growling wind, felt like icy needles piercing my skin. I watched the seemingly endless amount of black and grey umbrellas scurry around like ants. How small we are. From the distance, I was able to clearly make out a vibrant, red umbrella, separated from the crowds of greys and blacks. My heart leaped as my mind was brought to my dear’s red lips, the stains they left on my skin. She seemed so close, just an arms reach away. Just one step, and I could touch her, feel her again. So, like my heart, I leap.

title: [RF] Red - Criticism welcome!

question: What does the story say about accidents?

answer: When the narrator proposes to Catherine, she accidentally drops the ring and one of the staff steps on it. On their drive home, they get into a car accident that claims Catherine's life.

question: What does the story say about why the narrator hates the color grey?


text:
THE THIRD ARM OF KILIMANJARO

(This concept was originally developed in detail by Marshall T. Savage in his book, "The Millennial Project". By no means am I claiming his works as my own. I respect his creation and wanted to incorporate this part of it into my ongoing tale.)

A public works project had begun in Tanzania on Mt. Kilimanjaro. To the press it had been dubbed a water and energy reclamation experiment, and to the water impoverished nations of Africa they didn't question it too loudly. Why question something that would bring thousands of jobs and clean water to the stricken center of the continent, and let's not forget millions, (perhaps billions if you could really dig into the books and ferret out all the nickels and dimes) of dollars of industry? On the surface, the construct did exactly what it said. There were no lies told. The engineers had built vast sluices to harness and channel the melt from the heavy snows that had been steadily increasing at the peak of the volcano. "This increase in snowfall was an effect of the changing climate brought about by human influence on global temperatures", a few interest groups were shouting at the top of their lungs, "and we should be devoting energies to stem the changes and not just blindly take advantage of them!" They shouted, but no one was listening. Besides, the extra snowfall handled and distributed by what became known as the Kilimanjaro Resource Reclamation Project jointly managed by the central African countries, the US, and after a fashion, the UK, revitalized one of the most impoverished areas on Earth.

The three gargantuan sluices were evenly distributed around the circumference on the mountain's even-sloped rise, and from there each of the three bases branched out to smaller and smaller distribution channels like tree roots, (but moving water in the opposite direction) to the surrounding areas. Using the support pylons for the sluices as foundations, massive turbines were constructed creating wind farms, some classic propeller driven, a few using a new air-compressed turbine technology. With these farms, vast amounts of energy was produced and distributed along the water pipelines. With one well engineered stroke, the project cured much of the strife in Africa bringing water, energy, jobs, and outside interest to the nations. That outside interest being tourism of course, the universal income maker. With the violent rebellions dying down, and much of the varied countries slowly but surely working their way through peace talks and economic summits, the central African countries became a new and fresh tourist destination, bringing even more money to the table.

It was quite a generous act from the First World, again, on the surface. But, does it really matter after that? With all of the good the project had brought to millions of people, did the underlying reasons detract from the gesture? Much of the grand gestures in history had one hand giving and the other taking, and sometimes the price of what was taken was monumental and horrific. From where I sit here in the Salt Flats, I wonder.

You see, two of the sluices were just that: water collectors. They were labeled the  Kilimanjaro First and Second Arms respectively, or K1A and K2A. The third, which happened to be built directly parallel to the equator, was much larger than the other two, (and had an exponentially larger amount of security than the other two), housed a secret. There was indeed a water reclamation facility built there, (there were no overt lies spoken, remember), it just had one more pathway built into it that was never meant to be touched by water,
And just a small fraction of the energy created by the wind farms were diverted to this facility to power it. Knowing that the facility would eventually have to be revealed, the right amount of money had been exchanged to the right hands, (certain heads of the African nations, and as always, the press) to keep the project quiet, but be a loud and positive supporter when the time came for the unveiling.

Housed under this third arm was a thirty mile long set of rails. There was a subtle opening at the peak of the mountain that was the exit for the projected launch vehicle. The passage was essentially a gun, a "rail gun" apparatus first imagined by French inventor Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee in 1918.  It was a device that, using two parallel conductive rails that were fed an electromagnetic current in a pulse traveling the length of the barrel, could accelerate an object at extremely high velocity, no chemical propellant required.

The setting of Kilimanjaro had been ideal for a couple of reasons: the long slope stretching up from the flat plain was a perfect platform to build the rail, and it's closeness to the equator. The long slope allowed for minimum construction (and minimum visibility from the outside world) to set the shape of the track. The extra benefit of the height of the mountain meant that the catapulted object would make it quite a ways up in elevation before it even left the track, meaning less energy spent. The location along the equator was ideal in that anything launched would require minimal adjustments once in orbit to attain a geosynchronicity circling the planet, or to orbital trajectories further out, say. It was these outbound trajectories that were important for the second stage of the project. The third stage would change the world.

Once the rail, dubbed the Kilimanjaro Third Arm Launch Facility (or K3ALF for a slightly less unwieldy title) had been finished, there was a massive marketing push to popularize it and as always, it was easier to ask for forgiveness after the fact than for the initial permissions. After a few test runs; the brave astronautical test pilot's proud and triumphant (widely broadcast across the internet and televisions of the world) flight, not to forget his grinning mug, (also widely broadcast) telling the citizens just how beautiful their small blue world was from where he sat and that humanity should get over their petty squabbles, blah blah blah, and the usual insertion or two of new commercial satellites, (to pay for the previous' advertising), the project was much lauded for it's forward thinking and advancement of Mankind. Once the launch facility was fully operational, it was not unusual to hear the distant thunder from a bullet-shaped vehicle hitting multiple times the speed of sound and leaving nothing but a vapor contrail and a wide cloud halo around the peak of the slumbering volcano.

