text:
When Steve met Her at their usual rendez-vous coffee shop, he had no idea why she had asked him there, but he missed Her and was glad to hear from Her and therefore had agreed to meet Her. Steve didn’t honestly understand the intended purpose of the meeting until thirty minutes had passed since she had departed and he had been sitting in his car with the key in the ignition, but in the ‘off’ position. It was then that Steve realized that Cold had a very distinct smell.

Steve just wasn’t Her type of person.

Or would it be “Her’s type of person”? Steve wasn’t really quite sure about the grammatical ramifications of having a name like Her. They had been together for so long, he and Her, that he no longer thought of Her by her proper name, but instead by the name that his friends had picked up using. “Are you bringing Her?” “Is this yours or is this Her’s?” “Don’t you think about anything besides Her?” That last one was a tricky question, Steve had found, as he did think about things that weren’t Her, but mostly because of Her (Her’s?) influence. He thought about the bands she enjoyed, the movies they’d watched together, and the fact that he hated sleeping/eating/being alone, but those were all related to Her, weren’t they? If he thought of Her as “Her,” did he also have to capitalize “She”? Who thought about this kind of stuff anyways?

But that’s just the type of person Steve is.

When Steve was in 3rd grade, his class had taken a trip to the capitol. The school organizers had decided that the most cost efficient and practical way to transport the 30-some-odd kids 600 miles was to take the Ferry, which would end up being a 3 days/2 nights (one way) journey. Steve’s mom had packed him a sack that contained enough food and clothing to last the 9 days that Steve was to be gone.
The first day on the ferry, the weather was dreadful and the ferry was taking on 6 foot swells. The rocking had excited most of the children, who went out onto the deck to feel the ocean spray, but the motion simply made Steve miss his mother and he decided to curl up with his sack of loving food and clothes at 7:30pm, more than an hour and half before the other children would retire. That night, Steve vomited all over his sack, rendering the food inedible. The next day, Steve, dressed in the clothes of one of his school mates, lived off a diet of complementary saltine crackers provided by the ferry company. On the third day, Steve was feeling quite better and, with a new found sense of confidence, decided to spend all of his mother’s allotted $15 dollars at the ferry restaurant, which gained him a meal of Fruity Pebbles, chocolate milk, cherry yogurt, and 2 packages of Certs, which he promptly threw up within 10 minutes of finishing.

Because that’s the type of person that Steve is.

	Steve had never had particular difficulty getting into relationships with women, as he was genuinely interested in and interesting to other people. The biggest problem for Steve (until Her, of course) was maintaining his interest for more than a few months. The girlfriend before Her was a cute little girl, about three quarters of a foot shorter than Steve, with long, well maintained, nice smelling brown hair. They hung out for five months. They had sex twice. Steve then realized how completely incompatible they were. How could he ever spend any portion of his life with someone who was mildly religious? Or didn’t appreciate the meaningful subtleties of a composition by The Smiths? Besides, Steve had Her on his mind the whole time.

Because that’s the kind of person that Steve was.

	When Steve was still a teenager, Steve would sometimes let go of the wheel of his car and watch as he drifted towards the oncoming traffic. Steve often sat on the roof of his house, smoking cigarettes and daring himself to jump. Steve bit his nails and listened to sad lo-fi bands and cried when he drove long distances and had panic attacks at school and cursed a little bit too much and considered begging his Doctor Mother for a prescription for some sort of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety or anti-something pill or something because anything was better than what Steve felt that he was dealing with.

Because that was just the type of person that Steve was.

	Once, Steve drove 30 miles to visit his biological father. He knocked on his father’s door and, when finding no response, was surprised to learn that the door wasn’t locked at all. Immediately, Steve was returned to that ferry ride, the stench of vomit with a needy feeling and a rocking sensation. Steve found his father face down on his couch, surrounded by cans and bottles of beer. Handles of liquor. Anti-depressants and sleeping aids. There was a unhealthy looking dog tied up in the kitchen that Steve had never seen before who wouldn’t stop barking. Steve sat on the edge of the couch, checked his father’s pulse with two fingers, and then wrote a note that said:

“I love you, dad.”

Steve placed the note in his father’s hand, kissed his dad on the forehead, and left. Steve didn’t go home, though. He drove in the opposite direction until he ran out of gas.

Steve was just that type of person sometimes.

	Steve was still sitting in his car, in the middle of the winter, without the engine on. Steve wondered whether or not the salt content of tears made them freeze at a lower temperature than normal water. Do people who eat a lot of salty foods have saltier tears? What gives someone high blood pressure? Steve asked the ghost that lived in his car what type of person would consider him their type of person. As usual, the phantom didn’t respond. Steve turned on his car. He wondered whether or not he was an optimist. Would an optimist want there to be a heaven? Or would he rather rot in the ground, free for eternity? Steve supposed it really depended on what type of person they had been in their life. Steve asked the ghost whether or not his father had been an optimist. The ghost didn’t respond. Probably, thought Steve.

title: Steve has a lot on his mind.

question: Who is 'Her'?

answer: Her is the name of the protagonist Steve's love interest.

question: What kind of person is Steve?

answer: Steve appears to be a person who lets things happen around him. He is spontaneous and thoughtful, but also self-destructive. It is clear he cares for those around him but seems to only be able to really focus on one tin at a time.

question: Is Steve happy?

answer: Steve seems, thanks to the narration, to be at least content with his life, even with the struggles it sometimes entails.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: A story describing who Steve is, a man who has grown up working towards some semblance of happiness. The story describes different parts of Steve's life and how this reflects who he is.


split: train

text:
"INUVIK'S TOURIST HOTEL"

The Eskimo Inn offers accommodations for 156 guests in 74 rooms (smoking and non-smoking available). Located in the heart of downtown Inuvik, the Eskimo Inn is convenient to all the major businesses.

For the budget conscious traveler, the Eskimo Inn is good value without sacrificing service and quality.

STANDARD ROOMS
1 or 2 beds, cable TV, voicemail and radio alarm clocks.
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| SINGLE                            | $119.00                           |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| DOUBLE                            | $129.00                           |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

SUPERIOR ROOMS
1 or 2 Queen-sized beds, cable TV, voicemail and radio alarm clocks.
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| SINGLE                            | $149.00                           |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| DOUBLE                            | $159.00                           |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

ON - SITE AMENITIES
Laundry Facilities
Dining Room
Lounge
Banquet/Conference room
NOTE: Rates are subject to change without notice. Please contact the hotel to confirm the current rates before making a reservation.

question: Where is Inuvik's tourist Hotel located?

answer: The hotel is located in the heart of downtown Inuvik.

question: What facilities does the hotel offer?

answer: The hotel offers laundry facilities, a dining room, lounge, and banquet/conference room.

question: How much does a room cost?

answer: The rates of a room range from $119 to $159.

question: How many guests can the hotel accommodate at once?

answer: The hotel can accommodate 156 guests.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Inuvik's Tourist Hotel, Eskimo Inn, located in the heart of downtown Inuvik. The hotel is the right place for budget-conscious travelers. They offer laundry facilities, a dining room, lounge, and banquet/ conference room. The room cost ranges between $119 to $159. The hotel can accommodate 156 guests in 74 rooms at a given time.


text:
_CHILOMASTIX_ is a genus of pyriform excavates within the family Retortamonadidae[1] All species within this genus are flagellated, structured with three flagella pointing anteriorly and a fourth contained within the feeding groove.[2] _Chilomastix_ also lacks Golgi apparatus and mitochondria but does possess a single nucleus.[3] The genus parasitizes a wide range of vertebrate hosts, but is known to be typically non-pathogenic, and is therefore classified as harmless.[4][5] The life cycle of _Chilomastix_ lacks an intermediate host or vector.[6] _Chilomastix_ has a resistant cyst stage responsible for transmission and a trophozoite stage, which is recognized as the feeding stage. _Chilomastix mesnili_ is one of the more studied species in this genus due to the fact it is a human parasite. Therefore, much of the information on this genus is based on what is known about this one species.

History of knowledge

The nomenclature of this genus has been under much dispute throughout history, switching between many different taxonomic names. The first known report of this genus was in 1854 when patients in Paris showed infection by a parasitic flagellate.[7] The human parasite was classified under the name of _Cercomonas hominis_ var. 1 by Davaine (1854).[8] In 1910, it was reclassified as its own species and named _Macrostoma mesnili_ by Charles Morley Wenyon, an English protozoologist.[9] It was again renamed to _Chilomastix davainei_ (syn. _Chilomastix mesnili_) in 1920 by Kofoid.[10] The origin of the name _Chilomastix_ however, was before 1920. The initial proposal of _Chilomastix_ being its own genus was urged by Alexeieffe in 1912 who was the first to thoroughly describe a species belonging to this genus.[11] Although he initially called it _Tetramitus caulleryi_ in 1910, he then referred it is as its own genus, _Chilomastix_ in 1912.[12]

Habitat and ecology

Geographical distribution

_Chilomastix_ has a worldwide distribution; _Chilomastix mesnili_ is considered a cosmopolitan species, having been found in marine, freshwater and brackish waters.[13] This genus, however, is more prevalent in warmer climates.[14]

Microenvironment

The cyst stage of the organism if often found in feces where it can thrive away from a host, until it is ingested.[15] The trophozoite stage resides in the intestine of its host where it feeds on intestinal bacteria.[16]

Parasitic hosts

Species within this genus are known to parasitize a wide variety of mammalian hosts including humans, monkeys, chimpanzees, apes, and pigs.[17] Bird hosts, as seen in ostriches, rheas, chickens and geese, as well as invertebrate hosts such as insects have also been documented.[18][19]

Life cycle

The life cycle is direct, requiring no intermediate host or vector.[20] _Chilomastix_ exists as a cyst stage that is responsible for transmission and a trophozoite stage which is also known as the feeding stage. Transmission occurs via the fecal-oral route when water contaminated with feces that contain _Chilomastix_ cysts is ingested.[21] The uptake of cysts by the host leads to the excystation of one trophozoite per cyst, which then multiply via binary fission and reside within the intestine of the host.[22] Trophozoites feed on the host’s intestinal contents such as bacteria through endocytosis.[23] Once the intestinal contents begin to dry out, the trophozoites then release a cyst wall through the process of encystation. Cysts are resistant and do not require feeding to survive, thus once the food source begins to run out, stimulation of encystation occurs. Both trophozoites and cysts are passed in the feces but only cysts can survive outside of the host and are therefore the stage of infection.[24] When exposed to the external environment, the trophozoites disintegrate while the cysts remain living in bodies of water until they are again taken up by the next host, continuing the cycle of transmission.[25]

Feeding Mechanisms

Within the intestine of the host, _Chilomastix_ trophozoites feed via endocytosis.[26] This brings the particles into the cell and stimulates the formation of a food vacuole. _Chilomastix_ often feeds on bacteria living inside the gut of the host.[27] The cytosomal flagellum aids in bringing intestinal bacteria closer towards the cell, allowing the membrane to wrap around the food particle and pinch off to form a food vacuole within the cell body.[28][29] The cyst stage is non-feeding.

