text:
My brother wasn’t really alive when he died. His soul was empty, his mind was vacant. Every needle gave him temporary euphoria yet the drugs took back what he owed them. Every time he stabbed a needle into him, he bled; he was left to die in a fashion as meaningless and trivial as his life, leaving the rest of us to navigate this maze of a hell hole.
I walked into the entrance of the courtyard, the building as gray and monotonous as the cold winter sky. The courtyard was empty. I passed by the one lone tree of the courtyard. Its charcoal branches, twisted and bare seemed to reach out like hands trying to clutch something out of reach. The piss-stained stairwell felt cold and damp, the rat inhabitants of the building scuttled past, hungry desperate, scavenging for their next meal, whatever it takes.
The city felt a world away yet it was just out the door. The building was just a facade so the outside world could ignore us. On the outside the businessmen stepped around the homeless, the junkies, the rodents of the city like discarded rubbish. I walked outside and watched across the road as a man ritualistically measured out two teaspoons of sugar and carefully placed them in his coffee for his morning fix.  The rush of the city didn’t penetrate the walls of my building, only the sirens could be heard within its confines. It was the part of the inner-city less seen.
The building was on its last legs. It was old, decrepit. The concrete was cancerous and cracked. The roofs seemed to slouch in the middle, barely able to support its weight. It was a dying cause, a failed social experiment. It made you feel suppressed, trapped, institutionalised. Sometimes I wish it would fall down. The walls house too many bad memories, too much pain, too much suffering.  I get this feeling the buildings going to come down on me, the weight of the bricks crushing me without warning. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t mind if it did so this could all be over and done with.
I walked back inside to our apartment; my mum was passed out on the couch again. I caught a glimpse of a photo of my brother. The pain felt like a knife stabbing through the heart, it was too fresh. the memory, too real. Death is a tough thing to digest but I get the feeling that the feeling will never go away. My thoughts are like parasites in my head, gnawing at my brain.
I left my brother to die. Isolated, lonely, He reached out for help but there was no one there, no support, no help. That’s how it is in life. I feel that’s where I’m destined, where I’m headed. Ever since the death of my brother I’ve truly felt alone in the world, he was on the only sense of direction that I felt in my life and now there’s no one. Dad is long gone and mum is about as good supportive and caring as him. The school keeps calling about me but she doesn’t care. I haven’t been since my brother died. There I’m an outcast, that povo kid who lives in a rundown house with a drunk as a mother. I hate school and no one dares come inside the building to take me away, the outside world never comes inside this building, they know better.
Yesterday I caught my mother shooting up. I see that same vacant look in her eyes that my brother had before he died. The same look that the man had in his eyes as he lay on the sidewalk, coughing up blood as red began surround his abdomen. I murdered a man for twenty-dollars. That’s all that was in his wallet. I panicked, I messed up. He was on his way home from work. A white collared businessman. He walked into the alleyway and I held a knife to him. He tried to make a run for it. I was caught up in the moment, too nervous, too involved in the situation. I sunk the sharp knife into his soft belly as he lay on the ground, mumbling something I couldn’t make out as blood pooled and he wheezed and coughed. He went pale as I ran away. Blood covered my hands as I sprinted. I tossed the knife in the harbour as the man lay down in the dirty streets in his last moments. People saw him but did nothing. He was ignored. For that brief moment he became a part of my world, he was a part of the discarded, the outsiders. He knew what it felt like to be pushed to the side.
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of that man in the gutter, left alone, the look in his eyes, the look of death. The same look I see when I look in the mirror

title: "the outsiders"-first post here

question: What does the story say about the narrator's parents?

answer: The narrator's dad died a long time ago, and their mom is not handling life well. She has an alcohol problem and neglects taking care of her children and their home. Although the narrator has stopped attending school, the mother doesn't care. She is often on the couch, passed out from drinking. This adds to the narrator's depression and hopelessness in life.

question: What does the story say about death?

answer: Death is something the narrator is very familiar with. Their brother died meaninglessly because of drug addiction, and they still can't get over it. The pain of losing him is fresh in their heart. The narrator felt alone, especially since their dad died a long time ago and their mum only cares about drinking. The narrator feels dead inside, just like the man he killed in the alleyway for twenty dollars.

question: What does the story say about where the narrator's family lives?

answer: The narrator lives in an old apartment building with her alcoholic mother. The building is within the city where homeless people and junkies dwell. The building has no maintenance. The walls are cracked, the stairwell is dirty and reeked of urine. It is not an ideal place for people to live in, and the narrator feels stuck in this kind of life as their mother has no care and their father died a long time ago, and their brother also recently died of a drug overdose. The narrator wished someone would take them away from the place.

question: What does the story say about how to avoid drug addiction?


split: train

text:
H.320 or '''Narrow-band visual telephone systems and terminal equipment ''' is an _umbrella Recommendation_ by the ITU-T for running Multimedia (Audio/Video/Data) over ISDN based networks. The main protocols in this suite are H.221, H.230, H.242, audio codecs such as G.711 (PCM) and G.728 (CELP), and discrete cosine transform (DCT) video codecs such as H.261 and H.263.[1]

It is formally named as _Narrow-band visual telephone systems and terminal equipment_. It specifies technical requirements for narrow-band visual telephone systems and terminal equipment, typically for videoconferencing and videophone services. It describes a generic system configuration consisting of a number of elements which are specified by respective ITU-T Recommendations, definition of communication modes and terminal types, call control arrangements, terminal aspects and interworking requirements.[2]

The service requirements for visual telephone services are presented in ITU-T Recs F.720 for videotelephony and F.702 for videoconference. Video and audio coding systems and other technical aspects common to audiovisual services are covered in other Recommendations in the H.200/F.700-series.

Narrow-band for this specification is defined as bit rates ranging from 64 kbit/s to 1920 kbit/s. This channel capacity may be provided as a single B/H0/H11/H12-channel or multiple B/H0-channels in ISDN.

Used video codecs: H.261, and optionally H.262, H.263, H.264 according to the video hierarchy specified in specification, and in ITU-T Recs H.241 and H.242. H.261 is mandatory in any enhanced H.320 system with video capability. Baseline H.263 capability shall be required in systems that use enhanced video modes.[3]

Used audio codecs: G.711, and optionally G.722, G.728, G.723.1, G.729. (Example of usage: If a visual telephone interworks with a wideband speech terminal, G.722 audio may be used instead of G.711 audio.)[4]

[1]

[2] ITU-T (2004-03) (PDF) [http://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-H.320-200403-I!!PDF-E&type=items H.320 : Narrow-band visual telephone systems and terminal equipment], Retrieved on 2009-07-21

[3]

[4]

title: H.320

question: What does "ITU-T" stand for?

answer: International Telecommunication Union


text:
[keylogging]
Jump on Amazon to perform a search for mechanical keyboards and the cheapest solutions you find are sold by manufacturers you likely don’t know. MantisTek is one of these lesser-known keyboard makers and is now under fire for allegedly tracking the typed keys of those who own its GK2 mechanical keyboard, aka keylogging. This alleged tracking is done through the included software, which sends information to a server maintained by the Alibaba Group.
Typically, the software can be used to customize the keyboard’s RGB illumination, lighting effects, and macro assignments. But a few owners are reporting that the software sends data to an IP address owned by Alibaba. A post stemming out of Asia provides a few more detailed bits, reporting that MantisTek’s “cloud driver” is the responsible component sending data to a specific address: 47.90.52.88.

If you enter that address in a browser, a Chinese login page appears along with a link to Browse Happy. The page translates to “Cloud mouse platform background management system,” and is maintained by Shenzhen Cytec Technology Co., Ltd., which may or may not be a rechargeable battery maker located in Shenzhen, China (Cytec doesn’t appear in a web search, but Cytac does).

According to the report, the keyboard’s software sends keypress statistics to two destinations at that IP address: “/cms/json/putkeyusedata.php” and “/cms/json/putuserevent.php.” An analysis shows that all information is crossing the internet in plain text, meaning its unencrypted and exposed to anyone snooping on your internet connection. That means hackers — in addition to MantisTek — can grab anything you type, including email addresses, bank account numbers, and login credentials.

The best defense against MantisTek’s alleged keystroke snooping is to not use the GK2’s included software. Based on the product information, you can adjust the illumination and lighting effects manually on the keyboard using a combination of keys. You can do the same when recording macros.

But if you wish for the software to remain installed, then block CMS.exe in your firewall to prevent the software from sending and receiving information over the internet. To do this in Windows 10, type “Windows Firewall” into Cortana’s search field on the taskbar, click on “Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.” After that, add a new Inbound and Outbound rule for CMS.exe.

Mechanical keyboards with virtually no security issues (that we know of) are typically manufactured by high-profile companies such as Razer, Corsair, Logitech, Roccat, Microsoft, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, and a few others. But even with these products, installing software should only be necessary if you want access to the keyboard’s core features. The less software you install, the happier your PC will be.

To be clear, Alibaba isn’t collecting information from owners of the MantisTek GK2 mechanical keyboard. The company provides cloud services, aka Alibaba Cloud, including an elastic compute service, a virtual private cloud, an analytic database, and anti-DDOS services. The “cloud driver” may be silently collecting information for analytic purposes rather than intentionally collecting sensitive information

Still, keylogging is unacceptable no matter the root intention.

Editors' Recommendations

-   What is packet loss, and how do you fix it?
-   The best gaming keyboards for 2020
-   The best mechanical keyboards for 2020
-   The best firewalls for small businesses in 2020
-   What is FTP?

question: What is Mantis Tek alleged under the scanner for?

answer: MantisTek is allegedly tracking the typed keys of people who use their GK2 mechanical keyboard.

question: What is a cloud driver?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Who does the IP address belong to?

answer: The IP address is owned by Alibaba.

question: How can you stop the keylogging?

answer: The best way to stop this would be to stop using the GK2's included software. The lighting effects can be changed manually from the keyboard.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
MantisTek is under the scanner for its GK2 mechanical keyboard. The company is allegedly tracking every keystroke of people using their keyboard, a practice commonly known as keylogging.

