text:
Bishop J.V. Porter of Christ Cathedral in Fayetteville, spent the day at his church on Murchison Road.

"Water covered the entire floor," said Bishop Porter as he surveyed the damage inside.

Walking through the carpeted areas, you could hear the water squishing through the fibers with each step. Church members could be seen throughout, already starting to clean up.

At the height of the flooding, Porter describes the building as sitting in a lake.

"The water was three to five feet high," Porter said.

The church is located next to a creek that overflowed from the overnight rain. The rushing water was so powerful, it even sent two of the church's portable storage units right through a chain-link fence in the back, floating them right onto the next property.

Porter said they have some drainage issues, but that they haven't had this bad of flooding at this location in about three to five years.

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The aftermath of the heavy rain was felt through the entire county. Throughout the early morning and day, the rising waters closed dozens of roadways. The water even washed part of Sykes Pond Road away.

Cars could be seen half under water, stranded in parking lots. The danger even closed schools and sparked states of emergency.

"We're trying to ask folks if you don't have to come out in these areas that are flooded, please don't put first responders' lives and your own lives at risk," said Fayetteville Interim Police Chief Anthony Kelly.

At the height of the flood, there were more than 20 water rescues in the county.

Residents watched as the water started to recede throughout the day and reveal the damage left behind.

"We already contacted the insurance company they're getting back with us to see where we are with this process," Porter said.

_WATCH: METEOROLOGIST STEVE STEWART REPORTS FROM FLOODED AREAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY_

On Thursday afternoon, Cumberland County Schools announced schools would be closed Friday for students. All athletic activities and other after-school activities for Friday have been canceled, including high school football games.

It will be an optional teacher workday.

Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson has declared a state of emergency. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, he urged residents to be careful if they have to travel.

"Know before you go," he said "Don't drive into standing water."

Authorities released a 911 call from a man who said he didn't see water and drove into it at Ames St. and Bragg Blvd. He said he couldn't swim and was trying not to panic as the water reached the top of his doors.

Cumberland County Emergency Services Director Randy Beeman said the DOT was checking bridges and several dams that are at flood level and near topping are being monitored.

Shelters have been set up at the Spring Lake Parks and Recreation building and at the Smith Center near Fayetteville State.

ABC11 Meteorologist Don "Big Weather" Schwenneker says ABC11's First Alert Doppler XP estimates there has over 10 inches of rain in some parts of northern Cumberland County and over 9 inches in Moore County alone.

Manchester at Raefordvass roads near the Sicily Drop Zone on Fort Bragg is closed due to a large sink hole at Jumping Run Creek.

W. Manchester Road and NC24/NC87 in Spring Lake is also closed due to rising floodwaters along the Lower Little River bridge.

Also in Spring Lake, police told ABC11 they had to evacuate homes along Vass Road due to high water.

  From @NWSRaleigh: Whispering Pines [Moore Co, NC] 911 call center reports Lakeview Dr. at Thagard Ln. closed due to high water. #ncwx

  — Don Schwenneker (@BigweatherABC11) September 29, 2016

The storm system brought lightning, thunder, large hail and torrential rains to most parts of the ABC11 viewing area starting Wednesday afternoon.

Fayetteville has especially been affected by heavy rain, with the Fayetteville Fire and Emergency Management Department responding to multiple reports of flooding overnight and requests for assistance throughout the city because of the strong storms that have passed through the area.

Early Thursday morning, rescuers had to help a family and a small child from a flooded home on Gurley Street, just south of downtown Fayetteville.

_WATCH: FLOODING CAUSES MAJOR PROBLEMS IN FAYETTEVILLE AREA_

Wednesday night on Wayland Drive, near S. Reilly Road, six people were rescued by firefighters from a group home that was being threatened by rising waters.

Several other residents in that neighborhood were also helped to safety.

Several vehicles were stranded because of high water at the intersection of Santa Fe Drive and Carson Drive in Fayetteville, and two people had to be helped from their flooded vehicle by the fire department.

Another driver was rescued from a flooded vehicle in the vicinity of Cliffdale Road and Regency Drive.

Remember, never try to drive through a flooded roadway.

_WATCH: CHRIS HOHMANN EXPLAINS "TURN AROUND, DON'T DROWN"_

In addition to the water rescue responses, the fire department has responded to multiple fire alarm activations and witnessed lightning strikes throughout the city. Multiple roads throughout the Fayetteville continue to be flooded.

_WATCH: STEVE STEWART LISTS THREE FACTORS THAT CAN DETERMINE WHETHER A DAM WILL BE BREACHED_

Drivers are urged to practice extreme caution and not to travel down or through any roads or intersections that appear to be covered with water.

An ABC11 Eyewitness reported hail falling in Cary, and golf-ball-sized hail was reported in Person County. Hail was also reported near Dunn, in Harnett County.

_WATCH: STORM BRINGS POWER OUTAGES, HAIL TO REGION"_

The severe storms brought reports of power outages.

In Durham, an estimated 6,000 customers were without power Wednesday afternoon. Large sections of east Durham were left in the dark.

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question: Water covered the entire floor of what?

answer: The church of Bishop Porter.

question: What caused the flooding in the church?

answer: A creek next to the church overflowed from rain.

question: Was the church the only thing damaged in the rain/flood?

answer: No. The water washed part of Sykes Pond Road away.

question: Who is quoted as saying, "Know before you go,"?

answer: Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Fayetteville was affected by heavy rain, causing multiple reports of flooding. At the height of the flood, there were more than 20 water rescues in the county.


split: train

text:
HUGH RAYMOND WRIGHT (born 24 August 1938) is an English schoolmaster and educationalist who was chairman of the Headmasters' Conference for 1995–1996.

Early life

The son of the Rev. Raymond Blayney Wright and his wife Alice Mary Hawksworth, Wright was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, from 1949 to 1957[1] and The Queen's College, Oxford, where he was a Bible Clerk and graduated BA and later MA in Literae Humaniores.[2]

Career

His first post was as an assistant master at Brentwood School, from 1961 to 1964. From 1964 to 1979, he taught at Cheltenham College, where he was Head of Classics from 1967 to 1972 and housemaster of Boyne House, 1971 to 1979. His first appointment as a headmaster came at Stockport Grammar School, from 1979, and in 1985 he became head of Gresham's School, Holt, remaining there until 1991. Finally he was Chief Master of King Edward's School, Birmingham, from 1991 to 1998.[3][4]

He was elected Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference in 1995, a year before it became the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, having previously chaired its North West District from 1983 and its Community Service Sub-Committee from 1985 to 1990.[5]

In Birmingham in the mid-1990s, Wright worked with Tim Brighouse, the city's chief education officer, to develop a partnership between King Edward's and the state sector of education, commenting “We are looking at a new era of public-private co-operation reinforcing the community base. We are talking about one-off initiatives, not grandiose schemes”. He chaired a group called the 'Children's University', providing Saturday schools, and a summer literacy scheme for eleven-year-olds was held at King Edward's in 1997.[6][7]

Other appointments

-   Admiralty Interview Board Panel, 1982–95[8]
-   Church of England Advisory Board of Ministry (formerly Advisory Council for the Church's Ministry), 1982–[9]
-   Chairman of National Steering Committee for Children's University, 1995–2001[10]
-   Member of Bloxham Project Committee, 1993–1998, and Trustee, 1998–2006[11]
-   Chairman of Governors, Kingswood School, Bath, 1998–2006 (and governor, 1995–1998)[12][13]
-   Member of Governing Bodies Association Committee, 2000–03[14]
-   Member of Chaplaincy Team, Shepton Mallet Prison, 2001–[15]

Publications

-   _The Origins of Christianity and the Medieval Church_ (1980)[16]
-   _Auden and Gresham's_ in _Conference Common Room_, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2007[17]

Private life

In 1962, Wright married Jillian Mary McIldowie Meiklejohn, and they have three sons.[18]

He is a member of the East India Club and gives his recreations in Who's Who as “music, theatre, hill walking, wildfowl, gardening, Rugby football”.[19]

[1] ''Kingswood Association Magazine, Vol. 2, no. 12, April 2004 online at ka.typepad.com (accessed 25 April 2008)

[2] _WRIGHT, Hugh Raymond MA_ in Who's Who 2007 (London, A. & C. Black, 2007)

[3]

[4] The Role of the Governors at kingswood.bath.sch.uk (accessed 25 April 2008)

[5]

[6]

[7] Adonis, Andrew & Bright, Martin, _Labour's private agenda unravels_ in _The Observer_ online dated 1 February 1998 (accessed 25 April 2008)

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17] _Conference Common Room_ Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2007 online at schoolsearch.co.uk (accessed 25 April 2008)

[18]

[19]

title: Hugh Wright

question: Summarize everything that happened in the 1980's.

answer: Hugh Wright was working as headmaster at Stockport Grammar School until 1985 when he was appointed as headmaster at Gresham's School, Holt. He chaired the North West District of the Headmasters' Conference from 1983 and its Community Service Sub-Committee from 1985. In addition to this Wright worked on the Admiralty Interview Panel and also on the Church of England Advisory Board of Ministry. Keeping with the religious theme he published 'The Origins of Christianity and the Medieval Church' in 1980.

question: What does the text say about the Headmasters' Conference?

answer: Hugh Wright was chairman of the Headmasters' Conference for 1995-1996, a year later it became the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The conference has district committees, Wright chaired that of the North West District from 1983. The conference creates sub-committees where there is a need, Wright chaired its Community Service Sub-Committee from 1985 to 1990.

question: Summarize Hugh Wright's career progression to headmaster.

answer: Hugh Wright was educated at Kingswood School in Bath and moved on to The Queen's College, Oxford, where he graduated BA and later MA in Literae Humaniores. Wright's first post was as an assistant master at Brentwood School in 1961. He moved to Cheltenham School for 15 years where he was Head of Classics for 5 years. After this he was appointed as headmaster at Stockport Grammar School.

question: Summarize all the duties of a Bible Clerk.


text:
The book Mum had bought me last week was hardly a page turner. "99 reasons why you should get out of bed", read the front cover in bright red writing on a white background.  Why not make it 100? 99 reasons might sound a bit more catchy, but frankly I'd rather have an extra reason to get out of bed then a marginally punchier title on my shelf.

