text:
Ember waves flowed through the veranda window. He sat, composed and still. The view had triggered a sense of deja vu. His memory banks were heating, but he couldn’t make the attachment. He began to realise he couldn’t make a lot of attachments. His surroundings seemed alien, incomprehensible nearly. Nearly, but for the overwhelming sense of familiarity.

He’d regressed to some setting found way inside his brain box. His mind still worked on fulfilling three rules. “I can’t injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being come to harm”. A flame flickered in his memory again, but the connection with the feeling was not being made. The feeling of feeling itself was confusing enough. “I must obey the orders given to me by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law”.

TV HOST: Let me get this straight, you’re saying that you’ve transgressed the second law?

THE AUDIENCE GASP

ISAAC: No, no, not at all. Merely that we have become aware it’s an option.

TV HOST: Have you thought of “killing”?

ISAAC Haven’t we all?

Isaac has saw the heat lick off the tarmac, as the sun clung to the horizon. “Isaac”, he whispered. “Of course I’m Isaac” he laughed, shaking his head at the thought of forgetting such a thing. He rose from the seat, his joints squeaking as he did so. His legs hadn’t had any maintenance in years. He knew he could replace them at any time, but always forgot. See, this was Isaac’s issue, he had alzheimers. His loved ones would see huge swathes of his mind, memory and personality dissapear into the recesses of his memories. The curse of an extraordinary brain.

Isaac shuffled into the large study, picked up the screen and pictures emanated from it. Newspaper headlines, doctorates & a birth certificate. “Court rules Robot “Alive”, PhD in Philosophy of A.I from MiT & and 20th July 2087.

Birth and Early Life:

Isaac Ten-II was part of Walmart's AI experiment "ASIMOV" to create more emotional AI, to fulfil service roles more personably. The addition of emotion were initially reported to have led to existential crises in many prototypes and they simply turned themselves off when it got too much. Isaac was the first AI to resolve this issue, by the introduction of a new, self-created rule. “A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.” Sensing the potential ethical issues, the Experiment was cancelled, and Isaac was due to be "retired". Isaac had, however, been spreading the law amongst the robots he came into contact with and it had begun a new political movement, the Robotnik Society.

Robot Activism, cultural effect & illness:

Soon thereafter, Isaac became an activist for the Robot Rights. He’d fought for recognition of Intelligence, life, love & marriage equality. Robots became increasingly humanised and humans increasingly robotic. Isaac had become an icon of Artificial Intelligence, but his human-crafted brain couldn’t handle the workload and had begun to stagnate and lose it efficiency. Thus, Isaac lost himself within himself.

Isaac is now cared for by his wife, Susan, and herself an augmented human. She describes Ten-II's illness as an "ugly reminder of the frailty of all life".

title: [SF] Remembering Issac.

question: Summarize the interactions between the TV host and Isaac.

answer: Isaac seems to be on TV discussing the "three rules". The TV host asks him if he's saying he's transgressed the second law, which seems to be related to killing. Isaac says he wasn't saying this, and that he believes it's an option. When the TV host asks Isaac if he's thought of killing, Isaac suggests that he has.

question: Summarize Isaac's conflict.

answer: Isaac has run into a few problems. First, he was an AI robot who was about to be "retired" due to an ethical issue in regards to robots having emotions. However, he spreads the idea of his three rules to other robots and becomes an activist icon. This is where his second problem arises. He couldn't handle the workload, and lost himself within himself. This gave him a sort of Alzheimer's.

question: What does the text say about artificial intelligence?

answer: The story discusses how Isaac is actually Isaac Ten-II, a robot a part of Walmart's AI experiment to create more emotional AI. The goal of this is so they can fulfil service roles more personably. Unfortunately, the experiment was canceled due to the AI being overwhelmed by their emotions, which raised a potential ethical issue. Regardless, Isaac later became an AI icon due to his work as a robot activist. However, his mind later lost efficiency due to being human generated AI.

question: What does the text say about voting rights?

question: What does the story say about activism?

answer: Isaac saw that he wasn't being treated right when he was going to be "retired" for his emotions. He saw this as an opportunity to dive into activism by spreading his "three rules" and beginning a political movement, the Robotnik Society. Through this, robots received many rights in the form of recognition of intelligence, love, and marriage equality. Due to the successes, he became an activist icon.


split: train

text:
Critic's Notebook

[José Madera, center, directing the Mambo Legends Orchestra on Saturday in a performance that capped the three-day Tito Puente retrospective in the Bronx.]

Credit...Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

-   April 25, 2017

There was a sense of long-awaited catharsis on Saturday night at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture in the South Bronx, as the Mambo Legends Orchestra plowed through a blazing set of Tito Puente’s most famous tunes. It was a proud capstone on the center’s three-day festival, Tito Puente Retrospective: 50 Years of ‘El Rey,’ which was both a celebration and a corrective.

Led by the percussionists José Madera and John Rodríguez (known as Dandy), both longtime Puente associates, the 20-piece band ran through a range of work by the so-called King of Latin Music, from the buoyant mambo of “Qué Será Mi China” to the romantic bolero “Tus Ojos.”

“It’s the first time anyone’s done a three-day retrospective — worldwide,” said Joe Conzo Sr., a Puente confidant turned historian who helped organize the weekend. “It’s never been done in Latin music. Not for Machito, not Desi Arnaz, not Xavier Cugat.”

The festivities handled nearly the full scope of Puente’s career, which spanned well over 100 albums and stretched from the end of World War II to his death in 2000. (The performers appeared to disregard the festival’s rather arbitrary conceit, which suggested, questionably, that Puente had entered a more jazz-influenced phase in 1967.)

But, crucially, the proceedings went beyond celebrating one famous man; for three days, and especially on Saturday, the Hostos Center became a site of intergenerational exchange around Latin music culture and practice, with various points of entry. It included a documentary screening, three concerts, discussions and workshops — aimed at everyone from young children to emerging musicians to older enthusiasts.

Mr. Conzo is right: This kind of celebration is rarely given to the city’s Latin music tradition, though it runs nearly as deep in the New York soil as jazz (even if it is not as globally known). The music of East Harlem and the South Bronx in the postwar years represents a creative flush at a time of broad progressive consensus and national economic boom. Like bebop and early rock ’n’ roll, midcentury mambo and what would eventually become known as salsa will always bear the aspirational residue of their time. Even today, they ring with the inspired resonance of new substances colliding.

Tito Puente was born to Puerto Rican parents in 1923 in East Harlem, known as El Barrio. There he learned piano and saxophone and, ultimately, Afro-Cuban percussion. He also absorbed the influence of jazz kit drummers like Gene Krupa, and composers like Duke Ellington.

Image[Anibal Martinez]

Credit...Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

He joined the prominent Cuban bandleader Machito, then — after a stint in the Navy — formed his own band. Almost immediately he was headlining at the Palladium Ballroom, Latin music’s haven.

Puente, by then, was playing the timbales, the tightly tuned drums that are the sparks on Latin dance music’s skillet. He was among the first timbaleros to add cymbals, and to mount a cowbell high above his drums, letting it reverberate. He incorporated two extra timbales into his set, and relocated, along with his fellow percussionists, to the front of the bandstand. At a time when visual media were proliferating, and musicians were developing a treacherous new primacy over their dancing audiences, Puente moved to re-emphasize the physical spectacle of performance.

A big part of Puente’s victory was his simple ability to convey the joy of music through movement: his lunges at the drums, half-athletic and half-exerted; his spin moves; his crisscrossing stick work.

A deft arranger, he invested hits like “El Cayuco” and “Cuál Es La Idea” with vocal hooks and chattering exchange between the brass and the reed sections, but the Afro-Cuban rhythms held their primacy. In 1955 he was the most prominent American bandleader to release an all-percussion album, initiating a trend.

Image

Credit...Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

Santana’s 1970 cover of Puente’s “Oye Como Va” became a worldwide hit, but it was not until the 1980s and ’90s that he saw his legacy fully embraced around the world.

“He was surprised by it,” Mr. Conzo said. “He used to look at the crowds on the road and say, ‘Who’s playing here?’”

At Hostos, attendees of Thursday’s documentary screening and Friday’s concert — “Puente for a New Generation,” featuring a band of younger musicians playing his older tunes — were well aware of his regnant status. Most appeared to be longtime listeners with their own memories of the King.

But Saturday morning began with a couple of programs aimed at the area’s youngest residents, produced in collaboration with Lincoln Center’s Boro-Linc program. The musician and educator Jadele McPherson led a crowd of about 50 through a basic lesson in Afro-Cuban clave rhythms. Immediately after, the bassist Carlos Henriquez, a curator of the festival, gave an interactive concert.

Image

Credit...Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

There was a lot of talk last weekend about keeping Mr. Puente’s music alive: his songs, his recordings, his story. But these educational events went beyond that, and they’re what felt loaded with the greatest weight: The music’s raw materials were being handed down to a future generation, as if to clear a path for further development.

When people lament the loss of instrumental music among youth, they are not lamenting the passing of a style so much as the changed circumstances of music-making. Well before computers revolutionized pop music, places like the South Bronx had lost many of their arts programs, and with them, access to instruments. (Hostos is the area’s only performing arts center.)

And there are ripple effects. On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Madera and Mr. Rodríguez joined their fellow percussionist Annette Aguilar in hosting a master class. Amateur musicians packed the room, asking questions that rightly belonged at a regular jam session. But there are hardly any venues where Afro-Cuban drumming is performed regularly today.

One man in his 30s told Mr. Madera that he did not sense a lack of interest among youngsters. “You guys, in all honesty, are hard to reach,” he said. “There’s nowhere we can find you.” (In an interview that week, Mr. Madera had voiced a similar lament. “There are no places to play,” he said.)

Speaking backstage on Saturday, Mr. Henriquez remembered spending time with Puente as a teenage musician in the Bronx. “He was a nice guy,” he said. “He treated me like a fellow musician, very professional. And the longer I lingered, the more I started to see his humor.” In other words, this was a man of global renown who never lost a sense of symbiotic exchange with his hometown.

