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How I survived heroin, a serial killer and losing all money - to play Glastonbury... at 68: Debbie Harry on her amazing career

 Published: 19:00 EST, 13 June 2014 | Updated: 19:00 EST, 13 June 2014

At 68, she’s still got the look and the voice that have kept Blondie on top since they burst on to the British punk scene in 1977. But, Debbie Harry tells Event, a lift from America’s most notorious serial killer almost ended her career before it started...

Debbie Harry is only a month shy of her 69th birthday. 'I can't tell you how strange it feels. When Blondie first made it big, I figured we could get five years out of it, maximum,' she said

She may be 68, but Debbie Harry’s famous cheekbones, blonde hair and pouty lips still spell sexy – loud and clear. She’s one of rock ’n’ roll’s great survivors, but her astonishing 40-year career with Blondie nearly ended before it began when she jumped into the back of a car driven by a serial killer.

‘It was the early Seventies, maybe 72. I was trying to get across town to a party. It was two or three o’clock in the morning and I was staggering around on huge platform shoes.

'This car kept circling around and some guy was offering me a ride. I kept refusing, but finally I took the ride because I couldn’t get a cab.

'I got in the car and the windows were all rolled up, except for a tiny crack. And this guy had an incredibly bad smell to him.

'I looked down at the door to crank open the window, and there were no door handles and no cranks. Then I started scanning the inside of the car and there was absolutely nothing.

'The inside of the car was completely stripped and the hair on the back of my neck just stood up.

'Fame didn't hit me all at once. It crept up on me,' said Debbie

'I wiggled my arm out the window and opened the door from the outside. I don’t know how I did it but I got out.

'He tried to stop me by stepping on the gas and spinning the car but it sort of helped me fling myself out. I fell out and nearly got run over by a cab.

'Afterwards I saw him on the news. Ted Bundy: responsible for at least 30 homicides. I could so easily have been one his earliest victims.’

She often thinks how much she would have missed out on.

 ‘I don’t take anything for granted. It’s now 40 years since we formed Blondie and every gig is special. Playing Glastonbury [on June 27] is more special than most.

'When we do an iconic show like that, I can’t help reflecting how far we’ve come as a band, all we’ve been through and all that’s yet to come. It’s been some trip.’

It’s hard to believe that Harry is only a month shy of her 69th birthday.

‘I can’t tell you how strange it feels,’ she says. ‘When Blondie first made it big, I figured we could get five years out of it, maximum. I had no idea it would turn into such a journey.’

She left suburban New Jersey in the mid-Sixties, and arrived in New York with vague dreams of stardom, but it would take her more than ten years to make a mark.

Pre-Blondie, she dabbled in painting, took a stab at singing in a folk-rock group and even worked for nine months as a Playboy bunny girl.

Along the way she dabbled in heroin. Her fortunes began to change in the spring of 1974, when she met guitarist Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend and creative partner in Blondie.

They emerged from the downtown New York punk scene, along with The Ramones and Talking Heads, but it would take four years for Blondie to make their international breakthrough with the album Parallel Lines, which spawned a slew of timeless hits including Heart Of Glass, Sunday Girl and Hanging On The Telephone.

‘Fame didn’t hit me all at once,’ she says. ‘It crept up on me. It was only when we first toured the UK in 1977 that I realised something was stirring.

'We were supporting Squeeze, who then had Jools Holland on keyboards. The first town we played was Bournemouth.

'I’d never travelled abroad, so that little seaside town seemed impossibly exotic to me. We had no idea we had any kind of following in the UK, so we were totally unprepared for the crazed reception we got.

'I hated looking in mirrors. I never saw myself the way others saw me,' said Debbie

'The energy coming from that crowd was like nothing I’d ever experienced. It was beyond my wildest imaginings.’

Was there a downside to being in a punk band?

 ‘Well, I could have done without the spitting at gigs. It was meant to be a compliment but I didn’t like it.

'I’d shout into the crowd, “Hey that stuff doesn’t go with my dress” and they’d stop. They may have been punks but they had manners.’

On the back of the band’s success, Debbie Harry became an instant icon, the Marilyn Monroe of punk. All the girls wanted to be her. All the boys wanted to get to know her. With her geometrical cheekbones, pouting lips and platinum blonde mane, she was impossible to ignore.

But Harry wasn’t just a pretty face. She possessed style and attitude in abundance. It made for an irresistible package.

When Andy Warhol decided to extend his portfolio of portraits of beautiful faces in the Eighties, Harry was a natural choice to follow Bardot, Marilyn and Jackie O.

Harry was single-minded and independent, very much her own woman. Without her example, it’s quite possible that the likes of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper would never have broken through to mainstream success.

The list of female performers who owe Harry a huge debt is legion, right through to contemporary superstars like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Lily Allen and Miley Cyrus.

‘I find it strange to be considered any kind of role model,’ says Harry.

‘I certainly wasn’t the first female singer to have an attitude and do my own thing. But there was definitely a shift around the time of punk and I was part of that shift.

'Along with Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux, I was changing the way women in bands were perceived. It was a whole new era and we were like warriors.

‘I wasn’t going to be told by my record company how to look. I didn’t have a stylist advising me what outfit would make an impact.

'I’d grown up with a fascination for movie stars like Bardot and Monroe, whose sexuality wasn’t manufactured in any way. That naturalness was appealing to me. And it worked. Even at the time I could see that the way I looked was crucial to the appeal of Blondie.

‘I think it’s great what the likes of Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus are doing. They take a lot of flak about how they present their sexuality – but we should cherish them, not criticise them.

'Nothing much has changed since the Seventies. These women need to shrug off the criticisms, as I did back in the day.

Debbie and Chris Stein were punk's coolest couple, their relationship rock solid

'The whole point of rock music is the forbidden fruit and the clandestine — that’s what excites youngsters, who want to express themselves and their sexuality. Sometimes they’re not allowed to.

‘I think Miley probably started out with a very, very young audience and she was an easy pill to swallow.

'Then suddenly she became this completely sexual being and unsettled a lot of people.

'But these women are strong and ambitious. They have something to say. They’re willing to challenge conformity. They’ll learn what I had to learn – that you need to risk some sort of emotional exposure and embarrassment if you put yourself on the line.’

Harry was born in Florida to parents who gave her up for adoption at three months, and she was raised by a New Jersey couple who ran a gift shop.

‘As an adopted child, my deep-rooted fear has always been abandonment. It’s always been scary for me to see people leave.

'Death is difficult to deal with. Over the years I’ve lost many great friends and fellow musicians. I would hope that we can turn our fears into something positive.

'Maybe fear gives us fortitude. Maybe pain forces us to change our lives in some way. But it’s never easy.’

I ask her whether being adopted had a profound effect on the direction her life took and she says, ‘If anything, I think it freed me up to become the person I wanted to be.

'I did consider tracking down my birth parents at one time, but it didn’t work out.

'In the U.S., it’s a legal minefield. I’m not sure how it affected me as a kid. I was an odd mix of things. I always had energy.

'Physically, I was something of a wild child, always running around, climbing trees, something of a tomboy.

'Underneath it all I was the oversensitive type. I wasn’t exactly a closet case. I didn’t scare the boys. They scared me.

'But when I became a teenager, boys didn’t scare me at all. I was ready for them. But I never considered myself pretty. I had this blonde hair, pale-blue eyes and these jutting cheekbones.

'I didn’t look like any other kids I grew up with and I felt very uncomfortable about my face. I hated looking in mirrors. I never saw myself the way others saw me.’

She and Chris Stein were punk’s coolest couple, their relationship rock solid. They clicked creatively, too, writing some of the greatest and most enduring songs of the era.

'Even at the time I could see that the way I looked was crucial to the appeal of Blondie,' said Debbie

At the turn of the Eighties, it seemed like they could only go from strength to strength. Then it all started to unravel.

During Blondie’s hit-making heyday, they dabbled with pop, rock, disco and reggae.

1981’s euphoric Rapture became the first song involving a rap to go to number one in the U.S. and the UK.

By the following year, however, the hits had started to dry up.

In 1982, Stein discovered that, despite dominating the charts worldwide for four years, the band were in dire financial straits, which they blamed on their manager.

 ‘I despise that person,’ Harry says flatly. ‘He treated me and the band despicably.

'In Blondie we were very bad at the business side and we lost a lot of money because of that. It was a hard lesson to learn.’

Worse was to come. In late 1982, during a Blondie tour to promote their sixth album, The Hunter, Stein collapsed after a show and was rushed into hospital.

He was eventually diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, an autoimmune disease. He was in hospital for months and didn’t fully recover for four years.

 During that time he was faithfully nursed by Harry, who also found time to explore a sporadically successful solo career and take on film roles.

‘People made a big deal out of the fact I took care of Chris when he was ill. But I was doing what anyone would do for someone they loved.

'It was a tough time generally. I made a few bad decisions around that time.

'My biggest regret of all is turning down the role of the blonde robot Pris in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The part eventually went to Daryl Hannah. My record company didn’t want me to take time out to do a movie. I shouldn’t have listened to them.’

It was during this time that she turned again to heroin.

‘Drugs were a social thing at that time,’ she would later say, ‘and I was a social person. I guess I was a part of that world.

