text:
This is a LIST OF THE COLLEGES WITHIN THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG. As a collegiate university, the school comprises nine colleges that differ in character and history, each retaining substantial autonomy on institutional affairs: Chung Chi College, New Asia College, United College,[1] Shaw College, Morningside College,[2] S. H. Ho College,[3] Lee Woo Sing College, Wu Yee Sun College and C. W. Chu College. All undergraduates are affiliated to one of them.[4]

Colleges are designed as communities with their own hostels, dining halls and other facilities. Students receive pastoral care and whole-person education, including formal and non-formal general education by means of close interaction with teachers and peers, and in some colleges, assemblies and college final year project. Colleges promote extracurricular social and athletic activities with an aim of building camaraderie among students. This focus on 'student orientated teaching', education through both formal teaching and student empowerment, distinguishes CUHK from other universities in the territory.

When the structure of the university was revamped in 1976, and the autonomy of the colleges diminished, Lord Fulton clarified the role of the colleges: “the natural home of student-oriented teaching is the college [which] is an association of senior and junior members come together in pursuit of shared academic interests and aims.” He wrote that the colleges help students achieve “a sense of his or her personal significance and responsibility, and on that basis to enrich the common life.”[5]

Colleges

  College                Established   Motto (in Chinese)   Motto (in English)                                          Master
  ---------------------- ------------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
  Chung Chi College      1951          止於至善             In Pursuit of Excellence                                    Fong Wing Ping
  [] CW Chu College      2007          修己澤人，儲才濟世   Cultivating oneself and benefiting the community            Wai-Yee Chan
  Lee Woo Sing College   2007          知仁忠和             Wisdom, Humanity, Integrity, Harmony                        Joseph Wan-yee Lau
  Morningside College    2006          博學 進德 濟民       Scholarship, Virtue, Service                                Nicholas Rawlins
  New Asia College       1941          誠明                 Sincerity and intelligence                                  Siumi Maria Tam
  Shaw College           1986          修德講學             Cultivate virtue, go more deeply into what I have learned   Andrew Chi-fai Chan
  S.H. Ho College        2006          文行忠信             Culture, Morals, Devotion, Trustworthiness                  Samuel Sun Sai-ming
  United College         1956          明德新民             Make one's virtues shine and renew the people               Jimmy Chai-mei Yu
  Wu Yee Sun College     2007          博學篤行             Scholarship and Perseverance                                Rance P.L. Lee

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4] CUHK College system

[5]

title: Colleges of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

question: What is this article discussing?

answer: It is discussing the long list of colleges within the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

question: How are colleges designed in Hong Kong?

answer: Colleges are designed as communities with their own hostels, dining halls, and other facilities.

question: How many colleges comprise the Chinese University of Hong Kong?

answer: Nine colleges

question: What distinguishes the Chinese University of Hong Kong from other universities in the territory?

answer: The Chinese University of Hong Kong focuses on student oriented teach, education both through formal teaching and student empowerment.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article discusses the Chinese University of Hong Kong, what colleges it comprises of and what it offers as a curriculum to students.


split: train

text:
The lawsuits against industrial food companies just keep piling up.

First, it was Wesson Oils who got sued for using GMOs in its products that the company claimed were “100% Natural”.

Then, Kashi got sued for using prescription drugs, irradiated substances, pesticides that are a by-product of uranium mining, and federally declared hazardous substances in products that it claimed were “All-Natural” and contained “Nothing Artificial”.

Now, here comes a class action lawsuit against Naked Juice (owned by PepsiCo) for using genetically-modified ingredients and synthetic substances in products that were marketed as “Non-GMO” and “All-Natural”.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NAKED JUICE LAWSUIT ACCUSE THE COMPANY OF:

1) Labeling its products as “Non-GMO” when, in fact, it knowingly used genetically-modified ingredients in its products.

2) False and misleading labeling of its products as “100% Juice”, “100% Fruit” and “All Natural” when the products contained many different synthetic ingredients and synthetic fibers such as:

* Fibersol-2 — a proprietary synthetic digestion-resistant fiber produced by Archer Daniels Midland and developed by a Japanese chemical company.

* Fructooligosaccharides — a synthetic fiber and sweetener.

* Inulin — an artificial and invisible fiber added to foods to artificially increase fiber content with the typical fiber mouth-feel.

