text:
[]

Europe's refugee crisis
Germany imposes border controls

The move, taken to reduce the flow of migrants, undermines Europe's free-movement policies

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

GERMANY, only days ago the symbol of European openness in the face of large-scale refugee flows, has reintroduced border controls to “decelerate” the influx of people and restore some semblance of order to their registration. On September 13th Thomas de Maizière, the interior minister, explained Germany’s stunning policy, after giving the order to interrupt train connections between Germany and Austria and to begin spot checks on car traffic across the German-Austrian border.

In effect, Germany is imposing sharp limits on asylum seekers only a week after it had appeared to throw its borders wide open. In the first weekend of September, Angela Merkel, the chancellor, unexpectedly allowed trains to carry refugees from Hungary, where they were stranded, through Austria to Bavaria. More than 20,000 arrived in Munich in that weekend alone. Many were greeted enthusiastically by ordinary Germans eager to help those in need. But Mrs Merkel quickly explained that this was only an “exception” to the existing rules, whereby refugees must in theory apply for EU asylum in the first member state they enter.

As the asylum seekers keep coming day after day—on Saturday more than 10,000 again arrived in Munich alone—Germany says it has hit its logistical limits. The country expects 1m refugees to apply for asylum this year, over four times as many as last year and more than the entire EU took in during 2014. Germany's welcoming stance caused a small rebellion in Mrs Merkel’s own centre-right camp. Various leaders of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrats, called her open-door policy a “grave mistake”. Speaking on September 13th, Horst Seehofer, the premier of Bavaria and boss of the CSU, suggested the new border controls came at his behest.

What may appear as a capitulation by Mrs Merkel, however, is at least in part also a tactical manoeuvre to press the rest of the EU to accept a quota system for asylum seekers—which they might do later today at a gathering of the EU’s interior ministers. Germany, Sweden and Austria, the countries that have been most welcoming toward refugees so far, have long demanded that all member states share the burden in the refugee crisis. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Comission, last week put forth just such a plan. France has indicated support. But other countries, especially in eastern Europe, are balking.

In a press conference with Mrs Merkel on September 7th, Sigmar Gabriel, the vice chancellor and boss of the centre-left Social Democrats who are the junior partners in the governing coalition, had already—albeit subtly—nodded at the leverage Germany holds in the policy debate. Germany borders on more countries than any other state in the EU: nine in total, all in the Schengen area of document-free travel. “We Germans have a great interest in keeping these borders open,” Mr Gabriel said. But if Germany’s neighbours don’t help by accepting more refugees, he added, “the debate can very quickly change completely. That would be a politically dramatic reverse for Europe, and I think a mental one too. But it would also be heavy economic blow...especially for those states that are now saying: ‘We won’t participate.’”

The implication is that, barring an EU compromise, Germany may in future reimpose controls on other borders in addition to the Austrian one. Along with more border checks by other countries—the Czechs have also suggested they would begin policing their border with Austria—this could spell the end of the Schengen area and thus reverse one of the most visible achievements of European integration. The immediate consequence of Germany’s border controls will probably be new bottlenecks downstream in the refugee trails—in Austria, above all—and thus even more border closings. The second and intended consequence, however, might be that the EU finally gets its act together and adopts a new asylum regime.

[]

Why Europe's Schengen area is under threat

question: Summarize everything relating to the chancellor.

answer: Angela Merkel, the chancellor, allowed trains to carry regugees from Hungary through Austria to Bavaria. She explained that this was just an exception to existing rules about applying for asylum. Germany's welcoming stance caused a small rebellion on Merkel's centre-right camp, with various leaders calling her policy a grave mistake. The vice chancellor held a press conference with Merkel on September 7.

question: What does the article say about Germany's motivation for reintroducing border controls?

answer: Germany reinstated border controls to "decelerate" the influx of people and restore some semblance of order to their registration. Germany says that it has hit its logistical limits when it comes to asylum seekers.

question: Summarize everything relating to the relationship between Germany and Austria.

answer: An order was given to interrupt traing connections between Germany and Austria and to perform spot checks on car traffic across the German-Austrian border. The reinstatement of border controls will limit refugee traffic from Austria and result in more border closings.

question: What does the article say about the reasons refugees are seeking asylum?


split: train

text:
This is a list of the flora of South Georgia, an island in the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean, part of the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.[1][2]

Spore producing plants.

-   _Blechnum penna-marina_
-   _Cystopteris fragilis_
-   _Grammitis poeppigiana_
-   _Hymenophyllum falklandicum_
-   _Lycopodium magellanicum_
-   _Ophioglossum crotalophoroides_
-   _Polystichum mohrioides_

Seed plants.

-   _Acaena magellanica_
-   _Acaena magellanica × tenera_
-   _Acaena tenera_
-   _Achillea millefolium_ (Naturalised)
-   _Achillea ptarmica_ (Naturalised)
-   _Agrostis canina_ (Naturalised)
-   _Agrostis capillaris_ (Naturalised)
-   _Alchemilla monticola_ (Naturalised)
-   _Alopecurus geniculatus_ (Naturalised)
-   _Alopecurus magellanicus_
-   _Anthoxanthum odoratum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Anthriscus sylvestris_ (Naturalised)
-   _Avena fatua_ (Naturalised)
-   _Callitriche antarctica_
-   _Capsella bursa-pastoris_ (Naturalised)
-   _Cardamine hirsuta_ (Naturalised)
-   _Carex aquatilis_
-   _Carex nigra_
-   _Carum carvi_ (Naturalised)
-   _Cerastium fontanum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Colobanthus quitensis_
-   _Colobanthus subulatus_
-   _Deschampsia antarctica_
-   _Deschampsia cespitosa_ (Naturalised)
-   _Deschampsia flexuosa_ (Naturalised)
-   _Elytrigia repens_ (Naturalised)
-   _Empetrum rubrum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Festuca contracta_
-   _Festuca ovina_ (Naturalised)
-   _Festuca rubra_ (Naturalised)
-   _Galium antarcticum_
-   _Hieraceum_ sp. (Naturalised)
-   _Hypericum_ sp. (Naturalised)
-   _Juncus filiformis_ (Naturalised)
-   _Juncus inconspicuous_
-   _Juncus scheuchzerioides_
-   _Lolium temulentum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Lotus corniculatus_ (Naturalised)
-   _Montia fontana_
-   _Nardus stricta_ (Naturalised)
-   _Phleum alpinum_
-   _Phleum pratense_ (Naturalised)
-   _Pisum sativum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Poa annua_ (Naturalised)
-   _Poa flabellata_
-   _Poa pratensis_ (Naturalised)
-   _Poa trivialis_ (Naturalised)
-   _Pratia repens_ (Naturalised)
-   _Ranunculus acris_ (Naturalised)
-   _Ranunculus biternatus_
-   _Ranunculus repens_ (Naturalised)
-   _Rostkovia magellanica_
-   _Rumex acetosella_ (Naturalised)
-   _Rumex crispus_ (Naturalised)
-   _Senecio vulgaris_ (Naturalised)
-   _Solanum tuberosum_ (Naturalised)
-   _Stellaria graminea_ (Naturalised)
-   _Stellaria media_ (Naturalised)
-   _Taraxacum officinale_ (Naturalised)
-   _Thlapsis arvense_ (Naturalised)
-   _Trifolium repens_ (Naturalised)
-   _Uncinia macrolepis_
-   _Urtica urens_ (Naturalised)
-   _Vaccinium vitis-idaea_ (Naturalised)
-   _Veronica persica_ (Naturalised)

[1]

[2]

title: Flora of South Georgia

question: What country is South Georgia a territory of?

answer: South Georgia is a territory of the United Kingdom.

question: How many spore producing plants have been recorded on South Georgia?

answer: Seven spore producing plants have been recorded on South Georgia.

question: Does Hymenophyllum falklandicum produce spores or seeds?

answer: Hymenophyllum falklandicum produces spores.

question: Is Cardamine hirsuta considered Naturalised?

answer: Yes, Cardamine hirsuta is considered Naturalised.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: South Georgia is an island in the subantarctic Atlantic Ocean and is home to many plants, both spore producing and seed producing.


text:
my life seems to be in a perpetual state of crumbling decay. I sometimes wander to safe, untouched parts of my life. But those places don’t stay pristine for long as slowly, but surely, the same decay that existed in my previous experiences begins to destroy anything that shines in my life. It seems as though everything in my life has a dull, lackluster coating. Even the sun once warming rays seem to just push me away, as if trying to keep me from infecting anyone elses lives with my disease. But I don’t want to die.

I wish I could say I wasn’t always this way. I wish I could point to the time, the event, that brought me to this lonely state... but sadly no matter how far back I look, my life seems to be haunted by this slow decay. My only rest came from escapes to other worlds through various medias. Movies were the first. I could get lost in the action on the screen, the issues the actors had became my issues. But the illusion would always end quickly and abruptly. And soon after the same state of depression would settle in, only to remind me that my life and world will never be like the one I just experienced. About the same time as I was getting into movies, I picked up reading and video games. This also helped to transport me to new and exciting worlds that haven’t been corrupted by my presence. Books in a series became a drug. I would read one book after another, faster and faster, trying to experience so much of this new world that it might hopefully drown the one I currently exist in. Waiting for the next one to be released was hell. I would try to read ones I had already finished, much like a heroine addict using an old needle trying to get any remaining drops into his system. But then it happened. I finished the final chapter of the final book in the series I cared most about. The world was over. Sure I could daydream about what the character were doing, but it would be in a world that I create, and doomed to be destroyed by my infection.

