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[Pr. Baddari Kamel] BADDARI KAMEL was born in 1960 in Biskra, an Algerian city located in east-central of Algeria at the gates of the Sahara. He is a physicist and mathematician occupying the position of rector of the University of M'sila,[1] Algeria. He is the president-representative of the Algerian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, of the national steering and monitoring committee for the implementation of the pedagogical accompaniment program for the benefit of the teacher-researcher in Algeria.[2]

He has been a university professor since 1998, he was considered the youngest professor in Algeria in 1998 and the youngest holder of State Doctorate in 1987. From 1997 to 2001, he was designated associate professor at University of Oklahoma (United States), responsible for the supervision and training in mathematical model simulation of engineers in field development of SONTRACH company at the Algerian Petroleum Institute (Boumerdes-Algeria).

As a holder of State Science Doctorate in physics and mathematics with a State engineering in geophysics, he developed over the period of more than thirty years, not only disciplinary and transversal skills but also the respect for rules of ethics and scientific evaluation. He developed a complex parameter, combining several physical fields recorded during the rupture of large blocks of rock,[3] precursor of the different stages of deformation of these solid bodies under high pressure and temperatures conditions.

Education

[Pr. Baddari Kamel in 2020] In 1978, he obtained the scientific (Secondary School) Degree from Larbi Ben M’Hidi — Biskra high school. He has been graduated from the National Institute of Hydrocarbons and Chemistry (INH) in Boumerdes-Algeria (first of the student promotion of 1983), when he obtained «State Engineer» Degree in Geophysics. From 1983 to 1987, he prepared a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D) in physics and mathematics at the Russian geological prospecting university and the Institute of Physics of the Earth- Academy of Sciences of USSR in Moscow. In 1988, he obtained the equivalent degree of the Algerian State Doctorate (Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research) — Algeria. In 1991, he received the Doctorate Nauk diploma in Physics and Mathematics (doktor physico mathematicheskikh nauk recognized for Soviet talented Scientist) for a thesis realized in Russian geological prospecting university and the Institute of Physics of the Earth - Academy of Sciences of the USSR Moscow about the complex studies of physical precursors of failure of rocks in relation to earthquake prediction,[4] the fractal structure of geophysical field, and the simulation of seismic process. He obtained this highest scientific title for his contribution to the development of science.

Career

[Pr. Baddari Kamel in 2020] His transversal knowledge led him to contribute to strengthening the higher education. He was the head of several institutions: from 2017 to now: Rector of Mohamed Boudiaf university[5] — M’Sila (Algeria); from 2016 to now: Chairman of the national commission for the training of higher education teachers[6] (Algeria); 08/2016 - 06/2017: Director of Studies, the Minister's advisor of Higher Education (Algeria); 2012 - 2016: Rector of Mohand Akli Oulhadj University — Bouira (Algeria); 2000 - 2012: Dean of the Faculty of Science at University of Boumerdes (Algeria); 07/1998 - 09/2000: Vice-Rector of Mhamed Bougara University - Boumerdes (Algeria); 1990 - 1993: Head of department of geophysics and random phenomena (National Institute of Hydrocarbons and Chemistry INH)— Boumerdes (Algeria); 1987 - 1990: Head of department of physics and mathematics - INH (Algeria). In 1988 he founded the laboratory of Physics of the Earth - INH (Algeria).

Publications

Baddari has been author of numerous scientific publications in field of physics and mathematics, such as:

Scientific papers

-   Baddari K, Sobolev Guennadi A, Frolov Anatoly D (1988) Complex failure precursors of large scale rock bloks (In Russian). Dokladi Academy of Sciences USSR, 299, 5, 1087-1092.[7]
-   Baddari K, Sobolev Guennadi A, Frolov Anatoly D (1996) Similarity in seismic precursors at different scales. C.R Acad. Sc. Paris, t323, série IIa ? 755-762[8]
-   Baddari K, Djarfour N, Aïfa T, Ferahtia J (2010) Acoustic impedance inversion by feedback artificial neural network. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 71 106–111.[9]
-   Baddari K, Sobolev Guennadi A, Frolov Anatoli D, Ponomarev Alexander V (1999) An integrated study of physical precursors of failure in relation with earthquake prediction, using large scale rock blocks. Annali Di Geofisica Vol. 42, N°5, 771-787[10]
-   Djarfour N, Aïfa T, Baddari K, Mihoubi A, Ferahtia J (2008) Application of feedback connection artificial neural network to seismic data filtering. C. R. Geoscience 340 335–344.[11]
-   Ferahtia J, Djarfour N, Baddari K, Guérin R (2009) Application of signal dependent rank-order mean filter to the removal of noise spikes from 2D electrical resistivity imaging data. Near Surface Geophysics 159-169.[12]
-   Saad Saoud L, Rahmoune F, Tourtchine V, Baddari K (2013) Complex-valued forecasting of the global solar irradiation. J. Renewable and Sustainable Energy 5, 043124.[13]
-   Baddari K, Frolov Anatoly D, Toutchine V, Rahmoune F, Makdeche S (2015) Effect of Stress-Strain Conditions on Physical Precursors and Failure Stages Development in Rock Samples. Acta Geophysica 63, 1, 62-102 DOI: 10.2478/s11600-014-0206-9.
-   Baddari K, Frolov Anatoly D, Toutchine V, Makdeche S, Rahmoune F (2012) Effect of Temperature on the Physical Precursors of Rock Block Failure. Acta Geophysica 60, 4, 1007-1029. DOI: 10.2478/s11600-012-0038-4.[14]
-   Baddari K, Frolov Anatoly D (1997) Modeling of the fractal structure of a geophysical field. C.R Acad Sc Paris, Earth and Planetary Sciences, 325, 925-930.[15]
-   Baddari K, Makdeche S, Bellalem F (2013) Probabilistic Model to Forecast Earthquakes in the Zemmouri (Algeria) Seismoactive Area on the Basis of Moment Magnitude Scale Distribution Functions. Acta Geophysica 61, 1, 60-83.[16] DOI: 10.2478/s11600-012-0064-2.
-   Baddari K, Frolov Anatoly D (2011) Regularities in discrete hierarchy seismo-acoustic mode in a geophysical field. Annals of Geophysics 53, 5-6, 2010. doi: 10.4401/ag-4725[17]
-   Baddari K, Ferahtia J, Aifa T, Djarfour N (2011) Seismic noise attenuation by means of ananisotropic non-linear diffusion filter. Computers & Geosciences 37 456–463.[18]
-   Djarfour N, Ferahtia J, Babaia F, Baddari K, El-adj S, Farfour M (2014) Seismic noise filtering basedon Generalized Regression Neural Networks. Computers & Geosciences 69 1–9[19]
-   Bouchelaghem H.E, Hamadouche M, Soltani F, Baddari K (2016) Adaptive clutter-map CFAR detection in distributed sensor networks,” _AEU-Int. J. Electronics Commun._ 70, No. 9, 1288.[20]
-   Baouche R, Aïfa T, Baddari K (2017) Intelligent methods for predicting nuclear magnetic resonance of porosity and permeability by conventional well-logs: a case study of Saharan field. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 10:545.[21]
-   Baouche R, Aïfa T, Baddari K (2017) Intelligent methods for predicting nuclear magnetic resonance of porosity and permeability by conventional well-logs: a case study of Saharan field. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 10:545.[22]
-   Baouche R, Baddari K (2017) Prediction of permeability and porosity from well log data using the nonparametric regression with multivariate analysis and neural network, Hassi R’Mel Field, Algeria. Egyptian Journal of Petroleum 26, 7763-778.[23]
-   Bouchelaghem H. E, Hamadouche M, Soltani F, Baddari K (2019) Distributed Clutter-Map Constant False Alarm Rate Detection Using Fuzzy Fusion Rules (2019) Radioelectronics and Communications Systems, Vol. 62, No. 1, 1–5. © Allerton Press, Inc.[24]
-   I.Ali Zerrouki A, Geraud Y, Diraison M, Baddari K (2019) A Preliminary study of relationships between thermal conductivity and petrophysical parameters in Hamra Quartzites reservoir, Hassi Messaoud field (Algeria). J. African Earth Sciences, Vol 151, 461-471.[25]
-   Baddari Kamel, Aifa T., Djarfour N., Ferahtia J. (2009): Application of a radial basis function artificial neural network to seismic data inversion . Computer and Geosciences, 35, pages 2338–2344.
-   Baddari Kamel, Aifa T., Djarfour N., Ferahtia J. : Acoustic impedance inversion by feedback artificial neural network – Petrol J.—Zci. Eng. 76.[26]
-   Baddari Kamel, Guerin R., Djarfour N., Ferahtia J. : Application of signal depen- dant rank-order mean filter to the removal of noise spikes from 2D electrical resistivity imaging data. Near surface geophysics, 7 (3), pages 159 – 169.[27]
-   Baddari, K., Frolov, A. D., Tourtchine, V., & Rahmoune, F. (2011). An integrated study of the dynamics of electromagnetic and acoustic regimes during failure of complex macrosystems using rock blocks. _Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering_, _44_(3), 269-280.[28]
-   Zerrouki, A.A, Geraud, Y, Diraison,M Baddari, K Preliminary study of relationships between thermal conductivity and petrophysical parameters in Hamra
-   “A Preliminary study of relationships between thermal conductivity and petrophysical parameters in Hamra Quartzites reservoir, Hassi Messaoud field (Algeria)”. _Journal of African Earth Sciences_.

