text:
image copyrightWarwickshire Police

image captionLouise Porton was overheard laughing at a funeral parlour after her first daughter died

A MOTHER HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING HER TWO YOUNG CHILDREN 18 DAYS APART.

Louise Porton killed Lexi Draper, three, and 17-month-old Scarlett Vaughan in Rugby in 2018. The 23-year-old had researched how long it took for body parts to go cold.

The part-time model denied responsibility for their deaths but was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court.

Prosecutors said her daughters "got in the way" of Porton's sex life.

media captionLouise Porton: CCTV shows murdered girl's last moments

Jurors were told Lexi had been dead for some time on 15 January before her mother called for help. When the call handler asked if the girl was breathing, Porton replied "no".

Fewer than three weeks later on 1 February, her second daughter, Scarlett, was found "completely lifeless".

image copyrightOther

image captionDoctors could not find any natural reason why either Lexi Draper or Scarlett Vaughan died, prosecutors said

Porton, from Beechwood Court, Rugby, had called 111 because her daughter's condition "did not seem urgent". The toddler had died by the time paramedics arrived nine minutes later.

Both Lexi and Scarlett's deaths were consistent with deliberate airway obstruction. Doctors "could not find any natural reason why either, let alone both, should have died", prosecutors said.

During her trial, jurors heard how Porton did not seem distressed by her daughters' deaths.

The girl had been admitted on 4 January with breathing problems. Her symptoms were consistent with deliberate airway obstruction, however doctors at the time were not suspicious and put her condition down to a chest infection.

image copyrightWest Mercia Police/Facebook

image captionScarlett died 18 days after her sister Lexi

The day after Lexi's death, on 16 January, Porton accepted 41 friend requests on the dating app Meet Me and was also messaging men on another app, Badoo.

"My little girl passed away yesterday," she said to a man named Dave, as they chatted about her leg tattoo, before replying "its alrite [sic]" to his condolences.

She also arranged a date with a man named Leon that night and was overheard laughing in a funeral parlour days after Lexi died.

image copyrightOther

image captionPorton sent nude photos and offered to perform sex acts while Lexi was in hospital

Porton denied that her online searches, including "can you actually die if you have a blocked nose and cover your mouth with tape" and "how long after drowning can someone be resuscitated?", had anything to do with Lexi and Scarlett's deaths.

She said she had loved her daughters who were "always making me laugh", but conceded to jurors that parenting was "not one of the easiest things to do".

The children "got in the way of [Porton] doing what she wanted, when she wanted and with whom she wanted," Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, said.

The girls' father, Chris Draper, did not have contact with them and had never met Scarlett, something he said made their deaths "all the more heartbreaking" for him.

"The only comfort is that Lexi and Scarlett are together," he said.

Det Supt Pete Hill, from Warwickshire Police, said: "I will never be able to understand why Louise Porton murdered her children.

"She has lied repeatedly to friends, family and professionals to cover her tracks. At no point throughout the whole investigation has she ever shown any real signs of emotion."

Porton will be sentenced on Friday.

More on this story

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question: What does the text say about modeling?

question: Summarize the main news event.

answer: Louise Porton is a 23-year old mother and part-time model from Beechwood Court, Rugby, who murdered her two young children 18 days apart. She killed Lexi Draper, three, and 17-month-old Scarlett Vaughan in 2018, even researching how long it took for body parts to go cold. She was overheard laughing at a funeral parlor after her first daughter died. Porton denied responsibility for their deaths but was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court. According to prosecutors, Porton said that her daughters "got in the way" of her sex life and other things she wanted to do in life. Doctors couldn't find any natural reason why the children died, but their deaths were consistent with deliberate airway obstruction. Throughout the whole ordeal, Porton never showed any distress or emotion. She sent nude photos and offered to perform sex acts when Lexi was in the hospital. She was also messaging men on dating apps a day after Lexi died. The girls' father, Chris Draper did not have contact with them and felt heartbroken about the loss of his children.

question: What does the text say about the evidence that proves Louise Porton murdered her two daughters?

answer: Porton researched how long it took for body parts to go cold. Her online searches included can you actually die if you have a blocked nose and cover your mouth with tape" and "how long after drowning can someone be resuscitated?" Porton exhibited bizarre behavior, calling 111 because her daughter's condition "did not seem urgent", but the toddler had died by the time paramedics arrived nine minutes later. Both children also share the same cause of death, which was consistent with deliberate airway obstruction that directly links with Porton's online searches. Doctors would not find any natural reason for both children to die.


split: test

text:
[]

Dev

Preseason 2021 gameplay plans

Sharing our goals for Preseason 2021's gameplay changes.

Hey everyone! It might feel weird to talk about preseason in June, but we want to start the conversation early so you have plenty of time to prepare and give feedback.

When we developed last year's preseason, Rise of the Elements, we wanted to EXPAND AND EVOLVE League of Legends in an unexpected and exciting way. Elemental rifts add even more spice and each game of League presents a new challenge. When looking at all of the possibilities for this year’s preseason, we decided to take a different approach. This year, we're going to invest in League’s future by BUILDING UP AND REFINING one of League's foundational gameplay systems.

  _PRESEASON 2021'S GAMEPLAY CHANGES WILL FOCUS ON A FULLY UPGRADED SHOP INTERFACE AND A TOP TO BOTTOM REWORK OF THE ITEM SYSTEM!_

It’s worth saying that there are a lot of satisfying, well-designed items in the current system and that most of the item system's fundamentals are solid. Keeping the best parts of the system is one of our central philosophies; we only want to improve or replace the areas that aren't fulfilling their potential. In terms of change, we’re estimating something like 34% RETAINED, 33% IMPROVED, AND 33% NEW.

In this blog we’re going to lay out some of our goals and philosophies around items in League of Legends to start the conversation with you all about what we hope to bring to this preseason.

The Ideal Item System

The first step was to revisit and refine our stance on what the item system is meant to do for League and what the ideal item system would look like. Here are our current principles and some thoughts on how close to the ideal we are today:

-   ITEMS PROVIDE POWER FOR EARLY GAME CONSEQUENCES AND HIGH MOMENTS: The core reason for the item system’s existence is so players become more powerful over the course of a game at different paces, with early successes generating gold that pushes your item build ahead of your opponents'. Every outplay or misplay creates consequences for your power later in the game but not so much that comebacks are impossible. This ensures that there's meaning to actions at all stages of the game and enables the rare but extremely satisfying game where you individually carry.
    -   Current assessment: VERY GOOD
    -   We’re feeling pretty good about the current state of snowball and power curves in the game. This preseason shouldn’t dramatically shift the overall power or gold efficiency of items in the game.
-   ITEMS ARE SATISFYING TO EARN AND USE: Each game has a miniature RPG loop where your champion powers up from weak to godlike strength. The item system is key to making the ascent in power feel earned and satisfying.
    -   Current assessment: GOOD
    -   The gold systems for earning items rewards skilled play. However, while there are many iconic and satisfying items in the system today, others have a lot of hidden, hard-to-notice power that makes them feel weak or unsatisfying.
-   REACTIVE ITEM CHOICES ADD GAME-TO-GAME VARIANCE AND REWARD STRATEGY: Unlike runes, you can continuously adjust your item build based on what's happening in the game. We want players to read and react to each game’s unique happenings with smart item choices that lead to higher success than if they build the same things in the same order every game.
    -   Current assessment: OK
    -   For some champion classes like tanks, the item system offers rich strategic depth and choices. On the other hand we have a number of classes and champions with linear builds without room for adaptation—mage items are particularly solved.
-   ITEMS AUGMENT YOUR CHAMPION’S PLAYSTYLE: Full item builds should integrate a slight gameplay twist or addition into a champion's play pattern _that doesn't override that champion's kit_. A perfect example of this today is Trinity Force, which adds a nuanced but not overly complicated new auto attack pattern. Not every item should do this individually, or else a full build would be asking you to do too many things at once.
    -   Current assessment: OK
    -   This depends heavily on which class or champion you look at, with some being about right, some with not enough new interest (marksmen), and some with too many effects that overshadow their champion’s kit (enchanters).
-   THE ITEM SYSTEM IS INTUITIVE: With a deep and complex item system, the choices, stats, and ways you acquire items should be clear and intuitive.
    -   Current assessment: POOR
    -   This is a clear area of improvement for us in many areas. Navigating the shop, the way stats stack and interact, and understanding tradeoffs between item uniques and stats are all areas that we could improve.
    -   A lot of prospective players who might love League are scared away by the impenetrable item system in their first few games. We believe learning the item system over time is a key part of growing as a League player, but an unintuitive system can be a roadblock to believing it's possible to achieve that growth.

Goals for this Preseason

With a refined understanding of the ideal system and where we're falling short, we established our goals for this year’s preseason work:

-   Item purchasing is QUICK AND INTUITIVE.
-   Every champion can make STRATEGIC DECISIONS through item choices in every game.
-   Item builds enable EXCITING WAYS TO MASTER your champion.
-   Items feel EPICALLY POWERFUL and enhance your champion’s fantasy.
-   ICONIC ITEMS ARE RETAINED and you don’t have to relearn everything from scratch.

Polishing Every Item

Beyond our goals for the project overall, we also laid out some principles we think every item should meet in order to hit our highest design quality:

-   Items have a clear, unique, and SINGLE PURPOSE.
    -   We want every item in the shop to have a clear purpose that sets it apart from the other choices in the shop. Multiple items overlapping in purpose or items with confused or conflicting mechanics undermine the clarity of choices and bloat the system overall.

-   Items fit one of two archetypes: Either a CONTEXTUAL PURPOSE or a KIT AUGMENT.
    -   In picking apart the successful items that have improved the game over the years, we discovered that items in general can be broken down into two major types.
    -   CONTEXTUAL PURPOSE Situational items that allow players to counter certain champions or events in the game (like Quicksilver Sash).
    -   KIT AUGMENTS are items that are pickable in any game, and have satisfying synergy with champion kits to make them feel more complete (like Lich Bane).