The software is typically used to customize the keyboard's RGB illumination. But owners are reporting that the software sends the data to an IP address owned by Alibaba.

The best defense against this would be to not use the GK2's included software and instead manually change the illumination.


text:
This was my first short story I had to write for my Creative Writing class back when I was a Junior in high school. I hope you like it!

    "Ooohhhh," Helen groaned. She hurt everywhere. Being in a hospital for six weeks is really something that she wasn't looking forward to. She was about to call for a nurse to change the channel on her tiny tv (golf was not her thing!) when all of a sudden there was a knock on the door. "Come in," she called weakly.

   "Hello, I'm Dr. Bandade, how are you feeling?" He smiled a toothy smile.

   She gave the burly man a sarcastic look. "How do you *think* I'm feeling? I fell out of a five-story window!"

    The doctor pulled up a chair next to her. "Yes about that, how exactly did it happen? On this statement is says that you were pushed?"

    Helen cringed at the very thought of it, not only because it was painful, but she wasn't sure if he would believe her. "Well, it started out as a normal day. I woke up, ate breakfast, completed the daily crossword puzzle in the paper.

    "It was then I noticed that my window was open. A cool breeze swept through, so I decided to close it. I got up and went over to the window.

    "Right as I reached out to grab the handle, Rufus, my cat, rubbed against my leg, causing me to lose my balance. Before I knew it, I was falling out the window!

    "I screamed. I heard people screaming below me. I felt breathless. Panic swept over me.

    "It was only too soon when I came into contact with the ground. I heard bones shattering and I cried out in pain. In the distance, sirens wailed. The ambulance charged down the street.

    "After they put me on the stretcher, they hauled me away to the hospital, where they told me I was lucky to even be alive. They said I broke every bone in my body. I'll be here about six weeks, if not more." Her face fell when she told the doctor this. "And that's all that happened."

    Dr. Bandade looked over at her. "So you fell out accidentally then."

    "No! I was *pushed* out!" she yelled.

    "But you even said that you lost your balance, and no one was with you."

    "Yes there was... Rufus! *He* pushed me out!"

    The doctor rationalized, "But he's a *cat.* He probably didn't realize that rubbing against you to show affection would-"

    But Helen cut him off. "He *deliberately* rubbed too hard and made me lost my balance."

    "What would be the purpose for Rufus to push you?" The doctor raised an eyebrow.

    "He's just evil," she simply said.

    "Oh." He wrote some things down on his clipboard.

    Helen stared at him suspiciously. "What kind of doctor are you anyway, asking me all these questions?"

    "I'm a psychiatrist." He wrote some more things down.

    "What? You think I'm crazy don't you?! I'm telling you, my cat is trying to *kill me!"*

    Before Dr. Bandade could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

    "Excuse me, doctor," the nurse said, "but there's someone here to see her."

    Helen perked up a bit. A visitor to see her!

    The visitor walked into the room.

    "Rufus!" Helen shrieked.

    Standing there was the tabby cat. He was staring at her with glossy green eyes, slanted into slits. His tail twitched as if to say, "I'm *back."*

title: Paranoid?... Or Just Plain Evil?

question: How can you describe Helen's mental state?

answer: Helen's mental state seems to be very bad as she is stating that her cat pushed her out her window.

question: What does Dr. Bandade do that sets Helen off?

answer: Dr. Bandade simply states that he is a psychiatrist and that sets Helen off because she is thinking that he thinks he is crazy.


text:
BY CHRIS STEZIN
DIRECTED BY MATT RIPA

World Premiere

Shakespeare’s ultimate power couple – retooled for the cyber age. MACK, BETH is a thoroughly modern, razor sharp tale with all the complex characters, intrigue, and taut storytelling that audiences expect from this classic tale of greed and unbridled ambition. A world premiere from a two-time Helen Hayes-nominated playwright.

  “Chris Stezin has an intriguingly original voice as reflected in his previous Helen Hayes nominated works, HOBOKEN STATION and WHAT DOGS DO…” –DC Theatre Scene

MACK,BETH was developed through FIRST DRAFT at The Rose Theatre Co. where Stezin is playwright-in-residence.  FIRST DRAFT is passionately rooted in the idea that new plays have an important place in the future of American theater.  To learn more, go to WWW.ROSETHEATRE.NET

Reviews and Press for the Show

-   -   -

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

JAN 21 – FEB 11, 2017

Thu-Sat at 8:00 pm
Sun at 3:00 pm

RUNTIME: 1 hour 45 minutes, plus one 15-minute intermission

ADVISORY WARNING: Recommended for ages 16 and up. The show contains sexual situations and depictions of violence.

THERE WILL BE NO LATE SEATING FOR THIS PRODUCTION.

__ PRESS RELEASE

The Production Team

DIRECTOR Matt Ripa
STAGE MANAGER Aria Velz[*SPONSORED*]
SCENIC DESIGNER Matthew J. Keenan
LIGHTING DESIGNER Katie McCreary
HAIR AND MAKE UP DESIGNER Craig Miller
SET DRESSING AND PROPERTIES DESIGNER TBD
PROPERTIES AND SET DRESSING ASSISTANT Katrina Wiskup
COSTUME DESIGNER Julie Cray-Leong
SOUND DESIGNER Gordon Nimmo-Smith
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER Casey Kaleba
PHOTOGRAPHY Cameron Whitman

[Star] In Good Company Sponsors

Production Sponsors

ROSE THEATRE COMPANY
BASED OUT OF THE DC METRO AREA, THE ROSE IS A FORWARD-THINKING PROFESSIONAL THEATER COMPANY HOSTING THE AREA'S PREMIERE NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT SERIES: FIRST DRAFT. FEATURING CELEBRATED PLAYWRIGHTS ALONGSIDE PROFESSIONAL AWARD-WINNING ACTORS AND DIRECTORS, AUDIENCES RAVE "THE ROSE PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT THEATER COULD/SHOULD BE."

Artist Sponsors

HARRY BAGDASIAN sponsoring Chris Stezin
GAIL AND PETER HANSEN sponsoring  “The Duncans” Sarah Holt & William Aitken
MARCIE COHEN sponsoring “The Shaws” Autumn Seavey Hicks & Josh Sticklin
AUDREY AND BOB BENSON sponsoring “The MacIlraiths” Jennifer J. Hopkins & Andrew Keller
JENNIFER OEHME sponsoring “The Housekeeper” Karin Rosnizeck
LAURIE AND MARK BUCK sponsoring “The Geeks” Tyasia Velines, Izzy Smelkinson, & Emily Cerwonka
TRICIA FERRONE, CAPITAL LIFEWORKS sponsoring Aria Velz

Props and Equipment Sponsors

MARIE AND MERCEDES MATSON sponsoring Props/Equipment

Connect with Keegan in a unique and meaningful way - sponsor an upcoming production, cast member, or part of the show!

Current Productions

Learn about the productions that are currently playing and coming up next at Keegan.

Past Productions

Browse Keegan’s complete production history going back to 1997 and including Ireland Tour productions.

question: What is special about this Shakespeare adaptation?

answer: Chris Stezin has adapted the original Macbeth for the modern age, taking the original tale and spinning it into a razor-sharp retelling of the classic.

question: Explain what the First Draft series is.

answer: The First Draft series is a developmental platform designed by The Rose Theatre, based out of DC. The initiative seeks to give celebrated playwrights a platform for new writing.

question: When does the show take place?

answer: The show took place in the winter of 2017.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: A page for the Shakespeare adaptation 'Mack, Beth' by Chris Stezin iving information about where it is showing and those involved.


text:
ADDITIVE WHITE GAUSSIAN NOISE (AWGN) is a basic noise model used in information theory to mimic the effect of many random processes that occur in nature. The modifiers denote specific characteristics:

-   _ADDITIVE_ because it is added to any noise that might be intrinsic to the information system.
-   _WHITE_ refers to the idea that it has uniform power across the frequency band for the information system. It is an analogy to the color white which has uniform emissions at all frequencies in the visible spectrum.
-   _GAUSSIAN_ because it has a normal distribution in the time domain with an average time domain value of zero.

Wideband noise comes from many natural noise sources, such as the thermal vibrations of atoms in conductors (referred to as thermal noise or Johnson–Nyquist noise), shot noise, black-body radiation from the earth and other warm objects, and from celestial sources such as the Sun. The central limit theorem of probability theory indicates that the summation of many random processes will tend to have distribution called Gaussian or Normal.

AWGN is often used as a channel model in which the only impairment to communication is a linear addition of wideband or white noise with a constant spectral density (expressed as watts per hertz of bandwidth) and a Gaussian distribution of amplitude. The model does not account for fading, frequency selectivity, interference, nonlinearity or dispersion. However, it produces simple and tractable mathematical models which are useful for gaining insight into the underlying behavior of a system before these other phenomena are considered.

The AWGN channel is a good model for many satellite and deep space communication links. It is not a good model for most terrestrial links because of multipath, terrain blocking, interference, etc. However, for terrestrial path modeling, AWGN is commonly used to simulate background noise of the channel under study, in addition to multipath, terrain blocking, interference, ground clutter and self interference that modern radio systems encounter in terrestrial operation.

Channel capacity

The AWGN channel is represented by a series of outputs Yi at discrete time event index i. Yi is the sum of the input Xi and noise, Zi, where Zi is independent and identically distributed and drawn from a zero-mean normal distribution with variance N (the noise). The Zi are further assumed to not be correlated with the Xi.

_Z__i_ ∼ 𝒩(0, _N_)

_Y__i_ = _X__i_ + _Z__i_.