‘I was absolutely a drug addict for a couple of years. It was a depressing time. Everything fell apart and I fell apart along with it.’

Officially, Stein and Harry split in 1989, partly because Stein wanted to settle down and have children.

Harry would later tell Kirsty Walk on Desert Island Discs, ‘Sometimes I regret not having kids. But I guess motherhood is not a way of survival for me as it is for many women.’

They reformed Blondie in 1997. Their latest album, Ghosts Of Download, has been greeted with ecstatic reviews.

In 1999, Stein married actress Barbara Sicuranza; Harry is godmother to their two children. She has since been in relationships with men and women, but none as meaningful or long-standing as that with Stein.

'My biggest dream as a kid was to carve out a niche for myself in some interesting, creative way... I never allowed life to become boring,' said Debbie (pictured with her iconic Warhol portrait)

When Stein’s name is mentioned, her face lights up.

‘He remains my best friend,’ she says. ‘He’s the most creative person I know, the most astute and the bravest. Nobody makes me laugh as much as Chris.’

Does she keep any Blondie mementos?

 ‘I wish I’d kept some of the outfits I wore on stage, but it never occurred to me at the time that I’d ever miss those things.

'The only object I really prize is the Andy Warhol portrait of me that hangs on the wall in my New York home.

'I sat for Warhol at The Factory in 1980. A little while later, my business manager suggested I buy the portrait. I got it at a reduced price. That would be the thing I’d grab en route to the exit.’

What is she most proud of?

 ‘I’m so proud of this band’s longevity. The fact that we’re still around I would put down to our dedication, stubbornness and idiocy. I might be approaching 70 but the energy is still there. I just pace myself more carefully these days.

‘My biggest dream as a kid was to carve out a niche for myself in some interesting, creative way.

'Growing up, that often seemed like a far-fetched fantasy. Through all the ups and all the downs, I maintained my sense of adventure.

'I never allowed life to become boring. And we never became a supper-club revival act – we are still playing gigs like Glastonbury.’

Blondie’s latest album ‘Ghosts Of Download’ and greatest hits ‘Blondie 4(O)-Ever’ are out now.

The band begin their UK tour at the Glastonbury Festival on June 27 and play O2 Academy Sheffield and London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, gigsandtours.com

question: Summarize Debbie Harry's early days until she became a rock star.

answer: Debbie Harry was born in Florida before being given up for adoption. She was later adopted by a couple in New Jersey. She dreamt of being a musician and left New Jersey for New York. She dabbled with painting, sang in a folk-rock group, and worked as a Playboy bunny girl for a while. Her luck changed when she met Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend and creative partner. They formed a band named Blondie and began performing in New York. This led to several hits that made the group famous internationally.

question: What made Debbie fall for Chris Stein?


split: test

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FORREST COUNTY is located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 74,934.[1] Its county seat and largest city is Hattiesburg.[2] The county was created from Perry County in 1908 and named in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Forrest County is part of the Hattiesburg, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

[An early map of Mississippi (c. 1907, showing Forrest County]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.8%) is water.[3]

Major highways

-   [] Interstate 59
-   [] U.S. Highway 11
-   [] U.S. Highway 49
-   [] U.S. Highway 98
-   [] Mississippi Highway 13
-   [] Mississippi Highway 42

Adjacent counties

-   Jones County (northeast)
-   Perry County (east)
-   Stone County (south)
-   Pearl River County (southwest)
-   Lamar County (west)
-   Covington County (northwest)

National protected area

-   De Soto National Forest (part)

Demographics

As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 72,604 people, 27,183 households, and 17,315 families residing in the county. The population density was 156 people per square mile (60/km²). There were 29,913 housing units at an average density of 64 per square mile (25/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 64.34% White, 33.55% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. 1.26% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 27,183 households, out of which 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.60% were married couples living together, 17.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.30% were non-families. 28.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.50% under the age of 18, 18.20% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 18.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,420, and the median income for a family was $35,791. Males had a median income of $28,742 versus $20,500 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,160. About 17.10% of families and 22.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.60% of those under age 18 and 12.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

-   Hattiesburg (county seat; small portion in Lamar County)
-   Petal

Census-designated places

-   Glendale
-   Rawls Springs

Other unincorporated communities

-   Brooklyn
-   Carnes
-   Fruitland Park
-   Maxie
-   Maybank
-   McLaurin
-   Wallis

Ghost towns

-   Riverside

Politics

  Year                               Republican                                   Democratic                                   Third parties
  ---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
  style=“text-align:center;” |2020   style=“text-align:center;” |54.6% _17,290_   style=“text-align:center;” |43.5% _13,755_   1.9% _609_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2016   style=“text-align:center;” |55.1% _15,461_   style=“text-align:center;” |41.8% _11,716_   3.2% _887_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2012   style=“text-align:center;” |54.8% _16,574_   style=“text-align:center;” |43.9% _13,272_   1.3% _390_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2008   style=“text-align:center;” |56.3% _15,296_   style=“text-align:center;” |42.8% _11,622_   1.0% _266_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2004   style=“text-align:center;” |61.0% _16,318_   style=“text-align:center;” |38.2% _10,220_   0.8% _207_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2000   style=“text-align:center;” |59.7% _13,281_   style=“text-align:center;” |38.2% _8,500_    2.1% _470_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1996   style=“text-align:center;” |55.2% _11,278_   style=“text-align:center;” |39.0% _7,965_    5.9% _1,199_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1992   style=“text-align:center;” |54.6% _12,432_   style=“text-align:center;” |36.6% _8,333_    8.7% _1,988_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1988   style=“text-align:center;” |66.8% _14,249_   style=“text-align:center;” |32.6% _6,953_    0.5% _116_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1984   style=“text-align:center;” |69.6% _15,719_   style=“text-align:center;” |30.1% _6,786_    0.3% _71_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1980   style=“text-align:center;” |59.3% _12,656_   style=“text-align:center;” |38.8% _8,274_    1.9% _397_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1976   style=“text-align:center;” |56.3% _10,770_   style=“text-align:center;” |41.4% _7,914_    2.3% _436_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1972   style=“text-align:center;” |80.6% _14,418_   style=“text-align:center;” |16.4% _2,933_    3.1% _547_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1968   style=“text-align:center;” |20.3% _3,294_    style=“text-align:center;” |18.2% _2,957_    61.5% _9,975_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1964   style=“text-align:center;” |89.2% _9,291_    style=“text-align:center;” |10.8% _1,128_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1960   style=“text-align:center;” |39.5% _3,412_    style=“text-align:center;” |24.0% _2,068_    36.5% _3,152_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1956   style=“text-align:center;” |37.5% _2,256_    style=“text-align:center;” |32.1% _1,928_    30.4% _1,829_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1952   style=“text-align:center;” |60.4% _4,480_    style=“text-align:center;” |39.6% _2,936_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1948   style=“text-align:center;” |2.8% _167_       style=“text-align:center;” |6.9% _406_       90.3% _5,307_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1944   style=“text-align:center;” |10.7% _436_      style=“text-align:center;” |89.3% _3,649_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1940   style=“text-align:center;” |6.9% _228_       style=“text-align:center;” |92.8% _3,075_    0.3% _10_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1936   style=“text-align:center;” |6.1% _234_       style=“text-align:center;” |93.6% _3,596_    0.3% _11_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1932   style=“text-align:center;” |8.0% _182_       style=“text-align:center;” |90.7% _2,068_    1.3% _30_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1928   style=“text-align:center;” |44.7% _1,447_    style=“text-align:center;” |55.3% _1,793_    0.0% _0_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1924   style=“text-align:center;” |7.3% _156_       style=“text-align:center;” |85.6% _1,826_    7.1% _152_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1920   style=“text-align:center;” |10.4% _140_      style=“text-align:center;” |84.8% _1,146_    4.9% _66_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1916   style=“text-align:center;” |4.3% _54_        style=“text-align:center;” |90.8% _1,146_    4.9% _62_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1912   style=“text-align:center;” |1.5% _16_        style=“text-align:center;” |82.6% _886_      15.9% _171_

  : PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS RESULTS[5]

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title: Forrest County, Mississippi

question: What does the text say about how to buy land in Mississippi?

question: What does the text say about Forrest County, Mississippi?

answer: Forrest County is located in the U.S. State of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 74,934. Its county seat is Hattiesburg, the largest city. The county was named in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Forrest County was created from Perry County in 1908 and is part of the Hattiesburg, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area. Major highways that pass through the county include Interstate 59, U.S. Highways 49, 98, and 13, and Mississippi Highway 42. A part of the De Soto National Forest (a National protected area) is located in the county. Forrest has one ghost town named Riverside.

question: What does the county say about the demographics in Forrest County?

answer: As of the 2000 census, there were 72,604 people, 27,183 households, and 17,315 families residing in the county. The population density was 156 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 64.34% White, 33.55% Black or African American, 1.26% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 0.19% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. The median age was 30 years spread out, with 24.50% under the age of 18, 18.20% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 18.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median income for a household in the county was $27,420, and the median for a family was $35,791. The per capita income for the county was $15,160. About 17.10% of families and 22.50% of the population were below the poverty line.


text:
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5.  2017
6.  2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 First Test: Brute Squad Goals

Raising Hell, Killing Tires, and Feeling the Heat

The Bugatti Veyron quite famously came complete with 10 heat exchangers. That 1,001-horsepower projection of Ferdinand Piëch's ego made so much heat it needed 10 intercoolers to keep it from boiling. The 650-horsepower 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has 11. Insert Spinal Tap joke here.