Pathogenesis

_Chilomastix_ species are generally regarded as harmless gut commensals and are non-pathogenic.[30] They are typically asymptomatic as severity of infection is usually no higher than seen in _Chilomastix mesnili_ and _C. gallinarum_, known to cause watery diarrhea.[31][32]

Diagnosis

_Chilomastix_ species are often transmitted along with other intestinal parasites, many of which are pathogenic and do cause diseases such as _Giardia lamblia_ and _Balantidium coli._[33] This commonly causes confusion during diagnosis. Diagnosis is made upon finding one or both cyst and trophozoite forms in feces samples of an infected patient.

Treatment

Due to the non-pathogenic nature of this taxon, no treatments are required except to relieve the discomfort of the diarrhea in extreme cases.[34] If the infected patient is showing other symptoms of disease, it is most likely due to the presence of another parasitic pathogen and further testing should be done.

Morphology and anatomy

_Chilomastix_ cells are not bilaterally symmetrical and lack mitochondria, an axostyle, Golgi apparatus, and an undulating membrane.[35]

Trophozoites

Trophozoites of _Chilomastix_ have been described as pyriform, lemon-shaped or pear-shaped in various species with a rounded anterior and an elongated posterior end that comes to a point.[36][37] Four flagella are present in all species; three flagella extend anteriorly and move freely, while the fourth flagellum is located within the feeding groove that acts as the cell mouth.[38] This fourth, posteriorly orientated flagellum is vaned, due to the presence of two wing-like structures that extend from it.[39] The feeding groove and fourth flagellum are positioned in the anterior region of the body and work together, involved in the function of endocytosis, enabling the movement of food particles towards the feeding groove.[40] The flagella possess the 9+2 structure, common in flagellated eukaryotes. A single distinct nucleus is in the very anterior region of the body near the cytoplasm.[41]

Cysts

Cysts are lemon or pear shaped, typically rounder and smaller than the trophozoite.[42][43] One end of the cyst cell is rounded while the other end has a slight, blunt protuberance.[44] The cyst wall is of even thickness except in the region of the protuberance where it is even thicker.[45] Organelles found in the trophozoite, including the nucleus and cytostome, remain in the cyst stage and are usually viewable when stained under the microscope.[46] While the vaned flagellum is present in the cyst stage, the three free anterior flagella are not, thus making the cyst non-motile.[47]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

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[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

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title: Chilomastix

question: What is Chilomastix?

answer: It is a flagellated genus of pyriform excavates within the family Retortamonadidae that parasitizes a wide range of vertebrate hosts, but is known to be typically non-pathogenic, and is therefore classified as harmless. Chilomastix mesnili is one of the more studied species in this genus due to the fact it is a human parasite.

question: Name and define the two stages of Chilomastix.

answer:
- The resistant cyst stage responsible for transmission.
- The trophozoite stage, which is recognized as the feeding stage.

question: Summarize everything relating to the habitat and ecology of Chilomastix.

answer: Chilomastix has a worldwide distribution. Chilomastix mesnili is considered a cosmopolitan species more prevalent in warmer climates, having been found in marine, freshwater, and brackish waters. The cyst stage of Chilomastix is often found in feces where it can thrive away from a host until it is ingested and enters the trophozoite stage, where it resides in the intestine of its host and feeds on intestinal bacteria.

question: How does Chilomastix affect humans?

answer: The Chilomastix genus is generally regarded as harmless non-pathogenic. They are typically asymptomatic as the severity of infection is usually no higher than seen in Chilomastix mesnili and C. gallinarum, known to cause watery diarrhea.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Chilomastix is a generally harmless, non-pathogenic parasite that affects a wide range of hosts including humans, monkeys, chickens, and insects. It is more prevalent in warmer climates, distributed worldwide, and found in water contaminated with feces. Transmission occurs via the fecal-oral route. They are typically asymptomatic and usually manifests as watery diarrhea.


text:
MURDER, INC. was an industrial music supergroup formed in 1991, featuring vocalist Chris Connelly, Killing Joke members Geordie Walker, Paul Raven, “Big Paul” Ferguson, John Bechdel, and former Public Image Ltd drummer Martin Atkins.

Formation

Martin Atkins joined Killing Joke as their drummer and later their manager in 1990.[1] The band recorded the 1990 album _Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions_ after which they parted ways with singer Jaz Coleman.[2] Keeping the line-up of Killing Joke (minus Coleman) together, Atkins formed Murder, Inc., recruiting Chris Connelly (who had worked with Ministry amongst others) to replace Coleman and former Killing Joke member Paul Ferguson as a second drummer.[3]

The band released their debut EP, _Corpuscle_, which featured tracks remixed by J. G. Thirlwell, in 1991 followed by their eponymous album in 1992.[4] The album was recorded by Steve Albini who had already worked with Atkins on the Pigface album _Gub_ and with Connelly on his album _Whiplash Boychild_.[5] The band played five live dates before disbanding later in 1992, due to “internal squabbles”.[6]

In 1998 Connelly, Atkins, and Walker reconvened and formed another industrial supergroup with Jah Wobble called The Damage Manual.[7]

Personnel

-   Martin Atkins – drums
-   John Bechdel – keyboards
-   Chris Connelly – vocals
-   Paul Ferguson – drums
-   Paul Raven – bass
-   Geordie Walker – guitar

Discography

-   _Corpuscle_ (EP, 1992)
-   _Murder, Inc._ (1992, Invisible Records / re-released in 1993 with altered track listing through Futurist Records)
-   _Locate Subvert Terminate – The Complete Murder, Inc._ (collection album, 1999)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

title: Murder, Inc. (band)

question: Which band was Martin Atkins in before Murder, Inc.?

answer: Public Image Ltd.

question: When did Atkins join Killing Joke?

answer: 1990.

question: Which two roles did Atkins play in the band?

answer: Drummer and manager.

question: When did "Corpuscle" come out?

answer: 1992.


text:
[]

“Our story is about a town, a small town, and the people who live in the town,” narrates Jughead in _Riverdale_’s opening lines. “I’m _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_,” Veronica tells Archie and Betty, “but this place is strictly _In Cold Blood._” Yet as Betty and Jughead muckrake town secrets and Archie gains the confidence of Veronica’s mob family, the Riverdale we see week after week does not seem so tiny. How is it possible that the town isn’t big enough to support a single drive-in movie theater, yet Riverdale teenagers are a significant market for the party drug jingle jangle? When Sheriff Keller doesn’t call in reinforcements from the state police or the FBI to investigate the Black Hood’s killing spree, does that mean Riverdale is large enough to have its own homicide unit? The town’s mysteries go deeper than the buried secrets in Pickens Park, and so we decided to investigate a pressing question: Just how big is Riverdale?

Our first set of clues comes from the terrain of Riverdale itself, especially along the banks of the rolling Sweetwater River. Even if the downtown area is small, the town must encompass a wide landscape to have such a diverse river basin.

When Archie and Ms. Grundy find a calm spot on the banks for a picnic, they look across the water to the mountains.

Cheryl and Jason float down the river … until they hit the rapids.

Hermione Lodge summons Archie to a massive bluff overlooking sharp rocks for a secret tête-à-tête.

And Betty and Jughead find a swamp deep enough to sink a car.

Further hints come from Riverdale’s famous maple syrup industry. Until recent technological advances, maple syrup production was a side hustle for many rural farmers. For the dynastic Blossom Maple Farms to have the capital of a modern corporate producer like Vermont’s Sweet Tree Holdings, the farm would need to tap 200,000 trees on 26,000 acres of land, or roughly 40 square miles of forest. For perspective, Albany is just shy of 22 square miles.

The size of the Blossom farm alone would suggest that Riverdale is a rural town surrounded by miles and miles of privately owned woods. Admittedly, at the time of Clifford Blossom’s death, the business was heavily subsidized by imported heroin from Montreal, but how else was he going to undercut the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers?

Archie’s frantic drive to the hospital after Fred’s shooting further emphasizes Riverdale’s middle-of-nowhere feel. The ambulance never comes to Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe — is Archie too terrified to wait or is the emergency-services area too large? — and the hospital is nearly abandoned when Archie drags Fred through the doors.

CONCLUSION: Bigger than Albany with a river large enough for a ’90s thriller, yet too small for a fully staffed medical center.

_Riverdale_ gives us contradictory hints about the town’s population size. Despite financial issues after Fred’s shooting, Pop’s is the only restaurant in town. (The Southside has the Whyte Worm, but its blatant gang affiliation limits its customer base.)

Pop’s is the go-to spot for hot dates, pre-wrestling egg-white omelettes, and private poker games with visiting crime bosses. A more bustling town would have more bars and restaurants, no? The residents of a luxury apartment like the Pembrooke would presumably demand a high-end eatery, at the very least.

Meanwhile, Fox Forest is home to an active gay cruising scene. As Vulture’s Jackson McHenry asks, “Is Riverdale’s population large enough to support a thriving backwoods sex scene? Do gay men from the local region drive over to Fox Forest to get their kicks?” These are essential questions, ones that go unanswered after Kevin Keller returns to swiping on GrindEm.

Riverdale’s school system also raises suspicions that the town is not so small. When Mayor McCoy closes Southside High, Principal Weatherbee explains that its students will be transferred to “other schools in the district,” including Riverdale High School. The school district is therefore large enough to need at least three high schools. This suggests that Riverdale is a larger city, perhaps along the lines of Clarkstown, New York (two public high schools, 87,000 residents).

CONCLUSION: Too small for anything but burgers and milkshakes, but somehow also big enough to be the regional hub for secluded woodland sex and to host a crosstown wrestling rivalry.

And now we reach the Greendale problem. Greendale is repeatedly mentioned as the next town over from Riverdale, yet it is far enough away that: (1) Jughead and Archie must travel for hours to get there, and (2) there is a sketchy rest stop along the way.