The capacity of the channel is infinite unless the noise N is nonzero, and the Xi are sufficiently constrained. The most common constraint on the input is the so-called “power” constraint, requiring that for a codeword (x₁, x₂, …, xk) transmitted through the channel, we have:

$$\frac{1}{k}\sum_{i=1}^k x_i^2 \leq P,$$
 where P represents the maximum channel power. Therefore, the channel capacity for the power-constrained channel is given by:

_C_ = max_f_(_x_) s.t. _E_(_X_²) ≤ _P__I_(_X_; _Y_)

Where f(x) is the distribution of X. Expand I(X; Y), writing it in terms of the differential entropy:

$$\begin{align}
I(X;Y) = h(Y) - h(Y|X)
&= h(Y)-h(X+Z|X)
&= h(Y)-h(Z|X)
\end{align}
\,\!$$

But X and Z are independent, therefore:

_I_(_X_; _Y_)=_h_(_Y_)−_h_(_Z_)

Evaluating the differential entropy of a Gaussian gives:

$$h(Z) = \frac{1}{2} \log(2 \pi e N)
\,\!$$

Because X and Z are independent and their sum gives Y:

_E_(_Y_²)=_E_((_X_ + _Z_)²)=_E_(_X_²)+2_E_(_X_)_E_(_Z_)+_E_(_Z_²)=_P_ + _N_

From this bound, we infer from a property of the differential entropy that

$$h(Y) \leq \frac{1}{2} \log(2 \pi e(P+N))
\,\!$$

Therefore, the channel capacity is given by the highest achievable bound on the mutual information:

$$I(X;Y) \leq \frac{1}{2}\log(2 \pi e (P+N)) - \frac {1}{2}\log(2 \pi e N)
\,\!$$

Where I(X; Y) is maximized when:

_X_ ∼ 𝒩(0, _P_)

Thus the channel capacity C for the AWGN channel is given by:

$$C = \frac {1}{2} \log\left(1+\frac{P}{N}\right)
\,\!$$

Channel capacity and sphere packing

Suppose that we are sending messages through the channel with index ranging from 1 to M, the number of distinct possible messages. If we encode the M messages to n bits, then we define the rate R as:

$$R = \frac {\log M}{n}
\,\!$$

A rate is said to be achievable if there is a sequence of codes so that the maximum probability of error tends to zero as n approaches infinity. The capacity C is the highest achievable rate.

Consider a codeword of length n sent through the AWGN channel with noise level N. When received, the codeword vector variance is now N, and its mean is the codeword sent. The vector is very likely to be contained in a sphere of radius $\sqrt{n(N+\epsilon)}$ around the codeword sent. If we decode by mapping every message received onto the codeword at the center of this sphere, then an error occurs only when the received vector is outside of this sphere, which is very unlikely.

Each codeword vector has an associated sphere of received codeword vectors which are decoded to it and each such sphere must map uniquely onto a codeword. Because these spheres therefore must not intersect, we are faced with the problem of sphere packing. How many distinct codewords can we pack into our n-bit codeword vector? The received vectors have a maximum energy of n(P + N) and therefore must occupy a sphere of radius $\sqrt{n(P+N)}$. Each codeword sphere has radius $\sqrt{nN}$. The volume of an _n_-dimensional sphere is directly proportional to rn, so the maximum number of uniquely decodeable spheres that can be packed into our sphere with transmission power P is:

$$\frac{(n(P+N))^\frac{n}{2}}{(nN)^\frac{n}{2}} = 2^{\frac{n}{2}\log(1+P/N)}
\,\!$$

By this argument, the rate R can be no more than $\frac{1}{2}\log(1+P/N)$.

Achievability

In this section, we show achievability of the upper bound on the rate from the last section.

A codebook, known to both encoder and decoder, is generated by selecting codewords of length n, i.i.d. Gaussian with variance P − ϵ and mean zero. For large n, the empirical variance of the codebook will be very close to the variance of its distribution, thereby avoiding violation of the power constraint probabilistically.

Received messages are decoded to a message in the codebook which is uniquely jointly typical. If there is no such message or if the power constraint is violated, a decoding error is declared.

Let Xn(i) denote the codeword for message i, while Yn is, as before the received vector. Define the following three events:

1.  Event U:the power of the received message is larger than P.
2.  Event V: the transmitted and received codewords are not jointly typical.
3.  Event Ej: (Xn(j),Yn) is in Aϵ(n), the typical set where i ≠ j, which is to say that the incorrect codeword is jointly typical with the received vector.

An error therefore occurs if U, V or any of the Ei occur. By the law of large numbers, P(U) goes to zero as n approaches infinity, and by the joint Asymptotic Equipartition Property the same applies to P(V). Therefore, for a sufficiently large n, both P(U) and P(V) are each less than ϵ. Since Xn(i) and Xn(j) are independent for i ≠ j, we have that Xn(i) and Yn are also independent. Therefore, by the joint AEP, P(Ej)=2−n(I(X; Y)−3ϵ). This allows us to calculate Pe(n), the probability of error as follows:

\begin{align} P^{(n)}_e & \leq P(U) + P(V) + \sum_{j \neq i} P(E_j) \\ & \leq \epsilon + \epsilon + \sum_{j \neq i} 2^{-n(I(X;Y)-3\epsilon)} \\ & \leq 2\epsilon + (2^{nR}-1)2^{-n(I(X;Y)-3\epsilon)} \\ & \leq 2\epsilon + (2^{3n\epsilon})2^{-n(I(X;Y)-R)} \\ & \leq 3\epsilon \end{align}

Therefore, as _n_ approaches infinity, Pe(n) goes to zero and R < I(X; Y)−3ϵ. Therefore, there is a code of rate R arbitrarily close to the capacity derived earlier.

Coding theorem converse

Here we show that rates above the capacity $C = \frac {1}{2} \log(1+\frac{P}{N})$ are not achievable.

Suppose that the power constraint is satisfied for a codebook, and further suppose that the messages follow a uniform distribution. Let W be the input messages and Ŵ the output messages. Thus the information flows as:

W → X(n)(W)→Y(n) → Ŵ

Making use of Fano's inequality gives:

H(W|Ŵ)≤1 + nRPe(n) = nϵn where ϵn → 0 as Pe(n) → 0

Let Xi be the encoded message of codeword index i. Then:

\begin{align} nR & = H(W) \\ & =I(W;\hat{W}) + H(W|\hat{W}) \\ & \leq I(W;\hat{W}) + n\epsilon_n \\ & \leq I(X^{(n)}; Y^{(n)}) + n\epsilon_n \\ & = h(Y^{(n)}) - h(Y^{(n)}|X^{(n)}) + n\epsilon_n \\ & = h(Y^{(n)}) - h(Z^{(n)}) + n\epsilon_n \\ & \leq \sum_{i=1}^{n} h(Y_i)- h(Z^{(n)}) + n\epsilon_n \\ & \leq \sum_{i=1}^{n} I(X_i; Y_i) + n\epsilon_n \end{align}

Let Pi be the average power of the codeword of index i:

$$P_i = \frac{1}{2^{nR}}\sum_{w}x^2_i(w)
\,\!$$

Where the sum is over all input messages w. Xi and Zi are independent, thus the expectation of the power of Yi is, for noise level N:

_E_(_Y__i_²)=_P__i_ + _N_

And, if Yi is normally distributed, we have that

$$h(Y_i) \leq \frac{1}{2}\log{2 \pi e} (P_i +N)
\,\!$$

Therefore,

\begin{align} nR & \leq \sum(h(Y_i)-h(Z_i)) + n \epsilon_n \\ & \leq \sum \left( \frac{1}{2} \log(2 \pi e (P_i + N)) - \frac{1}{2}\log(2 \pi e N)\right) + n \epsilon_n \\ & = \sum \frac{1}{2} \log (1 + \frac{P_i}{N}) + n \epsilon_n \end{align}

We may apply Jensen's equality to log(1 + x), a concave (downward) function of _x_, to get:

$$\frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{1}{2}\log\left(1+\frac{P_i}{N}\right) \leq
\frac{1}{2}\log\left(1+\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^{n}\frac{P_i}{N}\right)
\,\!$$

Because each codeword individually satisfies the power constraint, the average also satisfies the power constraint. Therefore,

$$\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^{n} \frac{P_i}{N}
\,\!$$

Which we may apply to simplify the inequality above and get:

$$\frac{1}{2}\log\left(1+\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^{n}\frac{P_i}{N}\right) \leq
\frac{1}{2}\log\left(1+\frac{P}{N}\right)
\,\!$$

Therefore, it must be that $R \leq \frac{1}{2}\log \left(1+ \frac{P}{N}\right) + \epsilon_n$. Therefore, R must be less than a value arbitrarily close to the capacity derived earlier, as ϵn → 0.

Effects in time domain

[Zero-Crossings of a Noisy Cosine]

In serial data communications, the AWGN mathematical model is used to model the timing error caused by random jitter (RJ).

The graph to the right shows an example of timing errors associated with AWGN. The variable Δt represents the uncertainty in the zero crossing. As the amplitude of the AWGN is increased, the signal-to-noise ratio decreases. This results in increased uncertainty Δt.[1]

When affected by AWGN, the average number of either positive going or negative going zero-crossings per second at the output of a narrow bandpass filter when the input is a sine wave is:

$$\frac{\mathrm{positive\ zero\ crossings}}{\mathrm{second}} = \frac{\mathrm{negative \ zero\ crossings}}{\mathrm{second}}$$

$$= f_0 \sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{SNR} + 1 + \frac{B^2}{12f_0^2}}{\mathrm{SNR} + 1}}$$

Where

-   f₀ = the center frequency of the filter
-   B = the filter bandwidth
-   SNR = the signal-to-noise power ratio in linear terms

Effects in phasor domain

[AWGN Contributions in the Phasor Domain]

In modern communication systems, bandlimited AWGN cannot be ignored. When modeling bandlimited AWGN in the phasor domain, statistical analysis reveals that the amplitudes of the real and imaginary contributions are independent variables which follow the Gaussian distribution model. When combined, the resultant phasor's magnitude is a Rayleigh distributed random variable while the phase is uniformly distributed from 0 to 2π.