3) Intentionally misleading and deceiving its customers.

—-

In my view, the allegations in the Naked Juice lawsuit are much, much worse than the Kashi and ConAgra ones. Why?

The legal crackdown on the use the term “natural” is something that is only now taking place.

While companies may absolutely be violating the law by using GMOs and synthetic substances in products that they claim to be “all-natural”, the legal precedent has not been set yet. It soon will be.

Furthermore, since our government has done nothing to truly clarify and enforce what “natural” means, major food companies have been dancing around the issue hoping not to get caught. That party is coming to an end.

However, with the Naked Juice lawsuit, the company is being accused of using GMOs when it states that its products are “Non-GMO”.

If proven true, this is blatant fraud and deception. No legal education or chemistry background is needed to tell you that this is clearly illegal.

What makes matters worse is the packaging of Naked Juice products and how it sells the promise of something incredibly wholesome and healthy.

As I have stated before, this is only a major positive for the organic industry and for all consumers.

The more people realize that “natural” means very little, the more they will gravitate towards organic, where there are standards, enforcement and regulation.

Please share this article about the Naked Juice lawsuit with anyone you know that may be purchasing Naked Juice products.

If you’d like to to read the full legal complaint, click HERE (PDF file).

—-

To stay up-to-date on the latest organic and GMO news, please make sure that you are on my newsletter list.

To join this list, enter your email below and I’ll send you my Top 5 Inexpensive Ways to Shop Organic.

[]

question: Why are lawsuits against industrial food companies growing?

answer: The article doesn't address this question. It seems the author used the information as a introduction, to hook readers.

question: What is the main topic of this article?

answer: The main topic of this article is about the lawsuit against Naked Juice.

question: How does the author feel about the Naked Juice lawsuit?

answer: It seems the author is angry that the company knowingly misled its customers. The author thinks the allegations in this lawsuit are much worse than the other lawsuits mentioned in the article.

question: What is the problem with using the word "natural"?

answer: The use of the word "natural" hasn't been defined in the food industry; it means very little, and it doesn't have the same meaning as "organic". Major food companies have been "dancing around the issue" of using the word "natural" hoping not to get caught.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The main topic of this article is about the lawsuit against Naked Juice. The author of the article seems angry about Naked Juice's misleading labeling. The use of the word "natural" hasn't been defined in the food industry; it means very little, and it doesn't have the same meaning as "organic". Major food companies have been "dancing around the issue" of using the word "natural" hoping not to get caught. The author seems to think this lawsuit is a big step for the organic industry.


text:
Sorry in advance, my new year's resolution was to try my hand at writing at least once a week, so this is my sloppy first attempt at a pointless short story. Bear with me, it really is pretty short.

	I looked down and saw the little pock marks on the long bruises I called arms, and rolled down my sleeves. There was a whistling sound in my head driving me bad shit mad.

...

	So he looked at me with his sad face, with his petty remorse and his puppy dog eyes. “I have to do this, and I’m offering you a place in my committee because I want you to be here with me, making more money than you already do and hopefully living a better life.”

	I was fuming but something was gnawing at me in the back of my head. What if he was saying this kindly, not sarcastically? It took me a second to register that he wasn’t faking any emotions.

	I realized that the entire life I had known him he was a real, authentic individual. I guess the past several years had taken its toll on me, and I may have become slightly cynical. I looked up and into his eyes and saw no dark spots of mal-intent. He was a businessman, yes, and a wealthy and calculated one at that. But he had a core, sensible and clean, that he had always held within him since before he was picking my sorry ass off the floor after fights in junior high. He legitimately cared for me, but as I usually did, I dug deeper. I thought about his goals. He had a family, and however poorly he treated his kids, the real kindness you can find in a man isn’t reflected by how often he treats his children, but simply how he treats them. Molding them to have traits for success isn’t a poor thing of him to do at all, and when he was kind and loving to them it was golden with no itemistic parts. He never treated them to ice cream or toys as rewards, they had birthdays and christmas, but even then maybe a surprise toy wasn’t the worst thing in the world for them. It was more the principle that a reward system was right for his kids, he would rather them be content with what they had. It was important to him, contentedness, the rich, bussiness-expanding, effluent douchebag.