Such is the extreme nature of the latest, probably greatest, and without question most powerful Camaro the Bow Tie brand has ever sold to the public. Unlike the obvious competition (Chevy's looking at you, Hellcat), the ZL1 isn't simply extreme for extreme's sake. The Camaro team gave the sixth-generation Camaro all flavors of performance enhancers for a reason. Three of them, actually: Camaro boss Al Oppenheiser wanted the ZL1 to be the best ponycar on the drag strip, on a canyon road, and on the racetrack.

Chevy is marketing these three objectives in the parlance of our times as #ZL1triplethreat. That's no small task. But luckily for Oppenheiser, he had the right platform, the right team of engineers, and the right parts bin to make an attempt at glory. For instance, even though horsepower is up by 70 ponies compared to the last-generation ZL1, weight is down by 169 pounds, driven in large part by the Alpha platform, which also underpins the Caddy ATS and CTS families. The front fenders on the ZL1 are flared compared to other Camaros in order to accommodate the 285-width Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 tires, which are shared with the SS 1LE. On the 1LE, the front tires just stick out.

Of course, there's also the matter of the miniature atomic device of an engine. It's called the LT4, and its most familiar iteration is the 650-hp, 650 lb-ft dry-sump version found in the Corvette Z06. A slightly detuned 640-hp, 630 lb-ft wet-sump version sits under the hood of the Cadillac CTS-V. All three versions are 6.2-liter directed-injected V-8s with a top-mounted 1.7-liter intercooled supercharger.

Here's the part Chevrolet doesn't want me to say: In the Z06, the LT4 has cooling issues. The mighty Corvette's heart heat soaks or overheats. Remember those 11 heat exchangers I was talking about? The Camaro ZL1 will not overheat. I tried, but even after six sets of rear tires in four days—not joking—the thunderous V-8 never so much as simmered. Two of those 11 heat exchangers are actually the intercoolers that straddle the supercharger. They are redesigned and repositioned for ZL1 duty. It's also important to note that the ZL1 version of the LT4 makes exactly as much power and torque as the Z06. In generations past, the Corvette would have to (officially at least) make the most power. These days, Camaro is free to be as strong as can be.

Also of great interest on the ZL1 is the debut of GM's 10-speed automatic transmission. Co-developed to a point with Ford, Chevy's hopped up Camaro version gets unique gearing, valving, and control software. Gears one through six are very tightly spaced, seventh is direct, and eight through 10 are for highway cruising. Should you opt for the six-speed manual version of the ZL1, the feds are going to hit you with a $1,300 Gas Guzzler tax. The EPA jury is still out on the numbers for the auto, but there's a chance that because of those three overdrive gears, 10-speed ZL1s might only get hit with a $1,000 tax, or nothing at all. Meaning that the 10-speed slushbox might just go from a $1,595 option to a $295 one. That said, I'm still betting on the $1,000 tax.

When the old 580-hp ZL1 made its debut in 2012, it was soon beaten in a straight line by the 662-hp 2013 Shelby GT500. That burly Shelby and its weirdly long gears hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds (in first gear) and rocketed down the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 125.7 mph. The old ZL1 got to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and ran the quarter mile in 12.2 seconds at 116.6 mph. Chevy is claiming that the 2017 10-speed ZL1 needs 3.5 seconds to 60 mph and runs the quarter in 11.4 seconds at 127 mph. Luckily for you, we have a test team, and we were able to verify the 3.5 seconds to 60 mph claim. However, in the quarter mile, the best road test editor Chris Walton could get was 11.5 seconds at 125 miles per hour. Why the discrepancy? We're chalking it up to California's 91-octane premium gasoline versus the 93-octane good stuff in Michigan. Yes, Virginia, the 650-horsepower Camaro requires premium. Still, 11.5 seconds in the quarter mile is quicker than both the phantom (out of production) Shelby bogey and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which needs 11.7 seconds at 125.4 mph. A time of 11.5 seconds in the quarter mile beats a hell of a lot of supercars, too.

The ZL1 isn't just quick in a straight line. The monstrous Chevy also excels on our figure-eight handling circuit, where it laid down an elite time of 23.1 seconds. To give you some context, the 1LE version of the Camaro, the BMW M4 GTS, and the Shelby GT350R all require 23.3 seconds. A time of 23.1 seconds ties the nearly two-ton Camaro with the 3,353-pound 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S with all-wheel steering. Speaking of Porsche, the quickest figure-eight lap we've ever recorded was laid down by the 918 Spyder: 22.2 seconds. Meaning this Camaro is less than 1 second off the best there is. The GT500 takes 24.2 seconds, whereas the two-door Hellcat needs 24.7 seconds. The ZL1 needs only 96 feet to stop from 60 mph. Anything less than 100 feet should be considered excellent.

Since I drove it last July, I've been describing the Camaro SS 1LE as one of the very best handling cars currently on sale. We gave it fourth place at last year's Best Driver's Car competition behind the aforementioned Carrera S and the GT350R, as well as the winning McLaren 570S. There's a strong temptation to think of the ZL1 as merely a 1LE with an extra 195 horsepower. However, all that auxiliary cooling and the addition of nearly 200 pounds from the engine saps the ZL1 of the 1LE's grace and fluidity. As a result, the ZL1 does not dance like a ballerina. Instead, it hits like a heavyweight boxer's fist with a horseshoe hidden inside the glove. There might not be a whole lot of feel, connection, subtlety, or whatever other sparkly words scribes such as me use to wax poetic about the ineffable. You're not dancing with the road; you're beating it to death.

Would the Shelby GT500 or Hellcat be able to keep up? No way. This thing freaking _flies_. Those Goodyears are not only remarkable, but the Camaro team also did a wondrous job with the ZL1's rearend, both lowering the roll center and making the familial electronic limited-slip differential (eLSD in GM speak) work better here than in any other application. This baby is a drift machine. Also, and quite importantly, the rear wheels have no problem putting down all the LT4's power. I tried several of the Performance Traction modes (Wet, Sport 1, Sport 2, Race), but I quickly realized that the ZL1 is so capable that turning off all nannies was the optimum way to roll.

Don't just take it from me. "In the aggressive driving modes, such as Sport and Track, the throttle actually opens more slowly to get more control. That's necessary when the tires are near the cornering limit," our on-call pro racer, Randy Pobst, says. We often have the manufacturers' engineers out to watch us lap their cars. Sometimes they even listen to what we have to say. Especially Randy. "Chevy engineers gave me credit for suggesting that. And I think it's fantastic. I have long believed that a more aggressive throttle opening in sport modes is a bad idea because it makes the driver less smooth. I am flattered."

At the big track at Willow Springs Raceway, we had Randy lap a SS 1LE, a ZL1 with a six-speed manual and a ZL1 with the 10-speed auto. The 1LE ran a 1:28.29. That's a great lap, especially when you consider that time is 0.1 second ahead of the previous-generation Camaro Z/28, which is a former BDC winner and track-focused monster with more horsepower and torque. Next up was the ZL1 with a manual. That stick-shift ran a blistering quick 1:26.16, besting the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport (1:26.28), a 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S (1:27.04), a 2015 Porsche Turbo S (1:27.17), and a 2017 McLaren 570S prototype (1:27.21). Impressed yet?

Next up was the ZL1 with the automatic transmission. Randy only managed a time of 1:26.48. That's enough to embarrass all of the European sports cars mentioned above but slower than both the Grand Sport and the manual version of itself. To be fair, Randy felt the tires' pressures weren't set correctly, and that the abuse meted out through Turn 8 was heating the driver's side front too much, causing understeer through terrible Turn 9 . The 10-speed should be quicker than the six-speed, but it just wasn't happening.

Randy strongly felt there were some tenths left in the automatic ZL1. He worked with a couple of engineers from Chevy and kept adjusting tire pressures and lapping. The result? An unofficial lap time of 1:25.87, recorded on the ZL1's optional Performance Data Recorder (PDR). A McLaren 650S Spider—a mid-engine, 3,239-pound, 641-horsepower, carbon-fiber supercar—does a 1:25.88. Yes, you read that right. The quarter-million-dollar McLaren got beat by a Camaro. But because our test team didn't run the numbers—meaning we don't have a Vbox data file of the lap—we have to asterisk Randy's lunchtime lap. It's simply not official. These things happen. But here's the thing: You're not supposed to mention Chevy's _other_ sports car in the same breath as legit, flat-out elite supercars such as the Chevrolet flagship. But if the lap holds, the ZL1 has the eighth-best lap we've ever seen around Big Willow and is less than a second behind the best we've seen from big brother Z06 (1:25.00). What a world. More important, what a beast of a machine.