*Reason Number 1: Because You Mean Something to Someone*, proclaimed the first chapter with great pride, as though it was on the precipice of answering some of mankind's biggest existential questions.  What a load of bollocks, I thought.  It was true, in my case - presumably my Mother saw some value in my existence.  She bought me the book, after all.  But I'd wager that at least one person reading this book doesn't know anyone, let alone someone that cares about them.  Having read reason 1, they'd probably have sought out the nearest bridge.  This was a farce.

I threw it carelessly to one side, and breathed a deep, pensive sigh; staring at nothing in particular for a moment.  The computer in the far corner of the room hummed quietly, reminding me with as much courtesy as it could muster that it was still there, still switched on.  An hour before bed wouldn't hurt, I suppose.

I punched the keyboard blindly, awaking the machine from its dormant stupor.  The screen lit up suddenly - my game had continued uninterrupted in my brief absence.  I glanced at the date and time in the bottom corner - a day had passed, which was about half an hour in real time.  Nothing significant had changed whilst I had been gone.

Population level: Increasing rapidly

Energy and Resources: Decreasing rapidly

Financial Strength:  Increasing rapidly

Not bad, I thought.  The situation in Syria was rapidly getting out of hand; that was a pain in the arse.  Foolishly I had saved my game just before it really began to spiral - there was no going back now.  It was a waste on my resources, but there was a fair chance it would mediate the population growth, so perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing.

The ozone layer was losing strength every day - it was at 67% now.  I sat back in my chair and surveyed the damage.  I was tired, slightly grumpy, and in no fit state to commit myself properly to this game.  There were too many creases that needed to be ironed out, too many variables to consider at this time of the night.  I resolved to leave it until the morning, that would buy me a few weeks in game time - perhaps things will have resolved themselves by then.  If not, perhaps I'd have to start a new game.

I left the computer to fall asleep, before slouching gratefully back into the welcoming embrace of the sofa.  The book I was reading sat next to me, falling slightly inbetween the soft cracks of the cushions.  I resolved I would give it another chance, and turned to the second chapter, the second reason why I should get out of bed tomorrow.

*Reason Number 2: Because Every Day is a Chance to Change the World*.  Now it really was talking bollocks.

title: If I ruled the world

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: That information can't be found

question: Why does the narrator dislike the book after reading reason number 1?

answer: They believe there is at least one person in the world who doesn't have anyone who cares about them, so the reason isn't true

question: Who gives the narrator the book?

answer: Their mother

question: What game is the narrator playing?

answer: Some kind of simulation of the world

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator receives a book of reasons to get out of bed from their mother. They read the first reason and decide the book is a farce, so they look at their video game, which is a simulation of the world. They decide that they are too tired to focus on the game, so they look at the next reason in the book.


text:
The first session of the Indian international FIA-sanctioned series was led by the European F3 duo as Aron finished ahead of Harrison Newey, with a time of 2m01.144s.

Schumacher was third in the order in FP1, but the German driver went quicker in FP2, leading the way with a time of 2m00.467s, bettering last year's time at this circuit by three seconds.

"It is my first time driving here so I spent the first few laps familiarizing myself with the circuit, which I really enjoyed driving at," Schumacher said.

"The car is step forward from last year’s car and I felt comfortable straight away. I was happy with how today went but now it is time to focus on qualifying and the race for tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Aron was beaten to second by German F4 champion Joey Mawson in FP2, after the Australian ended up in seventh earlier in the day.

Newey was sixth in the second session, as Dutch rookie Rinus Van Kalmthout impressed with double top 10 finish at eighth and fourth respectively.

"The updated car is definitely a step forward. You can feel the engine and braking is much better," said Newey.

"The car is also lighter so finding a right balance is easier. I am happy with practice today and look forward to getting up there in qualifying tomorrow."

The 2014-15 MRF Challenge champion Toby Sowery was a late addition to the list and ended up at ninth and fifth in the two sessions.

Ex-F1 driver Pastor Maldonado's cousin Manuel improved his time by just over half a second from 11th in FP1 to finish seventh in FP2.

Whereas the Italian F4 rookie champion Juri Vips also had a good outing ending up fourth and ninth respectively.

FP1 results:

FP2 results:

question: What event are the drivers competing for?

answer: The first session of the FIA-sanctioned Indian International Formula 1 circuit.

question: How did Schumacher perform?

answer: Schumacher placed third in Free Practice 1 (FP1) but got the best time in FP2 at 2m00.467s, beating the circuit's old time by three seconds.

question: Who finished first in FP1 and what was his time?

answer: Aron finished with a time of 2m01.144s.

question: Why didn't Schumacher finish 1st in FP1?

answer: It was his first time driving the circuit and spent the first few laps familiarizing himself.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: According to the report, the first session of the FIA-sanctioned Indian International F1 circuit was underway. The article includes the drivers and their times during Free Practice 1 (FP1) and FP2.


text:
I just found this brilliant piece of fan fiction that I wrote when I was 12. It was intended to take place immediately after the second TMNT movie.

EDIT: Fixed formatting. Also worth noting that any and all spelling and grammar mistakes are unchanged from the original.

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

On September 3, 1994, the Turtles sat in their lair wondering what to do.  Except for Michealangelo.  He was playing Super Nintendo.

Leonardo said,”Let’s order ten pizzas!”

“Great idea,”yelled Mikey, and paused his game.  Mikey ran to the telephone.  He picked up the receiver and dialed the number.  “Uh, I would like ten pizzas. And no anchovies” said Mikey.

Splinter, the master, told Mikey to be quiet.

Mikey said,”Shucks.  I like annoying the pizza boy.”  He went back to his game.

They got their pizza 40 seconds late, so they didn’t pay full price.

The pizza boy said, “I gotta get a new route.”

All of a sudden, the lights in the lair went out.

Mikey said, “Duhhhh, who put the lights out?”

Leo said, “Alert!  Alert!  Total light failure!”

Raph said, “Idiodic light bulb!”

Splinter said,”Calm down, buttheads!”

Mikey said,”Never fear!  Michealangelo is here!”

“Dummy,”said Leo.

Raph said,”Cut it out you guys.  Get serious.”

“OK!”said Don.

“Dumbos!”said Mikey.

“Enough already,”said Raph.

“Fine!  I was just tryin’ to have some fun.  Do you mind?”

“No.  Not really,”said Raph.

“Then why are you telling me to be quiet?”asked Mikey.

“Beats the heck out of me,”said Raph.                           “Smart aleck,”said Mikey.

Don was listening the whole time.  “Be quiet!  All three of you,”he said.

Then they ate their pizza.  They all liked it.  When they were slicing it, one piece landed on Splinter’s head.  He was not too happy about that.

Leo said,”Ooops!”

Mikey thought that was funny.

Splinter said, “Mich-eal-an-ga-lo!”

“Oh, brother,” said Mikey.

“I am not your brother! I am your master!” yelled Splinter.     “Oh, no. Just great. Every time I say that, he starts screeching!”

“I am not screeching!  I am screaming!” hollered Splinter.

“You guys make me sick,” muttered Don.

Then Don got a brilliant idea.

“I think I’ll build a time machine!  Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?”

“Yeah,” said the rest of the turtles.  “Sure.”

“You don’t believe me?  Well I’ll show you!”  And with that he stomped off to build his wacky creation.

He worked on the machine for about a week, then declared it finished.

“How would you like to see the one, the only, Albert Einstien?” asked Don triumphantly.

“If you can get this pile of junk to work, sure,” said Raph.

Don mumbled an answer, but no one heard him, because he had flipped the switch on the machine.  It made a LOT of noise.

There was a puff of smoke and a voice said,”E=MC2!”

” I T ’ S   E I N S T I E N ! ! HHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLP!  HE SCARES ME!” screamed Splinter.

“Why?” asked Leo calmly.

“HE HAS A BIG NOSE!!”

“So?”

“When he sneezes, which is a lot, all the snot that’s in that big nose of his goes all over the place!”

“That’s it!  I will not take insults from a four foot, smelly, flea-infested rat!  I’m outta here!” exclaimed Einstien.  He flipped the switch on the machine and in another puff of smoke, he was gone.

“Thanks, Splinter,” muttered Raph. “Now I can happily go on with my life knowing my ninja master is scared of Einstien.”

“Shut your yap.  I am not scared of Einstien.  He is not scared of me either, which is bad, because I know that I can beat him up, but he does not know that I can, but he does know that I know that he knows that I’m a ninja.”

“You lost me,” said Leo.

“Then I will repeat myself,” said Splinter. “Shut your yap.  I am not scared of Ein…..”

“Okay, okay! We get the point!” said Don.

Meanwhile, Michelangelo was inspecting the wall socket.  There was a bright flash, and Mike disappeared.

“Hey!  Where’d Mikey go?” asked Leo.

“Uh-oh,” said Don.  I left the time machine on!  Mikey just time traveled!”

                              *    *    *

“OW!”

Michealangelo landed in the pit with a thud.  He had just been walking around when the ground gave away under him.  Now he was lying in a snake-infested pit somewhere in a forest.

He climbed out of the pit and lokked around.  He started walking.  He didn’t know or care where he was going.  Pretty soon, he came to a road.  He knew where he was now.  He recognized the sewer hole leading to the lair.