	He just gave them his holy words and that was more than enough to have them happy for that day and give them a lingering dad-high for the rest of the week.

But in the end, he valued his family over me. He knew that in the end, he would have to do something about me, and bringing me in was the best he could do. No, he just wanted to do it, the difference being that I could tell he wanted this all along, for me to with him.

I selfishly said no.

I told him I had more important things to do than to be in his heartless rich-boy 401k club and told him my family relied on me and it was all lies, every word. I wanted to tear up and give him the hug I had held in since junior high, but my head was somewhere else. It was as if somebody else had taken over my body and was headstrong, pessimistic, and a complete and utter liar. I told him to fuck off, and I told him to kill himself. I wanted to be dead. My family hated me and I was going down the rabbit hole. I was going to be homeless in a week and a day if by tomorrow he decided to go through with his plan.

	I walked up, sarcastically thanked him, feinted him a handshake and then punched him in his jaw. As hard as I possibly could. Who did he think he was? Toying with my emotions as he did.
	 He took another blow to the face. Somebody other than me was doing it, I swear. I was next to the man doing it, looking at HIM over his shoulder, but he was getting bloodier and bloodier. I got up and saw blood on my knuckles. That’s weird, I thought. There was no blood from my first hit on him. His lip split on the third blow. I shrugged, confused, and left the room. I could hear him crying. Maybe it was me. My world was bending, swirling into a hole, and I wasn’t even fighting the current dragging me into it. I laughed and fell into the rabbit hole, cursing love and intentions, where they could never hurt me again. I looked up, saw the sky and broken glass, which was falling, increasing in velocity, but never passing me. It was a curious sight, I wonder why it wa-

title: Out of place and into the dark (Cheesy as fuck title)

question: Summarize the man's views on parenthood.

answer: The man doesn't want to reward his children with toys. He would rather teach his children to be content with what they had. He molds his kids to be primed for success.

question: What are the misfortunes the protagonist is suffering?

answer: Hs family hates him. He is going to be homeless if the man goes through with his plan. The man is also toying with his emotions.

question: Summarize the narrator's fate at the end of the story.

answer: He attacks the man and then winds up falling through a window. He presumably plummets to his death.

question: What does the story say about work ethic?


text:
Standing in the Aisle

During morning hours, the number one runs west-east through the city.  It picks up students and business men from across the bridge before arriving at the stop nearest Jim’s apartment. Jim was waiting when the bus arrived.
Most prefer that Jim does not sit with them. He dresses in jeans and a T-shirt caked with dried mortar, and carries a battered backpack filled with dusty masonry tools jutting out from under the top flap.  When he walks down the aisle, passengers casually place their briefcases and purses beside them, as if remembering that they were to save a spot for someone else.

The bus hit a pothole while Jim was mid stride. He lurched forward and reached for a pole to keep from falling.  When he accidentally grabbed a woman’s shoulder instead of a pole, she recoiled and let him fall hard.  He broke her purse strap in the process, and the fall emptied his backpack, sending tools flying down the aisle.  As he struggled to right himself, a huddle formed.  The woman with the broken purse stooped down.  “You idiot!” her face was red, “You broke my purse!”

With an exaggerated limp and feigning pain, a man entered the circle. “My Leg!  You cut my leg with your damn tools!”

“Oh my God, are you ok?” said a woman.

“I don’t know,” he said. “It really hurts."

“I’m a doctor. Let me see.” the woman led the man to a seat.

“Is your purse ok?” said a man.

“No.  It’s ruined.  It was one of my favorites!”  The woman sat down and began sobbing.

As Jim stood up he felt blood running down his forehead and noticed that his arm was broken. He apologized to the group and realized that his pack was empty. He broke away from the small crowd and moved forward looking down in a double effort to avoid eye contact and to find his tools.  He spotted his trowel at the feet of a passenger a few seats away. When the passenger realized what Jim was looking at, he kicked the trowel towards him.  As Jim leaned to pick it up, blood from his forehead dripped onto the floor, spattering a woman’s shoes. “Get away from me!” She kicked the trowel further up the aisle. Jim walked over and retrieved it, passing by the man with the wounded leg.

“There, you’re all set. Just take it easy for the next hour and your leg will be fine.”  The doctor applied a Band-Aid with a big friendly smile.

