text:
4. Bidding

A. Entering Bids

To bid, find a lot page, enter a value in the bid box, and click “Bid.” If you click “Bid” on a lot, you will be prompted to either log in to your Charitybuzz account, or create a new one if you do not have one already.

Once you’ve created an account you will be presented with the lot details, conditions of sale, and standard shipping and redemption details. Once you have accepted the Conditions of Sale, you may proceed with placing a bid on that lot. All bids placed for any lot are governed by the Conditions of Sale for that lot.

You may bid at or above the starting bid displayed as the “Current Price” in a lot page’s bid box. The current leading bid, along with a list of a lot’s full bidding history, will be visible to other users. If the status of your bid changes, you will receive notifications via email and push (if you have the Charitybuzz App installed).

B. Cancellation Rights

As soon you place and confirm your bid amount, your bid is submitted. You accept and agree that bids submitted by you are final. Charitybuzz is not responsible or liable for any problems, delays, or other issues resulting from the use of the Internet, including but not limited to transmission, execution, or processing of Bids.

Charitybuzz nor the Donor is responsible for any errors in bidding. A bidder should make certain to bid on the correct lot. The Bidder should make sure the bid price they enter (including any taxes or fees) is the price they are willing and able to pay. Once the hammer has fallen and Charitybuzz has announced the winning Bidder, that Bidder is unconditionally bound to pay for that lot, even if the Bidder has made an error.

A bid(s) entered by mistake on the part of a bidder is NOT grounds for cancellation of that bid. Each bidder is responsible for his or her own account and bids. In addition, allowing access to another who enters a bid without your knowledge is NOT grounds for cancellation of a bid.

C. Fraudulent Bidding

All Bidders must meet Charitybuzz’s qualifications to bid. Any Bidder who is not a client in good standing of Charitybuzz may be disqualified at Charitybuzz’s sole discretion and will not be awarded lots. Such determination may be made by Charitybuzz in its sole discretion, at any time prior to, during, or even after the close of the Auction. Charitybuzz reserves the right to exclude any person from the auction.

Bids will not be accepted from minor persons under eighteen (18) years of age without a parent’s written consent containing an acknowledgement of the conditions herein and indicating their agreement to be bound thereby on behalf of the bidder.

If an entity places a bid, then the person executing the bid on behalf of the entity agrees to personally guarantee payment for any successful bid.

Any bidder that represents a purchaser is personally and individually responsible for any obligations of the purchaser set forth in these terms and conditions. All purchasers purchasing pursuant to a valid resale license will need to provide appropriate documentation for removal of state sales tax.

D. Winning & Disputes

The successful bidder is the highest bidder acknowledged by Charitybuzz. In the event of any dispute between bidders, or in the event of doubt on Charitybuzz’s part as to the validity of any bid, Charitybuzz will have final discretion either to determine the successful bidder or to re-offer and resell the lot in question. If any dispute arises after the sale, Charitybuzz’s sale record is conclusive. While Charitybuzz makes every effort to guarantee accuracy, in the event of an error, and a lot is accidentally declared sold by mistake, Charitybuzz reserves the right to cancel the sale and relist the lot in its sole discretion.

By accepting the Conditions of Sale, Bidder personally and unconditionally guarantees payment.

Title to any lot remains with the Donor, any secured party of the Donor, or assignee of Donor, as the case may be, until the lot is paid for in full by the Bidder. Charitybuzz reserves the right to require payment in full before delivering any lot to the successful bidder.

question: What is Charitybuzz?

answer: Unclear, it seems to be some sort of online auction platform.

question: What are users bidding on?

answer: Not answered.

question: What occurs if there is a dispute between bidders?

answer: In the event of a dispute between bidders, Charitybuzz has the final discretion to either determine the successful bidder or to re-offer and resell the item in question.

question: Are there age restrictions for placing bids?

answer: Bids cannot be accepted from persons under the age of 18 without a parent's written consent containing an acknowledgement of the Chartitybuzz terms and conditions.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article gives the terms and conditions for Charitybuzz, an online auction site.


split: train

text:
I have a very special relationship with the Universe.  This was not easy to achieve.  It took hundreds of hours of meditation, solo hikes, hikes with my best friends, hikes with my daughter, sitting in deep thought by the river, reading spiritual journey books, and eating so much granola that it now accounts for one quarter of my body weight.  I haven't had that medically proven, I just assume it to be an accurate statement.  Anyhow, this relationship has provided my life with many blessings which includes, but is not limited to, making uncomfortable things go away if I actually feel in my heart that they need to go away.  This request must come from the most sincere part of my soul.  It can't be a frivolous request like, please make this months mortgage payment disappear.  Or, please don't allow my daughter to curse loudly in public or at school when I obviously can't keep my own mouth clean, even if my life depended on it.  Of course, if my life depended on it, like I was in mortal danger, swearing would be warranted.  But asking the Universe to make something keep it's distance because it is actually bad, like "I'll tie you to the train tracks" bad, is completely a legit request.

From the list above, my favorite connecting with the Universe activity is the solo hike.  I enjoy the silence, solitude and inner peace that it brings me.  There is no life matter that can't be resolved after sitting on top of a mountain looking down at the world.  Now, summertime Saturday mornings don't always make for the best time to get the silence and solitude but if I'm determined...it can be done.  One morning I set off on my way happy as a cheerleader on prom night.  My go-to hike is a semi short but strenuous one.  The first half is pretty uphill but all in all not bad.  Once you hit the halfway point, the terrain changes to rocky and quite steep.  This is my favorite part of the hike because one thing I love is a good challenge.  So I'm on my way up the second half completely lost in my own head, when I run into a man who is taking a break from the hell he is obviously enduring.  I offer a friendly hello and ask if he is on his way up or down.  This is a very normal trail inquiry when you run into a fellow hiker who is stopped.  Hikers are THE MOST friendly people on the planet and the real hikers will always make small talk.  After every small talk session my heart is filled with goodness.  These people are my favorite humans.  Our, meant to be brief, small talk goes like this:

Me: "Good morning!"
Guy: "Good morning.  Just taking a little break."
Me: "Yeah, this can be quite the rough hike.  Are you on your way up or down?"
Guy: "Up.  I'm just old and need to rest a lot."

This man appeared to be in his mid 50's and not in the best physical condition so I can understand his need for lots of rests.  I give him a word of encouragement, wish him well on the remainder of his hike and continue on my way.  Well, the guy decides that I'm friendly enough to hike on with.  He's right.  I AM friendly enough to hike on with.  It's not the first time I have hiked on with someone that I've never met before that moment in time, so I didn't think anything of it.

The first question I always ask is if this is the persons first time doing this hike.  I have personally hiked this trail roughly 613 times since that spring so I know the place like the back of my hand.  He tells me it is and that he actually just moved here from California and is out experiencing all the amazing things that Utah has to offer.  Now if you ask me, coming to this specific hiking trail, the man is doing it right!  I continue to ask him about what he is doing here in Utah and now we enter this dialogue:

Me: "So what brings you to Utah?"
Guy: "Well my daughter and grand baby live here so I wanted to be close to them."
Me: "Oh that's great!"
Guy: "Yeah, I don't get to see them very much still and I'm trying to find a job."
Me: "That's too bad.  What did you do in California?"
Guy: "Well I worked as a personal body guard for Hollywood but I had to get out of the                business."

Now, I have this problem where I am often too friendly and too eager to get the ins and outs of people lives just to have pleasant conversations and make them feel, well, happy.  I mean, who doesn't like talking about themselves?  Well, sometimes this really bites me in the ass.  But I'm slightly intrigued so my naive self carries on.

Me: "Why is that?"

WRONG QUESTION TO ASK, MARKHAM!  That's my inner voice screaming at me.  Sometimes the why's in life don't need to be asked...and certainly never answered.

Guy: "Because I almost had to kill a girl."

I'm not sure how long there was a silence for, and in reality it was probably about half a second.  Regardless of how long it was in actual time, it felt like an eternity before my vision un-blurred.  I instantly observed my surrounding and ensured myself that yup, we are alone.  Very, very alone.  I ran an inventory in my head of everything that I actually have on me at the moment that could potentially be used as a weapon.  Camelbak, granola bar, cell phone, car key (just the one, not all my keys), and chapstick.  I decide that if need be, I will strangle him with the tube of my Camelback.  Now all these thoughts had to happen at the speed of light because when I returned to the conversation, there were no signs of an awkward pause.

At this time I would like to throw in some proper trail etiquette.  When you are an older gentleman hiking, and you come across a girl hiking solo on a mountain, DO NOT ever let her know that you almost had to end another female's life.  You know, for good measure, don't let her know that you ever had to almost harm a girl in any way, shape, or form.  I don't care if she was in the process of burning your house down, while flinging a battle ax around and kicking your grandma in the face.  This would be a much better story delivered in a very public coffee shop or an amusement park.  Not alone on the side of a mountain where the only creatures that will hear her scream are the butterflies.

Me: "Um...why?"

Now, I really should have stopped with the why's but when your mortal life is at stake, they should be asked.  Fuck!  That was a warranted swear.

He proceeds to tell me how he was on the set of a movie guarding Luke Perry and  a crazed fan jumped over the barrier with a knife.  I don't know if I was more shocked by the fact that Luke Perry was still alive or the fact that he had an actual fan.  We are talking about the guy from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, right?  Anyhow, my new pal just didn't have the heart to harm her so he got out of the business, moved to Utah, and placed him at this exact moment in MY life.  At this point my inner monologue is begging the Universe to make this end and allow me to be alone and away from this situation.  A few moments later he tells me that he's tired and needs to rest.  I wish him well on the remainder of his journey and I carry on my way...alone.