Books

Kamel is the author of numerous books:

-   Physique de la terre. OPU. 388 pages
-   Equations de la physique mathématiques appliquées. OPU – 404 pages.[29]
-   Théorie et pratique des fonctions d’une variable complexe. OPU- 350 pages.[30]
-   Filtrage Analogique-Numérique. Dar El Djazairia Alger,
-   les Seismes Et Leur Prévision. Opu Alger 2002, 355 P,
-   assurance Qualité Dans L'enseignement Supérieur - Conduire Et Réussir L'autoévaluation. Opu Alger 2013, 146 P.
-   Comprendre et pratiquer le LMD, OPU, 140p.[31]
-   Conduire et réussir une au- toévaluation institutionnelle – OPU – 198p.
-   Indicateurs de qualité dans l’E.S. - OPU (2012)
-   Bien enseigner avec le LMD – OPU – (2014)
-   La recherché d’information – OPU – (2016)

[Pr. Baddari Kamel, 2020]

[1]  University of M'sila|last=CHALABI|first=samira|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-07}}

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[30]  Office des publications universitaires|website=www.opu-dz.com|access-date=2020-01-07}}

[31]  Office des publications universitaires|website=www.opu-dz.com|access-date=2020-01-07}}

title: Baddari Kamel

question: What is remarkable about Pr. Baddari Kamel's education?

answer: He has been a university professor since 1998. He was considered the youngest professor in Algeria in 1998 and the youngest holder of State Doctorate in 1987.


split: test

text:
Whaddon}} [Aerodrome Hotel, Waddon in 2011] [Aerodrome Hotel, Waddon in 2009] WADDON () is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Croydon, at the western end of the town of Croydon. The area borders the London Borough of Sutton.

History

It is not known when the manor of Croydon was granted to the See of Canterbury, but it is thought of be before then end of the 9th century. The archbishop had lands in Croydon about 871. The Domesday Book shows it as part of the archbishop's lands held in demesne (for his own use). After a royal grant in the 13th century, Croydon became a market town. In 1276 Archbishop Robert Kilwardby obtained a grant of market in 1276. It was to be held every Friday and a nine-day fair was to be held on the vigil of St. Botolph the abbot (17 June).[1] Waddon's name was first recorded in the twelfth century and derives from Old English meaning 'the hill where woad grows, or is grown'. Evidence of Bronze Age and Iron Age habitation have been found locally.[2] Waddon has an older area with 19th-century properties, some even older, close to central Croydon. Further south is a large estate of Council-owned and former Council-owned homes and a small number of tower blocks. In the inter-war years Waddon had the most Croydon Corporation owned homes in Croydon with 1,125 council houses and 80 council flats.[3]

The geographical area of Waddon extends further north than the political boundary of Waddon ward. It includes residences along Pampisford Road that are in South Croydon. Located in the Wandle river valley. one of the river's sources, Waddon Ponds, is a public open space. The Wandle has been deculverted in Wandle Park and in the New South Quarter development. Wandle Park, opened in 1890, has benefited from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990's Section 106 monies paid by property developers of the New South Quarter which have been used to refurbish the park. The River Bourne once flowed above ground through the South Mead, now Southbridge Road, and along Old Town where it joined the River Wandle. From the Middle Ages the Waddon Court Estate covered much of the area. Mills operated on the River Wandle which was used later to irrigate watercress beds as well as feed the lakes of Waddon Court.[4]

The first incarnation of the Hare and Hounds public house opened in 1773, on what was then Waddon Marsh Lane. In the latter years of the 18th century Waddon Court's owner, John Dewye Parker, raised a volunteer corps of yeomen here, at his own expense, and “military evolutions were performed with the utmost precision, upon the lawn surrounding his mansion.”[5]

The Old Tithe Barn tithe barn was part of Waddon Court with the building opposite the Waddon Leisure Centre dating back to 1799. The building was later used as a barn within Coldharbour Farm. It was listed in 1990[6] and until 2007 was used by the now closed Grants Solicitors, the practice of the former Justice minister and MP for Maidstone & The Weald, Helen Grant. In August 2017 the local authority gave planning permission for the barn to be used for religious worship with the successful applicant being the O Farinloye Kingdom Heritage Christian Fellowship.[7]

Waddon has a long history of industrial trades. The Croydon gasworks were built on Waddon Marsh in 1867. An electricity generating station opened in 1896.[8] The opening of the Purley Way in 1925 prompted the building of a number of factories including for Redwing Aircraft Ltd.,[9] Trojan Ltd. (car manufacturers), Tizer Ltd, Standard Steel Co., Croydon Foundry Ltd. (1920),[10] Metal Propellers Ltd., (1925)[11] and Southern Foundries Ltd. (1926).[12] Croydon Corporation built the Waddon pumping station in 1910–11 on the road now called Waddon Way.[13]

A second power station – Croydon B – opened in 1950 eliminating the first of the watercress beds.[14] First commissioned in 1947 and built by Croydon Corporation the power station was nationalised by the then Labour government.

Duppas Hill Terrace hosts the Elis David Almshouses, built in 1974 and officially opened on 25 March 1975 by Priness Alexandra. These almshouses replaced the original almshouses in Church Street and the Henry Smith 1896 almshouse in Scarbrook Road. The Elis David charity was founded in perpetuity by Elias Davy on 27 April 1447. The current site of the almshouses was previously that of Croydon's workhouse.[15]

Duppas Hill was Croydon's first recreation ground. Croydon Board of Health bought land from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for £2,000 in 1865.[16] The Whitgift Foundation state that the clay and bricks for the Whitgift almshouses came from Duppas Hill after Park Hill, Croydon bricks proved to be inferior. The timber for the Whitfgift almshouses came from Waddon ward's Haling Manor.

In 1931, Whitgift School moved to its current site in Haling Park,[17] which was once home to Lord Howard of Effingham,[18] the Lord High Admiral of the Fleet sent against the Spanish Armada.

St George's Church was built in the heart of the Waddon housing estate, being erected in 1932. The architects were W. Curtis Green, R.A. and Partners.[19] With a capacity for 339 parishioners the structure cost £5,580 and the fittings, fees and other outgoings cost £1,307. Dressed in Portland stone and with a timber roof covered with tiles.

The former Croydon Airport is in south-west Waddon. The aerodrome was established in December 1915 for the defence of London. Land to the east of Plough Lane was requisitioned for testing by the National Aircraft Factory No.1 and was known as Waddon Aerodrome.[20] In 1920 the Beddington and Waddon aerodromes became the main customs airport for London.

The international distress term “Mayday” was invented at Waddon's Croydon Airport. It was Croydon Airport senior radio officer Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897 – 1 March 1962) who was the originator of the uniform international distress signal.[21]

The local community consequently suffered badly in traffic from a different European location in the Blitz bombing raids in World War II.[22] An attack on 15 August 1940 marked the first civilian bombing with 62 civilian fatalities and 185 injured outside the airport. In addition two civilian telephone operators were injured.

Land and existing buildings in this area may be found to be subject to 20th century restrictive covenants preventing new construction above a certain height due to the proximity of the former airport, but those restrictions ought to be redundant by now, given that the airport has long since gone.[23] The last commercial flight from the airport was in 1959. The imposing hotel which used to serve the airport remains to this day.

The South London Pirates are one of the most successful teams in the British Baseball Federation, playing at Roundshaw close to part of the old airport.[24]

Running through Waddon, from Purley to the western reaches of Thornton Heath, is the Purley Way, the A23, home to many superstores and light industrial units. A bypass road was first muted in 1908 with the Corporation's Roads Committee putting forward a full Thornton Heath to Purley relief road proposal in June 1911. Work commenced after the Great War in 1919 with the official opening in 1925. In 1932 the southern section of Purley Way was the first highway to benefit from sodium street lighting. The whole stretch benefitted from such lighting by 1936 with lights often strung over the centre of the highway.

The Purley Way saw an Art Deco building in the late 1930s at 606, Purley Way for cardboard packager Acme Corrugated Paper & Box. Co. Ltd.

Waddon's Purley Way also hosts the Waddon Leisure Centre at Fiveways junction with recently built facilities that include a 65 station gym, a 25-metre swimming pool, a learner pool, a sports hall, a cafe and 30 parking spaces.[25] The new development was built on the site of the 1936-constructed public house “The Propeller Inn”, a Barclay Perkins brewery interest. Demolished in 2006 the place had been a favourite with wartime RAF personnel at the airfield up the road.

Waddon has had two other swimming facilities on the Purley Way in the past. The open-air Purley Way Swimming Pool opened on 27 July 1935 and except for the war period was open until 1975. The diving platforms are retained within the garden centre that now occupies the site. In part replacement for these closed pools and those at Scarbrook Road in Old Town a “Water Palace” facility was built on Metropolitan Open Land opposite the old airport for the Conservative council and opened in 1990. Including wave machines the facility was closed by the first Labour-led council in 1996, citing dangerous and uneconomic conditions (a £500,000 a year loss) and dismissing Conservative accusations of an anti-south of the borough outlook. The district auditor criticised the closure decision as “poor value for money.”[26] The Highways Agency opposition slowed the sale of the site to the private sector.

The Water Palace site was replaced by the Colonnades shopping, food, sports club and bus terminal centre.

Waddon railway station is on the line between West Croydon railway station and Epsom Downs and Sutton. Waddon railway station opened on the Epsom branch of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1863. and was originally placed to the east of its current location. There are Tramlink stops at Waddon Marsh and Wandle Park.[27]

The Waddon Hotel was built next to the original rail station with both buildings originally situated in a rural environment. In 1928 opposite the hotel the Stafford Parade was completed and boasted a dairy, a grocery, a chemist's, a butcher's, a café and two banks.

Richardson's Joinery used to be by the pillars at the entry into The Waldrons. Victoria Place off Southbridge Place was replaced by Victoria House where Croydon's Educational Psychological Service and a Pupil Referral Unit was based. The site that became unused has a planning permission for an Avanti primary school based on a Hindu faith ethos on which development started in June 2017.