Jim continued to look for his belongings, checking around the feet and briefcases of passengers, hoping that his tools could be picked up without causing anyone further inconvenience.  A loudspeaker crackled when the bus stopped, “University. Main. Last stop.”

The bus immediately emptied. Jim winced as his arm was jostled by the sudden rush of people hurrying against him, all of them clearly annoyed by his standing in the aisle.

title: Standing in the Aisle. (Fiction. 500 Words) Criticism welcomed.

question: Is Jim a good masonry worker?

answer:
At first glance, it would seem that way. Jim takes the bus in the morning along with people going to work -but construction work also happens at night, so Jim would actually be bound for home in the morning after a whole night of work. This would explain why he has dried mortar all over his clothes and why his tools are dusty.

However, the story is structured from the notion that Jim is taking a bus to work -not to come home. This is because the bus picks him up from the stop closest to his apartment. He goes to work in dirty clothes and he has not cleaned his tools from the night before. His dirty clothes show a lack of care and respect for both his job and his self. Also, a good masonry worker should maintain their tools properly. He does not clean them after use, and he stores them in an open bag where they would be exposed to the elements, can be easily stolen, or at the very least, could drop and be damaged. He does end up spilling his masonry tools in the bus, and while the passengers were lucky that the only injury sustained was a small cut on the leg (and since it was inspected by a doctor, it appears that an infection or worse, tetanus, was ruled out), the fact remains that walking in public with such tools in an unsecure container is a danger to the person carrying the bag and the people around. So while the reactions of the passengers may have been exaggerated (the narrative does imply an excessive degree of bias against Jim), the danger they were to could have resulted in much worse consequences.

question: Why do the bus passengers prefer to not have Jim sit with them?

answer:
The story implies a social bias against Jim. Most of the passengers on the bus are stated to be students or people who work in a professional office environment (businessmen, doctors, etc).

However, what is not stated is the actual social standing of Jim. His age, race, skin color, religious/social/political affiliations are not given. He has a very American sounding name in what appears to be a very American sounding setting (which would imply that he is not much different from the other passengers), so the bias is not racial either.

He seems to be the only blue collar worker on the bus, though no one who expressed hostility towards Jim

This now leaves two possible reasons for the way he is publicly treated. The first is that he could be some form of social pariah; the target of a social scandal, an ex-convict, has been suspected of a crime, or something similar. However, there is no detail in the story that would allude to this.

This leaves only one thing left: Jim is literally dirty. The narrative clearly states he has dried mortar all over his shirt and jeans (which probably means they have not been washed), and his bag is full of dusty tools.

A typical student would be a young person who is highly of their looks and how their peers would see them. A typical person working in an office environment would have clothing standards to uphold -they need to look professional for their colleagues, superiors, and most importantly, for their clients. Having to spend an entire morning getting ready for work or school makes them all the more less willing to have someone dirty sitting next to them on the bus -what if the smell or dirt gets on their clothes? A person in a suit would certainly want to avoid that before going to work. In addition, the pressure of school and work would also explain their degree of irritation towards Jim whose mere presence threatens to ruin their day as him sitting next to them could cause trouble.

question: Is Jim a bad person?

answer:
While it is possible that Jim may have a negative reputation outside of being untidy, there is nothing in the narrative that would show that Jim is a morally bad person.

His actions following his accident show that he simply wants to minimize the effects of his presence as much as possible. It does have to be pointed out that despite the over-reacting, a man did sustain a cut, and Jim did nothing to apologize or even acknowledge this -even if it was Jim's fault for not carrying his tools in a more secure container. While it can be argued that Jim has injuries of his own (a broken arm and a head wound), he is able to ignore these in favor of looking for his scattered tools.

On top of all that, he goes to work in an unpresentable manner. It can be stated that Jim is not a bad person, but he seems to be rather thoughtless or careless, so this would still reflect badly on him as a person.

question: Are the people in the bus acting badly or unfairly towards Jim?

answer:
The story implies that Jim usually takes this bus so the passengers have a bias towards him. And outside of the situation that happened in the story, if Jim was just sitting alone in one corner of the bus, then any expression of bias would be unwarranted.

However, for the case of the given narrative, it can be said that their issues with Jim are grounded and have cause.

