text:
	Blood was all over her and she was crying... no she was

screaming. I was just standing over her, my body frozen. I tried to

move, but I couldn't. I tried to yell but all I heard was her

painful screaming. I kept thinking to my self, how could this be

happening to her. Who would do such a thing? Suddenly her body

seemed so relaxed, so silent, and so lifeless.

	The phone rang and I sat straight up in my bed, wondering

to my self, who is calling me and why. After the dream I had no

clue what I was doing when I answered the phone. It was a mistake

to answer the phone because I was trying to get the world to forget

I existed. My story started, perhaps ended, four years ago when I

shot and killed an innocent man. I had no reason at all to shoot

him except that fact he was running from me, but that is all I

remember. Not for one second did I remember pointing my gun at him

and shooting. Everyone said they saw me shoot him and then pass

out. The only thing I remember is lying on the ground and seeing a

dead man next to me. I must have shot him point blank because his

blood was all over my shirt. It was an accident; at least that is

what my friends told me. Some friends. I haven't been back to New

York since. I lost touch with my old life, but I started a new one

right here in Colorado. Big change, it truly was a big change since

I am out here in the middle of nowhere in a somewhat deserted

hotel. Which brings me back to the question, whom is calling me?

	The phone rang again only to be answered by me. When I

picked it up I found, to my surprise, my father. He started out by

saying how much he loved me and that he wished that I would move

back home. I told him that I would hang up is he didn't tell me why

he called. Then I heard the receiver pick up with a crying mother

at the end of it. I told my father, again, that if I didn't hear

anything useful to me that I would hang up. So he finally blurted

out that my sister had been murdered. I wanted so badly to just...

disappear. Finally I said, without crying, who did this, why, how,

but my pleas were unanswered. I started to yell who did this, who,

who! No one know my father said. I knew it; you are just as useless

as before. I slammed the phone down and knocked over my first aid

kit and my gun. I suddenly remembered the dream I had about my

sister screaming. Why was she screaming?

	After picking up what I had knocked over I decided to call

my parents back by dialing my old phone number. I called them back

to try and figure a few things out before looking for my sister. It

has been four years since I have solved anything so I decided to

start with the basic questions. When I called, my father answered

the phone and before he could say hello I asked him who killed my

sister. He said that if he knew the answer to that question he

would have told me earlier. So my first question went nowhere but

my second was the one that started my search. I asked him where she

was murdered and my first piece of evidence was an amusement park.

After about five minutes of pure silence my father said that my

sister had some important news she needed to tell me but since she

was dead he told me him self. He said Brilliance, my sister, had

become a cop to follow in my footsteps. Holding back tears I told

my father that I had had enough of my old life to last me awhile. I

hung up the phone again and decided to relax, seeing how my sister

had just died. I needed to take a breather.

	The dream of my sister dying kept on haunting me. It would

just replay itself in my mind over and over. What did it mean?

After about thirty minutes of repetition I decided to take a shower

and try to forget what I was dealing with. But when I walked into

the bathroom I saw something very much unexpected. The sink and

faucet were covered in blood. When I looked at the shower there was

this bloody shirt hanging there. Oddly enough it looked as though

it was my shirt and soon to find out it was. I walked toward the

shower to pick it up when I noticed there happened to be a hole in

the stomach area of the shirt. When I picked the shirt up I felt

woozy and all of a sudden I passed out and had yet another dream.

	By now I haad started to call my dreams visions because

when you dream you are actually asleep, but as you see I was not

sleeping. When I had this vision I saw Brilliance again, but this

time she was not on the ground in fact she was pointing a knife at

me and yelling. At first I could not understand her however after a

while I understood exactly why she was screaming. She was screaming

these horrible words "get away from me, are you crazy, why are you

doing this to me." Why would my own sister say those things to me?

Still the vision continued and not long after she stopped yelling

she stabbed me and I fell to the ground.

	I awoke from the dream in extreme pain. I looked down at my

stomach and there was this red blotch spreading on my shirt. When I

lifted my shirt I discovered a knife wound with stitches around it.

I tried with all my strength to stand up and reach the first aid

kit while trying to not my myself bleed more than I was. When I

grabbed the kit all of the contents fell out. Finally after

cleaning up the mess I found what I needed and proceeded with the

stitching. After I stitched my wound I tried to focus on what

happened to me. Did my sister really stab me? Her own flesh and

blood. What had frightened my sister enough to stab me? I decided

to search my hotle room and to see if I could find anything to help

me with my problem. At which moment I happened to remember seeing a

knife on the floor when I dropped the first aid kit. When I touched

the knife memories started to come back to me. Darkness, mirrors, a

roller coaster, tears, dust, and finally Brilliance. I heard

disturbing sounds like gun shots, howling wind, gasping of air, and

bullet shells dropping with intense heat. Enough, I threw the knife

across the room and it landed heavily on the floor. At which

instant I walked to the knife and picked it back up. Suddenly I had

more horrifying memories come back to me. I could smell the air

before it rains and Brilliance's sweet perfume lingering in the

air. I could also remember the way her hair and clothes smelt. The

one vision that stood out beyond the others was the pictures and

sounds of a stormy night.

	When I finally put the knife away I called my parents to

ask where the amusement park was. They told me right away and I

hung up the phone and ran to my car with my gun and the bloody

knife. While driving to the park I hda the knife in my view on the

dashboard. It had never occurred to me that the knife was the

biggest clue I had and that almost killed me. Further along the

road it began to rain and after awhile it became a problem. The

rain slicked the road and it was dangerous to go fast but I ignored

everything. My ignorance cost me my car as I slammed head on into a

tree.

	After yet another vision of Brilliance I woke up with a cut

on my forehead that was pouring blood into my eyes. When I looked

out of the car the rain had stopped and fog had eased itself into

the scenery. I slowly unbuckled and rolled out of the car only to

land awkwardly on the ground and break my arm. The sound of

breaking bones caused me to scream out in pain. Then without

warning two cops appeared in the fog and I stood up and walked over

to them and in an instant I passed out in their arms. At the time I

woke up I had a cast on my right arm and I was in extreme pain. I

heard whispers from another room but I still had not focused on

where I was. After awhile I noticed that I was in a jail cell when

at that same moment a guard appeared at my cell. He told me that I

was under arrest for possessing a gun and I was to be tried for the

murder of Brilliance. I told him that I did not kill her but he

just laughed.I finally said to myself that I needed to get out of

here and find who killed her. I used one of the bobby pins I had in

my hair to unlock the cell and found some car keys. I left the area

but not before seeing some cops coming running after me. I didn't

care because I was on a mission.

	Driving down the road was a pain because of the fog and my

cast. The radio static was a pain as well and moments later they

announced on the CB that I had escaped from jail and that I was

armed and dangerous. I guess they noticed that I took my gun back.

After a ten minute drive I found my way to the park, which was

closed. So I busted my way in through the chained gate and

proceeded to the back of the park, my visions from earlier being my

guide. After passing a house of mirrors I saw police tape strung up

cround this haunted warehouse. I broke the tape and walked up a

flight of stairs. Outside I could hear police sirens racing towards

the park. When I made it through the top of the stairs the was this

hatch with a broken lock on it. Someone had been here already and I

was guessing it was Brilliance. When I opened the hatch I could see

police cars swarming the park. The view was amzing because the fog

had lifted and it had begun to snow. Of course the snow didn't make

anything better.

	I stood at the top of the roof only to see cops invade the

warehouse. I began to have more visions this time I was actually

repeating them. I could not control myself at all. I had pulled my

gun and I was acting like I was shooting someone on the ground.

While this was happening the cops burst through the hatch and ahead

of them was my old captain. He told them to stay back because I was

crazy. He started walking towards me and I shot him when he pulled

his gun on me. He fired back and hit me in the chest, which sent me

rolling towards the edge of the roof. I almost fell off but the

captain grabbed me and said he was going to finish the job. I asked

him why and he whispered that he was the one that killed me sister

and I was next. Without hesitation I grabbed his arms and pushed

him off the roof but he grabbed my legs and I fell down on the

roof. We both started to slide off the roof as the other cops ran

to try and help. But to no avail we both started to fall towards

the freshly snow painted ground. We both fell into the house of

mirrors and I watched as the shards reflected the pain we were both

going through. In a glimpse I saw a vision of my sister in one of

the shards as we both hit the ground. The captain stumbled to get

up and as he stood over me with his gun pointed at my head he had a

look of triumphant. He leaned in close grabbing the hair on my head

to keep me still. He told me how he killed her because she was

going to be a good cop and that he couldn't allow her to find out

how corrupt he was. All the while I was reaching for a shard of

glass. Slowly inching my hand towards a piece he sees me and takes

it shot. I look down and see the smoking gun barrel pointed at my

chest. Not wanting to fail doing what is right I used every bit of

myself to finish what I had come to do. I flung the shard into his

neck and watched him stumble backwards amazed at his own

carelessness. I watched as he regret poured over his face. As we

both sat there dying I felt a sense of relief as it was all over. I

had finally ended my life doing something for someone else why he

died doing something for himself.

title: For You

question: Explain why the narrator was being accused for murder of his sister.

answer: The narrator was having visions that were being mixed into his reality. He was standing over his sister's bloody and lifeless body. He had received news from his parents about his sister's murder and he went to go search for the crime scene. As the narrator got ready in the bathroom he noticed there was blood everywhere and on his shirt. He had a knife wound with stitches around it. The narrator wakes up in a jail cell and was under arrest for possession of a gun and murder of his sister. In his vision, he is able to escape the cell and arrive at the amusement park where his sister was murdered. The police reach him as he is found standing over a body with his gun drawn.


split: test

text:
We all died at the same time. It was a combination of two of our friends, Rhett and Sam, and a bit of unfortunate luck. I don't know what you would call it. Not murder, they only put things in motion. But they did  mean to do it, so intended Manslaughter? Either way, it ended with the three of us with cracked skulls at the bottom of bleachers.