The third phase began with renewed landings on Earth's lonely companion, the Moon. And at the beginning of the new year, a permanent facility had been constructed in the Copernicus crater that utilized the sloping wall along with the relative flatness of it's basin, (in a slightly funhouse mirror image) to build a smaller sister version of the Kilimanjaro launch rail for the benefit of propelling craft on their return trip to Terra Firma. The public was told that the construction in Copernicus, (named the Arthur C. Clarke Platform; it wasn't in Clavius or the Tycho Crater but the name was fitting, and no one objected to honoring the famous co-author of "2001 - A Space Odyssey") would be primarily used to explore the lunar surface, research into the rocky terrain for the possibilities of future mineral prospects, and mainly; mankind's first proper foothold into space proper, where the foundation of exploration to the outer reaches of the solar system would begin.

These things were all true; proper and successful lies are always obfuscated in a web of truth. As it had been since the beginning of the massive project, there were no lies told. It was what went by unsaid that paid for all in the end. Ironically, this venture having been covered up until it was ready at K3ALF by the publics works programs was in turn a cover for the real strategy, a plan that only a handful of people outside the project were aware of.  Even the majority of the crews at the Arthur C. Clarke site were unaware of what they were a part of and if they were told, they probably wouldn't have believed it anyway.

(6/16/16)

title: [SP] The Third Arm of Kilimanjaro

question: What does the text say about the construction of K1A and K2A?

answer: In response to the changing climate caused by human influence on global temperatures, the engineers created massive sluices to capture and channel the melt from the heavy snows. To revitalize one of the world's poorest regions, the Kilimanjaro Resource Reclamation Project managed the excess snowfall in collaboration with central African countries, the US, and the UK. A tree-like network of distribution pipes branched out from each of the three gigantic sluices evenly dispersed around the mountain's circumference and spread out like tree roots. They built enormous turbines utilizing the sluice support towers as foundations, generating wind farms with traditional propeller-driven and novel air-compressed turbines. These farms produced and delivered vast amounts of electricity. Two sluices collected water. Kilimanjaro First and Second Arms (K1A and K2A) were thus named.

question: What does the text say about how the Kilimanjaro Resource Reclamation Project was received?


text:
A statue of Christopher Columbus is installed in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood, within Louisburg Square, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. A Greek merchant, Joseph Iasigi, presented the statue to the city in December 1849.[1][2][3] A captain of one of his vessels had loaded it onto a ship in Italy as ballast, alongside a statue of Aristides which was also donated.[4] Both statues are described as “inferior” and “unremarkable” by art critics.[5][6] The Italian marble sculpture was carved in Leghorn and depicts Columbus as a boy.[7][8]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

title: Statue of Christopher Columbus (Beacon Hill, Boston)

question: Who made the Statue of Christopher Columbus in Beacon Hill, Boston?

answer: Not answered. It was made in Italy.

question: Why was it transported to Boston?

answer: It was loaded onto an Italian ship as ballast.

question: Why do art critics think the statue is inferior?

answer: Not answered.

question: When was the statue installed?

answer: Not answered. It was presented to the city in December 1849.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article is about a statute of Christopher Columbus, depicted as a boy, that is installed in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood.


text:
June 13, 2018

Fox News anchor Bret Baier sat down with President Trump aboard Air Force One on his way back from meeting North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore, and about halfway through their conversation, which aired on Fox News Wednesday night, Baier gently reminded Trump that Kim is a brutal dictator whose country works and starves thousands of political prisoners to death in labor camps, among other horrific human rights abuses.

"You call people sometimes 'killers,'" Baier told Trump. "You know, he is a killer. I mean, he's clearly executing people." Trump said "he's a tough guy" and reiterated his argument that Kim inherited the country from his father at a young age. "So he's a very smart guy, he's a great negotiator, but I think we understand each other," Trump said. "But he's still done some really bad things," Baier interjected. Trump wasn't swayed: "Yeah, but so have a lot of other people done some really bad things."

  Trump asked about Kim Jong Un's human rights abuses and killings, says “a lot of other people have done some really bad things” too. pic.twitter.com/ds9R0HKntQ

  — Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 13, 2018

Along with his "whataboutism to normalize dictatorial brutality," as _New York Times_ reporter Maggie Haberman put it, Trump also talked about his admiration for President Xi Jinping — "He's an incredible guy. You know, essentially president for life. That's pretty good" — and why he wants Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed back in the G7: "If Putin were sitting next to me and we were having dinner, I could say, 'Would you do me a favor?' ... I could ask him to do things that are good for the world." You can watch the entire interview at Fox News.

Opinion

3:04 p.m.

_Three thousand_. It's a number that needs context to be grasped: "more [deaths] than D-day or 9/11," or the equivalent of if "15 passenger jets full of COVID-19 patients crashed ... and killed everyone on board." This week, we marked _two_ 3,000-plus days of recorded COVID-19 fatalities, with no reason to think we've yet reached the peak. In fact, the United States seems locked in a horrifying race to find out what its ceiling is. Four thousand per day? _Five_ thousand per day?

Even 10,000 deaths in a single day doesn't seem entirely inconceivable anymore.

We know that COVID-19 deaths lag behind infection rates, since it typically takes someone around three weeks after being diagnosed to experience life-threatening symptoms. Since the beginning of November, though, daily COVID-19 cases have doubled. That is to say, the wave of fatalities we're facing right now doesn't yet reflect the over 200,000 COVID-19 cases currently being added daily.