2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS
DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT
Front-engine, RWD
ENGINE TYPE
Supercharged 90-deg V-8, alum block/heads
VALVETRAIN
OHV, 2 valves/cyl
DISPLACEMENT
376.0 cu in/6,162 cc
COMPRESSION RATIO
10.0:1
POWER (SAE NET)
650 hp @ 6,400 rpm
TORQUE (SAE NET)
650 lb-ft @ 3,600 rpm
REDLINE
6,500 rpm
WEIGHT TO POWER
6.0 lb/hp
TRANSMISSION
10-speed automatic
AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO
2.85:1/1.81:1
SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR
Struts, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar
STEERING RATIO
11.1:1-15.1:1
TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK
2.3
BRAKES, F; R
15.4-in vented, 2-pc disc; 14.4-in vented, 2-pc disc, ABS
WHEELS, F;R
10.0 x 20-in; 11.0 x 20-in, forged aluminum
TIRES, F;R
285/30ZR20 95Y SL; 305/30ZR20 99Y SL Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3
DIMENSIONS
WHEELBASE
110.7 in
TRACK, F/R
63.4/62.6 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT
188.3 x 74.7 x 52.4 in
TURNING CIRCLE
38.4 ft
CURB WEIGHT
3,926 lb
WEIGHT DIST, F/R
54/46%
SEATING CAPACITY
4
HEADROOM, F/R
38.5/33.5 in
LEGROOM, F/R
43.9/29.9 in
SHOULDER ROOM, F/R
55.0/50.4 in
CARGO VOLUME
9.1 cu ft
TEST DATA
ACCELERATION TO MPH
0-30
1.6 sec
0-40
2.2
0-50
2.7
0-60
3.5
0-70
4.3
0-80
5.2
0-90
6.2
0-100
7.4
0-100-0
11.1
PASSING, 45-65 MPH
1.4
QUARTER MILE
11.5 sec @ 125.0 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
96 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION
1.07 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT
23.1 sec @ 0.91 g (avg)
2.4-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
1:26.48 sec
TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH
1,400 rpm
CONSUMER INFO
BASE PRICE
$63,435
PRICE AS TESTED
$67,425
STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL
Yes/Yes
AIRBAGS
8: Dual front, front side, f/r curtain, front knee
BASIC WARRANTY
3 yrs/36,000 miles
POWERTRAIN WARRANTY
5 yrs/60,000 miles
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
5 yrs/100,000 miles
FUEL CAPACITY
19.0 gal
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON
13/21/16 mpg (est)
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY
259/160 kW-hrs/100 miles (est)
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
1.24 lb/mile (est)
RECOMMENDED FUEL
Unleaded premium

question: What is the focus of this article?

answer: The focus of the article is about the technical specification so the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. It's engine has 650 horsepower.

question: What is the cost of the 2017 Camaro?


text:
RENATO BITOSSI (31 March 1899 – 5 October 1969) was an Italian trade unionist and communist activist.

Born in Florence, Bitossi became an engineering worker and joined the Italian Federation of Metallurgical Workers (FIOM). He was conscripted into the army in 1917, but was demobilised in 1919 and returned to the factory. He was elected to the local executive of the union, and was a leading figure in the factory occupations of 1920.[1][2]

Bitossi was a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I), and was elected to the executive of its Florence branch, but in 1924 repeated attacks by Fascists led him to move to Lyon. There, he organised politically among other Italian immigrants, and was co-organiser of the PCd'I conference in the city in 1926. In 1927, he secretly moved to Milan to work for the party's executive, but he was arrested and imprisoned until 1932.[3][4]

On release, Bitossi returned to communist activism, this time in Tuscany and Emilia, but he was again arrested in 1934 and confined to Ponza. He organised lectures there, and was not released until 1943. He then returned to Florence and organised armed resistance to the Fascists, and spent a brief period as deputy mayor of the city. He was also elected as chair of the city's Chamber of Labour, and to the executive of the new Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL).[5][6]

In 1946, Bitossi was appointed as deputy secretary of CGIL, and moved to Rome; he was also elected to the central committee of the PCd'I. In 1947, he was elected as joint general secretary of CGIL, in which role he argued for centralised wage bargaining. He served as a senator from 1948 until 1968, and from 1961 was the president of the World Federation of Trade Unions.[7][8]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

title: Renato Bitossi

question: Which party was Bitossi a founding member of?

answer: Communist Party of Italy.

question: When was Bitossi imprisoned?

answer: 1932

question: What did Bitossi do after returning to the factory?

answer: After returning to the factory, Bitossi was elected to the local executives of the union and was a leading figure in the factory operations.

question: Where did he start his communist activism after being released from jail?

answer: Bitossi returned to communist activism in Tuscany and Emilia.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer:
Renato Bitossi was a communist activist. He worked as an engineer worker and joined the Italian Federation of Metallurgical Workers. After returning to the factory from the army, he was elected to the local executives of the union.

Bitossi was a founding member of the Communist Party of Italy and was the executive of its Florence branch. He was arrested twice for his communist activities.

In 1946, he was appointed the deputy secretary of CGIL and moved to Rome. From 1961, he became the President of the World Federation of Trade Unions.


text:
Soft and satisfying. These words describe my first memory of life. I didn’t know where I was but I also didn’t know there were other places to be. I just wanted to keep eating that moist, delicious food stuff.
There were more than me and my food here. Sometimes I would get brushed against and sometimes, in my probing, I would come across something firmer than what I was eating but it would be gone upon my follow up reaching. I couldn’t collect more details on these curiosities and, honestly, they were only distractions from my only interest - soft and satisfying.

Had I been more mature, I would’ve been able to clearly see my companions. As it was, I could only sense the minimum in visual cues. Light and dark. No details. But it didn’t seem to matter which it was. I only wanted to feed. It felt like I never stopped, but I’m sure I must have.

On and on I ate until, finally, I heard a calling to leave my comfort zone, my purpose, my soft and satisfying. As compelled as I was to eat without questioning the source of my nourishment, I also felt compelled to a different environment. I didn’t even know the difference I was seeking. There was no rationing behind this decision. There wasn’t even a consideration of failure, starvation, or death. I just had to go.

Or was I misremembering? Did I really desire to go? Or did I just stop desiring to stay? That may have been it. I was no longer hungry, so I left.

At any rate, I crawled away. Away from my home. I first noticed how much less moisture I felt, even a short distance away. I burrowed into whatever I was laying on trying to figure out what this new substance was while, at the same time, the substrate was collecting onto my being. Eventually, I couldn’t see light anymore, couldn’t move, and wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to get out of this predicament.
I must’ve fallen asleep at some point. I realized I didn’t quite feel myself - like my body had liquified. I still didn’t have an appetite. Still couldn’t see anything. My head hurt and I felt like my coffin had shrunk a bit. I still couldn’t move and I was becoming dissatisfied with my present condition, but my list of options to do anything at this point was devoid of items.

The pressure on my head steadily rose. Not that I was conscious about the increase, but more every time I realized my head hurt, it seemed to be hurting worse than the last time I thought about it until ultimately I couldn’t stop thinking about it but my head was a pulsating, palpitating, problem I was purposely trying not to ponder. Just then, my coffin broke and I could see. I could see more than just dark and light, I could see tall leaves jutting from the ground and objects beyond that were there, but fuzzy.

I extended my new-found muscles to slide my body out of my enclosure. I saw my body for the first time. I had protrusions from my main body that I could move to traverse my new found territory. I promptly rubbed the first two protrusions together. What a marvelous feeling. I also had other objects sticking out of my back. I began to wiggle those and I was swooped off into the sky! The more I worked them, the more I moved in the air. I realized quickly that I could move one independently of the other to change the direction I was traveling. If I stopped moving them, I was pulled back to the tall leaves from which I had climbed.

I smelled something on the wind that pulled me towards it. I couldn’t see it at first but as it came into my range of focus, I pinpointed it to a curly, round pyramid of soft, warm material laying on the leaves. I landed on it and impulsively emptied the contents of my stomach onto it. Dismayed and confused, I wasn’t sure what to do but the smell compelled me to start sopping up the mess I just made with my extendable mouth. What a delicious feast!

Again I wasn’t alone. I saw other winged beasts landing, vomiting, sopping, leaving. Some were cross-eyed. I later learned the cross-eyed ones were called “males” and, well, more on that in a bit. I even saw one of the ones without crossed eyes, known as “females” laying small, white tubes around on the food from her posterior. I wasn’t sure what the purpose of that was because after she was done, she rubbed her two front appendages together, then rubbed her head, then she just stood there, staring like a dimwit. I realized I was doing the exact same thing. She was watching me watch her. Embarrassed, I rubbed my legs together as she flew away. I watched her flapping her wings and climbing the air with her hairy body. She blurred as she shrank from my view until she was barely noticeable. A bigger blur swept into her and continued on its journey alone. I couldn’t see her anymore.

I decided to investigate. I pumped my wings and started my pursuit of the large blur. It was faster than me and easily was out of my sight in a matter of seconds. Curiosity drove me towards the last point I saw it but it was no where in to be found. I continued my search and, to my dread, found my quest perched on a leaf of an enormous, brown stalk. Now that I could see clearly, I saw that it wasn’t like me - it was green and huge with longer legs than me, bigger wings, and red eyes poking from the sides of its head. It was holding the one that looked like me with its two front legs and biting into her body. The legs had sharp angles pointing towards the main body to help grasp its meal.