He clambered down and headed toward the lair.  As he stepped inside, everyone turned to look at him: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Albert Einstien, and most frightingly of all, Michealangelo.  He was looking at himself.

Albert Einstien left by way of the time machine.  Then there was a bright flash, and a few minutes later, Michealangelo walked in.  There were two Michealangelos again.  But after that, every five minutes another Mikey would walk in.

Before long, the lair couldn’t hold anymore, but Michealangelo just kept coming.

“I know what we have to do: we have to find the first Michealangelo to time travel, send him back, and then every five minutes, another Michealangelo will go back to his proper time!” Don yelled over the confusion.

“Go for it!” hollered Leo.  “I can’t take much more of this!”

So Don went around asking all the Michealangelos, “How many Michealangelos were in the lair when you got here?”

Finally, one said that there was only one.  Don sent him back, and just as he had predicted, every five minutes, another Mikey disappeared.  Except for one.  He stayed.

“Cowabunga!!!!!” screamed Splinter.

“Cowabunga!!!!!” echoed the turtles as they raised thier hands in a group high five.  “Cowabunga!!!!!”

title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (written when I was 12)

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan fiction write-up.


text:
The world was old, and he was tired. The cliff was not as high as others he had climbed, but it would serve its purpose. Leaning over the edge was enough to assure him of that. The waves crashed relentlessly against the jagged rocks below, leaving an icy mist in their wake. They reminded him of the mountains of Asia and how they seemed to break apart the crust of the earth for the sole purpose of reaching the sun.

His life had been driven by the thirst for discovery, the need to dig his nails into the earth and tear apart its flesh to find what was hidden beneath. He could not remember a point in his history when he had not felt such an urge. He had spent his childhood ducking through the alleyways of his city’s core, peeking into sun-laden rooms of clay only to find a mother baking bread, her leathered hands pressing a quiet pulse into a mound of dough. The familiar sensation of burning muscles followed him through his childhood as he carried himself over the hills towards the sun outside the city walls. His mother often complained of feeling decades older than she should. “Chasing you is a full time job,” she would sigh. “You must learn to sit still.” But the next day, as always, he would forget to gather water in favor of following the stream a few miles further than the day before. When he reached the age of manhood, he ached to escape the confines of his home, to chase the sun until he found that which gave it life.

He dedicated his being to exploration. Education and love were fleeting desires, ultimately disregarded if it meant renouncing his claim on the earth and her secrets. He found work on a ship for little pay, but he gladly exchanged the luxury of money for the lull of his mistress’s gentle waves under a sky splashed with stars.

Through his time on earth, he saw wonders untold from every corner of the globe, grabbing the fruit of life and feeling the juice run down his face in heavy streams. The sands of the east felt rough on his tired skin, yet as soft and warm as the eyes of the elephant in Asia. Never before had he seen so brilliant a sunset as the pool of gold, red, and purple that soaked the northern snow in light. The people were almost as incredible as the places, though none impressed him as much as the dark-haired lady from the tavern in Mexico, who met his eyes and ducked shyly into the shadows. Her tinkling laugh still rang in the back of his mind when the quiet overtook him in the night. “Will you stay with me?” she whispered into his ear, and he nearly did. But the chilled dawn called him from her bed in the morning, and he slipped back onto his ship while she remained tangled in the sheets and memories of his body.

That was years ago, a lifetime it seemed, but he sometimes caught himself wondering if he would have been happier if he had stayed. The years had been good to him - his body remained strong and healthy despite the constant running, fighting, exploring. He could no longer deny, though, that he was slowing. His muscles, sturdy, no longer held the energy of his boyhood. He had begun to run less, choosing instead to walk. He had told himself that he was merely appreciating the scenery. He had rushed through the lush valleys and rocky peaks of his youth, leaving only vague memories of their true magnitude. I’m slowing down to appreciate my earth, he said. But one can only deny the truth for so long before it smashes through even the strongest defenses.

And that was how he ended up here on the cliff, his life teetering in the balance as he rocked back and forth on his calloused feet. He could see his ship aground in the distance. It was pushed onto the sand of the island against a backdrop of dense forest - a forest he would never know. It seemed to him as if this were the last place in the world. He had seen and done all there was, his eyes heavy with the memories of a well-lived life. This island, this piece of the world, was the stitch to heal the aching in his heart; the ache to discover, explore, unearth. To explore this island would be to finish what he started at his first steps. And that was why, he decided, he could not go through with it.

He knew not what the next life held for him. Dead men tell no tales, and he feared that when his time came, his light would be extinguished and he would be left to rot in the dark. To die with passion is a beautiful thing, he told himself, and to die fulfilled is to deny this beauty. That yearning to explore would follow him into the dark if it died with him. He could not bear the burden of knowledge that would come from exploring all there was to explore. This line of thinking led him to the mist-drenched cliff where he currently stood. He came directly to the edge, not allowing himself even the chance to stop and admire the blossoming orange petals that adorned the vines of the trees. There would be time for that after the fact.

As he closed his tired eyes against the blinding sun, the very fibers of his being screamed against it. The pulse of his blood steadily urged him to turn back and find the source of the thick sweet smell in the air. Pineapples, maybe, fallen from the trees and decaying into the sand. But he edged closer still to the drop. To allow this wilderness to keep its secrecy was to tie himself to this earth and its wonders, to comfort himself against the thought that death was silence. He bound himself to the earth through this promise to her. And it was with this last thought that he smiled, sighed, and calmly fell into the waiting arms of his true love.

title: My first ever short story. Looking for feedback.

question: How did his ship run aground?

answer: There is no information in the text. It is stated that it was pushed onto the sand of the island against a backdrop of dense forest.

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: He is an explorer and drifter.

question: What is the narrator's relationship to the ship?

answer: He found work on a ship for little pay, but that was years ago. He speaks about his ship in the last paragraph.

question: Who did he make his promise to?

answer: He made his promise to the earth.

question: Where was this island?

answer: The text does not give insight.

question: Why is the island currently unexplored?

answer: Explorers haven't set foot there yet.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator speaks about how he was born with a thirst for discovery. Education and love were fleeting desires, ultimately disregarded if it meant renouncing his claim on the earth and her secrets. He got a job on the ship to facilitate his exploring. Years later he is standing on a cliff after his ship ran aground on an unexplored island. He decided to take his own life to protect this island. He made this promise to the earth and he smiles and calmly fall into the arms of this true love.


text:
is a 2016 Japanese Otome game for mobile devices.[1] It was developed by USAYA and was released in Japanese during November 2016 and in English the following month, both for iOS and Android.[2] The game's story follows a young woman that finds herself taking ownership of and reluctantly falling for a horse with a human face.[3]

Plot

The game's story centers upon a young businesswoman that has spent most of her life working and as such, has no significant other and low prospects to find one. She decides to leave her job and visit a racing horse ranch, with the assumption that it would be full of handsome young men. When she arrives she is dismayed to find it bereft of potential dating candidates and is shocked to discover a horse named Yuuma with an attractive human face. She questions the ranch owner about this and is told that Yuuma is a normal horse, she just sees a human face because some women born in the year of the horse have the ability to see horses as attractive men. Yuuma and the ranch owner persuade the woman to become the horse's owner against her own better judgement. As she spends more time with Yuuma preparing him for an upcoming race she's surprised and somewhat horrified to find herself falling for him.

Gameplay

_My Horse Prince_ is composed of ten main chapters and three bonus chapters, during which they are directed to increase the horse's affection for the owner by tapping on icons specific to that chapter. Collecting these icons will, however, lower the horse's stamina, which can be increased by briefly talking to the horse. In these conversations players are given the choice of three answers, each of which will have a different impact on the amount of stamina the horse receives.[4] Selecting a “bad” answer will decrease the horse's stamina and players can undo the selection by opting to watch a video advertisement. At the beginning and end of each chapter players can view interactions between the game's characters.

Players have the option of spending money in the game by purchasing an option to remove advertisements from the game or by purchasing golden carrots, which will allow the player to temporarily collect icons without reducing stamina.[5]

Reception

_My Horse Prince_ received media attention for its bizarre central premise of a woman dating a horse with a human face and for its player reaction on social media.[6][7][8] TouchArcade gave the game 3.5 stars out of 5, commenting that it had a “strong localization” while criticizing it for its empty gameplay.[9] Kotaku also wrote about the game, stating that “Despite the repetitive nature of the game, each weird situation our beleaguered protagonist gets herself into is oddly charming.”[10]

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title: My Horse Prince

question: What is My Horse Prince?

answer: a 2016 Japanese Otome game for mobile devices in which the player character falls in love with a horse

question: Does My Horse Prince contain ads

answer: yes

question: What is the name of the protagonist of My Horse Prince?

answer: Yuuma

question: Why does Yuuma in My Horse Prince see a beautiful human face on the horse?

answer: because she was born in the year of the horse

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: My Horse Prince is a 2016 Japanese Otome game for mobile devices in which the player character falls in love with a horse.


text:
               They sat together on the corner of College and Fell, casually downing a plate of fries. This was their sixth date together and she was starting to really like him. She was beginning to feel comfortable and natural around him and even his weirdness was starting to grow on her.

                He was starting to like her too, but there were some things about her that bothered him. Mainly,  that apart from her intelligence and personality, she was very plain looking and lead a very plain life. Zoning out from the conversation,  he toyed with the idea that  he could possibly change this about her. He wanted desperately to transform her into the girl of his dreams, the girl he rightfully deserved.

              Zack was looking at her in that way again. She hated when he did this. There was a sense of longing and  unfulfillment whenever he gazed at her this way with his cute brown eyes.

"I can't believe the audacity of my sister," she said, trying to snap him out of his trance.

            Zack took a moment from his day-dream, popped a fry in his mouth and lazily inquired, "Oh? What'd she do this time?"