When I'm out of sight I stop, look up to the sky, and under my breath give the Universe my most sincere "Thank you!"

title: What is the WORST thing you can say to a girl?

question: How does the narrator connect with the universe?

answer: By meditating and hiking, mostly.

question: What is the difference between people that go hiking and real hikers?

answer: Real hikers will always make small talk.

question: Who does the narrator meet on the trail?

answer: A man in his 50s who just moved to Utah from California and is out exploring the trails.

question: Explain how did the man frightened the narrator on the hike.

answer: He described how he almost had to kill a girl.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
The narrator has a passion for hiking as it is her way to connect with the universe. On one of her hikes, she meets a fellow hiker, they make small talk and eventually hike the trail together. During their small talk, the man mentions how he almost had to kill a girl.
The narrator pleads for the universe to find a way out of the situation. The man gets tired and needs a rest which leads them to go their separate ways.


text:
_WELIKATHARA_ (Sinhala, _Desert_) is a 1971 dramatic film made by Sri Lankan director D. B. Nihalsinghe. Screen play and script by Dr. Tissa Abeysekara. It is the maiden film directed by D. B. Nihalsingha.

Since _Welikathara_ was the first film in CinemaScope in Sri Lanka, it faced many obstacles, first of which was the lack of access to cinemas capable of showing that format. (Most of them had been reserved for US films). This was solved by arranging a cross circuit release, combining cinemas in the three competing circuits at that time- another first.

The film was a box office success as well as being critically appreciated, going on to be presented by a Sri Lankan Presidential Award as one of the Ten Best Sri Lankan films of all time.

Plot

The film is about the clash between Goring Mudalali (Joe Abeywickrema) and ASP Randeniya (Gamini Fonseka).

The film marked the turning point in the career of many of those who were involved in it.

D. B. Nihalsingha went on to direct several other award-winning films, _Ridi Nimnaya_, _Maldeneiye Simieon_ and _Kelimadala_, before he went on to pioneer color television production in Sri Lanka and South Asia.

It was loosely based on a true story and the first screenplay by Tissa Abeysekara, who went on to become one of Sri Lanka's best script writers.

Tissa Abeysekara, previously an “additional dialogue writer” to Lester James Peris, marked his entry as a screenplay writer with _Welikathara_. He went on to become Sri Lanka's foremost script writer thereafter. Joe Abeywicrema, who until then was a comedy actor, went on to become a character actor of repute with his magnificent performance.

Gamini Fonseka, who was Sri Lanka's foremost star at that time, gave a significant performance where, in a total reversal of the heroic roles he portrayed, he acted out a character in decline.

Somadasa Elvitigala added one more feather to his cap with this film after the beautiful musical score he created for _Sath Samudura_.

1st Assistant Director - Ranjith Newton Fernando

2nd Assistant Director - Tissa De Silva

Cast

-   Gamini Fonseka as Wickrema 'Wicky' Randeniya ASP
-   Joe Abeywickrama as Goring Mudalali 'Dipthilage Mudiyanselage Sudu Banda'
-   Suvineetha Weerasinghe as Geetha Randeniya
-   Kithsiri Perera as Attanayake
-   Piyasena Ahangama as Abeyratne
-   Devika Karunaratne as Muthu Menika
-   Nawanandana Wijesinghe as Lavanis
-   Dayananda Jayawardena as Martin
-   Karu Nanayakkara as Stocky policeman
-   G. W. Surendra as Speech giver
-   G. R. Perera as Tarzan Kumara
-   Chandra Kaluarachchi as Bathik dress discusser
-   Elson Divithurugama as Wickrama's debator
-   P. B. Miyalawa as Luncheon senior
-   Buddhi Wickrama as Goring's associate
-   Tudor Karunathilake as Police officer

Production

The film was shot in Point Pedro and was South Asia's and Sri Lanka's first to be done in cinemascope. It was a box office success after its first screening on October 27, 1971 and critically well received.

Awards and nominations

-   Presidential Film Award in 1999
-   Named 10th Best Sri Lankan Film of the first 50 years by Presidential council in 1997

title: Welikathara

question: Summarize the themes of the plot.


text:
The Checkup

The arts can be a source of joy in a child’s day, and also come in handy for memorizing times tables.

[]

Credit...iStock

-   March 4, 2019

In “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_,”_ Betty Smith’s 1943 autobiographical novel about growing up poor in the early 20th century, the public school that the heroine attends is a pretty bleak place. But “there was a great golden glory lasting a half-hour each week when Mr. Morton came to Francie’s room to teach music.”

He taught them classical music, the book continues, without telling them what they were learning, setting his own words to the great works. “Little boys whistled part of Dvorak’s New World Symphony as they played marbles. When asked the name of the song, they’d reply ‘Oh, “Going Home.”’ They played potsy, humming ‘The Soldiers’ Chorus’ from Faust, which they called ‘Glory.’”

Francie also looked forward to the visits of the drawing teacher; “these two visiting teachers were the gold and silver sun-splash in the great muddy river of school days.”

Arts education in schools has introduced many children to great painters and great music, and helped them through their first dance steps or tentative musical endeavors. It can serve as a bright spot in the schoolchild’s day or week, a class that brings in beauty, color and joy, and which is not about testing.

These subjects are often under threat either from budget cuts or from the inexorable demands of academic testing and “accountability,” but insights from neuroscience suggest that arts education can play additional important roles in how children learn.

Paul T. Sowden, a professor of psychology at the University of Winchester in England, warned that in Britain, as in the United States, arts and humanities subjects have suffered in recent years as the emphasis shifted to science and technology. It's important, he said, that arts education be available equally to everyone. But arts education, he said, is a chance to build resilience and determination in children, as well as to help them master complex skills.

Arts education encompasses many disciplines: “I’m talking about everything from music, drama, dance, design, visual arts,” Dr. Sowden said. And the goal goes beyond the specific subjects, he said: “You’re looking for opportunities in the arts education context to encourage children to ask questions, to use their imaginations, but also to approach their work in a systematic, disciplined way.”

When children are younger, arts education helps develop their capacity for collaboration, for creativity, and even for asking questions. As they get older, he said, “their executive function is much more developed, their ability to sustain attentional tasks is much greater.” For them, arts education can offer the chance to refine and polish a skill over time, or revise a project until it is as good as it can be.

Sometimes the arts are taught in a very set curriculum, Dr. Sowden said, but there are real advantages to teaching in a more exploratory way, where children can experiment. And both parents and teachers can encourage children to explore, he said; “that’s the way you get the biggest benefit, not just learning to reproduce a particular work by Monet or dance sequence.”

The skills that children master in arts education, he said, may be transferable to other curricular areas.

Mariale Hardiman, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, where she directs the neuro-education initiative, was interested in how children do — and don’t — retain what they learn in school. “A lot of the information we teach doesn’t stick.”

What she saw as a school principal, she said, was that when arts were integrated into the curriculum, “learning became more visible.” Teachers told her “the children would remember the information better when they taught it through the arts.”

So though arts education has many other benefits, she said, such as creative thinking, her studies have focused on children’s memory for academic subjects, comparing what children remembered 10 weeks after material was taught. Researchers wrote two different versions of the curriculum, matched for content and timing, both involving active learning, but one including arts education. For example, in an arts integrated curriculum, students would sketch their vocabulary words, or learn some of the material as songs, or act out molecular motion with their bodies.

The children who had learned the material in the curriculum that made use of the arts remembered more, and the effect was largest among the children who were less strong academically, the “lower performers.”

“We found the biggest difference with children at the lower level of achievement,” Dr. Hardiman said. “Could this be at least one lever for closing an achievement gap?” After all, these are often the students who are condemned to dreary drill and repetition, in hopes of bringing them to a higher level: “What if the arts are a lever of school reform, better than the drill and kill we do with remedial students?”

In a 2019 article in the journal Trends in Neuroscience and Education, Dr. Hardiman and her colleagues described the results of a randomized controlled trial looking at fifth-graders who were taught science content, some using techniques from arts education, and others with more conventional instruction. The researchers again saw an effect on the students with more limited reading skills; they remembered more science if they had learned with the integrated arts methods.

So why might the arts integration help children’s memory? “Arts allow for elaboration, allow for repetition,” Dr. Hardiman said. “Memory is certainly enhanced through repetition, the more you revisit something, the more you remember it.” And the visual and performing arts also allow children to elaborate in creative ways on the material.

The advantage of learning through the arts will come as no surprise to anyone who grew up with the “Fifty Nifty United States” song or learned how a bill becomes a law from Schoolhouse Rock. Some of today’s children are learning history from the lyrics of “Hamilton.”

I suddenly remembered a rather mournful tune from decades ago, in high school, when a science teacher told us we would be tested on the elements with a charge of positive 2 and a friend and I set them to a chant; I can still name them, in order, and when it comes to chemistry, I am definitely one of the less able students.

“Arts integration should not replace arts education,” Dr. Hardiman said. She suggested a “three-legged stool,” with one leg being arts education, including dedicated classes in visual and performing arts, and the second arts and cultural offerings, such as artists coming into the school or visits to museums. The third leg would be the integration of the arts into the teaching of other subjects.

“Parents can easily do simple arts activities with kids,” Dr. Hardiman said, and can incorporate these ideas around homework or just in spending time together. Maybe it would help to put the multiplication tables into a song, or ask children to sketch their ideas, or use body poses to show the emotion that a character in a story is feeling.

Ronald Beghetto, a professor of educational psychology and the director of Innovation House at the University of Connecticut, studies creativity in educational settings, which, he said, “can be manifest across all different disciplines.”

“We tend, as adults, to overplan and overstructure young people’s experiences,” Dr. Beghetto said. While structure is important, he said, so is “letting kids determine their own problems to solve, their own ways to solve them.”

Arts education, he said, can provide those structured opportunities that foster creativity.