-   INTERESTING BUILD PATHS provide variety and small choice opportunities.
    -   Great Legendary items (tier 3) have smaller choices peppered throughout each component or advanced item choice. Small optimizations to respond to a lane matchup _(if I'm building Trinity Force, do I build Stinger for longer all-ins or Sheen for trades first?)_ or risk/reward tradeoffs around buying small or saving up for a bigger component _(I have 1100g, do I go back for Pickaxe or risk staying for B.F. Sword?)_ are good examples of this working well.

-   Item design is ELEGANT and we use only the mechanics that we need.
    -   Over time a lot of items have accumulated some unnecessary bloat in the number of stats and passive effects. We can do the work to focus items into the needed stats and mechanics for them to effectively deliver their purpose.

-   Items contribute to an overall HEALTHY GAME by not removing counterplay and weaknesses.
    -   We want the item system to move the game closer to its ideal state where all champions have clear weaknesses and counterplay, as well as the right durability, utility, and damage output. Reactive or counter item choices should confer an advantage against the right opponent but not completely negate them. Additionally they are meant to come at a significant cost to the champion’s ideal build path—for example diverting into a defensive item should offer significantly less dps than the pure offense alternatives, but is still the right choice against a fed assassin.

The Big Shop Upgrade

Last up but definitely not least is the shopping interface. There's a _ton_ of room for improvement here. While nothing's been finalized yet, we do have early concepts to help illustrate some of our design directions.

Broadly, there are two main types of users for the shop, so we want to create versions of the interface that serve each player in the ways they want.

Recommended Items

[Recommended-Items.jpg]

Rec items are for the player wanting a more guided experience. “Show me the best choices but don’t overwhelm me.”

-   BETTER RECOMMENDATIONS: Compared to our current handmade recommended items pages (which can easily become out of date), we want to directly integrate our data to have always up-to-date recommendations based on highly skilled player choices.
-   FOCUSED CHOICES: Not every item is equally viable at any given point in a game, and the shop can make it hard to find viable choices since it presents hundreds of options at once. We want rec items to dynamically surface the top few choices to players at any point in the game.
-   DON’T REMOVE THE STRATEGY: Even though this is the more curated shop experience, we still want to present options to players, not a linear build path. Knowing when it’s the right game for Thornmail or Randuin's Omen is still a decision we leave to the player.
-   CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS: Helping less experienced players gain experience with reactive item decision making is a core goal, so we’re adding some new systems to analyze the allies and enemies in each game and show you which items offer effective counters or synergies.

All Items

[All-items.jpg]

All Items is for the advanced player that already knows the shop inside and out. “Give me all of my options in one place for fast and easy access”.

-   ALL ITEMS THAT YOU NEED ON ONE SCREEN: This is the one stop shop (literally) for an expert player to go to and find and purchase items with the fewest clicks possible.
-   CONSISTENT POSITION: With the invested player in mind, we wanted to make this a place where items are placed in logical layouts on the screen and we move them rarely if at all. This can allow you to develop muscle memory over time and learn where each item lives in the shop.
-   DATA ENHANCEMENTS: We also want to integrate our new data capabilities into the all items interface to highlight viable items for your champ. Finding items and buying quickly will be easier than ever.

This is only the beginning of a long and exciting road to preseason. We’re revealing our plans as early as possible so that we can see and process as much of your feedback as we can. Thanks again for playing, and we look forward to forging an incredible future for League together.

-The Summoner’s Rift Team

[]

RiotScruffy

Lead Gameplay Designer ― Mark Yetter

Design lead managing the Summoner's Rift, Champions, and Competitive teams. Dies a lot in playtest.

question: What does the article say about the trade-offs of the ideal item system in League of Legends?

answer: The ideal item system is intended to provide meaningful early game choices and power increase without making comebacks too difficult. Such a system should also be fun to acquire and use, be meaningfully different in each game, and reward strategic thinking - thus there shouldn't be "solved" item progressions for each champion. Finally, the system should be intuitive to learn and use without hindering experienced players.

question: What does the text say about the reasons to overhaul the item system in League of Legends?

answer: While the developers are happy with the overall state of the item system, they see a few shortcomings that can be rectified. The game-to-game item variance, which is solved for mage characters, item effects on a champion's playstyle sometimes being under- or overwhelming, and most importantly, the system being unintuitive are the areas that can be improved. Finally, the user interface is thought to be rather poor, and there are many ways to improve it.

question: What does the article say about how to apply the Agile development methodology to improve League of Legends?


text:
It was a chilly spring day in Vancouver. “Hurry up we have to get going to the town center soon, breakfast is downstairs,” Adams wife stood at the bedroom door. She had dark black hair that drooped down her face and pale white skin much like Adam. He got up out of bed to change into his black jumpsuit; the same jumpsuit that everyone wore except his had a unique number, it read 77689. Towards the bathroom, he walked with a slouched back and a slight limp following a factory accident he had a month ago. A feeling of anger came over him but quickly subsided; he remembered the doctor telling him to control his thoughts and emotions.

“Breakfast looks good,” he said with a cold smile, it was a hot metal bowl of oatmeal and honey. The same food everyone got for their rations, the government provided the food, everyone got equal treatment. At the table sat Adams only son Tim, a gaunt ghoulish boy with razor-sharp cheekbones and hollow eyes.

“I hate this food,” Tim said spinning his spoon around the bowl, making a horrid screeching sound.

“Stop that,” his mum groaned looking as equally fed up of the cuisine.

“Don’t complain about the food, we should be thankful that we’re eating a hot meal,” Adam insisted, something inside of him didn’t feel right but he carried on slurping up the oatmeal. He looked past the drab and grey walls into the window where the sun stood far out of reach. “Let's get going, we don’t want to miss the news,” Adam sighed, as he got up the old wooden chair screamed being dragged across the wood floor.

The door creaked open as the family stepped out, the smoke-filled air heated up Adams throat drying it up like an Arabian desert. His lungs now used to the air no longer rejected it instead suffered from every burning breath. The taste was like burning hair which dried up the mouth. Stark houses stood only meters apart to accommodate the growing population. Now at the Town Center, he looked at the posters which hung up on telephone poles ‘Vote for Venessa Cooper 2078’, the same burning anger from earlier crept up his insides but like a fire extinguisher was put out by an irrational wave of fear. The endless sea of people stood around them, a flowing river of bodies. EEEEEEE the siren screeched, and silence quickly came to take its place. The silence hung in the air like a heavy fog but was disturbed by a flash.

“This is not your daily news broadcast, we call ourselves M0XERS,” the huge screen which usually displayed the news now projected a man with a deep monotone voice. He looked different as his face was not gaunt but was instead colourful and round, he had a dark brown beard that resembled a rainforest, his bare head scrunched up when he spoke. “We are here to liberate you from the prison you live in,” he declared, his tone so serious but warming. All eyes were on the screen then a group of dark masked figures abseiled down the screen. As people watched in curiosity the red paint quickly made out the word ‘freedom’.

The heavy silence was pierced by the yelling and hissing of people chanting “This is the hate of the old age!” The man on the screen looked in horror, suddenly the door behind him opened with a loud bang. Flashing white was followed by the sound of gunshots and screams. Silence once again covered the town center like a blanket of fog, when the dust cleared all that was left were bodies. A soldier dressed in all white appeared on screen then all went blank.

“We need to get out of here,” Adam said as he pulled his family away from the sea of people. Gunshots could be heard as a large military truck the size of two school buses plowed through the group of masked individuals. Gas was thrown at the crowd to disperse them. Everything slowed down, it felt as if someone stabbed him and pulled out his stomach. People were running and screaming as people began getting caught in the crossfire, he looked back and froze.

Breaths began coming to him but only in slow rattling gasps. His breathing would stop only to emerge like a drowning victim coming up for their last breath. His family still life clawed out of them into the cold hands of death. He looked at the word freedom now barely visible, covered in blood like a 1st graders painting.

“Go home or you will be shot!” the speaker blasted; this startled all the people still frozen in place to run like birds from a rock. Adam ran to in fear of his life, was he a coward to do so he thought. Nausea clawed at his throat he felt a strong contraction in his stomach, a vile acidic taste filled his mouth as he looked down only to see vivid yellow bile with chunks of oats.

The door creaked open and the coldness from the house felt like nails down his spine. His crying was both ferocious and noisy. He blinked briny tears from bloodshot eyes, his thick lashes stuck together in clumps as if he'd been swimming. The tears made wet tracks down his face and dripped from his stubbled, wobbling chin. He lay down needles sliced through every inch of his body the pain was too much, his eyes felt heavy like warm blankets.  He let his consciousness ebb away into the escape which was the darkness.

title: [RF] School short story can't think of a title and need help with grammar :)

question: Summarize the feelings the characters in the text have about the food served to them.

answer: The overall consensus of the feeling the characters have towards the food served to them is negative. Tim states that he hates the food given to him. Tim's mum also looks fed up of the food given. Ada tries to be thankful for having a hot meal in front of them. The food served to them was the same food everyone received for their rations.

question: Summarize the emotions of the people once they heard the message the MOXERS gave out.

answer: There were many emotions, which lead to chaos, when the people heard that the MOXERS were here to liberate them from the prison they lived in. Some people started chanting that this "was the hate of the old age" and gunshots and screams started. Adam was frantic and wanted to get out of where they were. People were running and it was a full chaos of emotions, of dread and fear.

question: How would Tim be feeling among all the chaos of all the prisoners trying to escape?

question: If the MOXERS had not come to free the prisoners, how would Adam and his family's life look?

answer: From how Adam is thankful for receiving a hot meal, he would have made him and his family stay in the same situation as they were in, as prisoners. Adam seemed to be a man of habit, as he urged his family to move so they wouldn't miss the news. Adam would also hope to provide his son with the most sense of security that he could. Adam's first reaction to when the MOXERS came was to get his family away from the sea of people before the gunshots started.


text:
_CYMOLUTES LECLUSE_, the SHARP-HEADED WRASSE or HAWAIIAN KNIFEFISH, is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Labridae, the wrasses. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands where it is found in lagoons over sandy substrates and is piscivorous.[1] It is found at depths of between .[2]

[1]

[2]

title: Cymolutes lecluse

question: Does the Hawaiian Knifefish live up to its name?

answer: Based on its second name, sharp-headed wrasse, and the fact that it is a predator of other fish, it is very likely that the Hawaiian knifefish lives up to its weapon-themed name.


text:
(Title pending)

The parked looked rather desolate; the weather was oppressive. There weren't any children playing, no mother tending to their young; there was nothing captivating about it. However, I still remember how green the grass was, the laughter of the children, soccer moms walking their dogs, but mostly, I remember her. Her green eyes, her elegance, and the way her hips swayed to and fro when she walked. The way her long black hair would look when the wind picked up and the way I laughed whenever she dropped something.

