text: This meeting place is too sketchy, what if my parents come down and see us? Or worse, my brother…  The backdoor slowly screeches opens, my stomach drops.  In come my friends Daryl and DaShawn Jones.  For a second I forgot what we were planning on doing, remembering when we were children together… everything was so much simpler, nothing was ever asked of us; it was so different from now, from this moment.  The only thing that remained the same since childhood was that we were always worthless. You see, me and Daryl and DaShawn are dirt poor.  Being poor is like being stuck in a hamster wheel that never stops, instead of exercise you get shunned by society and embarrassed for who you are.  Oh, and you cant get off this hamster wheel, it perpetuates from parent to child.  .. I guess the poor breed just to fill in the vacancies of the future poor population.  When we were kids we thought we could get out of the trap through getting an education that leads to jobs, but that was just another fairy tail...  I lead the Jones’s to my kitchen.  The dishes are piled up past the counter and there is a ratchet smell of left over hungry man on the table.  I’m getting serious second thoughts, but what other choice do I have…?  I quickly think of my brother and how disappointed in me he would be.  I promised I would never do this.  I promised I would apply to community college next year.  I promised I would get off pills.  That’s three empty promises… its not fair that he got to be so smart and got the scholarship while I’m here breaking promises.  I don’t think he let society define him as much as I did; it’s probably my low self-esteem.  But what other choice do I have at this point?  Daryl and DaShawn describe to me what we were told to do.  DaShawn pulls a glock out of his pants and brandishes it with a nervous smile over his head.  I feel trapped.  When we were children would any of us see this coming?  The possibilities seemed so limitless then, and now as I look at the gun we have to kill another human being with, I’m beginning to realize just how limited the possibilities really are.  I’m choosing the gang lifestyle and this is my gang initiation.  This is me living up to societies worthless expectations of me.

title: Worthless

question: What are the narrator and his friends about to do?

answer: They are about to kill someone.

question: Why do Daryl and DaShawn hand the narrator a glock?

answer: It is the narrator's gang initiation.

question: What does the narrator wish they had done differently?

answer: The narrator wishes they had gone to community college and quit pills.

question: Who does the narrator feel inferior to?

answer: He feels inferior to his brother who was smart and got a scholarship.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator lets his friends Daryl and DeShawn into the house, hoping his parents do not see him. It is time for his gang initiation. He reflects on poverty and his inability to make a positive change in his life through doing well at school. They hand him a glock and he is shocked that he is about to kill someone.


split: train

text:
PAUL BENEDICT LORDON (January 24, 1915 – November 9, 1992) was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1960 to 1961 as member of the Liberal party.[1] Lordon was a lawyer, maintaining a practice in the town of Chatham, NB for many years. He was a longtime solicitor for the town. He died in 1992 after crashing his vehicle into a utility pole.[2]

[1]

[2]

title: Paul Lordon

question: What was Lordon known for?

answer: He was a Canadian politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1960-1961. He was also a lawyer.

question: How did Lordon die?

answer: He crashed his vehicle into a utility pole.

question: What country was Lordon from?

answer: He was Canadian.

question: Was Lordon married?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article is about Paul Lordon, a Canadian politician and lawyer who served in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1960-1961.


text:
I never could get my hyper drive to put me just where I wanted to be. It wasn't too bad, mind you. Relative to the dozen-lightyear jumps I usually made, the 10^-10% discrepancy only ever added up to a few hundred KM off target. I usually just made sure to punch in coordinates far enough outside of any major gravity well, and never had much of a problem. In fact sometimes I'd even make a game out of it. Calculate the center point between a planet and it's moon, or a sun an it's planet (relative to mass), and guess which side of the first Lagrangian I'd end up on.

This time, though, the coin landed on its edge. Initial readings put me smack dab on the fulcrum, split even relative to the two competing gravity pulls of a dirty green gas giant and it's watery blue moon. While I wondered if leaning to the side of the cockpit would pull me to one side or another, the radio came to life ripping my out of my daydream.

"Quit farting around up there and burn into orbit, you're not getting paid to pick your nose," came a smokey, but feminine voice.

Charming.

"Roger. Punching full burn, initiating orbit," I replied, then thought a beat about the voice on the line, "Hey, who's this? Ain't Eric supposed to be running dispatch tonight?"

"Eric called out. This is Frex, I'm new," was the kurt answer, with the audible annoyance and scruffy accent that painted a full picture of the kind of lady that works for an interplanetary cargo company in the outer colonies.

I punched in a few keystrokes, then hit the button to initiate orbit. The ship calculated the thrust and direction needed for a near perfect orbit into a landing -- a problem that would have made a 21st century high school calc student stay up half the night -- in the time it took for the button to un-depress.

I smiled for a second in anticipation, and hit the intercom button.

"Hey Frex, do you like tacos?" I asked into the radio.

"What??" the voice half yelled, noticeably caught off guard.

Butterflies! I rolled with it...

"The ship's showin' 8 minutes 'til docking. What do you say you meet me then, and I'll show you this taco place I know in Lambda sector?" I messaged back, with a grin in my voice.

I quickly heard the distinctive click of the radio connection cutting off. I sat back with a laugh as the outer hull started glowing with reentry heat.

She didn't say no!

title: [SciFi] How I Met Frex.

question: Was the narrator a space traveller?

answer: It appears he was.

question: Why was Frex not very friendly and receptive towards the narrator?

answer: It might be implied that she wanted to maintain a strict working relationship with the narrator, and she wasn't familiar with him.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: While daydreaming and flying his aircraft in space, the narrator met Frex, a new employee and Eric's replacement for the night. Even though she appeared strict towards the narrator, it didn't stop him from trying to establish a friendship with her, but she didn't seem interested in him.


text:
[Scott Wiener]

Just when you think we’ve moved beyond HIV-related ignorance and fear, this happens.

Last week, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 239, a bill I co-authored to modernize California’s HIV criminal statutes by treating HIV *exactly* the same as other serious and deadly diseases such as Ebola, SARS, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis: as a misdemeanor. Under current California law, only HIV is treated as a felony, and you don’t have to infect anyone — or even create a risk of infection — to be guilty and go to state prison.

SB 239 recognizes the fundamental reality that jailing sick people isn’t a good public health strategy. You reduce HIV infections (and infections for other diseases) not by sending people to state prison, but rather by getting people tested and into treatment and by educating the public. That’s why pretty much the entire public health community, including the Health Officers Association of California, county public health directors, the California Medical Association, HIV physicians, and other key public health voices support the bill.

Since the bill was signed into law, the right wing has had a meltdown, with vile posts reminiscent of the ignorance, hatred, and fear that led to these laws being passed in the 1980s and that led, at that time, to calls to quarantine people living with HIV.

[Image for post]

Just as sad, some media outlets have played into this reactionary response with what can only be described as sensationalistic, click-bait headlines. (Kudos to the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle, in addition to the Bay Area Reporter and other LGBT press, for working to report this issue accurately.)

I thought we’d moved past the 1980s demonization of people living with HIV. I guess not. Whether in 1985 or 2017, people living with HIV are viewed as sociopaths who run around trying to infect people. Never mind that that kind of behavior is very rare. Never mind that those aren’t the people being prosecuted under these laws. Never mind that SB 239 keeps on the books the sentencing enhancement for HIV-positive people who rape people.

For those who are interested in the facts about SB 239 and HIV decriminalization generally, here they are:

-California law treats every other serious and deadly infectious disease as a misdemeanor. Only HIV is singled out for harsh felony treatment. That’s wrong and makes no sense. SB 239 doesn’t eliminate criminal penalties for reckless behavior by people living with HIV. Rather, it simply aligns our criminal treatment of HIV with how we treat every other serious infectious disease in existence: as a misdemeanor. That’s why the Los Angeles and San Francisco District Attorneys endorsed the bill and no law enforcement agencies opposed it.

-Under current California law, you don’t have to infect anyone with HIV — or even create a risk of infection — to be guilty of a felony and sentenced to state prison. If you are non-infectious — for example, if you are on medication and thus can’t infect anyone — you’re still guilty. For one of the felonies, relating to sex workers, you’re guilty even if you never have physical contact with the person. These laws are extreme.

-The right wing attacks on SB 239, and some irresponsible media accounts, focus on the exceedingly rare situation where a sociopath runs around and intentionally tries to infect people. That’s not who’s being prosecuted under these laws. Who’s being prosecuted? An awful lot of women, particularly African American women and transgender women. Women constitute about 12% of HIV-positive people in California, but they account for 43% of prosecutions under these laws. Yet, the popular stereotype of the male sociopath trying to infect people persists, the facts notwithstanding.

[Image for post]

Positive Women’s Network speaking about why SB 239 is important to keep women safe. Photo: Bay Area Reporter
-These HIV felonies trap women in abusive relationships. When HIV-positive women try to leave an abusive relationship, their abusers at times respond by telling them that if they leave, the abuser will call the police and say that the woman never told him she was positive. Indeed, prosecutions under these laws often grow out of a break up, followed by retaliation. That’s why one of the strongest and most vocal supporters of SB 239 is the Positive Women’s Network, an organization that advocates for women living with HIV, and why Planned Parenthood supports the bill.

-The newest attack on SB 239 focuses on the bill’s repeal of an unused felony relating to blood and tissue donation by HIV-positive people. Why is this particular felony never charged? Because due to modern testing technology, it’s almost impossible to get HIV from a blood transfusion. If a blood donor knows he or she is HIV-positive — in other words, if he or she gets a test that comes back positive — that means that when the blood bank tests that person’s blood, which they always do, that test will also come back positive, and the blood will be discarded and won’t infect anyone. If the blood bank tests the blood and the test comes back negative but is actually positive (that could happen if the infection occurred within a few weeks of the blood draw), then the donor’s HIV test also would have come back negative, meaning he wouldn’t be guilty of a crime since he never tested positive.