How far apart are these two towns? Far enough that Ms. Grundy can openly teach in Greendale after being run out of Riverdale for sleeping with a student, and far enough that Jughead believes Penny Peabody won’t return once he dumps her over the town line. Greendale’s town center must not only be a significant distance from Riverdale, but also large enough to have all the resources its residents need. Otherwise, wouldn’t Ms. Grundy risk running into Riverdale parents while shopping at the regional Mallmart?

Also worth noting: Riverdale is close enough to New York City that Archie can bop down to Greenwich Prep, beat up Nick St. Clair, and get home in time to meet Veronica for cheese fries at Pop’s. So how rural can it really be?

Perhaps the most perplexing clue is the Lodge Industries SoDale project. The Southside development will create 40,000 square feet of retail space,entertainment venues, and modern luxury condos in a bid to spark aggressive gentrification and displace the Southside residents. Yet the town’s primary industries appear to be maple syrup production, construction, teaching, journalism, food service, government, and illegal activity (only one of which pays well), so who exactly will SoDale serve? Is Riverdale close enough to Manhattan to be a commuter city? Are they trying to attract Glamazon’s next headquarters?

CONCLUSION: Slightly more rural than Croton-on-Hudson, probably? Yet still enough of a midsize city to lure Brooklynites into condos.

With such wide-ranging conclusions, our __ analysis ultimately raises more questions than it answers. Does Riverdale’s devotion to Pop’s indicate a local quirk or a lack of options? Does Jughead think town lines are actually force fields? What’s the cost for a SoDale condo, and do they have hardwood floors? Like the true identity of the Riverdale Reaper, we may never know for sure.

How Big Is Riverdale, Exactly?

question: What is jingle-jangle?

answer: A drug

question: What condiment is produced in Riverdale?

answer: Maple Syrup

question: How long does it take to reach NYC from Riverdale?

answer: That is not answered within the article

question: How many high schools does Riverdale's district host?

answer: Three

question: What does Artie eat at Pop's with Veronica?

answer: Cheese fries

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article poses the question: How large is Riverdale, actually? It outlines many surprising inconsistencies in the show's writing that make answering the question difficult.


text:
The GRAPHICAL IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION (GINA) is a component of Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003[1] that provides secure authentication and interactive logon services. GINA is a replaceable dynamically linked library that is loaded early in the boot process in the context of Winlogon when the machine is started. It is responsible for handling the secure attention sequence, typically Control-Alt-Delete, and interacting with the user when this sequence is received. GINA is also responsible for starting initial processes for a user (such as the Windows Shell) when they first log on.[2] GINA is discontinued in Windows Vista.[3]

Overview

[“Windows Security” dialog in Windows XP: GINA is responsible for bringing up this dialog when Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination is pressed]A default GINA library, MSGINA.DLL, is provided by Microsoft as part of the operating system, and offers the following features:

-   Authentication against Windows domain servers with a supplied user name/password combination.
-   Displaying of a legal notice to the user prior to presenting the logon prompt.
-   Automatic Logon, allowing for a user name and password to be stored and used in place of an interactive logon prompt. Automatic logon can also be configured to execute only a certain number of times before reverting to interactive logon. In older versions of Windows NT, the password could only be stored in plain text in the registry; support for using the Local Security Authority's private storage capabilities was introduced in Windows NT 4.0 Workstation Service Pack 3 and Windows NT Server 3.51.
-   “Security Options” dialog when the user is logged on, which provides options to shut down, log off, change the password, start the Task Manager, and lock the workstation.

Winlogon can be configured to use a different GINA, providing for non-standard authentication methods such as smart card readers or identification based on biometrics, or to provide an alternate visual interface to the default GINA. Developers who implement a replacement GINA are required to provide implementations for a set of API calls which cover functionality such as displaying a “workstation locked” dialog, processing the secure attention sequence in various user states, responding to queries as to whether or not locking the workstation is an allowed action, supporting the collection of user credentials on Terminal Services-based connections, and interacting with a screensaver.

A custom GINA could be made entirely from scratch, or just be the original GINA with modifications. A custom GINA can be specified by placing a string named GinaDLL in the registry location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon. The Winlogon component is solely responsible for calling these APIs in the GINA library.

When the Winlogon process starts, it compares its version number to that which is supported by the loaded GINA library. If the GINA library is of a higher version than Winlogon, Windows will not boot. This is done because a GINA library written for a given version of Winlogon will expect a certain set of API calls to be provided by Winlogon.

Support for replaceable GINA DLLs was introduced with Windows NT Server 3.51 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP3. Successive versions of Windows have introduced additional functionality into Winlogon, resulting in additional functionality that can be implemented by a replacement GINA. Windows 2000, for example, introduced support for displaying status messages (including verbose messages that can be turned on through Group Policy) about the current state to the user (e.g. “Applying computer settings.”), and starting applications in the user's context; this facilitates restarting Windows Explorer automatically if it crashes, as well as starting the Task Manager. Windows XP introduced support for Fast User Switching, Remote Desktop and a more interactive, simplified and user-friendly full-screen logon.

End of life

In Windows Vista, GINA has been replaced by CREDENTIAL PROVIDERS, which allow for significantly increased flexibility in supporting multiple credential collection methods. To support the use of multiple GINA models, a complex chaining method used to be required and custom GINAs often did not work with fast user switching. GINA libraries do not work with Windows Vista and later Windows versions. One difference, however, is that GINA could completely replace the Windows logon user interface; Credential Providers cannot.[4]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

title: Graphical identification and authentication

question: Why won't Windows boot if the GINA library is of a higher version than Winlogon?

answer: Windows will not boot because when the Winlogon process starts, it compares its version number to that which is supported by the loaded GINA library. The GINA library written for a given version of Winlogon expects a certain set of API calls to be provided by Winlogon.

question: Why was GINA replaced with Credential Providers in Windows Vista and subsequent versions of Windows?

answer: Credential Providers allowed increased flexibility in supporting multiple credential collection methods and faster user switching.


text:
| previouscomp= | nextcomp= 1965 Prague Skate | previousgp= | nextgp= }}

The 1964 PRAGUE SKATE was a senior international figure skating competition held in Czechoslovakia in December 1964. It was the inaugural edition of the annual international event. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Czechoslovakia took the top two spots in the ice dancing competition, with gold going to the reigning world champions Eva Romanová / Pavel Roman. A future Olympic champion, Ondrej Nepela of Czechoslovakia, won the men's title ahead of East Germany's Günter Zöller. The reigning European bronze medalist, Nicole Hassler of France, took the ladies' title by defeating East Germany's Gabriele Seyfert, a future Olympic medalist, and former European medalist Jana Mrázková of Czechoslovakia.

Men

  Rank   Name[1][2]           Nation
  ------ -------------------- --------
  1      Ondrej Nepela
  2      Günter Zöller
  3      Vladimir Kurenbin
  4      Peter Krick
  5      Günter Anderl
  6      Klaus Grimmelt
  7      Marian Filc
  8      Franciszek Spitol
  9      Milos Man
  10     Hans-Dieter Dahmen
  ...

Ladies

  Rank   Name[3][4]         Nation
  ------ ------------------ --------
  1      Nicole Hassler
  2      Gabriele Seyfert
  3      Jana Mrázková
  4      Hana Mašková
  5      Alena Augustová
  6      Jutta Will
  7      Hilde Überlacher
  8      Angelika Wagner
  9      Eileen Zillmer
  10     Petra Ruhrmann
  ...

Pairs

  Rank   Name[5][6]                               Nation
  ------ ---------------------------------------- --------
  1      Sonja Pferzdorf / Günter Matzdorf
  2      Agnesa Wlachovská / Peter Bartosiewicz
  3      Tatiana Tarasova / Georgi Proskurin
  4      Ingrid Bodendorf / Volker Waldeck
  ...

Ice dancing

  Rank   Name[7][8]                                     Nation
  ------ ---------------------------------------------- --------
  1      Eva Romanová / Pavel Roman
  2      Jitka Babická / Jaromir Holan
  3      Gabriele Rauch / Rudi Matysik
  4      Annerose Baier / Eberhard Rüger
  5      Sylva Dreisaitlová / Miroslav Gresek
  6      Jutta Peters / Wolfgang Kunz
  7      Martha Schamberger / Hans-Jürgen Schamberger
  8      Edit Mato / Karoly Csanadi
  9      Monika Ziemke / Jochen Bode
  10     Eva Maria Reuter / Bernd Egert
  11     Ilona Berecz / Istvan Sugar
  ...

[1]

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title: 1964 Prague Skate

question: What was the 1964 Prague Skate?

answer: It was a senior international figure skating competition held in Czechoslovakia in 1964.

question: How many disciplines were there?

answer: 4

question: Name two male competitors.

answer: Vladimir Kurenbin and Hans-Dieter Dahman

question: Name one female competitor.

answer: Eileen Zillmer

question: How did Ondrej Nepela of Czechoslovakia do in the competition?

answer: He won the men's title.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article discusses the 1964 Prague Skate, a senior international figure skating competition that was held in Czechoslovakia in December 1964. There were medals given out for the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


text:
TITO DE ALENCAR LIMA, O.P. (better known as FREI TITO; 14 September 1945 – 10 August 1974) was a Brazilian Dominican friar who was severely tortured during his country's rule by a military dictatorship. This torture eventually led to his suicide.[1]

Biography

Lima was born in 1945 in Fortaleza to Ildefonso Rodrigues Lima and Laura de Alencar. He later studied at Liceu do Ceará high school, where he was active in the Association of Catholic Students movement, which was the youth branch of Catholic Action. He became the regional director of the movement in 1963 and went to live in Recife. The following year, he became active in the growing resistance and demonstrations against the military government which had seized control of the country.

In 1966 Lima was accepted into the novitiate of the Dominican Order in Belo Horizonte. He completed this stage of initiation in the Order on 10 February of the following year. He was then sent to study Philosophy at USP, the University of São Paulo, living in the Perdizes Convent of the Dominican Order in São Paulo.

In October 1968, Lima was arrested for the first time by forces of the dictatorship for participating in the XX Congress of the National Union of Students in Ibiúna, São Paulo.

On November 4, 1969, Lima was arrested along with several other members of the Dominican Order, such as Frei Betto, by political police officer Sérgio Fleury of the Department of Political and Social Order (DPSO). During approximately a whole month, he was severely tortured in the headquarters of DPSO, before being taken to the Tiradentes military garrison.

On early 1970, at the high of the repression, Lima was tortured in the headquarters of the DPSO as a part of the _Bandeirantes_ Operation (which consisted of the financing of torture by high-profile businessmen). In prison, he wrote a letter about his torture which became a symbol in the human rights movement.