That was my original guess as to why we were chosen for the roles we now play. We found out later that something we had each done changed the world through ripple effect, so the world isn't as random as you would think. They simultaneously cured cancer and started another war.

Hannah became the World Angel. Quiet and soft, out of the three of us it was a nobrainer. My bet was she would have become the World Angel eventually even if we hadn't died when we did. She influences all the good I'm the world. The halo I joked about her having back when we were alive I now really there, as well as an extreme wardrobe change to a soft white dress. She wasn't a huge fan at first, being that she always wore a blue hoodie and jeans, but I think its grown on her.

Will became the World Demon, which makes him sound a lot worse than he really is. It must have been a toss up between the two of us to be the World Demon at first, but he won out in the end because he has a certain way with words that makes it so you're going to listen to him. Naturally, he's in charge of negative actions. If you look around, our redhead is doing a good job right now. Said redhead was outfitted in a expensive look black suit and a red tie. Again, not particularly his style, but he stopped complaining after a decade or two.

I think I've gotten the hardest job out of the three of us. After being done up in a beautiful gray silk dress, I was given the title World Truth, which wouldn't give away my spot without you knowing anything else. I'm in charge on assigning every important person in the world an alignment, so to speak. My predecessor assigned Hitler an evil alignment, for instance. I tell the two of my friends to keep am eye on people who I assign alignments.

Which brings me to you. I've had a hard time with you. Watched through your childhood, and I know your future. Run for world leader, see how that goes. Since I know how that turns out, I'm supposed to give you an alignment. But I cant figure you out. You're a perfect neutral.

Then it hit me.

You'll end up be the next World Truth, a pure one. I'll be picking your World Angel and World Demon, I think I have them locked down. Hold him and her close to you, you might be spending a millenia or two with them.

title: [MF] The World Truth

question: What is the assertion of the piece?

answer: That when people die they might be assigned to be the World Angel, the World Demon, or World Truth - entities that guide the world.

question: Who is the protagonist speaking to when she says "I can't figure you out?"

answer: The reader.

question: Is the World Demon evil?

answer: Not exactly. They're in charge of negative actions, but it seems to be part of a yin and yang style arrangement where darkness has its place.

question: Did Rhett and Sam die along with the protagonist, or was it another two that died with the protagonist?

answer: Sounds like Hannah, Will, and the protagonist were killed by Rhett and Sam.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: When a trio of friends are killed rather intentionally, they find there is an after life and one's role can be much greater than normally imagined. They are assigned the roles of World Angel, World Demon, and World Truth to help guide humanity. The World Angel influences all the good in the world, the World Demon is in charge of all negative actions, and World Truth assigns every important person in the world an alignment. For example, the last World Truth assigned Hitler an evil assignment. When it comes to you, the reader, World Truth has trouble figuring out an assignment. She says you're pure neutral. Then she decides to assign you to be the next World Truth.


text:
Imagine if you will a building, tall and tattered,the higher you go the brighter it gets, the lower you go the

 darker it gets. You wake up in a room with three others; shadow figures you cant make out. You exit your room

 to the lobby. There are people here in this building, people you know, loved ones and acquaintances. The

elevators don’t work and there are only stairs to the lower levels. Standing there you here the faint sound of

music coming from below. Think about that person who means the most to you, that person who you love more

than life itself. You love them so much that it isn’t a stretch to say that your souls are connected. Your first

thought is to follow them, you head down the stairs, and you quickly notice that the room gets dimmer. Your

body feels intoxicated, you feel dizzy, and unable to think properly. People are lined shoulder to shoulder lying

on the ground. There is a bar in the corner of the room, and you see them sitting at it, hunched over with there

 back towards you drinking a drink. You tip toe around the body’s and on your way to the bar, you notice the

music is no longer playing. “How long was is stopped? Maybe the whole time I was down here.” You sit beside

them at the bar, and turn in your stool to tell the bartender that, you’ll be having what they’re drinking. But the

bartender isn’t there. So you turn the other way to say hi, and start a conversation. When you prompt the

question. They turn and you notice that there face is blurry and a mixture of the colors their face is supposed

to be, almost like someone just swirled it and then made it really blurry. You say their name and they look at

you but say nothing. Your drink has just appeared in front of you.

You grab there hand and get out of the bar. When you turn around you notice two more people,

with normal faces walking around. They had just gotten off the ground. One of them walks up and ask you;

“Where am I?” You reply with “I don’t Know Some kind of hotel or apartment building.” You hear shuffling and

speaking from the floor beneath. So you grab the arm of your loved one, and follow these strangers to the next

floor. Every thing is darker, everyone is just a black silhouette. They are just standing there chattering amongst

them selves. You shout out; “What are you doing?!” They reply in a mass conglomeration of words and

sentences. Its hard for you to make out but a few. Then without question they all chant “Minutes turn into

days, days turn into weeks, weeks into years, and years into centuries.” The others you are with have slowly

walked into the crowd without you noticing and have turned into black silhouettes. Your loved one is pulling on

your hand and pointing to her stomach, and then too the stairs you came from. You remembered about the cash

 you had in your wallet. Walking towards the stairs back to the upper floor, you notice the crowd following you,

not talking just walking as a mass group towards you. Your halfway up the stairs, turn back and notice one

lonely shadow maybe the size of a young girl, walking towards you but when her foot touches that first step

she fades away, like blown sand. A sad image; you move on and make your way to the floor where you originate

 from. You notice the double doors leading outside, but walking towards them becomes harder the closer you

get. Its like your in a wind tunnel, there is so much opposing pressure pushing you.

You hug the wall and shimmy your way to the doors, once outside you hold the doors open for

them, and they follow your routine and make it outside with you. For that moment the doors stayed open, and

 in an instant they drop to they’re knees and get pulled back in. Sliding', they reach they're arms out and the

only time you here them say anything is when they shout your name while being dragged back in. You race to

them but the doors are slammed shut. You go over to the door and see them huddled and grabbing there knees.

Rocking back and forth. Banging on the glass does nothing they cant hear you. But you mouth to them . “Don't

 worry, I'll be back with food. Everything is going to be OK.” They didn’t even notice you. You didn't even try to

 open the doors, because you were too scared that whatever pulled them in, might pull you in and it wouldn't

let you leave. So you venture out to look for food, then you hear someone say your name, they sound friendly,

 and only a few feet away. You follow their voice until it leads you to the building next to yours. You notice a

black figure almost like before. You think you may know this person but you aren’t quite sure. You walk up the

 stairs to only find out that this shadow is bigger and bulkier than the others. They walk closer and say in a

voice deeper and more snarling than before “I know what you’re here for, you little fuck”  By this point you get

scared  and are already heading back down the stairs. You reach the bottom and immediately you’re weighted

 down. Like all your energy is depleted, crawling ever so slowly towards those double doors. “You're hungry, huh

 piggy, I've got food and plenty of it. Get back here you quivering little cunt!” You have gotten halfway there

when you hear him at the bottom of those steps. “ You want some fucking Cheetos, you want some goddamn

food. Here take it take it all.” He started hurling bags of them at you, getting closer with each toss. You reach

 the doors but collapse, you touch the glass and use all your will to bang on it.

Imagine how it it would feel to not be able to open your mouth because you don’t have the strength,

knowing what you want to say, and the words banging at the inside of of your mouth trying to find an opening

to explode out from your lips. Knowing what to say, but the words just wont come out. Ever so often you

garnish  enough will and power to pry those lips open and all that slithers out is a squeak or a moan. I  imagine

this is how a baby or a mute person feels. So much Frustration, and all that you can muster is a fucking squeak.

 They are still there inside walking around like they are waiting for something. Sand is Getting blown around

,you're at the doors but don’t have the strength to get off the ground. You feel vibrations  coming from the

ground as he stomps those few feet until he is hovering over you blotting out the sun. You are reduced to tears

 and your thoughts. Your immediate thought is “This man is going to murder me,and I am going to die. All That

 will remain is blood and pulp.” You are helpless, glued to the ground, and releasing your bowls. You pray to god

for forgiveness, and tell everyone you are sorry for the things you have done. Your stomach is churning out shit

 Ice cream. You ask god to save you one more time. Then he says hovering  and blotting out the sun standing

there so menacingly. “ No one can hear you, your just thinking all of this, no one is listening, you wont be

saved, and even worse you wont save them.” He points to your loved one walking around. He picks you up and

slams your body, then proceeds to kick and punch your body. He has endless stamina, the sounds of bones

cracking and flesh being punched are being echoed down the street. His heavy breathing feels like flames to

your body, and when he spits on you it boils the skin it touches.

One last smack to the head is the last thing you feel, then your body goes numb,you are paralyzed

completely. You watch him take a few steps to the right, only  to see him come back with a saw and a knife.

You watch as he dismembers your body,  sawing off your arms and cutting your tendon’s with the knife. Your

laying in a pool of your own blood. Then you see him take the knife and carve one eye out, now your vision is

blurred. Then he proceeds to strike down your other eye with ungodly force. Your last thought before

completely blacking out are the words. “I love You.”  Then everything goes black you loose all thought,

everything is black, no noise, no smell no feel, nothing just black. A moment passes, then your able too see

hints of color and light, through your eye lids. You open your eyes and see everything is blurry. You have this

new found strength, you feel alive and awake. Imagine if you will a building, tall and tattered,the higher you go

the brighter it gets, the lower you go the darker it gets. You wake up in a room with three others; shadow

figures you cant make out. You exit your room to the lobby. There are people here in this building, people you

know, loved ones and acquaintances. The elevators don’t work and there are only stairs to the lower levels.