Politics

Politically, Waddon ward is a marginal ward on Croydon Council[28] and has seen its representation swap between the Labour, Conservative and Ratepayers Parties since the late 1920s. With elections every year Labour took Waddon in 1929 and in 1937 and 1938 with RA candidates winning in the intervening years and also continuously from 1919 to 1928.

The first elections to the new London Borough of Croydon council in 1964 saw all three seats go to Labour. The Conservatives secured all three Waddon seats in the 1968 landslide for the Conservatives in London. 1971 saw Labour take all three seats back. 1974 saw Labour hold two of the three seats but there were Waddon by-election wins for the Conservatives both in 1976 and 1977 electing Councillors Jim Nea and Michael Wunn respectively.

In 1986, the ward representation was shared between the Conservatives with two councillors and Labour one councillor after the Conservatives had held all the seats both in 1978 and in the 1982 Conservative landslide when the only five seats held by Labour were in New Addington.

In 1990 and 1994, Labour won all three seats with the Conservatives falling to third place in an August 1993 by-election. In 1998, the ward returned one Labour and two Conservative councillors, one of whom defected to the Liberal Democrats.

In 2002, Labour recovered all three seats, albeit with one of the Labour candidates crossing the winning line with a majority of just eight votes. In the 2006 elections, Waddon returned three Conservative councillors. In 2010 the three Waddon council seats were retained by the Conservatives with Labour scoring its lowest vote share - 31.8% - during the existence of the post 1964 London Borough to Croydon. In 2014 the ward returned three Labour councillors, Robert Canning, Andrew Pelling & Joy Prince on a swing from the Conservatives to Labour of 7.1%.

In July 2017, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England altered, subject to the formality of Parliamentary approval, the boundaries of the ward as from May 2018 so as to exclude roads including and surrounding Pampisford Road and Haling Park Road to the south of Whitgift School and to include some additional parts of what is geographically Waddon including retail and industrial areas to the south of Beddington Park Road, Wandle Marsh tramstop, the gasometers at Factory Lane, New South Quarter, Waddon Marsh tramstop, Wandle Park and properties between Wandle Park and the Roman Way.

Nearest places

-   Wallington, London
-   Beddington
-   Carshalton
-   Croydon
-   Purley

Nearest stations

-   Waddon railway station
-   South Croydon railway station
-   West Croydon station
-   Waddon Marsh tram stop
-   Wandle Park tram stop

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title: Waddon

question: Summarize the history of industrial trade in Waddon.

answer: The Croydon gasworks were built on Waddon Marsh in 1867. An electricity generating system opened in 1896. In 1925, several factories opened, including Redwing Aircraft Ltd., Trojan Ltd., Tizer Ltd., Standard Steel Co., Croydon Foundry Ltd., Metal Propellers Ltd., and Southern Foundries Ltd/

question: According to the article, what is the latest political standing of Waddon?

answer: In 2014, three Labour councillors were elected.


text:
This is my first time ever on reddit for anything because it was suggested to me in order to get feedback on my writing. Let me know!

I look at my watch, running toward the Jeffers estate. My family and I just moved here so I only know that the town has been prosperous under the Jeffers family, Cooper Jeffers to be accurate. It’s announced everywhere in town, the economy thrives off the Jeffers company, Jeffers Inc. So naturally, here is where I began to look for a job.
	I never really imagined getting a job at their personal estate. Although actually technically Cooper’s son, Aaron has his own mansion. MANSION. When I was taking a tour on my first day of work five days ago, I expected a mansion, but definitely not two. The main house is bigger, and just ridiculously lavish. I freely gawked at everything I saw. And then we met/ran into the females of the family, Elaina and Sadie.
	They explained that Elaina was the oldest and Sadie was the youngest. Then why would Aaron have his own house? I remember thinking. And then I realized it was because Aaron was the son, the boy. And I felt horrified at this notion, but Elaina and Sadie seemed perfectly happy when we saw them. I heard they went to the top private school in the city about 15 miles away.
	I, of course, go to the public school in town. It’s made up of different kinds of people, but all are in families employed by the Jeffers. Their family owns my entire school. It’s a thought that sends me into a storm of jealousy and then a spiral of hate. You see, my father is a machine operator at one of the Jeffers’ plants. He had to move here to get better pay. My mother is a schoolteacher, elementary school. And I have a little annoying brother named Max. So my family isn’t rich, but we aren’t poor. I feel pretty average. I’m fifteen and he’s thirteen. A pretty typical, average American family.
	But these Jeffers people, they are definitely not. They are the kings of modern society and I immediately make assumptions about Aaron. He is probably a slacker with no ambitions of his own, just waiting to get his GED or diploma or whatever so he can inherit his fortune and live however he wants for the rest of his life. I excused myself to the toilet, and plopped down on the seat, exasperated. Already. (And not that I actually had to go to the bathroom). How can I work for these people? They’re everything wrong with society! I remember thinking.
	I smile at my thoughts that day, still awkwardly running to the house. Because when I had left the bathroom, my day declined further, I was assigned to Aaron’s house. I was about to just slip out the door quietly when I heard the hourly pay. That made me turn my attitude right around.
	…Everyone has their price I guess.

Anyway, when I had toured and been trained for the first five days, Aaron had been in the hospital. I only remembering hearing that he had fallen under some misfortunes and not much else. So I focused on learning everything. And now here I am, the first day I get to work independently and I’m going to be late! I notice a huge crowd of people outside. Oh shit! Shit! Shit! I just now remember that Aaron is coming home today and they are throwing a party for him.
	So I run up to the house and look for a place to stash my things.
	“Need help?” I hear a voice I recognize. I turn and see a girl my age named Grace. I met her three days ago in Aaron’s house while we got assigned to tidy up his study. We gossiped about the family. I am so thankful to see her I smile.
	“You are my guardian angel. Where can I put this?” I ask her holding up my bag. It has food, my cell phone, some money and my house keys. I take the public bus back and forth.
	“Over here,” she says, taking me to a room inside the mansion. There were people’s things everywhere. “This room has video surveillance so no one ever steals anything.”
	“Oh, good,” I say, dumping my bag on the floor. When we were cleaning the study a few days ago Grace told me she is 16, and goes to a different private school than Aaron, but in the same city near here named Salin Falls. Her father is headmaster there. She knows of Aaron well, like many of the other people in town. She told me he loves sports, and is extremely good at them. They’ve played against each other’s schools and she goes to the games just to watch him. She couldn’t tell me anymore because we were summoned by Sherri, our supervisor.
	Now she leads me through a maze of people outside again, looking back at me.
	“We have to get a good spot, he’s really gorgeous.” She looks excited to see him but I feel hesitant. I still slightly despise the entire family. “I heard he and his dad used to get in fights all the time until recently. Aaron wants to pursue a career in sports while his dad wants him to take over the family business.”
	I stare at her, shocked, mouth slightly open. I come to realize I am no Nancy Drew, and that my assumptions always have a way of biting me in the ass. I would be a terrible profiler.
	“What?” she asks, tilting her head, confused at my shocked reaction.
	“Oh, nothing, I’m just a total idiot.”
	It’s then that we hear the car approach. I feel nervous almost as the family steps out of the car, but they close the doors without any other man except for Cooper. I had met Cooper only yesterday when he returned home to gather some things and take a shower. I happened to wander onto the estate as he was climbing out of the car, leaning on a cane. He bent over to grab his bag but I offered to carry it for him. He stopped, looked at me with a smile and said
	“Okay, young lady, let’s see what you’ve got.”
	“I’ve got more than you’d think!” I had stupidly responded, and immediately blushed. What the hell? But the man had just laughed. He was attractive I had come to realize, with fading dark red hair and dark brown eyes. He also had a mole, but it made him look distinguished in a way.
“I bet,” he had responded with a chuckle.
 I carried his bag inside for him.
	“What’s your name, miss?” he asked me.
	“My name is Layla.”
	“Layla?”
	“My father used to be way too obsessed with Eric Clapton.” I sighed. But Cooper found this very funny and laughed more.
	“Well, Layla, thank you for carrying my bags. I very much enjoyed our chat. Do you work here?”
	“At Aaron’s, I mean, your son’s, I mean Mr. Jeffer’s house.” I stumbled over my words and once again Cooper finds this amusing. He smiled brightly at me.
	“Good. He could use someone like you in his life.”
	And that was all. Then I went back to work.

 And looking at him now, he looks all business. He gathers with the other family members and a stunning black haired young woman.
	“Who’s that?” I ask Grace, spellbound.
	“Oh, that’s Mirabella.”
	“She’s one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.” At this, Grace shakes her head.
	“She’s not a woman, she’s an AI.”
	“AI?”
	“She’s artificial intelligence, a robot. She is Aaron’s and she goes everywhere with him.”
	I am so shocked by this I stare at Grace and almost miss Aaron getting out of the car. Almost. But he seems to demand everyone’s attention. I look, and though I thought I was spellbound by the girl-robot, this guy takes the cake. Grace was right, he is really gorgeous. He’s toned, a few shades darker than my pasty white skin. His hair is dark-red and he is the spitting image of Cooper. But better. He has some stubble, but it only enhances his appearance. He has the natural build of an athlete, and I guess he is over six feet in height. I can’t see his eyes because he is wearing aviator sunglasses, but my God is he handsome. And though I am captivated, I feel even more hatred towards him. He is athletic, gorgeous and rich. This guy must be a complete asshole. He has it made.
	But then I notice he is holding onto the door for support, and people are helping him stand. He’s hurt. And once again, my conflicting emotions decide that although I feel like a complete dumbass and a terrible human, I also feel a little tiny bit of satisfaction. He can’t be on top all the time, it just simply isn’t fair. Especially to us bottom-feeders. We should have a chance too, you know.
	Well, regardless of my conflicting emotions, I watch as he is helped into a wheelchair. He clearly winces in pain and I feel genuinely bad for him, if only for an instant. Then his beautiful robot-girl tends to him and people approach, flocking and obviously concerned and fond of this guy. I even lose Grace in the crowd rush but turn and leave. No point in me sticking around here, there is a party going on and I have work to do.