The graph to the right shows an example of how bandlimited AWGN can affect a coherent carrier signal. The instantaneous response of the Noise Vector cannot be precisely predicted, however its time-averaged response can be statistically predicted. As shown in the graph, we confidently predict that the noise phasor will reside inside the 1σ circle about 38% of the time; the noise phasor will reside inside the 2σ circle about 86% of the time; and the noise phasor will reside inside the 3σ circle about 98% of the time.[2]

[1]

[2]

title: Additive white Gaussian noise

question: What is meant by "message"?

answer: Any information content being sent over a channel is a "message." Examples would be the video streams, websites, sound in phone calls, etc.

question: What is meant by "channel"?

answer: A channel is any medium information is sent through. For example, the wireless signal of an internet router, phone lines, fiber optic internet cables, etc.

question: List two instances of information transfer where using Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) only would be inappropriate and mention why it would be so.

answer:
1. Wireless signal of a router. It's broadcast at a specific frequency and fades over distance.
2. The internet network. It uses whatever route is available at the time, so using only AWGN would be inappropriate.


text:
"Humans have always been subjected to mind control. The big corporations, the advertising companies. They have been doing it for centuries. The special feature of this kind of mind control is that the person has no idea that he is being controlled. The illusion of free will. Know the person's fears, his dreams and expectations. Get to know him so well before inserting thoughts into him, so that when you do, he has no idea that they were not his own. That is the form of mind control that I want you all to master in this class." said Ms Adams.
"Now I want you all to go to work on the individual material provided. I will come around and check on each of you"

She walked over to Chris, who was concentrating heavily on his task. "You need to understand the subject material first, Chris" she said "Really understand how they think and how they feel. I know you are the strongest in the class, but brute force will not help you. The moment a person realizes he's being controlled, he starts to resist. The fight or flight reaction exists even in the subconscious level"

"Yes, Ms Adams" said Chris. And started to probe the mind of the man strapped to the seat in front of him.

title: Control

question: What is the unique feature of the new mind control?

answer: The subject isn't aware of the effect.

question: What sort of context is being described?

answer: A class on mind control.

question: What is Chris' issue?

answer: He relies too much on brute force and not his understanding of the material.

question: Who is strapped to the chair?

answer: The man is not identified during the story.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: In this story, a class of students learn about a new method of learning mind control


text:
December 10, 2014• _Physics_ 7, s144

Single-atomic-step imperfections on the surface of superconducting films behave like Josephson junctions.

[Figure caption][expand figure]

S. Yoshizawa _et al_., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2014)

Metal films that are only an atom or two thick can become superconducting at temperatures near absolute zero. However, in these two-dimensional materials, small imperfections such as one-atom-thick elevation changes (“atomic steps”) may end up blocking the flow of supercurrents. A new study of superconducting vortices in metal films provides the first direct evidence that the atomic steps behave like Josephson junctions—structures made of two superconductors separated by a barrier. The results imply that atomic steps allow supercurrents to flow at a restricted rate, which could make them useful as functional elements in future 2D superconducting devices.

In 2010, physicists found that metal films adsorbed on so-called silicon surface reconstructions could behave as superconductors. The discovery came as a surprise, since quantum fluctuations were expected to disrupt superconductivity in 2D structures. A great deal of research is now devoted to testing how robust this superconductivity is. Atomic steps and other surface defects typically have little effect on bulk (3D) superconductors, but they clearly could influence the behavior of these ultrathin materials.

Takashi Uchihashi of the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and his colleagues performed scanning tunneling microscopy measurements of indium films on reconstructed silicon surfaces. Specifically, the team studied the formation of superconducting vortices—supercurrents traveling around a closed loop that appear in certain superconductors when an external magnetic field is applied. The researchers observed that most of the vortices in the film were circular with a nonsuperconducting inner core. However, the vortices located along atomic steps were elliptical in shape, and their cores were superconducting. Numerical simulations showed that this behavior was consistent with the atomic steps providing a Josephson coupling between different terraces of the film.

_This research is published in_ Physical Review Letters.

–Michael Schirber

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

Subject Areas

Related Articles

[Nickelates Have Their Own Superconducting Style]

[A Tune for Lowering Lattice Friction]

[Electrical Control of the “Valley”]

Materials Science

Electrical Control of the “Valley”

October 13, 2020

Researchers show that they can electrically switch which energy valley electrons occupy in a solid, a key step toward enabling a “valleytronics” approach to information applications.Read More »

More Articles

question: How many atoms are in a metal film?

answer: 1-2 atoms thick

question: When did the physics study take place?

answer: in 2010

question: What did physicists find?

answer: Metal films adsorbed on silicon surfaces could behave as superconductors.

question: What were the results?

answer: They implied that atomic steps allow super currents to flow at a restricted rate.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: In a physics study, physicists found that metal films could behave as superconductors.


text:
This is a story I just wrote, that isn't finished yet. I've been feeling down lately and It's helped to write stuff down. It's kind of a fictionalized reflection of myself. Please don't bash too hard on my writing or grammer, this is the first thing I've written for a long time.

Alexa

Her sparklingly beautiful hazel eyes were locked to his. Dark auburn hair and thick black rimmed glasses covered part of her small freck covered face. A slight smile rose her cheeks. He smiled back, causing his heart rate rise exponentially.  A feeling manifested in the pit of his stomach which he had never felt before. David would usually be trying to cope with his inconfidence by looking away, but for some reason this time was different, he didn’t care. The ice cream that she had scooped was starting drip onto her red blouse. As soon as she realized it was dripping all over her shirt, a middle aged mother with her two children started blabbering to her about not listening. Seven seconds was how long it lasted, and that was the end of it. She looked away, cleaned off the melting ice cream and attended to the demandingly ungrateful customers. The moment that David may never receive ever again had passed, forever. Seven seconds was how long it lasted, it was pure mental ecstasy. David craved these moments, but he thought they can’t happen in real life. He was probably the shyest person he knew, mostly because he doesn’t know that many people. In Fact, he only has one real friend, who only communicates on his terms with an outdated instant message service. David did not introduce himself to this beautiful redhead, instead he looked away awkwardly, got up and left. While walking to his appartment in a terrible neighborhood in Seattle, David mentally tortured himself for making this decision, because he knew that he would never see her ever again. David never speaks to anyone without them initiating first, it is a curse deep inside his being that he wish could just tear up into tiny pieces and burn them. Still, the image of her sparkly dark red hair was burned to his eyeballs, and it made him think about his choices and how he could have acted differently.

Her imperfections were his favourite part about her. Her freckles were many and her small breasts were stunning in her red top. She was 11 out of 10. David told himself he “would do anything to just say, hello.”, but that wasn’t true and he knew it. He just didn’t know how to deal with the situation. David locked his apartment door, made himself a microwave burrito and went on to his laptop. This is the place where you can guarantee he’ll be for most days and nights. Reddit, netflix and 4chan were the usual. He didn’t use facebook much, since he didn’t have any friends. 2am approached and David told himself to go to sleep. So David did his nightly routine that consists of brushing teeth and and masturbating to clothed pictures of cute normal girls, since he wasn’t fond of big breasted asian hardcore porn. He wasn’t sure if he was being creepy or appreciating reality. After laying back and thinking in his pitch dark room, he couldn’t stop thinking about this girl. He didn’t even know her name, he just knew her face and in this moment, his dream of being an computer programming superstar looked so distant, he had come to an painful realization, his life might not turn out how he planned.

David was 20 years old, mildly overweight but had a decent face, at least he thought so. His voice was very deep and monotone and he always wore dark blue jeans and some kind of geeky t-shirt. He starred at her, taking in her beauty. He couldn't get passed how beautiful her hair was, and that he was actually in the same room as her. The sunset shining from the window behind her blinded David's view, but it made the moment more exciting. She started laughing and looking down and kind of embarassed. The light shining from her eyes was more intense than anything he had ever encountered. It was the cutest and sexiest thing David had ever whitnessed. Then her smile faded and the sunlight shining through the large window began to engulph her. Whiteness surrounded her and David's eyes began to ache. "Are you okay?" David heard a girl's voice say. Then a loud alarm which sounded as if it were a firetruck screeched into David's ears. David awoke, his eyes clouded and his underware was surprisingly dry. David smacked the alarm clock which read 11:14am. He stayed in bed for a few minutes regaining his conciousness and thinking about her, and his life. He struggles with the things that most people might say are no struggle at all, but dispite all of that, David said to himself "Today is the day."

title: Alexa

question: What is David struggling with?

answer: David struggles with social anxiety and talking to people daily. Despite this, he constantly attempts to talk to the red-headed girl who works in an ice cream shop.

question: What might have happened if Alexa had talked to him first instead?

answer: Given that he struggles with social anxiety in general, their interaction might have only led to friendship at best.


text:
*On one side...*

A soft-spoken, timid wire of a librarian sits at the circulation desk checking in a stack of thick books. She looks up at the sound of the front door opening, smiling at the couple that comes through the door. A man and woman, both middle-aged and lanky, approach the desk. The man, taller and a little more weatherworn, pulls his library card from the leather wallet in his back pocket, handing it to the librarian. Unsure, her smile stays in-place.

“Hey there!” the librarian said brightly, “How can I help you today?”

The man keeps his arm outstretched, holding his card out for the librarian to take. “We would like to check out some books today.”

The librarian looks to the woman, who is staring at her intently. Puzzled. The librarian nods, her smile waning slightly.

“Do you have books on hold back here?” she says, motioning to the stacks behind her with name slips sticking out the tops. The confusion on the man’s face deepens.

“No ma’am. We just want to check out some books.” His card is still brandished, and his wife continues her piercing gaze.

“Well,” the librarian says, trying to keep her brain from over-wiring, “You are in luck. You can just go around and check out whichever  books you’d like from our stacks.” She is sure to point around to the various areas as she says this. The man looks at his wife, bewildered. Her face is unchanging as she slowly turns and takes tentative steps towards the shelves of books. The man takes a moment to lower his hand, and then carefully walks back to follow his wife.

The librarian stands there, blinking after them. What was that?

*From the Other Perspective...*

The lanky couple stood outside the small, but somehow still intimidating building. The man, his face holding more folds than most bulldogs, tried to calm himself. At his side, the stern-faced woman’s only sign of unnerve was the slight shiver of her hand holding onto the slip of paper. They would not fail at this task.