-Let’s talk about how you actually reduce infections, which is presumably what all of us across the political spectrum want. You don’t reduce HIV infections by threatening to throw people in jail if they engage in behavior that might transmit the virus. That’s why the Obama Administration advocated repeal of HIV-specific criminal laws. Criminalizing health conditions isn’t a good prevention strategy and only serves to keep people in the shadows and encourage them not to be tested, since if you don’t get tested you’re ignorant of your status and can’t be guilty. We know this in San Francisco because after HIV wreaked so much havoc in our city, we adopted aggressive public health strategies — not criminal strategies — to reduce infections. We made HIV testing ubiquitous, we made it really easy for people who test positive to get into treatment quickly and stay in treatment, we promoted needle exchange, we engaged in major public education campaigns, and we made first condoms and then PrEP (a daily pill that almost eliminates HIV risk) easily available. The result? HIV infections in San Francisco have collapsed by about 90%, dropping from over 2,000 new infections a year in the early 1990s to slightly more than 200 in 2016. And, our infection rate continues to go down every year.

These are the facts. For those who want to continue to demonize HIV-positive people and advocate that jailing sick people is a good public health strategy, that’s your right. But for those who are interested in the facts, I hope this helps.

question: What is SB 239?

answer: That is a bill signed by Governor Brown to modernize California’s HIV criminal statutes.

question: Is SB 239 better or worse than the current bill?

answer: The author thinks it is - because the current California criminal statutes treat HIV as a felony, even if you do not infect or create a risk to infect anyone, and SB 239 treats it the same as other deadly diseases as a misdemeanor.

question: How are people living with HIV viewed today?

answer: People living with HIV are viewed as sociopaths who run around trying to infect people, although that kind of behavior is very rare.

question: Are there opponents to SB 239?

answer: The right wing attacks SB 239.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: SB 23 is a bill signed by Governor Brown to modernize California’s HIV criminal statutes that treat HIV as a felony, even if you do not infect or create a risk to infect anyone. The new bill will treat HIV the same as other deadly diseases as a misdemeanor. Many support the bill because they believe that it is better to reduce HIV infections by getting people tested, treated, and by educating the public, not by sending people to prison. Opponents of the bill focus on rare situation where people with HIV intentionally infect people and blood and tissue donation by HIV-positive people.


text:
*I KNOW YOU'RE EXCITED, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO WATCH THE GRAMMAR, SIR. REGARDLESS, I THINK THIS IS THE ONE. GREAT SPEECH, SIR, AND GOD BLESS YOU"

From the Desk of the President of the United States of America:

People of this sovereign nation, I must first apologize to the children pulled out of their daily studies, and to the adults pulled out of their work for this day of celebration. I'm sure you were very busy, but now you must prepare yourselves for grand and wonderful news. Today, will be a day marked in history. In the future, those that come after will look upon today as a day of gratitude. The honor of the first thanks that we must give, belongs to none other than our military. We have employed the bravest men and women to uphold the peace of this nation and those that were too weak to defend themselves, and with the blessings of all of our branches of government, the clergy, and the other world leaders, we can declare their mission accomplished. Perhaps for our ancestors, war was a necessity, who's to say? We, however, are a new people in a new age, and the discoveries that we are making have given us ample tools to end the need for war altogether. We have too much to look forward to that we must prepare for, and can not distract ourselves with such useless practices. No more will we create armed drones, or nuclear weapons. Consider our drones in retirement, used only for mapping undiscovered regions of our planet, and making deliveries. Consider our nuclear weapons as warnings that we will leave to our children, and decommissioned. Those who have died in the travesty of war have not died in vain, for they have shown us the horrors that man is capable of that we must rise above within ourselves, as it is the destiny of man to elevate himself beyond the confines of what even nature imposes on him. There will still be those that feel hatred, and greed, but we, the leaders of the world, agree that at this time the earth is also blessed to have enough people that can elevate themselves, and live life the positive way. Those that are left behind from the rest of us due to their ways are welcomed to join this global fraternity at any time. We are a patient people, and have much busy work to do. Please don't take too long, however, we'd very much like your participation in these wonderful plans. It is at this moment, we offer thanks to the countless victims of hatred in a time when it was uncontrolled, and request a moment of silence.

 Now, we will use more than 3/4 of the annual military budget in the peaceful exploration of our oceans and outer space. On this historic day, with the blessed alliance with other sovereign leaders, the United States of America has formed the Brotherhood for the Exploration, and the Advancement of Mankind. Kinda long winded, isn't it? BEAM is comprised of only the best leaders in these stunning fields, the best scientists, the bravest men, the most daring engineers who refuse any limits imposed on them based on what others believe is "possible." When I was a boy, I wanted to be an astronaut, but didn't have the maths. Now, no child will have to be turned away from this dream due to a letter on a report card. BEAM will open schools for the most dedicated pupils, and any may be accepted, provided they pass the public tests that the instructors agree upon. Keep in mind, however, that admission to these schools is free.

The ocean harbors many secrets from us, and the time has come to learn from the wonders it has to offer us. For all that we know, every answer that we could seek is enwrapped within it's cozy waters. Fairly recently, our wonderful scientists have discovered enough freshwater aquifers beneath the ocean to hold off, if not prevent, a global water crisis. Who's to say that the cure for cancer isn't down there as well? Or a previously unheard of clean energy that will help aid us in this new era of peace? Who's to say that the answer to man's oldest enemy: time, will not be discovered in it's inky depths? We have given billions to fund new schools for underwater exploration, which will select only the best and bravest explorers to undertake this grand journey. Have at it, boys. You have our full trust, and monetary backing any time you require it.

Now that marijuana is legal, unprecedented numbers of you have looked to the stars and wondered. Well, we have listened.  We have all felt the stars beckoning, and we will answer their call. Our droogs from the motherland have been the ushers into the wonderful age of space exploration, and have offered us many insights into this sublime development. One of such was provided by one of the greatest men to have ever lived, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who had this to say: "The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever." We have listened, Konstantin, rest well friend. It has been fulfilled, man has finally outgrown our cradle, and upon completion of the proper blueprints, we will begin construction on the first interstellar vessel in man's long history. We will use the latest advances in technology, including 3d printing to begin constructing this ship, and with the advances of modern medicine available to all the citizens of the world, many of us will live to see it's completion, and perhaps even become the pioneers which will lead our kind to new worlds. We will take the fittest and brightest men and start training to begin the making of this vessel. We will need many, and if you are dedicated enough, then we ask for little else. In this new age, you will not be compensated much in money (which will soon become obsolete), but fear not. You shall be remembered as heroes for all of time. We will build new societies, inhabited by the most tranquil and loving that our world has to offer. Let us now extend our gratitude to God, for making perseverance and thirst for adventure such core concepts of the human spirit.

To those that doubt our new conquest, allow me to point to the Outer Space Treaty, which, since it's inception in 1967, has banned the use of weapons in space. We have been able to uphold it thus far, and the time for the ban of weapons on earth has finally been initiated. The time has come to rise together as one people. Everything that our fathers, and our father's fathers have lived through has led to this. Countless individual experiences has led to the day when mankind comes together, and claims his ultimate destiny. Today, let us give thanks that greed selfishness has been abolished for the greater good of all our brothers, that there will be no more policing of world matters, as the world is now an open platform that any man, woman or child, can change with the proper ideas, that there will be no more secrets held from the people of the world by their governments now, or ever, only surprises that will make them feel ten times the gratitude that we of the world feel today. Go forth, and celebrate the beginning of the day that will lead to adventures that are impossible to imagine. Let me extend my personal gratitude to all of you, my brothers, this is the start of when we live as such for always and eternity. Tomorrow we begin, but today...we shall celebrate! Prepare well, friends. Our destiny is at hand. God Bless.

title: "From the Desk of the President..."

question: Summarize why this day will be marked in history.

answer: The President announces that today will be marked as a day of gratitude in history as they will reallocate 3/4 of the annual military budget in the peaceful exploration of oceans and outer space with the Brotherhood for the Exploration and the Advancement of Mankind. Funding will be used for BEAM to open schools for dedicated students for underwater and space exploration. There will also be the creation of an interstellar vessel where the fittest and brightest men will start training to create it. With this reallocation also comes the decision to end war and ban weapons, including armed drones and nuclear weapons, on Earth.

question: What does the story say about weaponry?

answer: The President announces that they will be making an effort to end the need for war altogether, which will be highlighted by the reallocation of 3/4 of the annual military budget in the exploration of oceans and outer space. Armed drones and nuclear weapons will be decommissioned. Noting the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which banned the use of weapons in space, the President announces the initiation of the ban on weapons on Earth.

question: What does the story say about the ocean?

answer: The President of the United States announces a reallocation of funds from the military budget into a new sector called the Brotherhood for the Exploration and the Advancement of Mankind. Through this sector there will be lots of funding towards exploring the ocean. The President says that the ocean harbors many secrets. With the discovery of freshwater aquifers beneath the ocean that could end the global water crisis, there's no telling what life-changing things could be discovered in its depths.

question: What does the text say about population control?


text:
The BATTLE OF GALAȚI was a military engagement between the formerly allied Romanian and Russian troops at the end of World War I, as the former sought to prevent the latter from retreating from the armistice line along with their equipment.

Background

[Military operations at the end of 1916 and the front line in January 1917] Romania was neutral for the first two years of World War I, but with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest Romania joined the Entente Powers and declared war on 27 August 1916.[1] After initial advances the Romanian military campaign quickly turned disastrous for Romania as the Central Powers occupied two-thirds of the country, including the capital Bucharest, within months and Russian troops were dispatched to the new front line in order to prop up the Romanian government and prevent an invasion of Russia from the south. Galați, the last port on the Romanian Danube River, was a vital lifeline for supplying the rump Romanian territory and Russian Bessarabia Governorate and it remained on the Entente side of the front lines.

The 1917 February Revolution in Russia forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate but the Russian Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky decided to continue the war on the Entente side though the battle lines remained mostly stalemated.