Standing there you here the faint sound of music coming from below. Think about that person who means the

most to you, that person who you love more than life itself. You love them so much that it isn’t a stretch to say

 that your souls are connected. Your first thought is to  follow them, you head down the stairs, and you quickly

 notice that the room gets dimmer.

title: Hell A short story about my dream last night.

question: Summarize the description of narrator's experience in the building he found himself.

answer: The narrator found himself in a tall building with stairs to a bright top and a dark bottom. This means the higher you go the brighter it gets and the reverse is that case if you descend to the bottom. The narrator woke up in a room with shadowy figures he isn't able to see properly. The elevators in the buildings do not work and there was some kind of music coming from below the building. The narrator's loved ones were also present in the building as well and they do not seem to know where they are or recognize the narrator. Time seems to pass on slowly in the building as days turn into weeks, and weeks to months to years and to centuries. A bigger shadow emerged from the next building to the one the narrator's in. It seems to take pleasure in torturing the narrator.

question: What is the name of the bigger shadow... the one torturing the narrator?


text:
HUSK is a surname. People with this surname include:

-   Cecil Husk (1847–1920), British professional singer and spiritualist medium
-   William Henry Husk (1814–1887), English historian of music and critic

title: Husk (surname)

question: What surname is being discussed in this article?

answer: The surname, Husk, is being discussed in this article.

question: Who is Cecil Husk?

answer: Cecil Husk was a British professional singer and spiritualist medium.

question: Who is William Henry Husk?

answer: He was an English historian of music and critic.

question: How many people have the surname, Husk, according to the article?

answer: Two people

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article lists two people with the surname, Husk, and what their professions are.


text:
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Bud Light is offering free beer to soccer fans if Mexico can beat its "curse of the fifth game" in the World Cup.

In a tweet, the beer company announced that if Mexico beats Brazil and advances to the quarterfinals that it will help pay for customers' beer.

The tweet, written on charred parchment in a Medieval style as part of its King John Barley and Dilly Dilly gimmick, says "such a great victory shall be celebrated by him helping ye pay for thy celebratory Bud Lights," which appears to mean free beer.

The "curse of the fifth game" refers to Mexico not being able to advance past the fifth game in the World Cup since at least 1994.

Mexico faces Brazil in the round of 16 at 7 a.m. Monday.

If Mexico does break the curse, Bud Light said it will then provide further details on how to get the free beer.

Copyright © 2020 KABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.

question: Why is Bud Light offering free beer?

answer: They are offering it if Mexico can beat its "curse of the fifth game" in the World Cup.

question: What are the requirements to get free beer?

answer: Mexico has to beat its "curse of the fifth game" in the World Cup.

question: What countries are mentioned in this document?

answer: Mexico and Brazil

question: What is "the curse of the fifth game"?

answer: Mexico hasn't been able to advance past the fifth game in the World Cup since at least 1994.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The document discusses when Bud Light offered free beer to soccer fans if Mexico could beat its "curse of the fifth game" in the World Cup.


text:
[]

Creative capitalism, ethical capitalism, altruistic capitalism, natural capitalism, green capitalism, distributed and democratic capitalism. Capitalism 2.0?

Capitalism comes with a potpourri of sweet-scented prefixes, all of which presume that there is something wrong with capitalism _per se_. There are some other prefixes we commonly hear—crony capitalism and unbridled capitalism—that suggest that we aren’t doing it right.

Perhaps it is Goldilocks capitalism we need? Not too mean, with just the right amount of good will and charity, a measured dose of state regulation, a safety net – not too big and not too small, and the rest left to the free market?
Or is capitalism just capitalism in the context of people being people? The system swings between the poles of libertarianism and social democracy according to the changing tides of voter opinion. Some capitalists have more feeling for their fellow humans than others, while there are always greedy, selfish sorts lurking to do one over the rest of us, and certain trends are inevitable according to the incentive structure inherent in the system.

It is this last point, that outcomes tend to be inevitable according to the incentive structure operating, that serves as the starting point for a book I have recently written, titled _150 Strong: A Pathway to a Different Future_, published by ClubOrlov Press. Over the coming weeks it will be serialised on Renegade Inc, with extracts presented.

On the topic of incentives, the book begins with an _Author’s Note_:

_This book began as a response to the use of the word “sustainability,” a concept I became connected to through my training in sustainability engineering: the design and incorporation of environmentally-friendly practices into commerce and industry. It is based on principles such as these:_

-   _When one cuts down a tree, plant a new one._
-   _We should try to use the waste from one process as a resource for another._
-   _Polluters should bear the costs of their actions._

_            All of these seem like good and logical ideas. But there is a rather significant problem in attempting to work in this way, because the greater context in which such efforts are currently being made reduces them to a farce: our current system of economics, which encourages short term accumulation of financial profit, is fundamentally incompatible with sustainability. This, to use a colorful colloquialism, makes such efforts akin to “farting against thunder.”_
_            That is not to say that profit is inherently a negative thing. The creation of a financial surplus, in its most earnest expression, could be equated with prudent and efficient house-holding._ _But if nature is to serve as our model, then we can see something of how our current approach to profit has become problematic._
_            The accumulation of a surplus is a natural process: a plant accumulates surplus energy and nutrients to be able to bear fruit; a polar bear accumulates a surplus in the form of body fat which enables it to survive the winter; and our hunter-gatherer ancestors collected a surplus of food so that they would be able to survive in lean times._ _But in the monomaniacal pursuit of profit that we are engaged in at present, there is little that is natural about it,_ _little sensitivity to the intricacies of the environmental and social systems that sustain us._
_            The reason for this can be deduced from a simple formula:_

_Profit = Income – Expenses_

_            From which we can see that the profit motive and the “sustainability motive” are diametrically opposed:_ _If sustainability initiatives were to truly succeed beyond the narrow realms of such things as waste minimization and embracing new technology, they would result in less income (due to reduced consumption) and more expenses (due to the cost of mitigation measures) leading to lower profits._
_            This inverse relationship between profit and sustainability is hugely important, and it is the proper starting point in any effort to confront our large-scale environmental problems. Yet it is almost universally ignored in official circles, and political efforts to address sustainability issues give it almost no coverage._
_…_
_            In our current way of doing things, the conflict between profit and sustainability is resolved through regulation, where all must comply with certain rules that hurt profitability a little bit but avoid worse damage. And, indeed, this approach has produced many good outcomes: the air is cleaner in Los Angeles, the fish are returning to River Thames, and many large areas of undeveloped land have been protected as national parks. But, for many reasons, it is an approach that is flawed: it doesn’t handle complexity well; it breaks down when there are different laws in different countries; and it only works when there is a social context in which the law is supported and enforced._
_            As soon as one tries to address these problems, sustainability becomes an unapproachable subject: to address it at the big-picture level one has to address the underlying economic and social context, but that is something of a taboo. Nevertheless, there is some mainstream discussion opening up on this topic, including some positive response to Naomi Klein’s book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate_ (2014), and _increasingly, it seems, the need to consider alternatives to our current system is being recognized._

The main message of the book is that we are blind to the significance of the RECONCILING FORCE of our current system, which happens to be inherently negative, and that it is only by understanding this that we might have some chance of finding a better way of doing things, for anything else would be but tinkering around the edges.

In seeking to provide a bridge to something better, a very successful and proven system that operates with an alternative, positive reconciling force is examined. It is based on Dunbar’s number, which originates in evolutionary biology and proposes an upper limit to the number of people that humans can maintain effective social relationships with, which is approximately 150 people.

If you wish to read the book in full, it is available on Amazon.

question: What does the text say about socialism?

question: Summarize the author's thoughts on capitalism.

answer: The author says capitalism comes with a potpourri of sweet-scented prefixes that presume there is something wrong with capitalism per se. There are also some other prefixes, like crony capitalism and unbridled capitalism that suggest people aren't doing it right. The author questions whether or not they need Goldilocks capitalism - not too mean, with the right amount of goodwill and charity, a measured dose of state regulation, a safety net that isn't too big or too small, and the rest left to the free market - because capitalism is just capitalism in the context of people being people. He thinks the system swings between the poles of libertarianism and social democracy according to the changing tides of voter opinion. Some capitalists have more feelings for their fellow humans than others, there are always greedy and selfish people lurking to do one over everyone else. Certain trends are inevitable according to the incentive structure inherent in the system.


text:
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
can wash the balm off an anointed king.

-William Shakespeare, Richard II

When I sit on this chair, I think of the others who sat before me.  The Great King who started it all. The Apostate King who betrayed us. The Savior King who rescued us from the depths of Hell. The Kings of Old, the Kings of New. Kings who achieved much, Kings who achieved little.

And Kings who were murdered.

When I sit on this chair, I think of the others who sat before me, and why they were here. Some war heroes, some because they carried the Royal Bloodline.

And some because they knew how to kill.

When I sit on this chair, I think of the others who sat before me, and how they looked down at the subjects below him. Some saw power for himself, some saw nothing but poverty and hunger.

And one saw himself.

When the doors to my chamber opened, I was startled awake. I was in a heavy sleep.

The first thing I saw when I woke was the bright colors on your cap. My eyes focused some more, and I saw you being dragged to me. It was then when I realized who you were- you were my Jester.

But why were you being dragged? You were perfectly able to walk yourself.

A voice foreign to me echoed across the room. “Your Majesty. This scoundrel has been caught plotting against the King. He planned to stab you in the chest while entertaining you, and claim the throne for himself.”

I looked at your low hanging head, your droopy eyelids. “Is this true?”

Miserably, you looked up at me. “Yes.”

When I sit on this chair, I think of others who will sit here. Kings with potential. Kings with hatred. Kings who have Royal Blood, Kings who don’t.

And Kings who failed.

You see, I do not deserve to be King. I was a blacksmith, no Royal Blood, no power at all. One day, the Queen was caught consorting with one of the townsfolk. They were both publicly impaled.

After a few months, the King got lonely. He went searching for a new Queen. He chose my beloved wife.

They came to our house, with their swords and shields. They beat me, and took her.

She lasted only 6 days. On the 6th night, she stuck a sword through her chest.