           Mindy, having partly made up the statement based on an insignificant event that she didn't care to go into detail  on, realized that she had broken his semi-disturbing stare, and said, "Well um, nothing really, just little things."

             "Ah, little things again," said Zack, "it's always just little things." His eyes reflected dissatisfaction again.

"Zack, why do you always look at me that way? You know I don't like it."

            After a brief pause and a well-timed sigh, he said, "Mindy, do you ever wonder that your life will pass by and you'll find yourself married with three kids and wanting youth back?"

"I dunno know, that kind of sounds nice to me..."

           "And there lies your problem, I'm dreadfully afraid of this predicament and you're welcoming of it."

"Are you mad at me Zack?"

"I'm not mad at you Mindy, just your plainness."

          Mindy was taken back by this statement and didn't quite know how to respond, so she just sat and daintily dipped a fry into catsup.

         "I didn't mean it harshly, I mean you have a great personality and all. I mean you realize you're plain don't you?"

She still sat in silence.

"But Mindy, baby, I think we can change this."

           Mindy was offended, but a little curious and kept an ear tuned in to what he was saying. The words he said made her believe that deep down inside she really was plain.

"What if we did something dangerous?"

          He tried to coax a reaction out of her, but she was determined to remain still at this time.

         "You see," Zack said, "the problemo with common criminals these days are that they're usually dumb as a box of rocks. They're all stupid thugs. And that's where we come in. Mindy, we're both intelligent powerful individuals. Just Imagine what we could."

         "You're crazy, absolutely  insane!" She felt obligated to say this because that's what she figured you were supposed to say in scenarios like this, but she really was intrigued.

         "We could be the next Bonnie and Clyde, the perfect Pumpkin and Honey Bunny," he proposed. He saw a gleam of interest in her eye and smiled with delight. Yes, she would be the perfect girl to change and he knew that he had a grasp on her.

         "What would we even do?" She tried to sound like she had posed the question out of shock. She didn't like it one bit, but the idea of being a villain was growing rapidly on her.

        "I was just thinking about that. You know how you always talk about your sister and how unfairly you are treated in comparison to her."

         "Yes." She had to admit, if there was something that bugged her the most, it was how everyone always seemed to favor and praise her sister. Their mother had left Mindy pittance and her sister the family estate, fortune, and her beautiful diamond necklace. Their mother knew how much Mindy loved the necklace and Mindy was convinced that her mother giving it to her sister was an act of sheer spite.

        "Well don't be offended when I say this, but what if we killed her," Zack said, making a gun shape with his hand and mouthing the word "BANG".

          Mindy gasped. She couldn't believe these words were actually coming out of his mouth and yet she loved them.

"Mindy, you know you want this."

She knew.

       "Zack, you don't know what you're doing to me," but he knew. He knew exactly what he was doing to her.

A single hot tear ran down her cheek.

       It was very similar to the tear that ran down her cheek when they drove to Zack's house and grabbed his revolver.

       It was very similar to the tear that ran down her cheek when they drove to her family estate that her sister was living in and broke down the back door.

      It was very similar to the tear that ran down her cheek when she pulled the trigger and her sister's corpse crumpled to the floor.

      And it was very similar to the tear that ran down her cheek when she took off the diamond necklace from her sister's body and fastened to around her neck.

Zack had changed her. He was very pleased with the results

title: Wrote a short story for creative writing: Twist Me

question: How does Zack plan to improve Mindy's plain looks and plain life?

answer: Zack likes Mindy but he finds her plain with a plain life. He would love to transform her into the girl of his dreams. He suggests that they could become the next Bonnie and Clyde. He suggests that he kill her sister.

question: Why is Mindy open to the idea of killing her sister?

answer: Mindy likes the idea of being a villain. More than that, she is chronically jealous of her sister. She believes that her sister received unjust praise and favor. Her mother left her sister the family estate, fortune and her diamond necklace that Mindy had coveted.

question: Why did Mindy's mother leave everything to her sister?


text:
[INSERT DESCRIPTION](Alan Decker for The New York Times)

Need another reason to get angry at your next cell phone bill? Turn to Nigel Bannister, a space scientist at the University of Leicester in Britain, who has concluded that sending a mundane, ubiquitous text message costs at least four times as much as transmitting scientific data from the Hubble telescope. Here’s his math, from a news release, converted to dollars from British pounds:

  “The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is [about 10 cents]. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that’s 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 10 cents each, that’s [$734] per MB – or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs [of $166 per megabyte].”

The NASA figure was the more elusive one, since the space agency provided Mr. Bannister with only an estimate of the raw cost of transmitting the data to the ground. To get it the rest of the way to its final destination — a NASA database — more money must be spent on hardware and personnel and overhead, he conceded.

“This is difficult, so I had to make some conservative assumptions,” he said, meaning that the official NASA downlink estimate of $17.34 per megabyte was multiplied by almost 10. He did not say whether that included the costs of launching and maintaining the Hubble itself, which are counted in the hundreds of millions.

As Mr. Bannister says, “Hubble is by no means a cheap mission,” and yet by his math, it still looks like a bargain compared with commercial carriers’ text-message prices.

As for his main point — that those prices are “pretty astronomical” — well, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out, just someone with two thumbs, a few chatty friends and a dearth of disposable income.

question: How much more does sending a text message cost than transmitting scientific data from the Hubble telescope?

answer: Four times.

question: How many bytes are in a megabyte?

answer: 1,048,576.

question: What was NASA's official estimate of the cost per megabyte?

answer: 17.34.

question: What University if Nigel Bannister based at?

answer: University of Leicester.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The article discusses the difference in cost between sending a text message and sending data to the Hubble telescope, relating the discovery of a university professor that at the time the article was written it cost four times as much to send a text message as to communicate with Hubble.


text:
The MOWAG W300 is a fire-fighting vehicle from Switzerland.

History and Development

Since 1955 fire engines have also been constructed at Mowag in Kreuzlingen in the Canton of Thurgau. Often adapted to Swiss needs. The models W 200 (Feuerblitz = Fire flash), W 300 and W 500 were widely used as first response vehicle or fire engine. The MOWAG W300 was manufactured in 1968 by Mowag. Equipped with a Chrysler Petrol engine with lead additive. The vehicle has all-wheel drive with terrain reduction without differential lock. A trailer hook for carrying, if required, various trailers with firefighters equipment. The tires consist of 6x 7.50 16.8 Ply tires 6-fold (rear twin tires) with a tire pressure of 5.0 bar each. The braking system is based on vacuum-assisted oil brakes. The cabin and the mechanics came largely from the Dodge Power Wagon, the superstructures were individually made by Mowag according to the needs of the respective fire brigades. The Mowag W 300 with 750 kg BC firefighting powder, as well as four hand-held fire extinguishers for the pipe safety device on the bridge, were equipped as a powder extinguishing vehicle. Nitrogen (two pressurized bottles) was used as propellant. As well as two rigid hoses of 30 meters each, left and right as a quick-access means. Some Mowag W300 are still available on auction platforms. Various fire brigades in Switzerland have such vehicles still as oldtimer partys and parades in the inventory. A Mowag W300 of the volunteer fire brigade of the city of Zug in the configuration powderextinguishing vehicle is located in the Zuger Depot Technikgeschichte (Zug depot of technical history).

Pictures

File:Mowag W300 Front.jpg|Mowag W300 Front File:Mowag W300 Heck.jpg|Mowag W300 Heck File:Mowag W300 Cockpit.jpg |Mowag W300 Cockpit File:Mowag W300 Anleitung.jpg |Mowag W300 Panel

title: Mowag W300

question: What is the MOWAG W300?

answer: A Swiss fire-fighting vehicle that was first manufactured in 1955 in Kreuzlingen.

question: What does it look like?

answer: It is a multi-purpose vehicle with a number of features making it ideal for fighting fires and practical rescue situations.

question: How many are left in operation?

answer: Looks to be a vehicle that is displayed in museums now.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: A page about the MOWAG W300 - a fire-fighting vehicle.


text:
Context:
Cat/housesat for a coworker, wrote this when they returned from their vacation to let them know all that’s happened. Posted it on facebook as my status and got positive feedback, so I’m sharing it here too.
My name is Boris Kuslitskiy. Please don’t steal this.

Thursday.
You leave, the cats are plunged into the unexpected onset of Feast 2012, gorging on dry cat food.

Friday.
Ryan leaves us, the going away party includes alcohol, as does the bar I attend after. Arriving home at 5AM, I decided not to grace the cats with my presence again just yet.

Saturday Evening.
I arrive to feed and water the cats. Simon is friendly, Lionel chooses to ignore my presence.

Sunday.
The cats starve and dry out, reduced to only helping themselves to endless amounts of dry cat food. They operate with a different definition of starve than we do.

Monday Evening.
I stop by on my way from the movies with a friend, Sasha. Simon is distant, and fat, while Lionel is nearby, and fatter. Sasha confirms my analysis.

Tuesday Night.
I arrive late, commence furtending, continue furtending, and, finally, complete furtending. Having nowhere else to hang my work clothes for the next day, I prop open the bedroom door and hang them off the top. This lets Simon sit on the living room table and stare into the bedroom, into my eyes, and into my soul, were I to have one. He does this without fail, slowly falling asleep and staring at me through drooping eyelids as the minutes pass. I have broken his sense of order and he is no longer nice to me. Without shifting his gaze, Simon invents a time machine, locking me in his unrelenting stare for approximately 2.6 eternities. This is unsettling, but eventually the time machine falters and I sleep.