In the summer of 1917, the Romanian front saw one of the largest concentrations of combat forces and war matériel assembled during World War I: nine armies, 80 infantry divisions with 974 battalions, 19 cavalry divisions with 550 squadrons and 923 artillery batteries, whose effectives amounted to some 800,000 men, with about one million in their immediate reserve. Under Allied pressure to continue the war, Russia launched what became known as the Kerensky Offensive against the Central Powers. During this offensive Romania took part in three battles at Mărăști, Mărășești and Oituz, preventing a significant advance of the enemy troops.[2]

[Romanian Model 1912 105 mm howitzer during the Battle of Mărăști] The Battle of Mărăști began on 24 July 1917 in the sector of the Romanian Second Army, the Russian Fourth Army, and the Russian Ninth Army. Initiated by surprise with three divisions, the offensive succeeded in disrupting the well-organized enemy defenses and compelling the Austro-Hungarians and Germans to retreat. The results of the offensive can be summarized as follows, the front line was broken on a 30-km stretch and penetrated to a depth of 20 km, resulting in the liberation of a 500 square km area comprising 30 villages, the Romanian forces took 2,700 prisoners, 70 guns, and important quantities of matériel, including a significant amount of munitions, and the Romanians lost trust in the Russian forces because when they tried to press their advantage they were told by the Russians that they had “no orders from the Revolution” to advance.[3] But the two Russian Armies remained on Romanian soil.[4][5]

When the October Revolution in Russia brought Lenin to power, he immediately started negotiating a peace with the Germans that culminated with the 15 December 1917 armistice between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers. The Romanians separately negotiated the Armistice of Focșani, but millions of German and Russian soldiers still faced off across Romania.[6][7][8]

The Russian Army, led by General Dmitry Shcherbachev, was headquartered in the Socola quarter of Iaşi, the Romanian capital-in-exile.[9] The Russian army had begun disintegrating after the issuance of order No. 1 in February, but the pace increased after the armistice. Russian soldiers turned into brigands who often killed their officers, elected revolutionary committees and started looting, killing, and raping Romanian civilians.[10] Shcherbachev lost control of most non-deserting Russian units to Bolshevik revolutionaries. Shcherbachev wrote Romanian Government, Prime Minister Brătianu: “Russian armies have become gangs without leaders, poisoned with violent anarchy, unable to keep the front and incapable of organizing demobilization for withdrawal that without supply is itself a devastating work.” But to his request for support Brătianu replied: “I can not raise any Romanian soldier to defend you against your own troops without seeing me mixed fighting in Russia without causing a conflict with the new rulers.” But Romania would soon have to fight the Russians anyway.[11]

In December 1917 radical Bolsheviks in Petrograd instigated a campaign to organize and initiate the Bolshevik revolution in Romania and Bessarabia. The Bolsheviks installed cannons overlooking the Romanian capital-in-exile. On December 22, 1917 Romanian soldiers attacked a camp of Bolsheviks and sent them on a train back to Russia. The next day another train filled with Bolshevik troops left Odessa but was turned back at the Prut River by Romanian soldiers.[12] The next day a bomb was defused at the residence which was being used as the Royal House of King Ferdinand.[13]

Disintegration of the Russian Army

Because of so many Russian troops still positioned on the front lines, the Romanian government started to take precautions in the rest of the country. The territory behind the front was divided into eight regions with military commands (Botoșani, Fălticeni, Iași, Podu Iloaiei, Roman, Vaslui, Bacău and Bârlad) that reinforced the local gendarmerie with military units that hunted and deported the Russian gangs that roamed and plundered the land. The smaller groups were easily neutralized and sent across the Prut. Sporadic clashes occurred when guns were brought into action, but in most cases the incidents were solved peacefully.[14]

The same could always not be said about cases of desertion and the cases of large units, divisions, or battalions leaving the front. Where possible, they were disarmed peacefully, then sent by train back to Russia. The Romanian orders from General Prezan were clear: No Russian unit could leave the front to go back to Russia without written approval from the Russian high command. The units that moved on their own initiative and without a precise order were to be disarmed. The orders also stated that Russian units should not be bullied and that Russian soldiers should be treated fairly and with dignity. But “all who live and move in this country, regardless of nationality, must comply with our laws and public order”. The Romanian government's greatest fear was the Bolshevization of Romania.[15]

On 12 January 1918 at Pechea, northwest of Galați, a delegation of the Russian 13th Division came to the 4th Romanian Division headquarters to announce that the next day, Russian troops would leave the front and cross the Prut River to the Moldavian Republic. General Shcherbachev ordered his troops to remain in the position, but was told that the Russians soldiers no longer recognized him as their commander and would leave for Russian soil. If Romanian troops resisted the move, the soldiers promised to destroy everything in their path.[16][17]

Stationed on the front line between Tecuci and Galați was the Russian Sixth Army with approximately 35,000 troops. The 4th Romanian Division was placed behind to oversee them. After receiving the Russian ultimatum, the 4th Division started preparing and got two battalions with machine guns and artillery from the neighboring 13th Division to help. On 16 January 1918 the Russian 40th division started moving towards Moldova and crossed the Prut. The next day the Russian 12th Division started its withdrawal near Pechea, but returned to the front when blocked by the 4th Romanian Division. On 18 January 1918 the 9th Division of General Eugen Iskritsky's Siberian Corps started moving towards Galați where the 10th Division was already encamped.[18] The 9th Division was filled with 6,000 soldiers dedicated to the cause of Bolshevism.

Battle for Galați

[Troop movements in the Battle of Galati.]

For the citizens of Galați, the situation was alarming. The Siberian Corps had more soldiers than Galați had citizens. The Romanian archives speak for no more than 500 soldiers in all Romanian detachments. Romanian Navy Commander , the Galați sector commander, received an order to bar the road from the west from the Russian columns and to defend the city. Two Romanian companies and half of Regiment 21 defended the western approach to the city on Țiglina hill. In central Galați were a detachment of Marines and two platoons of infantry. Two small detachments were deployed at Fileşti to watch the northern approach and to the east to guard the approach from Moldova. From the Romanian Danube Flotilla, there were four patrol boats, a torpedo boat, and a dinghy stationed on the Danube. Colonel Bădescu, commander of the 8th Brigade in Fântânele, had the mission to attack from the north and west of the Russian columns, located in the gorge of swamps Lake Malina, Lake Cătușa, and the Siret River. The Russians forces were disproportionately far more numerous and better prepared.[19][20][21]

On January 19, the Russian 9th Division swept through a small Romanian detachment at Șendreni and arrived at Movileni where they set up artillery. A Russian delegation went to Galați and asked Niculescu-Rizea to allow the Russian troops to pass through the city towards Bessarabia. Niculescu-Rizea replied that his order was to stop that action. The Russians gave an ultimatum. If they were not allowed to pass by 3 in the afternoon they would begin shelling Galați.[22][23][24]

For 15 hours the Russian batteries near Movileni opened fire. Bombs fell in the city center, but they caused minimal damage because the Russians were firing at random. The archives do not note any casualties among the civilian population. The greater danger that night for the population was the attempt by the 10th Division to burn the city by filling cars with gasoline and driving flaming vehicles into buildings. During the day of January 20, Romanian batteries returned the Russian fire from Movileni.[25][26][27]

On January 21, the Russians continued bombing Galați. Russians occupied the bogs west of Lake Cătușa. A strong Russian detachment managed to capture one officer and 14 soldiers on Țiglina Hill. The Russian 34th Regiment attacked Filești. A Russian heavy battery and six machine guns were placed on Giurgiulești hill on the banks of the Prut and a Russian squadron consisting of two companies of machine guns, a cavalry squadron and a battery of artillery, crossed the Prut River, advancing toward Galați. They disarmed the Romanian border guards and militia posts. They placed artillery near Lake Brateș. Russian infantry, preceded by cavalry patrols, entered the city, where it bolstered over 200 armed infantry of the 10th Division. A Russian gunboat, armed with a 150 mm cannon came upstream from Reni. From Giurgiulești artillery shells dropped on Galați.[28][29][30]

On January 22, the Romanians counterattacked. The Romanian 8th Brigade, arrived from Fântânele and surprised the Russian troops stationed in the bog north of Movileni. The Romanian ships on the Danube, batteries on the south bank, and two Romanian airplanes dropped bombs on the Russians. Romanian infantry led a bayonet charge up Țiglina Hill, freed the captured Romanians and sent the Russians on the run. The Filești detachment captured two platoons of infantry and a machine-gun section. Attacked and expelled from the north and east, the Russians in disarray began moving south to the Gara Barboși and the bridge over Siret. Romanian artillery and bombers targeted bombs on the mass of Russian soldiers gathered there. A handful of soldiers created panic among Russians, so much so that two regiments, the 33rd and 35th, almost 3,000 soldiers, ran south and surrendered to the Germans.[31][32][33]

By the end of the day the Russian troops agreed to surrender, were disarmed and sent off over the Prut to the Moldavian Democratic Republic.[34][35][36]

Aftermath

Galați was not the only spot where Russian soldiers clashed with the Romanians. Over the next few days clashes between Russian and Romanian troops occurred in Bacău, Botoșani, Mihăileni, Pașcani, Timișești. On January 27 the bloodiest clash occurred in Fălticeni. The Romanians lost 14 dead and 83 wounded. The Russians had over 100 dead and 500 wounded.

In February, Bolshevik bickering and dickering caused the Central Powers to repudiate the armistice on 18 February 1918, and in the next fortnight seized most of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic countries in Operation Faustschlag. Romania was spared this attack.

By the end of March 1918 Romanian troops had entered the Moldavian Democratic Republic (mostly ethnical Romanian) and cleared it of Bolshevik troops. The National Council of the Moldavian Republic, _Sfatul Țării_, declared on 9 April 1918 the union with Romania. This union was recognized by the principal Allied Powers in the 1920 Treaty of Paris.[37][38] The newly communist Russia did not recognize Romanian rule over Bessarabia, considering it an occupation of Russian territory.[39]

Monument

[Monument to the heroes of the Battle of Galați, 1921] The Battle of Galați was the only time in its history that Romania used air, land, and marine forces together in a single battle. It is also the only battle in history in which former Allied troops fought one another within eyesight of their former common enemy.