I started making tools. Not swords, as they are challenging, and take long, but heavy blunt objects and primitive shields. I started to gather a little militia. It was all individual. Anyone who was in the militia was asked specifically by me. If they found me, I would be hung.

Then, the day came. The anniversary of her death. The Kingdom had forgotten, but we had not.

We stormed the castle, leaving but 10 guards to recount the story. It was a brutal, viscous battle, with over 30 of our own dead. But we won. I killed the King.

And I took his place.

I ask, “Tell me, Jester, what did I do to you?”

You rise. “Every day, every night, I am summoned here. You make me dance, sing, rhyme. And what do you do? Sit on that throne, not entertained.

“Being a Jester has caused me nothing but pain and humiliation. My friends and wife all left me. I cannot get real work. So I stay here, juggling and balancing, all for your delight. And you sit there, bored.

“Every breath, every action, every moment in my life has lead to this. You crush me under your foot. And you don’t even get any satisfaction from it.”

I think of my wife.

“Guards!” I bellow. “Leave!”

They march out of the chamber.

I unlock your shackles and handcuffs. You look surprised and confused, but nothing is said.

I pull out my sword. You look frightened. You think I am going to harm you.

I hand it to you. “Do what you want.”

A dark look shadows across your face.

title: Unnamed (Story #2)

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: The narrator is a blacksmith whose wife was kidnapped by the King to become the King's wife. He begins to gather a small militia and storms the castle to kill the king. The narrator succeeds and becomes the king.

question: Summarize the situation with the jester.

answer: The guards bring the jester into the throne room. The jester was caught plotting against the King, and was planning on stabbing him in the chest while entertaining him. The jester confesses that this is true, and that he wanted to kill him because he is tired of being mistreated and underappreciated by the King. The king orders the guards to leave the room, and he hands the jester his sword. He tells him to do whatever he pleases to the king.

question: How old is the King?


text:
“Mick’s one of them.” This matter of fact statement caught me off guard.

“Is he?” I ask, hazarding a glance at the middle aged, balding bar man.

“Course he is, look at him.” I turned around to get a better look. Mick was stood wiping down a glass, oblivious of the scrutiny to which he was currently being subjected to.

“No, he isn’t.” I said “He’s got a beer belly and gravy down his shirt, the ones in the city all look like celebrities and they haven’t got a spec on ‘em.” I turned back to Dave, he was looking at the table and shaking his head.

“Course they do” He said looking up his droopy eyes struggling to fix on a particular spot. He settled on staring at my chin, “Coz they’re accepted in the city, aren’t they,” he said as if he were talking to a child. “But if you put them in the country they’ve got to fit in, got to look the part haven’t they.”

“So you’re saying that a company that makes millions of the same make and model every day has decided to make a fat fifty year old bar tender version so that we don’t get suspicious that they’re androids.”

“Exactly,” he said with a toothy grin as if I was finally on his erratic wave length.

“But if you’ve spotted the only android in the village, then it’s obviously not working.”

“Well I knows what to look for dun I.” He said glancing over at Mick and leaning in with his stale beer breath. “Take a look at him, a proper look, go over and get two pints. Try and catch him just as he picks up a glass to clean and watch closely. Then look at his eyes and see how long it takes him to blink.”

I eyed Dave suspiciously “Is this just coz you want a drink?” I asked.

“A little,” grinned Dave “But you go over and check him anyway, I’ve done it me self.” I looked at him suspiciously and then swivelled off my chair to go and order the drinks.

“Alright Mick,” I hazarded, wondering how to approach this correctly.

“Alright Jeff,” he mumbled “how’s it going?” He breathed on the glass and cleaned it, wiping it with a towel.

“Not bad, two pints of Green Valley please” I said inspecting the glass that he had just cleaned.

“Coming up,” he said turning his back on me to get the glass. He had legs, I thought to myself, so he wasn’t like the ones in the supermarket. If he was one, it was state of the art without looking remotely state of the art at all, kind of shabby sheik. He turned back and poured the pints, concentrating on the amount and making sure the head was perfect. An android wouldn’t do that I thought to myself. Androids had this unsettling habit of doing tasks while maintaining eye contact. He looked up as he finished the second pint and I stared intently into his eyes.

“Thanks Mick,” I said whilst flicking my gaze from his left eye to his right.

“You alright Jeff?” Mick said unnerved.

I returned to my table without a word.

“He’s not an Android.” I said confidently when I sat down. Dave looked at me flabbergasted.

“What!” he cried a little overdramatically “Did you even look at him?”

“Yep,” I said “he had legs and everything”.

“No did you look when he cleaned the glass?”

“Y..yes he did it with a cloth”

Dave looked at me despairingly “Not how he cleaned it you muppet, did you see him breathe on the glass and it doesn’t leave any fog cause they don’t need to breathe they just mimic the action. Did you see his fingerprints on the glass?”

“No” I said feeling depressed about my woeful detective skills. “What’s up with his fingerprints?”

“He hasn’t got human fingerprints, that’s how come they can track them, they got special ones that are like a bar code, so each one gets its own unique set so you can find em easily.”

“Why would they mimic the action of us breathing?” I interrupted, Dave looked at me incredulously.

“Have you ever met someone who doesn’t breathe?” He said. “No! Cause if you did you would flip your nut wondering what was happening.” He continued “If you took an Android out for drinks, it would drink, it doesn’t need too. Just like it doesn’t need to breathe or blink but it does it anyway so that you’re not worrying why one of your work mates has stopped blinking or breathing.” I looked at him dumbfounded. I didn’t realise the technology had come this far. “Did you at least count the seconds it took him to blink?” he asked like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“No” I said growing tired with the criticism.

“Well it’s every 7 seconds, at least one of us is paying attention.”

“Why would they need to blink?” I asked

“First off so you don’t flip your nut and second to clean the cameras if something gets on them.”
I thought about this for a few minutes drinking my pint, maybe some of my work colleagues are Androids and I hadn’t even noticed, maybe my wife was, I think I would have noticed, or would I? If I couldn’t tell if Mick was one could I really notice if anyone else was.

“Does he have a penis?” I asked.

“Who Mick?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Well not just Mick, Androids in general do they have sex parts?”

“Can’t say I ever checked,” said Dave and we both lapsed into a deep and contemplative silence.

“They must have!” said Dave after an embarrassingly long time thinking about robot genitals.

“Why?” I asked dreading the answer that had dredged itself out of the sewer of his mind.

“Because it was all the rage a few years back when they were still working out the kinks. Remember that politician bought one as a butler and he just hollowed out its Ken doll parts until he managed to get his dick trapped in the mechanism.”

“Ooh yeah” I said, not really believing that this was true at all.

“And, and!” he said leaping on his advantage and following his train of thought “Why make women androids?” He said smiling triumphantly.

“Dunno,” I said “Cause that’s what you do isn’t it, you make the man and then you make the woman, if you don’t its sexist, I hear they make black ones now as well.”

“Yeah but why give them genders at all? Christ why even make them look like people?”

“Dunno,” I said realising that I was adding very little to this conversation.

“First off to make other people comfortable around them, right? Coz if people think they’re talking to a person they’re gonna treat them like a person. Not try and take their leg cause it’s your neighbours android and his dogs been shitting on your lawn, right?”

“Right!” I said, the conversation had originally been about my new dish washer.

“So if you’re talking to an Android and you think it’s a person, it has to be as person like as possible, right. Breathing, blinking, all that stuff. So if a lady takes a man android home she is gonna expect him to have a fella down there, not just a fella, a fully working fella. It would just be embarrassing for both of them if he didn’t have a set of bits.”

“She would find out eventually though right?”

“No…yeah,” he said hesitantly “hey they’ve probably got Android prossies now, with big cyber pimps or something.”

I laughed “insert coin in the slot” I said finally feeling part of the conversation again.

I glanced over at Mick, he was eating a pack of crisps

“Have you ever seen Mick take a shit?”

title: [SF] Conversations about Androids!

question: What does the story say about what the narrator and Dave disagree about?

answer: Dave thinks that Mick is an android, and the narrator thinks he is not. Dave thinks that the company has decided to make a fat fifty-year-old bartender version so that nobody does get suspicious that they’re androids. He tells the narrator to look at Mick's eyes and see and see how long it takes him to blink. The narrator thinks that Mick does not look like an android.

question: What does the story say about whether Mick is an android?

question: What does the story say about Mick?

answer: Mick is a fat fifty-year-old bartender, possibly an android. A patron thinks Mick is an android, but Mick seems not to be aware of that.


text:
Edit Story

Editors' Pick|Jul 10, 2019,12:13pm EDT|

[Chuck Jones]

I cover technology companies, worldwide economies and the stock market

[Trump Golf]

President Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
When he was campaigning President Trump frequently bashed President Obama for playing golf and said that he would be too busy to play. Per a HuffPost article he said, “I love golf, but if I were in the White House, I don’t think I’d ever see Turnberry again. I don’t think I’d ever see Doral again,” he told a rally audience in February 2016, referring to his course near the Miami airport. “I don’t ever think I’d see anything. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off.”

[Trump tweet about Obama golfing]

Trump tweet about Obama golfing

Twitter
It took less than two weeks before he broke that promise vs. Obama not playing his first round until he had been in office for about three months and Obama didn’t visit a course outside of the DC area until August 2009, seven months after his inauguration. One reason Trump has been able to play so much golf is that he inherited an economy that was in very good shape vs. Obama taking office in the teeth of the Great Recession.

As can be seen in the chart below from trumpgolfcount.com, Trump has played at least 88 rounds of golf since he became President, has likely played 139 and has visited golf courses over 193 days. These compare to Obama’s 76 outings over the same timeframe.

[Trump and Obama golf outings]

Trump and Obama golf outings

trumpgolfcount.com
TRUMP'S GOLF OUTINGS

Trump’s golf trips have almost exclusively been to his properties. Below is a breakdown of Trump’s visits.