Every day at 10 a.m., I would see her perched on the park bench reading a book or a magazine of some sort. She'd sit there for about an hour or two, and then she would leave without anyone turning their heads but mine. It was as if I was that creepy kid in your math class who'd always stare at you whenever you got up to sharpen your pencil. My eyes were locked onto her and disappointment would wash over me whenever I lost sight.

This routine continued for many months, and she hadn't noticed me for I had said not a single word. I was never going to, because I didn't want to ruin the perfect image I had of her. It was better to admire from afar. Better to be unseen than noticed I thought. But some nights I'd wish I said something to her, just one word like hi. Still I didn't. It was my fear of rejection and what is she thought I was weird or creepy? What if she noticed I stared at her? All of these questions running through my mind and I could've said something, but I didn't.

On those I walked back to my place to think. Once I got home, the pungent smell of cigarettes filled up my nostrils and for some odd reason, everything seemed pointless:  My life, my career as a writer, my love life, evens my cat's life. So, I just began to wallow in my self-pity until I fell asleep. It's better if I don't go tomorrow I thought to myself. I lacked the gumption to ever talk to her so why should I go? But that night I had a dream that she spoke to me - she sounded beautiful - and that's all I remember. I woke up and jumped out of bed, took a shower, and put on my best dress. Then, I continued to run to the park maybe the dream was a sign that she was going to be mine. I bumped into people. I might’ve bumped into an old lady, but I didn’t care.
After 20 minutes of people yelling at me and frantic running, I arrived at the park just after 10 a.m., and I saw her - she was the first person I noticed, but she wasn't alone.  She was with a man - most likely her husband - and two children. They all looked happy - no troubles in the world. It was a bittersweet moment because she looked so happy when I have always seen her look so forlorn. After standing there for two minutes, I walked away and at that moment, I felt my whole world fall apart - piece by piece.

On my walk home I wondered if there was any animosity brewing between them – maybe he cheated and she secretly hates him, or maybe they just look happy and they’re planning to get a divorce. An overwhelming sense of false hope came and went away when I knew all of it wasn’t true. She’ll be there tomorrow I thought. I know she will.

After that I never saw her again - she never sat on her bench or read a book or a magazine of some sort. I felt empty inside without the sight of her. And day after day I waited for her to come back. She never did and I came to terms with it. She wasn't coming I shouldn't worry if she ever does, but an emptiness still lingered in my heart. Then I had another dream that was edifying.

In my dream, I desperately looked for her, hoping to fill the emptiness in my heart, she had to be there. I finally noticed her, stunned by how beautiful she looked. She had a little black dress on with shoes that complemented it so very well. She had red lipstick on and she did her hair in a perfect little bun. Oh, how I wish you could've seen her. She looked beautiful. Then, she said, "it's only life, darling," then she leans in and plants a kiss on my lips. She was gone. I never dreamt of her again. She was out of my life; out of my head.

title: RF (Second short short, please leave suggestion on what I can do to improve)

question: What does the story say about how the narrator became a writer?

question: What does the story say about the narrator's inability to approach and talk to the girl in the park?

answer: It was the narrator's fear of rejection that prevented him from saying hi to the girl. He was afraid of being called weird or creepy and feared that the girl saw him staring at her. The narrator stalked and stared at the girl for many months without doing anything because he didn't want to ruin the perfect image he had of her. The narrator figured that it was better to admire her from afar and remain unseen.

question: What does the story say about the possible messages hidden in the narrator's dreams about the girl?

answer: The narrator's first dream where the girl spoke to him was probably meant to show him that she was already spoken for and happy with her life. The girl appeared to have a husband and two kids. They all looked so happy, with no troubles in the world. The narrator's second dream was probably meant to tell him "that's life" and he should move on with his.

question: What does the story say about the narrator?

answer: The narrator seems lonely. He goes to the park every day just to stare at a girl he never had the intention of saying hi to, which means he's also a little creepy. He was weird because he would laugh whenever the girl dropped something (like he knows her or is in on a joke) and get disappointed whenever he lost sight of her. It appears that he lives alone, has no love life, and only has a cat for company.


text:
[Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden approaches reporters to answer questions following a campaign stop at Lindy's Diner in Keene, N.H., Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019.]

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden approaches reporters to answer questions following a campaign stop at Lindy's Diner in Keene, N.H., Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, in 2019, is a candidate who cannot carry his water. He is leading most Democratic primary polls so far, but much of his support is a product of our willingness to ignore what is before our face.

And I’m not talking here about policy knowledge or political experience. (In the first department, he’s fine. In the second, he’s among the best in the field.)

I’m talking about soft skills and combative tact, force of personality. Biden may see himself as a lion of a man — but he’s no Bill Clinton, or Ronald Reagan, or Lyndon Johnson. He doesn’t remember your mother’s name, or (comparably) feel your pain. He’s run twice before but never won the presidency with shine enough to inspire the neologism, “Biden Republicans." There’s no evidence he can decisively connect with Southern Democrats.

If his attributes had been on par with those of his former superior, Biden would not have become Barack Obama’s “second banana." Not to mention, he licked his wounds after the pounce of Kamala Harris in the first debate.

Biden is handsome, warm, (highly) tactile, and confident, with the competitive itch to publicly declare his desire to take Trump “behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.” His effortless smile bares teeth without apprehension.

Lingering behind his eye contact is a measure of goodwill not infrequently clouded by slips of the tongue that feel careless and unforgivably cringeworthy. And let’s be honest: These slips seem to be happening more as he ages. In the last month, he has misremembered the locations of two mass shootings and mistakenly stated he was vice president during the 2018 Parkland shooting. He has impliedthat poor kids are primarily African-American. Last week, he was in Keene, N.H. — and called it Vermont.

Many Americans consider Biden the standard-bearer for relatively moderate voters. But how much of his standing is attributable to familiarity and name recognition as opposed to vision and skill?

Biden’s presence in our public life has been protective and charming and privileged for so long that even some of his critics refer to him as, “Uncle Joe,” making light of blunders more likely to kneecap a female candidate or person of color.

He’s just being Joe Biden. He’s always been that way. He’s just older, kind of grandfatherly, a little out of touch. So we give his solecisms a special term: “Bidenisms.” The coinage sounds chummy and easygoing. It should worry us as we imagine him facing off against Donald Trump.

But even then, what he says and how he says it registers below the mark of a consummate solicitor. I mean, there’s a reason why he fell short of the nomination in 1988, and again in 2008.

Routinely embarrassing himself, surely, is a detriment. Another explanation simply could be that he was outdistanced by the competition.

This time around, he currently is the front-runner. Though new polls could presage a tremor.

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It would make sense. For by what yardstick is Joe Biden definitively the fittest? I was curious to know what people thought so over the last week, I’ve been indiscriminately asking friends, family and colleagues. Of the dozen or so people I’ve chatted up, a slim majority say Biden seems likable but unremarkable. That, sadly, they think only an old white guy from middle America can dispossess Trump of enough votes to seal the deal.

Others have offered mixed reviews, raising intriguing qualifications reflecting a tension between their opinion of him and their sense of reality. For example, a college professor I talked to remarked that Biden probably has the best chance of winning the nomination because he was Obama’s vice president and Obama’s weight should secure sufficient support from minority voters.

Seconds later, however, he lamented that without Obama, Biden would have already succumbed to the strength of one of his more vibrant opponents.

Unfortunately, I find myself unable to disagree. Every presidential candidate wants to (and should) demonstrate strength. As the 2020 election progresses, consider the question: Is Joe Biden as strong as he wants you to believe he is?

_Wood is an assistant curator at TED and author of “Uncensored: My Life and Uncomfortable Conversations at the Intersection of Black and White America.”_

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question: What does the text say about the author's opinion on Joe Biden?

answer: The author believes the former Vice President Joe Biden is a candidate who cannot carry his water. He routinely embarrasses himself and often says things that feel careless and unforgivably cringeworthy which seem to be happening more as he ages.

question: What does the text say about democracy?

question: What does the text say about republicans?

question: What does the text say about agendas?

question: What does the text say about Trump?


text:
A former adviser to President Trump has defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into alleged Russian election meddling after spending several hours fielding questions from his team of federal investigators.

“No, I don’t think it’s a witch hunt,” former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg said of the special counsel’s investigation during an interview with ABC News aired Saturday. “It’s warranted because there’s a lot there and that’s the sad truth.”

Mr. Nunberg, 36, alleged differently only days earlier when he publicly decried the special counsel’s probe during a whirlwind media blitz waged Monday in response to being subpoenaed to surrender communications between himself and several fellow former Trump campaign officials. He changed course by the week’s end, however, and ultimately spent about six hours in federal court Friday answering questions presented by Mr. Mueller’s team in front of a grand jury convened to investigate the 2016 presidential race and any collusion between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“I was there a long time, and they have a lot of questions,” Mr. Nunberg said in his first interview since testifying.

Mr. Nunberg declined to discuss specific aspects of his testimony, but he said that the questions focused on fellow former Trump campaign aides mentioned in the subpoena he disclosed earlier in the week, including outgoing White House Communications Director Hope Hicks; former chief strategist Steve Bannon; former campaign aides Corey Lewandowski and Carter Page; Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen; the president’s longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller; and former campaign adviser Roger Stone, ABC News reported.

“I’m very worried about him,” he said of Mr. Stone. “He’s certainly at least the subject of this investigation, in the very least he’s a subject.”

A longtime political strategist and confidant of Mr. Trump, Mr. Stone has previously come under fire for his alleged ties to the WikiLeaks website and its publication of Democratic Party emails and documents allegedly stolen by Russian hackers during the 2016 campaign, and has previously testified before members of the House Intelligence Committee investigating the race.