“Working through some creative endeavor, we’re really resolving uncertainty,” he said. “We approach the blank canvas.”

question: What does the text say about Dr. Hardiman?

answer: Mariale Hardiman is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, where she directs the neuro-education initiative. She used to work as a school principal, and she noticed that children seemed to recall information better when it was taught via the arts. She performed an experiment which found that children taught material using the arts remembered more than children taught the same material without the arts, and that the difference was greatest among those who were less strong academically. In 2019, Hardiman and her colleagues published the results of an experiment which found that students with more limited reading skills also benefited from the use of arts in the classroom.

question: What does the text say about Dr. Sowden?

answer: Paul T. Sowden is a professor of psychology at the University of Winchester in England. He warns that in Britain and the United States, arts and humanities subjects have suffered in recent years as the emphasis has shifted to science and technology. He argues that it is important that arts educations be available to everyone, and that it helps build resilience and determination in children.


text:
PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan drivers are facing growing queues to buy gasoline despite having the world’s largest oil reserves, adding to the OPEC country’s woes as its refineries sputter and its socialist economic system crumbles.

Lines to buy fuel and shuttered service stations have been intermittent problems for much of this year, most notably outside the capital Caracas.

But in recent days the problem has worsened, with lines popping up at service stations in Caracas, while drivers in the southern city of Puerto Ordaz were waiting an average of four hours to fill their tanks.

“I had an urgent medical appointment but I had to suspend it because I didn’t have gasoline and the lines are several blocks long,” said Nelly Gutierrez, 35, an accountant. “There’s no medicine, water, internet, and no gasoline. How long is the government going to put us through this?”

State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the reasons for the apparent dip in supply this week were unclear.

But the country’s refineries are functioning at record lows due to constant outages and insufficient supply of crude resulting from slumping output, union leaders and refinery workers say.

PDVSA, suffering a dramatic cash flow shortage as a result of low oil prices, has struggled to pay for imports of fuel to fill the gap.

In most cases, it has resolved major supply disruptions within a few days, although one shortage in March lasted several weeks and affected exports to ally and trading partner Cuba.

Fourteen tankers are waiting in ports in Venezuela and the Caribbean to unload a total 4.2 million barrels of fuel and blending components commissioned by PDVSA, but have not yet done so for lack of payment, according to Thomson Reuters data and shipping sources.

Earlier in September, as many as 24 cargoes were held awaiting payment, but at least six of those have been diverted to other destinations as Atlantic storms have caused supplies to tighten elsewhere. Others have discharged in recent days, after receiving payments.

PDVSA is now forced to prepay its fuel imports because payment delays have led suppliers to halt open credit to the company. U.S. sanctions imposed last month are also making it difficult for PDVSA to get letters of credit needed for some imports and exports.

President Nicolas Maduro says the country is a victim of an “economic war” and accuses the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump of worsening the situation through sanctions.

“I’m really sad that my country is in this situation,” said driver Marvelia Dominguez, as she waited to fuel her car in Caracas. “Now we don’t even have gasoline, which was always one of the easiest things for us to find.”

Additional reporting by Johnny Carvajal in Caracas and Marianna Parraga in Houston, writing by Brian Ellsworth, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien

for-phone-onlyfor-tablet-portrait-upfor-tablet-landscape-upfor-desktop-upfor-wide-desktop-up

question: What could be an issue that comes out from Venezuelan drivers facing growing queues to buy gasoline?

answer: Issues that could come from this could be a lot of buyers arguing with one another, job shortages, and possible mishaps with handling gasoline. Increasing pressures could lead to additional stress.

question: What possible solutions can be made to solve the dramatic cash flow shortages?

answer: A political truce and help from other nations, along with intense strategic plans, could help solve the dramatic cash flow shortages.


text:
The NETWORK OF DISCLOSURE (also called NOD) was a group of comic book dealers and collectors who pledged to disclose any form of restoration or enhancement, known to exist, on a comic book whose ownership is to be transferred to another party through sale, trade or gift. The NOD, founded in early 2006, was the only comic book collecting educational organization in the world. The objective of the organization was to create a safer and more open environment for those buying and selling comic books. By publicly sharing this type of history of each of these books with fellow collectors and customers, the group sought to foster both a greater level of confidence and sense of security within the marketplace.

The organization was composed of members from across the globe. Notable members (founders in BOLD) included the following: Charter Member BRENT MOESHLIN, Quality Comix; Charter Member MARNIN ROSENBERG, Collectors Assemble / Comic Collectors; Senior Overstreet Advisor, Charter Member MARK ZAID, Esquire Comics, Overstreet Advisor; notable restoration expert/Charter Member Susan Cicconi, The Restoration Lab; and NOD Logo Copyright owner Charter Member Brad Hamann, Brad Hamann Illustration & Design. In March 2009 the NOD became a non-profit organization.

On December 12, 2009, the members of the Network of Disclosure voted to change the name and mission statement of the organization and to replace the existing membership guidelines with a new code of ethics. As a result of this ballot, the Network of Disclosure effectively ceased to exist and a new organization with a broader mission and focus was created in its place. This new organization, the Comic Book Collecting Association (CBCA) was announced to the public on February 22, 2010.

Controversy

NOD was the object of controversy in the comic collecting hobby due to the organization's strong stand against non-disclosure practices of some sellers in the hobby. This controversy stems from the conflict between those that feel certain forms of “enhancement” (restoration to some) should be disclosed and those that do not agree that these procedures should be proactively disclosed.

Organization's Principles

INTEGRITY - NOD members believed in an ethical standard that rises to the highest levels. Usage of the NOD logo by sellers denotes a level of trust that can be readily accepted by buyers even when no prior interaction existed between the two individuals. Participation in NOD by all members demonstrates adoption to strict codes of conduct that instills ideals that promotes the betterment of the hobby.

SECURITY - Involvement in the NOD required a degree of openness that exists nowhere else. Disclosure of important information to a prospective buyer creates a greater sense of security and trust to minimize concerns and ensure complete satisfaction with a transaction, both immediately and thereafter.

EDUCATION - A smart buyer is an educated buyer. NOD promoted that all buyers, whether collectors, investors or dealers, should have all relevant substantive information at their disposal when contemplating decisions impacting their purchases. Education ensures intelligent decisions, and intelligent decisions lead to positive and repeat transactions that further the continuation and enjoyment of the hobby.

Membership Guidelines for Disclosure

Proactively disclose any restoration or enhancements done to a comic book including, but not limited to, any of the following:

-   Glue
-   Tape
-   Tear seal
-   Color touch
-   Piece replacement
-   Page replacement
-   Page whitening/bleaching
-   Staple removal, replacement, or cleaning
-   Cleaning (aqueous, solvent or dry erasure)
-   Pressing (Intact, localized or disassembled)
-   Trimming
-   Deacidification
-   Cover re-glossing
-   Restoration removal (tape, glue, tissue or color touch)

Policies Regarding Advertising & History Of Books Being Offered For Sale by Membership

-   A Numeric or Letter grade must be assessed to any books being advertised for sale except for in person transactions.
-   All NOD members must agree to provide a refund to a buyer with respect to the sale of a raw book if the individual is not satisfied with the transaction (presuming, of course, the book is returned in the same condition as sold and any other applicable reasonable requirements). It is strongly recommended, but not required, that any comic graded by an independent third party also be subject to a return policy.
-   The greater the value of the comic, the more due diligence should be exercised to find out the history of the book.
-   Sellers who only disclose restoration and/or enhancements (to include intact pressing) when asked, will NOT be eligible for inclusion to The Network Of Disclosure.
-   Buyer has up to three (3) months to return comic to the network seller if any restoration and/or enhancements were found to have been done to the comic for a full refund (excluding any restocking fees in the terms of sale).
-   The buyer has up to six (6) months after the sale is made to file a grievance with the NOD committee of accountability.
-   NOD sellers must display the NOD logo on their Website Home Page(s) and/or all eBay items. The NOD logo on all Member Website Home Pages will have a click through to the NOD Website Home Page. The NOD Logo in each members eBay Auction or Buy It Now item description will click through to their “About Me Page”. The “About Me Page” will display the NOD logo which will click through to the NOD Website Home Page. Creating the About Me page.
-   All members must put up the Professionally Pressed logo on any books in their inventory they know to be pressed. The logo will have a click through to a link to be determined by the NOD.
-   The Enhancement Free logo is optional on any book(s) where the seller knows or is reasonably certain of the lineage of the book.

Policy Regarding Conservation, Restoration, or Enhancement Services Performed for Customer Collectors or Dealers

-   Members who provide a conservation, restoration, or enhancement service must be conducting business under a company name.
-   Members must clearly advertise their Terms of Service to prospective customers and provide a numerically serialized certificate for each book once services are completed. The certificate shall contain, at a minimum, the following information: issue title, issue number, publication date, and provenance (pedigree, file copy, or collection designation if applicable) along with a description of any and all treatments performed.
-   Members who provide these services must maintain a database of certificate numbers corresponding to each customer's name, the date services were performed, and before and after high-resolution digital images of the front and rear cover of each book.