On 25 May 1921 the city of Galați was awarded “La Croce di Guerra” by General Pietro Badoglio, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, while French General Henri Berthelot presented it with “La Croix de Guerre”. An arched monument was dedicated to the heroes of Galați, but it was torn down after the Communists took control of Romania after World War II.[40][41]

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title: Battle of Galați

question: When did the battle occur?

answer: Between January 19 and January 22 of 1918

question: Where was the bloodiest clash between the Russians and Romanians?

answer: Falticeni

question: How many casualties were there from the Russian-Romanian conflicts?

answer: 14 dead and 83 wounded Romanians, and 100 dead and 500 wounded Russians

question: What was the outcome of the battle?

answer: The Russian troops surrendered and withdrew from Galati

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The Battle of Galati was a military engagement between the formerly allied Romanian and Russian troops at the end of World War I. It lasted 3 days before the Russian forces surrendered and withdrew from Galati.


text:
TAO HONGJING (456–536), courtesy name TONGMING, was a Chinese polymath writer, calligrapher, _waidan_ alchemist, pharmacologist, musician, and astronomer during the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589). He is best known as a founder of the Shangqing “Highest Clarity” school of Daoism and the compiler-editor of the basic Shangqing religious texts.

Biography

There are a variety of sources about Tao Hongjing's life, from his own writings to biographies in the official Twenty-Four Histories. The British sinologist Lionel Giles said Tao's “versatility was amazing: scholar, philosopher, calligraphist, musician, alchemist, pharmacologist, astronomer, he may be regarded as the Chinese counterpart of Leonardo da Vinci” (1948: 106).

Secular life

Tao Hongjing was born in Moling (秣陵, present-day Danyang, Jiangsu), which was near the Northern and Southern dynasties period capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing). His father Tao Zhenbao () and paternal grandfather Tao Long () were erudite scholars, skilled calligraphers, and experts in Chinese herbology. His mother Lady Hao () and maternal grandfather were devout Buddhists. (Espesset 2008: 968; Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1077).

Tao was a prodigious reader and once his interest was aroused in a subject, he would not stop until he had learned all that he could (Greatrex 1998: 141). According to official biographies, he read the Daoist hagiography _Shenxian zhuan_ (“Biographies of the Divine Transcendents”) at the age of ten, whereupon he decided to become a _yǐnshì_ (隱士 “recluse; hermit”) (Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1078).

Tao Hongjing held several court positions under the Liu Song (420–479), Southern Qi (479–502), and Liang (502–587) dynasties. When Tao was about twenty-five, Xiao Daocheng (), the future Emperor Gao (r. 479-482) founder of the Southern Qi dynasty, appointed him as tutor for the imperial princes Xiao Ye (蕭曅, 467–494) and Xiao Gao (蕭暠, 468–491). After Tao's father died in 481, he resigned office to observe the customary three-year period of filial mourning. However, Gao's successor, Emperor Wu of Southern Qi (r. 482–493), appointed him as tutor for his son prince Xiao Jian (蕭鏗, 477–494) in 482, and designated him as General of the Left Guard of the Palace in 483. Tao's mother died in 484, and he resigned from office (Espesset 2008: 968; Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1078).

During the period of mourning for his mother from 484 to 486, Tao Hongjing studied with the Daoist master Sun Youyue (孫遊岳, 399–489), who had been a disciple of Lu Xiujing (陸修靜, 406–477), the standardizer of the Lingbao School scriptures and ritual (Russell 2005). Tao received training in chanting the scriptures and drawing supernatural talismans (Pas and Leung 1998: 311). Sun showed him some manuscripts of the original “Shangqing [or Maoshan] revelations”, in which Tao became fascinated. According to tradition, these revelations were dictated to Yang Xi (330–c. 386), when he was on Maoshan between 364 and 370 and had repeated visions of Daoist deities from the Heaven of Upper Clarity (namely, _Shangqing_ 上清). Tao made his first visit to Maoshan (Mount Mao, 茅山) west of Jintan. This mountain was originally called Gouqushan 句曲山, which is the name of a Daoist grotto-heaven in Lake Tai, Jiangsu. Tao travelled eastward to Zhejiang to begin collecting the original revelatory manuscripts in 490.

Reclusion on Maoshan

[ Tao Hongjing Listening to the Pines, 1442 (Muromachi Period), Yamanashi Prefectural Museum] In 492, at the age of 36, Tao Hongjing resigned his official post at court and withdrew to focus upon scholarship and alchemical experimentation on Maoshan. Emperor Wu sponsored the construction of a three-storied thatched hermitage called Huayang guan (華陽館, “Abbey of Flourishing Yang”) (Greatrex 1998: 141). Beginning in 497, Emperor Ming of Southern Qi commissioned Tao to experiment with sword making for the imperial family, and provided him monthly with five pounds of _Indian bread_ mushroom and two pints of white honey so that he could undertake experiments in Daoist dietetics (Greatrex 1998: 141). Tao finished compiling the Shangqing revelatory manuscripts, and edited them into the c. 499 _Zhen'gao_ (真誥, “Declarations of the Perfected”) compendium. He also began travelling to famous mountains in search of medical plants and elixirs. (Espesset 2008: 968; Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1078-1079).

Tao Hongjing and Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464–549), the founder of the Liang dynasty (502–587), were old friends. At the end of the Qi dynasty Tao presented Xiao with a prognostication text that confirmed he was the legitimate successor to the Qi. When Xiao Yan ascended the throne as Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549) he treated Tao Hongjing with great respect. _Note_: Tao served under two rulers named Wudi (武帝, Martial Emperor), Emperor Wu of Southern Qi and Emperor Wu of Liang; in order to avoid confusion, the latter one will be called '“Xiao Yan”. In 514, Xiao Yan ordered the Zhuyang guan (朱陽館, Abbey of Vermilion Yang) state-sponsored hermitage to be built on Maoshan and Tao installed himself in the following year (Strickmann 1979: 158). The emperor kept up a regular correspondence with Tao, often visited Maoshan to consult on important matters of state, and gave him the title Shanzhong zaixiang (山中宰相, “Grand Councilor of the Mountains”). The devout Buddhist Xiao Yan provided Tao with financial support, exempted his Shangqing school from the anti-Daoist decrees of 504 and 517. In 504, Xiao Yan commissioned Tao to undertake alchemical experiments, and provided him with the required minerals (Espesset 2008: 969; Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1079).

Between 508 and 512, Tao journeyed throughout the southeast, in the modern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Fuzhou, in order to continue making alchemical experiments in the mountains. During his travels Tao met the visionary Zhou Ziliang 周子良 (497–516), who became his disciple. For 18 months, Zhou recorded his spiritual visions from some of the same Maoshan divinities seen by Yang Xi, but they informed Zhou that his destiny was to become an immortal, and he committed ritual suicide with a poisonous elixir composed of mushrooms and cinnabar and died from Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. Tao found Zhou's manuscripts hidden in a Maoshan grotto, and edited them into the _Zhoushi mingtong ji_ (周氏冥通記, “Record of Master Zhou's Communications with the Unseen”), which he presented to Xiao Yan in 517 (Russell 2005; Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1079).

Little is known about the last two decades of Tao's life. His only literary works from this period are two stele inscriptions, one devoted to Xu Mai 許邁 (300–348, a patron of Yang Xi), dating from 518, and one to Ge Xuan, dating from 522 (Espesset 2008: 971). From about 520 until his death in 536 at Maoshan, Tao Hongjing spent much of his time trying to make alchemical elixirs.

Names

Like other Chinese scholar-officials, Tao Hongjing had several names. His surname Tao (陶, lit. “pottery”) is fairly common and his given name combines _hóng_ (弘 “grand; magnificent; vast”) and _jǐng_ (景 “view; scene, scenery”). Tao chose Tongming (通明, Brightly Lit) for his courtesy name and Huayang Yinju (華陽隱居, “Recluse of Flourishing Yang”, referring to the name of his Maoshan abbey) for his pseudonym. Tao Hongjing's contemporaries called him Shanzhong zaixiang (山中宰相, Grand Councilor from the Mountains). He received the posthumous names Zhenbai (貞白, “Integrity”) or Zhenbai Xiansheng (貞白先生, “Master Integrity”) and Huayang Zhenren (華陽真人, Holy man of Flourishing Yang) (Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1077). Xiao Yan granted him the posthumous title Zhongsan Dafu (中散大夫, “Grand Master of Palace Leisure”). During the Tang dynasty Tao was posthumously made the ninth patriarch of the Shangqing lineage (Espesset 2008: 969).

Literary works

[_Xunshan zhi_ (尋山志, “Rhapsody on Exploring the Mountains”) that Tao Hongming wrote at the age of fifteen, Ming dynasty (1573-1620) edition] Tao Hongjing's literary career began at the age of fifteen with his 471 _fu_-like _Xunshan zhi_ (尋山志, “Rhapsody on Exploring the Mountains”). In his youth, Tao also wrote essays, commentaries, and began compiling a 1000-volume compendium of knowledge, the _Xueyuan_ (學園, “Garden of Learning”) (Espesset 2008: 970).

Tao Hongjing was a prolific writer and had extensive knowledge of the Chinese classics, history, literature, numerology, astrology, geography, and traditional Chinese medicine. He compiled some fifty works, such as the _Gujin zhoujun ji_ (古今州郡記, “Notes on ancient and modern provinces and commanderies”) and _Lunyu jizhu_ (論語集注, “Collected commentaries on the _Lunyu_”) (Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1080).

In Six Dynasties poetry, Tao Hongjing's best known poem was written in reply to Xiao Yan's question, “Is there anything in the mountains?” It expresses his intention of being a recluse and not leaving the mountains.

   You asked me “Is there anything in the mountains”, There are many white clouds above the mountain ridge. They can only be admired and enjoyed by myself, But they are not worth holding in my hands and presenting to you, my lord. (tr. Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1080-1081).

The _Siku quanshu_ collection includes three works by Tao Hongjing, the _Zhen'gao_ (真誥, “Declarations of the perfected”), _Gujin daojian lu_ (古今刀劍錄, “Register of ancient and recent swords”), and _Zhenling weiye tu_ (真靈位業圖, “Chart of the Ranks and Functions of the Perfected Immortals”), which was the first Daoist work about theogony (Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1080).

The _Daozang_ (Daoist Canon) contains many of Tao Hongjing's works, such as the _Zhen'gao_, _Huayang Tao Yinju Ji_ (華陽陶隱居集, “Hermit Tao's Flourishing Yang Writings”), and _Yangxing Yanming Lu_ (養性延命錄, “Extracts on Nourishing Spiritual Nature and Prolonging Bodily Life”).