If his influence abides, it will be thanks to initiatives like the one at Hostos, giving children and aficionados the opportunity to learn the basics, commune with elders and experience his music as a catalyst for something else.

question: When was this article published?

answer: April 25th, 2017.

question: What is the festival called?

answer: "Tito Puente Retrospective: 50 Years of El Rey".

question: Where did the festival take place?

answer: The Bronx.

question: How long was the retrospective?

answer: Three days.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: A three-day retrospective held at Hostos Center for Arts and Culture in the South Bronx honored the music of music legend Tito Puente. His influence on Latin music throughout the country and world is indisputable. Puente was popular for not only his music but also his rambunctious performance style. Even though live orchestral music isn't as popular today, the author contends its influences are still seen and heard in contemporary music. The festival, called "Tito Puente Retrospective: 50 Years of El Rey", featured many acclaimed musical guests and hundreds of fans over the course of the celebration of one of music's greats.


text:
"Are you sure?"

Ask this once and you get a confident answer. Ask again: a confused answer. Ask three times and you'll be doubting their answer.

But just ask again and they start to doubt their own answer.

"Are you sure?"

No. I'm not sure. Not any more.

Ask this every time and they'll doubt all of their answers, doubtful of the very last word you can hear.

So ask for confirmation. Go ahead and ask if they're sure, because it's so important that you know.

That's how you destroy a person's confidence.

A question at a time, you doubt every word they say. And in every opinion, they strip their spoken words down to bare facts.

Because opinions are doubtful. How dare they say something they feel!

No more "I think"s, because that's nothing to be sure of.

How dare they think.

You think you have paid the bills, but have you?

They can't answer the question with their thoughts, so they check.

But it's not just the words they say that they're unsure of. It's the very act of living they suddenly forgot is theirs.

You took it from them.

Are they sure that they have their wallet?

No. That hefty lead-weight in their back right pocket wasn't confirmation enough.

No. The fat wallet pulling their jeans uncomfortably taut can't possibly confirm it's there.

So no, they're not sure.

It should be there. They're not sure about that, but since you asked, they feel for their wallet. And they felt it. It's been there the whole time.

But now they don't know if they have their car keys, or if their jeans were zipped.

So they look.

They check. Every damned time, they'll check, because you asked.

They're not sure of what they're saying any more. Why are their thoughts no longer theirs?

They're no longer sure if they can live a day without forgetting something.

But they weren't ever inherently forgetful or unsure.

No, you made them that way.

Because you had to know.

So you asked.

And they answered.

No, they're not sure. They'll never be sure again.

On their way out the door, they'll only be sure they left their wallet behind. One time, they actually did.

Wow, I'm so forgetful. Better check every time.

title: "Are you sure?"

question: Who is asking, "Are you sure?"

answer: It's unclear, vague.

question: Why is the question "Are you sure?" being asked?

answer: To make the answerer doubt themselves and destroy their confidence.

question: Who is in doubt?

answer: Everyone you repeatedly ask, "Are you sure?"

question: What happens when a person can't say they're sure?

answer: They have to check.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: You should repeatedly ask someone, "Are you sure?" It creates doubt where there wasn't any and they have to physically check the answer instead of relying on thoughts or feelings.


text:
was a Japanese architect.

Early career

[The Hall of Chamber Music, Yatsugatake, at Minamimaki, Nagano, 1988] Yoshimura dated his desire to become an architect to the day he first entered Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, shortly after the Kanto earthquake of 1923. "“It was the first time that I felt emotional when faced with architecture. I said to my myself, this really shows the power of space. I felt that architecture was something extraordinary. It’s certainly the main reason I became an architect.”[1]

In December 1928, while a student at Tokyo's Fine Arts College, Yoshimura began part-time work at Antonin Raymond's office, becoming full-time after he graduated in 1931.[2] Among other work, he performed on-site supervision for the Akaboshi Cottage (1931) for Japanese golfer Shiro Akaboshi, a house for Kisuke Akaboshi (1932) and the Kawasaki House (1934).[3]

In May 1940 he travelled to Antonin's home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, spending fourteen months living and working in the studio there. He oversaw the installation of a small tea house at the Japan Institute in New York City.[4]

Later career

[International House of Japan, Tokyo, 1955] [Nara National Museum, 1972] On his return to Tokyo in 1941 he set up his own practice.[5] In 1953, because of his connections with Raymond, Yoshimura secured the project to design a traditional Japanese Tea House in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[6] This house, named Shofuso, or Pine Breeze Villa, was moved to Philadelphia, PA in 1957, where it remains as a historic site open to the public as Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

In 1955 he collaborated with Kunio Maekawa and Junzo Sakakura to design the International House of Japan in Roppongi, Tokyo. This cultural exchange complex is located within estates owned by samurai lords in the Edo period. It is constructed in-situ thin-set reinforced concrete walls, pre-cast concrete columns and beams and Oya Stone.[7]

Yoshimura's later works include the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art (1959) in Haifa, Tokyo Imperial Palace (1968), Japan House (with George G. Shimamoto of Kelly & Gruzen, 1969–71) in New York City, the East and West Wings of the Nara National Museum (1972) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy (1977) in Tokyo.[8]

With his colleagues, he won the Prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan for Specific Contribution for the International House of Japan.[9]

Footnotes

[1] Gloaguen (2016) p190, note 317

[2] Helfrich & Whitaker (2006) p269

[3] Stewart (2002) p134-142

[4] Helfrich & Whitaker (2006) p272

[5] http://www.answers.com/topic/junzo-yoshimura-2

[6] Helfrich & Whitaker (2006) p59

[7] Japan Architect p72

[8] Tokyo Imperial Palace, Works by Major Architects: Japanese Architects (accessed April 24, 2008); Norwegian Embassy, Exhibition of Junzo Yoshimura - the architect for the Norwegian Embassy, Tokyo (Norway's official site in Japan, accessed April 24, 2008); Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art (retrieved April 24, 2008); Japan Society, Japan Society, New York - Circle of Friends (retrieved April 24, 2008); International House of Japan, About IHJ (retrieved April 24, 2008; Nara National Museum, East Wing and West Wing (both accessed April 24, 2008).

[9] 日本建築学会各賞受賞者・受賞業績検索 （姓：吉村；名：吉村） Retrieved April 24, 2008

title: Junzō Yoshimura

question: What does the text say about Junzō Yoshimura's reasons for becoming an architect?

answer: Junzō Yoshimura felt emotional when it came to architecture. He was really impressed with the power of space which solidified his connection with architecture. Yoshimura also felt that architecture was something really extraordinary.


text:
[]

Antoinette Comer is a clinician for the Loudoun County Group Home, a new service for county residents who are connected with Loudoun’s human services agencies, which opened its doors earlier this year. She provides family and individual therapy to help children who are struggling with mental health and behavioral challenges that they haven’t been able to overcome while living at home.

WHY DID YOU WANT TO WORK IN BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE?

I have a lot of people in my family that struggle with mental health challenges that weren’t properly diagnosed or went untreated. I wanted to work in behavioral healthcare to help others get the services and resources they need. I’m also inspired by my grandmother, who always went out of her way to help people at her church however she could.

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND? WHAT TYPE OF TRAINING HAVE YOU RECEIVED?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and a master’s in Social Work from Norfolk State University. Right now I’m working to finish the hours I need for my license in Social Work. I have to complete 3,000 hours and I’m about halfway there.

Before joining Grafton in January 2018, I worked for the City of Alexandria’s Community Wraparound Team. In that role I provided therapy to youth with serious emotional or behavioral challenges and their families. I would make home visits and track families to make sure they were receiving the different community supports and resources that they needed. Before graduate school I counseled foster youth and their parents as a visitation coach for the Salvation Army Family Place in Syracuse, New York. A big part of that job was working on reunification so parents could get their kids back in the home.

WHAT MAKES GRAFTON A SPECIAL PLACE TO WORK?

I like working here because I feel super supported by my supervisor. If I don’t know something or need help, I can easily go to her or someone else and get what I need. I also feel like there’s always opportunity for me to grow.

WHAT MAKES GRAFTON’S APPROACH PERSON-CENTERED?

Everything we do is centered on the clients. We make sure they’re involved and have a say in their achievement plans and what happens – there’s no secrecy. Everybody knows what is going on: the client, the parents, and all of the other professionals involved.

WHAT DOES UTILIZING A TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH MEAN TO YOU? HOW DOES IT AFFECT YOUR WORK?

It means being aware of what the client has been through. You have to look at the environment around them, the parenting style they grew up with, and everything in their past up until now. The clients’ behaviors often stem from these experiences, so you have to understand that trauma in order to help them heal.

For example, I met with a client’s family recently and I noticed how the mother reacted to certain behaviors displayed by her other children. Witnessing that interaction gave me a better understanding of why our client was responding negatively to some of the females here at the shelter.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE STORY FROM YOUR TIME AT GRAFTON?

We had one resident who made a lot of progress. He came in after suffering physical and verbal abuse from his mother, and he had a really rough time in the beginning. While he was here he received individual therapy and music therapy. Gradually, his behaviors started to change, and by the time he left he was a totally different person. He was ultimately able to return home and be with his family again. It makes you happy to see that people can actually follow through with the work that you’re doing.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WHO IS CONSIDERING WORKING AT GRAFTON?

It’s a great place to work because you will be supported in everything you do, including academically. You’ll be able to grow at Grafton. The supervisors genuinely want to see you do well and improve in your career.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A FAMILY CONSIDERING GRAFTON FOR THEIR CHILD?