It is perfectly okay to express disapproval in being forced to sit beside a dirty person when one has to go to work or school. Casually placing items in the free seats as a non-verbal way to tell Jim not to sit there can be considered as a way of allowing Jim to be rejected with dignity (the unspoken message being, the rejection has nothing to do with Jim, the seat is simply reserved for another). Though one could argue that politely telling Jim to consider cleaning himself before riding public transportation would have been a much better thing to do. This is implied to be a daily thing, but it is also implied that Jim never washes his clothes either.

The story-specific scenario is when Jim falls and drops his tools.  The bias appears when the passengers express willingness to help others out except for Jim. Jim was stated to have been wounded in the head, and his arm was broken. The doctor should have at least attended to him after taking care of the man with a cut on his leg. The woman kicking the trowel further away certainly acted in an improper manner (and it is also dangerous) too. The woman whose purse was broken may have been harsh with her words, but it was her favorite, so it has both sentimental and monetary value for her (and there are no indications that Jim would be giving reparations for damaging it, as the story ends with everyone leaving the bus). The man with the cut leg was also exaggerating (there was no need to feign pain), but it is true that the wound could cause further complications -thankfully a doctor on the bus helped by attending to it).

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Jim is a masonry worker who keeps his tools in an unsecure bag and wears his dirty and unwashed work clothes on his commute. The other passengers on the bus are mostly students and white collar workers on the way to work; they do not like Jim and do not want him to sit next to them. One day, Jim stands in the aisle and falls when the bus lurches -he accidentally breaks the purse strap of a passenger while some of his tools fall from his bag and a man's leg sustains a small cut. They express their anger towards Jim, who is meekly trying to gather his tools. A doctor attends to the man's leg, and they leave with other passengers when the bus arrives at the last stop.


text:
BOGUSŁAW MEC (21 January 1947 – 11 March 2012)[1] was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and artist.[2] [Boguslaw Mec Street in his hometown - Tomaszów Mazowiecki]

Bogusław Mec was born in Tomaszów Mazowiecki in 1947. His career began in 1969, at _Łódzka Giełda Piosenki_ song contest. In 1972, at X National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, he received a Ministry of Culture and Art award for the song “Jej portret”. In the 1980s, he toured the US, USSR, Jugoslavia, Spain, and East Germany.

Since 2001, he had suffered from leukemia[3] and died on 11 March 2012, at a hospital in Zgierz. He was 65.[4]

Discography

Albums

-   To nie był sen (1971)
-   Bogusław Mec 2 (1979)
-   Bogusław Mec 3/4 (1981)
-   Nie biegnij tak (Pronit) (1983)
-   Mały szu (Polskie Nagrania Muza) (1987)
-   Jej portret the best of (1995)
-   Po kolędzie (1997)
-   Malarz i poeta (1998)
-   Boże Narodzenia ((1998))
-   The best – Jej portret (2004)
-   2004 Recepta na życie (2004)
-   Duety (2008)
-   Mec Bogusław, The best of (2010)
-   Bogusław Mec – Malarz i poeta (4everMusic) (2013)

Singles

-   “Z wielkiej nieśmiałości” (1980)
-   “Przyjaciele po to są”
-   “Filozof” (wraz z Justyną Steczkowską) (2008)
-   “Stare buty Van Gogha” (wraz z Frument Project) (2011)

Art exhibitions

-   Art exhibition in Stockholm (1990)
-   Art exhibition in Prag (1991)
-   One-person art exhibition (1992)
-   Art exhibition in Toronto (1992)
-   Art exhibition in the USA (1993)

[1]

[2] Bogusław Mec nie żyje

[3]

[4]

title: Bogusław Mec

question: Who is Bogusław Mec?

answer: He was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and artist.

question: When and where was Bogusław Mec born?

answer: He was born on January 21, 1947, in Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

question: Summarize everything relating to Mec's career.

answer: Bogusław Mec began his career in 1969 at the Łódzka Giełda Piosenki singing contest. He received a Ministry of Culture and Art award for the song “Jej portret” in 1972. In the 1980s, he toured the US, USSR, Yugoslavia, Spain, and East Germany.

question: List all Bogusław Mec albums after he was diagnosed with leukemia until his death in 2012.

answer:
- The best – Jej portret (2004)
- 2004 Recepta na życie (2004)
- Duety (2008)
- Mec Bogusław, The best of (2010)
- Bogusław Mec – Malarz i poeta (4everMusic) (2013)