As of Saturday, however, Mr. Stone said he’s yet to hear from Mr. Mueller’s team.

“I have not been contacted by the Special Counsel’s office,” Mr. Stone told The Washington Times in an email. “There is nothing in my Correspondence with Sam Nunberg or anyone else that would constitute collusion with the Russians or anything else improper,” he added.

“Sam Nunberg’s conjecture does not create evidence,” Mr. Stone added. “I categorically deny any involvement or knowledge of any collusion, co-ordination or conspiracy to effect the 2016 election with the Russians or anyone else.”

Claims to the contrary “are all lies created by Democrats and some in the media that will be dispelled by the investigation,” said Mr. Stone.

While Mr. Stone may be in trouble, according to Mr. Nunberg, Mr. Trump has less to worry about, he told ABC.

“I don’t believe it leads to the president,” Mr. Nunberg said of the special counsel’s probe.

The U.S. intelligence community has blamed Russia with interfering in the 2016 race, and the Department of Justice in May appointed Mr. Mueller, a former FBI director, to lead a special counsel’s investigation into the race.

Mr. Mueller’s probe has resulted so far in criminal charges against four former Trump campaign associates — Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates and George Papadopoulos —as well as 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies.

Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 race, and the White House has denied colluding with Russia.

“I think Vladimir Putin, if you look at it objectively, is really taking advantage of the president,” Mr. Nunberg told ABC. “Vladimir Putin, I think we all can agree, wanted Donald Trump to win.”

Mr. Nunberg and Mr. Stone both left the Trump campaign in August 2015.

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question: When was the article written?

answer: Sometime in or after 2017 and before the Mueller report was completed

question: Who was interviewed?

answer: Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide

question: Which news source conducted the interview?

answer: ABC News

question: Who does Nunberg say he is worried for?

answer: Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign advisor

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Sam Aide, a former Trump campaign aide, was recently questioned by the special counsel's probe into the 2016 presidential race. He was then interviewed by ABC News, during which he said he felt that the investigation was warranted.


text:
From photos to personal posts and private messages, social media users leave a long digital trail behind them. Who owns that data when they die?

With about 1 in 3 people worldwide estimated to have a social media account, the question has become more pressing for legal experts.

It was brought to the fore last week by the family of a deceased teenage girl in Britain. The parents of Molly Russell, a 14-year-old who committed suicide in 2017, told media they had been unable to access data on her phone, including her Instagram account, which they said might hold clues to why she took her own life.

“It seems to me that the data on Molly’s phone should have become her parents’ property,” her father, Ian, told the BBC. “She died without a will, she was 14, and everything else quite naturally returns to us as her parents — and so should her data.”

Her family reportedly found she had been viewing material linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide, and her father has said Instagram’s algorithms enabled her to view more harmful content.

The Facebook-owned social media giant said it is against its policies for someone to log into another person’s account, but it would consider legitimate requests for family members to access information, provided there is a court order.

Britain, like most countries, has no laws on digital inheritance, which makes such cases complicated, said Edina Harbinja, a senior lecturer in media and privacy law at Birmingham’s Aston University.

As most social media accounts are used to send private messages, privacy is a key issue, and so are the different legal interpretations of what can be considered transferable property in the digital world, she said. “There is a complete legal mess there,” she said.

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a landmark privacy law adopted last year, individuals have the right to get a copy of their data held by internet companies, or ask that it be deleted.

But the legislation is no help in inheritance matters, as it applies only to the living, said Rowenna Fielding, an expert on data protection expert at the British consultancy Protecture.

This is partly because, unlike in the United States, the leading legal view in Europe is that personal data is not a type of property and as such cannot be sold or disposed of, legal experts said.

“The only owner of the personal data is the individual,” said Gabriel Voisin, a partner specializing in data protection and privacy at the international law firm Bird & Bird.

Personal data is any information relating to a person’s identity, like their name, address or religion.

“Organizations may receive this information because I provided them with it … but they are not (the) owners of my name. They are instead what we call ‘custodians’ of the information,” Voisin said.

But not everything people share online is personal data.

Other things, like photos or short compositions, are treated as intellectual property and should pass onto heirs following copyright rules, said Harbinja, a leading expert on post-mortem privacy. “The problem is how can they access that,” she said.

In France, people have the right to tell companies what do to with their data after they die. In Canada, the deceased’s executor can access digital assets by default.

In Germany, heirs have the right to access the data of their deceased relatives in full, after a court ruled last year that social media accounts can be inherited in the same way as letters.

In the United States, a law implemented by most states allows for executors to see whom the deceased communicated with and when, but not to read the messages unless authorized by a court or the departed account holder.

Tech companies have also come up with their own rules.

Google allows users to decide what data they want to share — and with whom — after their death.

If no provisions are made, the firm said, it can work with family members to close an account and may provide content in some circumstances, but its primary responsibility is to keep people’s information secure, safe and private.

Facebook and Instagram allow family members to request that an account be deleted or turned into a memorial page, where content remains visible but locked.

Facebook users can also nominate a “legacy contact” to look after their memorial accounts after they pass away. But although such curators can write posts or change profile pictures, they cannot log into the account or read messages.

Even when an account is deleted, Facebook and Instagram continue to store personal data for a period of time.

Such data could be of economic value, as social media companies rely on massive databases to train artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, said Harbinja.

But both Facebook and Instagram said they do not use data of deceased users to target ads more accurately.

Experts say it is just a matter of time before more countries pass legislation on the matter. But in the meantime, in places where rules are absent, what happens in the digital afterlife remains obscure.

“Solicitors are quite confused (in Britain) as to what happens, and they sometimes advise their clients to leave password and user names attached to their will, which is nonsense,” said Harbinja.

Wills are public documents in the country and passwords change, she noted, allowing for massive privacy violations.

Experts’ views on what an ideal system should look like vary.

Some, like David Haynes, a research fellow at London’s City University, fear that growing public resentment over cases of data misuse by social media could result in blanket requirements for all data to be automatically deleted after death.

“That would be a mistake,” said Haynes, as the account holder might have wished otherwise.

Harbinja said that everything purely personal should be deleted, but that heirs should be given the option to access copyrighted material and other assets of value.

Fielding, of Protecture, said that legislation would be difficult to apply, with many people holding different social accounts, sometimes under pseudonyms.

It would be easier to ask social platforms to provide users with an option to name a digital executor by default, she said.

“It won’t solve all the issues, and probably wouldn’t be taken up in large numbers by very young people, but it’s better than nothing,” she added.

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-   [Molly Russell took her own life after reportedly viewing harmful content on social media. | RUSSELL FAMILY / LEIGH DAY LAW]

question: How many people in the world have a social media account?

answer: According to the article, 1 in 3 people have a social media account.

question: What is the General Data Protection Regulation?

answer: The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is a landmark privacy law adopted last year that states that individuals have the right to get a copy of their data that is held by internet companies, or ask that it be deleted.

question: Who is the controlling shareholder of Google?


text:
Becky’s tiny feet plummeted down the stairs, swiftly thumping on each step. Gravity quickened her pace and consequently increased the thudding’s clamor, but she deliberately shifted her weight to her chipped pink-painted toenails. Her bona fide nightgown, simply an undershirt of her father’s, hung at her knobby, scabbed knees, swaying back and forth with each step. It wouldn’t provide her any warmth on this chilly autumn dawn, but Becky didn’t have time for such technicalities. The only thing she knew for sure was that she needed to get out, and fast.

Each cedar step that Becky descended down creaked under her small stature. The wooden-plank walls of the stairwell, almost an identical shade to the dark brown stairs, provided a tunnel for the sounds to echo through, back up to the second floor where Becky’s parents slept. Becky was usually good at orchestrating her motions in such a way as to cause the least amount of sound, knowing the detriments that the stairwell’s echoing qualities caused thanks to many nights of sneaking. Becky loved nature, perhaps due to the beautiful landscape the aged farmhouse in which she lived was built upon. A large patch of green grass lay squarely behind the red vinyl siding of the house. The flat grassy area contained a doghouse, a single overbearing maple tree with a homemade tire swing hanging tautly from its steadfast branches, and a rickety red-and-white paneled shed Right past the grass was a plethora of cornstalks, extending as far as Becky’s short frame would let her see. From her second story window, Becky could see a forest at the edge of the cornfield, off towards the horizon. Becky dreamed of reaching those trees, one day. Today would be that day, she convinced herself.

Becky struggled to dampen her sharp respirations as she ran, hitting the bottom of the stairs with a definitive plop. The wooden planks of the first floor almost cause her bare feet to fly out from under her, but she regained her balance and whipped to her right, focusing her attention on the backdoor several feet away. As she turned, Becky’s Raggedy Ann doll slipped from her hands and flopped down behind Becky. Quickly realizing the loss of her close companion, Becky frantically spun around, slid across the floor on her belly head-first, diving majestically to snatch up Raggedy Ann. Panting, Becky hugged Raggedy Ann and squinted her blue eyes shut as the slick wood floor continued to carry her across the hallway. Her tangled long auburn locks swept across the floor like a mop, generously picking up any dust particles in its ragged nest. Becky despised grooming her hair. If it were up to her, she’d cut all her hair off. But her mother loved tending to Becky’s locks. Delicately, like an artist, Becky’s mother would run brushes and combs across the scalp and hair, which became a canvas. Becky would sit impatiently, twiddling her thumbs and shaking her lanky legs, as her mother would sculpt delicate creations from the hair, from French braids to twisted buns. As soon as Becky was free, though, she’d run outside and get grass, mud, and leaves all throughout her mother’s hard work. Needless to say, at this moment Becky’s now-dusty hair did not distract her one bit.

Regaining her footing, in a frenzy, Becky locked Raggedy Ann within the small knuckles of her right hand and ran towards the white plastic porch door. With pit stop to rescue Raggedy Ann, Becky did not think she had the time to delicately open the door before her mother caught her. Instead, she let the door slam behind her as she ran across the small wooden porch onto the dark green grass of her backyard. The clashing of the door against the plastic frame caused Jack, the family’s German Shepherd, to wake and release excited barking bellows. Still running, Becky turned to Hunter and held her index finger up to her chapped lips, making a “shh” motion. Hunter did not understand, and continued to boomingly yelp. Rolling her eyes, Becky turned forwards again, towards the corn field and ultimately, towards the forest.