“Are you sure, this is it?” the man asked the woman in a hoarse voice.

“No other building full o’ book around, is there?” the woman spat. The man was oddly comforted by her spiteful tone. She was scared too.
The instructions had been both clear and vague. The tiny slip of paper in the woman’s hand, lovingly placed their by their Dear Leader, contained the tasks they needed to do before returning to their village that evening. It read:

*Woods - Pick up sticks*
*Fruit Stand - Pick up orange*
*Building of Books - Pick up books*

Along with the paper, their Leader had handed the man a strange, small rectangular piece of paper, stiffer than any he’d ever held, with a bunch of black lines and a thick, black strip along the bottom. He said when they got to the Building of Books, they’d know what to do.

The man had retrieved a bundle of sticks from the woods twenty meters from The Temple while the woman went to the corner harlot’s fruit stand and taken the orange. Now, here they were at their final stop, ready to complete their mission and make their Dear Leader proud.

The man heard the woman take a deep breath before they moved.

The two walked in, freezing just past the entrance. The building was unnervingly quiet, and empty excluding a small-framed woman behind the counter, waving thick books under a shining red light. The stern-faced woman narrowed her eyes.

“Witchcraft.” she whispered to the man.

The small witch raised her eyes and smiled a warm smile - far too comfortable for their liking. The man chanced one last glance at his scowling partner and took several unsteady steps towards the desk. The witch behind it put her books down.

*This should be easy*, the man thought. *She’ll know what to do here*.

He approached the wooden counter in front of her, reaching back and retrieving The Card from the worn-out leather wallet Dear Leader had gifted him on the day of his fortieth full moon, holding it out for the witch to take. Instead, she held his gaze, her smile losing some of it’s natural hold. He felt his very core shiver with fear.

“Hey there!” she said brightly, “How can I help you today?”

*Why didn’t she take it?* The man wondered, keeping his arm outstretched.

“We would like to check out some books today,” the man clarified. He drew himself up, hoping his scrawny arms and legs didn’t make him appear a fool. He saw the witch behind the desk shift her gaze to the stern-faced woman, who was staring at her intently. She appeared as puzzled as the man. The witch just nodded, her smile faltering.

“Do you have books on hold back here?” she says, motioning to the shelves of books behind her with little slips of paper poking out from the top of each. The man could feel his confusion showing itself on his wrinkled face.

*Hold? What’s a hold? Why would we have her hold something?*

“No ma’am,” he said carefully, “We just want to check out some books.” Surely she would understand now. Dear Leader had made it so clear! How hard could this be? The room was full of books, all the witch had to do was turn in any direction and grab some for him.

His card was still brandished, and the stern-faced woman continued her piercing gaze. As he looked on, he was surprised to see an odd sort of change come over the witch behind the desk. She wore a tiny smile, but there seemed to be an odd...twitch, frequenting her left eye.

*Maybe this witch was broken*, the man thought with despair. *O the souls of the sinful!*

“Well,” the broken witch said suddenly, “You are in luck. You can just go around-” she pointed to the books and shelves surrounding them, “-and check out whichever  books you’d like from our stacks.”

*Stacks?* The man thought, *we must pick out these filthy books ourselves?*

The wrinkled man looked at the stern-faced woman, bewildered. Her face was unchanging as she slowly turned and took several tentative steps towards the shelves of books. The man, seeing and following suit, slowly lowered his hand, and then carefully walked to follow the woman into the maze of ink and sin. The woman threw an odd and incredulous look at the wrinkled man.

“What was that?!”

title: Two Sides to Every Story

question: Why are the people confused by the library?

answer: It is clear that the couple (the man and the woman) are in a cult. They refer to a "Dear Leader" and a "Temple." As such it is likely they have never seen normal life before. Apparently they have been raised in the cult their entire life and have never seen a library before. The Dear Leader only gave them an instruction to "Pick up Books."

question: Why is the librarian puzzled by the people?

answer: The library patrons enter and simply hand her a library card and ask for books. She informs them they can check out any book they want, but they appear confused. This is an incredibly strange and surreal encounter for her.

question: What is the structure of the story?

answer: The story begins by framing the strange encounter the librarian has with the cult members without telling us they are members of a cult. We are as confused as the librarian by the surreal request. Then we go back and see the story from the cult members' perspective and understand why they did not know how a library works.


text:
Our website uses cookies to make your browsing experience better. By using our site you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More I Agree

× What Are Cookies As is common practice with almost all professional websites this site uses cookies, which are tiny files that are downloaded to your computer, to improve your experience. This page describes what information they gather, how we use it and why we sometimes need to store these cookies. We will also share how you can prevent these cookies from being stored however this may downgrade or 'break' certain elements of the sites functionality. For more general information on cookies see the Wikipedia article on HTTP Cookies. How We Use Cookies We use cookies for a variety of reasons detailed below. Unfortunately in most cases there are no industry standard options for disabling cookies without completely disabling the functionality and features they add to this site. It is recommended that you leave on all cookies if you are not sure whether you need them or not in case they are used to provide a service that you use. Disabling Cookies You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (see your browser Help for how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Disabling cookies will usually result in also disabling certain functionality and features of the this site. Therefore it is recommended that you do not disable cookies. The Cookies We Set

 Account related cookies If you create an account with us then we will use cookies for the management of the signup process and general administration. These cookies will usually be deleted when you log out however in some cases they may remain afterwards to remember your site preferences when logged out. Login related cookies We use cookies when you are logged in so that we can remember this fact. This prevents you from having to log in every single time you visit a new page. These cookies are typically removed or cleared when you log out to ensure that you can only access restricted features and areas when logged in. Form related cookies When you submit data to through a form such as those found on contact pages or comment forms cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence. Site preference cookies In order to provide you with a great experience on this site we provide the functionality to set your preferences for how this site runs when you use it. In order to remember your preferences we need to set cookies so that this information can be called whenever you interact with a page is affected by your preferences.

Third Party Cookies In some special cases we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. The following section details which third party cookies you might encounter through this site.

 This site uses Google Analytics which is one of the most widespread and trusted analytics solution on the web for helping us to understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so we can continue to produce engaging content. For more information on Google Analytics cookies, see the official Google Analytics page. We also use social media buttons and/or plugins on this site that allow you to connect with social network in various ways. For these to work, the social networks may set cookies through our site which may be used to enhance your profile on their site, or contribute to other purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies.

question: Explain cookies.

answer: Cookies are tiny files that are downloaded on a computer to improve a user's online experience.

question: Where was this information published?

answer: The text doesn't say.

question: What is one function of cookies?

answer: One function of cookies is to remember certain login information so that the user doesn't have to manually enter that information every time a website is visited.

question: What are third-party cookies?

answer: Third-party cookies track things such as time spent on a website and the pages visited in order to produce relevant content across sites.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article answers some common questions about website cookies, such as what they are, how they are used, and how the information they gather may be used by third parties.


text:
Hi! I was trying to make this neither a poem or a short story, or maybe both at the same time? I'm obviously not very skilled. This is my first draft and I would love some tips if you've got a moment. Thanks.

~           ~             ~

Deep within the city of Piraeus the moon glowed with soft light. Merchants from Athens sold their wares free from the heat, and that comfort gave them much delight. Then appeared a young girl holding a basket no more than twelve. She walked up to a herbalist, and pointed to a shelve. The lass' red riding cloak fluttered softly in a breeze, and after the wind stopped it settled down around her knees. “Take this thyme, and your grandma will be just fine, now don't you dare offer me money, I wouldn't accept a dime.” Said a women to the girl. As quickly as she came, she was off in a whirl. Nearby atop a stone brick bathhouse a fowl and terrible creature perched. It's eyes darted back and forth like it was conducting research.

The young girl walked down a brick path and scanned dark corners for trouble. There were footsteps behind her so she picked up her pace on the double. The footsteps quickened like a downhill rolling boulder. The girl in the red cloak gasped as a hand latched down on to her shoulder. “Stay away!” yelled the girl in fear. From the shadows wearing a guard uniform the hand's owned appeared. “Little Red, what are you doing this late and all alone?” Asked the guard to the girl in a melodious tone. “I was at the market, getting something for my grandmother!” Quipped the girl to the guard without even a stutter. “Fine take your leave!” Spoke the guard like thunder. “But don't cry to me, when a mugger rips you asunder.”

Off strolled the mysterious girl clad in red. Unfortunately she wasn't aware of the beast that wanted her dead. Near the edge of the city was her home, it looked tranquil only at night when few stirred. Little Red spotted a cat, and smiled when he purred. She scratched behind his ears and he huffed acting lazy and fat. The sound was like music for an eavesdropping rat. Moving on, the girl took her basket and went inside. Waiting in the darkness the creature did hide.

The little girl approached her sick grandmother's bed. She had words in her mind but despite her best efforts they remained unsaid. In the dim light of the room the girl felt something was wrong. It's smelled as if something just didn't belong. She starred at her grandmother and saw a glow in her eyes. “I have medicine now, you'll be better by sunrise.” Just then it occurred to the girl she was in danger. “Grandma your eyes oh my, well I've never...”

“All the better for seeing you, my dear.” Growled a voice mired and queer.“Your tone. What happened?” Little Red said austere. “Just the flu sweet child, come closer” She said as she  gestured. “Your teeth grandmother. They've gone and festered.”
“All the better for eating you, my dear.” Little Red's eyes widen in panic, and she was filled with fear.

Just then wood splintered and crashed. The guard from earlier reappeared in a flash. The creature turned and it attacked. It's claws were menacing and it's aim was exact. Everything ended with a spear to it's chest. The creature was slain and later put to rest. Little Red thanked the guard, and then cried for her grandma. Only when she spotted her basket from earlier, did her expression change from sad to awe. She reached inside and withdrew a small green plant. “May this thyme grant me courage now that my grandmother can't,”  said the twelve year old girl, quietly in her head. Little Red pondered who her surrogate family could be, and came up with only despair and dread.

title: Once Upon Some Thyme

question: What does the story say what is the main event of the story?

answer: Little red is going to visit her grandmother to bring her medicine. She arrives, enters the house, and approaches her grandmother's bed. However, she feels that something is wrong. Her grandmother looks different, and it turns that a beast is in the house, going to eat Little red. At the last moment, a guard appears and saves her.

question: What does the story say about the grandmother's character?


text:
  All of us have a muse. Just be thankful that most us can't see them.  She's been with me, as long as I can remember, a pale woman, never a girl, always just a few steps away from me, no matter where I am. She never speaks to me. Not in words that I can hear, but I can feel her in my mind, when I sit down to write, when the ideas start to flow.