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Bogusław Mec was an award-winning was a Polish singer, songwriter, composer, and artist. He won a singing contest in 1969 and his career took off from there, receiving a Ministry of Culture and Art award for the song “Jej portret” in 1972 and touring several countries in the 1980s. Bogusław Mec continued to record and produce music even after he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. He passed away on 11 March 2012, at a hospital in Zgierz. He was 65.


text:
Conditions of PUBLIC ORDER in Japan compare favorably with those in other industrialized countries. The overall crime rate is low by North American and West European standards and has shown a general decline since the mid-1960s. The incidence of violent crime is especially low, due mainly to pervasive social pressure and conditioning to obey the law. Problems of particular concern are those associated with a modern industrialized nation, including juvenile delinquency, traffic control, and white-collar crime.

Post World War II

Civil disorders occurred beginning in the early 1950s, chiefly in Tokyo, but did not seriously threaten the internal security of the state. Far less frequent after the early 1970s, they were in all cases effectively countered by Riot Police Unit, efficient and well-trained police units employing the most sophisticated techniques of riot control.

Police

Japan's police are an apolitical body under the general supervision of independent agencies, free of direct central government executive control (_cf._ National Police Agency). They are checked by an independent judiciary and monitored by a free and active press. The police are generally well respected and can rely on considerable public cooperation in their work. While police are well-trained, they generally have little practical experience outside of writing tickets or answering an occasional domestic dispute.

Legal process of arrest

When a person is suspected of a crime, the police can hold him for up to three days before initiating an investigation. The police must obtain approval from the prosecutor's office for a ten-day investigation. If, after ten days, the police are not satisfied with the investigation, they may request an additional ten days from the prosecutor and a judge. These requests are rarely denied. Bail is rarely granted during this time, and only during extreme mitigating circumstances, as when a child or elder relative depends on the suspect for daily care. After the second ten-day period, the prosecutor must bring an indictment against the suspect or release him. Anybody can be arrested, and held for up to 23 days before being charged with a crime.

When a suspect is arrested, he is informed of two rights, analogous to Miranda rights. The first is the right to remain silent. The second is the right to have an attorney at the trial. The suspect does _not_ have the right to see an attorney before trial or have one present during interrogation sessions. If a suspect can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed for him (The Constitution of Japan, Section 37-3).

Prosecutors in Japan do not generally go to trial unless they have overwhelming evidence of guilt. Because of this tendency, they decline to prosecute nearly a quarter of all cases. For those that go to trial, Japanese prosecutors hold a conviction record of about 98%. These patterns contribute to public perceptions of the infallibility of the police and the legal system, and the perception that if a person is arrested, he or she must be guilty of the crime.

Penal system

Officials involved in the criminal justice system are usually highly trained professionals interested in preventing crime and rehabilitating offenders. They are allowed considerable discretion in dealing with legal infractions and appear to deserve the trust and respect accorded to them by the general public. Constitutionally guaranteed rights of habeas corpus, protection against self-incrimination, and the inadmissibility of confessions obtained under duress are enforced by criminal procedures.

The prison system is generally modern and conducted from the viewpoint of resocialization. Prisoners are treated on an individualized basis, and education is emphasized. Special attention is given to juvenile offenders, who are normally housed separately from adult prisoners. A well-organized parole and probation program employs numerous citizen volunteers.

title: Public order and internal security in Japan

question: Why can the police rely on public cooperation?

answer: Because the people are conditioned to obey the law.

question: What would happen if there was not overwhelming evidence of guilt for a crime?

answer: Prosecutors will not go to trial.


text:
Report

The annual United Nations General Assembly can seem like a stodgy affair. Here are a few of the gathering's more indecorous moments.

 [71st General Assembly]
NEW YORK, USA - SEPT 14, View of the General Assembly Hall form podium at the United Nations Headquarters during preparations for the 71st General Assembly in New York on September 14, 2016. (Photo by VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images)

From the impassioned to the provocative to the truly bizarre, here are the 10 most unforgettable remarks to come out of General Assembly speeches in the past seventy years.

AN INDIAN DIPLOMAT FILIBUSTERS HIMSELF TO (NEAR) DEATH

YEAR: 1957

QUOTE: “The Security Council regards this as a dispute. It is not a dispute for territory. There is only one problem before you… that problem is the problem of aggression.”