The author had unknowingly and unintentionally sent me to hell. I tried to reconcile by watching new movies, but with each credit roll of every film I watched I sank further into despair. For each film watched was another world lost or doomed to be devoured by my crushing darkness. But there was hope. I still don’t want to die. Video games seemed to sustain my thirst for the longest but weren’t quite as strong as movies and books as the persons populating the world had trouble with believability. But a renaissance of sorts happened in the video game world, where suddenly characters acted like people. One series in particular caught my attention. It’s world was filled with people you cared about. And they followed you through all three games of the series and game you reasons to care about said individuals. It was amazing. And then it ended... In a blaze of glory for the betterment of everyone, I gave all to save all. Sure, it was just my video game avatar that died. But it took what feels like the rest of my soul with it. The end of that series took away good friends. Friends that I could always talk to. A best friend that followed me through thick and thin. A significant other that always wanted me safe. And all of it was wiped away. It took away such a huge part of me that I refused to believe that it actually happened. That there was some, secret ending that revealed another game was coming out.

But it never came. My hero died, *but I didn’t want to die.* That series was the nail on the coffin. Now every medium I used to escape was tainted. I’ve gone from movie, to book, to video game, trying to capture what I know I once felt. But the corrosion always seems to arrive the moment I land on some other world. It’s maddening. I’ve been contemplating of other actions that can numb my mind to what's around me, but I know these methods will only bring me back to the same place I started, or someplace worse. But I still don’t want to die. At least I don’t think so. I have noticed that I made a rather frightening purchase a while ago. I bought a pistol. Impulse. I had no intention of buying it, but for some reason I was drawn to it. Something about how the metal’s hint of shine. A shine that reminded me of a place I had been before. A part of my life that was once filled with such hope. It felt natural in my hands. Not too heavy, but definitely sturdy enough for heavy use.

I bought it and a case of ammo. Like all new things I buy, I tend to open them up in the car on the way home. It’s a sense of excitement that everyone feel when they purchase a new toy of sorts. by the time I arrived home, I had already loaded a full magazine and had placed one round in the other. I left the gun in my car, bringing only one magazine with me into my home. Fast forward a few days. I was having trouble sleeping one night, so I decided to go for a drive. I drove for a few hours out to the middle of nowhere. I had a blanket in the back for emergency purposes, but decided to pull it out, lay on the ground, and watch the stars. And there it was. The cold black metal slightly reflecting the interior car lights. I grabbed the handgun, the reason I told myself that an animal might attack me and I don’t want to die. So I layed there on the blanket, back on the ground, eyes to the sky. And gun still in hand.

I layed there in silence and without a thought for about an hour when I first noticed it. *I don’t want to die*. It was a phrase that I had said all my life. It was just something I would repeat in my head without any real reason for being said. But for the first time, I noticed it wasn’t just a simple statement; It was a reply. I spoke it again, this time outloud. *“I don’t want to die.”*  I could feel my hand tighten around the grip of gun. *“I Don’t Want to Die.”*  I sat up with the gun in my lap, shining with the light of the moon and stars. *“I DON'T WANT TO DIE.”*  The gun sat there. Tempting me with it’s shine, a shine I wanted so dearly in my life. Multiple thoughts were racing through my head at this point. Phrases “Do it! You deserve this rest! End your suffering!” coursed through my mind. Were these thoughts always there? Were they caused by my corrosive curse? Or were they the very thoughts that caused the pain I was in? ***“I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”*** The barrel felt cold, lifeless. And in one fell motion, I threw the gun away from myself. *“I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die...”* Sweating, I repeated the phrase over and over. *“I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die...”*

I drove home with the radio off that morning, gun in the passenger seat. When I got home, I pulled the bullet out of the magazine, placed the gun and magazines in the safe, and lost the key. I don’t know why I didn't just leave the gun. The bullet... well... I've made it safe. Pulled the primer and drained the powder through drilled holes on the side. Engraved my name in the copper, pulled a string through the new holes and made a necklace out of it. I could have died that night. This necklace helps me remember that I was stronger than that. This bullet was meant to end my life, but now I hope it gives me strength to keep it. It’s got a certain shine...  *“and I don’t want to die...”*

title: Shine

question: What series?

answer: This video game series the narrator loved

question: Why did it taint mediums?

answer: It was so good and in the end the hero dies.

question: Why does the narrator want to numb their mind?

answer: They have always been depressed.

question: Is the narrator suicidal?

answer: A little but doesn't commit suicide when he has the chance

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator uses books, television, and video games to escape from their longtime depression. Although depressed, the narrator always claims that they don't want to die. One day, however, the narrator impulsively buys a gun and bullets. A few days later when the narrator is unable to sleep, they go for a drive and sit and watch the stars with the gun in hand. Though the narrator has the perfect opportunity to end his life right then he finds the strength to  stay alive.


text:
He looked up as Dr. Sun walked into the office. He was nervous; his wife hadn’t been the same lately. He could see that something was wrong. At first he thought nothing of it, but once the quakes started happening he knew she needed to be taken in to see the doctor.

“I’m afraid I have negative news to report to you sir. She’s very ill. She appears to have some sort of parasites on her. They are incredibly destructive. At first her body didn’t recognize them, but now that it has, it’s trying too hard to fight them off.  You may have noticed this. I’m sorry Mr. Neptune, she has a very slim chance of living. She is still very contagious. Try to keep yourself and your family protected.”

 He began to weep, thinking about his family. Together they had six children and a dog, how would he cope without her. He walked into her room and looked at her. Her big beautiful green eyes looked dead, only her salty tears confirmed she was still alive.

title: Mother

question: Summarize the scene.

answer: Mr. Neptune is in Dr. Sun's office to learn the prognosis of his wife. The news is not good, she has a very slim chance of living. Mr. Neptune is worried about their 6 kids and their dog.

question: Explain everything that happens to Mr. Neptune.

answer: He noticed that his wife is not the same. When she started quaking he bought her to the doctor. The doctor confirms that she is in a bad way and will not recover. He is worried about how he is going to cope with his kids and without his wife.

question: Why does Mrs. Neptune cry?

answer: She feels poorly due to a parasite. Her prognosis is serious.

question: Summarize all the information relating to Mrs. Neptune's illness.

answer: Something was wrong, then she started quaking. They went to a doctor. She has parasites that are incredibly destructive. Her body is trying too hard to fight them off. Mrs. Neptune has a very slim chance of living and she is still very contagious.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Mr. Neptune is in Dr. Sun's office to learn the prognosis of his wife. The news is not good, she has a very slim chance of living due to a destructive parasitic infection. Mr. Neptune is worried about how their life will change once his wife passes on.


text:
A '''mine-clearing line charge ''' (abbreviated MICLIC and pronounced or “_mick-lick_”) is used to create a breach in minefields under combat conditions. While there are many types, the basic design is for many explosive charges connected on a line to be projected onto the minefield. The charges explode, detonating any buried mines, thus clearing a path for infantry to cross. The system may either be human-portable or vehicle-mounted. The systems do not guarantee clearance of all types of mines.[1]

History

[Laid out line charge being used to destroy surplus ammunition.] The British and Commonwealth developed their systems during the Second World War. The Canadians developed “Snake”, an oversized application of the Bangalore torpedo in 1941 to 1942. A more flexible development was “Conger”, developed in 1944, a tube that could be fired across the minefield and then filled with explosive before detonation.[2]

Conger was a 2-inch woven hose launched by a five-inch rocket. The tube and rocket were mounted in a Universal Carrier which had been stripped out to reduce it down to an armoured tracked trailer that could be towed by a tank, often a Churchill AVRE. The rocket was fired, trailing the hose across the area to be cleared. Compressed air was then used to pump the liquid explosive - just over a ton of “822C” nitroglycerin - into the hose before it was detonated. Conger was used in Normandy where there were instances of premature detonation.[3]

In the postwar period the British introduced Giant Viper.

In 1991, during the First Gulf War (aka the Persian Gulf War) MICLICs, such as the Giant Viper, consisted of rocket launched lines containing roughly 800 kilograms of explosives, stretching some 100 meters long. These MICLICs were used by Coalition forces to penetrate Saddam Hussein's extensive minefield along the Saudi-Kuwait border.[4]

Current use

Systems in current use include the British Python, which can clear a 7.3 m wide by 180–200 m long path, and the American M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge, which can clear an 8 m wide by 100 m long path.[5] Both are large, heavy systems that are deployed in a vehicle-towed trailer. The US Army also uses the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System, which clears a path 0.6 to 1.0 meters by 45 meters, and is light enough to be carried by two soldiers.

Some modern mines, such as the Italian SB-33 mine, have a fuze mechanism that detonates the mine if subject to gradual, steady pressure, but locks the fuze if subject to a sudden shock. This can defeat the use of mine-clearing line charges to clear such mines.

Examples

-   Charge Line Mine Clearing (Vehicle)-Indian
-   UR-77 (УР-77) Meteorit Mineclearing System (rocket launched explosive hose),[6] replacement of the UR-67 system based on the BTR-50PK chassis.[7]

[1] уБРЕТ-5(ETEL) пЗМБЧМЕОЙЕ ТБЪДЕМБ -ЙОЦЕОЕТОБС ФЕИОЙЛБ. index-texnica.html

[2] https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/981100-schneck.htm

[3] Fletcher, _The Universal Tank_ 1993 HMSO 0 11 290534 X p94

[4] Alberto Bin, Richard Hill and Archer Jones. _Desert Storm: A Forgotten War._ Connecticut: Praeger, 1998, 157. and Roy Boulting. _Modern Warfare: The Persian Gulf War_. Total Content Digital. 2003. DVD.