Articles

-   New Advocacy Group Formed for Collectors, Dealers
-   Inside the Network of Disclosure
-   San Diego Hosts NOD, AACC Discussion
-   Interview with founder Mark Zaid (video)
-   Ethics and Standards in the Conservation of Ephemera
-   Making The Grade - The Responses Keep Rolling
-   Gallery of Disclosure
-   Susan Cicconi's NO-PRESS Declaration (Mar 17th, 2005)
-   Susan Cicconi's Policy on Pressing
-   What is comic restoration? (video)
-   Do I need to disclose comic book alterations before a sale? (video)
-   Comic Zone radio interview series with Susan Cicconi (audio)
-   Passing On His Passion: NOD member Rick Whitelock

title: Network of Disclosure

question: Summarize the creation of the Comic Book Collecting Association (CBCA).

answer: The organization was originally known as the Network of Disclosure (NOD), founded in early 2006. Its members were from across the globe. In December 2009, the members of the organization voted to change the name and the mission statement of the organization and also to replace the existing membership guidelines with a new code of ethics. This led to a new organization with a broader mission, this organization is called the Comic Book Collecting Association (CBCA). It was publicly announced on February 22, 2010.

question: Summarize the principles that the organization follows.

answer: The organization follows three principles - Integrity, Security, and Education. Integrity means that the sellers who use the NOD logo are trusted and can be a reason for the buyers to have faith in the seller. The second principle narrates that the organization requires a degree of openness that isn't found anywhere else. This disclosure of information creates a great sense of security. Lastly, education narrates that an educated buyer would make intelligent decisions which would lead to positive and repeated transactions.

question: What does the text say about the emotional connection the members have with the organization.


text:
[Orangelo Payne, shown at his family's shoe shine shop, was held for 16 months after an illegal search of his home by an FBI agent and probation officers turned up an antique shotgun, Payne’s lawsuit alleges.]

Orangelo Payne, shown at his family's shoe shine shop, was held for 16 months after an illegal search of his home by an FBI agent and probation officers turned up an antique shotgun, Payne’s lawsuit alleges. (Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune)

Cook County probation officers conspired with the FBI and Chicago police to conduct illegal and warrantless searches in an unchecked hunt for drugs and guns, according to accusations in a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Orangelo Payne alleges that while he was on probation for a drug offense in 2013, an FBI agent and probation officers found an antique shotgun during an illegal search of his home, which led to his being falsely arrested by Chicago police and imprisoned.

Payne, 35, was held in jail for 16 months before state prosecutors last summer dropped the gun charges against him.

"I did 16 months, and no matter the time you did, you never get that time back. Your freedom is gone," Payne said Tuesday at his father's South Side shoe shine shop.

Payne alleges in his lawsuit that the probation department encouraged misconduct by not investigating or disciplining probation officers who were improperly partnering with law enforcement agencies.

"The actions, omissions, and conduct of the Adult Probation Department Defendants ... were extreme and outrageous," the lawsuit alleges. "These actions were rooted in an abuse of power and authority."

Payne is suing the FBI, Chicago police, the probation department, an FBI agent, and individual police and probation officers. The agencies declined to comment about Payne's allegations.

Payne's suit comes nearly a year after the Chicago Tribune revealed an allegedly rogue unit operating inside the Cook County Circuit Court's probation department.

The Tribune found that for years probation officers improperly worked hand-in-glove with the FBI and others to conduct warrantless and questionable searches, triggering allegations that drugs were planted, money was stolen and probationers were threatened with jail if they did not become informants.

That investigation focused on the probation department's gang unit supervised by Deputy Chief Philippe Loizon.

Loizon, who was placed on desk duty after the Tribune's investigation, is one of 17 individuals Payne is suing. Loizon declined to comment for this story but in the past he has said he did nothing wrong. His supporters have said the probation department's alliances with the FBI and others solved crimes and took illegal guns and drugs off the streets.

Probation officers — unlike police and federal authorities — have the power under the law to conduct surprise searches of probationers' homes without warrants if they have "reasonable suspicion." But the Tribune found that the FBI and police assisted probation officers during searches, gaining access to homes where they might otherwise need a court-ordered warrant.

Eileen O'Connor, Payne's lawyer, said that once probation officers confirmed Payne was home and not in violation of his court-ordered curfew, they should have left.

"There was absolutely no basis to search his home," O'Connor said. "The antique shotgun was the fruit of a warrantless, unlawful search and seizure."

Payne was sentenced to two years of intensive probation in January 2013 after pleading guilty to felony possession of marijuana. Late one night in April, he was in his Bronzeville apartment when probation officers and an FBI agent showed up at his door.

Payne previously told the Tribune that the FBI agent used probation as an excuse to have his apartment searched and to squeeze him for information about the killing of an FBI informant, allegedly by a man who would occasionally stop by the Payne family's business, Mr. P&G Shoe Shine Repair & Apparel.

After officers found a 12-gauge shotgun and shells in a bedroom closet, they charged Payne with illegally possessing a gun and violating terms of his court-ordered probation. As a felon on probation, Payne was not allowed to have weapons or ammunition. He faced the possibility of decades behind bars.

Breaking News Newsletter

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After more than a year, the state prosecutor's office declined to pursue the most serious charges and Payne pleaded guilty to violating his probation — a lesser charge that led to his release within days.

-   Crime

Recommended on Chicago Tribune

question: What does the article say about the Cook County Circuit Court's probation department?

answer: There is likely corruption going on within the department. They conspired with the GBI and Chicago police to conduct illegal and warrantless searches, which led to Payne's arrest. A year prior to Payne's arrest, the Chicago Tribune revealed a rogue unit operating inside the department.

question: Summarize Payne's involvement in illegal activity.

answer: Payne was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to felony possession of marijuana. He also potentially had information about the killing of an FBI informant.

question: What does the article say about the outcome of Payne's lawsuit?

question: Summarize Philippe Loizon's role in the news story.

answer: Phillipe Loizon was the Deputy Chief of the probation department's gang unit. He was the focus of the investigation into warantless and questionable searches. After the investigation, he was placed on desk duty. Payne has listed him as one of the people he is suing.


text:
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Anthony Smith won’t get his desired spot on the upcoming UFC card in his native Nebraska, but he will get a much bigger opportunity instead.

Smith (28-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) has agreed to step in for Volkan Oezdemir against former UFC champ Mauricio Rua (25-10 MMA, 9-8 UFC) in this month’s UFC Fight Night 134 headliner. MMAjunkie verified the booking with a person with knowledge of the fight. The person wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. ESPN.com first reported the new main event.

UFC Fight Night 134 takes place July 22 at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. The entire card airs on FS1.

“Shogun,” No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings, was left without an opponent for several hours today after Oezdemir was removed from their scheduled headliner in favor of a matchup with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 227 next month.

Smith, 29, was one of the immediate frontrunners to get the fight with the Brazilian legend, and he managed to get the opportunity in what will he second consecutive bout against a former 205-pound titleholder. “Lionheart” moved up to light heavyweight this past month and scored a 53-second knockout of Rashad Evans for a result that ultimately pushed Evans into retirement.

He will go up against Rua, 36, who is currently riding the longest winning streak of his UFC career at three consecutive bouts. He hasn’t fought in more 16 months, though, with his most recent bout being a third-round TKO of Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 106 in March 2017.

The latest UFC Fight Night 134 card includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 2 p.m. ET)

-   Mauricio Rua vs. Anthony Smith
-   Ilir Latifi vs. Glover Teixeira
-   Stefan Struve vs. Marcin Tybura
-   Abu Azaitar vs. Vitor Miranda
-   Marc Diakiese vs. Nasrat Haqparast
-   Alan Jouban vs. Danny Roberts

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 12 p.m. ET)

-   Damir Hadzovic vs. Nick Hein
-   Bartosz Fabinski vs. Emil Meek
-   Justin Ledet vs. Aleksandar Rakic
-   Jeremy Kimball vs. Darko Stosic
-   Pingyuan Liu vs. Damian Stasiak

For more on UFC Fight Night 134, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

Anthony Smith, Breaking, Mauricio Rua, UFC Fight Night 134, Featured, News, UFC

question: How do UFC Fight Nights affect fighter standings?

answer: It seems to be a matter of number of wins that inform rankings.


text:
[Roland Kofler]

[Image for post]

Ronan Sandford, Etherplay.io
IBC.TECHNOLOGY IS AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF BLOCKCHAIN PROFESSIONALS. IN THE NEW YEAR WE WILL START A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS WITH OUR MEMBERS.

Our opener is _Ronan Sandford_ from _Etherplay.io_. Ronan has a been developing games professionally for more than 6 years. His expertise cover the full tech stack from client to server, including smart contracts.

Etherplay is a skill game platform where players compete for the high-score. IN A SIMILAR WAY THAT ARCADE MACHINES REQUIRE YOU TO PAY FOR EVERY PLAY, ETHERPLAY REQUIRE THE PLAYERS TO PAY A SMALL FEE TO PLAY A GAME SESSION. The difference is that the fee gets added to a jackpot that is shared among the players with the top scores.

Competitions are organized automatically and run for a limited time. At the end of each competition, players with the top score get a share of the jackpot. To improve the platform and make new games, Etherplay takes 25% of fees (a standard for skill game platform) and will never exceed this amount.

_RONAN, HOW DID IT FEEL TO LAUNCH ETHERPLAY THIS WEEK?_

“It felt really exciting. We run two beta versions before but the live launch was still something a bit scary. The feedback was amazing. I did not expect so many people will talk about Etherplay. To be fair, we were a bit disappointed to not make the news with our second beta, especially the last one where we were giving away real ether. So in the end we did not expect much. We wanted to release though, as WE WANTED TO LEARN FAST. AND THE RESPONSE WAS SO GREAT! We made it to hacker news and even though there were some naysayers, the response was globally positive. It set us in a good mood for the future!”

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ETHERPLAY, WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER ETHEREUM AND HAVE THE IDEA?

“Before Etherplay, we had this idea of making a skill game platform so we could make our own games. This was the kind of thing that stays is in the mind but so many other things come in the way that it happens too slow to become real. In October 2015, I REMEMBER FINDING THIS GOOD LOOKING WEBSITE WITH A PICTURE OF THE FAR WEST, TALKING ABOUT SOME WEIRD WORLD COMPUTER (https://web.archive.org/web/20151003054800/https://www.ethereum.org/) :). I was hooked, but it only ended in my bookmarks as I was at my job. Then, later in March 2016 I forgot how I came back to the website, things were looking different and I decided to dive in. I was amazed! I thought I had to do something with it. It was soon that I realized that a skill game platform using Ethereum could work out very well. I actually had other game ideas using the blockchain but Etherplay seemed to be the most realistic one.”