Religion

Tao Hongjing was educated in Daoist traditions associated with the _Daode jing_, _Zhuangzi_, and Ge Hong's writings on seeking immortality. Around 486, Tao received initiation into Lingbao School of Daoism from his master Sun Youyue (Strickman 1979, 152). He advocated the synthesis of the three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism) and was initiated into Buddhism in Ningbo. His Maoshan refuge had two halls, one Daoist and one Buddhist, and Tao alternated his worship rituals on a daily basis (Pas and Leung 1998: 311).

Buddhism

Tao Hongjing continued his interests in Buddhism and formally took vows in 513. Tanluan (475–542), the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in China, reportedly studied Daoism and herbalism under Tao (Russell 2005). Some architectural elements from Tao's tomb, discovered on Maoshan during the Cultural Revolution, bear an inscription calling him “a disciple of the Buddha and of the Most High Lord Lao[zi]” (Espesset 2008: 969).

Daoism

Tao Hongjing was effectively the founder of the Shangqing or Maoshan School (_Maoshan zong_ 茅山宗). From 483, Tao became interested in the Shangqing revelations granted to Yang Xi more than a century earlier and decided to collect the original autograph manuscripts, using calligraphy as one of the criteria to establish their authenticity. He began to gather the manuscripts from Daoists living on Maoshan in 488 and his major acquisitions date from that year to 490 when he travelled to Zhejiang. When Tao retired to Maoshan in 492 he intended to edit the manuscripts, drawing inspiration from Gu Huan's (顧歡, 425?–488?) now-lost _Zhenji jing_ (真跡經, “Scripture on the Traces of the Perfected”), an earlier but in Tao's view unsatisfying account of Yang Xi's revelations. In 498–99, supported by the emperor, Tao compiled and fully annotated the manuscripts. His enterprise resulted in two major works, the esoteric c. 493 _Dengzhen yinjue_ (登真隱訣, “Concealed Instructions for the Ascent to Perfection”) and the c. 499 _Zhen'gao_ (“Declarations of the Perfected”), which was intended for wide circulation (Strickmann 1979: 140–141). Tao also compiled a complete catalogue of Shangqing texts, which is no longer extant. Moreover, the Shangqing revelations inspired Tao to compose a commentary to one of the texts received by Yang Xi, the _Jianjing_ (劍經, “Scripture of the Sword”), which is included in the _Taiping Yulan_. Later, in 517, Tao edited the _Zhoushi mingtong ji_ (周氏冥通記, “Records of Mr. Zhou's Communications with the Unseen”) based on his autograph manuscripts from the revelations bestowed upon his disciple Zhou Ziliang, who had committed suicide in 516 after receiving successive visions of the Perfected (Espesset 2008: 970).

Protoscience

[Dunhuang manuscript of preface to Tao Hongjing's _Bencao jizhu_ (本草集注, Collected Commentaries to the _Shennong Ben Cao Jing_), dated 718] The sinologist Roger Greatrex describes Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing as “early scientists” who made numerous observations of natural phenomena, which they attempted to accord with the Five Elements theory. In modern terms, Tao experimented with protoscience rather than the scientific method. His methodology and results have significance in the history of science in China. Tao's pharmacological commentary uses the term_yàn_ (驗, “examine; test; verify”) to denote medical efficacy of substances (1998: 140, 145).

Pharmacology

Tao Hongjing's father and grandfather were experts in herbal drugs, and he shared their interests in pharmacopoeia and medicine. Shortly after compiling the c. 499 _Zhen'gao_ he completed a major work of pharmacology: the _Bencao jing jizhu_ (本草經集注, “Collected Commentaries to the _Materia Medica_”), which was a critical reedition of the Han dynasty _Shennong Bencao Jing_ attributed to Shennong, the legendary inventor of agriculture and pharmacology. Although Tao's original commentary is no longer extant, it is widely quoted in later materia medica, and portions were discovered in the Dunhuang manuscripts (Knechtges and Chang 2014: 1080).

Tao's preface explains that beginning in the Wei-Jin period, copies of the _Shennong bencao jing_ text had become corrupted, and contemporary medical practitioners “are not able to clearly comprehend information and as a result their knowledge has become shallow” (Greatrex 1998: 142). He further explains that his commentary combines previous material from the _Shengnong bencao jing_ (which Tao refers to as _Benjing_) and other early pharmacological sources, material from his _Mingyi bielu_ (名醫別錄, “Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians”), and information gathered from alchemical texts, notably what he calls _xianjing_ (仙經, “classics on immortality elixirs”) and _daoshu_ (道書, “books on Daoist techniques”). While the early pharmacopeia had only graded substances into superior, medium and inferior, Tao rearranged them into a classification that continues to be used today: minerals, trees and plants, insects and animals, fruits, cultivated vegetables, and grains. For each substance in the _Bencao jing jizhu_, Tao gives information on the availability, sources, alternative nomenclature, appearance, similarities and confusions, suitability for medicinal usage, effectiveness, quotations from classical and other sources, and errors in existing texts (Greatrex 1998: 143). Tao is considered “the effective founder of critical pharmacology in China”, and his editions and commentaries were “painstaking productions, using, for example, different colored inks to distinguish text, original annotations, and his own editorial additions” (Strickmann 1994: 40).

In addition, he wrote other pharmacological texts including _Tao Yinju Bencao_ (陶隱居本草, “Hermit Tao's Pharmacopeia”), _Yao Zongjue_ (藥總訣, “General Medicinal Formulae”), and _Yangsheng Yanming Lu_ (養生延命錄, “Extracts on Nourishing Spiritual Nature and Prolonging Bodily Life”) (Espesset 2013: 970; Robinet 1993).

External alchemy

In 497, Emperor Ming assigned Tao Hongjing to experiment with sword foundry, and provided him with an assistant, Huang Wenqing () a blacksmith from the imperial workshops, who became a Shangqing initiate in 505. The Chinese associated metallurgy with alchemy, both of which used furnaces.

Around 504, Tao changed to researching _waidan_ (lit. “outer alchemy”, preparing herbal and chemical elixirs of immortality), and studied several methods that he successively discarded because of unavailable ingredients, even with imperial support. Eventually, in 505, he decided to compound the _jiuzhuan huandan_ (九轉還丹, Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles). In spite of long research and preparatory work, the compounding failed twice, on New Year's Day 506 and 507. Tao blamed these failures on the lack of genuine isolation, since Maoshan had a large community of permanent residents and their families as well as numerous visitors on pilgrimages (Strickmann 1979:150). Disappointed, Tao decided to leave Maoshan incognito and engaged in a five-year journey to the southeast, from 508 to 512. Another attempt to produce the elixir failed during those years. The _History of the Southern Dynasties_ records that Tao eventually managed to compound a white powder elixir (Espesset 2008: 969).

  [Tao Hongjing] had obtained supernatural talismans and secret instructions. He considered that he might succeed in achieving an elixir, but was hindered by the lack of ingredients. The emperor supplied him with gold, cinnabar, malachite, realgar, and the rest, and he subsequently compounded a Sublimated Elixir (_feidan_ 飛丹). It was the color of frost or snow, and when ingested made the body weightless. When the emperor had consumed this elixir, there were confirmatory effects, and he honored Tao all the more. (tr. Strickmann 1979: 162)

title: Tao Hongjing

question: What is Tao Hongjing (456-536), the Chinese genius, best known for?

answer: He is best known as a founder of the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" school of Daoism and the compiler-editor of the Shangqing religious text.

question: Who did the British sinologist, Lionel Giles, compares Tao to?

answer: He compares Tao with Leonardo da Vinci.

question: What influenced Tao's decision to become a hermit at the age of 10?

answer: He read the Daoist hagiography (Shenxian Zhuan).

question: Why did Tao Hognjing resign his official post of the emperor's court?

answer: He resigned to focus on scholarship and alchemical experimentation on Maoshan.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
Tao Hongjing (456-536), the Chinese genius, is best known as the founder of the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" school of Daoism and the compiler-editor of the Shangqing religious text. The British sinologist, Lionel Giles, compares him to Leonardo da Vinci in terms of genius and talent. Tao is a writer, calligrapher, alchemist, pharmacologist, musician, and astronomer.

Tao read the Daoist hagiography (Shenxian Zhuan) at the age of 10 and from then on decided to become a hermit.

At the age of 36, Tao resigned his appointment at the emperor's court, focusing on scholarship and alchemical experimentation.


text:
_PITYRODIA CANALICULATA_ is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. It is a many-branched shrub with all its parts, except the petals covered with small, circular scales. The tube-shaped flowers are white with reddish spots inside.