Becky’s pale skin was juxtaposed by the darker brown corn stalks, and they initially tripped her up as she entered their maze. Crunches of the aging stalks were emitted from each one that she hit, but she was a fast learner and was soon able to navigate around the stalks and avoid them with relative ease. Shoeless, Becky’s feet became entirely camouflaged with wet dirt. The leaf-like skin of the stalk’s exterior had morning dew on them, which transferred their water droplets to Becky whenever she brushed against them. In her peripherals, Becky could see her foggy breath appear in front of her face, and quickly disappear as she inhaled and ran past it. Becky kept her eyes focused forward intently as she raced through the corn field. Soon, these sounds and touch sensations were drowned out as Becky got used to the pace. Stalks flew past silently as Becky’s mind began to think of something other than her flight.

“He’s getting very sick, baby. We’re going to have to move to somewhere new.” These words her mother had softly uttered last night engulfed Becky’s thoughts. Becky loved the house, yard, and field. She didn’t notice the dilapidation of the house, she didn’t notice its dirtiness, and she didn’t notice the lack of cable television or telephones or the occasional flickering of the electricity. Instead, her innocent eyes saw a castle, and she was the queen of the farm. Her chariot was her father’s tractor, which he let her ride on his once strong lap as he tended the crops. Raggedy Ann was the princess, always by Becky’s side, as Becky reigned over her kingdom, riding high on her green and yellow chariot. Her crown was her father’s cowboy hat, which he would playfully place on her head, so large it would cover her eyes. Unstoppable giggles would emerge from both of them, although they were muffled by the loud tractor’s engine. Becky wished she could ride on that tractor one last time.

Ever since the fall began, Becky’s father had been riding his tractor less and less. Orange pill bottles began to scatter the kitchen table, along with doctor’s paperwork and medical bills. Becky’s mother, who had once only worked to tend Becky’s castle, had to get a job outside the home in an attempt to pay for these new health expenses. Becky didn’t know the details of what caused her father to not feel so well. She noticed recently that her father had lost some weight. His once broad shoulders began to dwindle to nubs, housing sticks for arms. His shaggy brown beard had disappeared, as did his short brown hair. His blue eyes, once as bright as Becky’s, had grown worn and bulged out from his wrinkled face, with dark bags encircling the eyes’ exterior. She would also hear him cough and vomit in their small bathroom. Becky tried her best to comfort him, thinking that if he got up to play with her, he would feel better. However, he didn’t have the energy for that anymore. Instead, Becky would obligingly lie next to him, rubbing his aching shoulders and hugging his now-emerged ribs, wishing that her queenly jurisdiction could have some control over his state.

Becky couldn’t handle the news of the family’s impending move last night. That was the final straw that broke her strong exterior. Her castle was crashing down around her, her kingdom would be lost. Becky sobbed hysterically, thrusting her head into her pillow and screaming with rage. Becky wanted her king back, healthy and happy once again, so they could rule their corn dominion together, ceaselessly.

Now, Becky was a peon, and dwindling within the corn stalks, running past them like a commoner instead of above them. Surprised at how long she had zoned out for, she was shocked back to awarenss when she saw the emergence of dark tree silhouettes ahead. Eagerly, she quickened her pace until she reached a grassy gap that signified the end of the cornfield and the beginning of the forest. Tenderly, Becky walked across the dewy grass towards the line of dark elm trees. As she got closer, she noticed that thorn bushes scattered the perimeter of the forest, which would make it nearly impossible for her to enter. Frustrated, Becky paced up and down the edge, scanning urgently for a suitable entrance. Becky could hear geese cawing above, and looked up to see their black figures flap by overhead. This caused Becky to stop her pacing. Once again, her fogged breath filled her vision. The sky was red with the impending sun’s rise. Cold, Becky shivered and rubbed her arms with her even colder hands. She gazed at the somewhat cloudy sky, admiring its reddened hue, which emphasized the dark red, yellow, and brown leaves that topped the trees. Becky smiled, imagining the leaves like her hair, and Mother Nature tending to each tree’s leafy scalp like her own mother would to her hair. Her mother didn’t have much time for that now; for once, Becky wished her mother would tidy her hair up, without any other cares in the world. Small cries built up in Becky’s throat as she choked them out, tears streaming down her blustered face. She squeezed Raggedy Ann, embracing the doll against her father’s shirt, squinting and howling upwards towards the red sky.

Becky’s sobs gradually turned to cries, then to sniffles. Eventually, the tears ceased. She rubbed her eyes, clearing them of the tears, and admired the forest that was in front of her, the sky above her, and the cornfield behind her.

“We made it,” Becky tenderly whispered into Raggedy Ann’s cheek, where an ear would ordinarily be. Becky kissed Raggedy Ann’s forehead, and stared deeply into Raggedy Ann’s plastic black eyes. After a moment, Becky made a tough decision.

“Ann, I’m not going to be living here much longer. But someone’s got to rule over this kingdom when I’m gone. You’re the princess, you’re next in line.” Becky assuredly stated, firmly grasping Ann’s shoulders. “I trust you, I’ve got to leave you behind. You’ll be the best queen ever.” Becky smiled as she propped Raggedy Ann up against a corn stalk that bordered the grassy barrier. “It’s up to you to watch over the corn field and explore the forest for me someday. I’m trusting you, Raggedy Ann. You’ve been my best friend, but it’s time for me to go.” Becky spoke confidently, though tears were budding from the corners of her blue eyes. She took one last look at her cotton companion, patted her stringy red hair, and soothingly confided, “I’ll always love you.”

With that, Becky stepped back into the cornfield, beginning her final stride through her farmland kingdom.

title: [Title in the works]; would love to hear feedback!

question: Who is Hunter?

answer: Unknown.

question: Was Becky not concerned about her father's illness?

answer: Hard to say; she is quite young and may be incapable of understanding how dire the family's health and financial situation is.

question: What is the cause of Becky's father's illness?

answer: Unknown.


text:
ANTIOCHUS IV EPIPHANES (; , _Antíochos ho Epiphanḗs_, “God Manifest”;[1] c. 215 BC – November/December 164 BC)[2] was a Hellenistic king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC.[3][4][5] He was a son of King Antiochus III the Great. His original name was Mithradates (alternative form _Mithridates_); he assumed the name Antiochus after he ascended the throne.[6] Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of Egypt, his persecution of the Jews of Judea and Samaria, and the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees.

Antiochus is notable as the first successful usurper in the history of the Seleucid realm. After his own death, power struggles between competing lines of the ruling dynasty heavily contributed to the collapse of the empire.

Antiochus' often eccentric behaviour and capricious actions during his interactions with common people such as appearing in the public bath houses and applying for municipal offices led some of his contemporaries to call him _Epimanes_ (“The Mad One”), a word play on his title _Epiphanes._[7][8]

Biography

Rise to power

Antiochus was a member of the Greek-speaking Seleucid dynasty and was the son and potential successor of Antiochus III the Great,[9][10][11] and as such he became a political hostage of the Roman Republic following the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC. His older brother Seleucus IV Philopator followed his father onto the throne in 187 BC, and Antiochus was exchanged for his nephew Demetrius I Soter, the son and heir of Seleucus. After this Antiochus lived in Athens, and was there when his brother was assassinated in 175 BC.

Seleucus was assassinated in September 175 BC by the usurper Heliodorus, who presumably hoped to dominate the regency. However with the help of king Eumenes II of Pergamum, Antiochus traveled from Athens, through Asia Minor and reached Syria by November 175 BC. Seleucus' legitimate heir Demetrius I Soter was still a hostage in Rome, so Antiochus seized the throne for himself proclaiming himself co-regent with another son of Seleucus, an infant named Antiochus (whom he then murdered in 170 BC).[12]

Wars against Egypt and relations with Rome

[Sidon coinage of Antiochos IV, depicting a victorious galley.]

After his accession Antiochus took care to maintain good relations with the Roman Republic, sending an embassy to Rome in 173 BC with a part of the unpaid indemnity still owed from the 188 BC Treaty of Apamea. While there the embassy secured a renewed treaty of friendship and alliance with Rome, greatly helped by the fact Antiochus had come to power with the help of Eumenes II, Rome's principal ally in the region.

The guardians of King Ptolemy VI Philometor demanded the return of Coele-Syria in 170 BC, declaring war on the Seleucids on the assumption that the kingdom was divided after Antiochus' murder of his nephew. However Antiochus had prepared more thoroughly and launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, defeating a Ptolemaic force and seizing Pelusium. He then advanced into Egypt proper, conquering all but Alexandria and capturing King Ptolemy. This was partially achieved because Rome (Ptolemaic Egypt's traditional ally) was embroiled in the Third Macedonian War and was not willing to become involved elsewhere.[13]

To avoid alarming Rome, Antiochus allowed Ptolemy VI to continue ruling as a puppet king from Memphis. Upon Antiochus' withdrawal, the city of Alexandria chose a new king, one of Ptolemy's brothers, also named Ptolemy (VIII Euergetes). The Ptolemy brothers agreed to rule Egypt jointly instead of fighting a civil war.

In 168 BC, Antiochus led a second attack on Egypt and also sent a fleet to capture Cyprus. Before he reached Alexandria, his path was blocked by a single elderly Roman ambassador named Gaius Popillius Laenas who delivered a message from the Roman Senate directing Antiochus to withdraw his armies from Egypt and Cyprus or consider himself in a state of war with the Roman Republic. Antiochus said he would discuss it with his council, whereupon the Roman envoy drew a line in the sand around Antiochus and said: “Before you leave this circle, give me a reply that I can take back to the Roman Senate.” This implied Rome would declare war if the King stepped out of the circle without committing to leave Egypt immediately. Weighing his options, Antiochus decided to withdraw. Only then did Popillius agree to shake hands with him.[14]

Persecution of Jews

[Coin depicting Antiochus IV, Greek inscription reads (King Antiochus, God manifest, bearer of victory)] The Seleucids, like the Ptolemies before them, held a mild suzerainty over Judea: they respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions. This policy was drastically reversed by Antiochus IV, resulting in harsh persecutions and a revolt against his rule, the Maccabean Revolt.