THE STAKE IS RISING FAST, CAN YOU GIVE US SOME NUMBERS ALREADY?

“We were not expecting that much, we thought there will be less players than for the last beta since it is not free anymore. This turns out to be false. We had the top 64 score slots filled in 24 hours or so and we just reached a jackpot above 16 ether! The number of transactions are growing at a smaller pace now but it is still growing. AS OF NOW, WE GOT 256 UNIQUE ADDRESS THAT PARTICIPATED WITH A TOTAL OF 1598 PLAYS. The average number of play is around 7 per players and keep increasing but a quarter of the players played only once.”

YOU ARE ONE OF THE EARLIEST STARTUPS THAT WENT LIVE ON MAINNET. HOW DO YOU PLAN TO COPE WITH THE INEVITABLE TURMOILS (PRICE VOLATILITY, SERENITY, METROPOLIS) IN THE COMING YEAR?

“Price volatility should not affect our players too much since the competition’s duration is one week and might probably be shorter at a later time. Regarding the hard forks, if the Ethereum dev team continue to do their usual great job, and I firmly believe they will, I do not think the forks will affect us much if at all. What could affect us, would be the number of transaction rising, but once again, this should not be insurmountable.”

[Image for post]

HOW DO YOU SEE SMART CONTRACT PROGRAMMING AFTER CREATING ETHERPLAY, WHERE WAS THE DIFFICULTY AND WHAT LESSONS WERE LEARNED?

“For me it was a shock to see how simple it is to make a useful smart contract with few lines of code. Of course there are lots of pitfalls and for that reason the DAO hack was a boon for the Ethereum community. It made developers aware of them. While I think Solidity, the most popular smart contract language is great at giving you that feeling of simplicity, it can make you unaware of these issues. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE BETTER SUITED FOR SMART CONTRACTS. There is some ongoing research in this department and I look forward to what comes out of it.

This is not only a developer issue, as it affects everybody but I think the gas fee is a problem, especially for a smart contract platform where many transaction are non financial. With Etherplay, since we did not want to sacrifice transparency for gas cost we had to put the minimum necessary info on the blockchain and the fee can sometimes almost be comparable with the cost of fiat currencies unfortunately. I THINK ETHEREUM WOULD BENEFIT IN RESEARCHING AN ALTERNATIVE TO MANDATORY GAS FEE LIKE A GAS CONSUMPTION LIMIT APPROACH. I touched upon it briefly here (https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/135). I did not go into the details and did not provided a solution but I would love to see some more discussion around it as I think it is of utmost importance for widespread adoption of Ethereum.”

_CAN YOU REVEAL SOME OF YOUR PLANS FOR 2017?_

“For 2017 we plan to release more games and polish the player’s experience. Since https://status.im, the ethereum mobile browser just launched its alpha, WE WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE MOBILE GAMING too. There are many things to do but our launch was very encouraging. Thanks to everyone who played!”

_Interview by Roland Kofler_

question: Who is Ronan Sandford?

answer: Ronan is from Etherplay and has been developing games professionally for more than 6 years.

question: What is Etherplay?

answer: A skill game platform where players compete for high scores at a small fee.

question: What is IBC Technology?

answer: An international network of blockchain professionals and is conducting interviews with its members.

question: What are Ronan Sandford future plans?

answer: For 2017, the plan is release more games and polish the player experience.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer:
IBC Technology, an international network of blockchain professionals, interviews a member, Ronan Sandford.
Ronan is from Etherplay and has been developing games professionally for more than 6 years.


text:
Okay Reddit. First time I'm posting something to an audience outside of my small circle of friends. Hope you like it. I'm from India so you have the references here and there. Shouldn't stop you from getting it, though. Hope you like it :)

This story formed itself on three separate occasions and was finally written on a cold winter day on a Lutyens' Delhi building's terrace. It became more special after I recited it to someone immediately after its completion. Not very often do I get to read stories out but for the one time I did, it sure feels good. This story for me (like the others) is like winter. Cold, numb fingers and dull aches, but some warmth inside, and just about enough. I hope you like it :)

"Do ghosts live on Peepul trees?" I ask, peering across the terrace into the hazy silhouette of a clump of trees far away. The winter sun trying its best to warm my bones against the chilly wind that plays with my messy hair. "Ghosts and Gods both." says my aunt knowingly as she pours me yet another cup of strong, milky tea. A mug, rather. I warm my numb fingers on it. I am cold. I'm in a village for all practical purposes. My phone does not work here, buffaloes sit lazily basking in the faded sun, children quarrel over a game of marbles, and a twenty-year-old misfit sips tea sitting on a cot.

Needless to say, this is not my natural habitat. For one, I can see the sky in all its sprawling, blue glory. Two birds skip off the draft and dive one after the other to swoop onto some unknowing prey. Somewhere, a rooster crows, which is quite odd for two o clock in the afternoon. Also odd for this time of the day is the cold that seeps through to my bones. I tell my aunt about life in the city. She listens wide-eyed. She cannot fathom the coldness of it all, the steel and glass prison that I work in, the dreadful fact that I know exactly how each day is going to be. She does not understand how free I feel here without my cell phone chaining me like an invisible umbilical cord, how clear the air here is without a thousand conversations riding the airwaves form tower to tower. All is well in my world though, as she pours me yet another cup of tea. I smile. Family.

As the clock strikes four, children start pouring into the terrace. My cousin sister, all of nineteen, is the neighbourhood teacher, a prestigious title earned through months of reading aloud the alphabet, teaching children to dot their i's and cross their t's and much red ink spread over her soft palms. The children eye me suspiciously. After a while they decide I'm no threat and a couple of them greet me. "Good Morning, Sir!" they say in that sing song chorus I used to be a part of, long back. I smile again.

This class is quite different from any I have seen. The children, aging from five to ten, do not sit still. They laugh and cry freely. They sing their lessons. Some are struggling to hold pencils while some are proud to be old enough to wield pens, prized possessions no doubt for those little fingers. It is, in a way, like an overgrown garden. Disordered and chaotic but oh, so beautiful.

One little boy stands out, though. There's something strange about him even in this scene which is none too familiar to me. He takes and exceptionally long time to write. I kneel next to him and peer into his notebook, bound with thread. All the words are misspelt, the letters are fractured,misshapen little creatures, and the boy's face is a mixture of confusion and terror. I look at my sister with concern. She nods silently and tells the class to write numeral to a hundred. She walks over to me and looks into his book. Then she looks at me, her eyes full of exasperation and silent despair. "There's something wrong with him." she says, the winter haze making its way into her voice. "He's just slow to learn. He's not too rich. His father was supposed to come see me today." She looks at him with sadness. He merely smiles as he squints into the sun. "Take care of him will you?" she says and leaves me with him.

I am now a helpless subject of the boy's scrutiny. he squints at me face, the winter sun giving me a halo. I try to smile, but it falters. This will not go well, I think. I need something to say, to engage his mind, so much more free than mine. "Do you like aeroplanes? I ask him , finding my saviour in a flash of supposed brilliance. "Planes." he says after a couple of seconds of incomprehension, his face lighting up. "Planes!" he says again, his hands tracing a flight path, cutting through the cold air. "Let's make one!" I say with poorly disguised relief and I tear out two pages from his notebook and give him one. I make the first folds quickly, my fingers using their own memory saved from eons ago when I used to fly. He sits there confused, his fingers not grasping the movements, ever so slightly out of his control. I repeat slowly. He follows this time. He laughs clearly as he does and the air is warmer, if only by a fraction.

As his small hands struggle to give life to the piece of paper, I see him deep in penance, wanting nothing more to bend the paper and his own limbs to his will. Ages pass by with me lost in the slow dance his fingers play with the paper, becoming more and more refined until he makes the final fold with all the grace of a finishing pirouette. As we walk to the boundary I silently pray that it flies well, to some unknown tree-dwelling deity, lord of planes and the winter wind.

The child blows into the paper plane in a ritual he is sure will lend it magical wings, and jumps slightly as he releases it into the vast, cold expanse of air.

And it flies majestically, circling us and riding a draft into a slow dive reminiscent of the two birds, then stalling, then diving again and continuing its graceful pirouette as the boy's wide eyes follow it in flight, even as he dives and stalls with the plane, no longer bound by his form, and having lived its short life with the grace of a dying star, the plane lands on a buffalo sitting some distance away. The animal merely grunts and goes promptly back to chewing its cud, a business more important than all the machinations of this world.

I look at him. He is laughing. He is in fits. "You did well." is all I can muster. I ruffle his hair gleaming brown in the sun, and he nods with twinkling eyes. I turn around to see an old man, whose eyes tell me he is the father. "He did well." I say weakly to him. He merely nods, other gestures being foreign to him. He picks the child up into his arms, never too weak for his son. Then he looks at me with a smile and moist eyes. I cannot look away. They are too deep for me to swim away.

My mind goes back five years when I had returned with my examination results to my father. "You could have done better." was all he had said. I remember sitting there under the same sun with the result sheep in my hand, a piece of paper that would never, ever fly.

I look at the child and his father again. It's not cold anymore. The wind stands still as if in respect, and for a moment the sun shines brighter.

Then it hits me .

The boy isn't broken.

I am.

I walk away silently and gaze across the open fields into infinity until my eyes are moist.

Perhaps it is just the cold wind.