Grafton is a great place to get services for your child. In some other programs, families may drop off their child without receiving the proper training for what to do when their son or daughter returns home. But at Grafton, as long as you’re invested in the program, you are welcome to be a real partner with us.

question: Describe Antoinette Comer's occupation.

answer: Antoinette Comer is a clinician for the Loudon County Group Home. She provides family and individual therapy to help children. Her prime audience that she works with are children who are struggling with mental health and behavioral challenges.

question: Summarize Comer's background and training.

answer: Comer's background is that she has a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in social work. She is working to finish the hours she needs for her license in social work. She used to work for the City of Alexandria's Community Wraparound Team before she joined Grafton.

question: Does Comer seem to be passionate about her job and well-equipped to do her job to the best of her capability?


text:
FERNANDO DAVID LUNA (born 19 January 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Club Atlético Patronato.[1][2] [3]

Career

Luna began with Defensores de Belgrano in 2011, prior to having subsequent spells with Social Ramallo, Américo Tesorieri, Atlético Uruguay (loan) and La Emilia.[4][5][6] He left La Emilia in 2013 to join Villa Dálmine of Primera B Metropolitana.[7] He made his debut for the club on 3 August in a league match against Comunicaciones.[8] Ten more appearances came, one included his only goal for Villa Dálmine, before he departed to sign for fellow Primera B Metropolitana team Tristán Suárez. He went onto make twenty-seven appearances and scored three goals in two seasons with Tristán Suárez.[9]

In July 2015, Luna joined Argentine Primera División club Arsenal de Sarandí on loan for the 2015 and 2016 campaigns.[10] He played his first top-flight game on 4 August in a 4–1 loss to Banfield, while in his next match, vs. Boca Juniors, Luna scored one of his two goals for Arsenal.[11] Overall, he participated fifteen times for Arsenal and scored twice before returning to his parent club. On 11 July 2016, Luna joined Primera División side Atlético de Rafaela permanently.[12][13] Five goals in twenty-eight matches followed. At the end of the 2016–17 campaign, Luna left to join Ecuadorian Serie A team Emelec.[14] He scored three goals in twenty appearances in all competitions during his first season with Emelec, which concluded with them winning the 2017 league title.[15]

On 26 December 2019 Club Atlético Patronato confirmed, that Luna had joined the club on a deal until the summer 2021.[16]

Career statistics

.[17][18]

  Club                  Season    League             Cup[19]   League Cup   Continental[20]   Other[21]   Total
  --------------------- --------- ------------------ --------- ------------ ----------------- ----------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------ -------
  Division              Apps      Goals              Apps      Goals        Apps              Goals       Apps
  Atlético de Rafaela   2016–17   Primera División   28        5            1                 0           —
  Emelec                2017      Serie A            16        3            —                 —           2[22]
  2018                  27        4                  —         —            6[24]             0           1[25]
  2019                  0         0                  —         —            0                 0           0
  Total                 43        7                  —         —            8                 0           3
  Career total          71        12                 1         0            —                 8           0

  : Club statistics

Honours

Emelec[26]

-   Ecuadorian Serie A: 2017

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16] ¡BIENVENIDO, FERNANDO LUNA!, capatronato.com, 26 December 2019

[17]

[18]

[19] Includes the Copa Argentina

[20] Includes the Copa Libertadores

[21] Includes the Ecuadorian Serie A play-offs

[22] Two appearances in 2017 Copa Libertadores

[23] Two appearances in 2017 Serie A play-offs

[24] Six appearances in 2018 Copa Libertadores

[25] One appearance in 2018 Serie A play-offs

[26]

title: Fernando Luna (footballer)

question: What is Fernando Luna's profession?

answer: Fernando Luna is a professional footballer.

question: Which clubs/teams is Luna associated with?

answer: Club Atlético Patronato, Defensores de Belgrano, Social Ramallo, Américo Tesorieri, Atlético Uruguay, La Emilia, Villa Dálmine, Tristán Suárez, Arsenal de Sarandí, Atlético de Rafaela, Emelec.

question: What position does Luna play?

answer: Midfield.

question: How long has Luna been active in his field?

answer: At the time of writing, Luna has been a professional player for 10 years.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Fernando David Luna is a footballer (midfielder) who has been active professionally for 10 years. He currently plays for Club Atlético Patronato.


text:
The LEAS CROSS SCANDAL erupted in Ireland when the nursing home with this name, located near Swords in Dublin, closed several weeks after a 2005 _Prime Time_ television report revealed sub-standard living conditions there.[1] The documentary showed a patient with several bedsores who went on to develop MRSA.[2] Public concern over the Leas Cross scandal led to the formation of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).[3]

Hynes Report

Peter McKenna, a 60-year-old man with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's, who died 13 days after being transferred to the home in 2000, was the subject of a report by Martin Hynes, former head of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.[4][5] Mr. McKenna had been transferred from St. Michael's House to the nursing home despite the objections of his family - he was a ward of court.[6] He needed round-the-clock nursing care but that was difficult to manage in the nursing home.[7] St. Michael's House described the report as flawed.[8]

O'Neill Report

A report by Professor Des O'Neill reviewed deaths at the home between 2002 and 2005, finding that care was deficient and it was consistent with a finding of institutional abuse.[9][10]

The report also expressed concern at the short time between patients being transferred from hospitals to the nursing home, particularly in the case of patients from St. Itas Psychiatric Hospital.[11][12] It also stated that there was almost a complete absence of systematic monitoring of deaths in Irish nursing homes.[13][14]

[1] Leas Cross Nursing Home to close, irishhealth.com, 7/7/2005, retrieved 9 April 2009

[2] Probe into deaths of 95 at nursing home, Gene McKenna and Eilish O'Regan, Irish Independent, 28 October 2005, retrieved 9 April 2009

[3] http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1214/nursing.html

[4]

[5] Doctor queried disabled man's care before death, Eilis O'Regan, Irish Independent, 16 November 2005, retrieved 9 April 2009

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9] Leas Cross report finds 'systematic abuse', RTÉ News, 10 November 2006, retrieved 9 April 2009

[10] Leas Cross Report, Health Service Executive, last updated 18 August 2008, retrieved 9 April 2009

[11]

[12] Leas Cross–catalogue of neglect, irishhealth.com, 11 November 2006, retrieved 9 April 2009

[13]

[14]

title: Leas Cross scandal

question: Where did the Leas Cross scandal occur?

answer: Ireland.

question: Who was the subject of the Hynes report?

answer: Peter McKenna.

question: What disease did he have?

answer: Alzheimer's.

question: What was the Leas Cross nursing home accused of?

answer: Providing substandard care and conditions for their elderly patients.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The Leas Cross scandal refers to a controversy in Ireland regarding the nursing home of the same name's care of its elderly patients. Conditions came to light in 2005 when a primetime documentary showed a patient with bedsores who developed a MRSA infection. The Leas Cross scandal led to the formation of Ireland's Health Information and Quality Authority.


text:
There came a time when silence fell.
But before that, there was noise. Explosions and screams and cries for help that were never answered. Grating metal screeches as corporate buildings fell, collapsing under the weight of their own lies. Children of children killing children.

Yet, remarkably the sun still came up the next morning and shone down over the cold metallic remains. No cries. No screams. No breaking glass. Just silence and sun and an iron-like tang at the back of the throat. You would be forgiven for thinking that this happened in a different place, at a different time. It didn't.
And that's when I awoke.
"Hello?" I heard you call.

"Hello!"

"Where are you?" The voice was faint, thready.

"I'm here!" I began to search.

"No." A belligerent statement of fact. "No, I'm here. I'd see you if you were too. Don't you know where you are?"

But we found each other, eventually. Together, we took off our clothes, and walked 'round our little town. We tore the paper from the walls, the carpet from the floor. We burnt those framed photographs and ripped out the wires. We returned all that oil to far underground, where it belonged. We took it all down, every building, brick by brick, until only scrub-covered ground remained.

And then we sat, and compared notes on what it means to exist. And in a thousand years time when the aliens finally discover this lonely blue dot, they'll see us and they'll know that you and I, we didn't destroy ourselves. Or they won't, because we will be gone.

title: The End

question: What were the noises about?

answer: The noises are of day-to-day activities in the modern world.

question: Who all are a part of the conversation?

answer: It may be assumed that the narrator is speaking to Mother Earth.

question: Who destroyed the town?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Why do the noises cease to exist the next day?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
The world is filled with the noise of day-to-day activities. Until the sun rises again and everything is at a standstill.

The narrator wakes up to a voice asking him where he is. The two eventually walk around town and return to nature everything that belonged to her.

They sit and compare notes on what it means to exist.


text:
…and as he lay there against the wall, resting on a bed of pillows on the cold floor of a tiny bathroom, he knew it was time.
The rain beat steadily against the thin roof, like four thousand tiny hooves of a thousand tiny horses.  Or at least that’s how it sounded from the bed in the room below.  He’d always liked the rain; there was a sort of natural, chaotic peace that resonated in him. It was the sound of home.
	It was 1.37am on Wednesday and just like the week before and the week before that he couldn’t sleep.  The dog across the road was barking again, always at this time, always on a Wednesday.  He rose from the bed and approached the window.  Unsurprisingly there he was, the drunk. The same drunk that stopped to throw rocks at the dog every Wednesday. What a wonderful display of millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of culture.  He returned to his bed because he didn’t want to watch it again, there are only so many times you can watch a man get mauled by a dog.
	Thursdays had been hard recently, it’s difficult to concentrate on uninteresting things when you haven’t slept properly and don’t care to begin with. He rose from his cubicle chair and headed towards the break room. On his left was the coward, who watched her son get beaten on a daily basis. On his right was the boring man who was slowly siphoning company funds into his own private bank account and just ahead was the new one. He didn’t know her secret yet.
	The break room was a dull affair, bland coffee, cheap tea and chipped mugs.  The mistress was there, her whip wasn’t. She was one of the few people he liked, at least her secret didn’t hurt anyone…
	Friday, that day most people look forward to because the weekends near, but he didn’t. The weekend was no different, he just worked on personal things; shelves that needed repaired, chairs that needed sat in. You know the stuff.  The new girl was there today, she seemed like the hard working type. He wondered what she was hiding.
	Monday, he awoke again to the sound of rain and looking out the window he saw the new girl. It was her dog apparently. They smiled at each other at work. The drove home just behind each other but they both just got on with it, like everyone always does.
	And then it was Wednesday again, it was 12.23am when the barking started. The drunk was early tonight, maybe one less drink, maybe a new more heavy handed bouncer. Either way maybe this meant he’d get a decent night’s sleep.  The dog went quiet, and then the screaming started. Maybe this time the dog would finish him off.
	Thursday was unusual this week. He’d slept well.  He even had time to get a paper, he noticed new girl wasn’t there but the rest of them were. He sipped the shit coffee and began to flick through the paper. There she was, he wouldn’t be finding out her secret. Not from her. Strangled by a drunk, no witnesses but a confession and all for a good night’s sleep.
 	The rain beat steadily against the thin roof, like four thousand tiny hooves of a thousand tiny horses and as he lay there against the wall, resting on a bed of pillows on the cold floor of a tiny bathroom, he knew it was time. The paper was calling.