But let's be a little more precise: According to the projection below, the United States would need to reach about 570,000 new cases per day to get in the ballpark of an eventual 10,000 fatality day:

  The simple projection of 1.7% of reported cases into deaths 22 days later has remained largely accurate, although drop of reporting during Thanksgiving weekend is quite clear. We'll know soon whether 7-day average returns back to projection. 3/4 pic.twitter.com/u3MGqvzbOV

  — Trevor Bedford (@trvrb) December 4, 2020

Notably, however, that rate does not account for overwhelmed hospitals and ICUs. At a certain point, the more cases increase, the more fatalities will accelerate, because the he

question: What was the aim of Bret Baier when he pointed out the multiple human rights violations of Kim Jong Un to Donald Trump?

answer: Baier appeared to be pointing out the obvious and flagrant human rights violations by the North Korean dictator in order to allow Trump to answer an obvious question that would be asked by his critics.

question: What does Trump's response appear to say about his attitude towards dictators?

answer: Trump appears to admire how tough Kim Jong Un is, saying he's 'smart' and 'a great negotiator'. Trump minimises the atrocities committed by Un by comparing him to other 'bad people' - which could indicate his own bias towards that form of government and leadership.

question: Are the American people worries about Trump's laissez faire attitude towards dictators around the world?

question: What are the main concerns raised about COVID 19 numbers in the US?

answer: The main concerns lie with the overwhelmed hospitals and ICU's who do not have the space or manpower to deal with the influx of those suffering serious symptoms. The amount of deaths per day is a major cause for speculation and concern, with numbers projected to rise up to 10,000 a day being conceivable.


text:
The EUROPE/AFRICA ZONE was one of the three zones of the regional Davis Cup competition in 1991.

In the Europe/Africa Zone there were two different tiers, called groups, in which teams competed against each other to advance to the upper tier. Winners in Group I advanced to the World Group Qualifying Round, along with losing teams from the World Group first round. Teams who lost in the first round competed in the relegation play-offs, with winning teams remaining in Group I, whereas teams who lost their play-offs were relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone Group IIs in 1992.

Participating nations

-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

Draw

-   , , and advance to World Group Qualifying Round.

-   and relegated to Group II in 1992.

First round

Portugal vs. Ireland

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Nuno Marques |6 |7 |6 | | |T2P1=Peter Wright |3 |5 |2 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=João Cunha e Silva |T1P2=Nuno Marques |6 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Owen Casey |T2P2=Peter Wright |1 |4 |1 | | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Nuno Marques |7 |6 | | | |T2P1=Owen Casey |5 |4 | | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Bernardo Mota |6 |6 | | | |T2P1=Stewart Doyle |1 |1 | | | }} |}}

Poland vs. Romania

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Darek Nowicki |6 |6 |5 |7 | |T2P1=Dinu Pescariu |3 |3 |7 |6.049 | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Tomasz Iwański |T1P2=Wojciech Kowalski |6 |7 |7 | | |T2P1=George Cosac |T2P2=Florin Segărceanu |2 |6.039 |6.049 | | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Tomasz Iwański |7 |1 |6 | | |T2P1=Dinu Pescariu |6.039 |6 |2 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Darek Nowicki |6.009 |6 |11 | | |T2P1=Adrian Marcu |7 |4 |9 | | }} |}}

Denmark vs. Morocco

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Michael Tauson |6 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Younes El Aynaoui |1 |3 |3 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Morten Christensen |T1P2=Michael Tauson |6 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Karim Alami |T2P2=Mohammed Ridaoui |2 |2 |4 | | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Michael Tauson |6 |6 | | | |T2P1=Karim Alami |3 |4 | | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Frederik Fetterlein |6 |6 | | | |T2P1=Younes El Aynaoui |3 |1 | | | }} |}}

Hungary vs. Soviet Union

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=László Markovits |3 |4 |4 | | |T2P1=Alexander Volkov |6 |6 |6 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=András Lányi |T1P2=László Markovits |6 |6.059 |6 |6 | |T2P1=Andrei Chesnokov |T2P2=Dimitri Poliakov |3 |7 |4 |4 | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=László Markovits |6.019 |5 |3 | | |T2P1=Andrei Cherkasov |7 |7 |6 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Sándor Noszály |3 |3 | | | |T2P1=Alexander Volkov |6 |6 | | | }} |}}

Second round

Portugal vs. Netherlands

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Nuno Marques |3 |6 |5 |0 | |T2P1=Mark Koevermans |6 |2 |7 |6 | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=João Cunha e Silva |T1P2=Nuno Marques |6 |5 |6.049 |3 | |T2P1=Paul Haarhuis |T2P2=Mark Koevermans |4 |7 |7 |6 | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=João Cunha e Silva |6 |4 |2 | | |T2P1=Mark Koevermans |3 |6 |6 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Nuno Marques |4 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Paul Haarhuis |6 |4 |4 | | }} |}}

Poland vs. Great Britain

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Tomasz Iwański |4 |0 |4 | | |T2P1=Jeremy Bates |6 |6 |6 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Tomasz Iwański |T1P2=Wojciech Kowalski |2 |5 |6 |7 |4 |T2P1=Jeremy Bates |T2P2=Nick Brown |6 |7 |3 |6.029 |6 }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Wojciech Kowalski |6 |3 |6 | | |T2P1=Jeremy Bates |2 |6 |3 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Bartłomiej Dąbrowski |6.069 |3 | | | |T2P1=Chris Wilkinson |7 |6 | | | }} |}}

Finland vs. Denmark

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Aki Rahunen |4 |0 |3 | | |T2P1=Frederik Fetterlein |6 |6 |6 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Olli Rahnasto |T1P2=Pasi Virtanen |6 |0 |4 |4 | |T2P1=Morten Christensen |T2P2=Frederik Fetterlein |4 |6 |6 |6 | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Aki Rahunen |6 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Morten Christensen |4 |4 |1 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Olli Rahnasto |1 |2 |1 | | |T2P1=Frederik Fetterlein |6 |6 |6 | | }} |}}