  When I was little, I used to try to convince my mother of Her reality, it was always dismissed as a game, a little bit of play acting. She had an imaginary friend when she was young too she'd say with a smile. After a while I could see the worry on her face whenever I mentioned “The Woman.” - I never really had a name for Her, didn't understand what exactly She was, I didn't have the words. Not back then. - And so I let it drop. I stopped mentioning Her, started to try ignoring Her, though as I got older this grew more difficult.

  I'd see Her every time I looked over my shoulder, every time I looked in the mirror, and I soon came to realize that She was beautiful, Her plump lips always slightly upturned as if we were sharing some private joke. Though this smile never seemed to reach Her eyes which were a pale shade of green, always fixing onto mine when I looked at Her. Her hair long, and richly black, and She always wore the same long green dress, old fashioned, like something from a story book without the lace and the ruffles.

  I've always been creative but mercurial, my passions shifting from one pursuit to the other, first drawing, then painting, playing instruments, anything that involves an expression of myself. But my true love has always been writing. When I write I lose myself in the story, it pours out of me like a torrent. I'm almost never at a loss for words. But I find it so draining. A few hours of writing and I feel like I've been working a full day, bone tired fatigued. And I never really understood why until I was in my late teens.

  I was home from school and rattling around my empty house, Mom was working and Dad was out of state. So I decided to go down to the local coffee shop and try to get some work done. There'd been a particularly complex story that I'd been working on, my first real attempt at a novel, and I wanted some time to proofread, but I didn't like being alone with Her. As I pushed through the doors of the shop, I noticed something odd. A man who looked to be in his late fifties sitting and typing feverishly, this in itself wasn't strange. But what was behind him was...There was a woman standing there, similar enough to mine to be her twin, the same generous features, the same green eyes, but her hair was red, a brilliant fiery red. As he wrote she leaned in close her lips pressing against his ears, her hands resting on his shoulders, she seemed to be whispering something, though he was not responding, simply typing away. I started to approach them, to talk to him, to her, but then I saw her nails. They were long, curving slightly downwards, sinking into his flesh through his shirt and as I watched I could see a faint pulsing glow rising upwards along them, from him into her and he began to droop visibly, reaching to take a deep sip of his coffee, fatigue suddenly registering on his features.

  I fled as soon as my mind registered this, pushed back out the doors and ran all the way home. I didn't stop till I was in my room, throwing myself beneath the covers and hiding there for all the good it would do me. They looked so much alike, that strange woman and my Muse, was She doing the same to me? I let the idea go, tried not to thing about it. To force it out of my head then one day on the front page of the paper I saw a story about a local writer who had died “tragically early.” The picture was of the man I'd seen at the coffee shop just a few months previously. His age was listed as thirty-five, but he'd apparently been quite prolific, eight novels to his name. The cause of death was hear attack. This couldn't be right I told myself, from the picture alone he seemed to be on the cusp of seniority, sixty I would have believed. I went to the computer, googling his name, confident the paper had been a typo. It was not. The information was accurate. There were all kinds of theories about his appearance, about his gray hair, including drugs, but I knew better. It was her, it was whatever she had been taking from him. And I now knew what I had to do. I had to see if She was doing the same to me as his woman had done to him. I had to know. I set up a mirror on my desk, she never appeared on film, placed it just in front of myself, so I could glance up at a moments notice and I began to write. Nothing at first, my interest more on staring at the mirror, trying to catch her then the act of writing itself. But finally I found the rhythm of it, the words pouring forth once more. And I glanced up. And I saw Her, looking back at me. Her nails in my flesh, her lips on my ear, I could have been the man in that shop in that moment. I threw the notebook away from me, vowed never to write another word, hoping to starve her.

  But the ideas, they just kept coming, flooding into my consciousness at the worst moments, drowning out everything else. I lasted a little over a year till I had to give up. I sat down at my PC, and I typed, for hours, the words flowing forth like a river breaking a dam. When I finished I could barely move the short distance from my chair to my bed. I collapsed, not even having the energy to pull the sheets over me and woke sixteen hours later, the bed beneath me, and my clothes soaked with sweat, my entire body aching.
I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom, trying to tell myself it was nothing, just a fever, it couldn't be anything else Then I looked into the mirror, and I found the first streak of gray. I was sixteen. My mother nearly fainted when I came downstairs, she immediately drove me to the doctor. He told us he couldn't find anything wrong, said it was probably just stress, nothing to worry about and sent me home.

  I learned my lesson then. I didn't try to bottle it up anymore...Eight years later, that's still my only streak of gray, but I easily pass for thirty. My face is lined my bones ache. Every time I set pen to paper or finger to key she feels a bit more solid, I can feel her touch even now, feel her lips brushing against my skin. It's addictive, her presence. Comforting almost. feel a little bit of myself flowing out of me every-time I write but I can't stop.  I don't want to stop, and I know that She'll take me if I do, I'm sure of it. She'll take me all at once instead of in pieces, my face the next in the paper.

title: My Muse

question: What is the narrator's muse?

answer: A pale ghostly woman that only they can see

question: What kind of art does the narrator make?

answer: They are a writer, but they also do other kinds of art

question: What age is the narrator?

answer: They are 24 in the story.

question: What does the narrator see that scares them?

answer: They see a muse siphoning lifeforce from another artist

question: What happens to the narrator when they are 16?

answer: Their muse forces them to write something and sucks some energy from them

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator reflects on the existence of muses - ethereal beings that only some artists can see which take lifeforce from their hosts. The narrator sees another muse besides his own and learns the truth of their nature. Later, he sees the other artist has died and then recalls a time when the narrator was 16 where the muse took some energy from them after writing.


text:
There is only one Tony Abbott, but the press gallery report him through the lens of an imaginary, wise and capable leader. The fact that so many journalists limit themselves to the same story at any one time is what's wrong with both politics and with journalism, not some sort of vindication of either.

Take this piece by Michael Gordon. Despite Gordon's experience and seniority it is no better/worse than other pieces of its type (which doesn't say much for notions of experience and seniority in political journalism):

  Tony Abbott has reverted to the tactics that proved so devastatingly effective in opposition in a bid to achieve ascendancy over Bill Shorten, wedge Labor on national security, consolidate his own recovery and increase his flexibility on election timing.

  By reducing the complex issue of citizenship to a slogan, shattering any prospect of bipartisanship on security and brazenly misrepresenting the position of the country's foremost expert in terrorism law, the Prime Minister is out to maximise short and medium-term political advantage.

  Having declared that "Daesh is coming, if it can, for every person and for every government with a simple message: submit or die", Abbott's emphatic message now is that Australians are safer from terrorism under the Coalition. This is an extraordinary and irresponsible claim.

Abbott never moved on from the behaviour that so enthralled journalists. This is why he's such an abysmal Prime Minister.

The press gallery were willing to take him at his word, while the rest of the country wasn't. Australians have always been Tony Abbott sceptics. Whenever people were asked who they would prefer to lead the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott or a brown snake, Abbott couldn't win a trick. Since he became leader of the Liberal Party major media broadcasters have insisted, like people trapped in a bad relationship, that they knew the real Tony and we didn't. He Can Change. He's Looking Prime Ministerial. He'll Grow Into The Job. This Time. This Time. Good Government Starts Today, Or Maybe Next Thursday, Definitely After The Budget. No Really This Time It Will Be Different, Please Believe Me.

They made excuses for him that they didn't make for Latham, or Downer, or any other party leader manifestly unfit to become Prime Minister.

To return to Gordon, Abbott is not being "extraordinary" when he executes the responsibilities of office in his typically irresponsible way. Every week, if not every day, Tony Abbott does things that fall short of the press gallery ideal that they call "Tony 2.0", "Prime Ministerial", or whatever. Rather than abandon this pretence and report on Abbott as he is and has always been, they hold him to a fantasy ideal and act all surprised when he falls short.

Now somebody has taken Peter Hartcher to lunch and convinced him that the environment is a real thing in politics, something that goes beyond the weak tea and small beer that is the major parties' positions. It's so risible I won't even link to it, because the SMH campaign on the environment works from the same assumptions as all bad political reporting:

-   the incompetent boofhead we see trashing government services, and with that our very confidence in government itself, is somehow not the real Tony Abbott and something of a surprise to seasoned observers;
-   the real Tony Abbott is a sensitive and well-rounded fellow who feels people's pain, and is very receptive to issues like same-sex marriage and renewable energy; so
-   with the right form of words, offered respectfully, we just might get him to tone down his opposition to something against which he fundamentally defines himself.

This bullshit has to stop. I am singling out Fairfax but every organisation with any mouth-breathing muppets in the Canberra press gallery is guilty of the same malicious negligence. Stop believing in "Tony 2.0". The whole reason Abbott is Prime Minister at all is not because conservatives pushed for a conservative government - conservatives are entitled to make their case - but because of smirking dipsticks like Hartcher and Gordon who insisted they knew Abbott better than the rest of us. They falsely asserted against all the evidence - against everything that journalism is supposed to stand for - that he wouldn't be so bad.