	Back at the mansion I clean, but I am consumed with thoughts of him. He’s captured me. I get angry at this and try to clear my thoughts of him. I try to think of my new school, my friends from back home, my ex-boyfriend, my dog Sprinkles, my cat Cookie. Cookie is my baby girl. I try to think of everything and anything that isn’t Aaron Jeffers, but my mind keep reverting back to him.
	I am putting dishes away in the kitchen when I hear yelling. I hear multiple people yelling and I hear the front door slam closed. I creep over to the hallway and peer into the front room. People are carrying Aaron and his wheelchair up the stairs while he is tiredly fighting them. I thought he had yelled the name “Mira” and I now notice that his black-haired beauty isn’t with him. But his sisters are with him. I creep out further and listen. Sherri is with them now at the top of the stairs, I hear.
	Sherri asks Aaron what has happened, and I hear one of his sisters tell her to start a bath. She goes to the bathroom and I am about to run back to the kitchen when she looks down and spots me.
	“Layla,” she hisses loudly. I look up at her guiltily.
	“Oh, hello,” I say, looking around nervously. She motions for me to come up there.
	“Come help!”
	I sigh relief as I jog up the stairs and wait where she asks me to. I’m glad I’m not in trouble for spying. All three Jeffers children approach the bathroom now and I keep quiet and hide a little as they enter. But I watch them, and notice Aaron looks extremely upset, a bit pale, and uncomfortable. I also see his leg closer now, it’s wrapped heavily in bandaging. He must be in pain.
	And now I remember suddenly, like a slap in the face that he was in the news recently. He had helped avert some town gas drilling crisis because he got shot (yes, with a gun) and the company pulled out of town. They called it a malevolent act by a school sports-team rival. Now I feel like a stupid, stupid girl. Here is this guy, just doing the best he can and I judged him so quickly. I even felt some perverted pleasure over his pain.
	And now I feel plain horrible. I don’t even deserve to work for this guy. I am tempted to call it quits and work at an establishment where I won’t feel like a terrible person every time I see the owner/boss. But Sherri emerges again.
	“Get some painkillers from the medicine cabinet and a cold wash cloth, hurry!” I run to get his pills and a wet cloth. I return and give her the items, my hands shaking. She takes them quickly and enters the bathroom again.
	When she leaves this time his sisters follow in suit. They go downstairs and tell us both to help him if he calls for it. Sherri and I nod resolutely and wait. After about ten minutes of us patiently waiting, Cooper Jeffers enters the front door, and looks up at us. He gives me a little smile, and then beckons to Sherri, he wants her to go with him. I look at her desperately. I want to cry and beg her not to leave me.
	“Okay, girl, if he calls for you, answer right away. He’s trying to relax in a bath right now so do not be alarmed. The jets are on, you won’t see him naked. Only address him as sir or Mr. Jeffers, and don’t talk loudly, his head hurts a lot right now. Get him whatever he asks for right away. And if you have to handle him for some reason, for God’s sake be gentle, make sure you don’t hurt him further.”
	She turns and leaves while I am still processing everything she just said. I want to ask her to repeat it so I can copy it down op paper but she is already halfway down the stairs now.

title: [RO] Rulers of Terrace View Part 1

question: Summarize Layla's feelings about Mr. Cooper and his son, especially as it changes in the course of the passage.

answer: Layla was aghast to find that not only does the Cooper family owns a mansion, but the son, Aaron, owns one too. She gawked at the opulence of the house as she arrives on her first day on the job as a helper. The girls in the Cooper family, Elaina and Sadie, go to a private school 15 miles away while Layla goes to a public school in town which is owned by the Cooper family. The thought sent Layla into jealousy and anger. She pictured Aaron to be a slacker with no ambition, waiting to inherit his father's fortunes. She doesn't want to work for the Cooper family, but the pay was good. Layla met with Mr. Cooper and found him strangely attractive and funny. She blushed when he spoke to him and found herself a bit more chatty than she wanted. Then she met Aaron, who she hadn't realized, uses a wheelchair. She notices he was handsome and in pain. Her thoughts were all about him and did not mind being called to help him. Layla felt sympathetic when she recollected how Aaron came to use the wheelchair.

question: How much was Layla paid to work in the Cooper mansions?


text:
Tesla confirms solar tile production began at the Buffalo Gigafactory in December, and the first Solar Roofs are now reaching non-employee homeowners.

X

[]

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

In December 2016, Panasonic and Tesla finalized an agreement to begin manufacturing solar PV cells and modules at the "Gigafactory 2" in Buffalo, New York.

Under the arrangement, Panasonic agreed to cover the capital costs associated with the factory and Tesla agreed to purchase Panasonic's custom-manufactured solar products.

"These high-efficiency PV cells and modules will be used to produce solar panels in the non-solar roof products," according to Tesla's statement. "When production of the solar roof begins, Tesla will also incorporate Panasonic's cells into the many kinds of solar glass tile roofs that Tesla will be manufacturing."

Production of Tesla's Solar Roof product did not begin for months after the initial announcement. But one year later -- following delays and a brief trial run -- Panasonic reports that cell manufacturing for the solar roof is now officially underway.

“Panasonic is already inside that factory making solar panels. That started in October of last year," said Peter Fannon, vice president of technology policy at Panasonic Corporation of North America, in an interview at CES. "Also, we are just now beginning to manufacture cells.”

The Japanese multinational made an initial $260 million investment in the Buffalo facility, where it makes HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) solar cells for Tesla. With the plant now up and running, Panasonic is prepared to invest more.

“We expect that investment, along with Tesla, as it grows, will grow with it," Fannon said.

But it's unclear how much growing is going on.

Tesla completed the first solar roof installations on the homes of executives and employees in August. Little was heard about the solar roof after that, save for reports of several more installations for employees. The tiles were initially produced at small scale at the former SolarCity pilot production line in Fremont, California.

Last summer, Tesla CTO JB Straubel said solar roof production at Gigafactory 2 would ramp up “in a substantial way” by the end of 2017, and increased the company's goal to achieve 2 gigawatts of solar panel capacity per year. But as the new year arrived, the status of Tesla's solar tile production was still murky.

Tesla confirmed today, however, that solar roof manufacturing began in Buffalo in December. The company also said that it is now starting Solar Roof Textured and Smooth installations for non-employee homeowners.

Fannon said that Panasonic has started to boost its operations to meet growing solar roof demand.

“As I understand it, they’re taking orders, and they have a big backlog already," he said. "We’re growing the cell manufacturing as we speak."

Fannon could not comment on how fast or slow Tesla is making solar roof tiles with those cells, however. “I don’t know," he said. "We’re not in their factory."

“We know that their demand is continuing and we’re growing our manufacturing output to meet their demand,” Fannon added. “That partnership is working nicely in parallel with the one in batteries -- where we're growing together.”

SELLING TARIFF-FREE SOLAR CELLS

Panasonic’s cell manufacturing business in Buffalo is one of the few examples of solar cell manufacturing taking place in the U.S. and certainly the most recent cell production facility to launch in the country. That’s interesting in the context of the Section 201 solar trade case.

Panasonic’s two biggest high-efficiency solar panel competitors, SunPower and LG, both manufacture abroad, which means they could be subject to new import tariffs, depending on how President Trump rules on the Section 201 case on January 26. When asked if Panasonic would sell its tariff-free cells to companies other than Tesla, Fannon said: “In the best of all worlds, if we could satisfy everything Tesla wants, yes.”

“We would hope to do that,” he said. “Both for ourselves, to make our own product here in the U.S. -- and for others.”

Fannon acknowledged that the market for high-efficiency solar products in the U.S. is currently small. But he said the company is confident demand will be strong enough to support not only Tesla’s solar roof, but also Panasonic’s panel business.

It's important to note that Gigafactory 2 will not meet all of Tesla's solar cell and module needs. Tesla will continue to import solar products from abroad to meet demand. For that reason the company has joined broader industry efforts to oppose new solar tariffs under the Section 201 case.

EMPLOYMENT AT GIGAFACTORY 2 TO DOUBLE

As production at Gigafactory 2 increases, so will employment. In October, Panasonic employed 182 people at the Buffalo factory. By the end of the year, that number nearly doubled to more than 300. In a few weeks' time, if everything stays on track, “We will be cranking up mass production and nearly doubling that employment number again,” said Fannon.

Panasonic has held several job fairs in New York and has fielded a lot of job applications. The company is now working on setting up training programs for specialist positions handling materials and operating machinery.

Employment numbers are important because they’re tied to funding for the Gigafactory 2. New York state committed $750 million to building and outfitting the 1.2-million-square-foot facility on the condition that the factory create more than 1,460 jobs in the Buffalo area by the time it's fully operational.

According to Tesla, there are roughly 500 employees at the Gigafactory 2 today.

Panasonic has been “very pleased” with its ability to find employees for the solar factory up until this point, said Fannon. But like at the battery Gigafactory in Nevada, “We foresee some difficulty in getting the right talent if it really starts growing fast,” he said. “These aren’t skills that are typically taught in programs for universities.”

TESLA'S "PRODUCTION HELL" AND PANASONIC'S NEW TOYOTA PARTNERSHIP

Last year at CES, Panasonic and Tesla announced that battery production had officially kicked off at the Gigafactory outside of Reno. But the year was marred by delays, which caused Tesla to miss its production targets for the Model 3. The battery module assembly line was cited as the primary constraint due to the complexity of the module design and the automated manufacturing process.