Switzerland vs. Soviet Union

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Jakob Hlasek |7 |7 |6 | | |T2P1=Andrei Cherkasov |5 |5 |3 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Jakob Hlasek |T1P2=Claudio Mezzadri |6 |7 |6 | | |T2P1=Andrei Cherkasov |T2P2=Dimitri Poliakov |3 |6.039 |3 | | }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Jakob Hlasek |3 |4 | | | |T2P1=Andrei Chesnokov |6 |6 | | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Marc Rosset |4 |4 | | | |T2P1=Andrei Cherkasov |6 |6 | | | }} |}}

Relegation play-offs

Romania vs. Ireland

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Adrian Marcu |6 |6 |6 | | |T2P1=Eoin Collins |4 |2 |3 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=George Cosac |T1P2=Florin Segărceanu |4 |6 |6 |6.039 |6 |T2P1=Eoin Collins |T2P2=Peter Wright |6 |4 |2 |7 |0 }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Andrei Pavel |7 |6 | | | |T2P1=Peter Wright |6.019 |3 | | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Adrian Marcu |6 |6 | | | |T2P1=Stewart Doyle |2 |2 | | | }} |}}

Hungary vs. Morocco

|R2={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=László Markovits |6 |6 |7 | | |T2P1=Karim Alami |3 |2 |6.039 | | }} |R3={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=András Lányi |T1P2=László Markovits |6 |6 |4 |3 |6 |T2P1=Karim Alami |T2P2=Arafat Chekrouni |3 |4 |6 |6 |3 }} |R4={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Sándor Noszály |6 |1 |7 | | |T2P1=Karim Alami |2 |6 |5 | | }} |R5={{ TennisMatch |T1P1=Viktor Nagy |6 |6 | | | |T2P1=Arafat Chekrouni |4 |1 | | | }} |}}

title: 1991 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I

question: Summarize the set-up of Group 1 of the 1991 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone.

answer: The Europe/Afirca Zone was one of the three zones of the regional Davis Cup competition in 1991. There were two different tiers in which teams competed against each other to advance to the upper tier. Winners in Group 1 advanced to the World Group Qualifying Round, along with the losing teams from the World Group first round.


text:
-   U.S. Code
-   Notes

(a) Report.—

(1) In general.—The Attorney General shall submit to the Congress a report of any instance in which the Attorney General or any officer of the Department of Justice—

(A) establishes or implements a formal or informal policy to refrain—

(i)

from enforcing, applying, or administering any provision of any Federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law whose enforcement, application, or administration is within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer on the grounds that such provision is unconstitutional; or

(ii)

within any judicial jurisdiction of or within the United States, from adhering to, enforcing, applying, or complying with, any standing rule of decision (binding upon courts of, or inferior to those of, that jurisdiction) established by a final decision of any court of, or superior to those of, that jurisdiction, respecting the interpretation, construction, or application of the Constitution, any statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law whose enforcement, application, or administration is within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer;

(B) determines—

(i)

to contest affirmatively, in any judicial, administrative, or other proceeding, the constitutionality of any provision of any Federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law; or

(ii)

to refrain (on the grounds that the provision is unconstitutional) from defending or asserting, in any judicial, administrative, or other proceeding, the constitutionality of any provision of any Federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law, or not to appeal or request review of any judicial, administrative, or other determination adversely affecting the constitutionality of any such provision; or

(C) approves (other than in circumstances in which a report is submitted to the Joint Committee on Taxation, pursuant to section 6405 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) the settlement or compromise (other than in bankruptcy) of any claim, suit, or other action—

(i)

against the United States (including any agency or instrumentality thereof) for a sum that exceeds, or is likely to exceed, $2,000,000, excluding prejudgment interest; or

(ii) by the United States (including any agency or instrumentality thereof) pursuant to an agreement, consent decree, or order (or pursuant to any modification of an agreement, consent decree, or order) that provides injunctive or other nonmonetary relief that exceeds, or is likely to exceed, 3 years in duration: _Provided_, That for purposes of this clause, the term “injunctive or other nonmonetary relief” shall not be understood to include the following, where the same are a matter of public record—

(I)

debarments, suspensions, or other exclusions from Government contracts or grants;

(II)

mere reporting requirements or agreements (including sanctions for failure to report);

(III)

requirements or agreements merely to comply with statutes or regulations;

(IV)

requirements or agreements to surrender professional licenses or to cease the practice of professions, occupations, or industries;

(V)

any criminal sentence or any requirements or agreements to perform community service, to serve probation, or to participate in supervised release from detention, confinement, or prison; or

(VI)

agreements to cooperate with the government in investigations or prosecutions (whether or not the agreement is a matter of public record).

(2) Submission of report to the congress.—For the purposes of paragraph (1), a report shall be considered to be submitted to the Congress if the report is submitted to—

(A)

the majority leader and minority leader of the Senate;

(B)

the Speaker, majority leader, and minority leader of the House of Representatives;

(C)

the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and

(D)

the Senate Legal Counsel and the General Counsel of the House of Representatives.

(b) Deadline.—A report shall be submitted—

(1)

under subsection (a)(1)(A), not later than 30 days after the establishment or implementation of each policy;

(2)

under subsection (a)(1)(B), within such time as will reasonably enable the House of Representatives and the Senate to take action, separately or jointly, to intervene in timely fashion in the proceeding, but in no event later than 30 days after the making of each determination; and

(3)

under subsection (a)(1)(C), not later than 30 days after the conclusion of each fiscal-year quarter, with respect to all approvals occurring in such quarter.