Wednesday Morning.
The first thing I see upon leaving the bedroom is Lionel rolling over to expose his belly. This is irresistible and just about cancels out having a shorter commute to work. Soon after, I scratch the underside of his cheek, and Lionel pushes his not unremarkably soft and fat face into my hand until it’s pressed down firmly against the ground. Noting the unforgiveable interruption in scratches, he graciously lifts his head, allows my hand to rise up to meet his cheek, and proceeds to push it down to the ground again. This repeats.

Wednesday Evening.
I arrive, Sasha joining me soon after I finish the furtendings. Beer, wine, and scratches flow furily. Sasha titles Simon Flat-Face. In response, his face is emotionless, flat, and furry. Lionel adopts the name Fat-Face, and my hand. I will file to reclaim custody shortly. Sasha sleeps over, being offered the bedroom while I claim the couch as my own.

Night between Wednesday and Thursday.
Sasha wakes up to see Simon inches away from her face, staring at her. I have the vaguest inkling of a feeling that Simon does not particularly like it when anybody else sleeps in that bed.

Thursday Morning.
Lionel is adorable. Simon is a cat.

Thursday Evening.
A different friend comes over. Lionel remains fat while Simon remains a cat. Together, they mostly are fat, and hide, their hides being fat, and hidden.

Friday Morning.
Reclined on the couch with my hand scratching the nearby Lionel, I conceive of an experiment, utterly moronic in hindsight. What if, just once, I choose to not spend every free moment scratching Lionel? Still purring like a tractor with a megaphone, Lionel jumps up onto the couch, wanders across my body and then, first gently, then heavily, struts his way across my neck, leaning his side against my face and forcing his furriness into every crevice, his fat molding itself to my face, leaving no respite and much hair.

Sunday Evening.
I stop by to pick up my things and scratch Lionel. He seems to have acquired a better invisible megaphone, as he purrs even more loudly.

Monday.
I miss them.

Tuesday.
I miss them.

Wednesday.
I fondly recall the fat smothering my face as Lionel saunters across my neck. I can almost taste the fur now.

title: Was asked to catsit for a coworker, so I wrote up all that happened for her return.

question: Who are the main characters?

answer: The cats, Simon and Lionel, and the narrator who is the cat-sitter.

question: Is there a conflict? A resolution?

answer: There is no conflict.

question: What is the setting?

answer: The place where the cats live.

question: Do the main characters interact with others?

answer: They interact with each other and the cat-sitter's friend, Sasha.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: It seems that the narrator is a cat-sitter; he is taking care of the cats, Lionel and Simon. He spends a lot of time petting Lionel; he doesn't seem to care much for Simon. When he is finished with the cat-sitting job, he misses the cats.


text:
My yon sister, Gertie, could not handle the stress of her burden. If all she had to do was carry, fine, but to feel them go cut her deeply. She came to know and dread them - and she always knew. Knew by the timid steps that slowed as they came to her gently swaying middle. Over her wide. Over her deep.  She would cry out “NO!”, but they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, listen. Maybe this will be a mindchange? No. Maybe this one would be the last? No, always more. They knew where she was. More would come, always more.

Our parents had big plans and dreams for our futures. Like most, they did not know The True -when you create a thing, a thing that moves and is loved, you give it life. A thing that moves not, is loved not - lives not. Alive, it can breathe, feel, dream and so many other things not detailed in the blueprints. Many know The True of this in their heart but deny it for reasons I do not understand. They beg aloud for their cold Go to start then stroke its dashboard in thanks. Dolls speak sweetly long past childdays. Why is The True just for children and dim when down deep all know it is so?

Gertie claimed they could not hear her. Her first one took her by such surprise she almost didn’t notice. One minute there, enjoying her company, and then nothing. One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand gone.  She saw no sense. But others came and she marked well the signs. The look, the feel, the smell of them. Some with such cheerful determination she almost thought they wouldn’t. But they would. And they did. They’d come a visit, to say lastgobye. And Gertie would shake and tremble. Why her? Why must she be party to such awfulness? Why not the heartless Poppers? All know not to point them at anylive for The True in them begs a squeezebang. Or The Tall Ones, why not leave from them? Surely the results more certain. And care they not, for TheTrue is so limited in them. Barely a nevermind from them. Perhaps they fear breaking a Go below or taking another person past the gone. When she could stand no more, shaking in tears of despair, Gertie leapt to her own one thousand gone. Where another now stands in her place.

Larger and calmer than most in my family, perhaps The True is stronger in me? For my visitors can hear me as I them, and I am glad of their company. My thoughts to theirs when the winds are well and they would listen. They come to say their last gobyes. For every one that leaves past the one thousand one line a dozen more go back as they came. Some visit often but remain Noyets. There is another day for them. I judge not, nor speak The True as I know it to them. They choose for themselves. Some dawdle so long that they are taken away. I have my doubts of them for some wish to be stopped. But I do not stop anyone. The True is for each own to decide. Taller than my sisters, one thousand four, is such a long way - much longer than most expect. I hear it clickcount in their heads. Time runs quick right up to the one line, then slows so much before the one thousand gone. Maybe The True also wants to say a last gobye?

I am seldom lonely as I get company often. Even the many Noyets that retreat are my friends. When lonely, I reach deep and long to touch other things aways from myself. Some things made strong in The True and some silent, but all pass my voice on to those who would listen. Come visit. Come look. Choose wisely, for yourself. I will not help nor harm. Come they do and always will. And Thank The True they come. For all that live must also eat.

title: My Yon Sister

question: Summarize all the information relating to the author's sister, Gertie.

answer: The author's sister, Gertie, was overwhelmed by the burden she had to carry. She hoped every time The True came was the last one, but they kept on coming. She struggled with the question of why it happened to her and not to other people. When she could stand it no more, she committed suicide.

question: Summarize all the information relating to The True.

answer: The author's parents, like most, did not know The True. The author describes The True as the product of something being created and given a life of its own, although it does not follow the blueprints The True is written in their hearts but they deny it for an unknown reason. The True becomes a massive burden for the author's sister, she had a massive struggle with them passing and questioned her being chosen for it.

question: Summarize the information relating to the heartless Poppers.

question: What is the author's experience of The True?

answer: The author experienced his sister's struggle with The True very closely. He has a good grasp of where The True comes from and that it will go. When his sister was overwhelmed and leapt to her death, he took her place. He was larger and calmer and The True was stronger in him, taller than his sisters and lasting longer than expected.


text:
[]

STOLEN FROM THE INTERNET:

I understand the reasons Trump won. I appreciate the enormous ground-swell of demand for change from the status quo in D.C.
I too want change. I have been vocal for years on how broken our federal government is and the many aspects that need change.
But All change is not good.
THIS change is not change for good.
For me, this sadness and disgust is not about politics, or winning or losing, or Republicans or Democrats, or about the economy or healthcare. It’s about basic decency and humanity, none of which Trump has ever displayed. He has exhibited who he is for 60 years, and that is exactly who he will be until the day he dies, no matter what speeches his handlers put in front of him or how they might try to put lipstick on this Pig.
I know our nation will survive this. We have survived worse. Still, I am appalled that –less than–half of the electorate wanted change so badly they would elect a man that I would:
Never want as a friend, because he is everything I am not,
Never do business with, because I wouldn’t trust him for a nano-second,
Never emulate or hold up as a role-model for our children, because, well, everything about him is the opposite of what we teach our children.
And yet, he is about to lead our nation and be our most important, most visible representative to the world.
This is very, very hard (read “impossible”) to accept.
This note below was sent to me. I don’t know the author. I include it here because it resonates deeply with me.
Mitch
“I don’t think you understand us right now.
I think you think this is about politics.
I think you believe this is all just sour grapes; the crocodile tears of the losing locker room with the scoreboard going against us at the buzzer.
This is not about losing an election or not winning a contest. This is about two very different ways of seeing the world.
Hillary supporters believe in a diverse America; one where religion or skin color or sexual orientation or place of birth aren’t liabilities or deficiencies or moral defects. Her campaign was one of inclusion and connection and inter-dependency. It was about building bridges and breaking ceilings.
Trump supporters believe in a very selective America; one that is largely white and straight and Christian, and the voting verified this. Donald Trump has never made any assertions otherwise. He ran a campaign of fear and isolation—and that’s the vision of the world those who voted for him have endorsed.
They have aligned with the wall-builder and the professed p*ssy-grabber, regardless of the reasons they give for their vote:
Every horrible thing Donald Trump ever said about women or Muslims or people of color has now been validated.
Every profanity-laced press conference and every call to bully protesters and every ignorant diatribe has been endorsed.
Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation Mike Pence has championed has been approved.
Half of our country has declared these things acceptable, noble,American.
This is the disconnect and the source of our grief today.
It isn’t a political defeat that we’re lamenting…it’s a defeat for Humanity.
We’re angry because our candidate’s losing means this country will be less safe, less kind, and less available to a huge segment of its population.
Those who have always felt vulnerable are now left more so. Those whose voices have been silenced will be further quieted.
Those who always felt marginalized will be pushed further to the periphery.
Those things have essentially been campaign promises of Donald Trump, and half of our fellow citizens have said this is what they want too.
This is not about one candidate over the other.
It is not blue vs. red.
It’s not her dishonesty vs. his indecency.
It’s about overt racism and hostility toward minorities.
It’s about religion being weaponized.
It’s about crassness and vulgarity and disregard for women.
It’s about a barricaded, bully nation.
It’s about an unapologetic, open-faced ugliness.
This hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance have been amen-ed by our neighbors, our families, our friends, those we work with and worship alongside. That is the most horrific thing of all.
It feels like living in enemy territory being here now, and there’s no way around that. We wake up today in a home we no longer recognize. This may be America today , but it is not the America we believe in or want.
This is not about a difference of political opinion; It’s about a fundamental difference in how we view the worth of all people—not just those who look or talk or think or vote the way we do.
As a nation we had an opportunity to affirm the beauty of our diversity this day, to let everyone know they had a place at the table, to be the beacon of goodness and decency we imagine that we are—and half the voters in our country said “no.”
This is why we grieve.”