I realized I should probably not hang around to see if it was still hungry after it was done devouring my counterpart. The light seemed to be fading as I rode the breeze to another tree, far off from that ghastly green monster. That was the first time I realized I was not safe.

When the light returned the next morning, I was too cold to move. I feared that once again I was inside a coffin but as the light grew brighter, I found I could move and off I was in search of food, but more cautiously than before. It didn’t take long before I found what seemed to be another form of life, without the life part. He had hair like me, but no wings and only four legs. He had attracted more of my type, but also had white, wiggling worms all over, under, and in his remains. Nothing like a little competition. I landed, vomited, and ate my fill.

The rest of that day and through the next, there was nothing of importance to note. But the day after that, something was different. My posterior burned and, unlike before when I only saw others like me around feeding spots, I wanted to find one of those silly-looking cross-eyed males. While before I found them to be blathering idiots, I now was a bit curious. I wish I would’ve let that curiosity die on its own because no sooner had I spotted one than he jumped on my back and stuck something inside my backside. He held me there for a couple of seconds while he wiggled around, then the fire inside me was quenched.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst part of my day. After the crossed-eye dipshit left, a larger animal than I’d ever seen came into view. He was two-legged and, instead of hair, had colorful wrappings over his body. He moved fast on his two legs and I decided to race him. Almost immediately he noticed me and swatted but I dodged his slow limb with ease. What fun! I circled his head and watched as he jutted the corners of his mouth towards the ground. In and out, bob and weave, there was nothing he could do about it until he caught me off guard from behind with a lucky swipe. I was hurled towards the ground, stunned.

When I regained consciousness, I was in pain, inside a jar. The two-legger was peering at me, beyond him, I saw two bigger two-leggers. I tried to fly and was unable. My wings were gone.

That night, I heard screams and roars. A huge creature with a massive head, claws on its paws, brown fur, and a short stubby tail made short work of the two-leggers. Knocking over their belongings, tearing open their canvas dwelling, biting their heads, a real mess. In the commotion, my jar was also knocked over. I was free! But it was cold, too cold to move. So I waited, once again, for the light.
Once I was able to move, I walked over to the two-legger who had captured me. I crawled in his open wounds and felt a pleasant discharge out of my rear. Then another and another. I turned and looked to see the same white tubes that I saw the other female laying on the food from a few days ago. Every few minutes, more would come out.

Finally, exhausted, I seemed to be done deploying tubes. I started walking down the side of the body and then I saw another one of those smaller brown creatures, but this one was alive and watching me. It ran towards me, I tried again to fly in vain. I saw its maw open as it was nearly on top of me.

The end

title: [MF] A Walk

question: Overall what does this story describe?

answer: This story describes the lifecycle of a flying insect, probably a fly. It takes the reader through the grub stage into the metamorphosis when the grub becomes and pupa and later breaks from the cocoon to fly free. Finally, the insect lays eggs and the cycle starts again.

question: What happens when the fly encounters a person?

answer: The fly comes upon a person and decides to have some fun. It swoops and chases the person. At last, the person manages to knock the fly out. When the fly awakens it is in a jar and its wings have been removed.

question: In the end, what happened to the person who caught the fly?

answer: In the end, a bear breaks into the human's tent. The bear kills the people in the tent and creates havoc. During the commotion, the jar breaks and the fly escapes. The fly lays eggs in the wounds of the human.

question: Where does the story take place?


text:
Our generation has been drowned in a fairytale of love and romance. We grew up on a healthy diet of Disney princesses and perfect endings where Katherine Heigl always ends up with the man of her dreams.

But what happens when the fairytale becomes a screeching nightmare, complete with a villain in disguise and blood on everyone’s hands?

You should have known that night, the first time he said “I love you.” There were no butterflies, no fireworks, not even a Seamless dinner served with candles. It was screamed like a threat, hanging thick in the air, lingering like a bad smell. The lovers in question standing on opposite sides of the bed, thumping their fists and reaching desperately for whatever words might cut through the fight.  But you tell yourself it’s okay, special even, because the words were finally said.

What about the night he took you to dinner to celebrate his new job? A night for celebration between partners. But the words vomited from his mouth aren’t on script, it’s not what you planned. I accepted a new job in San Francisco. I’m moving out of NYC within the month. It’s too late, I’ve already given notice.

The world stops spinning and your hand flies to your cheek, feeling the sting of that verbal slab. But you recover and remember your lines. I’ll come with you, of course. We’ll start our lives over, tackle this together, how exciting it will all be. You’re so caught up in the act that you don’t notice the halfhearted smile on his face, his sudden silence. It’s not until later when you lay in bed and close your eyes that you realize he never said his line- he never asked you to come. Your hand inches across the blanket to find his, but it’s not there. He’s already asleep.

Two months and 3000 miles later, your life in San Francisco appears to be magical. You call your friends and family back home and regale them with stories of adventures, day trips and watching the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge. But then you hang up the phone and realize you’re in the apartment alone, again. You flinch at every noise, praying that it’s the sound of his keys in the lock, finally home.

As time goes on the expectations build. Every time he bends to tie his shoe or holds your hand, you think this is it. This is when he’s going to propose. Little did you know that while you were watching him out of the corner of your eye with love in your heart, his mind was somewhere, anywhere else.

It’s an average Tuesday night. You went to the gym and ran side-by-side on the treadmill. He made the salad and poured you a glass of wine while you grilled the burgers outside. But then suddenly he’s standing in your living room, looking down at you on the couch. You see his mouth moving but can’t hear the words. Not happy anymore. Needs space. Isn’t working. It’s like he’s miles away and you’re squinting at him in the distance, trying to understand the smoke signals and desperate, waving arms.

But it’s okay, everyone knows that a real love story has to hit rock bottom before the clouds break. You’re still living together, and of course you are, because how could two people who sold everything to move across the country end it all now? The sex is better than ever and you interpret, misinterpret, every kind word as a hint that he’s going to take you back any moment. He’s going to come home from work with flowers in hand and a lone tear running down his cheek. You’re going to run to him, kiss him and finish your movie.

But then he doesn’t come home. It’s 12, then 3 and finally 5 a.m., and he’s still not home. But you tell yourself he’s out with friends, he’s having one last night out on the town before your romantic reunion. His absence could mean nothing more, of course.

To prove this to yourself, you read his text messages. You look for evidence that he’s “reconsidering,” “changing his mind” or “can’t stand looking at her without his heart breaking.”

But then the script goes off course. You find things you never meant to see, you read words that you can hardly comprehend.  Went home with her from the bar. Hooked up. Scroll back farther and there are more names, more dates.  Suddenly there’s a hand gripping your heart, your chest. You can’t breathe.

There’s denial, of course. But then the story peels back like the layers of an onion. There was one, no two. Actually three. It was nothing. No I’m sorry, it was sex. You can’t breathe. As recently as last week. The hand grips tighter. As far back as Christmas. The hand won’t let go.

Suddenly, you’re the heroine in your movie and you know exactly what has to be done. You have to pack your bags and buy your ticket back to New York. Each shirt that’s thrown in the suitcase is vindication, a show. You lay in wait for him to come home so this movie can reach its grand finale. You know that when you tell him you’re leaving, that this is the last night he’ll ever see you, he’ll be the Ross to your Rachel. He’ll throw himself at you and tell you he regrets everything, that he’s sorry and can’t imagine his life without you. And because you’re the beautiful heroine and this is your moment, you’ll take him back and be the bigger person, because how else could you achieve your fairytale ending?

And then he’s crying, he’s hugging you and saying how much he misses you. He wishes it didn’t have to be this way. Wait. He’s sad to see you go. No. It’s for the best. This wasn’t the script.

Even these final moments are a desperate, fruitless attempt at a dramatic scene. You announce that you can’t watch him leave because it would hurt too much. It’s the perfect line.