[5] M58 MICLIC. FAS.org. Retrieved 16 June 2013.

[6]

[7]  Yuri Veremeyev, Zmei Gorinich and URka, Popular Muchanics, May 2007

title: Mine-clearing line charge

question: How does the MICLIC's change over time?

answer: They are first introduced in the Second World War. The Canadians' "Snake" was an oversized Bangalore torpedo while the later "Conger" was a hollow tube to be filled with explosives after being fired over a minefield. They were loaded on an armored carrier or a tank. In 1991, the British used "Giant Viper" which contained 800 kg of explosives over 100 meters. The currents systems include the British Python, which can clear an area of 200x8 meters, and the American M58 which can clear an area of 100x8 meters. Another new setup used in the US Army is the Antipersonnel Obstacle Breaching System, which clears a path 45 meters by 0.6-1 meters, and it can be carried by two soldiers.

question: What does the text say about warmongering?


text:
The only thing legible on the newspaper was January 12th, 2012, as it was ripped apart by the tires of a speeding car on West Avenue. West Avenue was the street Melanie Smith used on her way to and from school every day.

The clock struck three, and the school bell rang. All the children ran out of their classrooms full of liberation with the afternoon now their own. The students came bursting out of the front door of the school as if it were a competition to see who could leave first. After escaping the crowd, Melanie took her normal route home down West Avenue. She noticed a large white van, the type stereotypically used for kidnapping, had been following her since she left school. She wasn’t nervous though. Melanie was full of the adolescent spirit, and she held firmly to the idea that nothing bad could happen to her. The van sped up, and stopped about 30 yards in front of Melanie. As she walked by she was quickly taken into the van by a masked and an unmasked man. The scene was oddly anticlimactic. Real life isn’t much like the movies. There isn’t any considerable competition in terms of strength when it comes to a twelve year old girl and two fully grown men. Once back in the van, the masked man said, “Don’t worry young lady. We aren’t going to hurt you. We’re just trying to get your father’s attention.”
The unmasked driver remained silent.

The idea was the masked and the unmasked man would kidnap Melanie Smith, and by using her Father’s love for her against him they could get leverage over his hefty bank account. At least that was the plan.
Finally the van stopped, and the unmasked driver let out a deep sigh. He turned the van off, unbuckled himself, and got out without saying a word. The ground crunched under his weight as he walked to the sliding side door of the van. His walking stopped and the sound of a gun being cocked pierced the silent air. A moment later a loud echoing shot blew through the van’s door. The masked man inside went limp and slouched over. A dark pool of blood began diffusing from his body. Melanie wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She managed to put up a bigger fight when the unmasked man grabbed her, but she was easily overpowered and carried into a house.
The man chuckled at Melanie’s fear. In a very calm and controlled voice he said, “I was just like you when I was a kid. I was so full of ignorance. Then one day, I came home from school, just like you were a little while ago, and found both of my parents dead. The man who had murdered them was sitting on our couch watching television and drinking beer.” The unmasked man smiled at Melanie and continued, “The man stood up from the couch and walked towards me. I was paralyzed with fear. He grabbed my head, and he said he wanted me to remember him for the rest of my life. So he did this.” The man pointed at his scar which resided from the edge of his lip all the way to his ear. He looked at Melanie with a blank gaze for a few moments, and then he turned and walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. “You want one?” he asked.
Melanie remained silent.

“Yeah, I didn’t like the taste of beer when I was your age either, but it grows on you.” He laughed. “Anyway, let’s get down to business.” The unmasked man grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. It rang until it went to voicemail.

“Hello, this is Richard Smith. I can’t get to the phone right now. Please leave your name and your number. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

The unmasked man sighed and said, “I have your daughter. Call me back at 567-9845, or I’ll kill her.” The phone rang almost as soon as he hung up. The unmasked man was quick and to the point. He demanded that Richard come to the house. Richard Smith was a nice man. He provided for his family the best he could, and he encouraged Melanie in everything she found interest in. Richard even donated a significant amount of money to the local food bank every month, because he thought everyone deserved to be helped. He was the change he wanted to see in the world.

Filled with fear and anger Richard rushed to get all his money that he expected a kidnapper to want, and he went to the address the man had given him. He arrived at the house and ran to the front door. He was greeted with the sight of a man holding a gun to his daughter’s head.

The unmasked man said, “Come in Richard. Have a seat.”

Richard walked across the room and sat down.

“Very good Richard. Can I offer you a beer?”

Richard obviously growing angrier by the moment threw the bag of money to the middle of the room and asked, “Can I please take my daughter and leave? That’s all my money.”

The unmasked man laughed and said, “It’s not about money. Money was my partner’s desire.” He then commanded, “Go into the last room at the end of the hall or I’ll blow your daughter’s brain all over the fucking wall.”

As Richard arrived in the room he was struck in the back of the head with the butt of a gun which knocked him out.

“You back with us Richard?” The unmasked man laughed with glee. Richard came to, and he found himself ducked taped to a metal chair in the middle of a room. In front of him was his daughter.

“Do you know why the nice and peaceful life just doesn’t work Richard? It’s because a nice, relaxing picnic is too easily ended with a machinegun. That’s the reason you’re taped to a chair in some stranger’s house.” The unmasked man let out a sigh. “But don’t worry Richard. When it comes right down to it, I’m no better off than you.” The unmasked man began pacing behind Richard and said, “You see a guy like me, a real bad guy, has the same fate as a good guy like you and a naïve child like Melanie. What we do in life has no meaning in the scheme of it all Richard. It always ends the same.”

Richard began struggling trying to break the tape but his efforts were futile. He looked at his daughter and said, “Everything is going to be alright. I promise.”

The unmasked man stopped pacing and faced Melanie, “Oh no Melanie. Everything is not going to be alright. Things are not alright in the slightest.”

A loud click could be heard from below the floor, and the vents opened.

The unmasked man said, “You’ll be gazing down the yawning void in no time.”

The room gradually filled with poisonous fumes, and Richard, the unmasked man, and Melanie all expired.

title: The Good, Bad, and the Naïve

question: Where do the kidnappers take Melanie?

answer: After the masked kidnapper is killed, the unmasked kidnapper takes Melanie to a house.

question: Who is Melanie Smith?

answer: Melanie is a twelve year old girl who is kidnapped after a day at school.

question: What is the goal of the kidnappers?

answer: The goal of the masked man was to get money from Richard, but the unmasked man just wants to prove that he and Richard have the same fate.

question: How old is Melanie?

answer: She is twelve.

question: Does Melanie get rescued?

answer: No, she dies in the end.

question: Who says "I didn't like the taste of beer"?

answer: The unmasked man says this to Melanie.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Melanie, a twelve year old girl, is kidnapped by a masked and unmasked man. Initially, the goal was to hold her for ransom from her father, Richard. However, the unmasked man kills the masked one and brings Melanie into a house. Richard arrives with money, but the unmasked man isn't interested as he's set on proving that he and Richard share the same fate. He kills himself, Richard, and Melanie with poisonous fumes.


text:
UNICREDIT BANK CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA A.S., is a Czech and Slovak bank based in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The bank was a subsidiary of Italy-based UniCredit Group for 99.96% stake.

History

UNICREDIT BANK CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA A.S. was founded on 1 December 2013 by UNICREDIT BANK CZECH REPUBLIC A.S. absorbed Slovak sister company UniCredit Bank Slovakia a.s..[1] UniCredit Bank Czech Republic itself was founded on 1 October 2006 by the merger of HVB BANK CZECH REPUBLIC A.S. and Živnostenská banka a.s..[2]

The parent company of HVB Bank Czech Republic, German bank HypoVereinsbank (HVB) was acquired by UniCredit Group in 2005. HypoVereinsbank's subsidiary, Bank Austria (aka UniCredit Bank Austria), was the direct parent company of UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia until September 2016. In September 2016 UniCredit S.p.A., the ultimate parent company, acquired the whole Central and Eastern Europe division from subsidiary Bank Austria.[3]

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[2]

[3]

question: Write a ~0 sentence summary.


text:
I'll admit, for a minute I was nervous.

The last thing I wanted was to be tied to this woman for the rest of my life via our child, but I had to know. There was enough doubt to justify my concern for a paternity test so we took one.

This was unfortunate, because despite my complete desire to have nothing to do with her again I didn't want her to suffer any weird legal or financial troubles over a negative. The brief conversation in the waiting room. Looking at the boy. It was already obvious to both of us I wasn't the father but we had already requested the service of the state for verification, and the state will have it's answers.

We parted on friendly terms and have yet to cross paths again. I imagine this is agreeable to both parties, but can only speak for myself.

The results where a little suspicious however.

I had a 0.0000000000000000034768% of being the father.

That's what the lab said. I'm actually guessing here because I don't have the original test results, lost to time and moving, but I'm pretty sure there were more zero's.

There were so many zeros.

I didn't understand the implications immediately other then i wasn't the father. Having never seen a paternity test result before the amount of abnormality flew right over my head. It wasn't until a did some research about the internet and the examination of other paternity tests and their results that it really sunk in. The fact of all those zeros.

It basically said I was .0000000000000000034768 compatible with everyone.