Books of Maccabees

According to the authors of the _Books of the Maccabees_, while Antiochus was busy in Egypt, a rumor spread that he had been killed. In Judea, the deposed High Priest Jason gathered a force of 1,000 soldiers and made a surprise attack on the city of Jerusalem.[15] Menelaus, the High Priest appointed by Antiochus, was forced to flee Jerusalem during a riot. King Antiochus returned from Egypt in 168 BC, enraged by his defeat; he attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus, then executed many Jews.[16] Antiochus decided to side with the Hellenized Jews in order to consolidate his empire and to strengthen his hold over the region. He outlawed Jewish religious rites and traditions kept by observant Jews and ordered the worship of Zeus as the supreme god (2 Maccabees 6:1–12). This was anathema to the Jews and they refused, so Antiochus sent an army to enforce his decree. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed because of the resistance, many were slaughtered, and Antiochus established a military Greek citadel called the Acra.

The date of Antiochus's persecution of the Jews in Jerusalem is variously given as 168 or 167 BC. In their commentary on the _Book of Daniel_, Newsom and Breed argue for 167, although they state that good arguments can be made for either chronology.[17]

[Mina of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.] Traditionally, as expressed in the First and Second Books of the Maccabees, the Maccabean Revolt was painted as a national resistance to a foreign political and cultural oppression. In modern times, however, scholars have argued that the king was instead intervening in a civil war between the traditionalist Jews in the country and the Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem.[18][19][20] According to Joseph P. Schultz:

  Modern scholarship on the other hand considers the Maccabean revolt less as an uprising against foreign oppression than as a civil war between the orthodox and reformist parties in the Jewish camp.[21]

It seems that the traditionalists, with Hebrew/Aramaic names such as Onias, contested with the Hellenizers, with Greek names such as Jason and Menelaus, over who would be the High Priest of Israel.[22] Other authors have pointed to the possibility of socioeconomic motives, as well as religious ones, as having been primary drivers of the civil war.[23]

What began in many respects as a civil war escalated when the Hellenistic kingdom of Coele-Syria sided with Hellenizing Jews in their conflict with the traditionalists.[24] As the conflict escalated, Antiochus took the side of the Hellenizers by prohibiting the religious practices around which the traditionalists had rallied. This could explain why the king banned the traditional religion of a whole people, in a total departure from typical Seleucid practice in other settings.[25]

Final years

[Punishment of Antiochus, engraving by Gustave Doré] King Mithridates I of Parthia took advantage of Antiochus' western problems and attacked from the east, seizing the city of Herat in 167 BC and disrupting the direct trade route to India, effectively splitting the Greek world in two.

Antiochus recognized the potential danger in the east but was unwilling to give up control of Judea. He sent a commander named Lysias to deal with the Maccabees, while the King himself led the main Seleucid army against the Parthians. Antiochus had initial success in his eastern campaign, including the reoccupation of Armenia, but he died suddenly of disease in 164 BC.[26]

According to the scroll of Antiochus, when Antiochus heard that his army had been defeated in Judea, he boarded a ship and fled to the coastal cities. Wherever he came the people rebelled and called him “The Fugitive,” so he drowned himself in the sea.[27]

According to the Second Book of Maccabees, he was horrifically injured in the following manner, which eventually led to his death:

Legacy

Jewish tradition

Antiochus IV ruled the Jews from 175 to 164 BC. He is remembered as a major villain and persecutor in the Jewish traditions associated with Hanukkah, including the books of Maccabees and the “Scroll of Antiochus”.[28] Rabbinical sources refer to him as הרשע _harasha_ (“the wicked”); the _Jewish Encyclopedia_ concluded that “[s]ince Jewish and heathen sources agree in their characterization of him, their portrayal is evidently correct”, summarizing this portrayal as one of a cruel and vainglorious ruler who tried to force on all the peoples of his realm a Hellenic culture, “the true essence of which he can scarcely be said to have appreciated”.[29] Whether Antiochus' policy was directed at extermination of Judaism as a culture and a religion, though, is debatable on the grounds that his persecution was limited to Judea and Samaria (Jews in the diaspora were exempt), and that Antiochus was hardly an ideologically motivated Hellenizer. Erich S. Gruen suggests that, instead, he was driven more by pragmatics such as the need to gather income from Judea.[30]

Divine epithets

Antiochus was the first Seleucid king to use divine epithets on coins, perhaps inspired by the Bactrian Hellenistic kings who had earlier done so, or else building on the ruler cult that his father Antiochus the Great had codified within the Seleucid Empire. These epithets included “manifest god”, and, after his defeat of Egypt, “bringer of victory”.[31]

Genealogy

[1] Encyclopædia Britannica Online: Antiochus IV Epiphanes

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8] Polybius 26.10

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12] M. Zambelli, “L'ascesa al trono di Antioco IV Epifane di Siria,” _Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica_ 38 (1960) 363–389

[13] Grainger, “The Fall of the Seleucid Empire,” Pages 20-23.

[14] Polybius 29.27.4, Livy 45.12.4ff.

[15] 2 Maccabees 5:5

[16] Josephus, _The Jewish War_ 1:1:1–2

[17] Newsom, Carol Ann; Breed, Brennan (2014). _Daniel: A Commentary_. Presbyterian Publish Corp. p. 26

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25] Tchrikover, Victor. _Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews_.

[26] Merrins, Edward M. “The Deaths Of Antiochus IV., Herod The Great, And Herod Agrippa I” Bibiothica Sacra BSAC 061:243 (Jul 1904)

[27] http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2830773/jewish/Megilat-Antiochus-The-Scroll-of-the-Hasmoneans.htm

[28] Vedibarta Bam — And You Shall Speak of Them: Megilat Antiochus The Scroll of the Hasmoneans

[29]

[30]

[31] C. Habicht, “The Seleucids and their rivals”, in A. E. Astin, _et al._, _Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 B.C._, _The Cambridge Ancient History_, volume 8, p. 341

title: Antiochus IV Epiphanes

question: What does the text sat say about King Antiochus I?

question: What does the text say about the notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV?

answer: Antiochus IV almost conquered Egypt. He persecuted the Jews of Judea and Samaria. Antiochus IV's reign saw the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees. He is the first successful usurper in the history of the Seleucid realm.

question: Summarize what the text says about how Antiochus IV rose to power.

answer: Antiochus IV was the son and potential successor of Antiochus III the Great and became a political hostage of the Roman Republic after the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC. Antiochus was exchanged for his nephew Demetrius I Soter, the son and heir of his older brother Seleucus IV Philopator, who followed his father onto the throne in 187 BC. Antiochus was living in Athens when his brother was assassinated in 175 BC by the usurper Heliodorus. King Eumenes II of Pergamum helped Antiochus travel from Athens to Syria by November 175 BC. Since his brother's legitimate heir Demetrius I Soter was still a hostage in Rome, Antiochus seized the throne for himself. He declared himself co-regent with the infant son of Seleucus, also named Antiochus, whom he later murdered in 170 BC.

question: What does the text say about Antiochus IV's relationship with Rome?

answer: Antiochus came to power with the help of Eumenes II, Rome's principal ally in the region. After his accession to power, Antiochus took care to maintain good relations with the Roman Republic by sending an embassy to Rome in 173 BC with a part of the unpaid indemnity still owed from the 188 BC Treaty of Apamea. The embassy secured a renewed treaty of friendship and alliance with Rome. After launching a preemptive strike against Egypt, Rome's traditional ally, and capturing King Ptolemy, Antiochus allowed Ptolemy VI to continue ruling as a puppet king from Memphis to avoid alarming Rome. When Antiochus led a second attack on Egypt and sent a fleet to capture Cyprus, Roman ambassador Gaius Popillius Laenas talked Antiochus out of attacking under threat of finding himself at war with the Roman Republic as well. Antiochus withdrew his forces from Egypt rather than risk a war with Rome.

question: Describe Antiochus IV's final years.

answer: Antiochus IV's kingdom was besieged from the West and East, splitting the Greek world in two. He recognized the potential dangers in the East but was unwilling to give up Judea. He sent a commander to deal with Maccabees, while he led the main Seleucid army against the Parthians. The King had initial success in the Eastern campaign and reoccupied Armenia, but died suddenly in 164 BC. However, there are conflicting reports about what happened to Antiochus IV. According to the scroll of Antiochus, when he heard that his army had been defeated in Judea, he boarded a ship and fled to the coastal cities. The people rebelled and called him "The Fugitive" so he drowned himself in the sea. The Second Book of Maccabees says that he was horrifically injured and died.


text:
NIKITA ABABIY (born October 20, 1998) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur he was a Jr. Golden Gloves National Champion as well as two-time World Ring Side Champion.[1] Ababiy was also in the USA Youth Team in 2016.[2]

Professional career

Ababiy made his professional debut under Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing USA[3] banner on October 6, 2018, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The fight was streamed live, exclusively on DAZN in the U.S. as part of the undercard of Jessie Vargas vs. Thomas Dulorme.[4] Ababiy won the fight via first round knockout (KO).[5] Ababiy's second professional fight was against American welterweight Javier Rodriquez at the Kansas Star Arena in Kansas on November 17, 2018. The bout was stopped in the first round and the referee declared Ababiy the winner by TKO.[6] Ababiy's third professional fight was on the undercard of Dmitry Bivol vs. Joe Smith Jr. against American Cory Dulaney on March 9, 2018. Ababiy got a TKO victory in the first round, achieving his third first round knockout victory in a row.[7]