Last fall, Panasonic executives said they were confident the bottlenecks were nearly worked out. The problem, however, seems to lie more with Tesla, which is in charge of packing Panasonic’s battery cells into modules and the modules into packs. CEO Elon Musk recently camped out on the roof of the Gigafactory while working through production issues.

Tesla still hasn’t escaped “production hell,” it seems. Last week, the company pushed back its Model 3 manufacturing forecast again, and is now targeting to make 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of the second quarter of this year.

Panasonic, meanwhile, is expanding its relationship with Japanese auto giant Toyota. In December, the two companies announced a deal to “begin studying the feasibility of a joint automotive prismatic battery business.”

Panasonic already supplies batteries for Toyota’s Prius, “and now we’re teaming up with Toyota to explore the future of EV battery technology,” said Panasonic North America Chairman & CEO Thomas Gebhardt, speaking at CES this week.

“The initial focus of this partnership is on the existing lithium-ion technology,” he said. “But we also intend to explore solid-state battery technology, which could become the next-generation technology for electric vehicles.”

Toyota has invested heavily in hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology, but is now boosting its efforts in the EV space -- along with every other major automaker. Toyota plans to commercialize solid-state EV batteries by the early 2020s, and is now forecasting a fully electric vehicle lineup by 2025.

Tesla was an early leader on EVs and helped to jump-start the market, and Panasonic became the top battery supplier for the automotive industry through its partnership with the ambitious EV maker. Now, as competitors up their game, Panasonic is intent on holding that position.

_THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT NEW COMMENTS FROM TESLA. _

_--_

_JOIN US FOR THE 11TH ANNUAL SOLAR SUMMIT 2018 IN SAN DIEGO, MAY 1-2. POWERED BY THE UNIQUE BLEND OF RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS FROM THE GTM RESEARCH TEAM, THIS YEAR'S AGENDA WILL FEATURE THEMES FROM BEYOND TRADITIONAL PROJECT FINANCE TO INNOVATIONS IN SOLAR AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF ELECTRICITY._

question: What does the text say about Julia Pyper?

answer: Julia Pyper works for Greentech as a Senior Editor covering the energy transition. She is the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She has reported for E&E Publishing, covering clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad. She also has degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. She is also the author of this article.

question: Summarize what is meant by "production hell".

answer: Tesla experienced "production hell" over the year before the article. Even though battery production was finally announced, the year ended up being marred by delays with the battery module assembly line being a primary constraint. This caused Tesla to miss its production targets for the Model 3. Panasonic executives said they were confident the bottlenecks were nearly worked out, but that that problem lies more with Tesla. At the time of the article, Tesla still hadn't escaped "production hell. The week before, the company pushed back its Model 3 manufacturing forecast again.

question: Summarize why Panasonic has been "very pleased".

answer: Panasonic was very pleased due to its ability to find employees for the solar factory. They have been able to get roughly 500 employees at the Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo. These employment numbers are important because they're tied to funding for the factory. New York state committed $750 million to building and outfitting the factory, but only on the condition that the factory creates for than 1460 jobs in Buffalo before it's operational.

question: What does the text say about SpaceX?


text:
Sherry Masood
Meeting a Stranger
Tripping and Finding a Dollar
	The bay always makes the sunset a much bigger event. It’s like you’ll miss it twice, once for the reflection, once for itself. A man is leaning over the bridge, contemplative. The bridge is bustling and honks are as common as laughs. Couples walk hand in hand and bicyclists fly past in their separate lane. An Asian family passes by the man. The mother leads the family, looking at her surroundings for threats against her children. A scowl painted on both of the parents faces; you can tell it’s been a stressful day. The first three members of the family of four walk past the man without skipping a beat, but a little boy with a short black mop on top of his head pulling up the rear stops to stare. The man turns to stare. For a few seconds they analyze each other, imaging life on the other side. “Kenji! Pali Pali!” The boy reaches into the pocket of his coat and pulls out a piece of chocolate. “Here, this’ll make you feel better; it’s what my Appa gives me when I’m sad.” The man smiles for the first time in what seems like his life and pats the child on his head as a worried mother grows an impatient look on her face. “Run along now”.
	The sun’s golden lining disappears over the coast line leaving behind a dark purple afterglow. It’s one of those dawns that has the moon coming early to say goodbye to the sunlight- a full moon, he’s been waiting.  In what seems like minutes to the man, dawn turns to pure night and people file off of the bridge. Each car passing by has a more significant impact on the near silence of salty waves and the low whistle of the breeze. He wasn’t on Earth time anymore. Time is like a balloon- the more you fill it, the heavier it becomes. This particular balloon was filled with just the very basics: the night air, starlit darkness on a rippled reflection, and *thump*,*thump*. A new sound emerged- the sound of concrete being slapped by the sole of a boot. A Hispanic man, a stranger looking to be in his early 40’s emerges out of the darkness. Shaggy brown hair lies messily atop a wise looking face, empathetic grey eyes seem to stare into the man’s soul. The stranger stands maybe five feet from the man and leans over the hanging of the grey bridge. “Do you know what serendipity is?” asks the stranger. “Yeah… kinda”. “It’s like a happy accident”, the stranger explains. “Like tripping and finding a dollar?” “Yeah… kinda.”
	The two men, one quite older than the other, stand side by side as if swallowed whole by the bright white gem. “Ya know, I saw you here last week, and again two nights ago” the stranger said. Silence responds. “Are you not sure about it? Or were you waiting for something?” The man looks at the stranger, then at the moon, gesturing with his chin. “I see”.
The stranger pulls out a flask. “Do you have something you can use as a cup?” he asks the man. The man looks down and thinks. He reaches in the inside of his coat and pulls out a mint container. “There’s some left, want any?” he asks the stranger. “I’m about to drink liquor”.
“Oh… Right”, the man empties the mints into the bay.
	The stranger pours the man a shots worth of amber, he asks, “What do we toast to?” “How about to the liquor?” “To the liquor!!” exclaimed the stranger as they tip their vessels together. Down the hatch the shots of gasoline go. “Ya know, I kinda hate whiskey but right now, this is all right” said the man. “It’s an acquired taste. Let’s get you on your way”. Two more shots poured, two more warm stomachs, two happy brains. *Braaaawaarooop*, the stranger lets out a devastating belch, the man responds with his own, less powerful, but nonetheless impressive, belch- the sounds of solidarity in the night. Two piss streams go into the bay. The darkest part of the night has already passed.
	“So what is it anyway?” the stranger turns and asks inquisitively. “What’s all gone so wrong?”
The man starred at his own two feet. “Where do you want me to start?” he looks down at the strangers’ feet.  “I’ve just moved to this city and my whole worlds back on the other side of the country probably falling in love without me. My family doesn’t give a damn about me and they don’t even notice I’m gone most of the night. The one thing that cared about me as much as I cared about it, my dog, was just put down for being a potential killer. My whole fucking life has been swept up from under my feet and now I’m having drinks with a stranger on a bridge well past midnight in a town I know nothing about...” the man sounded like he’d wrung out the last of the words he could manage for the moment. Turning with sparkly moonlit eyes and a manic kind of smile he asks, “So, how’s that?” The stranger looks back alarmed and sorry, “Listen I-*pop*…. *pop* *pop*.
	“Those sounded just like suppressed .45 rounds!” the man exclaims as they both turn to face the west entrance to the bridge. They start running, pounding against the steelwork. As they approach the entrance they see two shadowy figures running quite a distance away; turning into an abandoned side street. They were running from the scene they had left. The man and the stranger approached the first café adjacent to the bridge and found themselves in a horrific scene. A sprawl of spilled out purse objects: lipstick, lotto tickets, napkins, a cleaned out wallet. It was all fallen in a trail leading up to a woman’s hands-pale and relaxed. A pool of dark blood was collecting under her abdomen; a stream began flowing across covering her face down figure, dying the tips of her straight black hair. The blood was approaching her other hand which was clutched onto tight by a smaller hand.  A sudden rustle caught both men off guard and they turned to see a small child clutching his leg, a quiet terror erupting from his eyes. His mouth was open like he was screaming but hardly any sound could be heard. “Oh, fuck” said both men, one taking a step back, the other shocked frozen. This small boy, no older than 8 had a hole going through his entire left thigh, past the muscle and bone, and all the way through to the other side. The man kneels down and holds the boys hand, “Can you hear me? You’re going to be okay. We’re going to get help and you’re going to be okay.” The boy, still looking as if he was screaming, shook his head yes as tears glided across his face. “I don’t understand it, why can’t he speak?” asked the stranger. “He’s… he’s a- a mute.” said the man. “We’ve got to get him to a hospital, is there one close by?” “Only a block away on Grant” said the stranger “There’s a Sutter.” The man gently as possible placed one arm under the boy’s jeans, damp and warm from the blood and the other on the top of his back and lifted the boy up. “Let’s go”. “Wait. I need to call the police and wait for them here. You take the boy.” The man looked at the stranger firm in the eye and nodded, “Okay”.
	The boy had been in the E.R. for three hours now. The sun had risen. The police had come to gather information. He had none for them. They told him the woman couldn’t be identified. There was nothing to go off of. They didn’t mention the stranger so neither did he. He starred at his own two feet and thought about if the boy would ever be able to walk again. It looked bad. He knew he didn’t have to stay. The operators room swung open and an older doctor came through, “You must be Jack?” he asked. “How is he?” “Well we were able to save the leg.” “Oh thank god” Jack said, exhaling relief. “But the boy is still in no condition to walk. It’s still too early to tell when that’ll approve but it’s safe to say he will recover.” “That’s such a relief doctor, thank you so much.” “I think if there’s someone that boy should be thanking, it’s you Jack. You know I bet he’s been wondering about you. I’d like him to rest some more but you can come visit him in an hour or so if you’d like.” “Thank you doctor.”
	Jack went into the chair and slept for the first time in almost two days.
	“Hey”
The boy was lying in the hospital bed with a cotton leg and sad eyes that looked straight into and out of Jack. “I know this must be horrible for you.” The boy raised his arm and ushered Jack to come closer. The boy had something clutched in his hand. Jack approached him and raised his hand. The boy wrapped both hands around Jack’s hand and held on. Jack began to tear up as he felt something small and cold put into his hand. The boy closed Jack’s hand around the golden ring that had once belonged to his mother’s right hand. He had been holding it this whole time.