Then the door closes, and you’re sitting alone in the apartment one last time. The final image you have in your mind isn’t of his face or the sorrow in his eyes, because you couldn’t look. All you see now is his naked body tangled in another woman’s bed, the character who was never meant to be cast in this movie.  And it’s burned in your mind forever.

title: [NF] When Reality Fails to be a Rom-Com

question: What is the theme of this story?

answer: Love, loss, and fidelity.

question: Who does the narrator see herself as?

answer: The heroine in a romantic comedy.

question: What does the woman's boyfriend do that she is not aware of?

answer: Sleeps with other women.

question: Why does the narrator have trouble facing the truth about her boyfriend?

answer: She believes in an idealized version of love.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: This story is about a relationship that fails after the woman moves with the man from New York to San Francisco. He becomes distant from her and then starts cheating. Finally, the relationship has to end and he leaves. The woman reflects on how life is not like a romantic comedy.


text:
I wrote this a while back for a school assignment, but I figured if anyone was interested in reading it and telling me how they feel then I will submit it here. It's not the best writing, but I did this when I was 15. If anyone wants me to put more up if they like it then feel free to ask.
It's set in the  future and is full of augmentations and all that cool stuff. Deus Ex was a big inspiration
------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue

15th February 2072
Jackson Hudson was annoyed. The blueprints for Project Tyrano were late. Very late. If someone didn’t turn up soon with them, he would fire Martell. Or worse. Hudson was a tall man. He had such long hair, that he often would have people approach him, telling him to have a haircut. He was also very tanned and strong as a result of his daily swimming and runs along the beach. He did not look like someone who was a multi-millionaire.
Martell barged into his office knocking over some pot plants, not bothering to put any of them back up. Martell was almost the opposite of Hudson. Fat and a slob, who could never be bothered walking past his front door. But he was extremely smart, Hudson reminded himself. That was one of the only reasons Martell even existed. He had everything related to Project Tyrano on his shoulders.
“I’m so sorry this is late sir,” said Martell. In his hand was a single sheet which had every detail about Project Tyrano on.
 “I had my team working on it for twelve hours straight last night.” Hudson got up from his office chair without a word and took the blueprint from Martell. Very good, he thought. Everything is here and proper. Hudson looked up to Martell, although still angry with him, was more relaxed.
“Do you have a prototype for me?” asked Hudson. Martell started to sweat, realizing that step two of the project was also required today. He either had to lie or face the consequences for his actions. But in this case, those consequences could be death.
“Well…uhh….” Martell stammered.  Hudson, sensed something was wrong, asked again.
 “Where is the prototype?”
This time it was louder and blunter. He knew that Martell didn’t have it.
“You don’t have it, do you?”
Martell, struggling to answer, shook his head. Hudson stood there for a second thinking about what options he had. He could kill him, and this could serve as a warning to all the other employees that failure to meet the organization’s expectations resulted in death. But he would be losing a great resource in him. Martell was so valuable, so important, and he was vital for Project Tyrano’s success.
Hudson pulled out a 784 pistol, and put it to Martell’s head. The 784 had bullets that were so powerful, that if the bullet did not pierce or reach the victim, it could be optimized with an explosion at different distances. That explosion would also have gas that would kill anyone near it instantly. It was the latest technology. But he didn’t need that gas today. That was for difficult kills. Hudson walked right up to Martell and whispered very clearly into his ear. “If this ever happens again, this bullet goes through your brain. Do you understand me?”
Martell was so frightened for his life that he only just made out a very quiet but audible “Yes.”
Hudson punched him in the jaw. “Get the hell out of my sight, and if you don’t have that prototype by Monday then you are dead.” He spat out the last word as Martell ran from the room.

Chapter One

Kayo had just finished school. A storm was on its way so he didn't want to linger around school any more than he had to. Aaron had caught a bus to the nearest skate park, ignoring the warnings. Kayo pulled his hoody down. He knew how cautious people were these days, a menacing teenager in a hoody often made others very judging. Kayo was fifteen. He was a pretty sporty kid, and pretty smart although his appearance made it seem less so. He had long brown hair that was in a style of a kind of surf dude. He was used to be out playing sports all the time ... although lately he had not. It began to rain. Kayo cursed his bad luck and ran to the closest bus stop. He took out his phone, thin, four inch screen with the fastest internet speeds possible. One of the most popular and luxurious phones available. It had taken him many shifts at work to pay for this phone. He selected some of the latest songs to stream and popped two very small wireless buds into his ears. He sat back and waited for the bus.

The bus arrived ten minutes later. Kayo popped his bus card into the slot on the inside of the bus. It withdrew some cash and on his phone popped up a message asking him where he would like to go. He selected his home in the favorites section.
"Ridge-view Drive is this correct?" it replied.
Yes, he selected. He sat down next to a teenage girl who looked about the same age as him. There were no bus drivers anymore. Ever since the latest AI technology assistants had been introduced, the same technology had been implemented into nearly every transport imaginable. Public transport was much more common as only the most expensive cars came with AI. Many people were still driving manual, non-AI cars. The government had been trying to get rid of these and the roads and just have public transport and keep the AI cars for the rich and important. So far their attempts at convincing the public had been unsuccessful. He eyed up the girl, she was nice looking and he had never seen her around his school before. Kayo wanted to strike up a chat, but he wasn't quite sure how he could bring up a conversation.

***

The bus stopped halfway down the street he lived, and as he stood up, the girl got off to at the same stop. She turned around and started walking the opposite direction. Kayo still wanted to get to know her, but he had no idea what to do. He brought out a dollar and chucked it at the ground. Swiftly he picked it up and asked the girl.
"Is this yours?"
Now she was looking at him, he could get a better look at her. She had blue eyes and blonde hair, such a girl that you would dream about. She was slightly smaller than him, but that was quite tall because Kayo was usually much taller than most kids his age.
"No...I don't think I had any change on me," she said. But she was interested in him, he saw.
"Where do you live?" He asked. "I've never seen you around here before,"
She blushed. Too soon, perhaps?
"I’ve only just moved here with my parents," she said. She was calm and interested in conversation too, that's good, he thought. "My mum just got a job with some company..."
She hesitated, probably because she had told a lot of information to a person she barely knew.
"Sorry, my name’s Kayo, I just live down the road from here," Kayo said quickly.
"Danielle," the newly named Danielle said. Kayo needed to get home before it got too dark...but why pass up on a new relationship?
"Hmm, maybe we should catch up sometime?" he stumbled. She blushed.
“Ah, I actually have a boyfriend..." He turned red. He felt really stupid now.
"Ah, ok, ah, that's fine, ah, bye, I guess" He turned to leave, feeling stupid, for not realizing that a girl like her would be taken.
"Wait!" she called. He turned.
"Give me your phone," she said.
"Why?"
"I want to give you my number stupid,"
A quick change in attitude, she stopped and smiled at him to let him know she was kidding around. He gave her his phone. Kayo was confused.
 "You have a boyfriend...?"
"Yes, but he might not be for long..." Danielle gave back his phone. She leaned in to his ear.
"Call me" she whispered. She left and went down the street and Kayo was left wondering what kind of girl she might be.

***

It was just after six before Kayo finally got home. He lived with his Dad. Fifteen years ago, just after Kayo was born, his Mum disappeared without a trace. The governments have chips in everyone’s skin. Like animals, some would say. Kayo's Dad reported her missing when driving home from work. The police went onto the database to try to find her. Technology had come so far, that anyone who was on earth could be tracked through the tiniest chip in them. They couldn't find her. She had literally disappeared. Either someone had abducted her and removed the chip or... no one knew.  Fifteen years and not a trace.
So Kayo lived with his Dad. His house was not very big. Single story, with a bland coloured roof and only two bedrooms. Just big enough for the two of them. Kayo’s hand went into his pocket, finding his phone he scanned his phone on the door. Access granted. The old wooden door unlocked and he walked in. His Dad wasn't home yet. Probably still at work. He threw his school bag near the kitchen. Kayo didn't know how to cook. It was only lucky Dad knew a bit about it, he thought. Picking up his phone, he quickly tapped towards the nicest sounding pizza delivery service and ordered using his online account. He started on his math until the pizza came. Came through the "mailbox". The mailbox was like a hub, of some sort inside people's homes. It collects packages, that people sent, food, anything really. All travelled by underground tunnels propelled by some unnatural force.
It was nine o’clock when his Dad got home.
"Hey mate," he heard down the hallway. Dad came down the hallway. Steve Collins. Kayo's second name was Collins naturally. He was pretty scruffy. The years hadn't served him well. He was in his forties and had a great stubby beard which kept on growing, no matter how much he shaved it. So he just let it grow.
"Did you grab anything?" he asked expectantly.  Kayo nodded.
"I grabbed a pizza, but the rest of its probably cold by now."
Steve gave him a slap on the back. "Doesn't matter, it'll be all right, I'll just heat it up,"

*To be continued...*

title: Watched (Warning: Long & Only First Of Many Parts)

question: What does the story say about Project Tyrano?

answer: An employee named Martell is responsible for Project Tyrano. He delivers a sheet of information on the project to his boss, Hudson. Hudson, however, expects a prototype as well as the information, and threatens Martell with death if he doesn't have it by Monday. Hudson doesn't kill him on the spot because Martell is too valuable to the project.

question: What does the story say about 1972?

question: What does the story say about Kayo's mother?

answer: Kayo's mother disappeared 15 years ago, just after giving birth to Kayo. Kayo's father reported her missing, but even with the chips implanted in everyone's skin and tracking database, the government couldn't find her. After fifteen years, there was still no trace of her.


text:
On this page:

The Apollo 11 Descent and Landing – combined sound file.

The Network Controller’s console audio of the Descent and Landing.

The Flight Director’s console audio of the Descent and Landing.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LAND MEN ON THE MOON FOR THE FIRST TIME?

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface, there was plenty of drama, with communications dropouts, an observation they would land long, program alarms, boulder fields, and only just enough fuel.

On Earth, in the MOCR (Mission Operations Control Room, Houston), and on the MSFN (Manned Space Flight Network) the drama was also evident.