(c) Contents.—A report required by subsection (a) shall—

(1)

specify the date of the establishment or implementation of the policy described in subsection (a)(1)(A), of the making of the determination described in subsection (a)(1)(B), or of each approval described in subsection (a)(1)(C);

(2) include a complete and detailed statement of the relevant issues and background (including a complete and detailed statement of the reasons for the policy or determination, and the identity of the officer responsible for establishing or implementing such policy, making such determination, or approving such settlement or compromise), except that—

(A)

such details may be omitted as may be absolutely necessary to prevent improper disclosure of national-security- or classified information, of any information subject to the deliberative-process-, executive-, attorney-work-product-, or attorney-client privileges, or of any information the disclosure of which is prohibited by section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or other law or any court order if the fact of each such omission (and the precise ground or grounds therefor) is clearly noted in the statement: Provided, That this subparagraph shall not be construed to deny to the Congress (including any House, Committee, or agency thereof) any such omitted details (or related information) that it lawfully may seek, subsequent to the submission of the report; and

(B) the requirements of this paragraph shall be deemed satisfied—

(i)

in the case of an approval described in subsection (a)(1)(C)(i), if an unredacted copy of the entire settlement agreement and consent decree or order (if any) is provided, along with a statement indicating the legal and factual basis or bases for the settlement or compromise (if not apparent on the face of documents provided); and

(ii)

in the case of an approval described in subsection (a)(1)(C)(ii), if an unredacted copy of the entire settlement agreement and consent decree or order (if any) is provided, along with a statement indicating the injunctive or other nonmonetary relief (if not apparent on the face of documents provided); and

(3)

in the case of a determination described in subsection (a)(1)(B) or an approval described in subsection (a)(1)(C), indicate the nature, tribunal, identifying information, and status of the proceeding, suit, or action.

(d) Declaration.—

In the case of a determination described in subsection (a)(1)(B), the representative of the United States participating in the proceeding shall make a clear declaration in the proceeding that any position expressed as to the constitutionality of the provision involved is the position of the executive branch of the Federal Government (or, as applicable, of the President or of any executive agency or military department).

(e) Applicability to the President and to Executive Agencies and Military Departments.—

The reporting, declaration, and other provisions of this section relating to the Attorney General and other officers of the Department of Justice shall apply to the President (but only with respect to the promulgation of any unclassified Executive order or similar memorandum or order), to the head of each executive agency or military department (as defined, respectively, in sections 105 and 102 of title 5, United States Code) that establishes or implements a policy described in subsection (a)(1)(A) or is authorized to conduct litigation, and to the officers of such executive agency.

Report on Policies and Determinations Made Prior to Enactment of Section

Pub. L. 107–273, div. A, title II, § 202(b)(3), (4), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1774, provided that:

“(3)

Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 2, 2002], the President shall advise the head of each executive agency or military department (as defined, respectively, in sections 105 and 102 of title 5, United States Code) of the enactment of this section [enacting this section and amending sections 288k and 5571 of Title 2, The Congress].

“(4)

(A) Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 2, 2002], the Attorney General (and, as applicable, the President, and the head of any executive agency or military department described in subsection (e) of section 530D of title 28, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)) shall submit to Congress a report (in accordance with subsections (a), (c), and (e) of such section) on—

“(i)

all policies of which the Attorney General and applicable official are aware described in subsection (a)(1)(A) of such section that were established or implemented before the date of the enactment of this Act and were in effect on such date; and

“(ii)

all determinations of which the Attorney General and applicable official are aware described in subsection (a)(1)(B) of such section that were made before the date of the enactment of this Act and were in effect on such date.

“(B)

If a determination described in subparagraph (A)(ii) relates to any judicial, administrative, or other proceeding that is pending in the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 2, 2002], with respect to any such determination, then the report required by this paragraph shall be submitted within such time as will reasonably enable the House of Representatives and the Senate to take action, separately or jointly, to intervene in timely fashion in the proceeding, but not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.”

question: What does the text say about the qualities that make a good Mayor?

question: What does the text say about what reports submitted to Congress?

answer: The Attorney General shall submit to the Congress a report of any instance in which the Attorney General or any officer of the Department of Justice establishes or implements a formal or informal policy to refrain from enforcing, applying, or administering any provision of any Federal statute, rule, regulation, program, policy or other law whose enforcement, application, or administration is within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer on the grounds that such provision is unconstitutional. This is applicable within any judicial jurisdiction of or within the United States, from adhering to, enforcing, applying, or complying with, any standing rule of decision established by a final decision of any court of, or superior to those of, that jurisdiction, respecting the interpretation, construction, or application of the Constitution, any statute, rule, regulation, program, policy, or other law whose enforcement, application, or administration is within the responsibility of the Attorney General or such officer.