In April 2019, Ababiy made his first appearance outside the United States at The O2 Arena in London. He secured a second-round TKO victory over Dimitri Faltin to take his record to 4-0 and make it 4 consecutive knockout victories.[8] Two months later, Ababiy defeated Juan Francisco Lopez Barajas of Mexico with a first-round knockout, in Madison Square Garden, New York City.[9] In July of 2019, Ababiy won by unanimous decision against Cuban Yunier Calzada after 6 rounds.[10] In Ababiy's seventh professional fight, on November 5, 2019, he defeated Isiah Seldon via first round knockout, bringing his knockout total to 6 out of 7 fights.[11] In his eighth professional fight, he won by disqualification against Jonathan Batista on the KSI vs. Logan Paul II undercard after Batista continued to fight after the round ending bell had been sounded. This brought Ababiy's record to 8-0 with 6 first-round victories.[12]

Professional boxing record

       Result   Record   Opponent                       Type   Round, time   Date           Location   Notes
  ---- -------- -------- ------------------------------ ------ ------------- -------------- ---------- -------
  10   Win      10–0     Brandon Maddox                 UD     6             Nov 27, 2020
  9    Win      9–0      Jarvis Williams                UD     6             Aug 15, 2020
  8    Win      8–0      Jonathan Batista                      1 (4),        Nov 9, 2019
  7    Win      7–0      Isiah Seldon                   KO     1 (6),        Oct 5, 2019
  6    Win      6–0      Yunier Calzada                        6             Jul 27, 2019
  5    Win      5–0      Juan Francisco Lopez Barajas   KO     1 (4),        Jun 8, 2019
  4    Win      4–0      Dimitri Faltin                 TKO    2 (4),        Apr 20, 2019
  3    Win      3–0      Cory Dulaney                   TKO    1 (4),        Mar 9, 2019
  2    Win      2–0      Javier Rodriquez                      1 (4),        Nov 17, 2018
  1    Win      1–0      Jake Henriksen                        1 (4),        Oct 6, 2018

[1] Nikita Ababiy Team USA

[2]

[3]

[4]

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[6]

[7]

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title: Nikita Ababiy

question: What is Ababiy's record?

answer: According to this article, Ababiy has yet to lose a match. He has a win record of 10-0 victories.

question: Which titles has Nikita Ababiy won?

answer: two time World Ring Side Champion and Golden Gloves National Champion.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: A summary of the career of professional boxer Nikita Ababiy.


text:
“So, do you want it?” the salesman asked her. Rosa already knew that she did, but she was trying to get a better price. It wasn’t there yet, so she shrugged and turned her head away nonchalantly.

The salesman looked at her. Rosa Berger was attractive, and meeting her at the beach was her idea. He now knew why. She dressed in a bikini that had to be pushing the limits of any decency laws in the area. She was lying on a towel, sunning herself, looking like a model in a magazine. He was having trouble concentrating. His usual clientele were quite a bit older and more prudish. But she knew what she was looking for. He had a feeling she knew how to buy it, too.

“What do you want from me? This is not an easy find. I can’t go lower.” He tried, but he knew she was breaking him.

Rosa sat up and placed a hand in between her breasts, drawing the salesman’s eyes to them. She smiled when she noticed his face become far redder than what it should be for as little as he’s been in the sun. “I just can’t work that. It’s really important for my family to have this piece, but there’s only so much we can do ourselves. Are you sure you can’t drop the price? Even a little?”

The salesman barely heard what she was saying. “N-name your price. We, uh, we can go from there.” He struggled to take his eyes off her chest.

The dark haired beauty took off her sunglasses and looked her “victim” in the eyes. Her gorgeous brown eyes looked full of innocent joy at the news, and she knew right then and there that she had him hook, line, and sinker. She damn near could have asked him to just give her the artifact for free and he would have done it.

Sometimes, Rosa felt bad for the sellers of her trinkets, but they almost always tried to oversell them. Probably usually got away with it with the older codgers who were trying to keep busy in their old age. She, on the other hand, knew what investing in those beauties was worth. Those objects told the story of the past. This is where we, as the human race, came from. This wasn’t some text in a history book from high school. This was the real deal. This was magic to Rosa, a way to view the past.

There was nothing more important.

“Really?” Rosa reached into her beach bag and grabbed a pad of Post-Its and a pen, wrote down her price, and handed it too him, surreptitiously getting into the sexiest pose she knew. The salesman was now clearly and uncomfortably aroused and at this point, Rosa knew by experience, he would say yes to the deal just to get out of the awkward situation.

The salesman briefly looked at the note, sighed, knowing full well that in normal situations he would never dare accept the offer, and handed it back. “Fine.”

“Yay!” Rosa exclaimed, keeping up the appearance that she was innocent. She again reached into her beach bag and grabbed her checkbook, filled it out for the amount she asked about, and handed it to the man. He grabbed it, opened up his briefcase, grabbed the object, handed it to Rosa, and quickly said his goodbyes, practically running to get away from her.

Rosa giggled to herself. She put the object into her beach bag and continued to sun herself, eventually falling asleep.

When she heard rustling, she awoke to find someone digging through her bag. She was short, blonde and wearing a jogging outfit of short shorts and a sports bra. As soon as Rosa sat up, the blond woman stood up with the object in hand and ran away. Rosa realized the thief knew exactly what she was after; she wasn’t just some trash stealing some other woman’s junk.

Rosa jumped up and followed the woman. She was good at running on the sand and had trained herself to run barefoot on nearly any surface. So when the jogger ran onto the pavement, the fact that all Rosa was wearing was a very skimpy bikini didn’t bother her. She was going to get that object back.

It seemed, however, that thief was just as athletic as Rosa. She ran through cars and buildings. Rosa was just a little faster and was catching up with her, until the jogger displayed a skill that Rosa did not have: free running. She ran into an alley full of junk that would slow down normal people, but she just jumped and flipped over whatever she needed to and sped far ahead of Rosa.

But Rosa was resourceful. There was an idling motorcycle nearby that the beautiful artifact collector had no qualms about “borrowing.” She jumped on it and took off around the block in hopes of catching the thief off guard.

When she rounded the corner, there was a little traffic and the blonde was just coming out of the alley. Rosa wove in and out to catch up. The jogger ran down another alley, this one clear. Rosa followed on the bike. The thief ran down another side alley, this one ended in a dead end with a overfilled dumpster.

Rosa sped up and, being so focused on her enemy, missed the brick laying on the ground in front of her. She flew off the bike as it flipped. Luckily she landed on the blond runner. Unfortunately, they both fell on the pile of garbage bags.

Still, Rosa wasn’t about to let her get away. She pulled her up and punched her square in the jaw. Something else she trained herself in: mixed martial arts. The thief wasn’t too bad either. She got up and took a stance that proved she knew how to fight. She gave a high kick to Rosa, who easily blocked and countered it with a punch in the upper thigh, which would definitely bruise. The runner managed to hit with an uppercut. Rosa kicked the other woman in the shin, followed by an elbow in the gut, then one in the face, landing square on the nose. This left the thief dazed enough for Rosa to one more punch in the exact same spot.

The blond jogger fell straight back, not even trying to break her fall. When Rosa checked, she had no pulse and her eyes were rolled back in her head. She was dead.

Rosa checked her for her prize and, finding it, moved the corpse to the dumpster burying her in bags. She found a mostly clean rag and wiped the bike clean of any evidence of her from it. She casually walked back out the alley, taking another path. Then back to the beach. Luckily, no one bothered her stuff. She put the artifact in her bag, then put the bag in her car. She then went back and finished sunning herself, as if she were perfectly fine with killing someone, as if she had done it before.

Because she had. There was nothing more important to her than the artifacts and the stories they told.

title: [AA] The Bikini Chase

question: Summarize the climactic event of the story.

answer: When Rosa awakes to some woman stealing her artifact in her bag, a long chase in the bustling city follows. She catches up to the girl, and they fight, leading to Rosa killing her.

question: Summarize what the story says about Rosa's personality?

answer: Rosa is determined and cunning. She manipulates the salesman to her advantage so that he gives him the artifact at the price she wants. She purposely meets him at the beach while wearing a bikini to make him uncomfortable. Rosa also has low moral character as she is unbothered to have murdered the woman who tried to steal her artifact. It's not her first time to have killed a person.

question: What does the story say about the thief of the artifact?

answer: The thief is a short blonde woman wearing jogging shorts and a sports bra. Rummaging in Rosa's bag, she knows exactly what she is looking for. Moreover, the thief is a fast runner, but Rosa catches up to her riding a motorcycle. She is killed by Rosa and is thrown in the dumpster.


text:
Hero

A drop of sweat glistened on my temple. I could feel it carefully dancing down the side of my motionless face as I prepared myself for what I knew was about to happen. I slowly pressed my palm against the door; I could feel the warmth radiating through it. I took a deep breath in. And entered the building…

The summer evening had left a dry taste to the air and the tantalising smell of grilled, smoky chicken with its sumptuous fresh green salad had diffused around the road and families had their heads peaked to catch a glimpse of the food. The barbeque sizzled away out in the patio. The heavenly infusion was coming from the house next door to us, which meant that we had to suffer the entire evening with the intoxication flowing through the house, while we sat begrudgingly, regretting the decision to not buy a barbeque of our own.

However, late into the evening, the smell of luscious food slowly twisted into a dusty, nasty smell. We had become so intent with it that the toxic smell was giving our nostrils a setback to the days of when Dad used to burn out the burgers on the old barbeque. The barbeque! We rushed out into the garden and were immediately taken aback by the shear size of the black cloud erupting from the windows of the house next door, and the flames licking the air. My sister instinctively ran straight inside and picked up the phone, punching out 999 into the telephone. I took a glance over the fence and saw the barbeque tipped over onto the old wooden door, which had caught alight. I quickly put my trainers on and escorted myself to the front of the house and found myself surrounded by other neighbours, worried for the safety of the people inside. My neighbours were Janet and her daughter Amy, a nine month old baby. They’ve been visiting recently; Having tea and cakes, Amy giggling as my sister played peek-a-boo and telling us all about their marvelled trip to Chester Zoo. Janet had always been especially kind. Her and Mum would talk for hours on end about kids and what it’s like for them growing up-

Scream.

A bloodcurdling scream filled every corner of the road and every person fell silent, filled with shock.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Janet came rushing out of the smoking home, crying, her face covered in ash and dirt.
  “Amy! Get Amy!” cried Janet “She’s still upstairs!” Her tears flowed as she faced the presumed death of her daughter. The sound of a baby crying rang out from the upstairs bedroom. Everyone but Janet fell silent. She burst out in a flurry of emotion and started crying over and over again.