On 1971, Lima was deported to Chile and, fearing for his life with the fall of Salvador Allende, he fled to Italy. In Rome, he was unable to find support from the Catholic Church, as he was considered a “terrorist friar”. He then moved to Paris, where he was welcomed by the community of Dominican friars at the new Couvent Saint-Jacques.

At this point, Lima's mental health was very unstable, as a result of the torture he suffered in Brazil. The abuses led him to persecution mania; he constantly feared a re-encounter with Fleury and his other torturers. He submitted to psychiatric treatment, but the psychological suffering he had endured led him to hang himself on August 10, 1974.[2]

Movie

The movie _Batismo de Sangue_ (_Baptism of Blood_) tells the story of Tito and other priests' torture during the military regime.

[1] _Frei Tito's Biography_

[2] _38 anos sem Frei Tito - 38 years without Frei Tito_

title: Frei Tito

question: What is Tito de Alencar Lima, O.P. better known as?

answer: Frei Tito.

question: Who was he?

answer: A friar.

question: How did he die?

answer: Suicide.

question: Why did he commit suicide?

answer: He was tortured severely under his country's military dictatorship.

question: Write a ~8 sentence summary.

answer: Tito de Alencar Lima, O.P.-better known as Frei Tito-was a Brazilian Dominican friar. He was born in 1945. Under his Brazil's military dictatorship rule, Frei Tito was tortured so severely he committed suicide. During his life, he was heavily active from his student days in the growing resistance and demonstrations against the military government that had seized control of the country. He was arrested and released multiple times. Tito was exiled to Chile in 1970, from which he fled to Italy. There, he found he was considered a "terrorist friar" and did not receive support from the Catholic Church. He hanged himself on August 10th, 1974.


text:
NAIROBI - The Kenyan government is delaying its decision to close the huge Dadaab refugee camp, which houses nearly 300,000 people, most of them Somalis. But Kenya's interior minister insists the process to repatriate the Somalis will continue.

Kenyan Interior minister Joseph Nkaisserry said his country had postponed the closure of Dadaab camp, currently home to more than 280,000 Somali refugees.

Nkaisserry told reporters in Nairobi Wednesday the Kenyan government was responding to a request by the United Nation refugee agency UNHCR and Somali government not to close the camp.

“I wish to announce the government has accepted the request to extend the deadline for the completion of the repatriation of Somali refugees and eventual closure of Dadaab refugee complex by six months. However, the ongoing voluntary repatriation will continue uninterrupted,” he said.

The minister was joined by UNHCR officials and Somali government representatives.

In May, Kenya's government announced it would shut down Dadaab by November 30. The camp was opened in 1991 when Somalia descended into civil war after the fall of the Mohamed Siad Barre regime. At one point, the sprawling camp held some 400,000 refugees.

[Locator map of Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. ]

Locator map of Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

Kenyan security agencies repeatedly said the camp was a security threat, citing activity in the camp by the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

In recent months, tens of thousands of Somali refugee have returned home. However, most of the returnees say basic needs, such as getting basic needs like food, shelter, clean water and schools, are not being met.

Nkaisserry said the political and security situation in Somalia has led Kenya to reconsider their earlier decision.

“The request for the extension was due to the delicate situation in Somalia. The Somali government is undergoing election period and quite a number of areas that has not been secured,” he said.

Al-Shabab still controls many parts of south and central Somalia and continues to fight forces of the government and the African Union force AMISOM, of which Kenya is a part.

Somali ambassador to Kenya Jamal Mohamed Hassan said his country lacks the capacity to take back its citizens.

“On the Somali side, we would like to tell the world we are willing and ready to receive our people. All we are trying to do and make sure is that the reception capacity on the other side is increased and we prepare the ground for them to come back,” he said.

[FILE - newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside a UNHCR processing center at the Ifo refugee camp outside Dadaab, eastern Kenya, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Somali border.]

FILE - newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside
FILE - newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside a UNHCR processing center at the Ifo refugee camp outside Dadaab, eastern Kenya, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Somali border.

When the new deadline to close Dadaab comes in May of next year, Nkaisserry said Somalis who have not returned home will be sent to other refugee camps.

“The closure of Dadaab camp does not mean Kenya is not taking refugees anymore. We still have Kakuma. [The] United Nations High Commission for Refugees has other refugee camps spread all over the world. That will be a program which will be considered,” he said.

Amnesty International released a statement that it welcomes the announcement to suspend the closure of the camp but calls on the Kenyan government to end what it called the forceful repatriation.

In the coming weeks, Kenya will host a special summit of the regional bloc IGAD to discuss the Somali refugee crisis and regional security.

question: Who does the the huge Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya house?

answer: 300,000 people, most of them Somalis.

question: Why did Kenya previously announce the closure of the Dadaab refugee camp?

answer: Because of threats from Somali militant group al-Shabab.

question: Why is the closure of the camp being delayed?

answer: It is at the request of the UN and Somali government due to the delicate situation in Somalia regarding an election period.

question: Summarize everything relating to the Dadaab refugee camp.

answer: The camp houses 300,000 and at one point housed 400,000 refugees. Most of the refugees are Somalis and the Kenyan government had previously announced its closure due to militant threats. However, the closure is being delayed at the request of the UN and Somali government.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer:
A news report from Nairobi announce that Kenya will delay the closure of the huge Dadaab refugee camp, housing 300,000 people.
As most refugees are Somalis, the announcement comes in response to a UN and Somali request to not close the camp.
Kenyan security officals had announced the closure due to threats in the camp by Somali militant group al-Shabab. However, other refugee camp would remain open.


text:
_As we continue our in-depth look at super-hero movies, Chris Sims and David Uzumeri take on the Superman film franchise. Even this part._

[]

CHRIS SIMS: With 1997'S _STEEL_ unavailable on DVD, we originally thought we were going to have to go ahead and move right into 2006's _Superman Returns_, but... well, it seems miracles do happen. Just before she left ComicsAlliance, LAURA HUDSON FOUND THE SHAQUILLE O'NEAL CLASSIC and sent us a digital version for review. I have to say, it's pretty fitting that her last official act as CA's Editor-in-Chief was to give us a crappy movie to watch. It's her lasting legacy.

DAVID UZUMERI: The VHS copy really adds to the ... halo surrounding the film, since I can't imagine Shaquille O'Neal in his _Kazaam!_-era prime without the moving Instagram equivalent of scanlines and EP videocassette recording.CHRIS: Exactly. I want to apologize to all of our readers for our screenshots in this review being so grainy and not up to our usual crisp DVD quality, but at the same time, I feel like it's the only way to truly experience this movie.

DAVID: What's funny about this movie, and the character of Steel, is that - I was always a DC guy. So it took me becoming an adult to realize that ONE OF THESE ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS WHO AFFECTED ME AS A CHILD WAS ACTUALLY JUST PRETTY MUCH IRON MAN IN THE DC UNIVERSE.

[]CHRIS: That's a good enough way as any to segue into a little background on the film. 1997 was a pretty weird time for DC in terms of movies. Steel is, of course, ostensibly a Superman character, but it had been ten years since _Superman IV_ flopped, during which the character had gone on to a pretty respectable run on TV with _Lois & Clark_. In the meantime, the Batman film franchise had pretty much run its course: Steel came out only two months after the release of _Batman & Robin_.

DAVID: There's even a Batman Forever arcade machine in Noah's Arcade as the movie goes on! Shaq was a new multimedia star and big Superman fan, and this came out in the middle of projects like Kazaam! and the _SHAQ-FU_ videogame, which was about Shaquille O'Neal knowing kung fu.

CHRIS: I'm going to go ahead and say it: Probably the single best concept of the SNES era.

DAVID: So part of it was this, Steel. Who was fairly recently coming into his own, having his own series, the creation of Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove from the seminalish "REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN" crossover.

CHRIS: I'd argue that Steel is hands down the best character to come out of the Death and Return of Superman arc. He's a really good concept, and his motivation for becoming one of the Replacement Supermen is really solid, once you get past the whole thing where he used to manufacture super-flamethrowers called "Toastmasters."

DAVID: The thing is that John Henry Irons's story, as presented in Reign of the Supermen, was basically Tony Stark's. What made it interesting was the fact that he was interacting with Superman, and the way John Henry became Clark's friend. It's a relationship Morrison made a point of building into the very kernel of Superman's story in his new _Action Comics_. But just on his own, played as, and by, a well-meaning goofball, it suffers. Largely because it takes like literally half the movie for him to put on some f***ing armor.

CHRIS: It's also worth noting that at the time, Warner Bros. really seemed to be courting (ha ha) basketball stars. This was only a year after Michael Jordan teamed up with Bugs Bunny to stop aliens from conquering the world in _SPACE JAM_, a movie that actually came out and isn't something we made up. Guys like Shaq and Charles Barkley were huge stars, especially coming straight out of their gold-medal win at the '96 Olympics. I've never watched a basketball game in my life and I know exactly who these dudes are. Unfortunately, they're not exactly what you'd call great actors.

DAVID: Well, at least Space Jam focused on Jordan's main talent - shooting mad hoops. Here, we're supposed to emote with, and feel for, Shaq. Including when he drags a screaming woman out of a veteran's hospital to the cheers of the populace, but we'll get to that.

CHRIS: Of his three major talents, the other two being basketball and, of course, rap music, acting is probably Shaq's weakest area. One more thing before we get started, something that really surprised me: QUINCY JONES PRODUCED THIS MOVIE. And on the long list of amazing things Quincy Jones has produced, _Steel_ definitely falls short of, say, _Thriller_.

DAVID: I think Kevin Grevioux's voice is what did me in.

CHRIS: Well, there's no putting it off any longer. Let's get started with _Steel_!

[]

DAVID: But anyway, we start out in the middle of _Modern Warfare 2_ while -[R33Lst33lJHI]- tests out the new sniper weapon class he downloaded in .wad form with his clan.

CHRIS: I would like to point out that the very first thing someone says in this movie is "that's enough, that's enough! My ass is on fire!"

DAVID: So yeah, Irons's colleague Burke shows off their sweet-ass Ulysses Klaw supergun to their entire military unit, where they shoot a building and it reflects and it hits themselves and Shaq's buddy Sparks gets hurt in some rubble, which he lifts her out of like he's John Henry lifting himself out of the rubble in a good story.

CHRIS: I can tell how much you don't like this movie by how fast you're glossing over plot points. For the record, John Henry Irons (Shaq) is a military scientist working on developing non-lethal weapons for combat, and Sparks is a lady with whom he does a bizarre kind of handshake where they draw a circle in the air and then rub their index fingertips together. And yes: _It is as erotic as it sounds_.