Here’s a new compilation – of audio from the Flight Director’s loop, and audio (which was only recently received) from George Ojalehto, the Network Controller on duty for the landing. It’s a tribute to the skill, competence and teamwork of everyone involved.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [] The Apollo 11 Descent and Landing Stereo sound file.               |
|                                                                       |
| 60 MIN / 29.3MB stereo mp3 file                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| This is a STEREO sound file synchonising two recordings –             |
|                                                                       |
| – THE NETWORK CONTROLLER’S CONSOLE AUDIO (Capt. George Ojalehto,      |
| Network Controller) on the LEFT CHANNEL, and                          |
|                                                                       |
| – THE FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO (Gene Kranz, White Team Flight  |
| Director) on the RIGHT CHANNEL.                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Both recordings contain the Flight Director’s loop and Air/Ground     |
| (_Columbia, Eagle_ and Capcom).                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Headphones may be useful.                                             |
|                                                                       |
| Network Controller console audio courtesy George Ojalehto via Richard |
| Stachurski. Tape-hiss-reduction, synchronisation and encoding by      |
| Colin Mackellar, January 2012.                                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

See below for how this recording was assembled, and who is heard on it.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [George Ojalehto, Network]                                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Capt. George Ojahleto is seated at the Network console in the MOCR,   |
| during the Apollo 11 Trans Lunar Coast.                               |
|                                                                       |
| (Bob Carlton, Control, is standing to his left, speaking with Fred    |
| Haise.) From 16mm movie footage.                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

THE FIRST MANNED LUNAR LANDING:

In the minutes leading up to the Powered Descent Insertion, Eagle’s high gain S-band antenna repeatedly lost lock, and the two MSFN stations in view with larger dishes (Madrid with their 85 foot antennae and Goldstone with their 85 foot antennae and 210 foot Mars dish) – struggled to maintain contact. This was a critical time as various Go / NoGo decisions had to be made.

Minutes later, _Eagle’s_ onboard computer issued 1201 and 1202 program alarms threatening an abort, and descent propellant was running low as Neil Armstrong had to fly over a boulder field to a safe landing spot. He landed _Eagle_ with just seconds to spare.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Earth visible from the Moon at landing]                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The side of the Earth visible from the Moon at the time Eagle touched |
| down on the lunar surface. (Not all of the MSFN stations are          |
| depicted.)                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla were not in view – the Moon would   |
| not rise there for another 5 hours.                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

ABOUT THE RECORDINGS USED TO MAKE THIS COMBINED VERSION:

NETWORK CONSOLE AUDIO

George Ojalehto, Network Controller on the White Team for the descent and landing, kept a copy of his console’s audio, which was recorded at Comm Control, elsewhere in Building 30 at Houston.

The recording was on two sides of a tape, with a six second gap between the two. The transfer is of variable quality (esp. the second side), with some local variability in tape speed and wow and flutter. Nevertheless, it is probably unique.

This tape begins just before CSM acquisition on the landing revolution (lunar orbit 10), and lasts 60 minutes, ending 28 minutes after touchdown.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO

The Flight Director’s console audio is courtesy of the Johnson Space Center audio archives and was supplied to the Apollo tape search team via John Sarkissian. Two different, mostly overlapping, recordings of this loop were provided. Both are described in the JSC listing as Apollo 11 FD Loop Cassettes.

JSC tape 963-AAE is the best quality. It begins a few seconds after the NC recording does, just before CSM acquisition. It runs for 37 minutes, ending 5 minutes after touchdown.

JSC tape 964-AAE has a poorer frequency response. It begins 10 minutes after 963-AAE starts, and finishes 2 minutes 20 seconds after 963-AAE ends.

(This means that the Network Console audio has AN EXTRA 26 MINUTES OF AUDIO containing the FD loop which may not have been previously available.)

964-AAE was probably recorded at Comm Control, as was the Network Console recording. The better quality copy of 963-AAE has the air/ground audio offset by about half a second with respect to the FD audio.

Being the better quality, 963 was used as the benchmark, and minor edits were made to the Network Controller’s audio [by moving items +/- half a second or so] to keep each segment of conversation in exact sync. Where air/ground and ground conversations were simultaneous, the more relevant item was kept in sync.

963-AAE was likely recorded on a cassette machine in the MOCR, and therefore had a slightly different loop configuration.

Before any of the editing took place, it was necessary to normalise the speed and pitch of the recordings, using the Quindar tones as references. (The JSC recordings originally had been played back too slowly.) Filters were applied to remove hum, and tape hiss was removed as much as possible – without removing noise that was heard on the circuits.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [George Ojalehto, Network]                                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Timeline showing the sources used for the combined audio file.        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

VOICES YOU’LL HEAR:

[I need to sit down and write this section… and hopefully identify speakers and times.]

The voices heard include:

Gene Kranz, George Ojelehto, Bob Carlton, Charlie Duke, Don Puddy, and others in the MOCR, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, RTC, TIC, Track, Commtech, Comm Control, Network Ops Support Group, Goldstone, Madrid, Ascension, Antigua, and probably others.

Harry Turner (Ascension) writes: “From Ascension the voices would have been Jim Murphy (M&O) and/or Mel Fetzer. (Asst. M&O).”

Tom Sheehan says that TIC was Auggie Degner.

If you can help with IDs, I would be very grateful of names / positions along with the elapsed time they are heard on the combined recording. Contact.

HIGHLIGHTS

“Job well done” – 420kb mp3 clip – after the landing.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [] The Flight Director’s loop                                         |
|                                                                       |
| 39 MIN / 9.6MB mp3 file                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| This is a restored version of THE FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO     |
| using NASA JSC files 964-AAE and 963-AAE, with speed/pitch correction |
| and light noise reduction.                                            |
|                                                                       |
| It ends 7 minutes 20 seconds after touchdown. (See the synchronsied   |
| file above for FD loop after that point, where some FD loop audio is  |
| preserved on the Network Controller console audio.)                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

(Thanks to George Ojalehto for his Network recording, which he sent in December 2011.)

Note: Other than the MSFN stations, there is one other station known to be listening in to _Eagle_ at the landing – the Bochum Radio Observatory in West Germany.

question: What does the article say about the gravity of the Moon?

question: What does the article say about the problems after landing on the Moon?

answer: When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, they have communication problems. Eagle’s high gain S-band antenna repeatedly lost lock. Eagle’s onboard computer issued the program alarms threatening an abort, and descent propellant was running low.


text:
The LAKES INTERNATIONAL CUP was a men's team golf competition between teams of professional golfers from Australia and the United States. It was played four times between 1934 and 1954. The United States won the first three matches with Australia winning the final match in 1954. The Lakes Golf Club staged the inaugural contest in 1934, donating the trophy, and hosted the final stage of the 1952 and 1954 matches.[1]

Trophy

The original trophy had a inscribed silver base with a wooden plinth and a large bowl on top. Only the silver base survives but the bowl and plinth have been recreated.[2]

Format

The 1934 and 1936 matches were contested by teams of six players over two days with three 36-hole foursomes on the first day and six 36-hole singles matches on the second day. The 1952 and 1954 matches had teams of four players and the contest was played at two separate venues. Each half of the contest was over two days with two 36-hole foursomes on the first day and four 36-hole singles matches on the second day, the combined score over the two halves determining the winner.

Results

+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Year      | Dates     | Venue     | Winners   | Score     | Ref       |
+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+
| 1934      | 9–10      | The Lakes | United    | 9–0       | [3]       |
|           | November  | Golf      | States    |           |           |
|           |           | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           |           | Australia |           |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1936      | 4–5       | Lakewood  | United    | 7½–1½     | [4]       |
|           | February  | Country   | States    |           |           |
|           |           | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           |           | United    |           |           |           |
|           |           | States    |           |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1952      | 31        | Huntingda | United    | 7–5       | [5]       |
|           | October – | le        | States    |           |           |
|           | 1         | Golf      |           |           |           |
|           | November  | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           | 7–8       | Australia |           |           |           |
|           | November  | The Lakes |           |           |           |
|           |           | Golf      |           |           |           |
|           |           | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           |           | Australia |           |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 1954      | 30–31     | Lake      | Australia | 7–5       | [6]       |
|           | October   | Karrinyup |           |           |           |
|           | 5–6       | Country   |           |           |           |
|           | November  | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           |           | Australia |           |           |           |
|           |           | The Lakes |           |           |           |
|           |           | Golf      |           |           |           |
|           |           | Club,     |           |           |           |
|           |           | Australia |           |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

Appearances

The following are those who played in at least one of the four matches.