The most dramatic negative test I had observed in other paternity results:  0.01.

People aren't that different, genetically. Like Leggos, all different colors and shapes and able to perfectly fit with one another.

This test told me I was a lincoln log, but it would take me some 10 years to put that together. To realize. To fully understand what those numbers really meant.

Why these things keep happening to me.

You see, I'm not a real person. I mean, I am a real person. I FEEL like a real person. I do real person things. I was born, I'm growing old, I get wounded, my heart has been broken. I do real people things, but I'm not a real person.

I'm property.

I'm a construct. A manufactured person. An Experiment. A Walking reminder of their shame so to speak, and they do not like to feel shame and refuse to acknowledge failure.

I was conceived just like everybody else.. well.. not exactly like everybody else: in a steamy hotel room in New Orleans, my parents a few months shy of graduating LSU and moving back home to Michigan. Dad had been to Vietnam and was attending college under the GI bill for computer science. As he and mom were already married she qualified for all the military health benefits that the early 1970's could provide, and therefor attended military hospitals for paternal care.

I think that's when it happened.

I think maybe they stuck some needle into her womb and injected some genetic cocktail of things. Of course they'd done it before with varying results. I often see others like me. Wandering. Lost. Displaced.

For whatever reason rejected due to some failure: not smart enough, hemophiliac, mentally deficient, etc.

I was rejected because I dislocated my ankle. You see, I wasn't supposed to break. I was supposed to be a super soldier. A new genetically superior, faster, smarter, healing quickly, disease resistant super soldier designed to destroy the enemies of the state alongside a whole generation of other potential super soldiers.

Even after rejection though they never really throw you away, because you carry their secret. The secret of what they did. They have no use for you, but you're still their property. Most of us have already committed suicide. A few because of severe mental impairments, but most are encouraged to. Suggested to. I would say forced to by their creators, in order to hide their shame. Their guilt. If people knew about this the outrage would be enormous. "How DARE you mess with our unborn children like this!" I can almost hear the cries ," How DARE you!"

I might be the last one of my generation still alive. For all I know perhaps I was the only one, but that would hardly an army make.

I'm stubborn you see. I get it from my parents. They gave a me a fortitude and an understanding of what family and love and goodness and compassion and.... They gave me 2 younger brothers to care for. They gave me pets I loved and adored. They showed me what it was to love someone more then yourself.

This is something the state will never understand. The state does not love. The state feeds on suffering and money and I know this better then anyone because more then any of you I am a child of the state and I know how the state treats it's children. It leads them to their deaths under the guise of patriotism and honor. It creates monsters like me to defend it and when we refuse coerces us to suicide or kills us outright.

But like I said.

I'm stubborn.

Somehow with me they got something right. I may bend here, or bleed there, or crack and pop and get ill, but I pass their poisons and I eat their bullets.

First they relied on just how different I was. Hoping the unyielding cruelty of children would break my spirit, but I was a magnet for other abused youth and my reputation as a bully rejector earned me and those around me a degree of peace. Defending the perceived lesser people is a cardinal sin of the perfect state and this single attribute would be my calling card and my noose.

They had contracted gangs, made my whereabouts known to religious zealots looking to end an antichrist, even those Blackwater bastards made an attempt for me while I was at my local recycling center. I've bounced cruise missiles off of my tractor top and skidded safely across teflon coated roads. My indifference to their assaults more insulting and humiliating to them then actually killing my assailants, and to date there isn't a body underground as a direct result of my hand.

So they turned the one thing I had against me, my unyielding loneliness.

My last three girlfriends were either prompted by the state or directly employed by the state to undermine my self confidence. To isolate and create horrible stories of my behavior. To sow the seeds of my total social isolation into a home life of doubt and suspicion. To tell horror stories they had committed and attributed to me, and what better a scapegoat. A person who couldn't prove he was a person. A person made to not look like a person by them. My suicide was imminent, their victory at hand, the total collapse of my familial support network ripped out my inside and left a empty hollow aching so complete was the daily rejection.

More then my family, they manipulated my friends past and present. I had no confidant. The very city where I had grown up and spent the last 20 years in suddenly reacted like it didn't know me. Like it never knew me. Like we had never been friends.

Without having fired a single shot they killed all my friends. My isolation at my parents house allowed for an absence, an undefendable absence what allows doubt and forgetfulness to grow and manifest. Maybe the stories where true? Maybe that sweet little boy grew up to become a monster? Maybe everything I have ever known about my friend is completely wrong?

I would hardly blame anyone for believing it, the argument was convincing. Having an army of marketeers, computer gurus, and thugs who can coerce and intimidate the vocal doubters it would be easy to manifest a world wherein I was the supreme villain. A set of shoulders they could comfortably lay the blame for all their wrong doings and transgressions. A catch-all for future crimes yet to be committed. The perfect patsy.

But still I lived.

I lived and hoped.

I hoped and waited.

I know the truth is a lion. I do not have to defend it. I just have to wait until their lies become unmaintainable. Till the holes in their stories finally grow so large a kindergartner could see through them, until they bury themselves in their own bullshit. Then I would get my life back.

But....

Now you know. And you know what you thought and maybe even what you said. You know what you accepted to reject me and maybe even what you did to me. Maybe it was your job. Maybe you just got caught up with the group, lost yourself in a mob. Maybe you needed me to fail because your successes where equally my successes and my failure would quench all doubts of me having anything to do with you or your life.

So you see, I can never get my life back.

Before I was merely a walking reminder of their shame. They're dirty secret. That hideous mistake they can't even bring themselves to look at.

But now.

Now that you know the truth.

And because you know the truth.

You know I can see it on you.

I am a walking reminder of your shame.

title: It's Easier for you to Label this as Fiction

question: Summarize everything the passage says about the narrator's conception and birth.

answer: The narrator was conceived in a steamy hotel room in New Orleans. His parents were a few month from graduating from university and moving back to Michigan. They were married. His father was in the military and studying computer science. His mother received prenatal care at military hospitals. The narrator thinks he was experimented on while in his mother's womb and while in the care of the military.

question: Explain what the text means by a 0.0000000000000000034768% of being the father.

answer: The narrator requested a paternity test on a child he wasn't sure was his. The result came back that there was a very small chance of him being the father. This result is abnormal compared to the same of other people because it said that the narrator was 0.0000000000000000034768% compatible with everyone. He feels that this is because he was made to be so by the military.

question: Explain why the narrator's friends committed suicide.

answer: The narrator and his experimental counterparts are thought to be a secret that the military is trying to hide and dispose of by being encouraged to commit suicide. The narrators feel they are being forced by their creator to commit suicide in order to hide their shame. If anyone were to find out, there will be outrage.

question: Summarize all the information relating to the purpose the narrator feels he was built for.

answer: He was built to be a super soldier that does not break, does not have any defects. A genetically superior, faster, smarter, healing quicker, disease resistant super soldier designed to destroy the enemies of the state alongside a whole generation of other super soldiers.

question: Describe the different feelings of shame in the story.

answer:
1. The military's shame" The shame of human experimentation and the shame of failing at manufacturing a super soldier.
2. The reader's shame: The reader now has the same knowledge as the narrator. This calls for action and outrage.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator is convinced that he was experimented on as an unborn baby. His theory is that the military attempted to build super soldiers by genetically modifying soldier's babies. He feels that the military is attempting to cover this up by encouraging the people  who was experimented on to commit suicide.


text:
**The Oncoming Storm**

A man sits, watching the stars. His breath calm, his eyes focused.

Five people walk up to the man. All in grey robes. They encircle him looking anxious, at the ready, wary of the man. A man speaks older than the others in his group "We are sorry." As he removes his weapon, a steel sword, from his belt while the man stays silent. The rest bring out their weapons, all made of cold steel glinting in the dark. "We have come to take you in. We know of your plan, we can not allow it."

The man gets up slowly, and the circle of people spring back in defensive position but the man just only speaks. "You warned me once, not to come, but here I am at the end." He says the last bit sardonically. He sigh’s. "It is the only way."

"We thank you, what you did saved us, saved us all. Can’t you see why we forbade you. You are worse than any threat the legion were."

"You thank me, yet in your next breath you still claim what I did was wrong, you still speak of me as a runaway child, not of the one who turned back the legion, the man who united the five armies prevented the fall of the Empire. Without me, you would all be dead." He spits the last words out.

"We argued for patience"

"You argued for **death**!"

The man’s voice silences the very earth. Not a creature, the wind or even the nearby camp of the million men he man commanded could be heard.
"The legion is broken, these men should not be doomed just for your revenge."

The man starts to laugh. "Revenge, I do not do this out of revenge. You have not seen what I have seen, the legion are nothing compared to what is coming."
"Then why do you plan to destroy them and your army, can’t you see it is madness!"

"Madness." As he speaks, he pulls out his own weapon, a weapon not of steel but of black metal. "Madness was watching as the legion broke the borders and we sat doing nothing." As he speaks the man paces the circle, inviting them to attack. "Madness was forbidding those of the order not to join me, madness was watching as the valley of Banyan burn!"

The youngest of the group attacks the man, as his back was turned. As if in slow motion the man turns around, grabs the blade with his hand and uses his own to slice the man’s stomach. "I am sorry little Yanni." The man says as his assailant, little more than a boy collapses to the ground.  "Stop this, you can not win. Put down your weapons and see why I must do this!"