text:
    We have come to a river, the distant boundary between two worlds, the end of this world, to a point of no return. Here, silence dwells. Decimus Junius Brutus stands atop a granite hill, beneath drifts the River Limia.
    "One does not know his limits until he sees the horizon."
    "Can you see the horizon, sir?" Lucius Domitius Cato asks.
    Brutus looks across the river. The line between the hills and the sky is blotted out by fog. Brutus observes a bird of prey alight on the riverbank and enter the water. The bird bathes its wings in the river, then returns to the pine wood. Brutus nods his head.
    "Sir, you are not known as one who looks at birds."
    "These things do not come to pass without the will of heaven," Brutus says. "I have prayed to the great gods and they have answered."
    "And what is the will of the gods?"
    A cavalry detachment, led by Titus Maccius Plautus, emerges from the forest upstream. They cut across the sandy flood plain toward a narrow ford in the river. Titus surveys the valley and points toward the granite hill where Brutus stands. He spurs his black Parthian horse and crosses back across the plain toward the trees. The cavalry rides along the verge of the forest and enters the Roman encampment.
    "At dawn the gods compel us to cross the river," Brutus says.
    "The soldiers are terrified of what will happen."
    "They will forget their fear before they even cross the river."
    Brutus steps down from the rocky outcrop and marches through the scrubby gorse to the pine wood. He reaches the forest edge and crosses the sandy plain toward the encampment, stopping at the ditch that encircles the camp perimeter. Inside, a group of soldiers gathers around a hearth dug in the ground, filled with ashen remains of poppies.
    "The barbarians are indolent when not at war."
    "The murmuring Lethe lulls them to sleep."
    "They made an expedition with another tribe and once they crossed the River Lethe they forgot their friendship and fought among themselves."
    "They did not fight each other," Gaius Veturia Calvinus says, "Once across the river the barbarians forgot why they had crossed, so they went separately into the forest to find a home. These are the abodes of the dead, as they have no memory of their previous life."
    "They forget even death," Tacitus Flavius Drusus says.
    Brutus crosses the camp threshold.
    "Perhaps these barbarians are already dead," Brutus says. "If it is indeed the River Lethe, then we must be in the underworld."
    The soldiers around the hearth jump to their feet. Brutus enters the circle formed by the soldiers and stands between them and the hearth. The other soldiers in camp gather around the hearth, including Titus Maccius Plautus.
    "I do not remember dying," Brutus says. "I also do not recall sending the cavalry upstream."
    "You did no such thing." Titus Maccius Plautus says.
    Titus walks through the crowd of soldiers to meet Brutus.
    "I wanted to survey the river to find a way around it," Titus says.
    "That was not necessary, Titus. Tomorrow we shall cross the river at that ford."
    Brutus motions upstream toward the ford on sandy flood plain where the Titus Maccius Plautus and his cavalry stopped.
    "You will be alone in this endeavor."
    "It is not so. The gods command it."
    "They have spoken to you?"
    "It has been observed."
    "In what way?"
    "A bird," Brutus says. "It bathed in the river and returned to its nest."
    "Yet it did not cross the river."
    "You miss the point."
    "Do tell, what is the importance of this bird?"
    "The bird did not forget from where it came."
    "Decimus Junius Brutus, you are a consul and general of Rome, an augur you are not."
    "It is not necessary that I be one, Titus."
    "Yet you insist the gods speak to you."
    "It is true. Jupiter has shown me that a bird drinks from this river as any other."
    "Let them drink if they are thirsty." Titus turns to the soldiers behind him.
    "Titus Maccius Plautus, do not be unmindful of your duty to Rome," Lucius Domitius Cato says.
    "I am free to do as I wish," Titus says.
    "No one is free but Jupiter," Brutus says, pacing along the soldiers surrounding him. He turns around walks toward Titus. "At dawn the gods compel us to cross the river."

    Cloudy vapors rise from the river valley in a doubtful dawn. A procession of soldiers drifts across the flood plain toward the riverbank. The cavalry detachment lingers in the encampment as Titus Maccius Plautus tends to his black Parthian horse, oblivious of the watchful gaze of Decimus Junius Brutus from the hill above the River Limia.
    "Beyond the Lethe is a river so large its waters extinguish the fires of the sun," Brutus says. "It must be a terrible sight."
    "Sir, have you awakened fearing the same superstitions as your soldiers?" Lucius Domitius Cato asks.
    "No, but I must think like them if I wish to conquer their doubt."
    The sun rises from behind the hills, lifting the blanket of fog from the river valley. Brutus and Cato descend the wooded hill and join the army marching upstream to the narrow ford in the river. The cavalry has left the encampment and brings up the rear of the column. The soldiers file into three lines parallel to the river. Brutus and Cato stand in front of the formation with their backs to the river. Brutus steps toward the soldiers.
    "Each soldier that has no fear of this river, step forward and we will cross," Brutus says.
    There is silence and stillness. Brutus approaches the front line and faces Marcus Aquilia Florus.
    "Marcus Aquilia Florus, take the standard of Rome across this river."
    Marcus Aquilia Florus stands silent and motionless.
    "Do you refuse to cross?" Brutus asks.
    "Sir, I am afraid that I will forget I am a Roman if I cross this river," Marcus Aquilia Florus says.
    Brutus walks down the front line and stops at Gaius Veturia Calvinus.
    "Tell me, Gaius Veturia Calvinus, why do you fear this river?" Brutus asks.
    "I fear that I will forget my wife and marry a wild barbarian woman and grow my hair as long as hers."
    "And you, Tacitus Flavius Drusus, you will not cross even though the gods tell us to do so?"
    Tacitus nods his head.
    Brutus continues down the front line of the soldiers. He stops at Titus Maccius Plautus.
    "And why do you fear this river, Titus?" Brutus asks.
    "For my part, I fear nothing but the immortal gods."
    "The gods are not to be feared."
    "Yet you insist we cross this river for fear of the gods."
    "We are not the playthings of the gods," Brutus says. "I observed a bird enter this river and return to where it came. If this means that the gods give us favor to cross, then so be it. But I will cross not out of fear but because I choose to."
    "You do not choose, Brutus. The gods control you."
    "The gods compel us, condemn us, consecrate us, but they do not control us," Brutus says. "We choose, and it is by our action, not of the gods, that the world is made better."
    "Then I choose not to cross," Titus says.
    Decimus Junius Brutus turns around and marches back along the front line. He takes the standard from Marcus Aquilia Florus and walks to the edge of the river. He pauses at the water's edge, raises the standard above his shoulders, then digs in his right heel--leaving his footprint in the spongy grey sand--and enters the river. Brutus descends down the gently sloping riverbed before ascending to a shoal in the middle of the river. He crosses the narrow shoal and descends again into a deep channel along the opposite riverbank. Brutus walks diagonally against the strong current, raising the standard above his head as the water rises to his chest. He reaches the opposite shore and climbs out of the water up the steep bank, planting the standard on the crest of the riverbank. Brutus turns around to face his army.
    "Marcus Aquilia Florus, come retrieve the standard of the Republic of Rome," Brutus shouts.
    There is silence and stillness. Brutus waits next to the standard. Marcus Aquilia Florus walks forward from the first line of soldiers and stops at the river's edge. He looks down at the water, raises his head to look at Brutus, then enters the river. His pace is slow in the shallow water and he struggles to cross the deep channel. He reaches the steep bank and climbs up the muddy slope several yards upstream from where Brutus stands. Marcus Aquilia Florus looks across the river toward the army, then walks next to Brutus and the standard.
    "Gaius Veturia Calvinus, cross this river so that your hair may grow long," Brutus says.
    There is silence but not stillness. Gaius Veturia Calvinus strides to the shore and wades into the river. His pace is quicker than Standard Bearer's as he crosses the channel with little effort. He emerges from the river in front of Brutus.
    "Soon your hair will be long and lay across the bosom of a barbarian bitch," Brutus says.
    Gaius Veturia Calvinus laughs. "That will not happen. My wife would kill me and then I would really have to cross the Lethe."
    "Tacitus Flavius Drusus, your general Decimus Junius Brutus commands that you cross the river and join us."
    Tacitus Flavius Drusus enters the river as a murmur rises among the soldiers. Tacitus Flavius Drusus crosses the river and climbs up the bank to join Brutus and the other two soldiers. Brutus commands the remaining soldiers to cross the river one by one. The murmur from the soldiers increases as each one is called by Brutus using their full Latin name. Finally, Titus Maccius Plautus remains alone opposite Decimus Junius Brutus.
    "Titus Maccius Plautus, cross the river at once," Brutus says.
    Titus unsheathes his sword and lifts it above his head as he steps into the water.
    "Lucius, tell Gaius Veturia Calvinus he will lead the soldiers up the hill. Adrian Vulcanus Palacius is to remain with us," Brutus says. "Bring the shackles."
    Titus reaches the shoal and enters the channel. The sun glints off his sword as he raises it above his head in the chest-deep channel. The soldiers begin to climb the wooded hill as Titus pulls himself up from the riverbank on to his feet and sheaths his sword.
    "Titus Maccius Plautus, do you remember my name?" Brutus asks as he puts one hand on Titus's shoulders and his other hand on Titus's sword.
    "Decimus Junius Brutus," Titus replies.
    "Correct, I am Decimus Junius Brutus."
    Brutus stops in front of several boulders at the foot of the fog-wreathed hillock. He swings in front of Titus and unsheathes his sword in one motion. Brutus places the tip of the sword on Titus's chest and pushes his back against a granite boulder. Brutus turns and looks at the pine wood across the river.
    "Yesterday, the birds were thirsty," Brutus says. He turns back to Titus. "Today, I am afraid, they will be hungry."
    Lucius Domitius Cato and Adrian Vulcanus Palacius grab Titus's wrists and stretch out his arms against the rock. Adrian places an iron band around the right wrist of Titus and hammers a wedge into the boulder to fasten the bond. He does the same to the left wrist and then clamps shackles to Titus's ankles and drives a rivet for each shackle deep in the granite. Cato and Palacius leave Titus chained upright against the rock. Decimus Junius Brutus follows his army's trail up the wooded hill, beneath which drifts the River Limia.