Perhaps.

title: Broken

question: Describe how the boy's laugher leads to the narrator's revelation.

answer: It seems the boy is laughing because he has always had the assurance of his father that he will do well. His confidence comes from that familiar support. When the father uses all his energy to pick up the child, it shows he will do anything for his child. The narrator compares this to an unsavory experience with their own father, who merely informed the narrator that he could have done better on his exam than he did. The narrator realizes because they have never had the support displayed before them, they are fragmented.

question: Name three themes in this piece and describe where they come into play.

answer: One theme is family, and how close we are to them. The aunt doesn't understand the narrator, yet she welcomes them on the basis of being family. The narrator also discusses the boy and his father, drawing a parallel to the narrator's own relationship with their father. Another them is city versus country-the narrator talks of the contrast between the city and the countryside, between urban and rural. The narrator seems to be able to see the benefits of both. A third theme is missed opportunities. Though they are not parsed out in this passage, ghosts are mentioned. The narrator speaks fleetingly of their father, and in real time, the boy and his father dissipate.

question: Explain the symbolism of the plane that the little boy flies.

answer: The plane signifies hope, and a specific brand of hope born of confidence. The boy has been instilled with confidence from his father, and therefore doesn't hesitate to believe his small craft will persevere. The plane is able to soar because it is not wind alone backing it.

question: What do you think the narrator will do after they come to understand that it is they who are broken?

answer: It is not explored in this text, but one could speculate that some manner of healing will commence. If the father is still alive, perhaps the narrator will seek him out and have an overdue conversation with him. Maybe the narrator will opt to spend more time in the countryside near family.


text:
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POPULAR radio presenters John Dalziel and Roisin Gibbons have been sacked from the Mercia breakfast show for fixing a competition.

Listeners were asked to text in to the studio on Wednesday morning for a chance to win a Sure for Women pampering pack.

When a technical problem occurred which blocked messages getting through, the presenters found someone to pose as a winner instead of delaying the competition.

Dave Fisher, managing director of Mercia, said: "This was a breach of Ofcom regulations and something John and Roisin knew they shouldn't have done.

"Obviously it is really important we are honest with our listeners and they can trust us to play fair.

"So unfortunately, although I think they are both tremendous broadcasters, we had to terminate the contracts of John and Roisin.

"We announced an apology on air this morning which has been going out every hour after the news."

Everyone who entered the competition was put into a new draw and a winner awarded the prize.

Lee Stone is standing in for the breakfast show until new presenters can be found.

question: What is Mercia?

answer: It seems to be a radio show.

question: What is the main point of this document?

answer: Mercia breakfast show hosts, John Dalziel and Roisin Gibbons, were fired for fixing a competition on the show.

question: Why was an apology announced on air the morning of this document?

answer: An apology was announced on air because John Dalziel and Roisin Gibbons, the show's hosts, fixed a competition that was on the show.

question: Who is Lee Stone?

answer: Lee Stone is the stand-in for John and Roisin until new presenters can be found.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This document discusses when Mercia breakfast show hosts, John Dalziel and Roisin Gibbons, were fired for fixing a competition on the show.


text:
RENÉ FASEL DMD (born 6 February 1950) is the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. He is also a dentist in Switzerland. He started his ice hockey career as a player for HC Fribourg-Gottéron, in 1960, and became a referee in 1972 and president of Switzerland's ice hockey federation in 1985. In 1994 he was elected president of the IIHF. He became a member of the International Olympic Committee and was the first ever representative of ice hockey. In 2008, he was elected the winter sports representative on the IOC's Executive Board.

Career

Born in Fribourg, Switzerland, Fasel started his playing career with the Swiss league team HC Fribourg-Gottéron in 1960.[1] He remained with the team until 1972 and retired to become a referee. He remained a referee until 1982 and officiated 37 international matches.[2] In 1982 he became the Chairman of the Swiss Ice Hockey League referees' commission.[3] In 1985, he became president of the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband, Switzerland's governing body for ice hockey. He was elected to the IIHF council the following year and served as head of the Referee and the Marketing Committees.[4]

In June 1994, he was elected the President of the IIHF, succeeding Günther Sabetzki. He has served four consecutive terms as President. His most recent started at the IIHF congress in May 2008 when he was unopposed in his re-election attempt.[5] As IIHF president, Fasel has tried to forge a stronger relationship between the IIHF and the National Hockey League (NHL), the major professional ice hockey league of North America. In March 1995, he helped negotiate an agreement so that NHL players could compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[6] He has also vowed to “work day and night” to help negotiate an agreement that will see NHL players participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics.[7] He is against fighting in ice hockey, describing it as “Neanderthal behavior”.[8]

In 1992 he became a member of the Swiss Olympic Association. In 1995 he became a member of the International Olympic Committee. He was the first ever representative of ice hockey.[9] As an IOC member, he has held several positions, including Chairman of the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (AIOWF) and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the 2010 Winter Olympics.[10] In May 2008, Fasel was nominated to replace Ottavio Cinquanta as the winter sports representative on the IOC's executive board.[11] He was named to the board on 7 August at the 120th IOC Session held before the 2008 Summer Olympics and served an eight-year term until 2016 when he was replaced by Gian-Franco Kasper.[12]

Fasel spoke at the World Hockey Summit in 2010, and discussed the National Hockey League (NHL) presence in Europe and in ice hockey at the Olympic Games, and was defensive of European hockey.[13] He was against NHL expansion plans into Europe, and envisioned a European professional league, where the champion would play the Stanley Cup winner for a world title.[14] He sought to keep NHL participation at the Winter Olympics due to its profitability and exposure for international hockey.[15]

Personal life

Fasel is married and has four children. He attended the University of Fribourg and University of Bern and became a Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1977.[16] In 1997, the IOC commissioned him to conduct a study of dental treatment of Olympic athletes.[17] The report, “Sports Dentistry and the Olympic Games”, was published in 2005.[18] On 26 July 2012 Fasel was part of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay in London.[19]

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[19]

title: René Fasel

question: Who is René Fasel DMD?

answer: president of the International Ice Hockey Federation

question: When did René Fasel become a referee?

answer: 1972

question: Where was René Fasel born?

answer: Fribourg, Switzerland

question: What does IIHF stand for?

answer: International Ice Hockey Federation

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: René Fasel DMD is the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation. He is also a dentist.


text:
INNOVATION MANAGEMENT MEASUREMENT helps companies in understanding the current status of their innovation capabilities and practices. Throughout this control areas of strength and weakness are identified and the organizations get a clue where they have to concentrate on to maximize the future success of their innovation procedures. Furthermore, the measurement of innovation assists firms in fostering an innovation culture within the organization and in spreading the awareness of the importance of innovation. It also discloses the restrictions for creativity and opportunity for innovation. Because of all these arguments it is very important to measure the degree of innovation in the company, also in comparison with other companies. On the other hand, firms have to be careful not to misapply the wrong metrics, because they could threaten innovation and influence thinking in the wrong way.[1]

Historical Development of Innovation Metrics

Innovation has been viewed as an activity on the micro-level for a long time. It was concentrated on individual inventors and firms and therefore, on the related products and production systems. However, in the past few years, there has been a development towards a macro-level view concerning innovation measurement. For example, in the European Union the innovation capabilities of the different countries are measured on the basis of objective economic numbers. There has also been a development from a one-dimensional view of innovation to a multi-dimensional view that considers other innovation indicators such as the different meaning of innovation in service sectors, the innovators’ dependence on the global competitive market and the socio-economic and institutional environment. Generally we can classify the progress of innovation metrics and the related indicators into four generations. The first generation (1950s-60s) focused on input indicators like R&D expenditures and capital. The following generation (1970s-80s) had its core area in the measurement of output indicators such as patents, products and publications. In the third generation (1990s) came along specific innovation indicators like innovation surveys and benchmarking and since the beginning of the new millennium process indicators such as networks, system dynamics and intangibles have played a major role in the diverse metrics.

Innovation Metrics

_Diamond model_

[Diamond Model, including Strategy, Process, Organisation, Linkages, and Learning] The Diamond Model is a measurement framework that considers five dimensions for the assessment of the degree of innovation: Strategy, process, organization, linkages and learning. In the assessment of the strategy three areas are being tested. First the model needs to know, whether the company has a well-managed strategic planning process in place, afterwards, whether innovation is incorporated within the entire corporate strategy and ultimately, whether the company has put in place mechanisms that assist the implementation of the corporate strategy. The assessment of the process area considers the robustness and flexibility of the organization's new product development process and the organization's ability to manage its internal processes. In the third area organization is being analyzed, if the structure of the organization allows innovation processes and if the management encourages employees to create and develop new ideas. Concerning the linkages area the model examines the firm's networking ability and the last major area of the Diamond Model explores the organization's commitment and ability to learn from its successes and failures and the willingness to train and develop its employees and to spread these learning to the entire organization. The more distinctive these five areas are as a combination the more innovative is a company.

_Innovation Funnel_

The Innovation Funnel Framework consists of nine stages in an innovation process. These nine single elements that are part of three major steps form an end to end innovation process. The first major step contains the input factors of the innovation process. In this model they are described as strategic thinking and portfolio management and metrics. The second step is the main part of the process with the single stages research, ideation, insight, targeting, innovation development and market development. In the final step the output of the process is analyzed through the selling numbers. The model suggests a feedback loop from the output step back to the input step as a learning loop to improve future results.

_Innovation Value Chain – IVC_

The Innovation Value Chain is a measurement framework developed by Hansen and Bikinshaw and presents innovation as a three-phase process that involves idea generation, idea conversion and idea diffusion. The idea generation can take place in-house or can also come from external influences. In the conversion phase the innovation is selected and built and in the diffusion phase it is spread and commercialized. The Innovation Value Chain is easy to scale and can therefore be used for inter-sectoral comparisons. Roper et al. (2008) extended this model by rebuilding the three phases into the three innovation activities accessing knowledge, building innovation and commercializing innovation.[2]

_Oslo Manual Innovation Measurement Framework_

To compare innovation data in an internationally comparable way the OSLO Manual Innovation Measurement Framework is very useful, since it considers approaches that view innovation as a whole system of different theories of innovation based on diverse firms. The model examines the degree of innovation in a single firm, the linkages with other firms and public research institutions, the institutional framework in which firms operate and last but not least role of demand in the specific industry. All these areas combined build a measurement tool to compare the firms with each other.