Trump golf outings over 2 and a half years

-   1 of 193 outings were to the President’s Cup
-   2 of 193 outings were in Japan
-   3 of 193 outings were at Trump’s Ireland course
-   190 of 193 outings were to Trump’s golf properties
-   20 flights to Bedminster, New Jersey, to visit Trump’s course
-   24 flights to Mar-a-Lago

At his current pace Trump will visit his golf properties about 310 times and if he is re-elected it would 620.

[Air Force One]

Air Force One

Defense Visual Information Distribution Services, GAO-19-178
SO FAR TRUMP’S GOLF TRIPS HAVE COST AT LEAST $105 MILLION

Trump’s trips to his golf courses are very expensive and much more than Obama’s since Trump’s have been more frequent and usually requires Air Force One and all the accompanying security arraignments.

From a combination of an analysis from the HuffPost, the GAO or General Accounting Office, Politico and the Washington Post using costs from both Obama and Trump golf trips the estimated cost of Trump’s visits so far come to a range of $105 to $108 million. When you extrapolate the $105 million estimate to eight years, assuming Trump is re-elected, the total cost is over $340 million.

[GAO report on four visits to Mar-a-Lago by President Trump]

GAO report on four visits to Mar-a-Lago by President Trump

General Accounting Office
The GAO report estimated that just four of Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago cost:

-   $13.6 million
-   Do not “capture all of the total expenditures by the government”
-   Do not “include certain classified cost information”
-   $60,000 in expenses paid to Mar-a-Lago (there have been 24 so far)
-   Were not able to identify meals and incidental expenses, if any, that may have been incurred at the Mar-a-Lago club

[President's limo]

President's limo

Defense Visual Information Distribution Services, GAO-19-178
TO PUT $340 MILLION INTO PERSPECTIVE IT IS:

-   106 times Trump’s $400,000 salary over 8 years combined (which he is donating back to the government)
-   Almost twice the $190 million annual cost for the Peace Corps
-   $25 million more than the $315 million annual cost for the General Accounting Office
-   About 10 times the approximately $35 million cost of the Mueller investigation
-   But in reality Mueller’s team brought in more than it spent due to acquiring enough of Manafort’s assets to more than pay the full cost

[Chuck Jones]

I provide independent research of technology companies and was previously one of two analysts that determined the technology holdings for Atlantic Trust (Invesco's high

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question: What does the article say about President Trump's golf-related spending during his time in office?

answer: The article points out Trump's campaign promise of not golfing, unlike Obama, because he'd be too busy. However, his golf trips began a lot earlier than Obama's into his term (three months for Trump versus seven for Obama). Also, Trump's visits are a lot more frequent than Obama's. This means that the costs associated with his golfing are quite sizeable too. The current estimates are at $103 to $108 million so far, which doesn't capture all potential spending. If Trump is re-elected, his expected golf spending through his term is $340 million, which is twice the annual cost of Peace Corps, more than the annual cost of the General Accounting Office, and around 10 times the cost of the Mueller investigation.

question: What does the article say about how to hit a golf ball as well as a POTUS?


text:
Last night I felt very very sick. My tummy hurt and no matter how much water I drank I always felt so thirsty. I crawled into bed with my mommy so I could snuggle on her and cry, but I guess I was crying too loud because she picked me up and sat me outside her bedroom and closed the door. So I curled up where she set me down, and cried all night with no sleep. I woke up in the morning and saw my mom getting ready for work. I walked up to her and let her know how bad my tummy was hurting and how sick I felt. As she held me in her arms, she made a few phone calls and I heard the word "vet" mentioned.

She walked into the kitchen where my daddy was making breakfast and told him she was taking the day off to make sure I was okay. She started getting out breakfast for me and my sister. I was feeling really sick and grumpy, and I snapped and hissed and growled at my sister.Mommy was mad at me for doing that and locked me in the bathroom. After a few minutes she came in to check on me. I could tell she was mad, but all I could focus on was how bad my tummy hurt. I don't think Mommy understood, but she listened to me and within a few minutes she had me crated and ready to visit my doctor.

The doctor is such a scary place, but mommy and daddy were there so I felt safe. Lady Doctor came in to the little room and started petting me all over and looking in my mouth. She told mommy and daddy that I would need to stay for a couple more hours so she could run some tests. I saw mommy and daddy freeze, and look at each other sad and scared. After giving me pets and kisses, they left for what felt like forever. Lady Doctor stuck needles into me but it didn't hurt that bad. I was mostly just scared and wanted to go home.

When mommy and daddy finally came back, Lady Doctor talked to them. I could tell something was wrong because mommy and daddy were crying. They put me back into my crate and took me home. My parents were so sad. Mommy was crying all day, and I felt way too sick to try and make her feel better. I always could make her happy when she was sad, but But my mommy is so amazing,and even though she was really sad but today my tummy hurt too bad. I could tell she didn't mind too bad because she made me a plate of bacon all for me. Bacon is my absolute favoritest treat in the whole world. She seemed to know I was very very thirsty and she put water bowls in all of my favorite spots to lay down. Mommy and Daddy's friends came over to visit me. They seemed really sad too, but I couldn't help but feel loved as they gave me pets and kisses. I was the center of everyone's attention and loved it.

Mommy and Daddy stayed up all night hanging out with me, kissing me all over. They were actually being kind of annoying and waking me up from my sleep. But I could tell they just needed my love, so I flipped over and showed them my belly like they always loved.

In the morning, mommy and daddy gave me lots of snuggles. They made phone calls to someone saying they couldn't do something. They took lots and lots of pictures of me and even cut some of my fluffiest hair. They both gave me more kisses than I knew what to do with, and left the house for somewhere with me resting on my favorite tower feeling happy. My tower is next to the window, and I saw them taking pictures of me with the sun on my face. I love the sun, I love laying in its warmth by the window, it's my favorite. I'm so tired but my tummy hurts too bad for me to sleep.

Then something weird happened. Grandpa came over and put me in my crate. He brought me to a different Doctor. It was cold and smelled scary. I wanted my parents but was happy grandpa was there to pet me. The vet gave me some shots and suddenly I started to feel really really cold. Grandpa kept kissing me and calling me a good kitty. He was crying too, and I had never seen grandpa cry before. It was getting dark and hard to see, But my tummy didn't hurt anymore.

I was getting really sleepy, and I couldn't help but remember the first day I met mommy. She was a lot smaller than she is now. She was so happy to see me and take me home. From that day on we were bestest friends. Thinking about that made me all my cold spots get switched up with warm. Sleepily, I remembered the first time I met daddy, too. That wasn't so long ago at all, but daddy quickly became my favoritest person ever. It's getting harder and harder to think now. My tummy stopped hurting though. Now I can finally go to sleep.

&#x200B;

Thanks for reading!

title: [RF] Bestest Friends

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: It seems to be a cat or a dog. The information about the tower means a cat is more likely.

question: Why were the caretakers of the narrator crying?

answer: They probably learned that the narrator's condition is fatal, and she needs to be euthanized.

question: What happened to the narrator?

answer: The final vet seems to have euthanized her.

question: What is the narrator's favorite treat?

answer: Bacon.

question: Write a ~9 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator [probably a cat] feels very sick with a tummy ache, always feeling thirsty. She gets the attention of Mommy, who takes her to the vet. After a few hours, Mommy and Daddy come back to take her home. It's clear that they are very sad. The narrator can't make them happy because of her tummy ache. They take a lot of pictures with her on her favorite tower. The next day, Grandpa takes her to another, more scary vet. The doctor sticks a needle and soon the ache goes away. It gets difficult to think, and she goes to sleep.


text:
PIERRE BENVENISTE, born on 22 December 1937 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, is a French researcher in plant biochemistry and professor at the University of Strasbourg.[1]

Biography

Pierre Benveniste is a former student of the European School of Chemistry in Strasbourg (present name) (1962). After a PhD (Use of tissue cultures for the study of natural products) carried out under the direction of Professors Léon Hirth and Guy Ourisson and obtained in 1967, he turned his attention to the study of sterol biosynthesis in plants. In charge of research at the CNRS until 1970, he was appointed lecturer in 1970 and then professor in 1975 at the University of Strasbourg. He first became director of the ERA n° 487 of the CNRS then director of the isoprenoids department of the Institute of Plant Molecular Biology (IBMP) of the CNRS. from 1999 to 2002.

Pierre Benveniste is the author of numerous scientific publications, 112 in peer-reviewed journals.[2]

His research work ceased in 2005 due to his retirement and he is now an honorary professor at the University of Strasbourg.

Scientific contributions

Pierre Benveniste's work is carried out in the field of biosynthesis, metabolism and sterol function in plants. The latter, unlike cholesterol, are alkylated in position 24 and are the precursors of plant steroid hormones, the brassinolides. Studies carried out in his laboratory show that these sterols are structuring agents of plant cell membranes and in particular of the plasma membrane.[3] Between 1963 and 1987, sterol biosynthesis was studied by radiochemical methods, enzymology and the use of inhibitors, analogues of transition states involved in the catalysis of target enzymes.[4] The results obtained revealed an original biosynthetic pathway leading to sterols in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In the latter, cycloartenol, a pentacyclic triterpene, a product of the cyclisation of squalene epoxide, is a major biosynthetic intermediate, whereas the same role is played by lanosterol, a tetracyclic triterpene, in non-photosynthetic eukaryotes (fungi, vertebrates).[5] The particularities of this biosynthetic pathway could influence plant-insect relationships.[6]

The team joined IBMP in 1989. Using genetics and molecular biology in support of previous methods, cDNA clones encoding biosynthetic enzymes were isolated and characterized for the first time. Mutants affected in sterol biosynthesis, site1 mutant defective in Δ7 sterol-C5-desaturase, sterov mutant overproducing sterols[7] [8] were isolated, transformed plants with gain or loss of function were selected and identified. Advances in the knowledge of the regulation of the biosynthesis of sterols and their derivatives (esters, glucosides) as well as their functions have been obtained.[9] Work focused on three enzyme systems: epoxide of squalene triterpene synthase,[10] sterols C24 and C241 methyltransferases and Δ7 sterol-C5-desaturase.