title: [HF] Oblivion (1977)

question: Summarize the setting.

answer: The setting of the story takes place along a river, the River Limia, that Brutus and his soldiers need to cross. The river is described as a boundary between two worlds, the end of the one the soldiers know and the point of no return. The river is between hills, and on this particular day the sky is foggy. Upstream there is a forest, and surrounding the river is a sandy flood plain. There are rumors surrounding this river that it's like the River Lethe, a part of the underworld. Barbarians who crossed the river forgot their friendship and went separately into the forest with no memory of their previous life.

question: Summarize the context of Brutus and the bathing bird.

answer: When pondering crossing the River Limia, Brutus sees a bird of prey enter the river's water. The bird bathes itself and the returns to the wood. Brutus sees this as a sign that the gods are compelling he and his soldiers to cross this river. This goes against the fears of the soldiers, who fear the river will have the same effect as the River Lithe. Brutus notes that unlike the River Lithe, the bird did not forget itself and returned to where it came from. Brutus uses this to convince Titus that crossing the river is safe.

question: Summarize why the soldiers fear the river.

answer: The soldiers fear the river because they liken it to the River Lithe, which is a part of the Greek underworld. The story of that tale is that barbarians crossed the river and forgot their previous life. They forgot the friendships they made, and made new homes separately (the abodes of the dead) on the other side of the river. Right before crossing the river at dawn, Brutus asks the soldiers why they fear crossing this river. Marcus fears he will forget he is a Roman if he crosses, and Gaius fears he will forget his wife and marry a barbarian.

question: What does the text say about Brutus' death?


text:
[Conservative champion: Kyle Kashuv has defended the Second Amendment after surviving a deadly school shooting.]

Conservative champion: Kyle Kashuv has defended the Second Amendment after surviving a deadly school shooting. (Fox News)

Parkland tragedy survivor Kyle Kashuv has emerged as a role model for young conservatives across the country -- and it was never more evident than this week, when he helped plan the largest-ever high school conservative conference.

Kashuv -- a staunch defender of the Second Amendment -- played a key role in the Turning Point USA High School Leadership Summit, which was held in Washington, D.C., and attracted more than 800 students from at least 40 states.

“It’s great to see these kids here because these are the leaders in their high school campuses. These are the kids who are going to energize and motivate other kids to come out to vote and to volunteer and to push conservative values,” Kashuv told Fox News.

Kashuv – who will enter his senior year at Stoneman Douglas High School in the fall -- booked many of the speakers directly and played a role in everything from the attendees having dormitory accommodations to contacting media members so the event got coverage. He also served as the master of ceremonies, introducing nearly every speaker over a jammed-packed, four-day span at George Washington University.

“Kyle is a total stud,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk told Fox News. “He’s a phenomenal person, driven and mature beyond his years. He works his ass off.”

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Sen. Orrin Hatch and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer all addressed the students. So did Donald Trump Jr. and a variety of media stars.