Description

_Pityrodia canaliculata_ is a shrub with many branches and which grows to a height of with its branches and leaves densely covered with minute, circular scales. The leaves are dark green, arranged in opposite pairs and covered with similar scales to those on the branches. The leaves are long, wide, linear in shape with a groove on the upper surface and a keel on the lower surface.[1][2]

The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of up to three on scaly stalks long in upper leaf axils. The five sepals are joined to form a bell-shaped tube long, scaly on the outside but glabrous inside. The five petals are joined to form a white tube long with reddish spots inside. The upper half of the tube is covered with scales on the outside and there is a dense hairy ring inside the tube at the base of the stamens. The lower central lobe at the end of the tube is elliptic to almost round, in diameter while the other four lobes are narrower and shorter. The four stamens extend slightly beyond the end of the tube, the lower pair longer than the upper pair. Flowering occurs from June to September and is followed by an oval or pear-shaped fruit long with the sepals attached.[3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

_Pityrodia canaliculata_ was first formally described in 1967 by Alex George from a specimen collected west of Sandstone, and the description was published in _Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia_.[5][6] The specific epithet (_canaliculata_) is a Latin word meaning “canaliculate” or “channelled”, referring to the leaves.[7][8]

Distribution and habitat

This pityrodia grows in red sand near Sandstone in the Murchison biogeographic region.[9][10]

Conservation

_Pityrodia canaliculata_ is classified as “Priority One” by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife,[11] meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.[12]

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title: Pityrodia canaliculata

question: Where is Pityrodia canaliculata endemic to?

answer: It is endemic to a small area in Western Australia.

question: What is the appearance of Pityrodia canaliculata's leaves?

answer: The leaves are dark green and arranged in opposite pairs. They are long, wide, and linear in shape with a groove on the upper surface and a keel the lower surgace.

question: When was Pityrodia canaliculata first formally described?

answer: It was first described in 1967 by Alex George.

question: What are the appearance of its flowers?

answer: The flowers are white and tube-shaped, with reddish spots on the inside. They are arranged singly or in groups of up to three.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article is about Pityrodia canaliculata, a flowering plant of the mint family Lamiacaeae  that is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. It was first formally described in 1967 by Alex George.


text:
The 1957–58 AUBURN TIGERS MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM represented Auburn University in the 1957–58 college basketball season. The team's head coach was Joel Eaves, who was in his ninth season at Auburn. The team played their home games at Auburn Sports Arena in Auburn, Alabama. They finished the season 16–6, 11–3 in SEC play.[1]

[1]

title: 1957–58 Auburn Tigers men's basketball team

question: Who were the 1957-58 Auburn Tigers Men's basketball team?

answer: The 1957-58 Auburn Tigers Men's basketball team represented Auburn University in the 1957-58 college basketball seasons

question: Who was the head coach?

answer: Joel Eaves

question: How many seasons had the head coach been in place?

answer: Nine seasons

question: What was the team's season record?

answer: 16-6, 11-3 in SEC play

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The 1957-58 Auburn Tigers Men's basketball team represented Auburn University in the 1957-58 college basketball seasons. Their head coach, Joel Eaves, was in his ninth season at Auburn. The team played their home games at Auburn Sports Arena in Auburn, Alabama. They finished the season 16-6, 11-3 in SEC play.


text:
     The darkness engulfed my room as if I had suddenly gone blind for no reason. It was calm, and quiet. Nothing but the sound of the fan cooling me from the opposite end of the room. The fan was soothing for some reason. Like a glass of warm milk after a nightmare. It calmed me, and the cool breeze from its blades made it easier to sleep. I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow. The last day of school was finally in my grasp, and I was more excited than ever for summer. I had fallen asleep almost instantly.
     I usually never dreamt but tonight was different. I found the dream to take me to an airplane cockpit. There was a pilot and a man in a jumpsuit standing next to it. "Ready to jump?" the man shouted as he opened the plane door. A gust of wind flooded into the cockpit. "Remember, pull the blue chord, then the red chord!" he shouted at me. I nodded with an understanding of what to do. "Ready, JUMP!" the man shouted as he leaped out of the plane. I hesitated looking at the long drop below me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes; I jumped.
       The wind pounded against my face as if someone had placed a jet engine in front of me. It stung my skin as it pounded against my mouth, nose, and eyes. It was horrific and terrifying.
     The man was no where to be seen. I panicked and decided to pull my parachute. I pulled the blue chord; nothing. I pulled the red chord; nothing. My parachute hadn't deployed. I began to freak out; my parachuted hadn't deployed and I was falling at around a hundred miles per hour towards solid ground. I was going to die. I frantically began looking over my jumpsuit for something that could possibly break my fall and save my life. A backup parachute perhaps. I remembered in lots of movies that the one who's parachute didn't deploy always had a backup parachute. I scoured my jumpsuit for something of such nature. I spotted a small handle with the inscription "emergency" on it. This had to be it. I frantically pulled it and a small parachute burst put of my suit. I was saved for the moment, but my trouble was not over. The chords that connected me to the parachute began to snap and break off. The parachute quickly disattached itself from my suit and flew away. I was falling again, and I was going to die for real this time. I looked down; the ground drew closer and closer by the second. I closed my eyes and prayed. When I opened them the ground was unimaginably close. Then everything went dark.
     "Wake up, you can't fall asleep on your last day of school," a voice said. I looked up to see Mr. Manson; my math teacher. I was in math class, drooling on my desk; oblivious to the world around me. I was at school; I was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat up. It was time to learn and not sleep.
     The school intercom sounded; "Lockdown, I repeat this is not a drill, lockdown now!" Mr. Manson rushed everyone to get under their desks while he went under his. "Open up!" a strange voice shouted from outside the door. No one moved a muscle. The door then burst open with a cloud of smoke and fire. My ears were ringing so loud I could not hear anything. The man was shooting a machine gun into the room. I threw myself onto the ground in an attempt to save my life. The firing stopped as did the ringing in my ears. The man left the room. Cautiously I creeped from off the floor and looked around. "Hello?" I said with caution. There was no answer. I had stepped out of one nightmare and into another.
     Usually in a dream one could have control of the actions around them as if they were like a god, but this was no dream, this was a nightmare, and in nightmares, you're powerless. You can't even control your breathing. In this nightmare that man with the gun was the god of my subconscious. He decided who I was and what I did until he decided when the nightmare should be over. I had to find a way out.
     I frantically looked around the room for something to defend myself with. A pair of scissors or a small knife. I scoured the room. When I looked in the teacher's desk I found a gem: A 9mm pistol. I grabbed the pistol and looked outside the classroom door. The coast was clear. I ran for the next room; pistol ready.
     Everyone in the next few rooms were dead. Was I the only one left? Was I going to die here? Is the world like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" where if you die in your dreams you die for real? I prayed it wasn't. I continued down the stairs.
     Down the stairs was the man. He had just shot the janitor and a student. I had never met either of them, but my pity for them grew. I raised my gun to shoot the man. I cocked the gun. I began to sweat uncontrollably. I was about to kill another human being. I was about to take another person's life. I had to, it would set me free from this awful nightmare forever. I turned the safety off and pulled the trigger. 'Click;' nothing had happened. I began to panic. What if the man had heard the click? Was he going to turn around and shoot me instead? I prayed that was not the answer; it was. The man snapped around and pulled the trigger.
     I jolted awake covered in sweat and panting from the terrible nightmare. It was still dark in my room. I could only hear and feel the cold breeze from the fan on the opposite end of the room. I glanced at the clock which read one-thirty in the morning. I had five and a half hours until I had to go to school. Sleep alluded me for the time. I had just plugged in my headphones and watched the sun rise. Today was the last day of school, and I prayed the dream hadn't come true.

title: Nightmare (first real story; advice appreciated)

question: Who burst into the school?

answer: A man that was killing everyone.

question: Will the narrator succeed in killing the man in her nightmare?

answer: No.

question: Will the narrator die in her dream?

answer: No.

question: Does the narrator have nightmares often?

answer: Information not found.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator is falling asleep before her last day at school. She starts having a nightmare where she jumps off a plane but her parachute does not open. Just before she hits the ground she is woken up by her teacher, in another nightmare. The school is under attack by a man that kills everyone in his way.  She tries killing that man but wakes up just before she gets shot.


text:
[Testing a spherical mirror using an interferometer. All surfaces in the tester are either flat or spherical, so the tester itself is fairly easy to fabricate and test. This setup can test a spherical mirror of any size – since the wavefront is spherical, the mirror can be small and close up, or many meters across and further away. The test only requires that the pinhole be located at the center of sphere defined by the mirror's surface.] A NULL CORRECTOR is an optical device used in the testing of large aspheric mirrors. A spherical mirror of any size can be tested relatively easily using standard optical components such as laser, mirrors, beamsplitters, and converging lenses. One method of doing this using a _Shack cube_ is shown at the right, and many other setups are possible. An interferometer test such as this one generates a contour map of the deviation of the surface from a perfect sphere, with the contours in units of half the wavelength used. This is called a _null test_ because when the mirror is perfect, the result is null (no contours at all). If the result is not null, then the mirror is not perfect, and the pattern shows where the optician should polish the mirror to improve it.

[Adding a null corrector so the interferometer test can measure an aspheric mirror. The null corrector cancels the non-spherical portion of the mirror figure, so when viewed from point A, the combination looks precisely spherical if the mirror under test has the correct figure. Diagram is not to scale – the null corrector is much smaller than shown here.]

However, the mirrors used in modern telescopes are not spherical – they are rotations of parabolas or hyperbolas, since these more complex shapes reduce optical aberrations and give a larger field of view. (See, for example, Ritchey-Chrétien telescope, or three-mirror anastigmats such as LSST.) Non-spherical mirrors such as these will not give a null result when tested as above, and null results are strongly preferred (they are very clean tests that require little interpretation, and the results translate directly to polishing requirements). One solution is to introduce a _null corrector_, as shown in the second figure. This consists of one or more lenses and/or mirrors introduced into the optical path that make the desired mirror look like a perfectly spherical mirror. Using this device, the measured contour map now shows the difference from the desired shape instead of the difference from a sphere. Now measurement and polishing can proceed just as in the spherical case. This method is used in the manufacture of almost all large mirrors for modern telescopes.[1]

Since the mirror will be ground to what the null corrector reports as the right prescription, it is critical that the null corrector be itself correct. An error in building the null corrector led to the mirror in the Hubble Space Telescope being ground to the wrong shape.[2] Less famously, this has happened in other cases as well, such as the New Technology Telescope.[3] Originally, there was no easy way to test a null corrector, so mirror fabricators needed to take extra care that the lenses were correct and spaced correctly (this second part, spacing, was the source of the Hubble null corrector failure).[4] With the advent of computer-generated holograms, it is now possible to create a hologram with the phase response of an arbitrary mirror. Such a hologram can be made to analytically duplicate the phase response of the desired mirror, then be tested with the null corrector just as the real mirror would be tested. If the combination looks like a spherical mirror to the interferometer, then both the null corrector and the hologram are correct with high probability, since the null corrector and the hologram are constructed independently by different procedures.[5] This procedure was used to test (and find an error in) the null corrector used for the MMT Observatory single-mirror retrofit.[6][7]

[1] . More than you ever wanted to know about null correctors.

[2]  The definitive report on the error in the Hubble mirror, traced to an error in the construction of the reflective null corrector.

[3] . Mentions error also happened during the manufacture of the New Technology Telescope.

[4]

[5]  “The hologram is designed and fabricated independently from the null corrector, so agreement between the two indicates a high probability that both are correct.”