Innovation Audit Tools

_InnoCERT_

InnoCERT is a tool developed in Malaysia with the aim to test innovative companies through a standardized compliance process. The firms get a certification if they are rated as an innovative organization after a process of online self-assessment and verification and evaluation of the four basic dimensions innovation ability, commercialization ability, innovation management ability and innovation result.

_Inno-Biz assessment_

The Inno-Biz assessment is a two-phase Korean Model based on the OSLO Manual. The first phase consists of an online self-diagnosis with an assessment of the technology innovation system of a firm containing four fields: technology innovation capability, technology commercialization capability, technology innovation management capability and technology innovation achievements. The second phase concentrates on the four fields management owner's technical capability, technological viability, marketability as well as business viability and profitability and is an on-site assessment of a technology guarantee fund that hands out a rating based on a 10-grade system from AAA to D.

_NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)_

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts in the UK with the goal to test and transform UK's capacity for innovation. Therefore, it has launched the “innovation index project” in 2008 to analyze the innovation capability of each sector. It aims to develop a framework to compare innovation capability between sectors to establish an adequate policy and strategy.[3] Like in the Innovation Value Chain Model the process consists of the three phases assessing knowledge, building innovation and commercializing innovation.

_IMP³rove – Europe Innova_

The European Commission created this tool to improve the Innovation Management Performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Europe. It is based on all dimensions of the “A.T. Kearney House of Innovation” and measures the performance of the key factors for successful Innovation Management. These are innovation strategy, innovation organization and culture, innovation lifecycle processes, enabling factors and innovation results. The tool is divided into four steps. In the first step the SMEs go through an online assessment. Afterwards a benchmarking report is developed before the companies get a consulting workshop on innovation that should lead to a continuous improvement.

_Innovation Radar_

The Innovation Radar is a tool based on research into the innovation habits of Fortune 500 companies. It observes four main dimensions, which are, first of all, the offerings a company creates (WHAT), secondly the customers it serves (WHO), furthermore the processes it employs (HOW) and finally the points of presence it uses to take its offerings to market (WHERE). This tool takes a business model perspective on innovation based on the belief that this perspective is more useful than the focus only on product or process innovation.

Selecting the right Innovativeness Measure

Generally, an innovation measurement tool should precisely measure what matters according to the current phase of innovation in a particular industry or company. Therefore, it has to fulfill the following points: First of all, it has to generate value for the company. Another important issue is the focus on the innovation process capability to ensure the performance sustainability. Additionally, it should provide decision makers with information about the barriers of innovation within the organization and it should help to make better decisions. A measurement tool has to be as simple and effective as possible and the results have to be confidential and should be comparable to enable benchmarking. So, selecting the appropriate innovativeness measure depends on different factors that vary across firms, industries, countries and cultures.[4]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

title: Innovation management measurement

question: What is Innovation Management Measurement?

answer: Innovation Management Measurement helps companies understand the current status of their innovation capabilities and practices.

question: How can organizations benefit from Innovation Management Measurement?

answer: Organizations get a clue where they have to concentrate on to maximize the future success of their innovation procedures.

question: When was the first generation of innovation?

answer: 1950s - 1960s

question: Name three Innovation Audit Tools.

answer:
InnoCERT
Inno-Biz assessment
Innovation Radar

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Innovation Management Measurement helps companies understand the current status of their innovation capabilities and practices so they can maximize the future success of their innovation procedures.


text:
MCCONNICO is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. The population was 70 at the 2010 census.

Geography

McConnico is located at (32.645234, −114.706782). According to the United States Geological Survey, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.[1][2]

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, there were 70 people living in the CDP: 43 male and 27 female. 13 were 19 years old or younger, 8 were ages 20–34, 11 were between the ages of 35 and 49, 25 were between 50 and 64, and the remaining 13 were aged 65 and above. The median age was 52.0 years.

The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.3% White, 2.9% American Indian, 1.4% Other, and 1.4% two or more races. 4.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 36 households in the CDP, 14 family households (38.9%) and 22 non-family households (61.1%), with an average household size of 1.78. Of the family households, 4 were married couples living together, while 3 were single fathers and 7 were single mothers; the non-family households included 20 adults living alone: 15 male and 5 female.

The CDP contained 56 housing units, of which 36 were occupied and 20 were vacant.[3]

[1]

[2]

[3]

title: McConnico, Arizona

question: What was the population in 2010?

answer: The population was 70.

question: Where is McConnico located?

answer: McConnico is located in Mohave County, Arizona.

question: How many households are there in the CDP?

answer: 36 households.

question: How many housing units does the CDP contain?

answer: The CDP contains 56 housing units out of which 20 are vacant.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer:
McConnico is a census-designated place, located in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, there are 70 people living in the CDP, the median age is 52 years.

The racial makeup of the CDP had the highest percentage of White followed by American Indian.

The place contains 56 housing units out of which 20 are vacant.


text:
Nokia's first Android phone, still unannounced, has appeared on the website of a online retailer in Vietnam. That is actually quite fitting considering that much of this story came out of the country. The appearance of the phone, known as the

Nokia X A110, included a price. According to the listing, this handset will cost between 2.2 million to 2.5 million VND which works out to about $110 USD.

The same online retailer had the similarly spec'd

Nokia Lumia 525 on the site, priced at 3.39 million VND ($160 USD). The Nokia X A110 has 512MB less RAM and 4GB less native storage than what is on the Nokia Lumia 525.

The specs of the Nokia X A110 show a 4 inch glass with resolution of 480 x 854 for a 285ppi pixel density. A dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon 200 is under the hood, with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of native storage. Those needing more memory can use the 32GB capacity microSD slot that is available on the phone. A 5MP camera graces the back of the device, which will have Android 4.4.2 installed out of the box.

The latest buzz is that the phone will launch in March, which means we could see it at MWC later this month, in Barcelona.

[The Nokia X A110 is priced on an online Vietnamese store - Nokia X A110 (Normandy) is priced in Vietnam]

The Nokia X A110 is priced on an online Vietnamese store

source:

Techrum (translated) via

WMPoweruser

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question: What was Nokia's first Android phone?

answer: Nokia X A110.

question: Where was it listed?

answer: A website in Vietnam.

question: What was the cost listed?

answer: About $110 USD.

question: When is it rumored to launch?

answer: March.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Nokia is rumored to be launching their first Android phone, the Nokia X A110, in Vietnam in March. It is said to cost about $110 USD.


text:
I sat in my window seat, my internal rage level seemingly linked to the volume of his low quality, all-treble headphones; steadily rising. I spin with vigour to convey how seriously I take this infringement of the early morning serenity. And nothing. No flinch nor acknowledgement. This juvenile, tinny French hip hop immersing his senses, nullifying any previously held skills of social awareness. I decide I must prove a point, to him and all thieves of the calming, silent commute.

I select the most aggressive song I can find on my phone, confidently and purposefully stride to the back of the bus, hold the phone in front of his face and press play, while screaming at him over the rising track "now do you see how we feel, now do you know what you're doing?!".

Of course the confrontation happened only in my mind. I’m British, I’ve never so much as sent back bad food to the kitchen of a restaurant. Instead I sat there stewing with rage until we reached my stop, fantasising about the justice I’ll never have the courage to exact. As fate would have it we alighted together. He bumped into me, causing me to lose my footing. I apologised to him and wished him a good day.

title: Thieves of silence

question: What is the main conflict of the story?

answer: In a bus, the narrator's quiet serene morning is being intruded by the music-listening practices of a teen passenger.

question: What did the narrator want to do?

answer: The narrator wanted to express their rage.

question: What did the narrator actually do?

answer: No actions were taken, the narrator simply sat quietly through the whole ride stewing int their thoughts.

question: What is the narrator trying to say?

answer: A social commentary on how different people value and practice politeness -the British narrator being unable to voice their problem and even apologizing for bumping into the person in the end, and the French teen for not realizing how their seemingly innocent practice of listening to music can be problematic for others. Neither are truly wrong and yet neither are also right.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: A British person on a bus chooses to stay polite and quiet despite the indignity of their quiet morning being ruined by a teen listening to music. The two disembark the bus at the same time and in an absolute show of instinctive politeness, the Brit apologizes when the two bump into each other.


text:
Every year, just before the leaves fall, we have uninvited guests. Im not quite sure what to do about them anymore, so I am relating you their story in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, Im not alone.

You wont see our guests very often, and it took me a few years to even notice them, because they are sneaky. A small dash of grey here. A rustling like leaves from behind a wall. A plump, satisfied looking cat there. And finally, rarely, a 'dropping' behind the toilet. I only ever found droppings behind the toilet.

Yeah, we had mice.

Three years ago I first noticed them. Im not sure for how many years they escaped my attention. Being the apex predator / alpha male, I of course set out to rid my house of them, as any normal human being would. Oh how this decision has kept me up at night!

The first year I set out those snapping mouse traps, and with them killed five mice. Come Spring, I believed the problem was solved.

Last year, we noticed them again, around the same time. I put out traps again, some in the same places, some in new places. Oddly, the ones in the same places didnt catch any mice, even though these were what I suspected to be high mouse traffic locations. I also put out one sticky trap, which resulted in one mouse caught live.

It squealed when I picked up the trap. It was impossible to remove it without peeling its skin off, and besides, I was afraid of being bitten. This was a dead mouse walking. I knew I had to end its suffering, because horrible suffering was the only thing left in this creatures life, being essentially crazy-glued to this stickytrap. It took me a few minutes to come to that realization, as I am reluctant to kill anything, but it had to be done.