[]

DAVID: I guess I assumed too much knowledge, because - the thing is, Irons is actually true to character here, for the most part. He's a man with knowledge who was young and had his research misused, and then he had a change of heart regarding weapons policy. But that's basically Iron Man. What makes Steel interesting is his context, you know? And this movie is just about Shaq hitting stuff with a hammer, and that takes like half the movie. And his conscience, which is portrayed so goofily by O'Neal it's hard to take seriously.

CHRIS: Right, he's more or less defined by being a living example of Superman as an inspiration. They actually make each other better characters, in a way, and when you remove Steel from that larger context, the character suffers for it. Here, his logic is pretty dubious: After a miscalibrated "non-lethal" weapon accidentally kills a senator and paralyzes his friend, he decides that instead of making better non-lethal weapons, he's going to just go ahead and leave it to machine guns and rocket launchers. The logic is a bit... lacking.

DAVID: It's true to his comic origins, but it's also a serious about face for him in the context of the movie. Granted, he's supposedly woken up from his ethical sleep by the actions of Burke, his research partner who overloads the gun and has it reflect off of a nearby building and demolish the beam's point of origin, because he is a brilliant scientist but also a complete idiot who can't conceive two blinking, beeping red dots. Or he can but wants to overload the gun on purpose, to show how it can ... backfire? It's confusing. Shaq's buddy/love interest Sparks gets caught under some ceiling, and there's an uncomfortable amount of film dedicated to Shaq lifting it. It kind of echoes the comic book version of his origin, in that he's struggling with some concrete, I guess.

CHRIS: Except that he's _ALREADY_ making non-lethal weapons for the military, so his starting point is that he's an idealist who doesn't even want to kill enemy soldiers. There's nowhere for him to go, and it makes his decision to quit the military even more bizarre, especially when he gets exactly what he wants at the following trial, when Burke is booted out. The best part of this, though, is that Burke is played by Judd Nelson, who looks to be somewhere around two feet shorter than Shaq, but still has to play scenes where he gets mad and gets up in his face. Or up in his chest, as the case may be.

[]

DAVID: Literally everybody in this movie is comically shorter than Shaq.

CHRIS: It's seriously fantastic.

DAVID: He looks like Hodor or Hagrid or something. Like a man with giant's blood in a regular world. But he totally plays himself as a regular, put-upon dude.

CHRIS: And when he goes back to the old neighborhood after he quits the military, there's a joke about how he actually sucks at basketball! Get it? Because in real life Shaquille O'Neal is very good at basketball?

DAVID: Look, he just can't make free throws, okay? I dunno, all I know about Shaquille O'Neal playing basketball, I learned from him being literally on fire in the middle of NBA Jam. And the way the movie's shot, it's worth mentioning, is like an episode of a '90s sitcom. The quick-acting music cues and funk soundtrack, the gratuitous guest stars...

CHRIS: On the subject of music cues, I love how there's so much mid-90s hip hop just dropped in. The theme song for Shaq going back to Los Angeles is "Bust a Move." I imagine having Quincy Jones as your movie's producer makes it a _lot_ easier to get music clearances.

DAVID: Shaq comes home to his sassy grandma and his rambunctious cousin, because literally everything in this movie has to be a '90s sitcom cliche. His Grandma Odessa and cousin Martin greet him back at L.A, where John Henry has decided to celebrate his newfound civilianism by wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt.

CHRIS: His little cousin could not be more of a walking cliche if this was done on purpose. I guarantee you that if you have seen more than, say, five movies in your life, you will be able to predict what this kid is about to say with 100% accuracy

[]

DAVID: He's like... look, I know I make a lot of _Wire_ comparisons, but I really can't take any "prepubescent kid is trying to avoid getting involved into a gang" storyline seriously after David Simon's masterpiece. And this is so goddamn trite.

CHRIS: To be fair, I think wanting _Steel_ to be on the level of _The Wire_ is expecting a little much, but yeah. Martin sounds exactly like a middle-aged white dude trying to write an authentic inner-city black kid and basing it entirely on cartoons from the '90s. He's seriously one "that's wack!" away from just collapsing under the weight of it.

DAVID: I had to stop the movie and cry in the bathroom as soon as he quoted the chorus of "C.R.E.A.M." But the original Simonson/Bogdanove story was actually pretty progressive for the time, and this is definitely based on the basic story of that. On the other hand, we get "Black and Bleu," Grandma Odessa's French/African-American fusion cuisine restaurant.

CHRIS: Credit where it's due: I think the idea of the soul food / _haute cuisine_ fusion restaurant sounds amazing.

DAVID: Meanwhile, we're told that Martin's in danger of hanging out with _GANGS_, the ultimate danger in mid-'90s Hollywood depiction of any inner city.

CHRIS: Meanwhile, despite offers from various "weapons builders," John Henry has decided to take a job in AN ACTUAL STEEL FOUNDRY. Which...

[]

CHRIS: I mean, I get that he doesn't want to build weapons anymore, but isn't this dude still an electronics genius? He made a portable laser rifle that can disable a tank and a sonic cannon that can knock down a building! Why is he working at a miserably hot foundry when he could basically write his ticket in any part of the tech industry?

DAVID: Well, look, as we'll find out later, Shaft can get him _ANYTHING_ he needs off the back of _ANY_ truck. But for now, we catch up with Burke, who's decided to team up with a local videogame arcade mogul to start supplying the gangs that hang out at his arcades with these sonic superweapons. No, really.

CHRIS: I love this dude who is, as Judd Nelson describes him, a "hot weapons" dealer. Not only does he smuggle his guns by duct-taping them to the insides of arcade machine cabinets, but he's also the prototypical version of the '90s long-haired scumbag bad guy on every episode of _Walker: Texas Ranger_.

[]

DAVID: Like, he sells arcade machines and... submachine guns. And, of course, all the arcade machines are Warner Bros. properties, so I guess they're linking themselves to inner city super-crime with experimental military weapons?

CHRIS: I just love that this thriving criminal empire is contingent on the continued existence of arcades. Out of curiosity, how many arcades do you think were accidentally blown up when he tried to pack hand grenades into _Dance Dance Revolution_ machines?

DAVID: John Henry and an old friend who's become a police officer take Martin on a sort of 'scared straight' ridealong, and on the way there's a robbery caused by the gang outfitted with the sonic guns created by Burke, Irons and Sparks's research. And only now do I get the joke in Irons and Sparks creating the steel armor. The very obvious joke, or they'd probably call it symbolism.

CHRIS: Look, let's not start talking smack about puns when our starting point was a guy named JOHN HENRY IRONS becoming a super-hero named STEEL. That's like half a notch above "Turner D. Century," and you know it. Anyway, I question the wisdom of taking two civilians along for the ride when you're going to an actual violent bank robbery, though. I mean, the seven foot-tall former Army lieutenant, maybe, but his 14 year-old cousin? Probably not a great idea.

DAVID: In the case of Irons's cop buddy, I'm pretty sure she expected a few idiots with AKs, though, not the amalgamation of Marlo's gang and the scientific achievement of Ulysses S. Klaw.

CHRIS: You've already done a Klaw joke. ONLY ONE KLAW JOKE PER COLUMN. YOU KNOW THE RULE.

DAVID: Look, there are clearly five Klaw jokes per column, one per each finger. The cops manage to round up most of the gang members, but one of them, Cutter, keeps bagging loot and runs off on his own, followed by Shaq. What follows is basically the train graveyard sequence near the end of Midgar in _Final Fantasy VII_, as trains move at glacial speeds in a like five-minute sequence of nothing but dudes jumping over, and avoiding, couplings. And I really think we need to take a second to recognize the soundtrack of this film, because it's seriously just awkwardly-cued generic funk music over badly directed action sequences.

[]

CHRIS: You say _Final Fantasy_, but there is no way that this entire sequence was not based off a platformer. They seriously went into this thinking "how can we make a movie that we can translate directly to the Super Nintendo?" And this was their solution.

DAVID: You sound like a man who never beat _Final Fantasy VII_.

CHRIS: Son, I beat Emerald Weapon so don't come in here with that.

DAVID: But seriously, Irons moves through the joining train couplings like Mega Man dodging the laser beams in Quick Man's stage. Shaq basically fakes his death by letting a train car "drop" on him, open doorway first.

CHRIS: I genuinely hope that was an idea Shaq brought to the set. "Guys, I'd really like my performance to be inspired by Harold Lloyd."

DAVID: Because the kid he's chasing is an idiot, Shaq just threatens him with more punching and finds out that the random street gang outfitted with Modern Warfare 4 weapons has leaders that hang out in the back of a random arcade.

CHRIS: You say that as though you wouldn't confess to any crime you were suspected of if a man the size of Shaq was going to punch you. I mean, look at this way: When the dude shoots Shaq from behind, it's with the rockets that we've seen take out a tank. For Shaq - or at least, for John Henry Irons - it presents a minor inconvenience. I don't even really see why he needs armor at this point.

DAVID: Or why he has to protect his identity. He has no problem pissing off everybody he's got a beef against as John Henry Irons, why even bother pretending to be a dude named Steel? Like, "I'd better protect myself to prevent these guys I've already pissed off from thinking I've pissed them off!"

CHRIS: It's a pretty great disguise, though. How are they ever going to figure out which truly gigantic person is messing with their operations? We're still a ways out from that, though.

DAVID: Sparks is feeling sad in a veterans' hospital, so Shaq makes her do things by forcibly picking up her wheelchair (that he apparently bought) and carrying her out of the hospital to the ongoing applause of everyone else in the building.

[]

DAVID: I really have no idea what to make of this scene, since the camera actually lingers on the celebrating residents as Irons carries her down the stairs. It's utterly bizarre.

CHRIS: I like that due to Shaq's slightly limited acting ability, he comes off as immediately confrontational and pissed off towards his friendly who's dealing with being paralyzed. "Didn't you get my letters?!" And then he gets up a few seconds later and punches a window open. It's hilarious.

DAVID: It's like, apparently just introducing her to fresh air wakes her out of what I can only call her post-traumatic stress disorder? She thought she was going to die, I'm pretty sure you can't fix that AND everything that comes along with losing the use of your legs just by belting a Venetian blind.

CHRIS: And then there's the fact that while he's picking her up, she's struggling and yelling "No! Let me go!" It is the weirdest damn thing. Like, you're exactly right, there is no sane way to interpret this scene.