[6]  p. 85.

[7]

title: Null corrector

question: What does the article say about testing an aspheric mirror?

answer: The mirrors used in modern telescopes are not spherical. They are rotations of parabolas or hyperbolas. A Null Corrector is an optical device used in the testing of large aspheric mirrors. A null corrector used for testing an aspheric mirror consists of one or more lenses and/or mirrors introduced into the optical path that make the desired mirror look like a perfectly spherical mirror. Using this device, the measured contour map now shows the difference from the desired shape instead of the difference from a sphere. This method is used in the manufacture of almost all large mirrors for modern telescopes.

question: What does the story say about the qualities that make a good telescope?


text:
The band of riders moved in line between the towering walls of the red-rock valley. Their ponies paced onwards, heads bent in exhaustion. They were following a hard packed trail to somewhere, for now only deeper into the cliffs. The water was gone, the food was gone, but not the gold.

“Ey’ Billy, see that crag some way up?” The grizzled man called Desmond was gesturing ahead. A dozen feet from the valley floor was a shadowed crack in the rock face. It was perhaps large enough for a boy to squeeze into, and out of sight.

“I do Sir,” said Billy. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve; this heat was something from a nightmare. Thinking how close they had come to going home, he could cry. A month of panning in the Rio del Oro had yielded them a nugget of gold worth thousands. Billy could have bought his Mama a ranch, and for all his brothers and sisters. He remembered smiling at the thought of being a hero.

That all changed when they were ambushed during the night at their river-camp. The group fought for their lives and fired wildly into the dark. Five of the original eight escaped into the desert, carrying with them whatever had been strapped to their ponies. After two days of pursuit across hell they came to a valley. “No man’s fortune is his own in the West,” Desmond had said, before leading them onwards.

Now the group moved towards the crag, and stopped. Desmond helped Billy upwards and into the shadow. He handed him one of their two remaining rifles. “Stay quiet, wait till you see em’ coming round the bend. Then start pickin em’ off! We’ll be a bit ahead ready to ambush.” Desmond gave the boy a rickety-smile and a half-filled canteen he had hidden away.

Billy watched the rest of the men ride around a bend and disappear. Then he gulped the canteen, curled into the shade to wait, and sobbed.

The sun was setting, the group made it about a mile since they had left Billy. Desmond suddenly exclaimed in anger as he looked ahead. The walls of the valley rose upwards, and then joined together, it was a dead-end. The other three men murmured, frightened. Desmond took off his old sombrero and trailed a hand through his grey hair, ripe with sweat.

What was his plan now? They were outgunned, and he had left Billy behind as a distraction, hoping the boy would be trigger-happy. Thoughtfully, he reached into his satchel he rubbed a dense rawhide bundle. Then turning his pony to the remaining men, a troop of dusty Spaniards, he withdrew the bundle and opened it. They all managed a smile as the fat lump of gold gleamed in the shadowed valley.

“Como el sole,” said one of the Spaniards.

“El sole,” the rest agreed.

A breeze crept forth from where they had come, cooling them all for a moment. Just then came a crack, like a rock dropped from above, and then another, and then a whole succession. Gunfire, it danced among the rock walls.

Desmond dropped from his mount, and walked to the end of the valley. Two of the Spaniards drew revolvers and the last had a rusted pistola. They crowded behind a red-rock boulder, preparing their weapons. In the shadows of the towering rocks, Desmond was busy digging a hole, laughing the whole time.

title: ~Los Desperados~ (Critiques appreciated)

question: How much gold did they get panning in the Rio del Oro?

answer: A nugget worth thousands.

question: What did Billy do when the men rode away?

answer: Started crying.

question: What was Desmond doing while he was digging a hole?

answer: Laughing.

question: What does Desmond ask Billy to do?

answer: Stay quiet and wait to ambush the Spainiards.


text:
[The Shebelle river near Vittorio di Africa during the rainy season] '''Vittorio di Africa ''' (originally called “Vittorio d'Affrica” or simply “Vittorio”[1]) was a small town in southern Italian Somalia, created by Italian colonists in the late 1920s near the southern Shebelle river.[2]

History

The Genale dam on the river Shebelle, together with an extensive network of canals, was built in the south of Somalia in the late 1920s. It was strongly promoted by Cesare Maria De Vecchi -Italian governor of Italian Somalia from 1924 to 1928- in order to provide water for irrigation of a vast territory of 20000 hectares between Genale, Merca and Vittorio d'Africa, to be given in concession to Italian colonists.[3]

One hundred of those colonists created in the south of the Genale concessions (called in Italian _Concessioni agricole_) a small city named “Vittorio d'Africa”, that had a population of nearly 1200 inhabitants in 1940. It was located 11 km from Merca. The city was linked to the Port of Merca by a decauville railway, used to transport the huge production of bananas of the farms around Vittorio d'Africa.

Vittorio d'Africa was founded on March 5, 1928 by prince Umberto di Savoia (that in 1946 was the last King of Italy)[4] on a hill at 70 meters of altitude and nearly 15 km from the Port of Merca. It had a small hospital and buildings for processing local food products.

During the Italian colonial period Genale and Vittorio di Africa were the center of a vast area of agricultural concessions for the cultivation of banana, cotton and other subsidiaries.[5] The bananas were the main product and were marketed by the “Royal Company Monopoly Bananas” (abbreviated RAMB) that had, in fact, a monopoly of the export to Italy granted in order to safeguard banana production in Somalia on the Italian market. Consequently, until the 1950s all the bananas consumed in Italy came from the area of Genale and Vittorio.[6]

The cultivation was made possible by a large dam [7] in the river Shebelle, and by a vast network of canals built between 1924 and 1926. Given the importance of the area it was created, from the administrative point of view, the _Vicecommissariato di Genale_ with Vittorio D'Africa as capital (currently “Scialambod”), where industrial activities were focused also for the processing of agricultural products.

It is noteworthy to pinpoint that in 1939 Italian Somalia nearly all the development was concentrated in the triangle “Genale/Vittorio - Villabruzzi - Mogadiscio”. The center of Vittorio di Africa was a few kilometers inland from the city of Merca which is its Port of Merca. During the period dell'A.F.I.S. (Trust Territory of Somalia) in the years 1950-60, the local “Consortium of farmer-dealers” in the area was reinforced, but in the late 1970s started to lose importance and in the 1990s disappeared.

The late Aden Abdullah Osman Daar (Adan Cadde), Somalia's first president, had a farm in the town.[6]

During WW2 in Vittorio d'Africa was done by the Italians the last battle against the British army before the Allied attacked Mogadiscio in 1941: because of this fight the small city suffered heavy damages. After the war all the Italians moved away and the farm production dwindled, reducing the city to a kind of ghost town. Actually is growing in the area of the disappeared Vittorio d'Africa a small village of Somalis, called _Shalam boot_.

Notes

Bibliography

-   De Vecchi di Val Cismon, Cesare. _Relazione sul progetto di Bilancio della Somalia Italiana per l'esercizio finanziario 1927-1928_.

[1] Italian cities of Banadir

[2] Map of “Concessioni agricole” showing Vittorio D'Affrica

[3] Video showing colonists of Vittorio in 1938

[4] Prince Umberto of Savoia founded Vittorio d'Africa

[5] Aerial view of some “Concessioni agricole” near Vittorio

[6] Photo of Genale/Vittorio farms

[7] Photo of the Genale Dam

title: Vittorio di Africa

question: What is Vittorio di Africa?

answer: It was a small town in southern Italian Somalia created by Italia colonists in the late 1920s.

question: Who is Cesare Maria De Vecchi?

answer: He was the Italian governor of Italian Somalia (1924-1928) who pushed for the construction of the Genale dam on the river near Shebelle.

question: How many inhabitants did Vittorio di Africa have in 1940?

answer: 1200

question: What was the main product that was exported out of Vittorio di Africa into Italy?

answer: Bananas

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Vittorio di Africa is a small town in southern Italian Somalia founded on March 5, 1928, by prince Umberto di Savoia. It was a leading agricultural hub for bananas, and until the 1950s, all the bananas consumed in Italy came from the area.


text:
CARL CHEFFERS (born July 22, 1960) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2000 NFL season, who wears uniform number 51.[1]

Personal life

Carl Cheffers is married and has two children.[2] Cheffers's father also was a football official and worked in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10).[3][4]

Officiating career

As a college student, Cheffers became interested in officiating through his father, and decided to work intramural sports to make additional income.[5] Enjoying the experience of student sports, he sought assistance from his father to officiate high school football games to begin a career.[6] Starting in 1980, he worked several high school playoff games, and two high school championship games.[7] By 1995, Cheffers began officiating in the Pac-10 where he worked for five seasons before being hired by the NFL.[8] During this time, he also worked in the Western Athletic Conference.[9]

Since entering the NFL, Cheffers has worked as a side judge, most recently on the crew headed by referee Larry Nemmers.[10] Cheffers was promoted to referee (crew chief) beginning with the 2008 NFL season following the retirement of Nemmers and referee Gerald Austin.[11]

In his promotion to referee, NFL officiating director Mike Pereira said of Cheffers, “Carl has been extremely successful on the field as a side judge. He is very knowledgeable of the rules, a good rules guy. Strong presence. He was part of Larry Nemmers' crew and he was clearly a crew leader. When we first saw Carl, we saw referee experience from him even though he had refereed basically at the small-college level.”[12]

In 2010, Cheffers refereed a game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, during which there was a convoluted play on a Texans' kickoff return in the 4th quarter that resulted in multiple offsetting penalties. Cheffers struggled to clearly announce the outcome of the play and the penalties, resulting in a memorable and humorous moment for the announcers and fans.[13]

Cheffers was selected to be the alternate referee of Super Bowl XLIX, which was played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on February 1, 2015.[14]

In December 2015, Cheffers refereed the game between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, which resulted in the “Miracle in Motown” play.[15]

On February 5, 2017, Cheffers was the referee for Super Bowl LI in Houston, between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons, which was the first (and remains the only) Super Bowl to be decided in an overtime period. New England won the game 34–28.[16][17] Previously during that same postseason, he had refereed the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs and was criticized by players for calling a holding penalty on Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Fisher during a crucial two-point conversion attempt, which resulted in the Steelers winning 18-16. Pereira supported the call.[18]

Cheffers' 2020 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Mark Pellis, down judge Danny Short, line judge Jeff Seeman, field judge Nate Jones, side judge Eugene Hall, back judge Matt Edwards, replay official Billy Smith, and replay assistant Andrew Lambert.[19]

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title: Carl Cheffers

question: What are some of the criticisms leveled at Carl Cheffers as an NFL referee?

answer:
Carl Cheffers was inspired to be a referee by watching his father officiate games. He got his start by officiating high school playoff games and then moved to Pac-10 where he officiated for five seasons. It was at the end of the fifth season that the NFL hired Cheffers as a side judge. He was promoted to the position of a referee at the beginning of the 2008 NFL season, eight years after he was employed.