Start seeing Abbott for what he is and report accordingly. Misinformation kills democracy, and it kills media organisations that peddle it.

question: What are the top political parties of Australia?

answer: Advance Australia Party, Australia First Party (Australia First), Australian Democrats (The Democrats), Australian Greens (The Greens), Australian Labor Party (ALP)


text:
The ALB VALLEY RAILWAY () is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen to Bad Herrenalb with a branch to Ittersbach. The line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG).[1]

History

The Ettlingen branch line

[A train of the Alb Valley Railway passes Ettlingen palace. This section has been served since 1887]

The town of Ettlingen had gained a rail connection in 1844 with the opening of the current Ettlingen West station on the Baden Mainline, but the station was far from the town and could not satisfy the needs of its population and industries. Therefore, the town pressed for a short branch line to the centre of the town. Since the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways was not interested in the construction of the line, the town of Ettlingen requested a permit to build the line itself.

On 25 August 1885, the first section of the standard gauge line was opened from Ettlingen West station to Erbprinz and this was followed on 15 July 1887 by the opening of the remaining section to the current Ettlingen Stadt station. The management of this line was transferred to the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways, which began operating 17 daily passenger trains in each direction. The timetable included both shuttle trains running to Ettlingen West station and through trains running from Ettlingen to Karlsruhe.

In addition to connecting Ettlingen to the railway network, the line served the growing commuter traffic between Karlsruhe and Ettlingen. An expansion of services between two cities, however, was not possible because of the limited capacity of the main line between Karlsruhe and Ettlingen West, so the construction of a direct rail link to Rüppurr was soon discussed.

Construction of Alb Valley Railway

As early as 1870, planning had begun for a railway from Karlsruhe via Ettlingen and the northern Black Forest to Herrenalb. At the time the valley was a popular destination of the Karlsruhe population; in addition the developing industrial enterprises in Ettlingen and Karlsruhe were an important source of income for the population of the surrounding villages, which meant many workers had to take long walks each day to their work places. The once-daily stagecoach service was no longer sufficient.

Ettlingen initially resisted the project because it feared that the construction of a direct rail connection would lead to Karlsruhe annexing Ettlingen. This risk was not seen as so great if the proposed line was built as a narrow gauge railway. After obtaining a licence to build the railway from the governments of Baden (1896) and Württemberg (1897), construction could begin. The Alb Valley Railway crossed into the state of Württemberg region In Herrenalb, but—in contrast to the nearby Murg Valley Railway (_Murgtalbahn_)—this caused no major difficulties for the construction and operation of the line.

[Frauenalb-Schielberg station in 2006. The station building dates from the early years of the line]

The first section between Karlsruhe and Ettlingen was opened on 1 December 1897, the Ettlingen–Frauenalb section followed on 14 May 1898 and the Frauenalb–Herrenalb section on 2 July 1898. A branch line to Ittersbach was opened on 10 April 1899, making Busenbach a rail junction.[2]

The Ettlingen West–Ettlingen Stadt line was built as a dual gauge line and services were integrated into the Alb Valley Railway. The dual gauge track was extended to Busenbach in 1899 and to Etzenrot in 1906 to improve access for freight traffic. In 1898, the Alb Valley Railway was taken over by the _Badische Lokal-Eisenbahnen Aktiengesellschaft_ (Baden Local Railway Company, BLEAG), a newly formed subsidiary of the _Westdeutsche Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft_ (West German Railway Company, WeEG).

Development of the metre-gauge Alb Valley Railway

In order to remove the smoke produced by the steam locomotives of the Alb Valley Railway from the streets of Karlsruhe, the Karlsruhe-Ettlingen section was electrified at 550 volts direct current in 1898 and a service with electric multiple units was added. The trains to Herrenalb now operated to Ettlingen using electric powered and south of Ettlingen they were steam hauled. A coal-fired power station was built in Seehof between Rüppurr and Ettlingen to supply power for the line.

Since electrical operations on the line were well-proven, an extension of electrification was considered for the whole Alb Valley Railway, but with high-voltage alternating current preferred because of the greater distance. Therefore, after 1910 DC-based operations were abandoned and AC-based operations commenced in 1911 on the whole line. While the system used was single-phase AC at 8,000 volts 25 Hz (later increased to 8,800 volts), trains could only run at 650 volts DC in the city of Karlsruhe until 1936. The power station at Seehof was converted so that it could supply the AC power.

[Routes of Alb Valley Railway within Karlsruhe in the early years]

During the construction of the Karlsruhe Central Station (_Hauptbahnhof_) between 1910 and 1915 the northern terminus of the Alb Valley Railway had to be moved three times within Karlsruhe. The station was originally located in Ettlinger Straße near the fairground (_Festplatz_), but on 26 February 1910, it was moved to Beiertheimer Allee near Hermann-Billing-Straße, allowing Ettlinger Straße to be cleared for the construction of a new tram line. Previously there had been sidings for the Alb Valley Railway at the new location on “old” Klosestraße. From 7 April 1910, the Alb Valley Railway no longer ran to the east of the Stadtgarten (municipal park), but instead ran further to the west between Beiertheimer Avenue and the (new) Bahnhofstraße on the former route of the state railway to Durmersheim (Rhine Railway), now the path of the “new” Klosestraße. After a temporary terminus opened on 19 January 1914 at the northern end of the (new) Bahnhofstraße, from 22 March 1915 the terminus was moved to Ebertstraße, where it is currently still located. Technical problems and a lack of thermal coal forced the BLEAG in 1917 to greatly limit operations with electrical rolling stock, sometimes abandoning the service entirely. Reliable electrical supplies only became available again after the conversion of the power plant into a transformer station and its connection to the newly built Murgwerks hydro-electric power station on the Murg river. So from 1922 electric trains were able to operate again.

Traffic on the Alb Valley Railway increased in the first years of its operation, but after the First World War the railway faced increasing economic difficulties. The operation could only be maintained with financial support from the district of Karlsruhe, leading to a reduction in services in the timetable. The city of Karlsruhe introduced in the mid-1920s a parallel bus service between Karlsruhe and Rüppurr, reducing the economic viability of the railway.

The BLEAG came under pressure during the Great Depression and went bankrupt. The German Railway Operating Company (_Deutsche Eisenbahn-Betriebs-Gesellschaft_), DEBG) took over the Alb Valley Railway in 1932 from the bankruptcy estate of the BLEAG. Through modernisation, including the introduction of transporter wagons (_Rollwagen_), the DEBG succeeded in improving the financial viability of the railway.

Highway construction in the mid-1930s brought some changes to the Alb Valley Railway. This meant that the line between Rüppurr and Ettlingen was moved to the east, so that the road and the highway followed a common route. The simultaneous upgrade of Herrenalber Straße in Rüppurr as a feeder road also required the rebuilding of the line between Dammerstock and Schloss Rüppurr.

In the Second World War the Alb Valley Railway was attacked several times by fighter aircraft, but damage was relatively minor. However, the demolition of the bridge over the Karlsruhe marshalling yard at the end of the war required several months of reconstruction to restore the Alb Valley Railway to the southern bridgehead at Dammerstock.

[Articulated train of the Alb Valley Railway in inner Karlsruhe (1978)]

Gauge conversion and linking to the tram network

After the Second World War, both line and rolling stock were in a dilapidated condition, requiring comprehensive modernisation. The DEBG, however, had little interest in the continued operation of the railway. In the political debate about the future of Alb Valley Railway, the city of Karlsruhe took the initiative. It was mainly interested in establishing good suburban services between Karlsruhe, Rüppurr and Ettlingen and eliminating the need for passengers to change at Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof from the Alb Valley Railway to trams. Therefore, it proposed the gauge conversion of the line to standard gauge and linking it to the urban tram network.

With the help of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it founded the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (Alb Valley Transport Company, AVG) on 1 April 1957, which took over the Alb Valley Railway from the DEBG and immediately began renovating it. This work included the change of the electrification equipment to 750 volts DC. The first section from Albtalbahnhof to Rüppurr was opened on 18 April 1958. From then on the electric multiple units of the Alb Valley Railway continued from the Albtalbahnhof to the centre of Karlsruhe, so that most passengers did not have to change trains.[3][4]

[Alb Valley Railway train in Karlsruhe Marktplatz (1994)]

Additional sections were opened to Ettlingen on 15 May 1959, to Busenbach on 15 April 1960, to Etzenrot on 12 May to 1960, to Marxzell on 12 December 1960 and to Herrenalb on 1 September 1961.[5]

Even after the gauge conversion of the line between 1957 and 1975, the line continued to be modernised, including the building of a signalling centre in Ettlingen (1967), the realignment of the Albtalbahnhof–Dammerstock section (1977) and the Rüppurr–Ettlingen Neuwiesenreben section [1988), the upgrading of the track to allow a top speed of 80 km/h (until 1983) and the duplication of track between Ettlingen and Busenbach (1989–1990). Track improvements were also carried out in Steinhäusle in order to create a request stop, which was composed only of a platform next to a level crossing and was paid for by nearby residents.[6][7][8]

The various upgrades allowed passenger services on the line to be continuously improved. Services on the metre gauge Alb Valley Railway between Karlsruhe and Herrenalb had a running time of about 70 minutes. By 1979 running time had been reduced 46 minutes and currently running time is 35 minutes with a more frequent service than in the past.