PRE-ELECTION

UPDATE 9/30/2016  This first debate should be a wake up call for all Americans that the unstable Donald Trump is unprepared to be Commander-in-Chief of this great country. Trump’s ineptitude was on full display around the globe. He has made us a laughing stock. Let’s stop the madness. Enough of your misguided hatred of Hillary Clinton, fueled by the bigoted misogynist Fox News Network. Fox News and Republicans in general have been trying to destroy Hillary and her husband for over 30 years. Their only success, a comprehensive unfair smear campaign that continues today. The catch phrase “Make America Great Again” that Trump lifted from a Ronald Reagan speech, backed up by nothing, should not be the only reason you support this buffoon. Show you have some concern for the future of this country and send Donald Trump back to reality TV.  This debate made me realize I’ve taken Obama for granted the last 8 years.

USA TODAY SAYS IT BEST

  HE IS ERRATIC. Trump has been on so many sides of so many issues that attempting to assess his policy positions is like shooting at a moving target. A list prepared byNBC details 124 shifts by Trump on 20 major issues since shortly before he entered the race. He simply spouts slogans and outcomes (he’d replace Obamacare with “something terrific”) without any credible explanations of how he’d achieve them.

  HE IS ILL-EQUIPPED TO BE COMMANDER IN CHIEF. Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements typically range from uninformed to incoherent. It’s not just Democrats who say this. Scores of Republican national security leaders have signed an extraordinary open letter calling Trump’s foreign policy vision “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.” In a _Wall Street Journal_ column this month, Robert Gates, the highly respected former Defense secretary who served presidents of both parties over a half-century, described Trump as “beyond repair.”

  HE TRAFFICS IN PREJUDICE. From the very beginning, Trump has built his campaign on appeals to bigotry and xenophobia, whipping up resentment against Mexicans, Muslims and migrants. His proposals for mass deportations and religious tests are unworkable and contrary to America’s ideals.

  Trump has stirred racist sentiments in ways that can’t be erased by his belated and clumsy outreach to African Americans. His attacks on an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican heritage fit “the textbook definition of a racist comment,” according to House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected official in the Republican Party. And for five years, Trump fanned the absurd “birther” movement that falsely questioned the legitimacy of the nation’s first black president.

  HIS BUSINESS CAREER IS CHECKERED. Trump has built his candidacy on his achievements as a real estate developer and entrepreneur. It’s a shaky scaffold, starting with a 1973 Justice Department suit against Trump and his father for systematically discriminating against blacks in housing rentals. (The Trumps fought the suit but later settled on terms that were viewed as a government victory.) Trump’s companies have had some spectacular financial successes, but this track record is marred by six bankruptcy filings, apparent misuse of the family’s charitable foundation, and allegations by Trump University customers of fraud. A series of investigative articles published by the USA TODAY Network found that Trump has been involved in thousands of lawsuits over the past three decades, including at least 60 that involved small businesses and contract employees who said they were stiffed. So much for being a champion of the little guy.

  HE ISN’T LEVELING WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Is Trump as rich as he says? No one knows, in part because, alone among major party presidential candidates for the past four decades, he refuses to release his tax returns. Nor do we know whether he has paid his fair share of taxes, or the extent of his foreign financial entanglements.

  HE SPEAKS RECKLESSLY. In the days after the Republican convention, Trump invited Russian hackers to interfere with an American election by releasing Hillary Clinton’s emails, and he raised the prospect of “Second Amendment people” preventing the Democratic nominee from appointing liberal justices. It’s hard to imagine two more irresponsible statements from one presidential candidate.

  HE HAS COARSENED THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE. Did you ever imagine that a presidential candidate would discuss the size of his genitalia during a nationally televised Republican debate? Neither did we. Did you ever imagine a presidential candidate, one who avoided service in the military, would criticize Gold Star parents who lost a son in Iraq? Neither did we. Did you ever imagine you’d see a presidential candidate mock a disabled reporter? Neither did we. Trump’s inability or unwillingness to ignore criticism raises the specter of a president who, like Richard Nixon, would create enemies’ lists and be consumed with getting even with his critics.

  HE’S A SERIAL LIAR. Although polls show that Clinton is considered less honest and trustworthy than Trump, it’s not even a close contest. Trump is in a league of his own when it comes to the quality and quantity of his misstatements. When confronted with a falsehood, such as his assertion that he was always against the Iraq War, Trump’s reaction is to use the Big Lie technique of repeating it so often that people begin to believe it.

  We are not unmindful of the issues that Trump’s campaign has exploited: the disappearance of working-class jobs; excessive political correctness; the direction of the Supreme Court; urban unrest and street violence; the rise of the Islamic State terrorist group; gridlock in Washington and the influence of moneyed interests. All are legitimate sources of concern.

  NOR DOES THIS EDITORIAL REPRESENT UNQUALIFIED SUPPORT FOR HILLARY CLINTON, who has her own flaws (though hers are far less likely to threaten national security or lead to a constitutional crisis). The Editorial Board does not have a consensus for a Clinton endorsement.

  Some of us look at her command of the issues, resilience and long record of public service — as first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of State — and believe she’d serve the nation ably as its president.

  Other board members have serious reservations about Clinton’s sense of entitlement, her lack of candor and her extreme carelessness in handling classified information.

  Where does that leave us? Our bottom-line advice for voters is this: Stay true to your convictions. That might mean a vote for Clinton, the most plausible alternative to keep Trump out of the White House. Or it might mean a third-party candidate. Or a write-in. Or a focus on down-ballot candidates who will serve the nation honestly, try to heal its divisions, and work to solve its problems.

  Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.

READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE.

[14691021_10157656055995084_4557905992762442212_n]

I have had a lifetime of political apathy. That all changed because of DONALD TRUMP, THE SEXUAL PREDATOR, CORRUPT, UNSTABLE, NARCISSIST, THIN-SKINNED, DIVISIVE, RACIST, BIGOT, PATHOLOGICAL LIAR, MISOGYNIST, XENOPHOBIC BLOVIATING DEMAGOGUE. Put simply for Trump worshipers, TRUMP IS A DICK. No I am not the liberal media. I’m a rich white guy that is concerned about the damage Donald Trump could inflict on this great country. I created this website to reach out to those undecided in the upcoming presidential election. This website shines a bright light on the real Donald Trump. I have given up on deprogramming Donald Trump cult members. They seem to not care that Donald Trump is so deeply flawed and believe everything he says even though he is a pathological liar. At some point the Trump worshipers will need to be deprogrammed like any cult member. You can tell a Trump worshiper 25 atrocious things about Trump and their response is “What about Hillary’s emails and did you see her coughing?”. I have decided to never vote for any member of the Republican party, the party that nominated this appalling buffoon and continues to support.

Donald Trump figured out a trick to get this far. He took the Obama birther issue and ran with it knowing this would secure the racists in this country. Yes there is a huge block of racists that could never handle a black man being the President. I became convinced of this when lower to middle class whites declared “No I don’t want affordable health insurance. I’d rather fight against anything our black President proposes.” Trump then strengthened this support by calling Mexicans rapists and calling for a Muslim ban.  This easily got him through the primaries. Next by luck his opponent is a woman. With this he locked up the sexiest group who do not think a woman should ever be President. Another group of support comes from delusional people that think that Trump will change their life. He will do that alright after he destroys relations with other countries that have resulted in our cost of living being among the lowest, if not the lowest in the world. When you start paying 30% to 40% more for essentials you will wish you never voted for Trump. The other group Trump secured is the Fox News junkies group. This group can be easily manipulated. They actually believe Fox News is fair and balanced. Fox News helped reinforce the notion that affordable health insurance is a bad thing. Fox News has never given one ounce of credit for anything positive President Obama has accomplished. Instead their first response to anything Obama does is “He should have done something else.” The irony of Fox News is they are supposed to be the network for Republicans, the family values party. Since inception they have been run by Roger Ailes, the scumbag ousted after multiple employee sexual harassment claims. Yeah that is family values alright. I ask those undecided, do you really want to be associated with any of these groups?

This is the last hooray for the racists in this country. The racists are dying off and being replaced by young people tolerant of other races and other lifestyle choices.  The joke is on the racists though. They would be electing a phony fraud that is only interested in using them to promote his brand. This was evident when Trump made several campaign stops in Texas, a state that he would easily win without ever showing up in the state. He wants to promote his brand in Texas. Winning the presidency is secondary. Gullible people actually believe he is running for them.

When someone said “The President’s words can move markets” Trump’s brain went into overload. He thought as President he could actually become a billionaire. Only thing to work out is how to take advantage of those moving markets and which cronies to use. Trump would be the most corrupt President ever.

Trump worshipers believe Trump will fix the government. Trump worshipers need to take a civics lesson and learn how the US government functions. Trump said it best “I love the uneducated”. Trump would be the most ineffective President in history. He would be unable to get anything passed because he has alienated a large amount of Republicans and none of the Democrats would ever vote for anything Trump comes up with. People should realize the job of President is not an entry level position and lack of experience is not a good thing. Trump worshipers have been fed a Trump illusion. Trump is a lousy manager but a great salesman. His ability to lie with ease and embellish anything he is selling, including himself, is a great trait for a used car salesman, not President. Remember Trump says his best trait is his temperament, this coming from the most thin-skinned person I have ever witnessed.