IMPACT: With this epic filibuster during a debate on Kashmir, INDIAN U.N. ENVOY KRISHNA MENON holds the record for the longest speech in the history of the U.N. Security Council. In total, it lasted over eight hours. Menon actually collapsed from exhaustion partway through and had to be hospitalized. He returned later and continued for another hour while a doctor monitored his blood pressure.

 []

CASTRO GOES LONG

YEAR: 1960

QUOTE: ”Were Kennedy not a millionaire, illiterate, and ignorant, then he would obviously understand that you cannot revolt against the peasants.”

IMPACT: He’s not quite in Menon’s league, but CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO’S debut speech at the U.N. clocked in at four and a half hours, the longest ever in the General Assembly. Castro’s first visit to the United States in 1959 had been a bit friendlier, but by 1960 he was firmly in the Soviet camp and used his speech to blast U.S. imperialism and insult John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the U.S. presidential candidates at the time. Castro provided another bizarre memory from that year’s assembly by keeping live chickens in his hotel room.

 []

KRUSHCHEV PUTS HIS FOOT DOWN

YEAR: 1960

QUOTE: “Mr. President, call that toady of American imperialism to order.”

IMPACT: SOVIET PREMIER NIKITA KRUSHCHEV provided one of the Cold War’s most iconic moments when, in an attempt to silence a Filipino delegate who was railing against Soviet imperialism, he issued the above epithet, removed his shoe, and began banging it on the table. The gesture has become a classic example of overheated rhetoric, but it shouldn’t have been all that surprising coming from the man who famously warned, “We will bury you.”

 [Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev Delivering Speech at United Nations]

LODGE SPIES A BUG

YEAR: 1960

QUOTE: “It so happens that I have here today a concrete example of Soviet espionage so that you can see for yourself.”

IMPACT: Colin Powell famously used a vial of “anthrax” while trying in vain to win Security Council support for military action in Iraq, but there are times when props have been used a bit more effectively. During a debate over the shooting down of an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory, U.S. AMBASSADOR HENRY CABOT LODGE decided to go on the offensive. He took out a wooden seal that had been presented to the U.S. embassy in Moscow by the Soviet-American Friendship Society and then proceeded to extract a tiny microphone out of the eagle’s beak with a pair of tweezers. The Soviet resolution condemning the U.S. spy flights was defeated.

 []

ARAFAT PREPS FOR BATTLE

YEAR: 1974

QUOTE: “An old world order is crumbling before our eyes, as imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, and racism, whose chief form is Zionism, ineluctably perish.”

IMPACT: The Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman was invited to address the General Assembly for the first time at the request of the non-aligned movement, a coalition of developing countries that has been historically critical of Israel in the U.N., PALESTINIAN LEADER YASSER ARAFAT took the stage wearing fatigues and delivered a blistering attack on Zionism. One year later, the notorious “Zionism equals racism” was passed and Israel’s relations with the U.N. have been, at best, uneasy ever since.

 [Portrait Of Yasser Arafat Speaking At The United Nations In New York On November 12Nd 1974]

ORTEGA GOES RAMBO ON REAGAN

YEAR: 1987

QUOTE: “Before consulting the hotheads who present various military options such as a military invasion: remember, President Reagan, Rambo only exists in the movies.”

IMPACT: NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA used the platform of the U.N. to assail U.S policy in Central America, particularly the financing of the Contra rebels and supporting the Somoza dictatorship, which Ortega said “bled the Nicaraguan people dry.” The angry speech prompted a walkout from the U.S. delegation. “The people of Nicaragua may have to sit and listen to him, but I don’t,” said then U.S. Ambassador Vernon Walters.

 [Daniel Ortega Addressing Security Council]

CHAVEZ SNIFFS OUT A SINNER

YEAR: 2006

QUOTE: “The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still.”

IMPACT: Venezuela’s theatrical president, HUGO CHAVEZ, has always loved the spotlight that the General Assembly provides and it was never more in evidence than when, with a flourish, he compared U.S. president, George W. Bush, to Satan. Chavez also began his regular habit of using his speeches to plug books by prominent leftists authors, when he held up a book by U.S. professor Noam Chomsky. Chavez referred to this famous moment in his speech this year, saying that it “no longer smells like sulfur” now that Barack Obama is president.