Now before you leave in disgust, know that these details are important! I dont just share these to shock or offend you, this plays a critical element in my dilemma.

I took the mouse and stickytrap outside and set it onto my concrete porch. I fetched a brick from nearby. All the while the mouse watching, no longer squeaking. It looked at me, and then the brick. I think it knew what was coming. I held the brick up high, hesitated for a moment with self hate for what I was about to do, then suddenly smashed the brick down as flat and as hard as I could on top of the mouse.

There was minimal pain, I hope. There were no moving parts or twitching. Tiny mouse teeth caught my attention. I paused for a moment to reflect on life, then pushed it all out of my mind as I dumped the whole mess into the garbage bin.

I didnt see any more mice that year.

This year, they came back. Same time. I set out traps again. No stickytraps, just the snappy kind.

No mouse caught.

I know theyre here, because I have seen them on numerous occasions. Dashes of grey on the kitchen floor, and droppings behind the toilet.

I go to inspect the traps the other day, and the peanutbutter bait is gone. On all of them.

I reset the traps and move them. A few days later, I go to inspect them again.

The peanutbutter bait is gone, and 2 of the traps were stacked on top of each other. Odd, as I live alone. I must have accidentally kicked one or swept it onto the other without noticing.

Which brings us to today, and my discovery.

I was sweeping out behind the water heater in my laundry room, and noticed what was probably one of the mouse nests in the corner. There were shredded paper bits papers and plastic and what looked to be sawdust from the garage all clumped together, all nice and cozy, like what a hamster would make in the corner of his cage.

I would need my vacuum cleaner to suck this stuff out from way behind my water heater.

I reached down to grab one of the bigger bits of trash, and I noticed that I could feel the warmth of the flame from the water heater when my hand got close to the nest. Nice spot to build a winter nest, I thought.

Then I looked at the bit of trash I had picked up. At first I thought it was just a torn out page from one of those small manuals you get when you buy electronics. You know, the instruction manual in five languages that you completely ignore, which was exactly what I was going to do. But then, it caught my eye. This piece of trash had diagrams and sketches on it. Very small, very rough, but definitely a diagram of something and text had been scratched in with something, perhaps using a small rock of ash from my fireplace.

Then it hit me. The diagram was of a mousetrap. This was a drawing, with accompanying symbols, written in ash, for how to disarm a mouse trap, on a piece of garbage, in this mouse nest.

title: [MS] The small paper

question: What does the story say about signs of a mouse infestation?

answer: The narrator sees dashes of grey around their house and a rustling sound behind the walls. They also will notice a plump, satisfied cat every so often. A real tell-tale sign for the narrator are the droppings found behind the toilet each time the mice come back. Another sign comes in the form of torn up paper that is used for a mouse nest.

question: What does the story say about tactics to get rid of mice?

answer: The narrator uses snapping traps the most each time she has a mice problem. They also used glue traps once, but those don't kill the mouse directly and result in suffering. The narrator puts peanut butter in their mouse trap to lure the mice.

question: Summarize the plot twist.

answer: The narrator notices that they have mice again. They put out traps, but notice the peanut butter bait is gone. Two days later they are suspicious when they notice the peanut butter is gone again and that two traps were stacked on top of each other. On another day they discover a mouse nest with ripped up pieces of instructional paper. They see the paper has directions for how to disarm a mouse trap, which suggests the mice may have intentionally disarmed the mouse traps.

question: What does the story say about rat poison?


text:
RUSTAM ABDULLAH SANI (12 August 1944[1] – 23 April 2008) was a Malaysian politician, sociologist and political scientist. He was of Minangkabau descent from Salido, West Sumatera.

Born towards the end of the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the Perak border town of Tanjung Malim, Rustam grew up in the shadow of his famous father, Abdullah Sani, who was better known as Ahmad Boestaman. Boestaman was a Malay nationalist and the founder of political parties Angkatan Pemuda Insaf and Parti Rakyat.

Rustam served as an associate professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and was a prolific writer in Malay and English. His anthology of poems, Riak-Riak Kecil, composed in 1977, was published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Rustam won the National Literature Award for 1988/89.[2]

Education

Rustam attended the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur.[3] He later enrolled at the University of Malaya for a bachelor's degree before heading to the University of Kent for a master's degree, where he wrote a thesis entitled _Social Roots of the Malay_ Left which traced the origin of the Malay political left to the 1920s.[4] At Kent, he mentored a variety of undergraduates including PAS secretary-general Kamaruddin Jaffar, economist Ghazali Atan and publisher Lim Siang Jin.

Early career

Rustam joined the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia economics faculty in early 1977, then still at its temporary campus in Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur. It was here he befriended with many personalities such as Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Sanusi Osman, Ting Chew Peh and Shamsul Amri. He deepened his preoccupation with the challenges of Malaysian nationhood at the university, an enduring theme in his writings since the 1970s, and the subject of one of his two latest books, which was launched posthumously by his old friend from the 1960s, Anwar Ibrahim.

Later he embarked for Yale University, but after passing the tough comprehensive exams there, he lost interest, preferring instead to write a statistics textbook. Back at UKM, he switched to the Politics Department as his old Canterbury friend, then Abim secretary-general Kamaruddin, had left to join Anwar in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Government.

With Syed Husin at the helm of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM), Rustam started a bilingual quarterly journal, Ilmu Masyarakat, to try to open new Malaysian debates under the dispensation of the then new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to which the former UKM academic as well as PNB and Guthrie chief executive Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (later Selangor Mentri Besar) was an early and insightful contributor.

At the end of the 1980s, Rustam accepted Nordin Sopiee’s invitation to join ISIS. There, he helped to craft Mahathir’s historic February 1991 speech promising a “Bangsa Malaysia” as part of his Vision 2020 (thankfully translated by Rustam as Wawasan 2020, instead of the earlier Visi 2020), changing the terms of national discourse in one fell swoop.

Frustrated by its lack of serious commitment, he left ISIS in the mid-1990s to become a writer, translator and reluctant businessman.

Soon after, he agreed to become deputy president of PSSM, later inaugurating the biennial series of international Malaysian Studies Conferences in which we tried to reposition Malaysian studies as a national – and nationalist – discourse, rather than as post-colonial studies.

Political involvement

However, the events of 1997-99 with the sacking of the then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim disrupted Rustam's plans and he rose to the popular national call for _Reformasi_ following Anwar’s incarceration and persecution, becoming its most thoughtful “participant observer”.

As deputy president of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia, a party his father had founded almost half a century before, he negotiated its principled unification with the political movement which had emerged around Anwar despite several high-profile defections. After the merger with Parti Keadilan Nasional to become the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), he became PKR information chief.

Death

Rustam died at his home in Gombak, Selangor on 23 April 2008 at the age of 64 due to respiratory difficulties.[5] His body was sent to a mosque near his house at Bukit Lela and he was later buried at the Taman Danau Kota Muslim cemetery after Zohor prayers.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: Rustam Sani

question: What was the subject matter of one of the two latest published books that Rustam wrote and when were they published?

answer: The subject of one of the books dealt with the challenges of Malaysian nationhood. The books were published after April 2008, since this is when he died. His old friend Anwar Ibrahim published these books after he died.

question: What part did Rastum play in the Malaysian Social Science Association?

answer: He was deputy president. He presided over the inauguration of the biennial series of international Malaysian Studies Conferences in which we tried to reposition Malaysian studies as a national – and nationalist – discourse, rather than as post-colonial studies.

question: Why did Rastum lose interest in his studies at Yale


text:
Hands

	His hands were very rough. So rough in fact that they smoothed out and wore down everything they touched, like fine grain paper that carpenters use to reveal hidden beauty. But his hands never brought out anything quite so beautiful.  They only brought out the worst in people, the side that begs and fiends until 3 a.m., the side the neighbors complain about.

	His hands touched things that ought not slide down throats, but often did. These hands saw all the faces and touched all the things, but never really said a word. When they did say things- the things were usually misspelled and messy, like a child who never learned much more than the alphabet.  They scribbled small things at night while they tried to finish enough schoolwork to escape a small twisted piece of land.

	His hands once did semi-great things. The hands used to touch hot circular metal with long handles attached to them so that the operator wouldn’t get burned. They used to perform in front of people completely captivated by the sounds they unleashed from a slightly raised platform at the back of a dark room.  His hands would labor on hot days for companies that abused them and had them handle things only men did.

	His hands did what only scared men do.  His hands pushed against an invisible assailant in the middle of the night until the next day would peak over the horizon and beg every young soul to finally rest. But hands don’t need rest. Hands need a will behind them to move, push, and take.

	His hands held precious things, but never for long. The hands weren’t very skilled at juggling. They would drop these precious things one by one until only one object was left in each hand.

	The left hand constantly held a crystalline nightmare that unlocked a secret playground within the minds of every insomniac with twenty dollars.

	The right hand frequently clenched a green bottle. The right hand loved this bottle although it constantly led the hands to forget what they were doing.

	His hands once held a precious thing. Night after night when the juggling would begin, his hands were on a waist. They ran their rough nerves through silky hair, over pursed lips, and down an alert shoulder.

	His hands once held a precious thing. But precious things break, when they are dropped, down, where precious things rot.

	These hands shook many others, but only let go of one.

title: Hands (Part of a larger collection)

question: Where is the story set?

answer: That information can't be found

question: List the main characters.

answer: The man with rough hands

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: That information can't be found

question: What is the protagonist's job?

answer: That information can't be found

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: A man has rough hands which bring out the worst in people. The man's hands once did semi-great things, and they did what only scared men do. His hands shook many others, but they only let go of one.