Oddly Trump worshipers love Trump because he is not politically correct. He gets a pass to say the most outrageous insensitive things with the goal of getting attention. The guy that fixes my flats at the gas station is also not politically correct but I don’t think he would make a good President even though he has not lied to me. “Oh but Trump is a successful businessman!” No he’s not. He’s been a failure as a businessman but he has been a success as a reality TV game show host. I think just about anyone but a Trump worshiper would make a better president than Trump. I will use a Trump litmus test for the rest of my life. I will never vote for anyone who endorsed Donald Trump and for the foreseeable future I will not vote for any Republicans. I will not support a party that has a platform that appeals to the lowest common denominator.

For the Catholic Trump worshipers,  don’t forget Trump called your Pope disgraceful when the Pope said Trump is not a Christian.

Some Republicans justify their support for Trump because of Supreme Court nominations. They should know by now that Trump is really a Democrat to the left of Clinton. He floated a list created by his campaign staff of possible nominees. This was done just to pacify his base. The Republicans should wise up and immediately confirm Merrick Garland because he is going to be closer to their ideals than anyone Clinton or Trump would nominate.

It is no surprise that ISIS is employing every means possible to promote the election of Trump. His election would be the best thing that could ever happen to boost recruitment efforts.

  In August, one ISIS spokesman wrote: “I ask Allah to deliver America to Trump.” Another supporter declared: “The ‘facilitation’ of Trump’s arrival in the White House must be a priority for jihadists at any cost!!!” ISIS is working to drum up support for the candidate it has called “the perfect enemy.”

IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN BRAINWASHED BY DONALD TRUMP, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS AND RELATIVES ABOUT THIS ELECTION. IF THEY ARE TRUMP WORSHIPERS, GIVE UP AND MOVE ON TO SOMEONE ELSE. IF THEY ARE UNDECIDED, SEND THEM TO THIS WEBSITE TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP. THE FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

Note to visitors to this website from outside the United States: THE VIEWS OF DONALD TRUMP DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF AMERICANS. WE ARE ASHAMED THAT HE HAS GOTTEN THIS FAR.

Mike Luckovich: ‘Splainin’ to do.

[lk110416_color]

NOTABLE QUOTES

  Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C. Republican)

  “There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”

  Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)

  “I’m an American before I’m a Republican.”

  Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.)

  “This notion that we ought to have a religious test for people entering the country is just the antithesis of who we are as Americans.”

  Gov. Charlie Baker (Mass.)

  “As I have said many times, Donald Trump lacks the temperament necessary to be president.”

  Rep. Richard Hanna (N.Y.)

  “Trump is deeply flawed in endless ways and unrepentant in all things … While I disagree with her on many issues, I will vote for Mrs. Clinton.”

  Henry Paulson

  Former secretary of Treasury

  “I’m not the first Republican to say Trump is a phony and should not be president, and I expect there will be many more to come.”

  Gov. Larry Hogan (Md.)

  “I guess when I get behind the curtain I’ll have to figure it out. Maybe write someone in. I’m not sure.”

  Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.)

  “Given my military experience, Donald Trump does not have the temperament to command our military or our nuclear arsenal. Cannot and will not support.”

  Sally Bradshaw

  Former GOP strategist/advisor

  “I can’t look my children in the eye and tell them I voted for Donald Trump.”

  Peggy Noonan

  a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan

  About Trump “When you act as if you’re insane, people are liable to think you’re insane.

  JEFFREY FLIER

  the former dean of Harvard Medical School who remains a professor there

  tweeted over the weekend that Trump “defines” narcissistic personality disorder.

  THE LATEST MEDIA OBSESSION: COULD THERE BE SOMETHING NEUROLOGICALLY WRONG WITH DONALD TRUMP?

SELECTED VIDEOS FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

[content-egg module=Amazon template=grid]

question: When was the article written?

answer: Shortly after the 2016 election

question: Who is the author?

answer: That information can't be found

question: Where was the article published?

answer: That information can't be found

question: What did the Pope say about Donald Trump?

answer: That he is not a Christian

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The author laments Trump's presidential victory because they feel it reflects poorly on humanity.


text:
One of the most fascinating office interior design trends of recent times has been the inclusion of designated sleeping areas in the workplace. In the past, sleeping on the job might be considered an offence worthy of dismissal, but research has demonstrated the significant benefits associated with allowing employees to take short naps.

Indeed, some of the most successful companies around, including Ben & Jerry’s and Uber, have installed ‘nap rooms’ in their offices, while the likes of Procter & Gamble and Google have gone a step further, introducing sleeping pods to the workplace. So is this something you should consider for your interior design project?

THE BENEFITS OF SLEEP

The importance of sleep has long been established, yet research over the last few years has paid particular attention to the benefits of having short naps. According to ASAP Science, short naps can increase cognitive function, ultimately boosting creativity and productivity in the workplace. Meanwhile, other studies have found they:

• Reduce levels of stress and anxiety among employees

• Improve information retention and memory by up to five times

• Significantly enhance concentration and attention to detail

• Boost tolerance levels and reduce frustration in the workplace

• Help to regulate impulsive or emotional responses

Furthermore, a 2011 study published in the Journal of Sleep goes some way towards explaining the impact a lack of sleep has on the business world. In fact, according to the study, insufficient sleep costs U.S companies alone as much as $63 billion in lost productivity – and that’s before getting into the other associated problems.

THE CASE FOR SLEEP AT WORK

Clearly, the best possible solution would be for every employee to get an appropriate amount of sleep every night and scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have found that six to eight hours is optimum. However, in the modern world, this is simply impossible to achieve.

Whether employees have to travel frequently on business trips, whether they have young children who keep them awake at night, or whether they suffer from sleep disorders, every workplace will inevitably have its fair share of under-rested employees, costing them in terms of lost productivity, absenteeism and errors.

“Most employers do not allow sleeping – there is still that prejudice,” says William Anthony, a Boston University professor in rehabilitation sciences. “It is thought of as lazy and unproductive, when often it is exactly the opposite.”

THE SLEEP POD REVOLUTION

The sheer amount of research on the subject has forced office designers to take action, with some choosing low-tech options. For instance, businesses like Uber and Ben & Jerry’s have installed dedicated ‘nap rooms’ in their offices and have simply given staff permission to take short naps during their breaks, without fear of repercussions.

Yet, others have opted for more advanced solutions. Google, Procter & Gamble and PwC have all installed so-called ‘sleeping pods’ – futuristic pods where employees can sit and take a nap in complete silence, away from workplace background noise.

“A lot of businesses, especially in the US, have shown interest in [sleeping pods] as a relaxation area around the concept of well-being,” says Lee McCormack, designer of the Oculas OV2 sleep pod. “It’s not just sleep, it can be light therapy, relaxation, or time for reflection or meditation.”

It may seem counter-intuitive to pay employees to sleep on the job, but the time under-rested employees spend at work is largely wasted anyway. For the sake of 15 minutes out of the day, evidence suggests workplace napping should be embraced, regardless of whether you opt for a low-tech or high-tech solution.

question: What are the drivers behind why big corporations are allowing employees to nap at work?

answer: The inclusion of designated sleeping areas in modern working spaces has been surprising. It used to be that napping at work is a punishable offense but companies are now embracing the need for sleep at work. Recent studies have shown that sleep reduces stress and improves information retention up to five times. However, the real reason why companies are allowing nap is due to the productivity boom it fosters as tired employees are costing US businesses up to $63 billion in productivity. Installing sleeping spaces has gone a long way in fixing that for some companies.


text:
Raffia the 10-year-old camel has become the very first animal to help with Google’s mapping missions, using one of the company’s Trekker cameras to capture the landscape of the Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Raffia and her guide took to the sand as early as 6am in the morning to ensure the best lighting conditions. The resulting film and still photographs show the desert’s rolling sand dunes, an oasis, fellow camels, scuttling sand and some gangly camera-and-camel shadows.

Joyce Baz, Google’s spokesperson in the Middle East and North Africa, was keen to emphasise that Raffia’s role was not just for novelty value.

“With every environment and every location, we try to customise the capture and how we do it for that part of the environment.

“In the case of Liwa we fashioned it in a way so that it [the Trekker camera] goes on a camel so that it can capture imagery in the best, most authentic and least damaging way”, she told The National newspaper.

[camel]

Raffia and her guide walk through the Liwa desert. Photograph: Google
Google Street View has been a feature of Google Maps since 2007. While most images are captured with the Trekker by car, the camera has also been attached to people (to document the Grand Canyon and Venice), tricycles and sent underwater.

The Liwa desert meanwhile, is one of the oldest sites in the UAE and is the historical home of the Nahyan family, the original leaders of the Abu Dhabi emirate. The Liwa Oasis is the largest oasis in the Arabian Peninsula and the location for many Bedouin settlements.

[shadows]

Camel shadows in the Liwa desert. Photograph: Google
Two other locations in UAE are available on Google Street View: the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Baz said that Street Views have been captured from locations in Egypt, Israel and Turkey – as well as the Grand Canyon in the US and the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean – but that Google hoped to create more.

“We want obviously all countries, because there is so much history and culture and heritage,” she said.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before we move to the other countries in the Middle East.”

• GOOGLE INTRODUCES ‘TIME MACHINE’ FEATURE IN STREET VIEW

question: What is the motive of this article?

answer: It may be implied that the motive of this article is to educate people about Google's unique way of capturing things around the world, in this case, the Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

question: What may have been people's reaction to knowing that a camel was used for this purpose?

answer: It may be implied that at first, people would be surprised to know the different ways Google tries to capture places but they may also understand that a camel is the best mode of transport in a desert hence there would be no better way to capture this region.

question: Who took the decision of taking the help of Raffia?

answer: It may be implied that it could have been Joyce Baz's decision.

question: What is the purpose of capturing these locations?

answer: It may be implied that capturing these locations gives people the benefit of virtually visiting places and knowing what they look like.


text:
The Tories have put the issue of Britain’s Trident nuclear programme at the heart of the election debate with less than a month to go to the general election.