Australia

-   Billy Bolger 1934, 1936
-   Joe Cohen 1934, 1936
-   Lou Kelly 1936
-   Jim McInnes 1954
-   Kel Nagle 1952, 1954
-   George Naismith 1936
-   Ted Naismith 1934, 1936
-   Sam Richardson 1934, 1936
-   Ossie Pickworth 1952, 1954
-   Don Spence 1934
-   Rufus Stewart 1934
-   Peter Thomson 1952
-   Norman Von Nida 1952, 1954

United States

-   Tommy Bolt 1954
-   Harry Cooper 1934, 1936
-   Jimmy Demaret 1952
-   Leo Diegel 1934
-   Dave Douglas 1954
-   Olin Dutra 1936
-   Marty Furgol 1954
-   Dutch Harrison 1954
-   Ky Laffoon 1934
-   Lloyd Mangrum 1952
-   Porky Oliver 1952
-   Sam Parks Jr. 1936
-   Henry Picard 1936
-   Paul Runyan 1934, 1936
-   Denny Shute 1934
-   Horton Smith 1936
-   Jim Turnesa 1952
-   Craig Wood 1934

In 1954 Ed Furgol was part of the original team of four but withdrew because an injured right arm. He was replaced by Dave Douglas, who flew out as a replacement, arriving in Sydney on 26 October.[7]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

title: Lakes International Cup

question: What does the text say about the original trophy of the Lakes International Cup?

answer: The trophy of the lakes International Cup, a golf competition played four times from 1934 to 1954 by professional golfers from Australia and United States, is still kept. However, only the original silver base survives, and the wooden plinth and bowl on top have been recreated.

question: What does the text say about the cash prize of the Lakes International Cup?


text:
Americans on average spent more on taxes in 2018 than they did on the basic necessities of food, clothing and health care combined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.

The survey's recently published Table R-1 for 2018 lists the average "detailed expenditure" of what the BLS calls "consumer units."

"Consumer units," says BLS, "include families, single persons living alone or sharing a household with others but who are financially independent, or two or more persons living together who share major expenses."

In 2018, according to Table R-1, American consumer units spent an average of $9,031.93 on federal income taxes; $5,023.73 on Social Security taxes (which the table calls "deductions"); $2,284.62 on state and local income taxes; $2,199.80 on property taxes; and $77.85 on what BLS calls "other taxes."

The combined payments the average American consumer unit made for these five categories of taxes was $18,617.93.

At the same time the average American consumer unit was paying these taxes, it was spending $7,923.19 on food; $4,968.44 on health care; and $1,866.48 on "apparel and services."

These combined expenditures equaled $14,758.11.

So, the $14,758.11 that the average American consumer unit paid for food, clothing and health care was $3,859.82 less than the $18,617.93 it paid in federal, state and local income taxes, property taxes, Social Security taxes and "other taxes."

I asked the BLS to confirm these numbers, which it did while noting that the "Pensions and Social Security" section of its Table R-1 included four other types of payments (that many people are not required to make or that do not go to the government) in addition to the average of $5,023.73 in Social Security taxes that 77.21% of respondents reported paying.

"You asked us to verify the amounts for the total taxes and expenditures on food, apparel/services, and healthcare," said BLS. "Based on table R-1 for 2018, your definition for food, apparel, and healthcare matches the BLS definition and the total dollars. Your dollar amounts for federal, state, and local income taxes and for property taxes are correct, as is the amount for Social Security deductions. For the combined pension amount ($6,830.71) that we publish however, in addition to the $5,023.73 for Social Security, there is an additional amount for government retirement deductions ($135.11), railroad retirement deductions ($2.85), private pension deductions ($608.22), and non-payroll deposits for pensions ($1,060.79)."

That Americans are forced to pay more for government than they pay for food, clothing and health care combined has become an enduring fact of life.

A review of the BLS Table R-1s for the last six years on record shows that in every one of those years, the average American consumer unit paid more in taxes than it paid for food, clothing and health care combined.

In 2013, the average American consumer unit paid a combined $13,327.22 for the same five categories of taxes cited above for 2018, while paying a combined $11,836.80 for food, clothing and health care.

[]

In 2014, the average American consumer unit paid $14,664.13 for those same taxes and $12,834.34 for those same necessities.

In 2015, it was $15,548.36 versus $13,210.83. In 2016, it was $17,153.30 versus $13,617.60. And, in 2017, it was $16,750.20 versus $14,489.54.

Even when all the numbers for the last six years are converted into constant December 2018 dollars (using the BLS inflation calculator), the largest annual margin between the amount paid in taxes and the amount paid for food, clothing and health care was last year's $3,859.82.

The margin was so great last year that you can add the $3,225.55 Table R-1 says the average consumer unit paid for entertainment to the $14,758.11 it paid for food, clothing and health care, and the combined $17,983.66 is still less than the $18,617.93 it paid for the five categories of taxes.

You get a similar result if you add what the average consumer unit paid in 2018 for electricity ($1,496.14) and telephone services ($1,407.36) to a combined $2,903.50.

Yes, Americans on average paid more in taxes last year than they paid for food, clothing, health care, electricity and telephone services combined.

Was the government you got worth it?

_Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSnews.com._

question: What does the article say about the ratio of taxes paid vs the necessities spending of an average American?

answer: The article reports that for the last six years, an average American paid more in taxes than they spent on necessities (food, clothing, and health care). This means that the ratio of taxes versus necessities was above 1 for all those years. For 2018, the ratio remains above 1 even if electricity and telecommunications costs are counted in necessities.

question: What does the article say about tax breaks for the rich?


text:
RALEIGH -— North Carolina lawmakers would harm, not help, the state’s economic growth if they extend and expand corporate tax incentive programs. That’s the key conclusion from a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

“The problem with these kinds of policies is that, even though they are promoted under the rubric of ‘economic development,’ there are no sound economic arguments to be made on their behalf,” said report author Dr. Roy Cordato, JLF Vice President for Research and Resident Scholar. “In fact, economic analysis suggests that they are likely to harm consumers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are not privy to the incentives.”

Cordato, a Ph.D. economist, releases the report as Gov. Pat McCrory and state legislators debate proposals to continue the existing Job Development Investment Grant program in some form. The debate also extends to special tax breaks for building preservation, renewable energy, and the movie industry.

“Support for tax and spending subsidies to attract business to North Carolina is based on what is quite likely the oldest and most common economic fallacy ever invoked, namely that the only economic effects that count are those that are obvious and visible,” Cordato said.

The report offers a hypothetical example of using incentives to lure an auto manufacturing plant from Ohio to North Carolina. The highly visible move would generate positive media coverage. Incentive supporters would consider any jobs tied to the plant as a positive economic benefit.

This approach is flawed, Cordato explains. “By examining only the economic effects of what can be seen and then counting all of those impacts as benefits, rather than trying to differentiate benefits from costs, there can be no downside to these subsidy programs,” he said. “This assumes that labor and other resources being used by the subsidized company would otherwise lay idle. There is no consideration that what is being subsidized is actually displacing economic activity that would otherwise be occurring.”

In other words, incentives supporters ignore the saying “There’s no free lunch,” Cordato said. “That saying is based on the bedrock economic principle of scarcity, which tells us that if there is an increase in the use of resources, either monetary or physical, in the direction of some uses, there has to be a reduction in other uses.”

This economic truth plays out in several ways when it comes to corporate tax incentives, Cordato explains. “Corporate subsidy programs to attract some businesses unfairly crowd out the business and economic activities of others,” he said. “And this occurs regardless of the form that the subsidies take, whether through direct payments or various kinds of tax breaks.”

One way in which incentives lead to “crowding out” involves state government revenues, Cordato said. “Assuming that the overall size of the state budget remains the same, taxes for existing businesses, consumers, and income earners generally will have to be higher to make up for direct incentive payments or lost revenue,” he said. “The N.C. Department of Revenue says well over $400 million was allocated in corporate incentives for 2014. This money has to come out of the pockets of North Carolinians generally.”

“Activity throughout the economy — spending, investing, and entrepreneurship — is curtailed,” Cordato added. “That puts a dent in economic growth. There is a coercive wealth transfer from existing taxpayers to all business entities that received incentives.”

Incentive supporters never account for the wealth transfer, Cordato said. “They never make the case that subsidized economic ventures are more valuable to the state’s economy, and therefore to the state’s coffers, than the spending, investment, and entrepreneurship that would have occurred if that money had never been transferred.”

Another form of “crowding out” involves access to resources such as labor, land, and building supplies, Cordato said. “Added demand for these resources that results from state-funded special privileges to some and not to others drives up their prices,” he said. “That means higher costs for all businesses that are seeking access to these resources.”

“So there is a wealth transfer to the favored business not only from taxpayers generally but especially from existing businesses that will reduce their investments because of higher costs,” Cordato added. “Subsidized businesses crowd out, to some degree, existing businesses in the competition for resources. This is why incentive programs implicitly pick both winners and losers.”

Cordato disagrees with policymakers who lament Volvo’s recent decision not to locate a new plant in North Carolina. “When the state ‘loses’ a bid for a company to which it is making a large subsidy offer, it is actually a win for home-based and homegrown companies that will have greater and lower-cost access to resources.”

Those who believe otherwise are effectively supporting “state-based central planning,” Cordato said. “Economic incentives are an attempt by politicians to direct resources that are not their own to investments that they believe will be better for the economy than those that would be chosen if the actual resource owners were left to their own judgments.”

Politicians and bureaucrats end up making “economically arbitrary decisions,” Cordato said. “They transfer control over resource use from the more efficient setting of private-sector resource owners and entrepreneurs to the less efficient public sector,” he said. “This is why incentives-based economic policies are harmful to economic growth.”

question: What does Dr. Roy Cordato argue about expanding corporate tax incentive programs?

answer: Cordato argues that such incentives do not necessarily being economic advancement to the region because they only focus on visible and obvious forms of economic growth, ignoring scarcity. In addition, these incentives take money from the pockets of taxpayers and essentially give it to corporations.