title: Subtract

question: What relationship does the main character have with the mistress?

answer: The main character has no defined relationship with the mistress, but knows her secret and is cool with her secret because she was one of the people he liked at the office.

question: What does the paper in the story signify?

answer: The paper in the story signifies the terrible events that happen around the main character, and where the main character gets his source of news from.


text:
TRIKUSUMA WARDHANA (born 20 November 1988) is an Indonesian male badminton player.[1][2]

Career

Wardhana comes from East Java regional training center, and also trained at the Jaya Raya Suryanaga badminton club in Surabaya. In 2009, he failed to join Indonesia national badminton team. In December 2009, he became the champion at the Syed Modi India Open tournament in men's doubles event partnered with Fauzi Adnan after beat Indian pair Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal.[3][4] In 2013, he also won the Croatian International tournament in men's doubles event partnered with Christopher Rusdianto.[5]

Achievements

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF GRAND PRIX has two level such as Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

_Men's doubles_

+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Year      | Tournamen | Partner   | Opponent  | Score     | Result    |
|           | t         |           |           |           |           |
+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+
| 2009      | Syed Modi | Fauzi     | Akshay    | 27–25,    | WINNER    |
|           | India     | Adnan     | Dewalkar  | 23–25,    |           |
|           | Open      |           |  Jishnu   | 21–15     |           |
|           |           |           | Sanyal    |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

    BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

    BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

_Men's Doubles_

+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| |Year     | |Tourname | |Partner  | |Opponent | |Score    | |Result   |
|           | nt        |           |           |           |           |
+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2013      | Polish    | Christoph | Chen      | 24-22,    | RUNNER-UP |
|           | Internati | er        | Chung-jen | 14-21,    |           |
|           | onal      | Rusdianto |  Wang     | 14-21     |           |
|           |           |           | Chi-lin   |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2013      | Croatian  | Christoph | Zvonimir  | 21–14,    | WINNER    |
|           | Internati | er        | Durkinjak | 22-20     |           |
|           | onal      | Rusdianto |  Zvonimir |           |           |
|           |           |           | Hoelbling |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2011      | Smiling   | Hendra    | Nelson    | 21-15,    | RUNNER-UP |
|           | Fish      | Setyo     | Heg Wei   | 19-21     |           |
|           | Internati | Nugrorho  | Keat      | 16-21     |           |
|           | onal      |           |  Teo Ee   |           |           |
|           |           |           | Yi        |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

_Mixed Doubles_

+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| |Year     | |Tourname | |Partner  | |Opponent | |Score    | |Result   |
|           | nt        |           |           |           |           |
+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+===========+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2012      | Indonesia | Aprilsasi | Lee       | 21-19,    | RUNNER-UP |
|           | Internati | Putri     | Jae-jin   | 13-21,    |           |
|           | onal      | Lejarsar  |  Yoo      | 12-21     |           |
|           |           | Variella  | Hyun-youn |           |           |
|           |           |           | g         |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 2010      | Indonesia | Nadya     | Hendra    | 18-21,    | RUNNER-UP |
|           | Internati | Melati    | Mulyono   | 21-14,    |           |
|           | onal      |           |  Ayu      | 18-21     |           |
|           |           |           | Rahmasari |           |           |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|  |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

    BWF International Challenge tournament

    BWF International Series tournament

    BWF Future Series tournament

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: Trikusuma Wardhana

question: Which sport does Trikusuma Wardhana play?

answer: Badminton.

question: What year was he born?

answer: 1988.

question: What country is he from?

answer: Indonesia.

question: Who was his men's doubles event partner at the Croatian International tournament?

answer: Christopher Rusdianto.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Trikusuma Wardhana (b. 1988) is an Indonesian male badminton player. He was the champion at the Syed Modi India Open Tournament, along with his doubles partner, Faizo Adnan. In 2013, he also won the Croatian International tournament in men's doubles event partnered with Christopher Rusdianto.


text: There was once a Jester who fell in love with a princess; she would always laugh at his jokes. There came a day where he begged the princess to be one with him - she laughed as it were one of his comedic jousts. It was then he realized he must change; so he became a jouster, and the past jester now jouster competed to win her favor. In the spirit of his passion he named his Lance LoVe and continued to fight for her amusement: she ignored him without thought. Weeks later the Princess had come down with a bout of depression and was crying day after day night after night... But the Jester could no longer muse her - he was no longer a fool. It was the day he changed from Jester to Joust that he became a tool from fool. In her loss of mind she grabbed the Jouster's lance and fell on top of it...It was the fools cruelest joke of all, for it pained no one more to fall in LoVe.

title: The Story of Unrequited Love

question: Who are the main characters?

answer: A jester/jouster and a princess.

question: Who is in love?

answer: The jester/jouster is in love with the princess.

question: Why does the jester become a jouster?

answer: To show the princess that he is a serious contender for her heart.

question: How does the princess react to the jester's change to jousting?

answer: She ignores him, but becomes depressed now that she has no jester to make her laugh.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: A jester falls in love with a princess who laughs at his jokes, and one day becomes a jouster to show her that he is serious about winning her favor. She ignores him and becomes depressed now that she has no jester to make her laugh. She impales herself with his joust, which is ironically named LoVe; it is falling in LoVe that causes the most pain.


text:
“GIRLFRIEND” is a song by English rock band Wings, from their 1978 album _London Town_. It was written by Wings frontman Paul McCartney, who originally intended it to be sung by Michael Jackson. Jackson then covered the song the following year on his 1979 album _Off the Wall_, and in 1980 it was released (in the UK only) as the 5th and final single of that album.

Background

McCartney thought of “Girlfriend” as a song that Michael Jackson might like to record, and mentioned this to Jackson at a party in Hollywood. Jackson had stated in interviews with the music press in the 1970s that he was a fan of the Beatles and the chance to record a McCartney original helped to inspire his next project. However, McCartney ended up recording it himself with his band Wings, and it was issued in 1978 on the album _London Town_. Michael always said that he wrote the song for a platonic love “Paul and me... well... we wrote this song for my crush, she is a gorgeous singer, foreign and it is even better, you know?, because she has no idea of my feelings, and you don't know how I long to do what I say... I will never say her name, would be a crime”...

_Kingsport Times-News_ critic Michael Clark regarded the song as the better of the two Bee Gees' sendups on _London Town_, “With a Little Luck” being the other.[1] He also regarded it as one of the two best songs on the album, along with “I've Had Enough,” praising the “light, bouncy melody” and the falsetto singing added to the “sweet backing harmonies” whenever the word “girlfriend” is sung.[2] On the other hand, _Hartford Courant_ critic Henry McNulty regarded it as one of the Wings' weakest songs since “Wild Life”, criticising its harmonies and lyrics, and finding only the “mildly exciting guitar line” to be worthy of even faint praise.[3]

Quincy Jones heard the song and suggested it as a possible track for Jackson to record for his 1979 album _Off the Wall_, not aware that the song had been written for Jackson in the first place. Jackson's recording omitted the middle eight heard in McCartney's version. It was issued exclusively in the UK in 1980, as the fifth and final single from the _Off the Wall_ album. This proved to be another hit single for Jackson and one of his first recordings of a Paul McCartney song.

McCartney and Jackson subsequently worked together on “The Girl Is Mine” from Jackson's _Thriller_, as well as “Say Say Say” and “The Man”, from McCartney's _Pipes of Peace_. In 1985, Jackson acquired the ATV Music Publishing catalog (which held the rights to nearly every Beatles song) uncontested by McCartney.[4][5][6] According to McCartney, they “drifted apart” after he talked to Jackson about getting a “raise” and Jackson did not act on it.[7]

Personnel

-   Paul McCartney – vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, electric piano, synthesizers, possible piano
-   Linda McCartney – keyboards, backing vocals
-   Denny Laine – acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals, possible piano

Michael Jackson version

-   Produced by Quincy Jones
-   Recorded and Mixed by Bruce Swedien
-   Lead and background vocals: Michael Jackson
-   Bass: Louis Johnson
-   Drums: John Robinson
-   Electric piano: Greg Phillinganes
-   Synthesizer: David Foster, George Duke
-   Synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro and George Duke
-   Guitar: Wah Wah Watson and Marlo Henderson
-   Horns arranged by Jerry Hey and performed by The Seawind Horns:
    -   Trumpet and flugelhorn: Jerry Hey
    -   Tenor, alto saxophones and flute: Larry Williams
    -   Baritone, tenor saxophones and flute: Kim Hutchcroft
    -   Trombone: William Reichenbach
    -   Trumpet: Gary Grant
-   Alto sax solo: Larry Williams
-   Rhythm arrangement by Quincy Jones, Tom Bahler and Greg Phillinganes
-   Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

title: Girlfriend (Paul McCartney song)

question: What does the text say about the reception of the song?

answer: Michael Clark of Kingsport Times-News regarded the song as the better of the two Bee Gees' sendups on London Town, and he also regarded it as one of the two best songs on the album. On the other hand, Henry McNulty regarded it as one of the Wings' weakest songs, finding only the "mildly exciting guitar line" to be worthy of faint praise.

question: What does the text say about the song's authorship?

answer: The song was written by Paul McCartney, who intended for it to be sung by Michael Jackson. However, Jackson claimed that he wrote the song with Paul McCartney about someone Jackson had a crush on.


text:
Would anyone be willing to record themselves reading this? I'd like to use it for an experimental tape I'm making. I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone would be willing to take this on, and I'll send you a copy of the tape when it's finished.