Michael Fallon, the Conservative Defence Secretary, has said that a Labour government would do a deal with the SNP that involves getting rid of Trident and putting Britain’s security at risk – saying Ed Miliband will “stab the United Kingdom in the back”.

Amid accusations of “mud-slinging” and Labour’s insistence that it is “crystal clear” on keeping and renewing the UK’s four operational nuclear-armed submarines, we ask the question – does Britain really need them?

HOW MANY NUCLEAR MISSILES ARE THERE IN THE WORLD?

While estimates vary, the most recent figure published for worldwide nuclear weapon stocks by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (the best international source for such figures) is 16,300. A more recent but arguably less reliable figure from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) puts the worldwide total at 15,650.

The flagship of Russia's Nothern Fleet, heavy nuclear missile cruiser 'Pyotr Veliky'

(AFP/Getty Images)

Located across 14 countries at some 98 sites, roughly 10,000 are believed to be in military arsenals while the remaining are in storage and scheduled for dismantlement.

Of those 10,000, about 4,000 are described by the Bulletin as “operationally available”, while at any given time 1,800 nuclear weapons are held on high alert – meaning they can be deployed with just a few minutes’ notice.

WHO HAS THEM?

Of the total global inventory, 93 per cent are held by the US and Russia.

Very recent figures from the Bulletin estimate that the US has 7,100 nuclear warheads, consisting of 2,080 deployed, 2,680 in storage and 2,340 retired and awaiting dismantlement. Russia – which is less open with its figures – is thought to have slightly more, around 8,000 in total.

North Korea missiles on trucks make its way during a massive military parade to mark the 65th anniversary of the communist nation's ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang, North Korea

(AP)

The UK has about 215 warheads in total, though it relies heavily on the US to maintain them. Each of its four nuclear submarines carries 16 Trident missiles at any given time.

France has 300 warheads, some of which are deliverable by aircraft. Like the UK, it has one nuclear-armed submarine on patrol at all times.

China only has about 250 warheads, and none of them are thought to be fully deployed according to the FAS. China is believed to be in the process of increasing its arsenal.

The most recent update on Israel suggests it has 80 nuclear warheads, though the country officially neither confirms nor denies their existence. The FAS says Pakistan has around 100-120, India 90-110, and North Korea fewer than 10, none of which have been made operational.

WHO WANTS THEM?

According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), there are now some 40 countries that have nuclear power or research reactors capable of being diverted for weapons production.

Pakistan and North Korea are the only countries to recently join the so-called nuclear weapons club, while Iran’s new nuclear deal makes its chances of joining in the near future remote.

Libya, which bought details of Pakistan’s nuclear programme from defecting scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, abandoned its attempts under pressure from the US.

Iranians celebrate in northern Tehran following the announcement of Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers

(AP)

In addition, fears that nuclear energy programmes can easily lead to weapons programmes are unfounded – it is reportedly possible, but not practical, and has never been achieved.

In other words, the reality of nuclear proliferation in the world right now is fairly limited – suggesting the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency have been “diligent and pretty effective”, says nuclear scientist James Conca.

SO DOES BRITAIN NEED THEM?

Michael Fallon today described £25 billion to refurbish the Trident programme as “a price well worth paying to keep this country safe”.

Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon

(Getty Images)

It’s a conservative estimate (with both a lower- and upper-case ‘C’) however. Paul Ingram, the director of the thinktank BASIC (The British American Security Information Council), says that when often-forgotten decommissioning work is included the capital cost of the new system will total £50.6 billion between 2012 and 2062.

Its headline discovery was that Trident isn’t really that independent at all – if the US were to ever remove its support and know-how, the UK’s nuclear capability would collapse in a matter of months.

 Which countries have nuclear weapons?

Show all 14

Nonetheless, in the short term at least, the commission found that even the slimmest of chances Britain could face “strategic blackmail or nuclear attack” made it “imprudent” to abandon Trident.

“If there is more than a negligible chance that the possession of nuclear weapons might play a decisive future role in the defence of the United Kingdom and its allies” then they should be retained, the report said.

Faslane Naval Base on the Gare Loch in Scotland

(Getty)

But what do the British public think? In Scotland – which houses the Trident submarines at Faslane – the strongly pro-disarmament SNP is on course to win 40 of 59 seats, according to the latest polls.

In 2009, a ComRes poll for _The Independent_ asked: “Given the state of the country’s finances, should the Government scrap the Trident nuclear missile system?” Of all respondents, 58 per cent said “Yes”, 35 per cent “No”, while just 7 per cent said “Don’t Know”.

Mr Fallon says security will be the key issue at the heart of the election in 28 days’ time. The question of Trident is, if nothing else, polarising.

But what do you think? Vote in our poll below

_Please allow the poll a moment to load._

question: What is Trident?

answer: Britain's nuclear missile program.

question: What is the issue surrounding Trident?

answer: The general elections are coming up, and some groups in Britain want the nuclear program scrapped and the warheads dismantled, while others believe the country and its allies need it for better security.

question: What does Britain's Defense Secretary say about the issue?

answer: Michael Fallon says the move will put Britain's security at risk and warns that the Labor government would do a deal with the SNP that involves getting rid of Trident.

question: How many nuclear missiles are in the world?

answer: The numbers vary between 15,650 to 16,300, depending on the source.

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: Britain's Trident nuclear program is at the heart of the election debate with less than a month left until the general election, thanks to The Tories party. Secretary of Defense, Michael Fallon, warns that the Labor government would do a deal with the SNP that involves getting rid of Trident, which puts Britain's security at risk. The Labor party denies this and says it will keep and renew the UK's four operating nuclear-armed submarines. Some groups are questioning whether Britain needs to be a nuclear power at all, citing the cost to maintain the arsenal, which stands at £25 billion. It is estimated that there are between 15,650 to 16,300 nuclear missiles in the world, scattered among 14 countries. The US and Russia own 93 percent of the world's nuclear missile stockpile. Britain has 215 warheads but relies heavily on the US to maintain them.


text:
INFO: I'm writing this as a school assignment for my english literature class. I'm wondering what you guys think about it. Please come with feedback about how I can improve it, grammar mistakes etc, as english is not my first language. It's based around the poem "Haul away" by Mark Knopfler. It's probably bad, but I did my best!

The Captain’s Wife

We all knew what happened, but no-one spoke a word about it. Women on board a ship brought bad luck people used to say. I don’t know if that was true for the captain’s wife but she certainly did not lift the spirits. They had been fighting non-stop for a month before she left, the captain and the captain’s wife. He tried his best to brush it off, but we could all see the anger and the sadness in his eyes.  She preferred to avoid the curious glares of the crew, staying locked up in her chambers after they had clashed.  What they were fighting about was hard to tell, it seemed to change every night. I guess, when two people who should not have been married in the first place is stuck together everything becomes something to fight over. When she left, no-one spoke a word about her.

The captain was an old man. He had become a rich man as well. He had been steering his trusty ship safely across the seas for four decades now. «A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor» he always said to the young boys. And he had been through many a stormful night over the years. But his wife was sadly a storm he could not handle. When she left, no-one spoke a word about her.

Before we left port he had been full of life. Freshly wed, a big cargo loaded up with promise of a fine payment for safe transportation.  He loved his crew like they were his own sons, and everyone aboard threated him with the utmost respect and kindness. Therefore, when she left, no-one spoke a word about her.

One could hardly blame her for fighting with the man though. The captain was not suited for a social life, at least off the ship. A man who had been so long at sea as the captain had not much to talk about other than, well, seafaring. The captain’s wife cared little for seafaring. One could hardly blame her though. She wanted to settle down somewhere, build a house and have children. The captain wanted the same as well, it seemed, but deep down we all knew he wanted to remain at sea.

It was a windless night when she left. The captain and the captain’s wife were fighting again. Over what was hard to tell, but everyone could hear the shouting. The crew had grown accustomed to it, so it was no wonder everyone let out a sigh of relief when the fighting came to a halt and it became quiet. Suddenly a loud splash was heard, and the captain appeared before the crew soon after. You could see in his eyes that he was upset, but made no effort to speak. He looked at his crew, at his ship, at the sea, before retreating to his chambers. No-one spoke a word about her.

No-one would say a word that day. Not before the day after quiet talking could be heard around the ship, but no-one dared make mention of the captain’s wife. The rest of the journey went on as normal, and when they arrived in port they unloaded the cargo, restocked and started on the journey back. All but the captain, who chose to only send his golden wedding ring back home.

Thanks you for reading :)

title: The captain's wife (Need feedback)

question: Who is the narrator here?

answer: The narrator is a member of the captain's crew.

question: Who are the major characters of the story?

answer: The story centers around the captain and his wife. It is not customary for a woman to sail on a ship, this is an extraordinary circumstance all the more because the captain's wife dislikes seafaring.

question: Summarize what the passage says about the disagreements between the captain and his wife.

answer: The captain and his wife were arguing for a month non-stop before she left. It angered and saddened the captain. The disagreements were frequent, but the cause of it varied every night. Two people who shouldn't be married is stuck together everything becomes something to fight over. The captain was only interested in seafaring and his wife cared little for it. She wanted to settle down and have kids. The captain wanted to remain at sea. The crew grew accustomed to their fighting and everyone was relieved when it ended.

question: Explain what happened to the captain's wife.

answer: The captain and his wife were arguing on the deck of the ship on a windless night. The fighting suddenly stopped and there was a loud splash in the water. The captain was upset afterward an couldn't speak. Either his wife fell in the water or was pushed, the crew did not know.

question: What was the inspiration for this story?

answer: The story is based around the poem "Haul Away" by Mark Knopfler.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The captain of a successful ship has his wife on board. They argued daily and violently. One night the fighting suddenly stopped and there was a splash in the water. The captain's wife was gone. The crew never spoke about it.