DAVID: But apparently, forcibly abducting her and dragging her to a junkyard to hang out with Shaft is the missing raison d'etre she needed to keep on moving. That said, if I were any age between zero and like forty, being abducted to live in a junkyard with Shaft sounds like the beginning of the world's greatest adventure. I mean, or the world's most macabre Madame Tussaud's exhibit.

CHRIS: That's right, everybody, we haven't been typoing all this time. Meet Uncle Joe, as played by the star of _Shaft_, RICHARD ROUNDTREE. In a beret. For reasons I do not quite comprehend.

[]

DAVID: Uncle Joe actually lives in what I can only describe as a _Fallout 3_ trading outpost. While John Henry Irons ventures out into the wasteland to glean bottlecaps from radscorpions, Sparks is stuck trying to acclimate not only to living on her own in a wheelchair, but doing so in a junkyard palace which her ex-coworker had made wheelchair accessible before abducting you from a veterans' hospital.

CHRIS: As much as I love to see Richard Roundtree getting work, there's no getting around it: the old junk-man who can produce anything you need because it "fell off the back of a truck" has got to be the most uncomfortable cliché in the entire film.

DAVID: The thing is, Uncle Joe doesn't only produce an uncomfortable cliche, he provides a reason why two ostensible supergeniuses could build what's basically an Iron Man suit out of scrap armor. And here's the thing: this is a story about a dude who develops a conscience after his inventions are used for dangerous and destructive purposes, so he fashions himself as a modern-day scientific knight to right his former creative wrongs.

CHRIS: This movie wouldn't really lose anything without him, though. I thought for sure that the reason they had John Henry Irons working in a foundry was that he was going to literally build the armor _there_, but it all happens in Uncle Joe's junkyard. All things considered, I'd rather have Jeff Bridges shouting "Shaquille O'Neal built this in a _cave!_"

DAVID: Well, let's be fair, all things considered, I'd rather have the first Iron Man flick than a whole _lot_ of summer blockbuster movies. Or planned blockbusters, as in this case. Either way, similarities to _Iron Man_ aside, Burke's long since taken control of the entire arcade / superweapon amalgamation business by sticking everyone but him and future _New Warriors_ writer Kevin Grevioux in a sabotaged elevator. Martin's friends have recommended he get a job at the arcade, and Irons is happy, because this means a straight job as opposed to whatever gangs do in PG-13 movies from the late '90s. This leads him to become Burke's right-hand man, I guess because Burke wants to keep an eye on Irons.

CHRIS: Clearly, paralyzing his best friend, injuring his cop buddy and then selling his weapon designs to street gangs wasn't enough to make things personal between Burke and Irons. After that, we get a suit-building montage set to this genuinely awful song about how you need to "steel yourself" that includes a slow close-up on Shaq's Superman tattoo. It also says "MAN OF STEEL" around it. You know, just in case you didn't quite get it.

[]

DAVID: Well, what were they supposed to do, cover the text up? That tattoo's for real. The best/worst part is that it transferred itself into Irons's character in the comics.

CHRIS: Did it really?

DAVID: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he even had the S-symbol arm tattoo in 52. And at least it didn't cut from the tattoo to Shaq's junk like it would have in a Schumacher joint.

CHRIS: Huh. I guess there's no reason for him to _not_ have one. Hell, If _you_ saved _me_ from the Black Racer during a battle against Mongul and Darkseid, I'd probably get "U Z U M E R I !" on my knuckles.

DAVID: Shaq is now Steel, and he looks pretty much like the comics version, except without a cape and with a ridiculous MF Doom mask that exposes his mouth and, well, looks kinda cheap in comparison to the rest of the costume and the general conception of the character, even in this movie. And he gets a big hammer because, as Sparks says, "a man named John Henry's just gotta have a hammer." Roundtree states that he "especially likes the shaft." Get it, guys? Shaft? Richard Roundtree? Weirdly uncomfortable phallic subtext?

CHRIS: The best part is Shaq's reaction shot.

[]

CHRIS: I take back everything I said about him being a bad actor

DAVID: I wonder if that line was actually ad-libbed, and that was genuine surprise.

CHRIS: I'm pretty sure it wasn't, if only because I feel like Shaq would've cracked up at that line. I'll admit to groaning through a laugh myself.

DAVID: If nothing else, I think this movie passes our consistency test. It's written and directed by the same dude, and while it's not particularly... ept, that shows. And sometimes that comes across in ridiculous moments like that shaft line.

CHRIS: Oh, it's very consistent. Unfortunately, it's consistently _awful_.

DAVID: It really can't be stated enough how awful Shaq's performance is. He's the least intimidating guy in the world, and never is this more clear than when he saves the Penguin's parents from Batman Returns from the tyranny of an indie guitarist with a switchblade.

CHRIS: This is our first look at Shaq in costume, too, and if you've ever wondered what would happen if Phoenix Jones and RoboCop had a baby, it would look exactly like this:

[]

DAVID: Oh my Lord, I've been trying to place what the costume reminds me of, and you're dead right, it's Phoenix Jones. Steel goes after the thief and nails him to a shipping container in a generic dockyard, leading to his assistants remarking that the thief must now be "born again." He then apologizes to the really rich people on behalf of the people of Los Angeles, returning their money.

CHRIS: And then, in the single most amazing moment of the film, he steps backwards onto an escalator that seems to appear _out of f***ing nowhere_ and says "Y'all be cool, now." I cannot tell you how hard I laughed at this. It is THE GREATEST THING.

DAVID: Seriously, was the escalator written into the script? I have to wonder if it was originally supposed to be jetpack boots, like the comic version.

CHRIS: I swear, it's like they were in a meeting going "What do super-heroes do after they do a good deed? They fly away, right?" "Well, we don't have the budget for that. What if he just rode up an escalator instead?" It's shot in the _exact same style_ of the classic "Superman flies away" scene, and there's even a gust of wind as he goes up the escalator. It's... I love it. Pure, unironic love. It's the best.

[]

CHRIS: Well, okay. Maybe a _little_ ironic.

DAVID: And then, right after saying it, he just spins around and starts walking up. As John Henry fights crime, he's helped out by Sparks and Uncle Joe, and I can pretty easily see why so many commentators compared Sparks to Oracle for a while now. She basically sits there on comm and tells John exactly what to do, just like Oracle did to Batman for like a decade.

CHRIS: Wait, are you saying you think the redhead computer genius in the wheelchair who guides the super-hero from her headquarters is comparable to Oracle? I'm not sure I follow your logic there. Or maybe I'm just distracted because Shaq has to hold his right arm in this weird position because, if he doesn't, something will definitely fall off that costume. Really, guys? Sixteen million bucks in the budget and you couldn't slap some duct-tape on it for the shoot?

DAVID: To be fair, maybe it was just to hold himself up after absorbing the treat of being "smoked like a blunt." Steel's armor is also so bulletproof that it doesn't just, like, protect him, he can actually just stand there like Superman and wag his finger at the vintage luxury sedans.

CHRIS: The fight with the gang members is pretty rough, but -- aw dammit, you had to mention Joel Schumacher earlier, didn't you? That's like saying "Bloody Mary" into a mirror, except that you've conjured up a close-up shot of Steel magnetizing a gun and some knives to his ass.

[]

DAVID: Can I just say how great it is that he magnetizes his own hammer? Well, I mean, it's already magnetized, but he just stands there like "yeah, whatever, I can take it." I'm sure this was practiced over years on the court, but Shaq's pretty good at a smug, patronizing grin.

CHRIS: Eventually the cops show up and Steel escapes with a grappling hook in a shot that completely justifies the movie's decision to go with an escalator earlier.

DAVID: The cops just stand there and watch, too -- isn't this LA? Aren't they supposed to just unload their clips at anything that looks even slightly suspicious? Steel's jumping from rooftop to rooftop, ineptly, when the cops corner him and he seems to jump off, actually just grappling down, except the grapple line frays and breaks and he conveniently lands in a pile of garbage.

CHRIS: Then he gets on a motorcycle - and I'm honestly not clear on whether it's his motorcycle or if he just found it in the garbage, no kidding - and makes his escape. The cops give chase, but fortunately for Steel, whoever wrote this movie was under the impression that the police had to stop for red lights when they were chasing a suspect.

DAVID: Sparks helps him escape the cops by manipulating the traffic lights, leading her to declare that "it ain't easy being green." Because Kenneth Johnson thought that was a clever Muppets reference, apparently. Of course, Steel has a sweet junkyard secret entrance for his motorcycle like he's one of the Three Investigators.

CHRIS: And naturally, the police don't think to investigate the junkyard. You know, the junkyard full of bizarre metal sculptures? Why would you look there for a dude wearing bizarre metal armor?

DAVID: They even remark on how he might have escaped to "the Batcave." Like, did none of the helicopters catch the secret door that opened into the junkyard?

CHRIS: With that, we have our hero (sort of), our villain (more or less), and our plot (such as it is). So join us next week as we finish up what I can promise you is THE INTERNET'S MOST EXHAUSTIVELY IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF _STEEL_!