Despite all the conservative star power, the attendees seemed to be as excited for Kashuv as they were for anyone.

[Kyle Kashuv introduced nearly every speaker at the four-day Turning Point USA event.]

Kyle Kashuv introduced nearly every speaker at the four-day Turning Point USA event.

Abigail Addi, a high school student from Queens, New York, traveled to the Washington, D.C., event because she is a supporter of Kashuv and his political views. She decided she couldn’t pass up the opportunity once Kashuv began promoting the event on social media.

“I met him last night. I was shaking, it was surreal,” Addi told Fox News. “He’s definitely a role model for me, and I’m sure for many other young conservatives.”

When Kashuv took the stage to answer a few questions from the audience on Wednesday, chants of “USA! USA! USA!” erupted. The crowd went into a frenzy anytime he appeared to hand out t-shirts, and teenagers shouted his name anytime he was spotted around campus. He received another enormous ovation when Kirk called him out on stage Thursday.

While he was essentially treated as a rockstar among the summit’s attendees, Kashuv considers the students his friends.

“I treat them like bros, like friends from school. I’m the exact same thing as them. I meme, I play Fortnite, I procrastinate to do my homework. I’m the exact same thing as them,” he said. “They can impact the world even more than I can.”

Speakers continuously praised Kashuv for organizing the event, but he returned the admiration by thanking the conservative leaders for simply giving him the time of day.

“People disregard high school kids all the time, but they understand the importance of these kids as the next generation of leaders,” Kashuv said.

[Kyle Kashuv was invited to the White House to meet with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.]

Kyle Kashuv was invited to the White House to meet with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.

Kashuv became nationally known following the Feb. 14, 2018 tragedy in Parkland, Fla. when 17 of his classmates were killed by a school shooter. While many survivors emerged as anti-gun advocates, Kashuv defended the Second Amendment at every turn.

“As Americans we all have different point of views, and it’s important to represent them all equally,” Kashuv said on “Face the Nation” in March.

Kashuv first linked up with Turning Point when he was approached directly by the 24-year-old Kirk following the Parkland tragedy. The young conservatives hit if off immediately and Kashuv was offered a chance to help TPUSA on the spot.

“He brought this to the next level. We had 150 kids last year, now we have well over 800,” Kirk said. “He deserves all the credit. It’s his thing and we’re proud to advertise it as such. Putting together these kinds of speakers is unbelievable.”

Still not used to the spotlight, he looked to friends backstage for reassurance that he properly introduced speakers throughout the event. Kashuv even joked that he had to use his own money to purchase a suit for the event.

Last April, Kashuv even escorted an adoring Nebraska high school student to her prom after she approached him on social media – but only after she collected the 5,000 retweets he required to be her date for the evening.

Kashuv was emerging as a conservative darling well before the successful event, meeting with President Trump and even discussing the Second Amendment with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – but the TPUSA summit gave him a chance to mingle with his peers.

Being a hero of the right isn’t easy. Especially for a 16-year-old who opposes the majority of his classmates' calls for more restrictive gun laws. Kashuv said he has received death threats, is bullied at school, has been mistreated by teachers and receives endless criticism on social media – simply for coming out as a conservative.

“I couldn’t care less. The reason why I’m doing what I am today is not because I wanted to. It is because there was a necessity for someone to do it,” he said.

question: Summarize the main news event.

answer: After the deadly shooting in Parkland, one of the survivors, Kyle Kashuv has become a role model for many young conservatives. He has helped plan the largest high-school conservative conference defending the Second Amendment. While there were many speakers at the conference, Kashuv was treated like a rockstar among the summit attendees. Despite many anti-gun advocates emerging after the school shooting, Kashuv defended the Second Amendment at every turn. He explained it hasn't been easy being an advocate, considering most of his classmates are calling for more restrictive gun laws.


text:
["No Vacancy" signs are a common sight in Converse County because many oilfield workers live there long term.]

A program that helps victims of domestic violence is increasingly having trouble finding safe places for people to stay because of an energy boom that has filled all the housing options in the area. Converse Hope Center Director Lisa Thalken said recently, when a woman sought their help, they couldn't find anywhere to put her.

"Our advocates literally called every hotel in the county and could not find a single hotel room," Thalken said. "Thankfully, we are good friends with the manager at the Higgins Hotel in Glenrock and she remembered that someone had reserved a night and hadn't checked in. So, we were able to get them in to Glenrock, but that was the only room in the entire county that evening."

The Hope Center's own safe house was occupied by a male victim and that meant they couldn't house females there.

"We've seen an increase in male clients and I think that's mainly because they thankfully feel comfortable enough to come here," Thalken said.

The organization is working to expand their safe house space in the near future.

Thalken said the energy industry is bringing other problems besides housing, though.

"We've seen multiple victims of human trafficking come through in the last month, which I do know that some of those are here because of the oil field, so that is definitely a concern."

Thalken said the state should get involved, perhaps encouraging industry to house oilfield workers at the state fairgrounds and other campgrounds instead of in hotels. She'd also like to see energy companies take more responsibility for the social impacts they have on towns like Douglas.

"People get a bad taste in their mouths when they feel like these companies are only here to make money and then leave."

Sometimes energy companies give employees funds to donate to charities, Thalken said, and she thinks they should encourage them to give to organizations like hers that are reckoning with the effects of the energy industry's boom and bust cycles.

question: When was the article written?

answer: That information can't be found

question: Where is the Converse Hope Center?

answer: A town called Douglas

question: Who is Lisa Thalken?

answer: The director of the Converse Hope Center

question: Why is the Converse Hope Center low on living spaces?

answer: Oilfield workers are living in many local hotels long term

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The article describes the difficulty that the Converse Hope Center is having finding safe spaces for victims of domestic violence. A recent influx of oilfield workers has created a shortage of rooms in all of the local hotels.