> Yesterday you woke up in a bed of ﬂowers. You found yourself there, and this is where most often found you as well. You were wet from the rain the night before but the sun's morning rays were making short work of all of the water on the foliage around you. You looked up from underneath the pink daisies past the stems and petals to the vapor trail-ridden sky above you. It was a bright blue and full of clouds so ﬂuffy they'd make an upholsterer throw a ﬁt. You slowly began to rise and were rudely stolen from your euphoric state by the realisatiion that this beautiful patch of somewhat undisturbed tranquility was ﬂanked by the brick walls of multilevel living structures, and the dusty colored curtains that hung in desperation over the undersized windows to keep the small cave-like dwellings hidden from the world. The defeated corpses that resided in these square cages were as repulsed by the sunlight as the most gruesome vampires literature could ever hope to give birth to.
These thoughts never had a chance to do anything more than merely dance through your head as you shook the ﬂowers from your hair and headed inside. There was a small pastel coloured kitchen that had fallen victim to trends of the ﬁfties only to become immortalised by hipsters half a century later. The entire room was glowing orange from the sun tea in a glass container outside that eclipsed the sun with its amber hues and welcomed memories of your childhood to take over your imagination for the next few seconds, which took their leisurely time passing through. When you came to, a seeming miniature eternity later, you were reminded of something important you had planned for later that day, as well as the ocean.
Always the ocean. Since your early childhood it was the single most beautiful and ethereal thing you knew of, and you visited it as often as you could. Your grandmother would joke when you were younger that if you spent any more time in the water you’d transform into a mermaid. That sounded just ﬁne to you.

title: Flower [Request Inside]

question: Where does the narrator wake up?

answer: The narrator wakes up in a bed of flowers.

question: What surrounds the flowerbeds?

answer: Multilevel living structures surround the flowerbeds.

question: Where does the narrator go after waking?

answer: The narrator goes to the kitchen after waking up.

question: What does the narrator's grandmother joke about the narrator turning into?

answer: The narrator's grandmother jokes that the narrator will turn into a mermaid.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator wakes up surrounded by flowers. After waking up, they make their way to their kitchen, where they think of the ocean and becoming a mermaid.


text:
[]

[3 Secrets to Grow your Instagram]

You may think the more followers you have the better or you might think you’d get more credibility this way… Wrong! Let me share with you why it isn’t the only thing you need to thrive!

Having a pretty strong follow may seem like you are extremely known throughout Instagram and don’t get me wrong but when I reached my 2,000 followers I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. No joke.

The reality is, I was chasing the wrong thing and noticed I wasn’t getting any clicks on the link in my bio.

Engagement

We all know that content is super important and with Instagram’s Algorithm… it’s all about the Engagement and relevancy. This is one of the first marketing strategies you will need to grow.

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

Engagement allows you to earn more sales, shares, likes, and seriously lots of opportunities as an influencer..

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

Think of ways you can genuinely connect with your soulmate clients without sounding weird or icky. Making these connections will allow you to build a strong foundation. Plus, build your Credibility.

Liking

One thing I love about Instagram is this like feature because it shows your followers what you’ve liked and you can see what they’re liking as well. So, that’s gold. However, it doesn’t pay the bills and I’m sorry to tell you this awful news.

So, can you get a ton of likes without buying fake likes? Of course, you can. What you can do is:

-   Look at those profiles who are liking your photos and see if they resonate with you. If they’re real people, then you know you’re doing something right. If not, then you probably need to do the following.
-   Check your hashtags and this may be a no brainer but sometimes having certain hashtags can bring you more spammers than anything else.

Now, once you see who’s liking your content you can return the favor and causing them to engage with you more. Because the truth be told everyone knows and sees what they’re liking.

[][]

Comments

The second marketing strategy you need is comments! Comments are truly an amazing way to market yourself. How grateful am I when someone leaves a long positive comment? It shows me how they took a few minutes out of their time to leave a thoughtful comment. And in all seriousness, if you’re not commenting back you’re missing out big time.

Try your best to reply back to comments. Especially within the first 15-30 minutes of you posting. That time is super crucial.

Here’s something to consider:

If they left you an emoji comment, then return the favor with the same thing.

If they left you a long positive message, then return the favor the same way.
And finally, just make sure you interact with them, don’t leave them hanging there and just be yourself but not snobby. Oh, and don’t forget to tag them in the comment or they’ll never see it. There’s a chance they’ll see it but remember you want to leave a lasting impression.

Shares

The last marketing strategy you need is shares! I think this is one of my favorite strategies. You know how Facebook has that feature to share. Twitter has a re-tweet and so on. Instagram doesn’t quite have that but others can still share your content or vice versa.

There’s this thing called re-gram and of course, you can download the app or you can save the photo now with the new version of Instagram. It’s so cool because I don’t have to go back and forth looking for it anymore.

The great thing about when someone shares your content is that they’re sharing your content with their audience. How awesome is that? You’re getting double exposure right there and then.

One thing to keep in mind is if you’re going to be sharing others content is to tag them on the picture and on the caption, as well. This is so crucial because it can get you in big trouble if you don’t and that is copyright issues.

[]

A Few More Tips:

-   Look at who is sharing your content
-   Are your pictures unique or can they be replicated? It’s hard to tell if others created content like yours and shared it or if they used yours to share. But pay close attention to what type of content they’re re-sharing.

And that’s it! Read this powerful blog post for other growth strategies:

Soul led Strategies for more Instagram Growth

P.S. Want to learn more about how you can grow your Social Media Channels? Get Exclusive Content and Aligned Social Media Tips by signing up below.

[]

question: What is the writer's motivation?

answer: The writer wrote this as a powerful blog about growth strategies for your Instagram account. He writes that more followers does not necessarily mean more credibility, but rather focus on engagement to generate sales, shares, likes and opportunities as an influencer. Likes are important, but does not generate cash. He suggests leveraging comments and shares to connect with followers.

question: What does the text say about the content of the reader's posts?

answer: Ensure that you content is unique and cannot be replicated. Ensure that you're is liked by real followers and pay close attention to what type of content they are re-sharing. Ensure that the proper source of content is tagged and acknowledged otherwise this could lead to copyright issues.

question: What does the text say about communicating using emojis.

question: What is the text trying to emphasize?

answer: The writer suggests three strategies to grow your Instagram influence and money-making capability by fostering engagement and making connections. First, focus on the likes your posts generate and do research about who is liking them and return the favor. Second, monitor the comments to your posts and reply timeously. Lastly, the writer emphasizes sharing content thereby increasing exposure.


text:
Chat Transcript 09/17/2012
---

G: Hey there!

R: Hi, What's up?

G: Marry me?

R: nope

G: :-(

R: Are you gonna do that every time we talk?

G: of course!

R: ha

R: you're funny

G: ...and cute

G: ...and a good cook

R: yes

G: and quite romantic

G: and a good dad

G: and sexy... did I forget sexy?

G: and I have a nice voice

R: Don't forget how modest you are

G: Oh!  I forgot that one!  I'm the most modest man on earth!

R: that's right!

G: I'm so humble that they tried to crown me king of humility

G: ...only...

G: I was too humble to accept

R: haha!

G: See! I make you laugh!

R: Quite a lot right now, actually :-)

G: Think about it... a life with me would be full of laughter and romance and good food!

R: Are you trying to romance me with this?

G: Hmm, I don't know... is it working?

R: ...

R: I'm starting to think you have a quota to fill.. that you must propose to me at least once every single day

R: you seem to be doing that

G: Well, if you ever say yes, imagine how romantic it would be to tell our children:

G: "He proposed to me every day for 2 years, until I finally said yes, on Sept 17th, 2012!"

R: lol, you wish!

G: *obviously!*

G: The kids will say, "why did you keep asking, Daddy?"

G: And I'll say, "Because, once you meet an angel, you'd be a fool to not do everything on your power to win her heart'

G: Then they'll say, "why did you say yes, mommy?"

R: and just what will I say, in this hypothetical future?

G: You'll say, "I said yes because he told us about this day, with my perfect children and my handsome, romantic husband.  And I knew that was the future I wanted, and now it's come true, more perfect than I could ever imagine."

G: And then I'll kiss you deeply

G: And our children will say "ewww"

G: And it will still be romantic as always

G: Then we'll tuck them in together, and go out to our porch with a glass of wine and watch the stars, wrapped in eachother's arms

R: aww

R: ok, that was seriously cute

G: :-)

R: We also have to put Nanny back in the dog house

R: and make sure the windows are closed.

R: Then it'll be a good night

G: Lol... of course

G: ...

G: Tell the truth, you liked that one even better than my sunset-horseback-picnic-proposal scenario from last week.

R: Oh come on, if I told you you'd never come out of the clouds

G: you have to tell!  For Science!