The results show for the first time that in Arabidopsis and all higher plants there are two gene subfamilies: SMT1 and SMT2 coding for methyltransferases involved in the methylation reactions leading to the formation of 24-methyl and 24-ethyl cholesterols.[11] The overexpression or cosuppression of SMT2 in tobacco or Arabidopsis lines has a profound impact on the relative proportions of 24-methyl and 24-ethyl cholesterol. In particular SMT2 plays a crucial role in adjusting the campesterol/sitosterol ratio to the value required for membrane integrity and balanced growth.[12][13]

An Arabidopsis mutant has been isolated that contains mainly Δ7-sterols instead of the normal Δ5-sterols, and has a defect in the gene (STE1) encoding Δ7-sterol-C5(6)-desaturase. Subsequent work allowed the isolation and molecular characterization of the mutated STE1 allele. It was thus shown that the corresponding protein has an isoleucine instead of a threonine at position 114 and that this change resulted in a considerable decrease in enzyme activity. Directed mutagenesis work confirmed that T114 plays a particularly important role since its replacement with isoleucine results in a loss of function while its replacement with serine results in a considerable gain in function (Vmax multiplied by 28).[14][15]

Other work has focused on the molecular characterization of the sterov tobacco mutant, a sterol overproducer.[16] The results obtained show that the sterov mutation affects the activity of Hydroxy-Methyl-Glutaryl-CoA reductase, which is strongly stimulated in the mutant. More recent work highlights the importance of sterol esterification in this mutant. In this mutant, excess sterols are found in the form of sterol esters which accumulate dramatically in lipid globules. The work carried out shows that the plants have the originality of carrying out the cellular esterification of sterols by an enzyme (of LCAT type, lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase) different from that (of ACAT type, acylCoA cholesterol acyltransferase) operating in animals and fungi.[17][18]

The avenues opened up during this work, summarized in a review article,[19] were pursued after Pierre Benveniste's retirement in 2005 by researchers at the CNRS Plant Molecular Biology Institute (and other teams abroad) and now provide a better understanding of the role of sterols and their derivatives in various vital plant processes such as embryonic development, cell division, auxin transport, membrane flux and reflux, secretion of suberin, a major constituent of epidermis, and leaf senescence.

Awards and Honours

Prix Roussel, 1982.

Corresponding member of the French Academy of sciences, 1983.[20]

Commandeur of the Palmes académiques, October 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3] Isabelle Schuller, Alain Milon, Yoichi Nakatani, Guy Ourisson, Anne-Marie Albrecht, Pierre Benveniste et Marie-Andrée Hartmann, « Differential effects of plant sterols on water permeability and on acyl chain ordering of soybean phosphatidyl choline bilayers », _Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA_, 88,1991, p. 6926-6930

[4] Alain Rahier, Jean-Claude Genot, Francis Schuber, Pierre Benveniste and Acharan Narula, « Inhibition of S-adenosyl-L-methionine sterol-C-24-methyltransferase by analogues of a carbocationic ion high energy intermediate. Structure activity relationships for C-25 heteroatoms (N, As, S) substituted triterpenoid derivatives », _J. Biol. Chem._, 259, 1984, p. 15215-15223

[5] Pierre Benveniste, Léon Hirth et Guy Ourisson, « La biosynthèse des stérols dans les tissus de Tabac cultivés in vitro. I. Isolement de stérols et de triterpènes », _Phytochemistry_, 5, 1966, p. 31-44

[6] Marie F. Costet, Mostafa El Achouri, Maurice Charlet, René Lanot, Pierre Benveniste and Jules A. Hoffmann, « Ecdysteroid biosynthesis and embryonic development are disturbed in insects (Locusta migratoria) reared on plant diet (Triticum sativum) with a selectively modified sterol profile », _Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA_, 84, 1987, p. 643-647

[7] Laurence Gondet, Roberte Bronner and Pierre Benveniste, « Regulation of sterol content in membranes by subcellular compartmentation of steryl esters accumulating in a sterol-overproducing tobacco mutant », _Plant Physiol._, 105, 1994, p. 509-518

[8] Daniel Gachotte, Roger Méens and Pierre Benveniste, « Isolation and characterization of an Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA encoding a delta 7-sterol-C-5-desaturase by functional complementation of a defective yeast mutant », _The Plant Journal_, 8, 1995, p. 407-413

[9] Pascaline Ullmann, Pierrette Bouvier-Navé et Pierre Benveniste, « Regulation by phospholipids and kinetic studies of plant membrane-bound UDP-glucose sterol ß-D-glucosyltransferase », _Plant Physiol._, 85, 1987, p. 51-55

[10] Tania Husselstein-Muller, Hubert Schaller, and Pierre Benveniste, « Molecular cloning and expression in yeast of 2,3-oxidosqualene-triterpenoid cyclases from Arabidopsis thaliana », _Plant Mol. Biol._, 45, 2001, p. 75-92

[11] Bouvier-Navé, P., Husselstein, T. et Benveniste P., « Two families of sterol methyltransferases are involved in the first and the second methylation steps of plant sterol biosynthesis. », _Eur J Biochem_, 1998, 256, p. 88-96

[12] Schaller, H., Bouvier-Navé, P. et Benveniste, P., « Overexpression of an Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. cDNA encoding a sterol-C241-methyltransferase in Nicotiana tabacum L. Modifies the ratio of 24-methyl cholesterol to sitosterol and is associated with growth reduction », _Plant Physiol._, 118, 1998, p. 461-469

[13] Schaeffer, A., Bronner, R., Benveniste, P. et Schaller, H., « The ratio of campesterol to sitosterol with modulates growth in Arabidopsis is controlled by Sterol Methyltranferase 2-1 », _Plant J._, 25, 2001, p. 605-615

[14] Husselstein, T., Schaller, H., Gachotte, D. et Benveniste, P., « Δ7-sterol-C5-desaturase molecular characterization and functional expression of wild type and mutant alleles », _Plant Mol Biol_, 39, 2001, p. 891-906

[15] Taton, M., Husselstein, T., Benveniste, P. et Rahier, A., « Role of highly conserved residues in the reaction catalyzed by recombinant Δ7-sterol-C5(6)-desaturase studied by site-directed mutagenesis », _Biochemistry_, 39, 2000, p. 701-711

[16]

[17] Bouvier-Navé, P., Benveniste, P., Oelkers, P., Sturley, S.L. et Schaller, H., « Expression in yeast and tobacco of plant cDNAs encoding acyl CoA: diacylglycerol acyltransferase », _Eur J Biochem_, 267, 2000, p. 85-96

[18] Banas A, Carlsson AS, Huang B, Lenman M, Banas W, Lee M, Noiriel A, Benveniste P, Schaller H, Bouvier-Nave P, Stymne S., « Cellular Sterol Ester Synthesis in Plants Is Performed by an Enzyme (Phospholipid:Sterol Acyltransferase) Different from the Yeast and Mammalian Acyl-CoA:Sterol Acyltransferases », _J Biol Chem._, 280, 2005, p. 34626-34634

[19] P. Benveniste, « Biosynthesis and accumulation of sterols », _Annu Rev Plant Biol._, 55, 2004, p. 429-57

[20]

title: Pierre Benveniste

question: What does the article say about events that occured during the 1980s aside from publications?

answer: Up until 1987, sterol biosynthesis was studied by radiochemical methods, enzymology, and the use of inhibitors. The team joined IBMP in 1989. Pierre won the Prix Roussel in 1982 and Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1983.

question: What does the article say about Pierre's personal life?

question: What does the article say about negative events?


text:
RAYMOND HORROCKS CBE (9 January 1930 - 15 July 2011)[1] was a businessman from Lancashire, and a chief executive of British Leyland (BL) through the turbulent late 1970s and early 1980s.

Early life

He attended Bolton Municipal Secondary School (Bolton County Grammar School from 1947, now known as Bolton St Catherine's Academy).

Career

From 1944-50 he worked in the Lancashire textile industry. From 1948-50 he completed his National Service with the Intelligence Corps.

From 1953-58 he was a merchandiser for M&S.

Ford

From 1963-72 he worked for Ford of Britain, later becoming a director of Europe and the Middle East (Ford of Europe).

British Leyland

He joined BL in 1978 being head hunted by the new chairman Michael Edwardes.[2] He was managing director from 1980-81 of BL Cars, becoming chairman and chief executive from 1981-82.

On 1 October 1982, BL was restructured into two main divisions[3], and from 1982-86 he was group chief executive of BL (Cars).[4] He left BL at the end of April 1986 and was critical of the government's handling of the proposed privatisation.[5]

Personal life

He married Pamela Russell in 1953; they had three daughters. He was awarded the CBE in the 1983 Birthday Honours. He lived in Pangbourne.

[1] Companies House

[2]

[3] _The British Motor Industry, 1945-94: A Case Study in Industrial Decline_, page 366

[4] _Industrial Policy and the Motor Industry_, page 210

[5]

title: Ray Horrocks

question: What year was Raymond Horrocks born?

answer: 1930.

question: Where was he from?

answer: Lancashire.

question: During which years did he complete his National Service with the Intelligence Corps?

answer: 1944-1950.

question: Who was his wife?

answer: Pamela Russell.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Raymond Horrocks CBE was a businessman from Lancashire, and a chief executive of British Leyland (BL) through the turbulent late 1970s and early 1980s.


text:
News Analysis

[Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel condemned on Friday a preliminary accord between Iran and Western powers.]