I didn’t think through the next few moments. It felt like a blur. I just remember looking at Janet, then at the house. I ran up to porch and took stance by the door. The neighbours were calling me to get back, but they sounded muted to me and I didn’t listen to them.

I could feel the warmth radiating through the door. I took a deep breath in. And entered the building…

As soon as I entered I could feel the blast of the heat hit my face and I was already starting to choke on the smoke. It was like looking into the depths of hell. A fiery concoction swirled into the hallway and devoured everything in its path. I was beginning to resist the idea but something compelled me to go further. Like someone inside me was encouraging me on. I took my hoodie off and put it over my head and my arm in front of my face to block the unstoppable heat and light that was being emitted from the fire and made my to the stairs, spluttering and coughing as I try to avoid the teasing flames as they tried to grab me.

The stairs themselves ached with every step and were battered from falling, flaming wooden panels. I attempted to ignore the panel as I climbed further up the stairs and I could now see the broken landing; it was pretty but a hole in the floorboards was the centre piece and three doors surrounded it. Flames engulfed each door frame as Amy’s cries grow louder and louder. I had no idea where to look. Dazed by the roaring fire, I ventured towards the first door on my left. In a flash I twisted the door handle then retracted my hand; the fires grabbing at my flesh. No Amy. I moved on to the next, burning door and repeated my actions. No Amy. I knew there wasn’t much time left.

I clumsily leapt over the gash in the floorboards and burst through the opposite door. My hoodie was covered in hot ash and floor burnt my palms. I could see Amy’s cot. It was once delicate and pink, now black and deformed. I looked in and found Amy bawling. She was covered in cinders and ash in her pyjamas. I carefully picked her up. I turned back towards the door and ran. The ceiling crumbled as I ran and the floor felt thinner and thinner. I bounded over the hole and proceeded to clamber down the stairs, avoiding falling planks and flaming ceiling boards. At the bottom of the stairs I could see the hallway blocked by a wall of fire. But I could hear the roof crumbling upstairs and the cries of people outside.

“Amy!”

I could hear Janet screaming outside. Amy was crying even more now. Seconds felt like hours. I took a step back. I could hear the building aching and creaking. The ceiling cracked and the thunderous roar of the fire was unbearable. I sprinted down the hallway, Amy safe in my arms.

Suddenly, the building gave up. The roof collapsed and the building was coming down. I ran faster. I hurdle the wall of fire enough to avoid serious damage. However, my hoodie burst into flames as it flailed behind me. I dropped it and kept running. Desperate for more time, the door burst open. A mystical, magical red man appeared and I threw Amy into his arms. He caught her and called me to get out quickly. But I didn’t listen. I was so drained. I fell to the floor of the hallway exhausted and turned over. I had saved her.

Then the building came crashing down.

title: Hero

question: What does the boy use to prevent the flames from getting him?

answer: He wraps his hoodie around his head and arm and uses it to keep back the flames. It works up until the last moment, when he jumps through a wall of fire and the hoodie bursts into flames.


text:
Science

Black Dog Syndrome

Why do people discriminate against dark pets?

[cute black dog.]

Would you adopt this dog?
Photo by Stockfotografie/Shutterstock

Just when you were hoping there were no new ways to be racist, it turns out people may be racist against dogs. Black Dog Syndrome is the name shelter workers have given to the tendency of dark-furred pups to languish in kennels while their lighter-furred brethren get adopted. “The effect is very real,” says Mirah Horowitz, executive director and founder of Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. “We recently had a litter of five very cute, very fluffy puppies, two yellow and three black. And the yellow ones all went immediately, but for the black ones it took weeks.”

Black dogs get euthanized at higher rates. They linger at pounds and adoption agencies for longer than light-colored dogs, and they are less likely to find a home. Marika Bell, director of behavior and rehoming for the Humane Society of Washington, D.C., says the organization has been tracking animals that have stayed at their shelters the longest since March 2013. They found that three characteristics put a pet at risk of becoming one of these so-called “hidden gems”: medium size, an age of 2-3 years, and an ebony coat.

What kind of nefarious psychological quirk would prevent someone from adopting a dog based on fur color?

Animal welfare experts believe the discrimination arises from a pack of factors. The mythology around black dogs is grim. (The Grim, from _Harry Potter_, is a “large, black, spectral dog that haunts churchyards” and augurs death.) A 2013 study by Penn State psychologists revealed that people find images of black dogs scarier than photos of yellow or brown dogs—respondents rated the dark-furred animals less adoptable, less friendly, and more intimidating. And while the association between obsidian and evil is more explicit for cats, dogs have to contend with a culture, post-Samuel Johnson and Winston Churchill, that symbolizes depression as a coal-colored hound.

It’s not all superstition, though. With the ascent of image-based sites like Petfinder and Petango, much of the adoption process takes place before you even arrive at the shelter. And glamour shots of black animals are harder to imbue with the requisite sparkle. “Their faces look less expressive, and their eyes get lost,” says Fred Levy, a photographer whose Black Dog Projectattempts to give jet-hued canines the star treatment they deserve. (Photography lighting problems can also drive fashion glossies to subtle racism.) Because of the way the camera averages out exposure levels over the entire scene, Levy explains, “often all you’ll see of the dog is a black silhouette and a big tongue.” He solves the problem by arranging his models against a charcoal background. And Horowitz has found that videos work better than photographs at capturing a dog’s lovable personality. But for adoption programs without video equipment or access to professional photographers, shots of black animals remain harder to sell than those of lighter-colored pets.

The drama of the black dog doesn’t get much easier once you arrive at the shelter. While bright white and yellow pooches catch people’s eye, Horowitz tells me, darker-haired pups tend to get lost in a crate’s shadows. (For this reason, some rescue organizations now train inky dogs to sit in front of their kennels during visiting hours.) And though black may not actually be the most common canine color, says Bell, it is sometimes perceived as such, which means prospective owners looking to stand out from the crowd will sometimes DQ a black dog.

Bell has her own pet theory: “I think it comes down to facial expressions,” she tells me. “People attach to dogs when they can read their facial expressions, and on black dogs those are harder to make out. You can barely see their eyebrows, and it becomes harder to humanize them and connect on an emotional level.”

Other hypotheses floating around the trade: Would-be owners worry that a black dog will shed too noticeably on the furniture; black dogs get overheated more easily at adoption events and don’t introduce themselves; black dogs look older; black dogs strike people as boring. And one chow jowl-wrinkle that no one mentions: Studies suggest that people tend to choose pooches that bear some resemblance to them, whether that manifests in a lady with flowing tresses selecting a long-eared retriever or a saggy-faced man opting for a bulldog. Could the link between an owner’s and a dog’s appearance factor into the phenomenon? According to a Pew survey, 45 percent of white people own a dog, compared to 20 percent of black people. (Looking at presidential pets, Bo Obama is black, but then so was George W. Bush’s Miss Beazley.)

Some dismiss Black Dog Syndrome as an urban legend, noting a paucity of hard data supporting the effect. As a measure of how common raven-haired pups are, the Los Angeles Animal Services Department reported in 2008 that 27 percent of the 30,046 dogs it had picked up in the previous 12 months had predominantly sable coats. That prevalence was mirrored in the year’s adoption statistics: 28 percent of the animals that eventually found homes were also predominantly black. And in a 2012 study, researchers asked volunteers to rank four hypothetical pooches—a big white poodle, a small white poodle, a big black poodle, and a small black poodle—on perceived friendliness and aggressiveness. They discovered that the imaginary white dogs were seen as significantly meaner and more combative than the imaginary black ones, perhaps due to stereotypes about yappy white lap-dog terrors. (Do we subconsciously transfer Paris Hilton’s character traits to the pampered pale teacups she favors?) In any case, the study raised questions about whether what spooks us about black pups is their color or the association between dark fur and several of dogdom’s more reputedly vicious breeds: Rottweilers, Dobermans, and some pit bull mixes.

“There are lots of compounding factors,” Julie Morris, the senior vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told _ABC_. “Are there just more black dogs in shelters, or is the real problem because most black dogs are also big dogs?” (The prevailing wisdom goes that big dogs have a harder time finding homes, perhaps because they seem less manageable. As the Washington Humane Society data suggests, though, it may be medium dogs that scrape together the worst of both worlds: not tiny enough to fit in a purse, not huge enough to be a sexy statement.)

Whatever the precise mix of bias and bad luck, some white knights are riding to black dogs’ defense. Many shelters have discounts on dark-furred animals, and D.C.’s Lucky Dog Animal Rescue recently held a Back in Black Fashion Show, in which a select group of eight adoptable pooches flaunted their ebony coats. (Tagline: “Adopt in glimmering black!”) There are photography Tumblrs and online rescue projects dedicated to the plight of the canine noir. There are tip sheets on how to “bedazzle your black dog.” (“Sew sequins or appliques on bandanas for the dogs to wear.”) There are black pet adoption GIFs. Even Emmylou Harris has joined the cause.

 “It’s just so irrational that people would think the color of a dog’s fur has anything to do with its character,” says Levy, the photographer.

“The effect is baffling,” says Bell. “I just want to tell people sometimes, ‘This is an amazing dog. You’ve got to look at this dog.’ ”

So, prospective pet owners, consider the gauntlet thrown. Black dogs need your yelp (help). Society needs all of our heightened awareness. We have come too far in combatting bias and ignorance to keep penalizing animals for the color of their fur.

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

question: What does the text say about dark pets?

answer: According to the text, dark pets are discriminated against. They tend to be adopted last. Black dogs also get euthanized at higher rates.

question: What does the text say about black dogs?

answer: Black dogs get euthanized at higher rates. They linger in pounds for a lot longer than lighter-colored pets. The mythology around black dogs is grim.

question: What does the text say about white dogs?

answer: Dogs of lighter colors get adopted much faster than black animals. They're also much easier to photograph and advertise for adoption. As such, animals of lighter colors are less prone to bias.

question: What does the text say about the adoption process of pets?