Whilst the connection to the city tram network physically permitted trams to run on the line, the _Albtalbahn_ remained legally a railway, and needed to conform to mainline railway design and safety standards. The experience Karlsruhe accumulated in operating across the divide between tramway and railway eventually led to further developments in which specially designed vehicles were able to run on both mainline railways and the city's tram system. In doing so, the _Albtalbahn_ became the first element in the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, which has subsequently become a model for using tram-train techniques for linking regional railway routes to municipal tram systems in other European cities.[9]

Operations

Route

[Track plan of the line (not to scale) as of 2006]

The northern terminus of the Alb Valley Railway proper is at the _Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof_ (Alb Valley station), situated some to the west of _Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof_, the principal railway station of the city of Karlsruhe. However tram-trains running on the Alb Valley Railway continue north of the _Albtalbahnhof_ to join the city tram tracks of the _Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe_.[10]

South of the _Albtalbahnhof_ the Alb Valley Railway passes under the mainline approach to the _Hauptbahnhof_, and over the adjacent freight railway. For the first , as far as Busenbach, the line is double track and serves 11 intermediate stops, several of which serve the town of Ettlingen. Just before _Ettlingen Stadt_ station, a long freight-only spur connects the Alb Valley Railway to the mainline railway. To the east of _Ettlingen Stadt_ are the main workshops of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft, and a turning loop for services terminating in Ettlingen.[11]

At Busenbach, the line splits into two branches, each consisting of single track with passing loops. The branch to Ittersbach initially diverges to the west, before crossing the branch to Bad Herrenalb on a flyover. The line to Bad Herrenalb is long and passes through five intermediate stops before reaching its terminus. The Ittersbach branch is long, and passes through eight intermediate stops before reaching its terminus. Both termini have turning loops.[12]

Passenger services

The passenger services of the _Albtalbahn_ are provided by routes S1 and S11 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which are operated by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG). A typical off-peak service consists of six trains an hour, of which two terminate at Ettlingen, and two each continue to the two branches. More trains may operate during peak periods, and fewer on a Sunday or in the evenings.[13]

The S1 and S11 continue north of the _Albtalbahnhof_, across city tram tracks operated by the Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe, and then to the north of Karlsruhe on the AVG owned _Hardtbahn_ to Hochstetten.[14]

Freight

Freight plays only a minor role on the Alb Valley Railway and is limited to a freight forwarding operation in Busenbach and occasional timber loading in Busenbach. It is hauled by AVG diesel locomotives and the freight wagons are taken over by DB Schenker Rail or SBB Cargo in Karlsruhe freight yard.

Notable stations

[Albtalbahnhof, in front of the system border between trams (front) and railway (behind). The left pair of tracks is used for the Alb Valley Railway and the right pair for Stadtbahn lines S 4/S 41 and S 51]

Karlsruhe Albtalbahnhof

The _Albtalbahnhof_ (Alb Valley station) on Ebertstrasse, which was originally built in 1915, was rebuilt after the gauge conversion with four platform tracks and connected via a triangular junction to the Karlsruhe tram network. A connecting track to Karlstraße allows vehicles to be turned around. The station building was demolished in 1959 and replaced by a low-set building with a ticket office. In 1988, the AVG added a two-span canopy to the station that spans all four tracks.

In 1996, the railway tracks were completely rebuilt during the expansion of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn network. A connecting track was built to Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof, which allows services through the Albtalbahnhof to continue on the lines to Durmersheim and to Karlsruhe-West. Since then, trains on the Alb Valley Railway use platform tracks 3 and 4, while Stadtbahn lines S 4, S 41 and S 51 run on tracks 1 and 2. Supplementary carriage sidings were built in 1996 and extended in 2006. [Ettlingen-Stadt station with the station hall that was built in 1986]

City of Ettlingen

The centre of operations on the Alb Valley Railway is around Ettlingen-Stadt station between Erbprinz and Albgaubad stations. A four-track station canopy has existed at Ettlingen-Stadt station since 1986. The station building houses the central signalling centre for the AVG and a ticket office. The station also includes two workshop sheds, a carriage shed and a freight shed. Several sidings and a turning loop at Albgaubad complement the track layout.

Busenbach

Busenbach station has two platform tracks and to its south the lines to Bad Herrenalb and Ittersbach separate. A platform hall, built as a wood truss in 1990, spans both tracks. The tracks were rebuilt in 2006 and supplemented by a bridge that takes the Ittersbach line over the neighbouring highway, eliminating a very busy level crossing. The main workshop of the AVG, which was built in the early days of the Alb Valley Railway, was west of the line to Herrenalb until 1971. After the construction of the workshop in Ettlingen the old main workshop was closed and replaced by a freight shed.

[Bad Herrenalb station with the stational hall, which has been built in a historic style]

Bad Herrenalb

Bad Herrenalb station was given an historic appearance the end of the 1970s to match the historic steam train services on the Alb Valley Railway. In addition to the canopy built in 1978 that spans all three tracks, a water crane, a historical, mechanical destination display, a bell and a semaphore signal were installed. Parts of the station have been relocated from the original Baden-Baden station, which was abandoned in 1977. The station building has been restored and houses a restaurant business. A modern rail carriage shed completes the station layout.

Notes

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

title: Alb Valley Railway

question: Where is the railway?

answer: Southern Germany

question: Who owns the railway?

answer: Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft

question: When was the first part of the tracks constructed?

answer: 1844

question: When were the tracks first electrified?

answer: 1898

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The Alb Valley Railway is a railway line in southern Germany that runs from Karlsruhe to Bad Herrenalb via Ettlingen. The first component of the like was constructed in 1844. Today, the line is owned by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft.


text:
[]

YRFN’s Response to COVID-19

At York Region Food Network, health is top of mind in everything that we do.

In response to COVID-19, YRFN will be focusing on our food access programs and shifting our resources away from community programming over the next few months.

Here’s what you can expect at YRFN: As of Tuesday, March 17 from 9:30am – 10:30am, our drop-in breakfast will no longer serve seated meals. BREAKFAST WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR TAKEAWAY.   York Region Food Networks knows that this is a hard time for many. If you need information about immediate food assistance, please reach out to us at 905-841-3101 or 4moreinfo@yrfn.ca.

All other YRFN workshops, events and classes are postponed until further notice. This includes Community Cooks and other workshops.

Though we won’t be seeing you in person over the next few months, follow us on social media. YRFN staff will be sharing with you all our favourite recipes and seed starting tips for you to try at home.

Wishing everyone a healthy few months.

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

York Region Emergency Food Resources During COVID-19

[]
Click here or on the image above for a complete list of Covid-19 resources

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

Gift a Box!

[]
So many of you have asked to gift Good Food Boxes to others in the community… so, we’ve set up an initiative to allow just that!

‘Gift a Box’ gives you the opportunity to purchase Good Food Boxes for members of the community facing heightened food insecurity. Far too many households in York Region are struggling with inadequate food access. ‘Gift a Box’ helps to get healthy, fresh produce onto tables across York Region.

To gift a Good Food Box go to: http://ow.ly/TVA650zZWHj

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

A new Good Food Box pickup location

[]
Next order dates are:

Order by September 30, 2020 for pickup on October 7, 2020

Order by October 14, 2020 for pickup on October 28, 2020

Order your Good Food Box here!

We need your help!

We are redesigning our website and are looking for _USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH VOLUNTEERS_.

This role is perfect for anyone with a passion for food and their community. Your work will help us in redesigning our online presence and ensuring that information about food in York Region is easily accessible.

What we need from you:

-   Critically review our online presence and offer constructive feedback
-   Offer feedback about user experience
-   Propose new ideas for enhancing engagement
-   Be part of something that positively impacts the community

If you have some time available, we would appreciate your feedback by September 25, 2020.

If you have any questions, please send an email to 4moreinfo @ yrfn.ca

[Print Friendly, PDF & Email]

question: What are the York Region Food Network doing in response to COVID-19.

answer: They are postponing community events and workshops, they are also changing from a seated breakfast plan to takeaway meals only.

question: Can the community help one another?

answer: Yes, people will be able to give food boxes to others in the community who are struggling.

question: How else can people help?

answer: They can help by volunteering to give feedback on their experience of the new website.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Information regarding the York Region Food Network's response to COVID-19 as well as a request for User Experience feedback on their new website.


text:
MARIA ROSENKRANZ (Mary Rosary) is a Catholic church in Frankfurt-Seckbach, part of Frankfurt am Main. It was completed in 1953. Since 1 January 2015, it is part of the larger parish _St. Josef Frankfurt am Main_, together with five other churches.

After World War II, the Catholic population of Seckbach grew, and a new church was planned to meet the need. It was designed by the Frankfurt architects and Carl Rummel.[1] The ground-breaking was on 16 December 1951. The consecration was on 27 September 1953 by Weihbischof . It became part of the “Pfarrei neuen Typs” (new type parish) St. Josef in Bornheim on 1 Januar 2015,[2] along with Heilig-Kreuz in Bornheim, Heilig Geist in Riederwald and Herz Jesu in Frankfurt-Fechenheim.

[Charakteristic structure] The organ installed in 1953 was built by , originally for the salon of Bertha, Countess von Sierstorpff.[3] It was replaced by a new organ in 1977.

Literature

-   Folker Rochelmeyer: _Seckbach und seine Umgebung._, Frankfurter Sparkasse von 1822 – Polytechnische Gesellschaft (ed.). 1972, 84 p., illustrated.
-   Folker Rochelmeyer: _Festschrift 1100 Jahre Seckbach, 880–1980._ 1980, 151 p., illustrated (chronicle).
-   Walter Sauer: _Seckbacher Geschichte(n), Ein Heimatbuch._ Kultur- und Geschichtsverein 1954 Frankfurt a. M.-Seckbach (ed.). 2000, 164 p., illustrated.
-   _50 Jahre Kultur- und Geschichtsverein 1954 Frankfurt a. M.-Seckbach e. V._ Kultur- und Geschichtsverein 1954 Frankfurt a. M.-Seckbach (ed.). 2004, 53 p., illustrated.

[1] Einladung zu einem geführten Rundgang in der Maria-Rosenkranz-Kirche im Januar 2012

[2]

[3] Franz Bösken: _Quellen und Forschungen zur Orgelgeschichte des Mittelrheins._ Bd. 2: _Das Gebiet des ehemaligen Regierungsbezirks Wiesbaden._ Teil 1 _(A–K)_ p. 329. Schott-Verlag, Mainz 1975, .

title: Maria Rosenkranz, Frankfurt

question: What is Maria Rosenkranz?

answer: Maria Rosenkranz is a Catholic church in Frankfurt am Main.

question: Why was Maria Rosenkranz built?

answer: Maria Rosenkranz was built to meet the need of the growing Catholic population of Seckbach.

question: When was the consecration of the church?

answer: The consecration was on 27 September 1953.

question: Who was the organ installed in 1953 built by?

answer: The organ was built by Countess von Sierstorpff.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Maria Rosenkranz, a Catholic church in Frankfurt am Main, was designed by the Frankfurt architects and Carl Rummel. It was completed in 1953. The organ installed in 1953 was built by Countess von Sierstorpff and was replaced by a new organ in 1977.