Credit...Kobi Gideon/Israeli Government, via Associated Press

-   April 3, 2015
-

JERUSALEM — It took President Obama two days to call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel after his March 17 electoral victory, and any congratulations were couched in an excoriation of Mr. Netanyahu’s hawkish and divisive campaign rhetoric.

It took Mr. Obama about two hours to call Mr. Netanyahu after Thursday’s announcement of a framework agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, and this time it was the Israeli leader who lectured the American that the emerging deal “would threaten the survival” of his state. The White House account of the call was conciliatory: The president promised to increase security consultations and cooperation with Israel to “remain vigilant in countering Iran’s threats.”

The relationship between the two leaders, and their nations, has always been asymmetrical: The United States is the world’s sole superpower, Israel a small country in a volatile neighborhood. But while Mr. Obama’s promised reassessment of Washington’s longstanding protection of Israel in the United Nations flexes that larger muscle, Mr. Netanyahu is now in a powerful position to undermine the Iran nuclear deal, his counterpart’s signature foreign policy initiative.

How fiercely Israel fights the deal, particularly in Congress, could have broad implications for the strained alliance and the Middle East peace process.

“Ironically, just because of this deal, there is a chance that the Americans will try to compensate Israel somehow if we stop fighting against this deal, and we should exploit it in a smart way,” Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser, said in an interview Friday, noting that Mr. Obama “rushed to call” Mr. Netanyahu and “tried to be as nice as he could.”

Mr. Eiland was one of several Israeli analysts who said the emphasis should turn to strengthening the verification procedures in the deal and clarifying the consequences if Iran violates it. “If Netanyahu chooses this option, at least we can gain some other benefits from the situation rather than to continue to blame and to undermine,” he said. “The time has come to make a real reassessment in regard to the Israel-American relationship.”

Though Israeli and American officials have long denied any link between the Iranian and Palestinian issues, the two are playing out simultaneously. In the coming weeks, as Congress reviews the deal and considers further sanctions, France plans to introduce a United Nations Security Council resolution regarding Palestinian statehood. It is not hard to imagine Mr. Obama vowing to block it if Mr. Netanyahu lowers the volume on Capitol Hill.

At the same time, Mr. Netanyahu must assemble a new governing coalition, and the Iran deal could put new momentum behind the idea of a unity government with his center-left rival, something Washington might favor.

Mr. Netanyahu on Friday introduced a new demand for the nuclear negotiations, saying the final agreement must “include a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist.” As he has several times this week, he noted an Iranian general’s recent declaration that “the destruction of Israel is nonnegotiable,” and said, “I want to make clear to all: The survival of Israel is nonnegotiable.”

“Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period,” he said. “Some say the only alternative to this bad deal is war. That’s not true. There is a third alternative — standing firm, increasing the pressure on Iran until a good deal is achieved.”

The statement, issued in English and Hebrew shortly before the beginning of the Passover holiday, followed a special three-hour session of Israel’s security cabinet, which Mr. Netanyahu said was “united in strongly opposing the proposed deal.” It did not mention Congress or hint at the prime minister’s strategy.

Dore Gold, a former foreign policy adviser to Mr. Netanyahu who remains in his inner circle, said Friday that “it’s not for Israel to get into legislation” in Congress, but that the world powers negotiating a final deal by June 30 “include parliamentary democracies” and “an active press corps in all countries.”

Opponents of the deal in Israel and the United States have been emphasizing what they view as Iran’s expansionary meddling in Iraq, Syria and Yemen as another reason not to trust it. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based policy institute that has been critical of the emerging nuclear deal, said Friday that it could “further supercharge Iranian aggression in the region” and encourage Iran’s Sunni Arab adversaries to develop nuclear capabilities.

“This is a battle for ideas, and Israel will have to put forth its arguments,” said Mr. Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and president of the Jerusalem Council on Public Affairs. “We’re past the elections now in both countries. Everybody is making their case, their point. If the final agreement reflects what’s in this framework, we’re talking about something that is nothing less than a historical error.”

Mr. Gold said the framework’s provisions allowing Iran to keep much of its nuclear infrastructure intact, in light of what he called Iran’s history of violating international agreements, was a primary concern.

But several Israeli commentators said Friday that the deal looked better than expected, noting that even if it only delays Iran from producing a nuclear weapon by its decade-long duration, that is far longer than what an Israeli or American military strike could achieve.

“Even Israel could learn to live with it,” wrote Ron Ben-Yishai, a security analyst for the news site Ynet. “Put simply, Obama is offering an olive branch to Netanyahu in an attempt to cooperate on the design of the final agreement over the next three months. The Israeli government should warmly embrace the offer without batting an eye.”

Video

transcript

transcript

What’s at Stake in the Iran Negotiations

Can the West trust Iran? Can Iran trust the West? A look at the bet each side is making in the nuclear talks, along with the challenges and risks that they face.

    TK

[Video player loading]

Can the West trust Iran? Can Iran trust the West? A look at the bet each side is making in the nuclear talks, along with the challenges and risks that they face.
Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, described Israel’s crusade against the deal as “a resounding failure,” writing, “As the clash between Netanyahu and Obama on the Iranian issue heightened, Israel’s influence on the course of the negotiations and its outcome lessened.”

“The dilemma that Netanyahu faces today is not an easy one. He can push the leaders of the Republican majority in the two houses of Congress to try to torpedo the agreement,” Mr. Barnea said. “It is doubtful whether doing this would achieve its purpose.”

But Emily Landau, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Israel’s campaign in recent months had succeeded, at least, in preventing critics of the deal from being marginalized as “warmongers or idiots.” Ms. Landau was one of many in Israel who opposed Mr. Netanyahu’s speech in Congress last month against White House wishes, but she said that it helped reframe the debate in newspaper editorials and foreign policy institutes.

“If you look at very serious analysts at the unofficial levels, you see them coming together with the same interpretations, whether they sit in America or France,” she said Friday. “It’s not just Israel is out of step with the international community — we’re past that. If the Obama administration tries to continue with that line, it’s getting old and stale. There’s a need to confront the serious and important criticism that a lot of knowledgeable people have.”

For Ms. Landau, that criticism starts with how Iranian violations of the agreement would be detected, who would determine if such violations warranted confrontation and who would “take action if it’s deemed necessary to take action that goes beyond the sanctions.”

The situation reminded Mr. Eiland, the former Israeli national security adviser, of an Old Testament tale in which King David fasts for seven days after Batsheva bears him a very sick son. Once the baby dies, the king asks for something to eat, explaining, in the book of Samuel: “Why should I fast? I can’t bring him back to life.”

Israel should say to the Americans, “We understand this is a fait accompli, it is something that cannot be reversed,” Mr. Eiland said. “Let’s try to solve other problems we have. Don’t push us to the corner in the Palestinian arena, make sure you’re not going to be against us in the U.N. Let’s try to improve what can be improved, let’s stop fighting because this specific game is over.”

question: Summarize everything relating to heads of state.

answer: It took President Obama two days to call Prime Minister Netanyahu of Isreal after his electoral victory but only two hours to call him after the announcement of a framework to curb Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu is in a position to undermine the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu introduced a new demand for nuclear negotiations. Dore Gold remains in Netanyahu's inner circle.

question: What does the article say about the Trump administration?


text:
Razed to the ground: Shocking before-and-after images reveal scale of destruction caused by fires sweeping through Colorado

-   32,000 evacuated from Colorado Springs including Air Force Academy cadets as inferno spread
-   About 300 homes reportedly destroyed in Waldo Canyon Fire, which has been named the No. 1 priority for emergency crews
-   Obama to tour the disaster-stricken area on Friday to meet firefighters working around the clock

 Published: 15:43 EST, 27 June 2012 | Updated: 00:34 EST, 29 June 2012

Advertisement

Photos of the heartbreaking devastation of the wildfires that have ravaged Colorado in the last several days have revealed piles of rubble where houses once stood before the flames engulfed the region, leaving more than 30,000 people homeless.

The photos revealed the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, where dozens of homes can be seen decimated by the fast-moving fire.

The raging wildfire that has encroached on the state's second-largest city and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Mayor Steve Bach said a more accurate account will be available later in the day of the damage from a blaze that has burned out of control for much of the week and forced more than 30,000 evacuees to frantically pack up belongings and flee.

Scroll down for video

[Before]

[After]

Before and after: The devastating Colorado wildfire can be seen in two overhead images in the Colorado Springs neighbourhood of Mountain Shadows

[Whole streets of house have been razed to the ground by the fire in the Colorado Springs neighbourhood of Mountain Shadows]

Whole streets of house have been razed to the ground by the fire in the Colorado Springs neighbourhood of Mountain Shadows

[Watching it burn: Distraught residents stand helplessly as high winds push the Waldo Canyon Fire into the Garden of the Gods and Mountain Shadows neighborhoods in Colorado Springs]

Watching it burn: Distraught residents stand helplessly as high winds push the Waldo Canyon Fire into the Garden of the Gods and Mountain Shadows neighborhoods in Colorado Springs

Heavy smoke and ash billowed down the mountain from the Waldo Canyon Fire, which is top priority for the nation's firefighters. Jeffrey Lucas, who has lived in the area all his life, said his family home had burned to the ground.

The 23-year-old told the Denver Post: 'The fire was literally coming down the hill as all of us were running to grab things out of the house and get out of there.'

He added that there were no calls from police and they had seen how close the fire was getting from watching news reports on TV. The family watched their home catch fire just 30 minutes after they escaped.

Their home was one of about 300 that are believed to have been destroyed in the Waldo Canyon blaze, the Post reported.

Ted Stefani told the Post that he found out his five-bedroom home was gone when he saw it consumed by flames in a photo on the front page of the newspaper.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown and local authorities said Thursday that conditions are too dangerous for any such investigation to begin.