"Yanni, no!" An older man, the boy’s teacher react’s at the loss of his pupil. He can not hold back his own attack, and strikes a blow, but the man blocks it with his own sword.
"Gabriel, I am truly sorry." The man’s foot comes out of no where and pushes Gabriel to back, and he falls to the ground. The man pounces down but his strikes was stopped by another of the order. The man spins and finds room away from the group.

 "Ah, Omar. I had always hoped to fight you, but upon different circumstances." Omar’s eyed the man while he extends his hand to Gabriel, bringing him up off the ground.

"As you warned me once, and I did not listen, I now shall warn you, and know you will not listen. Drop your weapons."

The old man of the order speaks, "We can not. Attack!" The old man charges forward and his fellow order members join in the fray. The man responds not with a block but with a jump forward stabbing the old man in the chest. The other’s seemingly uncaring with the loss of the old man attack the man but he pulls out his weapon quickly to block the strike to his left while using the old man as a shield to block the one from his left. Out of nowhere Omar blade comes forward striking. The man escapes downward but Omar’s blade pierces his cheek.

**"Enough"** The man’s speaks and the the ground convulses.

The order members fall to the ground violently. All except Omar who ignores the rumbling ground. He charges towards the man, the shaking ground seemingly nothing to him. Omar’s blade comes over his head but suddenly he stops, and falls, an arrow in his back.

The man see’s a woman, her hair white, walk over, knocking the order’s men out with her blunted weapon. "It is time Arashi, the sun is rising." Her voice is sorrowful, she knows what is about to happen.

The man nods, "I sense it."

The woman, picks her arrow from Omar’s body and walk back to the camp.
The man starts tying up the surviving order, his thoughts of their use and of the oncoming storm.
"Arashi, you must not do this."

"The old man lives, huh." Arashi walks toward the old man, and get on his knees. "Teacher, the world is burning, this will stop it. You must see why I do this"

The old man’s voice gets quieter as he speaks, "What you are doing is wrong."

Arashi speaks pulling out another weapon, a small black knife, "I know." A black knife pierces the man’s heart.

title: The Oncoming Storm

question: Summarize the various casualties during the course of the story.

answer: Yanni, the youngest of the group, is first to be killed by Arashi, who slices Yanni's stomach. Omar is then shot in the back by an arrow. Arashi then pierces the old man's heart with a small black knife.

question: Summarize the sequence of opponents Arashi faces off against.

answer: The first to attack is Yanni, the youngest of the group. Then an older man, Gabriel, Yanni's teacher, strikes, only to be pushed to the ground. Omar, another member of the order stops Arashi from killing Gabriel. The other members of the order then join the fray.

question: What does the story say about Arashi's history with the woman?

question: Summarize the various forms of weaponry that are used during the battle.

answer: A man removes a steel sword from his belt. Arashi pulls out his own weapon, made of black metal. Arashi uses his blade to slice Yanni's stomach. Gabriel attacks, but Arashi blocks the attack with his sword. Omar attacks with his blade, piercing Arashi's cheek. Omar is then shot in the back with an arrow. Finally, Arashi uses a small black knife to pierce the old man's heart.


text:
January 18, 1952

It was the dead of winter on the hollowed grounds of the Turner family’s vacation estate in northern Colorado. All was calm and quiet across the endless array of rolling hills, which so plainly swept through the ancient valley.
Mr. and Mrs. Turner were in a hurry, as they rushed to slide their coats on. Maurine Daniels, a seventeen-year-old New Yorker, new to Colorado helped them out the door.
“Alrite Maurine, emergency contacts on the fridge, there’s some games and food in the kitchen, no sweets for either of them, and off to bed at nine thirty, no exceptions.” “You two just have fun, we’ll be fine here.” Mrs. Turner chimed in; honestly Roger, trust the girl”, she said with a chuckle. “Maurine dear, if there’s anything at all you need don’t hesitate to give us a ring. Mr. Turners been a bit grouchy. Tonight the American Psychiatric Association is recognizing him for his contributions to the field.  “I swear, it’s year after year with these people.”  “Oh come on you old grouch. Bye kids!”
 The Turners dashed out the door. The skies opened up as heavy rain began to plummet down. Maurine shut the door as she heard the revving of an engine. The lights flashed on as the car zipped down the driveway.
	A few hours passed as Cindy and John played board game after board game with their baby sitter who forced a smile and pictured money. The clock struck nine thirty as Maurine lit up with anticipation. “Okay kids. Time for bed.” “Ten more minutes?” “John your father said no exceptions.” The children ran upstairs and hurried off to bed.
	Maurine dropped to the couch as if she had been shot. She rolled over, got up and turned on the television. “Thank God these kids don’t argue that much”, she thought to herself.  Suddenly the phone rang.
	Maurine walked over to pick it up. “Hello?” She could hear nothing more than a slight crinkling sound. “Hello?” After hanging up the phone she fell fast asleep. A few minutes later Cindy came downstairs.
	“What are you doing up?” asked Maurine playfully with a yawn. “I can’t sleep.” “Why, what’s wrong?” “The statue in my room is scary.” “Come on, we’ll take care of it. Let’s go see.” The two walked up the endless staircase to Cindy and John’s room.
	Maurine paced the vast room. She saw three statues. There was a knight, a clown, and a half-sized sculpture of a horse. She covered all three admittedly frightening figures. “All better. Now off to bed you”, said Maurine with a warm smile. Cindy smiled back and hopped into bed. “Good night.”
	Maurine went back downstairs and the phone rang as soon as she hit the couch. She rushed to the phone this time. “Hello?” “Maurine dear, its Mrs. Turner. I just wanted to check in. How are the kids?” “They’ve been perfect angels. I just put Cindy back to bed.” “Oh is she making a fuss?” “No she couldn’t sleep because of the clown statue in her room.” There was a long pause.
“Darling, there’s no clown statue.” “The one across from her bed?” Mrs. Turner went hysterical on the other end of the phone.
“Get the children out of the house! I’ll phone the police!” Mrs. Turner hung up.
	Maurine was confused. She walked up the stairs and slowly began to realize the horrific reality of her situation. At the same time, it hit her all at once. She panicked and exploded up the stairs, anxiously swung the door open, saw two of three statues, and the kids were gone. “Shit!”
There was an open window, which so calmly introduced the howling of winds that blew the white curtains of the children’s bedroom. They looked like ghosts dancing, taunting her.
 	She sprinted to the opening and gazed out into the endless flash of white that appeared to be the beginnings of a blizzard. Maurine hopped out the window onto the massive ledge, which canopied over the second floor porch on the massive three-story estate. She looked around, there was nothing in sight, and nowhere they could have gone.
 As she gazed into the far distance, she could make out what seemed to be a colossal barn. “Its too far away”, she thought to herself in a panicky disposition. She noticed a tiny window on the great wooden barn. It illuminated the pitch white of the furious storm.
Maurine’s eyes entranced, a chill ran down her spine, not from the five-degree monster that gave her frostbite, but from the nightmare that was her reality.
She rushed across the glowing white desert and bombarded the monstrous wooden door to find both Cindy and John asleep on the ground. Maurine rushed over and picked them up. She cried at the thought of her certainty that there was a clown lurking somewhere in the barn.
 She realized her intuition to be fact when the door slammed shut before she could set foot to freedom.
The clown “statue” glared at her and slowly paced her way, plank-by-plank, creak-by-creak.
She could feel herself stepping backward. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?” The clown, who stood in a narrow doorway, began to cackle wildly. He had a crackly thunderous voice. The kind of voice one gets from smoking three packs a day for over thirty years.
 “Why don’t you know my name?” “Oh my God, who are you?” she begged. “Oh I’m just -.”
Out of nowhere, the clown had a face of shock, he froze as his eyes widened and his expression went stoic. He fell to the ground. Maurine looked at the children and slowly made her way to the clown. There was a huge stab wound in his back. The monster laid face first in a pool of its own blood.
Maurine ran back to see who had saved her. “Oh thank . . . you.” Maurine stood there disappointed, her rescuer was nowhere in sight. She took the kids back to the house. Twenty minutes passed, and another hour before the Turners arrived. “Mommy, daddy!” yelled the children as they leapt into their parent’s arms. Mrs. Turner was in tears; “I’m just glad you’re all unharmed.” Mr. Turner walked up to a detective. “Who was this man and what did he want with my children?”
 The detective looked around and pulled Mr. Turner aside. He slowly leaned in and whispered; “He wasn’t after you or you’re kids. He knew Maurine would be here tonight. His name’s Douglas Daniels, no relation. He followed her from New York. He’s an old neighbor.”
“Who killed him?” “We aren’t sure.” Maurine was grateful to be alive. A detective came downstairs. “Ms. Daniels, you said there were three statues.” “There were.” “We only found a small horse statue.” “No there was that, the clown, and a . . . there was a knight.”
Another detective came down; “we found a sword with blood on the ridge.” Maurine felt that same chill she had when the window lit up, only this time a smile crossed her face.

title: Silent Ridge

question: Who is the main character?

answer: Maurine Daniels, a 17-year-old girl; she's the babysitter.

question: What does the title, Silent Ridge, refer to?

answer: It doesn't explicitly state; I assume it's the name of the vacation estate.

question: Does a conflict occur? Is it resolved?

answer: While babysitting, one of the children comes downstairs unable to sleep because of the scary statues in her room. Maurine takes her back upstairs and covers the statues. The parents call shortly after to check on the kids. Maurine relays the information about Cindy being unable to sleep. The mother hysterically tells Maurine to get the kids out of the house because there aren't any statues in Cindy's room. When Maurine goes back upstairs, both kids are gone. She finds them in the barn being held by the clown. The clown comes after her. Someone kills the clown. Later she discovers it was the other statue.