COMICSALLIANCE REVIEWS THE _SUPERMAN_ FILMS:

_Superman_ (1978), Part One
_Superman_ (1978), Part Two

_Superman II_ (1980), Part One
_Superman II_ (1980), Part Two
_Superman II_ (1980), Part Three

_Superman III_ (1983), Part One
_Superman III_ (1983), Part Two

_Supergirl_ (1984), Part One
_Supergirl_ (1984), Part Two

_Superman IV: The Quest For Peace_, Part One
_Superman IV: The Quest For Peace_, Part Two

question: Does Shaquille O'Neal's character in "Steel" have super powers?

answer: I don't believe so, he's a tech guru who makes advanced tech weapons and a suit.

question: What Marvel character does O'Neal's "Steel" character seem similar to?

answer: Tony Stark, Ironman

question: How does O'Neal's character get his start in high tech weaponry?

answer: He's a military scientist who builds high tech weapons, who later creates them on his own to supply gangs with weapons out of an arcade/weapons amalgamated business.

question: Is the movie good?

answer: Apparently it has bad acting and poor writing, so no.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Shaquille O'Neal's film "Steel" has many similarities to "Ironman." With poor writing and poor acting, it's anything but a good movie. Shaq goes from military scientist to street-level weapons supplier to super hero.


text:
no name for the story, and i did submit it to /r/literature but i don't think ANYONE read it at all. feedback, por favor?

a young man walks into a bedroom. it's dark, and there isn't much light in the room save a lone bulb, dangling from an old ceiling fan that probably should have been put out of use years ago.

it's the kind of room with its own stairs, the kind that, if you got it, all your siblings are jealous for the entirety of your growing up together. it's a rectangular room, with a window at each short end. the ceilings are slanted in to follow the sharp angles of the roof directly overhead, and the wall paper is a smoke stained white from years of his great grandmother sitting up there reading her old shitty romance novels and chain smoking.

he flicks the power switch of an old tube amp, just as stained as the walls. with a snap the tubes begin to warm, and he starts to tune his favorite guitar. after about a minute or two, with the G string still a little flat, he begins to play. he plays a few songs he knows, not in their entirety of course, just fragmented parts to a greater whole. a greater whole he feels he can never accomplish. as he plays what comes from the guitar starts to lose all clarity, all sense as he begins to think about her. deep in thought, he forgot what he was playing.

his mother shouts up his stairs for dinner time, and it takes him a few moments to realize what's going on. he turns off his amp and joins his family for a quiet dinner.

the next morning comes and goes as nothing but sleep dictates his schedule, besides his court ordered alcohol classes and the bi-weekly therapy sessions his mother put him in. he decided not to go to college, having just graduated high school, abandoning all hope after botching the placement exams, though his family doesn't know this. they simply think he's disgruntled, and will come around eventually, but he has kept private, his reasons.

he wakes around one forty five in the afternoon, to a grumbling stomach, he ignores it. since he can't drive anymore he is void of any plans or anything to do, so he decides to walk to their spot about two miles from his house. their spot is the creek where as children he fell in love with her, the place they spent all their time together.

 they met at a young age no one can recall, and before the age of ten their parents were were putting on bets they'd get married. he missed talking to her. now 18 and alone, sitting in the woods, face blank overlooking the creek. glaring at the water that's shit brown from all the mud and pollutants, he looks around his spot.

 there are large rocks scattered about, all covered in moss. most are half submerged in the wide but shallow creek, but a select few are in what he considers awful places to put such a large rock. the trees are tall and thick, hundreds of years old. they're the only ones around save the few trees in people's yards, since the construction companies came in to build his development. but that was a long time ago.

 sitting in his old woods, he begins to think about her again. his eyes start to get that rubbery feeling, and his vision blurs. he sits in silence as tears roll down his face. an hour passes, or longer, he doesn't care or know how long he's been there. he raises himself up and carries himself home. when he gets to his house, he rushes straight up his stairs avoiding his siblings and father, ignoring his mother's question as to where he had been.

 it's four in the morning, and he's sweating. he decides to take a walk, and finds himself on his way to the only place he seems to go anymore besides his own house. his spot at the creek is down a small road that would probably be considered a country road if it were not for the multitude of single family homes jam packed down the street. he passes the sign for the state park, which some kids had spray painted a large cartoon penis onto. he kind of chuckles to himself, but as he reaches the turn his face sinks into a deep grimace. he hated how much time he spent at his spot, but he felt so guilty if he weren't there. when he reaches his spot, he begins to climb the tree he had when he were younger. the tree he always climbed with her. the tree that served at the catalyst for the breaking of his arm when he was eleven when she laughed until she saw the thin piece of bone sticking out of his arm with the stream of crimson dripping heavily from it. he sat in his tree and thought. thought about everything. thought about his family, thought about his few friends he didn't talk to anymore, thought about how much he missed her and how sorry he was for what he did. as he always did at his special place in the woods, whether it be on the banks of the creek or up in their tree, he cried.

 he asked himself why he thought he'd be alright that night. why he let himself do what he did. out of his backpack he took out a rope. it was a course rope one might think was made of sandpaper, but was really a thick twine for cattle or other. just a moment later, he was dangling by his neck from the thickest branch on the left bow of the tree.

 he couldn't help but stare at the spot she had died. he always found it ironic, the place they fell in love was the same place he had killed her. vehicular manslaughter the police report called it, along with DUI and reckless driving. maybe if she were wearing her seat belt he wouldn't have had to go through the agony of watching his only love get ejected through the windshield of his father's impala. when he climbed out of the car he ran to her. he ran to her like he had one thousand and one times before to the same spot they had played at as children. he found her laying face down on the shore. half of her was in the shallow water, with one leg bent up backwards past her head. the top of her skull was almost flattened, like a military man's flat top, only pushed down to where it wouldn't look humanly possible. to where it wouldn't be humanly possible save some sort of skull crushing event. he held her and cried for an hour. she was gone before he even got to her. she was probably gone after the fender of the impala was crushed from the impact of the moss covered rock jutting out next to the road.

with only a moment left of consciousness before his vision, then subsequently his life, faded to black, he realized he was making a mistake. he thought about his family again, only this time he wasn't so critical of his parents' scoldings or his siblings' arguments. he thought about the friends he wished he talked to more. and lastly, he thought about her. he wished he could have done better by her, but knew it was too little, too late. he wished he could have said goodbye, maybe get a little closure, but if that happened he wouldn't be where he is now. realizing he was a fuck up, he also realized it's not too late to change. only, with your neck in a noose and you're feet dangling 8 feet above the ground, change is difficult. groping for the rope to try to relieve his weight, he wasted more of his precious oxygen. as he became heavier and heavier, and as the rope cut more and more into his thin neck, he began to cry one last tear.

title: Wrote this a year and a half ago when I was (shocker here!) depressed. Just found it on my computer.

question: Does the man live alone?

answer: No, he is an 18-year-old living with his family.

question: Who is the man thinking about?

answer: The man is thinking about his lover who passed away.

question: Why was the man in therapy?

answer: It may be implied that since he was an alcoholic and depressed that his mom put him in therapy.

question: Why did the two break up?

answer: They didn't. The girl died in an accident.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer:
He played his guitar while his mind was submerged in her thoughts. He didn't speak much and slept for most of his day. The narrator visited their favorite place as kids beside a shallow creek. This is the very same place his lover died in an accident.

At four in the morning, he walks to the spot and with a rope tries to hang himself. Just then, he thinks of his family and all his friends and wants to get rid of the rope around his neck but, it's too late.


text:
-   Home
-   The Bold and the Beautiful
-   Recaps

_THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2019: On Bold and the Beautiful today, Wyatt receives unexpected visitors, Sally faces Quinn's disapproval, and Katie isn't feeling well._

[Quinn faces off with Sally Bold and Beautiful]

Image: CBS

At the beach house, Wyatt takes a call from Sally, who’s looking forward to dinner. He teases she can stay for breakfast too and tells her to hurry over. He disconnects as Bill and Katie enter. She’s glad he’s not with Flo anymore. Bill chimes in what she did to Hope and Liam is unforgiveable and bellows, “No second chances for Flo, Wyatt!” He’s upset when Wyatt relays she came by Spencer Publications and plans to up security. Katie adds she told Flo how ashamed her father would be of what she did. Bill sums up there’s nothing Flo could do to redeem herself.

_MORE: Battlestar Galactica reboot, soap stars from the original_

At Flo’s place, she reminds her mother Ridge is married to Brooke. Shauna clucks that nothing happened…one innocent kiss when he was out cold is not a big deal. She wants to focus on Flo moving on with her life…with Wyatt. Flo would give anything for another chance with him. Shauna urges her to fight for him. Flo worries it might be too late; she’s not sure he’ll ever be able to forgive her. She adds Sally’s been back around. Shauna sniffs she can’t hold a candle to Flo. Flo isn’t sure if Wyatt would get back with her. Shauna says there’s one way to find out.

_MORE: Watch Rome Flynn recording his new single_

At Forrester Creations, Sally approaches Quinn about designs. Quinn mentions Wyatt said they’re seeing each other again. Sally asks, “You don’t approve?” [Sally questions Quinn Bold and Beautiful]Sally feels Quinn can’t possibly see a future for Wyatt and Flo. Quinn believes deep down he still loves Flo…and always will. After, Pam questions Sally about her run in with Quinn. She’s surprised she has even one friend. Once alone, Sally flashes through her romance with Wyatt. Elsewhere, Quinn’s impressed that Shauna’s snuck into the office and warns Eric’s still very angry. They enthuse about Flo being released. Shauna asks Quinn not to hate Flo and to help her get back with Wyatt.

_MORE: Ronn Moss’ new movie, Surprise Trip_

Flo arrives at the beach house with takeout and wants to talk.[Flo visits Wyatt Bold and Beautiful] Wyatt already has dinner plans and isn’t eating alone. She guesses he’s eating with a certain flamboyantly dressed redhead. Wyatt doesn’t hate Flo, a part of him will always love her, but that doesn’t change what she did…to his own brother. Flo has emailed him photos of them through the years. They look at them and Wyatt thanks her. Flo wants to make more memories. Sally texts Wyatt. Flo tells Wyatt true love can find forgiveness, then leaves. He looks torn.

_MORE: Soapy primetime fall premieres_

At home, Bill tells Katie that he hopes Wyatt listens to him about Flo. Katie relays she feels a little weak and has a pain in her back. Bill wants to call the doctor, but Katie feels it will pass. Will comes in and hugs her. She’s too tired to go to the park so the guys leave. Katie grimaces.

NEXT ON THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL:

Ridge makes Brooke a promise.

question: When was the article written?

answer: September 2019

question: Who doesn't want Wyatt to give Flo a second chance?

answer: Bill

question: What does Shauna want Flo to do?

answer: Get back together with Wyatt

question: Why is Katie in pain?

answer: That information can't be found

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The article summarizes an episode of Bold and the Beautiful in which Bill tells Wyatt not to get back together with Flo, but Flo's mother tells her to fight for him. Flo arrives at Wyatt's house and asks him to take her back and then leaves; Wyatt feels torn.


text:
[Václav Jansa (1896)] VÁCLAV JANSA (22 October 1859, Slatinice, near Most - 29 June 1913, Černošice) was a Czech landscape painter and illustrator; best known for his watercolors of the Staré Město in Prague.