title: Tripping and Finding a Dollar

question: What does the story say about the stranger?

answer: He's a Hispanic man in his early 40s. He approaches the protagonist, who's ruminating on a bridge near some bay, asking him whether he knows what serendipity is. They talk a bit before the stranger offers whiskey to the protagonist. After three shots each, the stranger asks the protagonist why he's so sad. The protagonist tells, and the stranger listens until they hear gunshots. They run toward it and see a mother and kid, both shot, and the perpetrators running. The stranger says he'll call the police, and the protagonist should take the boy to a hospital. When the police come to talk to the protagonist, they don't mention the stranger, so he doesn't as well.

question: What does the story say about the protagonist?

answer: He seemingly ruminates about his bad luck in life, having moved to a city where he knows no one. His family doesn't care about him, and the only creature who did, his dog, was put down for being too dangerous. An Asian kid gives him chocolate because he looks so sad, and that prompts a smile. A stranger approaches him, and they talk about serendipity before the stranger offers him whiskey. They drink three shots before the stranger asks why he's so sad, and he talks about all the bad things that happened to him. Just as he finishes his story, they hear gunshots. They run to find a mother and her kid shot, criminals running. The stranger offers to call the police and wait, telling the protagonist to take the kid to a hospital. The police talk to him, and he doesn't mention the stranger since the police don't. He waits in the hospital until the boy wakes up and visits. When the boy holds his hand, giving him his mother's ring, his eyes tear up.

question: What does the story say about the boy?

answer: The boy and his mother fall victim to murderous thieves. Having emptied the mother's purse, the thieves shoot her and the boy before escaping. The narrator and a stranger hear the noises and come to help. The woman is dead, but the boy is bleeding heavily from his leg. He can't talk due to being mute. The protagonist takes him to a hospital and waits for him to wake up. The doctors tell the protagonist that they managed to save the boy's leg, and the protagonist visits him about an hour later. He's holding his mother's ring in his hand. He motions for the protagonist to come closer, holds his hand, and gives him the ring.

question: What does the story say about post-traumatic stress disorder?


text:
Jeanne Ann Westveer was born in 1935. Jeanne married John Frederick Girard Rooks in 1960. She is the mother of my mother, making her my grandmother. When I’m writing this, my grandma is in the hospital, but she is supposed to go home tomorrow. Jeanne Ann Rooks is dying.

When I was eleven, my grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Now, after eight years, she is a shell of the person she used to be. My grandma cannot function on her own. She is completely reliant on others to sustain her. This is of course not at all what Jeanne used to be. My grandma was an amazing pianist and singer. She played at her and my grandpa’s church for years until the disease hit. But, now she cannot.

Because of this, I know it’s time.

My brother and I used to go over to my grandparents’ house quite a bit. They had a lot of land and we would be outside for most of the time we spent there. I remember helping my grandma plant flowers around the outside of the house and getting stung by a bee. I remember my grandpa and grandma and I painting in the kitchen. I did my first oil painting when I was one years old at their house with their help. My grandma loved my love for the arts. We don’t talk about the arts anymore. We don’t talk at all really. I’ll tell her things going on in life and ask her if she’s comfortable.

Because of this, I know it’s time.

Only a few years ago, my grandma could still make words. When my grandpa and her came over dinner once, I helped her to the living room. As she struggled to walk she told me “I hate getting old.” While I think everyone would agree with that opinion for the most part, I think she meant it deeper. My whole life, my grandma was old. What wasn’t old was her mind. Until now that is.

Because of this, I know it’s time.

And I know I shouldn’t be sad about it. Life could only get worse for Jeanne. This is the right time. To want her to stay is selfish of me. After death, she’ll have a much better life. What makes it hard is remembering what she was like before the disease. The last few years I’ve only thought of my grandma as bed-ridden and limited. That’s how everyone saw her. I forgot about who she actually was. I forgot about her sitting at the piano and singing, and I forgot about the hundreds of peanut butter and jam sandwiches she made for me. I forgot about her setting up the Super Nintendo for my brother and I when we came over, or when she would grab me a nickel from the high cupboard so I could get a gumball from their machine.

Now, when I’m sitting at her bedside holding her hand, and seeing her slowly fade away, I know it’s time. But, I don’t want her to go.

Because death isn’t a romanticized experience like films make it out to be. It doesn’t bring families together in some grand fashion that ultimately ends up to be a necessary learning experience for everyone. Death is a final, drawn-out whimper.

Death brings a person’s life full circle, having them return to a state where they are helpless and confused, like a newborn.

Because of this I know it’s time. But, I don’t want her to go.

Not too long ago I had a dream about my grandma. I was sitting at her and my grandpa’s house next to her, while she sat silent in a chair like she has been for the last couple of years. I looked away, and when I did, she asked me some mundane question, almost as if we were mid-conversation. When I looked back she was fully awake, leaning out of her chair, Alzheimer’s free. I was so shocked and in awe, that I was afraid to ask how she did it, as I didn’t want even to mention the disease in fear of bringing it back. So I said, “Grandma, I haven’t seen you in years.” She smiled and we hugged, and my grandma said to me, “it’s been too long.”

title: [NF] As Is the Beginning, Is the End

question: What does the story say about the narrator's grandmother?

answer: She's sick with Alzheimer's for years and slowly dying. The narrator knows that living further will only continue a bleak existence for her but can't let go. The narrator remembers how brilliant her grandmother used to be as a singer and pianist. She's really grateful for all the care her grandmother showed toward her and her brother. She remembers a dream when her grandmother seemed to be lucid, and they talked about how long it has been since they actually saw each other.

question: What does the story say about curing Alzheimer's?


text:
It was Friday evening in the small town of McKenzie. The streets were tranquil and softly glowing with the luminescent light from the dubious lamp posts. On this particular evening there was a harsh chill in the air masked by a layer of thick fog, that felt almost haunting.

I was walking home from a satisfyingly difficult day at work and I noticed myself walking faster than usual. Perhaps it was the sinister scenery or the cold air that motivated my quicker pace, regardless I felt anxious to get home. While I’m not typically one to get scared of darkness and tranquility I couldn’t help but feel the presence of another human being watching me, starring. I casually looked around, followed by a full body three-sixty. I couldn’t make anything out through the heavy fog but I still didn’t feel at ease.

Moments later I hear harsh steps tapping their way towards me. For the first time in a long while I felt scared, almost terrified. With no conscious thought process I simply ran. I couldn’t be certain but I strangely felt as if the steps were following me, getting closer. I tried stepping up the pace. Sprinting with my briefcase in hand, as it vigorously sways back and forth. I kept hearing a loud echo through the streets, but I couldn’t quite make it out. It was a strong voice, very manly. I was reaching my limit, I couldn’t keep running at this pace, and I slowed down to listen whether the presence was still following me. I couldn’t hear anything, so I stopped running and came to a standstill as I gasped for the cold air. Shortly after I heard a clear and crisp voice shouting “Tim! Wait up!”. As the figure approached through the fog and darkness I quickly realised I had been running for my life because of Alan from accounting. In a completely out of breath voice Alan announced “You… You forgot your keys”. I looked at him and smiled.

“Thanks Alan”.

title: [MS] My very first short story I promised my mother. I'd love some feedback. 337 Words.

question: Who is running after Tim?

answer: Alan.

question: Why is there this ominous sense in the fog?

answer: The anxiety is entirely in the narrator's mind.

question: Why is the narrator afraid?

answer: He thinks he is being pursued.

question: What is the theme of the story?

answer: Trust.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: A young man, Tim, walks home in the night through the small town of McKenzie. Then he is pursued, only to discover it is his friend Alan who hands him his keys.


text:
Much attention has rightly been devoted to recent orders by Governor Paul LePage to remove murals and the names of figures such as FDR Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins (the first woman to hold that position) from the Maine Department of Labor office. These represent nothing short of an attack on working-class culture and people’s historical memories, as well as just how extensive the right’s assaults on workers and their rights have become. Yet legislative efforts in Maine and around the nation extend even beyond these attacks, and now include broad efforts to roll back protections for another group of workers–children–whose history of exploitation in the US is well established, and the images of which were ironically removed from the Maine labor murals.

From Ian Millhiser of_ThinkProgress:_

  Maine State Rep. David Burns is the latest of many Republican lawmakers concerned that employers aren’t allowed to do enough to exploit child workers:

  LD 1346 suggests several significant changes to Maine’s child labor law, most notably a 180-DAY PERIOD DURING WHICH WORKERS UNDER AGE 20 WOULD EARN $5.25 AN HOUR.

  The state’s current minimum wage is $7.50 an hour.

  Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, is sponsoring the bill, which also would ELIMINATE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HOURS A MINOR OVER 16 CAN WORK DURING SCHOOL DAYS.

  Burns’ bill is particularly insidious, because it directly encourages employers to hire children or teenagers instead of adult workers. Because workers under 20 could be paid less than adults under this GOP proposal, minimum wage workers throughout Maine would likely receive a pink slip as their twentieth birthday present so that their boss could replace them with someone younger and cheaper.