question: When does the story take place?

answer: It seems to be modern times.

question: Write a ~11 sentence summary.

answer: Maurine newly moved from NY is babysitting the Turner kids. While babysitting, one of the children comes downstairs unable to sleep because of the scary statues in her room. Maurine takes her back upstairs and covers the statues. The parents call shortly after to check on the kids. Maurine relays the information about Cindy being unable to sleep. The mother hysterically tells Maurine to get the kids out of the house because there aren't any statues in Cindy's room. When Maurine goes back upstairs, both kids are gone. She finds them in the barn being held by the clown. The clown comes after her. Someone kills the clown, who was actually a neighbor from NY that followed Maurine to the Turner's house. Later she discovers it the other statue killed the clown.


text:
CLADONEMATIDAE is a small family of anthomedusan hydrozoans. They have stolonal hydroid colonies, and their medusae are benthic and can crawl across the sediment; in many species they have lost the ability to swim however.[1]

Several members of this lineage were formerly considered a separate family ELEUTHERIIDAE.[2]

Description

The hydranths have a circular mouth surrounded by a single whorl of adhesive tentacles which each bear a little knob at the tip; in some Cladonematidae an aboral whorl of thread-like unknobbed tentacles is also present. They have a preoral chamber formed by epidermal gland cells.[3]

The medusae bud off at the base of the hydrants, though where aboral tentacle are present these are located between the stolons and the budding sites. Cladonematidae medusae have a various extend of nematocysts around their umbrellar margin, varying between a continuous dense ring to none at all among the species. The number of radial canals and whether they are branched or not is variable in this family. Their marginal is branched, with nematocyst clusters on the upper and adhesive organs on the lower branches. The manubrium is cylindrical and in some has perradial pouches and/or above it a dorsal brood pouch; the gonads either surround the manubrium entirely or are carried on manubrial extrusions or (if present) the brood pouch. The mouth is bordered either with clusters of nematocysts, or with short lips of tissue, or fringed with branching tentacles. The tentacle bases abaxially bear ocelli.[4]

Genera

There are three genera recognized:[5]

-   _Cladonema_ Dujardin, 1843 (including _Stauridia , Stauridium_ )
-   _Eleutheria_ Quatrefages, 1842 (including _Clavatella_ , _Herpusa_ )
-   _Staurocladia_ Hartlaub, 1917

Invalid genera

-   _Dendronema_ Haeckel, 1879 (_nomen dubium_)

Footnotes

[1] Schuchert [2009]

[2] WoRMS

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: Cladonematidae

question: How can you describe what Cladonematidae are?

answer: They are a small family of anthomedusan hydrozoans.

question: What is a feature that many species have lost in this family?

answer: Many species in this family have lost the ability to swim.

question: What is a general description of how the hydranths look?

answer: The hydranths have a circular mouth surrounded by a single whorl of adhesive tentacles, which bear a little knob at the tip.

question: What are the three genera that are recognized called?

answer: The three general that are recognized are called: Cladonema Dujardin, Eleutheria Quatrefages, Staurocladia Hartlaub.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article describes the small family of anthomedusan hydrozoans, called Cladonematidae. A detailed physical description of the species is provided.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Are you mad at me Zack?"

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

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

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

She still sat in silence.

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

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

"What if we did something dangerous?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Mindy, you know you want this."

She knew.

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

A single hot tear ran down her cheek.

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

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

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

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

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

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

question: Describe the two on the date

answer: Zack wants to be a criminal and Mindy is plain. Zack convinces Mindy to kill her sister and join him in a life of crime.

question: What happens to Mindy's sister?

answer: Mindy kills her with Zack's gun.

question: Why does Mindy decide to become a criminal?

answer: Zack convinces her.

question: Why does Zack want to be a criminal?

answer: He thinks he;d be good at it and it's an interesting life.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Zack and Mindy are on a date when Zack convinces Mindy to kill her sister and join him as a criminal.


text:
He pinched the sweaty glass between his thumb and middle finger, swirling the last watered down sip of regret. His other elbow was firmly planted on the bar, propping up his shame and providing a perch for a smouldering cigarette.
The air was saturated with silky strands of smoke from all of the broken machines occupying the bar. It was a sickening environment.

The last swig went back fast and was swallowed hard. His still moist fingertips took on a new task and swept inwards, drawing across closed eyelids and meeting with a squeeze at the bridge of his nose. "Why now?" He rhetorically asked himself. "Why the fuck does it fall apart now?"
He caught himself anxiously bouncing his leg, and upon stopping, all the motion and subconscious thought reverberated back inside, cutting through the alcoholic haze to agitate an already over-burdened mind. He cracked.

With a quivering lip he murmured "thanks" to the bartender and dropped the crumpled up twenty dollar bills beside the ashtray. He stood up, fumbled pathetically with his jacket zipper, and made for the door while fighting back tears. Ignoring two familiar faces as drove through the doorway, and into the damp rainy darkness. Street lights glistened on the wet pavement, and, having no cover, the rain allowed him to let the tears flow without prejudice.

 With his face buried in his collar, he began his somber drudge home to an empty house, and in the midst of it all, allowed himself one minor thought of luxury: "There's always tomorrow".

title: Hi, all. First post and a short one: "Last call."

question: What does the man say as he leaves?

answer: "There's always tomorrow."

question: Where is the man?

answer: He is in a bar.

question: What is the man holding?

answer: He holds a glass of alcohol.

question: As the man walks what does he do?

answer: He cries in the rain.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: A man sits at a bar drinking alcohol. He asks why it had to happen now. The bar closes and the man drops a twenty dollar bill next to the ash tray. He leaves and walks in the rain, letting it hide his tears. As he walks he reminds himself there is always tomorrow.


text:
ALEXEY YURIEVICH DEDOV () (born 26 September 1960) is a Soviet-Russian diplomat who served as Ambassador of Russia to Pakistan between 2013 and 2019.[1] He often penned articles in _The Express Tribune_ since 2015.[2]

Dedov studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, graduating in 1982 and joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that year. He had several assignments both within the Foreign Ministry, and abroad with Russian diplomatic missions.[3] From 2004 until 2009 he was the Deputy Head of Mission of the Russian Embassy in Iran. He then served as a Head of Division in the Second Asian Department from 2009 to 2010 and then as Deputy Director of the department from January 2010 until December 2013. He was then appointed Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and presented his credentials to President Mamnoon Hussain on 27 February 2014.[4] He was relieved as ambassador on 11 April 2019.[5]

Dedov was given the rank of the Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, 2nd class on 29 December 2006, and on 21 July 2015 was advanced to Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, 1st class.[6]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

title: Alexey Dedov

question: When was Alexey Yurievich Dedov born?

answer: 26 September 1960.

question: Where did Dedov study?

answer: The Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

question: When did Dedov graduate?

answer: 1982.

question: To what country was Dedov an ambassador between 2013 and 2019?

answer: Pakistan

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The article is summary of a Soviet-Russian diplomat, Alexey Yurievich Dedov, his qualifications and his professional life.


text:
_'IT'S FUN, LIKE A COMIC BOOK,' SAYS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN_

Director Christopher Nolan says the new Batman film will be "dumb, colorful fun" for all ages.

HOLLYWOOD, CA—Stating that "the time has come for a tonal shift" in the blockbuster series, director Christopher Nolan announced Thursday that the forthcoming Batman film _The Dark Knight Rises_ would take a lighter, more humorous tone than its predecessors, and would be filled with "slapstick, primary colors, and just plain old fun."

"I was somewhat happy with the first two films—probing the psychological landscape of Gotham from an adult perspective is sort of neat, if you like that kind of thing," Nolan told reporters at a promotional event. "But then I realized, 'Hey, what am I doing? Batman is a superhero. Superheroes are supposed to be fun and for kids.' So this time around, I wanted to make something nice and light and simple, because people aren't looking for a civics lesson with Batman. They just want some pleasant, mindless diversion."

"After all, we're talking about a comic-book movie here," Nolan added. "Let's lighten things up a bit, shall we?"

According to Nolan, in early script meetings for the sequel, proposed plot threads tended to focus on familiar themes of the pained inner life of Bruce Wayne/Batman, his complicated relationship with Gotham law enforcement, the depraved nihilism of the city's criminal element, and the crushing weight of his traumatic memory of his parents' murder.

However, Nolan said, he soon grew weary of the treatment's often somber and starkly realistic tone, and opted instead to focus on the fact that Batman comes from an "enjoyable little picture book" and should therefore not be approached with such grave solemnity.

"It hit me all of a sudden that comic books are really just silly and frivolous things, and that the people who read them are primarily children or fun-loving adults who are looking for a cheery, good old-fashioned romp," Nolan said. "I mean, it's Batman, for God's sake, not _Richard III_. We should just go goofy with it. And so we did."

The film's screenplay, co-written with veteran film and television writer Lorenzo Semple Jr., reportedly concerns a coalition of villains who form a "Batman Revenge Society." The groups aims to murder Batman (Christian Bale) with, at various times, a plummeting steel safe, jets of cyanide gas concealed in a stuffed moose head, a trapdoor over a shark tank, a beautifully wrapped but ticking gift box, a gorilla trained to go berserk when it sees Batman, a sexy but ungrounded female robot, and a Rube Goldberg–style contraption that, roughly 90 seconds after activation, propels a whirling buzz saw blade into the midsection of whoever is standing on a painted bull's-eye target.