Biography

When he was still a boy, his parents were hired as servants for Johann Joseph, (1854-1944), so they moved to Solany, near Děčany in Litoměřice District. While there, he was apprenticed to a merchant, but drew and painted as a hobby. [View of Zvíkov Castle] Eventually, he was able to gain admission to the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, where he studied with Antonín Lhota. Later, he transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, where his instructors were Eduard von Lichtenfels and Leopold Carl Müller.[1] After some time as a painter in Prague, he began to travel, working mostly in Southern Bohemia and Krkonoše. He also provided illustrations for _Zlatá Praha_ and _Světozor_.[2]

In 1894/5, together with Karel Vítězslav Mašek and Vojtěch Bartoněk he worked on a monumental painting designed by Mikoláš Aleš. It was called _Pobití Sasíků pod Hrubou Skálou_ (The Slaughter of the Saxons at Hrubá Skála, commemorating a 13th-century Czech victory) and measured 8.5 by 10 meters (28 by 33 feet). He was also one of several artists who collaborated on creating a panorama of the Battle of Lipany, designed by Luděk Marold, which is 11 meters (36 feet) high and 95 meters (311 feet) long.[3]

During that same period, the Prague city government began to redevelop parts of the old city (Staré Město) and the Jewish ghetto. A commission was established to create an inventory and document the buildings that were slated for demolition.[4] Pursuant to this, the Mánes Union of Fine Arts engaged Jansa to paint as much of the area as possible. During the late 1890s, he produced over 150 watercolors depicting the Staré Město and the Nové Město. Many of these were published in book form in 1908 and 1911.

Ironically, the small village where he was born was razed in the late 1960s, to make room for the expansion of a coal mine. The area has since been reclaimed as pastures and forest.

Selected scenes of Prague

(LINKS GO TO ARTICLES IN CZECH WIKIPEDIA)

File:Vaclav Jansa - Na Zderaze od severu.JPG|In Zderaz File:Vaclav Jansa - Dlouha trida, U zlateho stromu.JPG|House at the Golden Tree File:Vaclav Jansa - cp.1220, Helmovy mlyny.JPG|Helmovy Mills File:Vaclav Jansa - kaple Boziho hrobu na Zderaze.JPG|Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre

[1] Brief biography @ Časopis Krkonoše.

[2] Biographical notes @ Středočeská vědecká knihovna v Kladně.

[3]

[4] Text of the legislation and the original plan @ Kramerius.

title: Václav Jansa

question: What is Václav Jansa best known for?

answer: Václav Jansa is best known for his watercolors of the Staré Město in Prague.

question: When was Václav Jansa born?

answer: Václav Jansa was born on October 22nd, 1859.

question: How many watercolors did Václav Jansa produce in the late 1890s?

answer: Václav Jansa produced over 150 watercolors during the late 1890s.

question: What happened to Václav Jansa's home village?

answer: Václav Jansa's home village was burned down to make room for a coal mine, and later reclaimed as pastures and forest.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Václav Jansa was a Czech painter, focusing on landscapes and watercolors. He produced many paintings for various clients, and during the late 1890s produced over 150 watercolors.


text:
//This is the first short story I've ever written, so I will be eternally grateful to get some feedback and comments on it.

--

She said, there go the birds again.

They would cry before the break of dawn perching on our window sills  while making our home their shelter.

I have never really taken notice of them. Their incessant cries in the mornings have always been just ‘part of it’, as were many other things. When I was little, Father used it to trap little sparrows with promises of fresh fruits; Mother even trapped a fruit bat once. It was exhilarating. However, we always let them go regardless of what they were.

The trap remained empty after two weeks. This time, Mother’s intent was to make an example of these flighted vermin.

Then came one.

(The question)

“What are you waiting for?”

It kept its steady gaze on me, even as its head stuck out of the trap at an awkward angle, looking like a disjointed puppet.

“You know, I'm the one who is trapped here,” it said, “so what are you waiting for?”

At any other time, this conversation may have been a sign of delirium. But sometimes, it takes a new and unbiased perspective to put things back into perspective.

“I’m not waiting for anything.”

It knew at once that this was a lie and more. I was on my guard and I knew that it was simply trying to gain my trust and regain its right to freedom.

“I can help you. I know you, I’ve watched you for a while and shared your pain. I’ve hear your thoughts even when you think that no one is listening.”

Its sleek feathers were gently moving under the afternoon breeze. A dark cloud overhead threatened to bring rain, which would be fine for most people; we were safe under a warm roof but birds of its feather were vulnerable to the elements.

“I do not think that you would care for a minute about a being like me, but I too feel the same as you do. Like I said, we share your pain, we know your thoughts, all you need to do is to believe and listen.”

(The Confession)

I realized then that I was holding my breath all this time, listening as the stranger spoke.

“My mind, body and soul are not my own. I have lived my life in the shadows of others. I’ve moulded myself at the whims of those around me; my being exists for the convenience of those whom I hold dear. I am lost and I don’t know how to change.”

The bird tipped its head and looked straight into my staring eyes.

“And then what? Are you just going to continue making excuses for the rest of your days?”

Excuses? Excuses… They were not excuses. These were the reasons that had moved me when I thought there was nothing else ahead. The driving forces behind a life that was once thought forsaken. But somewhere along the line it seemed, someone else took the reins. A wall had been erected and instead of protecting what was fragile, it contained what was meant to flourish. An infallible personality, loved and accepted, all done to blend in and move with the tides.

Listening with a slightly bemused expression, the bird saw beyond the wall and into the core. It saw tears and blood, but they were empty. They were not shed from pain nor happiness, regret nor contentment.

“What is it you really want? You cannot change what has already happened, and everything that had happened, did for a reason. You cannot seek the light unless you are already in the darkness; you cannot reach for the sky, if you have not already fallen to the ground. What you are bound to is only your own reflections of what you think need to be fulfilled. No one else owns the responsibility to you. If you want to fly, set yourself free.”

A bird of far too many thoughts and far too many words. I slide the triggered catch and pulled.

It did not move.

title: perched.

question: What is the bird waiting for?

answer: Nothing.

question: Why is the bird there?

answer: To help the author.

question: What does the bird accuse the author of?

answer: Making excuses.

question: The author thinks the bird has far too many what?

answer: Thoughts and words.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The author is stuck, watching birds. One swoops in to speak with the author. The author learns from the bird that they share the same pain. The bird advises the author to stop making excuses. The author seems to resent this advice.


text:
“I couldn’t tell you what happened or why,

I can only tell you what I felt and why it affected me so."

Electric pulses shot through the air. I could feel them in my fingertips.

They began to permeate every blood vessel and vein,

until I felt like one pulsating organ; hot, heavy, and overwhelmed.

All at once the blackness hit.

I was icy again;

back to the normal numbness I felt from day to day,

no emotions and soulless.

Strangely I felt whole for once, like I was finally complete,

like I had risen to a higher plane of existence, another state of being.

Then, I woke up.

I was holding bloody clumps of hair. It was a ratty and tangled mess.

I threw it down in disgust, and ground it into the dirt with my foot.

I thought I could make it disappear.

I looked up to see a blood stained manifestation of human staring back at me.

You could have sensed that she was dirty, beaten, battered, bruised, and broken

just by the sadness in her eyes.

I wondered if I had committed this heinous act towards such an ethereal creature.

I instantly felt shame at the mere possibility.

I reached out, just to touch her, to hold her, to mend her,

to whisper that everything was going to be alright.

My hand stopped when I touched glass.

I realized what I had been looking at with such remorse and affection

was simply myself reflected.

"That’s when I fainted.”

The doctor raised his left eyebrow, glanced at the clock,

sighed at the forty five minutes left in our session,

then whispered in his sing-song voice,

“And how does that make you feel?”

title: ethereal.

question: Whose hair was the narrator holding?

answer: It is implied that it was the narrator's hair.

question: How did she pull out the hair?

answer: Information not found.

question: Was this a dream or reality?

answer: Information not found.

question: What happened when the narrator saw her reflection?

answer: She fainted.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator is at her therapist's office, describing a scene where she goes through different body sensations. She ends up holding bloody clumps of hair, then sees a wounded woman, only to realize she was looking at her own reflection. She tells the doctor that at that moment she fainted. The doctor asks her how she feels about that.


text:
The night is wrought with tension, the wind is whispering through the trees, telling stories of bloodshed from long ago. One can almost hear the words within the moaning of the wind,

	  Children laughing. Children laughing long ago.
	  Until They came to take and claim,
	  Until the night was painted red,
	  That’s when the laughing stopped.

The full moon shines upon the moor, illuminating a black castle standing tall upon a rock. The empty halls are quiet; all is still except for wind outside that warns of coming storms. The dungeons groan with haunted memories, walls stained an old red-brown.
A little girl wanders in, the castle’s weary doors creak open. She’s lost, the little one, looking for “Big Brother.” The shadows on the walls are whispering, whispering about a little girl whose come from far to visit these forsaken halls. Candles doust and shadows fall, forming claws and hands and the bodies of laughing children in the dark. Faces gleaming, teeth and tongue and eyes and all until a horrid shriek resounds and all is still once more.

The little girl is stood stock still, until she’s sure she sees no more and calls for “Brother Dear.” She walks through ghastly halls of crumbling walls and does not think or care to know of memories so far and dear to places such as here. Broken windows bring in mist that speaks of feasts from long ago and celebrations and cakes and laughter all around, with children in the midst of it. Two children, boy and girl, were once kept here with laughter ringing true to ears and futures were to be admired and hoped for, blissfully unaware about this tired world.

The wretched wind of mourning follows this wandering soul and cries in every corner,

	  Children laughing. Children laughing long ago.
	  Until They came to take and claim,
	  That’s when the laughing stopped,
	  And the traitors were to blame.

Shrieking, howling, wretched wind that whispers when it comes to ruined pictures on the walls and images from long ago… and slips away in silence when the dungeons come to play, where shadows whisper of a boy and girl that turn to scarlet butterflies of beauty, but scar and mark and burn as though hell’s blood is flowing through those wings of molten scarlet thread.
The silence rings and “Brother Dear” is called again, with anxious voice and eyes that speak of reckless choice when this little girl takes one step, two, and ends within the dungeons deep where shadows pounce and butterflies that should bring joy surround and never fail to deploy the plans to take and claim until the laughter sounds again.

The girl stares wide and open-mouthed at butterflies of fiery hue that seem to whisper with their bloodied wings silent words of RUN and FLEE, a repetition of a broken record playing among the dungeon’s dew and shadows full of glee.
Until a beat, another one or two, the cloud of bloodied scarlet wings holds back no more and attacks a little girl whose lost her way within the night, searching for “Big Brother Dear” and wondering at his plight.

When cries of anguish now resound, an older boy steps through and shouts and fights with hardened fists until the cloud of red dissipates and his sister is on the ground, scrambling for stronger hands and arms until she’s safe and sound.

title: Whispers of the Past (short story in creepy/mystery genre but not full-on horror)

question: What is the true nature of the butterflies?

answer: While it is unclear, it is possible that they are other children that have been transformed into butterflies.

question: What would have happened if they girl's brother did not show up to rescue her?

answer: She would either have been killed by the butterflies or turned into a butterfly herself.