  And Burns is just one of many prominent Republicans who believe that America’s robust protections against the exploitation of children are wrongheaded:

  -   MAINE STATE SEN. DEBRA PLOWMAN (R) introduced a separate bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) backs this proposal.
  -   SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT) delivered a lengthy lecture where he claimed that federal child labor laws violate the Constitution. His Republican colleagues in the Senate rewarded him with a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee — the committee with jurisdiction over constitutional questions.
  -   MISSOURI STATE SEN. JANE CUNNINGHAM (R) introduced a bill which would “eliminate[] the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed.”
  -   VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN CUCCINELLI’S (R) most recent brief attacking the Affordable Care Act relies heavily on a discredited Supreme Court decision striking down a federal child labor law that was overruled decades ago.
  -   JUDGES ROGER VINSON AND HENRY HUDSON, the two outlier judges who struck down the ACA, also relied heavily on this discredited anti-child labor decision in their decisions.

  Republicans’ contempt for workers is hardly news. GOP governors throughout the country have declared war on collective bargaining, and the national minimum wage remained stagnant for nearly a decade the last time Republicans controlled Congress. Nevertheless, the GOP’s increasingly widespread assaults on child labor laws is a significant escalation from their longstanding war on adult workers.

There are no bounds to the shame of this. If anyone disagrees, please ask yourself whether or not you wish your children to work longer hours, in tougher conditions, for less than the minimum wage, and at an earlier age. Such bills would literally turn back child labor and aspects of labor law back a century.

–Jason Kozlowski

question: What is the focus of this article?

answer: The author asserts that there is an attack from the right wing on working class culture and historical memory, as well as a concerted effort to attack workers and their rights.

question: Summarize everything related to Debra Plowman.

answer: Main State Senator Debra Plowman introduced a bill that would extend the number of hours employers can require a minor to work.


text:
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen had more than 1,000 contacts with a Russian-linked company, evidence that special counsel Robert Mueller used to quickly intensify his investigation, according to newly unsealed court records.

Mueller was appointed in 2017 to investigate Russian interference in US politics, and the new documents show how Cohen gave Mueller plenty of reasons to aggressively investigate him. That's because Cohen initiated many of his contacts with foreign companies immediately after the 2016 presidential election, and started taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign sources.

The special counsel obtained five search warrants before handing the Cohen investigation over to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Those warrants were unsealed Wednesday by a federal court in Washington, DC, after CNN and other media outlets sued to make the records public.

The details of Mueller's early work were disclosed as Trump and Attorney General William Barr set their sights on the origins of the Russia investigation. Barr has questioned the legitimacy of how the probe started, while Trump has called it an "illegal" and even "treasonous" endeavor.

But the documents describe how investigators were learning of new and concerning actions, tying Trump's closest associates to powerful Russian interests, even after Trump was elected.

[Trump refuses to work with Democrats until investigations end, sidelining infrastructure talks ]

Mueller told a federal judge in 2017 that investigators believed Cohen's contact with foreign companies may have included an American investment firm linked to a well-connected Russian oligarch and a Kazakhstan-based bank that was entangled in a massive fraud scheme.

At the same time, Cohen maintained close relationships with key members of the Trump administration, including the President. In the search warrant application, prosecutors cited news reports about Cohen's efforts with a Russian-American businessman to craft a Russia-friendly "peace plan" for the Ukraine conflict and deliver it to the White House.

"The United States continues to investigate if any of the payments or financial relationships described above, or other relationships described further below, were connected to Cohen's involvement in the distribution of a plan to lift Russian sanctions," prosecutors said in July 2017.

The Mueller investigation did not establish that there was any quid-pro-quo regarding Russian sanctions. But the new documents show how Mueller's team had tranches of banking evidence linking Cohen to secret Russian payments, and prompting them to want to look into his emails. The documents also revealed for the first time that Mueller received approval to access Cohen's emails at his Trump Organization address.

A federal judge agreed that Mueller had probable cause to search the online data, paving the way for Mueller to intensify the investigation that resulted in Cohen's current incarceration. Cohen pleaded to guilty nine other crimes, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress. He reported to federal prisonin New York earlier this month.

"The allegations and suspicions contained in the warrant supporting papers regarding alleged Michael Cohen 'crimes' were just that -- and most are false and unfair," said Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, in a statement. "For example, Mr. Cohen took no illegal or improper payments from Russians or anyone - and no such charges were ever made against him."

Mueller followed the money

The search warrants show that Mueller moved on Cohen very quickly after taking over the investigation. His team was armed with significant financial information from his bank and also relied on reporting in the press about Cohen's activities. They used that information to secure a judge's permission to follow the money from Russian sources to Trump's personal lawyers.

Mueller ultimately revealed in his search warrants that federal agents gathered financial information related to Cohen and his work for Trump and for foreign-linked entities from at least three banks.

In a search warrant application from July 2017, prosecutors outlined how Cohen started communicating with a Russian-connected company on Election Day. Over the next year, there were more than 1,000 calls and text messages between Cohen and the CEO of that company, Columbus Nova.

In the filing, Mueller's team made it clear that Cohen began contacting the company immediately after the election: "Telephone records show no such text messages or telephone calls between COHEN's cellular telephone and the CEO of Columbus Nova prior to November 8, 2016."

Columbus Nova is an American company linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a prominent Russian oligarch. In the documents, prosecutors noted his "various connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin." Columbus Nova has always denied being a tool of the Kremlin, and Vekselberg was questioned by the FBIin early 2018 after being stopped at a New York-area airport.

"They were working together so of course texted and called each other," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. "This was all known and investigated, and wasn't even deemed worthy of being included in the special counsel's report."

Cohen's ties to many of these foreign companies are already well-documented. But the search warrants provide some new details about his transactions, including a contract he negotiated with a Kazakhstan-based bank to pay him a $150,000 monthly consulting fee. Cohen's links to the bank spilled into public view during his dramatic daylong public hearingon Capitol Hill.

Cohen took money from companies during the early stages of the Trump administration, ostensibly to help businesses navigate the Trump era. He also used the account, which was for Essential Consultants LLC, to facilitate hush money payments to women who accused Trump of affairs before he was a candidate for president. Trump denies those allegations.

The basic reasoning for Mueller's searches of Cohen was previously referenced in related warrants unsealed in New York federal court, which prosecutors used after they received the Cohen case from Mueller. In both sets of court records, chunks of the documents are still redacted, apparently including sections about the hush-money scheme to pay off the two women who have accused Trump of affairs.

An investigation related to the contributions appears to still be ongoing, and the details will remain under seal and will remain so for at least another two months, according to judges' orders in both courts. The continued confidentiality suggests that federal prosecutors continue to investigate the Trump Organization.

Cohen was not charged with acting as a foreign agent.

Looking for a quid-pro-quo

Parts of the first search warrant mention how Cohen was involved in an effort to broker a peace plan for Ukraine. Citing heavily from The New York Times, prosecutors laid out how Cohen met with a controversial Ukrainian lawmakerwhile taking big money from Columbus Nova.

The insinuation was that somehow the payments could be connected to the proposal. In July 2017, Mueller said he was still investigating whether the payments were part of a quid-pro-quo.

The White House never adopted or promoted any proposals that resemble Cohen's plan for Ukraine. In some ways, the Trump administration has been more aggressive in Ukraine policy than the Obama administration. Trump regularly echoes Kremlin talking points on Ukraine, but his administration has sent lethal weapons to Kiev for its fight against Russian-backed militias.

Mueller's inclusion of the peace plan effort by Cohen in the early search warrants is intriguing because it is one of the remaining loose ends. The special counsel never answered key questions about Cohen's peace plan -- or even mentioned it at all -- in his final report.

The redacted version of the Mueller reportonly describes a separate effort around a Ukraine peace plan with similar pro-Russian goals to the one described in the Cohen documents.

That other effort was the one that Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, and his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik discussed multiple times during the 2016 and later, Mueller said. In some of those conversations, the former head of Trump's campaign talked with Kilimnik about pursuing Trump's approval on the foreign policy.

Yet Mueller appears to not have been able to get to the bottom of what happened with the peace plans. Manafort lied about it during his post-plea interviews with prosecutors, and some of his online communications were encrypted. And the Cohen plan was left unmentioned.

_This story has been updated._

question: What is the main focus of the article?

answer: Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in US politics. In particular, the article focuses on Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, and his contacts with a Russian-linked company.

question: Who is Michael Cohen?

answer: President Donald Trump's former lawyer

question: Summarizing everything relating to the Ukraine.

answer: As part of an effort to broker peace with the Ukraine, Cohen met with a controversial Ukrainian lawmaker. The Trump administration has been aggressive with their Ukraine policy. Trump has sent lethal weapons to Kiev for use against Russian-backed militias.

question: Describe the findings concerning Michael Cohen.

answer: There is banking evidence linking Cohen to secret Russian payments. He was communicating with a Russian-connected company immediately following the election. He also negotiated a contract with a Kazakhstan-based bank to pay him a $150,000 monthly consulting fee.

question: What is the name of the Russia-linked company mentioned in the article?

answer: Colombus Nova

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Newly unsealed court records revealed that Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, had contacts with a Russian-connected company immediately following the election. Robert Mueller used the documents to justify his investigation into Russian interference in US politics. At the time of the article, the investigation was ongoing and Cohen had yet to be charged with acting as a foreign agent.


text:
AMENDED: There is an extensive list of links at close to substantiate the claims I’ve made in this entry, this one being but the first.

I’ve been avoiding the topic of fit and sizing -which aren’t the same thing- for a very long time. I haven’t written about it because a truly comprehensive discussion is very controversial and guaranteed to upset everyone from consumers to manufacturers. The problems associated with issues of poor fit or standard sizes are so complex that they cannot but include everyone in the user-producer stream. This isn’t an issue of spreading blame; it’s more complex than that. The biggest problems are expectations and beliefs.