[Some of the hundreds of totally destroyed homes are seen in the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs]

Some of the hundreds of totally destroyed homes are seen in the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs

[Devastation: Winds have pushed the Waldo Canyon fire into the foothills neighborhoods west of Colorado Springs, Colorado]

Devastation: Winds have pushed the Waldo Canyon fire into the foothills neighborhoods west of Colorado Springs, Colorado

[Cooler temperatures and lighter winds helped firefighters on Thursday in the battle against the fire, which has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced more than 35,000 people to flee]

Cooler temperatures and lighter winds helped firefighters on Thursday in the battle against the fire, which has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced more than 35,000 people to flee

[This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs]

This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs

El Paso County sheriff's Lt Jeff Kramer said that U.S. Forest Service agents are waiting for firefighting commanders to tell them when it's safe to enter the burned area.

The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced the closure of a portion of Zion National Park.

Colorado's Thursday weather forecast offered some hope for progress, with the temperature expected to reach into the mid-80s - about 5 degrees cooler than Wednesday - and humidity 15 to 20 percent, about 5 percentage points higher.

Winds were forecast to be 10 to 15 mph out of the west.

'It's not windy yet this morning. That's always a good sign,' fire information officer Rob Dyerberg said Thursday.

[Neighborhood inferno: The Waldo Canyon Fire engulfs an entire neighborhood in the foothills of Colorado Springs as temperatures of more than 100 degrees only served to fuel the flames]

Neighborhood inferno: The Waldo Canyon Fire engulfs an entire neighborhood in the foothills of Colorado Springs as temperatures of more than 100 degrees only served to fuel the flames

[Aerial firefight: A helicopter drops water over Queens Canyon, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, while fighting the Waldo Canyon fire]

Aerial firefight: A helicopter drops water over Queens Canyon, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, while fighting the Waldo Canyon fire

Neighborhoods where explosions of bright orange flame Tuesday signaled yet another house had been claimed were still dangerous, keeping authorities away from being to assess the damage.

An AP aerial photo taken Wednesday of one neighborhood showed hundreds of heavily damaged or destroyed homes.

Ed and Florine Gigandet took refuge in a hotel in Manitou Springs, which days earlier had been evacuated when the same fire passed through. They fled their home as ash fell on their driveway from an ominous orange smoke overhead.

Trying to learn about damage, the Gigandets drove to near their west Colorado Springs neighborhood to talk to police officers and see the area.

They scoured media photos and spent hours on the phone with friends for any scrap of information. Authorities told the Gigandets it could be at least week before they're allowed home.

[Run for your life: Smoke and ash billowed down the hill from the Waldo Canyon wildfire causing 32,000 residents to be evacuated]

Run for your life: Smoke and ash billowed down the hill from the Waldo Canyon wildfire causing 32,000 residents to be evacuated

[Courage under fire: Firefighters struggle to get close to the blaze (left) while evacuated residents wait anxiously for news of their homes]

[Courage under fire: Firefighters struggle to get close to the blaze (left) while evacuated residents wait anxiously for news of their homes]

Courage under fire: Firefighters struggle to get close to the blaze (left) while evacuated residents wait anxiously for news of their homes

[Neighbourhood ravaged: Smoke rises over the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, Colorado, after the Waldo Canyon fire blazed through the area]

Neighbourhood ravaged: Smoke rises over the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, Colorado, after the Waldo Canyon fire blazed through the area

'We only packed clothes for four days,' Florine Gigandet, 83, a retired photo printer, said. 'I really thought that we'd be gone for only a day.'

The displaced residents took stock of what they left behind. Some sat in coffee shops, others stood on bluffs to keep an eye on their neighborhoods, and others met with insurance company representatives.

The fire moved so fast that Laura Oldland grabbed damp laundry out of her drier and threw it into a suitcase. But she forgot her grandmother's dishes.

The Gigandets, avid golfers, left their clubs behind. 'We should be out golfing,' said Ed Gigandet, 81, a retired mining machinery sales analyst.

[Destruction: A residential area party destroyed by the Colorado wildfires is seen from this aerial photo]

Destruction: A residential area party destroyed by the Colorado wildfires is seen from this aerial photo

Meanwhile, the White House said President Obama will tour fire-stricken areas of Colorado on Friday and thank firefighters battling some of the worst fires to hit the American West in decades.

The president phoned Gov John Hickenlooper yesterday to pledge his support and resources for the firefight, and said that both that his thoughts and prayers are with responders and families impacted by the fires, according to a statement from the White House.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said Obama's visit to Colorado, considered a key battleground state in the presidential election, would not tax the city's already-strained police force.

[Quenching: A Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130 drops fire retardant on a section of the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs]

Quenching: A Modular Airborne Firefighting System-equipped C-130 drops fire retardant on a section of the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs

Gov Hickenlooper said he expected the president might sign a disaster declaration that would allow for more federal aid.

The fire blackened up to 50 acres along the southwest boundary of the Air Force Academy campus, said Anne Rys-Sikora, a spokeswoman for the firefighters. No injuries or damage to structures - including the iconic Cadet Chapel - were reported.

Fort Carson, an Army infantry post about 15 miles from the academy, sent 120 soldiers along with bulldozers and other heavy equipment to help clear a line to stop the fire on the academy.

[Fleeing: Tayor Salamon, 11, holds on to his dog as they pile in the back seat and his family rushes to leave their home in Colorado Springs]

Fleeing: Tayor Salamon, 11, holds on to his dog as they pile in the back seat and his family rushes to leave their home in Colorado Springs

[A time to cry: Robert Garcia consoles his wife Margaret as they watch the Waldo Canyon Fire; The Garcias were evacuated yesterday and were trying today to see if their home were damaged]

A time to cry: Robert Garcia consoles his wife Margaret as they watch the Waldo Canyon Fire; The Garcias were evacuated yesterday and were trying today to see if their home were damaged

[Fire]

Gone with the wind: High winds push the Waldo Canyon Fire into the Garden of the Gods and Mountain Shadows neighborhoods in Colorado Springs, Colorado; three men capture the destruction with cameras and mobile phones

[Smoke]

Gusty: Two men survey the smoke from the top of a rocky hill as wind blows the thick smoke through the air

Rys-Sikora said the academy was not getting a disproportionate share of equipment and firefighters.

'It's not lopsided,' she said.

Late Wednesday night, Air Force Academy officials announced they were relocating about 550 cadets off academy grounds.

About 200 cadets in summer academics were being moved to the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and 350 others in airmanship and other training programs were released to local sponsor families, the school said.

The cadet area isn't immediately threatened, and an incoming class of more than 1,000 is still scheduled to arrive Thursday.

The full scope of the fire remained unknown. So intense were the flames and so thick the smoke that rescue workers weren't able to tell residents which structures were destroyed and which ones were still standing.

[Up in flames: An entire neighborhood burns near the foothills of Colorado Springs, Colo. on Tuesday, June 26]

Up in flames: This June 26th photo shows an entire neighborhood in flames near the foothills of Colorado Springs, Colo. The fire is now reported to be 90 per cent contained

[Watching as Rome burns: A man outside of Colorado Springs observes the blanket of smoke billowing out from Colorado Springs]

Watching as Rome burns: A man outside of Colorado Springs observes the blanket of smoke billowing out from Colorado Springs

[Susan Custer wears a mask as she checks on her sister's home]      [wildfires in colorado - woman in tears]

Different forms of devastation: Left, Susan Custer wears a mask as she checks on her sister's home, and right, a girl wipes away tears

Indeed, authorities were too busy Wednesday struggling to save homes in near-zero visibility to count how many had been destroyed in what is the latest test for a drought-parched and tinder-dry state.

At one point, a team assessing the damage had to leave charred neighborhoods because of smoke and fire danger.

FBI officials are present and have said they were investigating the cause of the blaze.

In addition to the some 30,000 evacuees, about 3,000 more people were evacuated to the west of the fire, Teller County authorities said Wednesday, and Teller County courts were closed through Thursday.

The Red Cross was accommodating victims at its shelters, with space enough for perhaps 2,500 people. Most evacuees were staying with family and friends.

Crews also were battling a deadly and destructive wildfire in northern Colorado and another that flared Tuesday night near Boulder.

Colorado wasn't the only state affected by fire, as several burned throughout the parched West.

[Hard day's night: A Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopter drops slurry on a hot spot at the Waldo Canyon Fire]

Hard day's night: A Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopter drops slurry on a hot spot at the Waldo Canyon Fire

[Seen from space: The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on June 26; Smoke trails mark the locations of actively burning fires]

Seen from space: The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on June 26; Smoke trails mark the locations of actively burning fires

[What's left: Homes burned by the Waldo Canyon Fire are seen today; Fire-fighters struggled against a wildfire at the edge of Colorado Springs that doubled in size overnight and has forced 32,000 people from their homes]

What's left: Homes burned by the Waldo Canyon Fire are seen today; Fire-fighters struggled against a wildfire at the edge of Colorado Springs that doubled in size overnight and has forced 32,000 people from their homes

VIDEO: Aeriel footage shows the size and extent of the spread of the fires

question: What does the story say about the people whose lives were endangered or disrupted by the fire in Colorado?

answer: Overall, about 32,000 people evacuated from Colorado Springs, and 300 homes were destroyed. Jeffrey Lucas, whose family home burned down, said they saw the fires come down the hill while escaping. Ed and Florine Gigandet, whose house was destroyed a few days ago when the fire passed through, went back to assess the damage, but the authorities said it would be at least another week before they are allowed back. Among the evacuees are 550 Air Force Academy cadets.

question: What does the article say about the official response to the fire?

answer: Firefighters are working around the clock to contain the fire and reduce damage. The damage assessment is ongoing and a more accurate one will be announced later, said Mayor Steve Bach. The fire went through many neighborhoods, and the people want to go back and see what happened to their homes. However, the officials say that it will be at least another week before people are allowed to go back to places the fire went through. Additionally, the cause of the fire is yet unknown. The officials say that the fire is too dangerous for now to investigate.

question: What does the text say about how to handle forest fires?