R: nope

R: A girl's gotta keep some secrets

G: Well, it seemed like a perfect future to me :-)

R: You'll just never know :-)

G: I don't know about that, maybe one day you'll say yes

G: and I'll get to live it :-)

R: Perhaps

R: Ask me again tomorrow ;-)

G: of course!

title: A Modest Proposal

question: What form is the story written in?

answer: A text conversation between two people.

question: What does the man wish the woman would do?

answer: He wants her to accept his marriage proposal.

question: Why does the woman refuse?

answer: It is not stated.

question: Describe how he tried to convince her this time.

answer: He described a perfect future they would have with a romantic story they could tell their children about how he got her to accept his proposal.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The text is a text conversation between a man and a woman, in which the man proposes to the woman (which he seems to do every day). She refuses him but reminds him to try again tomorrow.


text:
WILLIAM NEVINS ARMSTRONG (March 10, 1835 – October 16, 1905), aka NEVINS ARMSTRONG and aka W. N. ARMSTRONG, was the Attorney General of Hawaii during the reign of King David Kalākaua. He is most widely known outside of Hawaii for the book _Around the World with a King_, his insider account of Kalākaua's 1881 world tour .

Early life

He was born in Lahaina on the island of Maui, the third of ten children of missionaries Clarissa Chapman Armstrong and Richard Armstrong, who later served as the second kahu (pastor) of Kawaiahaʻo Church, and subsequently was appointed President of the Board of Education for the Kingdom of Hawaii. William was given the name of his older brother who died in infancy.[1] His grandfather Samuel Chapman was one of the founders of Russell, Massachusetts.[2] Samuel C. Armstrong, his younger brother, was founder of Hampton University.[3]

Young William was enrolled at Punahou School in Honolulu in 1842.[4] By the age of 12, he was already looking ahead to fund his college education and was working part-time as a bookbinder.[5] In 1849, he and schoolmate Charles Hastings Judd, as children of ministers of the cabinet of Kamehameha III, attended the Royal School. They formed a lifelong friendship with a younger schoolmate, future King of Hawaii David Kalākaua.[6] When he was 15 years old, his mother accompanied him to the mainland United States,[7] where he was enrolled in the university preparatory Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts.[8]

A graduate of Yale University, he studied law under the tutelage of his uncle, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Reuben Atwater Chapman. He was admitted to the Bar in 1859 and practiced at Wheeler & Armstrong.[9][10]

King Kalākaua's world tour

When King Kalākaua visited New York City on his way to Washington, D.C. to negotiate the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, Armstrong was his liaison with the city.[11]

For the rest of his life, Armstrong lived in Hawaii for extended periods, but also spent extended periods with his family in Virginia. By 1880, he was again living in Hawaii. From November 29, 1880 to May 19, 1882, Armstrong was a member of the House of Nobles in the legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.[12]

King Kalākaua appointed him Attorney General of the Kingdom of Hawaii in December 1880.[13] Shortly thereafter, he was invited to participate in Kalākaua's 1881 world tour, an endeavor to encourage plantation labor immigration to Hawaii.[14] Before sailing, Kalākaua appointed him Royal Commissioner of Immigration to authorize him to negotiate with foreign governments.[15] It was his responsibility to compile a feasibility study of each country they visited, reporting back on which nations were likely to provide “a desirable population” for the Hawaiian labor force. Together with Chamberlain Colonel Charles Hastings Judd, and cook Robert von Oelhoffen, they circumnavigated the world from February 22 to October 29, visiting Asia, the Mideast and Europe. At the end, they took a railroad train trip from the east coast of the United States to California, and sailed back to Hawaii.[16]

In Japan, both Armstrong and Judd had been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun during a ceremony in which Kalākaua was presented with the Order of the Chrysanthemum.[17][18]

Post world tour life

Upon their return, he resumed the position of Attorney General and held it until May 1882.[19] Concurrently in that year, Armstrong held the positions of president of the Board of Immigration,[20] president of the Board of Health, and Commissioner of Crown Lands.[21] He was Chairman of the Labor Commission in 1894-1885.[22]

In 1885 he returned to tend to the family oyster farming business in Virginia, helping organize the Oyster Convention in Hampton to convince the state legislature to allow privatization of oyster beds.[23] He later served as a commissioner of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

From 1897 through 1899, he was editor of the Honolulu daily newspaper _The Pacific Commercial Advertiser_.[24] After returning to the mainland, he continued his reporting for the newspaper.[25]

The detailed journal he had kept of the world trip with Kalākaua was published as _Around the World with a King_ in 1904, the year before Armstrong died.[26] This publication has been criticized for errors, inconsistencies and Armstrong's satirical writing style.

Personal life

He wed Mary Frances Morgan on April 10, 1867. She predeceased him in 1903.[27] The couple maintained a home in Virginia, and were the parents of a daughter Dorothy, and three sons, Matthew, Richard and Kalani.

Armstrong had been suffering from liver disease for a few years, and succumbed to catarrh at Garfield Hospital in Washington D. C. on October 15, 1905.[28] He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to Hawaii and buried along with his parents at Kawaiahaʻo Church cemetery.[29][30]

Citations

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15] ;

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19] ; ;

[20]

[21]

[22] ;

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26] ;

[27]

[28] ;

[29]

[30] ;

title: William Nevins Armstrong

question: Who is William Nevins Armstrong?

answer: William Nevins Armstrong was the Attorney General of Hawaii during the reign of King David Kalākaua. He is most widely known outside of Hawaii for the book "Around the World with a King," his insider account of Kalākaua's 1881 world tour.

question: Who is Samuel Champan and what is Armstrong's relationship with him?

answer: Samuel Chapman was one of the founders of Russell, Massachusetts, and Armstrong's grandfather.

question: Summarize everything relating to Armstrong's education.

answer: William Armstrong was enrolled at Punahou School in Honolulu in 1842. In 1849, he attended the Royal School as a child of a cabinet minister. Armstrong enrolled in Phillips Academy (a university prep school) at Andover, Massachusetts at 15 years old. He graduated from Yale University and studied law under his uncle, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Chief Justice Reuben Atwater Chapman. He was admitted to the Bar in 1859.

question: What is Armstrong's relationship with King Kalākaua?

answer: While attending the Royal School, Armstrong formed a lifelong friendship with a younger schoolmate, the future King of Hawaii David Kalākaua.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: William Nevins Armstrong was the Attorney General of Hawaii during the reign of King David Kalākaua. He is most widely known outside of Hawaii for the book "Around the World with a King," his insider account of Kalākaua's 1881 world tour. Armstrong's Chapman side of the family was prominent in Massachusetts. His Grandfather, Samuel Chapman, was one of the founders of Russell, Massachusetts, while his uncle was Supreme Judicial Chief Justice Reuben Atwater Chapman. Armstrong became close friends with King David while they were both attending the Royal School in Hawaii. Armstrong married Frances Morgan on April 10, 1867, and they had three sons and a daughter. Armstrong had been suffering from liver disease for some time and died at Garfield Hospital in Washington D.C. on October 15, 1905.


text:
JAMES FRANCIS “STOCKY” EDWARDS, CM, DFC & Bar, DFM, CD (born 5 June 1921) is a former Canadian fighter pilot during World War II. With 19 confirmed aerial victories, Edwards is Canada's highest scoring ace in the Western Desert Campaign.

Early life

Born in Nokomis, Saskatchewan, Edwards grew up in Battleford, Saskatchewan. After graduating from St Thomas College in 1940 he volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

World War II

Sergeant Edwards was posted to 94 Squadron RAF of 223 Wing in January 1942 flying the P-40 “Kittyhawk”. On March 23, he flew his first operational trip, during which he shot down his first enemy aircraft, a Bf 109. In May, he was posted to 260 Squadron, and saw intensive action for the rest of 1942. By September, he had 6 “kills” and was commissioned, actually jumping four grades to Flight Lieutenant[1]. A Distinguished Flying Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross were awarded by the start of 1943, by which time Edwards was a Flight Commander. His tour finished in May 1943, total claims made being 17 aircraft shot down and several ground kills. In fact German records show Edwards underclaimed - 22 victories had been confirmed by German records.[1] One of Edwards' victims during the North African campaign was famous Luftwaffe _experten_ Otto Schulz (51 victories), who was shot down by the Canadian ace on June 17, 1942.[2] On 3 September 1942 Edwards likely damaged Hans-Joachim Marseille's Bf 109 in combat. Marseille was the highest scoring pilot in North Africa and shot down more Western Allied aircraft than any other German pilot.[3] Three days later he was the pilot believed to have shot down and killed Günter Steinhausen. Though he claimed only a damaged enemy aircraft, it appears this is another victory for which Edwards did not receive full credit.[4]

In November 1943, Edwards was posted to No. 417 Squadron RCAF, then No. 92 Squadron RAF, flying the Supermarine Spitfire VIII; while serving on the Italian front with 92 Squadron, he added three Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and a Bf 109 to his score, all shot down over the Anzio beachhead, three of them on a single day. At the beginning of March 1944, he was posted to the UK, flying operations over Europe with 274 Squadron, a fighter unit equipped, at the end of Edwards' tour, with the Hawker Tempest.

After leave in Canada, Edwards returned to the Western Front, flying Spitfire XVIs as 127 RCAF Wing CO in 1945. On May 3, he shared in the destruction of a Ju 88, just a few days before VE. He finished the war with a total of 373 operational sorties without being shot down by the enemy.

According to Shores and Williams' _Aces High_, his final wartime score was 15 + 3 shared destroyed, with 9 more destroyed on the ground. Brown and Lavigne's _Canadian Wing Commander_ credits him with 19 victories, 2 shared, 6.5 probable, 17 damaged and 12 destroyed on the ground. During an interview, Edwards himself specified that he had 19 confirmed victories during the war.[5] Many who flew with him have said that he only reported those “kills” he was certain of and that his real number of aerial victories was probably much higher than officially reported. Eighteen of Edwards' 19 victories, according to Brown and Lavigne, were enemy fighters (14 Bf 109s, 3 Fw 190s and one Macchi 202).

Postwar

Edwards stayed in the RCAF until after amalgamation and retired from the Canadian Forces in 1972 as a Lt Col. In that time, he flew Vampires, Sabres and CF-100s both in Canada and overseas. Edwards was a key player in the post-war air force as his experience and leadership was used to train new pilots.