First of all, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS VANITY SIZING. Really. I could write an entire book about why there’s no such thing as vanity sizing. That is not to say there are no problems with sizing but vanity is the least of them. It’s best to understand the nature of sizing before we go crazy and adopt national sizing standards. People are so different from one another that it is an unreasonable expectation that our clothes should be sized uniformly. The day that we should only have one size “medium” across all manufacturers is also the day we should only need an identical dose of an identical medicine for an identical medical problem. Humans are unique.
Sizes are not created equally; not all mediums from company to company are identical and nor should they be. Manufacturers necessarily target a given consumer profile -even push manufacturers have target demography- and it is more common for consumers of a given profile to share anthropometric characteristics than it is that they not. A medium simply indicates the middle size of a given manufacturer’s size run; that’s it. The reason is that consumers tend to share body size characteristics that are unique to a given interest or lifestyle. The example I always use is western wear apparel and ballerina tutus. A medium in a demography of horse-riding, outdoor working people is strikingly different from what constitutes a medium from the pool of elfin sized ballerinas. Similar patterns are observed in the population based on income -the wealthier are thinner- and dietary -vegetarians are thinner- and it’s well known that lower income Americans average on the heavier end of the scale. It is only appropriate that a manufacturer of a given market segment establish the median size -a medium- for their product lines. It is an unreasonable expectation that a medium sized barrel-racer is going to wear a medium sized tutu. Just the sleeves in western wear are inordinately long so a mental picture of a ballerina with sleeves to her knees makes me laugh out loud because even a barrel racer won’t buy a riding jacket if the sleeves aren’t “too” long so you can only imagine how they’d hang on a small girl. The sleeves are too long because they need to cover the wrists when the reigns are grasped so their normal range of motion is expanded and they want their sleeves long enough to cover that.

The issue of what constitutes a “medium” is related to arcane production concerns of which consumers know little, how could they? For example, let’s say that everybody had to use the same sizes, can you imagine the number of sizes the western wear company would be forced to carry as compared to the tutu maker? Why should either company be forced to bear the costs of product development of sizes that they’ll rarely sell? Why? Just on the off chance that the barrel-racer has a hankering for a ballerina tutu or vice versa? Similarly, the degree of change in sizing variation is different as people get larger. In other words, as people get larger, they get proportionately larger and the number of inches that constitute one size or another increases. The opposite is also true. As people get smaller, the differences between sizes are also smaller so these two opposing expectations are not compatible. While I agree it’s not “fair” that neither the barrel-racer or the ballerina can wear each other’s clothes, that’s what niche manufacturing is all about. In the meantime, I await with bated breath for someone to tell me they’re launching a line of western wear tutus for horse riding ballerinas.

A medium to a manufacturer is a reference calculation of needed fabric purchases. Since the medium represents -statistically speaking- their average customer based on sales, the quantities of fabrics ordered are based on multiples of those measures and just the issue of marker making is so complex I don’t dare bring it up. For this reason alone a manufacturer will not want to change the sizing of their medium because it directly impacts utilization of all their other sizes. What it really boils down to is consumer expectation that they should be able to walk into any store, anywhere and pick out a medium and expect it to fit them but that’s just not reasonable. Particularly when many consumers are reluctant to pay the customary price points of that market. For example, it’s unreasonable for the average Wal-Mart customer -who only wants to pay Wal-Mart prices- to walk into Talbot’s and expect a Talbot’s medium to fit them and their pricing expectations so it’s unreasonable to expect every manufacturer to fit the full range of human size possibilities too. With companies free to fit “their” customer, you have more possibilities of locating a size that fits you than if sizes were standardized. Why does everybody and his brother assume the standard sizes would mirror their unique characteristics? That baffles me.

Back to vanity sizing, or rather, the myth of it. Hopefully I’ve explained to your satisfaction that the variation between given mediums is not based on vanity sizing but real concerns managing the costs of product development as dictated by a given consumer profile. The next thing I’ll explain is the variation in sizing that exists between different labels of a given manufacturer. For example, everybody says that designers like Ralph Lauren produce vanity sizing but that’s not true either. Just as given manufacturers are sized differently, so are _labels_ within a given design house. The reason is simple. Ralph Lauren produces a range of products across different labels that appeal to different types of consumers. The products that are intended for the vanity market -those who buy a tee-shirt at resort for example- are sized very differently from their core designer customer. The customer with more discretionary income is thinner than the former so if it were true that Ralph Lauren (for example; I have no bone to pick with him) sized for vanity then Ralph’s core customer wouldn’t be able to find a size to fit them. And you know that’s not true.

Another thing people drag out as evidence of vanity sizing is the “inflation” of sizing numbers, that because what’s known now as a size 4 was formerly designated as a size 16 (pre 1960’s) that this is proof of size inflation but that’s not true either. The reason is that old sizes were based on -yet another- arcane principle related to pattern making and sizes were designated based on something known as “scale”. Scale was a pattern maker’s reference to use that given number on the back side of an L-square (a scale of aliquot parts) to generate the proportionate measures appropriate to that size so these numbers were not arbitrary. The sizing system changed as consumers wrested meaning away from scale to what became an arbitrary system of numbers to represent given sizes. So, if the number of the size doesn’t “mean” anything today, don’t blame us. We had sizing numbers and they meant something, namely scale. And lastly, sizing is evolutionary. It evolves just like people do. To suggest that the qualitative measures that constitute any given size should not change over time is idiotic. Were this the case, we should still be using standards from the 1500’s. Nobody with a rational mind considers the archaic and racist data of the Shelton study in the 1940’s to be valid so they don’t use it either.

Some people drag out vintage samples of old clothing as proof of vanity sizing too but I can’t see that proves anything except that consumers have gotten fatter but I don’t think consumers have gotten quite as fat as some people claim either based on their reference of comparison. Then as now, women have hoarded keep-sake garments. These are usually wedding gowns or fine dresses that one wore in their youth or peak of life and while I’m not saying we weren’t smaller in the past, I am saying that the garments that managed to survive the era were not representative of the population then anymore than the too-small keepsake garments are representative of women today.

I think I’ve just about eliminated vanity sizing as the demon responsible for bad sizing. That done, the real issue is fit which as I said before, is different from sizing. That’s where our concerns should lie.

AMENDED:
Please refer to the other articles in this series which offer substantive supporting material. Add to the discussion rather than backtracking to topics discussed elsewhere. It is likely that the exceptions you’ve thought of have been dissected in depth. For your convenience, links open in a new window or tab.

The Myth of Vanity Sizing
Fit and Sizing Entropy
Push manufacturing; subverting the fit feedback loop
Sizing evolution
Shrinkage and fit
Alternatives in Women’s sizing
Tyranny of tiny sizes?
The history of women’s sizing pt 1
The history of women’s sizing pt 2
The history of women’s sizing pt 3
Sizing is a variety problem
The birth of size 10?
Vanity sizing shoes
Tyranny of tiny sizes pt.2
Vanity sizing: generational edition
Vanity sizing: generational edition pt.2
Vanity sizing: the consumer spending edition

question: What does the text say about vanity plates?

question: What does the text say about vanity sizing?

answer: The author says there is no such thing as vanity sizing because it's a myth. There are problems with sizing to go around, but vanity is not one of them. Humans are unique and so different from one another that it's unreasonable to expect clothes from several manufacturers to be sized uniformly. Adopting national sizing standards won't work because sizes are not created equally - not all mediums from company to company are identical, and they shouldn't be, because each manufacturer targets its own consumer profile and demographics. Therefore, the variation between given mediums is not based on vanity sizing but real concerns managing the costs of product development as dictated by a given consumer profile. People also love to cite evidence that there is vanity sizing due to the "inflation" of sizing numbers, meaning that what is known as a size 4 now used to be designated as a size 16 pre-1960s. This is not proof that vanity sizing exists. The reason for the difference is that old sizes were based on an arcane principle related to pattern making when sizes were designated based on "scale". "Scale" was a pattern maker's reference to using a given number on the back-side of an L-square to generate proportionate measurements appropriate to that size so these numbers were not arbitrary. The sizing system changed when consumers wrested away from scale to what became an arbitrary system of numbers to represent given sizes.


text:
_THE AMBASSADOR OF THE SOVIET UNION_ () is a 1969 Soviet drama film directed by Georgy Natanson.[1][2][3]

Plot

The film tells about a woman named Elena Koltsova, the prototype of which was Alexandra Kollontai (the first woman ambassador in world history).[4]

Cast

-   Yuliya Borisova as Ambassador Elena Koltsova
-   Anatoli Ktorov as the king
-   Gunars Cilinskis
-   Voldemar Panso
-   Helmut Vaag
-   Ants Eskola
-   Evgeniya Kozyreva
-   Yuriy Puzyryov
-   Nikolai Timofeyev
-   Ada Lundver[5]

[1] Юлия Борисова. Молчание Турандот

[2] ЛЕГЕНДА ВАХТАНГОВСКОГО ТЕАТРА ПРАЗДНУЕТ ЮБИЛЕЙ

[3] В одной подворотне с депутатом

[4] Посол Советского Союза

[5] Посол Советского Союза (1970) Full Cast & Crew

title: The Ambassador of the Soviet Union

question: What studio released The Ambassador of the Soviet Union?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Summarize the plot of The Ambassador of the Soviet Union.

answer: The story follows Elena Koltsova, a young woman based on Alexandra Kollontai, the first woman ambassador in world history.

question: Whol plays the role of Elena Koltsova?

answer: Yuliya Borisova

question: What genre of film was The Ambassador of the Soviet Union?

answer: Drama

question: When was The Ambassador of the Soviet Union released?

answer: 1969

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The Ambassador of the Soviet Union is a 1969 Soviet drama film about a young woman based on Alexandra Kollontai, the first woman ambassador in world history.