"I feel like I really went back to Batman's roots and discovered the character's true essence," Nolan said. "And that essence turned out to be in the Batman comics from 1940 through 1970, the 1960s Adam West series, the 1970s _Super Friends_ episodes, the actually quite enjoyable films of Joel Schumacher, and Batman's cameo appearances on _Scooby-Doo_. These were my creative touchstones as I completed my trilogy."

Nolan promised the new film would whisk children of all ages into the fun four-color world of Gotham City, and delight them with whimsical surprises, including an extended car chase through a paint factory, zoo, and outdoor wedding; a new Batmobile whose onboard computer is programmed with a childlike personality able to honk its horn to signal approval or retreat into an alley when scared; and a humorous subplot concerning the inability of Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) to get a Murphy bed to stay down.

The director also said _Rises_ would be the "most merchandisable" Batman film in years, and he promised a vast array of licensed tie-ins, from infant onesies and light-up children's shoes to an expansion module for the _Lego Batman_ video game and a special _Dark Knight Rises_ edition of Monopoly featuring all the zany locations and characters from the film.

"Best of all, there will be absolutely none of the confusing moral ambiguity that dragged down _The Dark Knight_," Nolan said. "People don't want all that pompous 'Who's the real monster, Batman or the criminals he pursues?' junk. They want to see the Joker get a big sockeroo on the chin and get tangled up in a net. That's classic funny-book entertainment."

"Needless to say, no one could ever replace Heath Ledger as the Joker," Nolan added, "but I have to say that Rob Schneider stepped up like a pro. He's just naturally funny and a real cutup, which is what you want in the Joker."

Nolan confirmed he is open to continuing the franchise indefinitely on an accelerated pace of up to one feature per year, "as long as people keep going to see them," and he has asked fans to participate in a DC Comics online poll to select the next film's villains.

"As long as I get to give the movie-going public the whiz-bang action and goofy comedy they crave, I'm artistically satisfied," he added.

Opening July 20, _The Dark Knight Rises_ stars Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and the yet-to-be-announced winner of the Nickelodeon/Capri Sun "I Wanna Co-star with Batman" Sweepstakes as either Robin or Batgirl.

question: What was the motivation behind changing the tone of the most Batman movie franchise?

answer: The Director decided to pursue the light and simple aspects of the superhero that originated in comic books for children. He decided to have some fun and lighten things up a little. The director says that he went back and discovered the character's roots.

question: How has the new movie changed from the previous Batman movies?

answer: It has taken on a lighter more humorous tone. The film will whisk watcher into the fun world of Gotham City and delight them with surprises throughout. Director said that they have also omitted the moral ambiguity that was present in the Dark Night

question: What is the source of the moral ambiguity in the Dark Knight?

question: Why does Nolan compare Batman to Richard III?

answer: Richard III is a Shakesperean tragedy filled with serious drama. In his view, Batman shouldn't be that serious. Batman is a comic book hero and should be lighthearted and full of fun.


text:
_TOXICODRYAS PULVERULENTA_, commonly known as FISCHER'S CAT SNAKE or FISCHER'S TREE SNAKE, is a species of rear-fanged venomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is native to Sub-Saharan Africa. [Juvenile colouration pattern]

Etymology

The common names of _T. pulverulenta_ are in honour of German herpetologist Johann Gustav Fischer, who originally described this snake as a species new to science.[1]

Geographic range

_T. pulverulenta_ is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.[2]

Reproduction

_T. pulverulenta_ is oviparous.[3]

[1] Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). _The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles_. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (_Boiga pulverulenta_, p. 90).

[2]

[3]

title: Toxicodryas pulverulenta

question: What is toxicodryas pulverulenta?

answer: A species of rear-fanged venomous snake native to Sub-Saharan Africa, commonly known as Fischer's cat snake or Fischer's tree snake.

question: Where did the name come from?

answer: The common names come from German herpetologist Johann Gustav Fischer, who introduced this snake as a species new to science.

question: How does it reproduce?

answer: It is oviparous. [This means it lays eggs externally.]

question: Where is it located?

answer: It is native to Sub-Saharan Africa and is found in the following countries: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The toxicodryas pulverulenta, commonly known as Fischer's cat/tree snake is a species of venomous snake native to Sub-Saharan Africa.


text:
Bourdain contributed to the creation of the premium chocolate with his friend Éric Ripert, who is known for his expertise in French cuisine. The two even started a show called Good & Evil – that was how the product was originally named – in which they talked about their journey of experiencing dishes across the world.

But how did a chef, who was a self-proclaimed _“Hershey guy”_ (according to an industry expert he worked with), later become a high quality chocolate connoisseur? The story started in 2013 when Bourdain went on a trip to a cocoa farm in Northern Peru as part of his _“Parts Unknown”_ TV show.

_“It was probably his firs time to be on a cocoa farm,”_ said Dan Pearson, the president of Marañón Chocolate, when asked to describe his first encounter with the CNN star.

_“I spent four days with Anthony. He was personable and funny and all his conversations were spontaneous as they always were on his shows,”_ Pearson said.

_“One time he was telling me that he thought Cheetos were the worst food on the planet because they are made so that the device [in human brain] that tells you’re full doesn’t go off,”_ and that reminded Bourdain of his past heroin addiction which he fought almost every day until he turned 39 years old.

  Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/LbIeZK14ia

  — Eric Ripert (@ericripert) June 8, 2018

Marañón Chocolate previously supplied cocoa beans for Éclat Chocolate to make the Good & Evil bars. But during that trip to Peru, Pearson said it was more than just a bar that came to fruition, he saw the connection between Bourdain and local cocoa farmers.

The farm Pearson sources cocoa beans from is located near the Marañón Canyon, a seven hours drive from Peru’s northeastern city, Chiclayo.

It is an unusual place since the farm is situated at 4,200 feet above the sea level (most cocoa beans grow at 1,000 feet or less) and it is home to the recently rediscovered white cocoa beans that were destroyed by diseases in Ecuador about 100 years ago.

_“We were asked by the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture not to disclose the exact location of the town to protect the farmers and their national treasure – white cocoa beans, which the USDA verified as ‘pure national’,”_ Pearson told ConfectioneryNews.

He noted Bourdain at the time also agreed to comply with the local government’s request and did not reveal the location of the farm in the _Parts Unknown_ Peru episode.

In fact, _“all the visitors we take to the Marañón Canyon sign a non-disclosure statement. No one has ever violated that statement – which Anthony thought made a better story for the cocoa beans,”_ added Pearson.

In his Peru episode, Bourdain can be heard describing his hiking trip to the cocoa farm with his friend Ripert and the farm owner Don Fortunato as an “_epic hump of one hill after another… When I’ve slumped to the ground and urinated all over myself, that would be a tip that I probably want to stop.”_

Indeed, when the _Parts Unknown_ film crew reached 3,200 feet up the hill, Pearson said Bourdain had to sit down three or four times _“because he was just out of breath.”_ He later recalled that trip motivated Bourdain to work out when he returned to New York by taking up jiu-jitsu and karate classes.

On top of the hill sits an agro-farming community where farmers grow six different crops including cocoa, according to Pearson. There, Fortunato showcased the whole process to Bourdain from taking cocoa beans out of their pods to taking them down to the fermenting and drying facility.

_“[Bourdain] was very inquisitive about what makes certain chocolate fine products – that was when he decided to make a chocolate brand with his name on it,”_ said Pearson.

_“But he also wanted to make a contribution to the farmers after seeing the conditions they lived in – houses built with mud and straw, surrounded by dirt roads,”_ he added. _“The town was kind of frozen in time, and it just got electricity two years ago.”_

[wood fire cooking Canyon]
"Women in those farming households cooked indoors using wood which is very expensive, and their ventilation was poor," said Pearson.

Bourdain made a _“sizable contribution”_ to farmers, according to Pearson. In addition to cooking for Fortunato’s family during his visit and introducing his daughter to some of the most famous chefs in Lima, Bourdain teamed up with Ripert, Curtin and Pearson to improve farmers’ in-house cooking conditions.

Bourdain wanted all these efforts to be anonymous, said Pearson.

_“What happened was that rice is grown by many farmers in the canyon. The rice hulls are removed by the machine, and huge piles of rice husks are created which can spontaneously combust, and the smoke is toxic,”_ he explained.

However, _“women in those farming households cooked indoors using wood which is very expensive, and their ventilation was poor, so we found a rice stove design that could use those husks to cook and not be toxic when burning… the rice hulls are free. Anthony, Eric and Chris made substantial cash contributions to making rice burning stoves and gave them to many farm families,”_ he said.

Bourdain’s  co-created Good & Evil chocolate pushed other manufacturers to source cocoa beans from the same Peruvian farm.

Pearson noted, during his four-day stay with Bourdain, the star chef seemed to have _“an affinity with cocoa farmers,”_ even though he couldn’t speak Spanish.

At one point, Pearson recalled that Bourdain was lost in his own thoughts and said, _“these people [farmers] are so content and happy. What the hell am I doing in New York City?”_

_“I didn’t reply because I didn’t think he was talking to me in particular, but I thought it was a ‘whistle comment’ [signaling Bourdain’s dissatisfaction with his own life],”_ he told us.

Fast forward to earlier this month when news of Bourdain’s suicide came out. The food industry was devastated. So were Ripert, Curtin and Pearson.