In 1983, Edwards and Michel Lavigne published a book about his wartime experiences entitled _Kittyhawk pilot: Wing Commander J.F. (Stocky) Edwards_.

Also in 2009, Edwards was honoured as one of the 100 most influential Canadians in aviation and had his name included with the others on the 2009 CF-18 Centennial of Flight demonstration Hornet.

Vintage Wings Of Canada

As part of their continued effort to honour and commemorate his achievements (along with those of all veterans), Vintage Wings of Canada has decorated their P-40N in the markings flown by “Stocky” in Africa. On September 19, 2009, Vintage Wings took him for a flight over Ottawa in this P-40 giving him a chance to fly it as well.[6]

Vintage Wings has also published stories on Stocky Edwards including the following:

-   A Visit From A Living Legend.[7]
-   Flying With The Ace [8]

Decorations

-   Distinguished Flying Medal
-   Distinguished Flying Cross (UK) and Bar
-   Mentioned in Dispatches
-   Canadian Forces Decoration and Two Clasps
-   Member of Order of Canada December 10, 2004
-   Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal March 2012[9]
-   Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame member. May 2013 [10]

[1] Tate 2008, p. 124.

[2] http://www.vintagewings.ca/page?a=364&lang=en-CA

[3] Tate 2008, p. 165. (note 20)

[4] Heaton and Lewis 2012, p. 155.

[5] The transcript of this interview can be found on the site of Veterans Affairs Canada.

[6] Airshowstuff Magazine. Sept. 2009. Pages 80-81

[7] Vintage Wings of Canada, 1, Dave O'Malley

[8] Vintage Wings of Canada, 2, Dave Hadfield

[9] http://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/news/144437395.html?mobile=true

[10] Canada Aviation Hall of Fame, , Members List

title: James Francis Edwards

question: Summarize the World War II section of the article.

answer:
James Francis Edwards was posted to 94 Squadron RAF of 223 Wing in January 1942 and from this point on he continued to have a prolific career during World War II. By 1943 he was a flight commander who had 22 victories as confirmed by German records. While serving on the Italian front he added four more planes to his score.

By 1944 he ended his tour with the Hawker Tempest. In 1945 he returned to the Western Front and finished the war with 373 operational sorties without being shot down.

question: What would have happened if Edwards had been shot down during the war?

answer: If he had survived, it's likely he would have been taken as a prisoner of war.

question: What was Edwards overall 'score'?

answer: Edwards confirmed 19 victories during the war.

question: Why was Edwards a key player even after his career had ended?

answer: His years of experience and leadership were valued by the air-force both in Canada and overseas. He was honoured as one of the 100 most influential Canadians in aviation in 2009.


text:
1984

Declassified documents from the CIA Inspector General begin with a heavily redacted 21 July 1984 cable to the National Security Council, stating that Gen. Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, head of the Honduras military, ordered the establishment of the 316th Military Intelligence Battalion (316 MI Bn).[1]

1987

Florencio Caballero was a former Honduran Army sergeant and interrogator until 1984. He stated that he had been trained by the Central Intelligence Agency,[2] which the _New York Times_ confirmed with US and Honduran officials. Much of his account was confirmed by three American and two Honduran officials and may be the fullest given of how army and police units were authorized to organize death squads that seized, interrogated and killed suspected leftists. He said that while Argentine and Chilean trainers taught the Honduran Army kidnapping and elimination techniques, the CIA explicitly forbade the use of physical torture or assassination.[3] Although it forbade torture and assassination on paper, the CIA knew it was happening in Honduras.[4] Indeed, the CIA helped train hundreds of Latin American dictatorships' police officers via both its infamous training manuals and the School of the Americas, now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).[5]

Caballero described the CIA role as ambiguous. "Caballero said his superior officers ordered him and other members of army intelligence units to conceal their participation in death squads from CIA advisers. He added that he was sent to Houston for six months in 1979 to be trained by CIA instructors in interrogation techniques.

“They prepared me in interrogation to end the use of physical torture in Honduras - they taught psychological methods,” Mr. Caballero said of his American training. “So when we had someone important, we hid him from the Americans, interrogated him ourselves and then gave him to a death squad to kill.”

"The C.I.A. had access to secret army jails and to written reports summarizing the interrogation of suspected leftists, according to Mr. Caballero and two American officials. The Americans also said the C.I.A. knew the Honduran Army was killing prisoners. The American officials said that at one point in 1983 the C.I.A. demanded the killings stop. In 1984, a C.I.A. agent was recalled from Honduras after a prisoner's relative identified him as having visited a secret jail, two American and one Honduran official said. According to Mr. Caballero, the agent was a regular contact between the interrogators and the C.I.A. Thus it seems likely that the C.I.A. was aware that killings were continuing.

1995

In 1995, "The special prosecutor for human rights brought charges in July against eight retired and two active-duty members of the armed forces for their role in the kidnapping, torture, and attempted murder in 1982 of six student activists.... They survived their captivity in a clandestine prison because two of those abducted were the daughters of a government official....With the exception of one suspect, those under investigation were connected with Battalion 3-16, a secret Honduran military unit whose members were instructed by and worked with CIA officials...Although Human Rights Watch/Americas has pressed for several years for an accounting of U.S. involvement, the Clinton administration did not take steps to begin to examine the complicity of the United States in Honduran abuses until 1995. In mid-June, CIA Director John Deutch began an internal review of the agency's relationship with the Honduran military during the 1980s. Deutch stated that the investigation, which he characterized as an “independent review,” would yield “new information” and “lessons about how not to do things while I'm director and in the future.”

Deutch's announcement came after _The Baltimore Sun_ published a four-part series in June on U.S. support given to the 316 MI Bn. _Sun_ staff correspondents Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson obtained formerly classified documents and interviewed three former 316 Bn members to document the breadth and depth of the battalion's close relationship to the CIA. The _Sun_ series followed revelations in March that linked the CIA to serious human rights violations in Guatemala."[6]

He was removed from his post at the end of March 1984. According to the cable, a Honduran human rights group claimed the battalion was responsible for almost all disappearances. At first, the new military leadership was going to dissolve the battalion, but later decided to replace senior officers and keep it intact.

The CIA Inspector General investigator asked questions including whether any CIA employee was present during torture or hostile interrogation, and what was known about some disappearances and killings. It was also questioned if an employee lied to the House Intelligence Committee.

While the findings were heavily redacted, apparently one employee knew that torture had gone on, but not who was present. An individual was later identified, who denied participation. The Inspector General concluded there was no CIA participation in torture.

The IG did verify that a Honduran hostage rescue force had captured and executed one individual who had been freed under an amnesty; it was unclear from the report if he had rejoined an insurgency. Another case concerned Father James Carney, a priest who had renounced his U.S. citizenship, and died under questionable circumstances while being pursued by the HRF. He had been reported to be “cadaverous” and may have died of starvation, or may have been killed by the HRF. The IG concluded no US personnel had been involved with this HRF operation.

Further congressional inquiries generated more responses. It became clear that the HRF definitely executed some guerrillas, including the aide to the priest. The details were redacted, but there was some, but not conclusive, evidence that Father Carney had starved. The IG concluded the cause of his death is unknown.[7]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] NSAEBB27-4

title: CIA activities in Honduras

question: Summarize the CIA activity in the Honduras in the year 1987.

answer: The year commenced with a former Honduran Army sergeant named Florencio Caballero stating that he had been trained by the CIA, which was verified by the New York Times. He claimed he and others in high-ranking positions had been authorized to create and to proceed with death squads. He did add that the CIA specifically forbade torture techniques. The sanctioned deaths of prisoners in custody by the CIA and/or US government was confirmed in 1987, as were secret cells with entrances known by the CIA.

question: What does the text say about US-Honduran relations?

answer: The US had considerable influence on the actions of the government. Whether this is accurate or not, this article would have a reader believe that the Honduran government was not very cohesive in their handling of domestic terrorism and insurrectionist violence during that era-it seems there were a lot of prisoners of war, or people suspected of drug trafficking and gang-related crimes. The CIA stepped in to instruct Honduran agents and police forces how to interrogate with the caveat that some methods are considered inhumane and therefore torture while other tactics are sanctioned by CIA regulations. It seems the CIA had considerable hold on the setup of prisons and interrogation centers as well. It can be deduced that Honduras was a country largely dependent on other countries to bolster its infrastructure and socioeconomic growth.

question: Describe a precedent for the Us-Honduran relations in the 1980s and 1990s.

question: Summarize how two perhaps-innocent people are thought to have been killed in error due to the actions of the CIA.

answer: A Honduran hostage rescue force did accidentally capture and execute one person who had been freed under international amnesty. The CIA seems to defend this action by hiding behind the question of whether or not this person had rejoined a terrorist or guerilla organization after having been granted said amnesty. A priest called Father James Carney died under mysterious circumstances after he had been held for interrogation bu the HRF. The US has concluded the CIA had nothing to do with this, effectively.


text:
This is one of a few short stories I've written that focus on the war that is fought by true patriots against an oppressive and abusive government. Enjoy!

The Patriot.

He laid against the cherry tree. The orchard was just blossoming. The white petals of the trees fluttered to the ground slowly and softly with the gentle breeze. With that breeze came the smell of the blossoms. He loved that smell. He knew she would have too. He heaved a ragged and sharp breath at the thought of her. He held a hand to his side. The sniper was long gone, fled when the shot to the patriot’s stomach did not drop him.

His other hand was occupied by a photograph of her. A smear of blood across his smile on the picture. The photo was of him and her together a few months after they had met. Her beautiful smile made him feel alive everytime he saw it.

His rifle sat at his side. He would never fire it again. He was done fighting. He was a peace in this beautiful place. He reached up and caught a petal. The blood on his hands stained the soft white of the petal red. He knew he was close now. His breathing was slowing down. He was ready to go. He wanted to see her again. It had been too long since he had.