During his time as an NFL referee, Cheffers was involved in some less-than-desirable incidents. For example, during a game between Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texas where Cheffer was officiating, there was a play that resulted in multiple offsetting penalties. Cheffers, at the end of the game, clearly struggled to give the spectators the outcome of the play and penalties. He was also criticized for calling a penalty on the Chiefs offensive tackle Eric Fischer during a match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. This call resulted in the Steelers winning the game.


text:
We are connected, you and I. I never knew you, but we are connected. I waited for you. I chose you. It could have been someone else. Just five more seconds and you would have passed, but you came around the building and I knew. It was the itch. The itch that’s deep inside. I’m sure you’ve had it yourself. The kind of itch you can never dig out. Trust me I tried. The first time I got the itch it felt like my stomach was being eaten from the inside out. So I took my knife and dug into my own flesh. But the deeper I went I realized I couldn’t reach it. When they found me with the black hole in my stomach, they thought you did it to me. They told me I was a lucky bastard and said I’d have a chance to get even with you soon enough. They told me I would live. So they patched me up and gave me pills, but I knew the itch would never go away. Now it calls me, guides me. It guided me to you.

Please don’t think I’m a monster. I’m sure you would have done the same, wouldn’t you? I didn’t order you to show up when you did. I just do what I’m told, by the itch, and the itch chose you.

I let ten of you pass from one wall to the other. I watched as the first of you leaned around the corner. I could have sworn you saw me, but you didn’t. The first of you leaned around the corner and gave a hand signal and you all came pouring out like ants from a hole. So if you’re looking for someone to blame, blame the signal man, not me. He gave you that red star on your chest just as much as me.

The red star. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to get a red star. I used to think about it all the time, but after a while I realized making it this far meant I never would. I still think about it, sometimes.

As I was saying, you came around the corner, and as soon as I saw you, I got the itch. What’s that? Why? Speak up, man! Why did I get the itch? If you have to ask that question, clearly I was wrong and you never had it. In short, I don’t know. I know that isn’t the answer you want to hear, but it’s the truth. I don’t know why the itch chose you. You look like a decent enough fellow. I didn't hate you when you came around the corner. Actually, I get the sense that we are similar.

But you came around the corner, and I didn’t feel much of anything, just that small seed of fear. Surely, if you don’t know what the itch is, you have to know the fear. Even now, with the red star on your chest, I still fear you. I know, it sounds stupid, but I do. Because I could be you. Because we’re connected you and I. Someday, someone might get the itch, and it will be me that gets a red star. But this time, you came around the corner, and I waited.

I know you want that red star to mean something. You hope that in some small way, that badge on your chest will make a difference, and you know what? I think it does. Maybe not in the final outcome, but inside, yes, I think it does because you can claim it as your own. You earned it. But not just for yourself. If this whole thing was only for ourselves, we wouldn’t be here, am I right? But we are connected, I know that much, and that’s how I know it means something.

Well, I better get going. Say, what’s that? That in your hand? May I? Oh wow, what a great picture. She, wow, she is really beautiful. And look at those kiddos. Hey their Chief you have a helluva good looking-oh, Jesus. Man, I’m sorry. Here, keep them in a safe place.

Take them.
Common take them!

Alright, look, I’ll just tuck them right in your pocket there. Man, don’t look at me like that. I told you it wasn’t my fault. Weren’t you listening to a single word I was saying? We’re connected. I waited just to be sure! The itch told me! Stop staring at me you sick bastard! I swear I’ll put another red star right in your damn forehead! Stop staring at me!

*Pop!*
It’s not my fault!
*Pop! Pop! Pop!*
***

The dead soldier’s face was unrecognizable by the time they stopped Private Anderson. The stock of his rifle was implanted in the side of the enemy soldier’s skull, but even without that final blow, Anderson managed to fire off a full clip into the man’s face and chest.

As recalled by Lieutenant Jeffries, Private Anderson was being restrained by three other soldiers when he arrived on the scene. The private’s face had gone pallid in the struggle, his lips blue and twisted into a hideous form. And he was screaming. Jeffries had heard plenty of screams in war, but nothing so primal, so pure. It was like Anderson spewed a patchwork quilt of sorrow, horror, and darkness over the men, and when it settled it found every nerve in their bodies and plucked it like a guitar string. Watching him lose it, they all felt cold. Because they knew it could be them, that they were connected. They could be drug away with spittle flying from their mouths screaming, “the itch!” Just like Anderson.

title: Short Story -The Itch (Honest feedback appreciated!)

question: Who is the narrator referring to?

answer: Other soldiers.

question: What is "the itch"?

answer: The narrator is a soldier suffering from PTSD. The "itch" refers to his need to kill or protect himself.

question: What is the "red star?"

answer: Bullet wounds.

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: Private Anderson.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Private Anderson kills enemy soldiers in the midst of a mental breakdown. He is restrained by three other soldiers who arrive at the scene.


text:
Once upon a time, there were four angles that were best friends, there was Right Angle, and he always thought he was perfect since he added up to 90 degrees. Acute and her twin sister, they always complimented each other since they were both 45 degrees, perfect complementary angles. And Obtuse Angle, the big clown of the group, the other angles always pocked fun at him, saying he was a one angle supplementary, but they were wrong, he was only 179 degrees, so jokes on them. One day they decided they wanted to go to the great Plane. The Plane was a popular attraction for Angles all over the world; it was filled with beautiful sites, and extended on and on forever. All you had to do was take a right, then a left and you were at the door to the magical Plane.

The four friends set out on their journey and quickly reached the door to the grand and mystical Plane. This was the first time any of them had been to the great Plane, and they ran into a small problem. Obtuse was too big to get through the door! Acute teased him by dashing back and forth laughing. “See, you are so big you hit every Vertex of the door!” Acute joked.

“Well, I’m afraid we are going to have to cut you into two congruent pieces Obtuse if you want through” stated Right Angle. “What? No? I don’t want to be cut in half” exclaimed Obtuse, “there has to be another way.” Obtuse angle and Right angle argued about this for a good 10 minutes, Acute took this opportunity to make another joke and measured Obtuse with a Protractor and made more fun of his size. This sent Obtuse over the edge and he cried and cried. “I’m sorry” said Acute “it was mean of me to make fun of you.” But it didn’t help and Obtuse cried and cried some more, but the whole time, he got smaller and smaller, until he was just the perfect size to fit though the door. Right Angle saw the opportunity and pushed him through the door.

Just like that they were in the great Plane, it was beautiful, better than anything they could have imagined, it was completely white, extending on for as long as the eye could see, brightly colored points in space, every color and every shade you could ever think of, they light up the sky like fireworks. “What are those spots up there?” asked Obtuse. “Why those are Points, they litter the great Plane and are everywhere you look.” Explained Right Angle. Obtuse looked to the right and saw two colored lines shoot across the sky, “Oh my, what are those lines, they look like they are racing” said Obtuse. “Those lines are something called parallel lines, they travel across the great Plane, they travel in two opposite directions for as long as you can see, but will never ever meet” said Right Angle. “For some reason that makes me sad they will never meet” said Obtuse with a frown.

The four friends spent another hour or two taking in the sights, but suddenly, everything got a little dark, and some of the dots started disappearing. Looking up they saw the destroyer of the Plane. “What is that?” cried Acute. “Well that is the great eraser, and we better start running” stated Right Angle rather calmly, and so they ran, as quick as they possibly could, with dots and lines disappearing all around them, and the shadow of the great eraser slowly coming closer and closer. They could see the door in the distance but it was a long shot.

Obtuse was trailing slightly behind the rest; he had a drink since his big cry, and was back to his old 179 degrees. Almost all of the color dots were gone at this point, and the great and powerful eraser set its sights on the weak angles, chasing them with all its speed. Acute and her sister made it to the door first, and dove through it, followed by Right Angle, and bringing up the rear was Obtuse, with the great eraser right on his tail, he slammed in to the door but was just too big.

Obtuse turned around just in time to see the eraser not even a foot from him. He pushed with all his force and came flying through the door; the eraser had erased some of him, just enough to fit through the door. Obtuse didn’t mind however because the eraser had erased just enough of him to bring him to a perfect 90 degrees, no more jokes at his expense, looks like Right Angle isn't the only perfect angle in town anymore.

The four friends never returned to the great Plane, now that they knew how dangerous it was, but they were glad they got to see it, and the memory of the dancing bright lights will stay with them for the rest of their days, all they have to do is close their eyes and they see the sky light up with beautiful lights of every color. Something so wonderful will never be forgotten.
The end!

If you see any Grammatical errors please let me know!

title: Short kids story about Angles

question: What is the theme of these characters?

answer: Geometry.

question: What is Obtuse' problem?

answer: He can't fit through the door.

question: How does he solve it?

answer: He cries and cries, which makes him smaller.

question: How do the angles measure one another?

answer: With a protractor.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: Several angles get together to go see the Plane, a place rumored to be magical and beautiful with many lights. All you have to go to get there is to take a right, then a left, then you're at the door to the magical Plane. Obtuse, however, won't fit. Then he cries and cries and finds that he's gotten smaller-he can fit. They all go see the plane. There, they marvel at the sights, but the dots start disappearing because there is an eraser. The eraser gets enough of Obtuse that he can comfortably fit through the door to get back.