Ripert tweeted, _“Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being… One of the great storytellers who connected with so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart.”_

The Good & Evil bars, once created partly to pay tribute to Ripert’s friendship with Bourdain, might not be available on Éclat Chocolate’s site again. But on the company’s Instagram, a black and white image of Bourdain standing against a cocoa tree is there to stay.

The caption says, _“I’ll never forget Anthony’s kindness and generosity. The rippling effect will continue to touch all who knew him.”_

question: What the the article say about Anthony Bourdain?

answer: Anthony Bourdain was a chef who became a high-quality chocolate connoisseur. He contributed to the creation of premium chocolate with his friend Éric Ripert. Bourdain struggled with a heroin addiction. He travelled South America with his show Good & Evil. He anonymously contributed to farmers who cultivated cocoa beans. He died unfortunately.


text:
[The White House is shown. | NIKO DUFFY/POLITICO]

The meeting is likely to set the stage for the unveiling of the W.H.’s white paper on online privacy. | POLITICO Staff

Major stakeholders in the online privacy debate are being invited to the White House on Thursday for an event about the administration’s next steps to protect consumers on the Internet.

The meeting, confirmed by three invited sources, is likely to set the stage for the public unveiling of the administration’s highly anticipated white paper on online privacy, which has been more than a year in the making. The white paper is expected to call for a consumer privacy bill of rights from Congress, while charging industry to police itself under the watch of federal regulators.

“In today’s information economy, privacy has emerged as an increasingly important challenge as we work to ensure the protection of consumer information while supporting the growth of the 21st century economy,” reads the invite, obtained by POLITICO.

“We hope you can join us to discuss this important issue and steps we’ll be taking in the coming months,” it continues.

A spokeswoman at the White House did not return calls about the meeting on Tuesday. The Commerce Department, which shepherded its early green paper on privacy into the administration’s coming policy paper, also did not comment on the timing.

Online privacy has returned to the headlines this month — particularly as Google seeks to revise its privacy practices on March 1, even as it takes heat for working around the privacy settings of the Safari and Internet Explorer browsers.

_This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:18 p.m. on February 21, 2012_.

question: What is the main subject of the article?

answer: An invite to a meeting at the White House during which the administration is expected to unveil a new white paper on online privacy

question: Approximately when was the article written?

answer: Based on the postscript, February 2012

question: According to the author, why has online privacy made headlines recently?

answer: Google is seeking to revise their privacy practices

question: What does the author expect the white paper to call for?

answer: The paper will call for a consumer privacy bill of rights

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The author describes an upcoming meeting at the White House during which the administration is expected to unveil a new white paper on online privacy.


text: An aged man, a veteran of one of an incessant stream of foreign wars, sits in his summerhouse in a compact flint-walled garden. A small patch of sweet peas grows nearby, as does a solitary cherry tree which for lack of bees this year bore no fruit ...

title: Aesculus Hippocastanum — A Short Story

question: Who is the aged man?

answer: A veteran of a foreign war.

question: Where does this take place?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Who does he live with?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Does he have a family?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: An aged veteran sits in his summerhouse in a compact garden. A small patch of sweet peas grows nearby, as does a solitary cherry tree which for lack of bees this year bore no fruit.


text:
THE ESCAPE CLUB are an English pop rock band that was formed in London in 1983. They are best known for their 1988 No. 1 US hit “Wild, Wild West” and for their top-ten 1991 hit “I'll Be There”.

History

The band formed in 1983, comprising Mad Shadows members lead singer/rhythm guitarist Trevor Steel and guitarist John Holliday, along with former Expressos members bassist Johnnie Christo (a.k.a. John Christoforou[1]) and drummer Milan Zekavica. The seeds for the formation of The Escape Club were sown when Zekavica joined Steel and Holliday in Mad Shadows, who subsequently performed on an album by the obscure early 1980s Stephen Milford-fronted new wave outfit Planning by Numbers.[2][3] Before long, Christo had also joined the lineup, and The Escape Club was born. The fledgling band quickly released the single “Breathing”.[4]

In 1985 The Escape Club signed with EMI and recorded the album _White Fields_, which was released the following year. In 1987, the group moved to Atlantic Records and began recording their next album, _Wild Wild West_.[5] The album was released in the summer of 1988 and spawned the single “Wild, Wild West”, which climbed to No. 1 on the _Billboard_ Hot 100 chart[6] while the song's video received major rotation on MTV. However, it is rumored it was banned from being used in their homeland for being extremely sexist.[7][8]

In 1989, they released two more singles from _Wild Wild West_: “Shake for the Sheik”, which climbed to No. 28, and “Walking Through Walls”, which peaked at No. 81.[9] The Escape Club's cover single of The Doors' “20th Century Fox” appeared on _The Wonder Years: Music From the Emmy Award-Winning Show & Its Era_, which also received airplay on MTV. The song was produced by Doors band member Ray Manzarek.

In 1990 the band returned to the studio to record their final album, _Dollars and Sex_, which saw a March 1991 release. The first single, “Call It Poison”, failed to crack the US Top 40. Atlantic Records then released the song “I'll Be There”, which the group said was heavily influenced by the death of a friend's wife.[10] The song has become an anthem among those who have experienced losses of their own. “I'll Be There” reached No. 8 on the _Billboard_ Hot 100 and achieved gold status in the US.[11] The group disbanded in 1992. The Escape Club is the only British band to have a No. 1 hit in the U.S. while not charting at all in their native UK.

Trevor Steel and John Holliday reunited, with new band member Red Broad, in 2009 for a new album and a handful of live shows. They released a new studio album, _Celebrity_, in February 2012.

In 2019, Johnnie Christo returned to the line-up and the Escape Club played as a full band for the first time in 25 years during the U.S. tour Lost 80s Live. After a thirty year absence, they will return to London in June 2020 to play their first album, _White Fields_, in its entirety.[12]

Discography

Studio albums

+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| Year            | Album details   | Peak chart      | Certifications  |
|                 |                 | positions       | (sales          |
|                 |                 |                 | threshold)      |
+=================+=================+=================+=================+
| US              | AUS             |
| [13]            | Australian      |
|                 | (ARIA) chart    |
|                 | peaks:          |
|                 |                 |
|                 | -   Top 50      |
|                 |     peaks:      |
|                 | -   Top 100     |
|                 |     peaks from  |
|                 |     January     |
|                 |     1990 to     |
|                 |     December    |
|                 |     2010:       |
|                 | -   “Shake for  |
|                 |     the Sheik”: |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 1986            | _WHITE FIELDS_  | —               | —               |
|                 |                 |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Released:   |                 |                 |
|                 |     1986        |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Label: EMI  |                 |                 |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 1988            | _WILD WILD      | 27              | 42              |
|                 | WEST_           |                 |                 |
|                 |                 |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Released:   |                 |                 |
|                 |     1988        |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Label:      |                 |                 |
|                 |     Atlantic    |                 |                 |
|                 |     Records     |                 |                 |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 1991            | _DOLLARS & SEX_ | 145             | —               |
|                 |                 |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Released:   |                 |                 |
|                 |     1991        |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Label:      |                 |                 |
|                 |     Atlantic    |                 |                 |
|                 |     Records     |                 |                 |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 2005            | _CLOUD 10_      | —               | —               |
|                 |                 |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Released:   |                 |                 |
|                 |     20          |                 |                 |
|                 |     September   |                 |                 |
|                 |     2005        |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Label:      |                 |                 |
|                 |     self-releas |                 |                 |
|                 | ed              |                 |                 |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| 2012            | _CELEBRITY_     | —               | —               |
|                 |                 |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Released: 7 |                 |                 |
|                 |     February    |                 |                 |
|                 |     2012        |                 |                 |
|                 | -   Label:      |                 |                 |
|                 |     self-releas |                 |                 |
|                 | ed              |                 |                 |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
| “—” denotes     |
| releases that   |
| did not chart   |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+
|  |
+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+

Charting Singles

+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Year        | Single      | Peak chart  | Certificati | Album       |
|             |             | positions   | ons         |             |
|             |             |             | (sales      |             |
|             |             |             | threshold)  |             |
+=============+=============+=============+=============+=============+
| US          | US Mod      | US Dan      | AUS         | NZ          |
| [15]        | [16]        | [17]        | [18]        | [19]        |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 1988        | “Wild, Wild | 1           | 3           | 36          |
|             | West”       |             |             |             |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| “Shake for  | 28          | —           | —           | 114         |
| the Sheik”  |             |             |             |             |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 1989        | “Walking    | 81          | —           | —           |
|             | Through     |             |             |             |
|             | Walls”      |             |             |             |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 1991        | “Call It    | 44          | —           | —           |
|             | Poison”     |             |             |             |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| “I'll Be    | 8           | —           | —           | 43          |
| There”      |             |             |             |             |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| “—” denotes |
| releases    |
| that did    |
| not chart   |
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[1] Information about “The Bazoomis” (Predecessor band to “The Expressos”) Retrieved 12 June 2009

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title: The Escape Club

question: What is The Escape Club band known for?

answer: They are known for their 1988 No. 1 U.S. hit "Wild, Wild, West" and their top-ten hit "I'll be there" released in 1991.

question: What is the Escape Club's most infamous accomplishment?

answer: The Escape Club is the only British band to have a No. 1 hit in the U.S. (Wild, Wild, West) while not charting at all in the U.K after the song was rumored to be banned in their homeland for being too sexist.


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