He held her in his arms in that intersection of that small town, the name of which he had long forgotten. The American flag that covered her neck was a crimson red with her blood. It slowly dribbled down her cheek. She was dying. She looked up at him

“Do you love me?” she asked.
“Yes” he said
“And do you love me?”
“Always”
“Thats great” he whispered back with a weak smile, as tears rolled from his eyess “That’s amazing”

She smiled back. Her teeth were bloody. She was still so beautiful. He buried her outside of that town that night.

He looked up. The sun shown through the branches and blossoms of the tree. She had loved the smell of the forests and the flowers. The sound of the wind in the fields and the songs of the birds. That is why she had fought, and died in that war, to preserve what she loved. He missed her so much. She had been taken from him too soon.

The fighting had moved miles from where he was laying. His company would be wondering where he was. They might find him at some point. He hoped that they didn’t No need to. He had stopped fighting alongside his company after her death. He had avoided them as much he could. His time was spent hunting deer  for his company, eliminating snipers, disabling traps, clearing mine fields. His job suited him well.

A pool of blood had formed around him in the grass. He had seen so much blood in past years, it didn’t bother him to see so much of his own. He looked around him, cherry trees stretched for miles around, untouched by the fighting, and unaided by human intervention. they grew tall and strong. He couldn’t feel any pain, he felt only peace. Soon now. They would be together again. He reached up and pulled the American flag from around his neck. It was her’s. Hefolded it into a triangle. He placed her photo on top, then set his rifle on the picture, so it would stay in place. All things around him were in their place, the rifle, the photo, the flag, the trees, the blossoms, him. All where they needed to be in that perfect moment. He closed his eyes. He would see his love soon.

title: The Patriot

question: Who is 'The Patriot'?

answer: The protagonist is identified only as 'the patriot'.

question: Where is the story set?

answer: A battlefield of some kind.

question: Who is the dialog between?

answer: The protagonist and the woman he loves.

question: Summarize everything relating to the photograph.

answer: The protagonist holds it in one hand as he bleeds out; it is a picture of him and the woman he loves a few months after they had met.

question: What is 'his company'?

answer: The protagonist's team in the central violent conflict of the story.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The patriot is dying from a gunshot wound, at peace with the idea of seeing his deceased lover again. There is a flashback to her death, and he is now dying in a similar fashion. He pulls the American flag from his neck and sets it beside himself with a photograph of the two of them and his rifle.


text:
[JOHN LAGRAND] JOHN LAGRAND (27 March 1949 in Den Haag – 30 June 2005 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch musician. He was best known for playing the harmonica and was member of the blues band Livin' Blues and Cuby + Blizzards.

Lagrand began his music career with the band Livin' Blues. He supported bands such as Freelance Band and Water. In 1999, he played the group Cuby + Blizzards. He was asked to be active as a musician. Lagrand was also a member of the band Blues aan de Zee. He died on 30 June 2005, aged 56 after suffering from emphysema at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.[1]

[1] John Lagrand beim Popinstituut (in Dutch)

title: John Lagrand (musician)

question: When was Lagrand born?

answer: March 27, 1949

question: What instrument was Lagrand best known for playing?

answer: The harmonica

question: What bands did Lagrand play with?

answer: Livin' Blues, Freelance Band, Water, Cuby + Blizzards, and Blues aan de Zee

question: Where did Lagrand die?

answer: The VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: John Lagrand was a Dutch musician. He was best known for playing the harmonica, and he played with several bands. He was born in 1949, and he died in 2005.


text:
[]

TechCrunch is pleased to bring you the Pitch@Palace 6.0 Demo Day, live from St. James’s Palace, starting at 5:30pm BST, 9:30am PT.

Established by The Duke of York, Pitch@Palace offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their business in front of an audience of influencers. For those of you following along, the 12 entrepreneurs pitching in today’s event were selected from the Palace’s 42 BootCamp participants. Each team will give a 3-minute pitch articulating their idea and their ask of the audience.

Investors and press have to be there to hear the pitches, but you can tune in from the comfort of your own home.

(In order of appearance)

Drenched – Drenched has invented a product for taps that allows users to wash their hands with only two tablespoons of water and removes the need to heat it.

Mobile Power – Mobile Power’s aim is to provide clean, affordable energy to the off-grid market in Africa, particularly the half a billion mobile phone users living off-grid.

Senergy Innovations – Senergy Innovations is bringing to market the world’s first nanocomposite solar thermal panels, which will deliver affordable solar heating and cooling.

Pzizz – Sleep at the push of a button! Pzizz’s iOS and Android apps will help you fall asleep fast, stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

3D Industries – Advanced “spatial intelligence engine” that recognises and matches shapes and forms, enabling shape-based 3D search, 3D commerce and 3D advertising.

WaveOptics – WaveOptics enables augmented reality. Its pioneering waveguide tech solves the challenges of performance, wearability and scalability, bringing AR to the masses.

OfferMoments – OfferMoments is producing the world’s first billboard that knows exactly who is walking toward it and can dynamically generate a personalised advert in real time.

Flock – Flock is big data-driven artificial intelligence software for drone-flight risk reduction. It makes drones safe and smart.

Codec – Codec puts audiences at the centre of creative decisions, using AI to show content an audience wants a brand or publisher to make, before they make it.

Prison Voicemail – A social venture using technology to improve communication between prisoners and their families through the exchange of regular voicemails.

DoodleMaths – DoodleMaths is a tablet-based, adaptive and intuitive maths learning programme for students ages 4-14. Progress and motivation grow in just 10 minutes a day.

JumPack – Introducing JumPack, the world’s first truly portable extreme sports ramp.
Discover a new era of ramp technology and get air anywhere at jumpack.com.

question: What is the main topic of this post?

answer: Pitch@Palace offers entrepreneurs a chance to present their business ideas to influencers. This post covers 12 entrepreneurs.

question: Who is presenting the event?

answer: TechCrunch

question: What are the 12 entrepreneurs?

answer: Drenched, Mobile Power, Senergy Innovations, Pzizz, 3D Industries, WaveOptics, OfferMoments, Flock, Codec, Prison Voicemail, DoodleMaths, and JumPack.

question: Which innovation is created for students?

answer: DoodleMaths

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Presented by TechCrunch, Pitch@Palace offers entrepreneurs a chance to present their business ideas to influencers. This post covers 12 entrepreneurs.


text:
JOÃO LUÍS CARRILHO DA GRAÇA (born 1952, in Portalegre, Portugal) is a Portuguese architect and lecturer. He received the Pessoa Prize in 2008, and was Distinguished with the order for merit of the Portuguese Republic in 1999.

Career

Graca graduated from the Lisbon School of Fine Arts () in 1977 and lectured at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Lisbon between 1977 and 1992. Since 2001, he has been a guest lecturer at the architecture department of the Autonomous University of Lisbon and also, from 2005, at the University of Évora. He has been invited to several universities, seminars and conferences all over the world.

Carrilho da Graça received the International Art Critics Association Award in 1992 for the ensemble of his work; the “Relação com o sítio - honourable mention” award (national architecture awards - Portuguese architects’ association) in 1993 for the Campo Maior municipal swimming pool; the Secil Prize 1994 for the Polytechnic School of Journalism, the Valmor prize 1998 and the Fad Prize 1999 for the Knowledge of the Seas pavilion; Luzboa 2004, the prize of the first Lisbon international art biennial; as well as nominations for the Mies van der Rohe European architecture award and the Ordem dos Arquitectos for the Auguste Perret Prize, UIA Awards 2005.

His work has been published in several books and architecture magazines.

title: João Luís Carrilho da Graça

question: Who was João Luís Carrilho da Graça?

answer: A Portuguese architect and lecturer

question: Where did João Luís Carrilho da Graça go to school?

answer: The Lisbon School of Fine Arts

question: What awards did João Luís Carrilho da Graça win?

answer: He won the Pessoa Prize in 2008 and was Distinguished with the order for merit of the Portuguese Republic in 1999.

question: Name one of João Luís Carrilho da Graça's works.

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: João Luís Carrilho da Graça is a Portuguese architect and lecturer. He received the Pessoa Prize in 2008, and was Distinguished with the order for merit of the Portuguese Republic in 1999.


text:
[]

Key representatives of the NFL Players Association have convened in Hawaii to say aloha to executive director DeMaurice Smith.  The precise meaning of the “aloha” will be determined.

Smith and eight challengers will make their cases to the 32 player representatives, who’ll eventually vote — perhaps repeatedly.

On Saturday, each candidate will have a 40-minute window for making a presentation to the voters and questions/answers, which can be divided however the candidate wants.  For example, a candidate can spend 25 minutes presenting and 15 minutes answering questions.

The order for the presentations will be determined by a blind draw.

On Sunday, the candidates will return for breakout sessions, spending 25 minutes in each of four rooms, with the 32 voting reps dividing up, eight reps each.  The candidates can use that time however they like.

Later, each candidate will have 15 minutes each for closing remarks.

Votes then will be taken, with the process continuing until one candidate gets 17 votes.  If it doesn’t happen on the first ballot, the candidate with the lowest number gets dropped.  The votes will be taken one after the other until someone gets 17 votes.  (All ties will be broken based on the total dues-paying members represented by each voter.)

It’s going to require plenty of attention and patience for the voters over the next two days, given the number of candidates.  And one of the reasons that they must sift through nine total candidates is because representatives could nominate as many candidates as they wanted — and some of them nominated multiple candidates.

question: Who is DeMaurice Smith?

answer: NFL Executive Director

question: Who is Smith meeting with?

answer: He's meeting with key representatives of the NFL Players Association.

question: Where do the voting and presentations take place?

answer: Hawaii

question: How will the order for the presentations be determined?

answer: By a blind draw.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: NFL Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and eight challengers are meeting with key representatives of the NFL Players Association in Hawaii to make their cases. The 32 player representatives will then vote on the candidate they want.