 [World Leaders Attend 61st United Nations General Assembly]

BASHIR DENIES A GENOCIDE

YEAR: 2006

QUOTE: “The picture that volunteer organizations try to give in order to solicit more assistance and more aid, have given a negative result.”

IMPACT: At the 2006 speech, SUDANESE PRESIDENT OMAR AL-BASHIR claimed that the ongoing slaughter in Darfur, which then President George W. Bush had recently referred to as “genocide,” was in fact a scheme cooked up by Western aid organizations to solicit funding. On the sidelines of the meeting, Bashir went further, blaming Israel and Zionist organizations for spreading lies in order to weaken the Sudanese government. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made this claim as well.

 [WORLD LEADERS ATTEND 61ST UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY]

AHMADINEJAD HATES ON ZIONISTS

YEAR: 2008

QUOTE: “The dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people are being played with by a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists. Although they are a minuscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner.”

IMPACT: IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD has regularly used the UN as a platform to rail against Western powers, particularly his arch-enemy Israel. In his 2008 speech he accused “the Zionist entity” of an array of crimes including causing the South Ossetia war. Another notable feature of Ahmadinejad’s speech is the heavy use of religious rhetoric and his use of Shiite religious teachings.

 [UN-GENERAL ASSEMBLY-IRAN]

WHAT IS QADDAFI DOING?

YEAR: 2009

QUOTE: “It should not be called a security council, it should be called a terror council.”

IMPACT: After 40 years in power, LIBYAN LEADER MUAMMAR AL-QADDAFI spoke to the United Nations for the first time at this year’s general assembly and certainly made up for lost time. In his 100 minute speech, Qaddafi listed half a century’s worth of grievances and conspiracy theories including accusing the Untied States of developing swine flu and questioning the official record of the Kennedy assassination. Most of Qaddafi’s wrath was reserved for the U.N. Security Council, which he likened to al Qaeda. Qaddafi’s accommodations provided another sideshow at this year’s assembly, as the Libyan leader was rebuffed in his attempts to set up a Bedouin tent in several New York-area locations before finally making up camp in Donald Trump’s backyard.

 [Ali Abdussalam Treki (C), President of t]

Photo Credit: VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images; Bettmann for Getty Images; Bettmann for Getty Images; Bettmann for Getty Images; Bettmann for Getty Images; Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images; STEPHEN CHERNIN/Getty Images; SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images; TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images; STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

More from Foreign Policy

By Taboola

question: What did Fidel Castro keep in his hotel room?

answer: Chickens.

question: What did Nikita Khruschev bang on the table?

answer: A shoe.

question: What did Colin Powell use to try to convince the Security Council to support the Iraq War?

answer: A vial of anthrax.

question: A book by what author did Hugo Chavez hold up to protest the treatment of Venezuela by the US-led world order?

answer: Noam Chomsky.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article is a list of "indecorous" speeches made at the United Nations Security council from 1957 to 2009, often about controversial issues of global conflict from prominent statesmen who opposed the United States.


text:
On Saturday, April 7th, this year’s prestigious Hugo Award Nominees were announced. Those who attended the Norwescon, Leprecon, Minicon, Marcon, and the Olympus 2012 conventions were able to see the announcements delivered live while those at home were able to stream it via UStream.

The Hugo Awards is the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy. The award was named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the science fiction magazine ‘Amazing Stories.’ His magazine had inspired many writers and was the first to publish works from many well-known science fiction writers including Isaac Asimov. Originally, the Hugo Award was named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards until 1992 when it was changed to its present name.

Last year, winners included Steven Moffat and Toby Haynes for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for their work on the ‘Doctor Who’ season 5 finale episodes ‘The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, Christopher Nolan in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form for his work on ‘Inception’, Connie Willis in the category of Best Novel for ‘Blackout/All Clear’ and Lev Grossman for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

This year’s nominees include a time lord, a superhero, a house with multi-dimensional portals, and the continuing saga of a blood thirsty monoarchy. Here is this year’s list of 2012 Hugo Award Nominees:

BEST NOVEL

-    ‘Among Others’, Jo Walton (Tor)
-    ‘A Dance With Dragons’, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra)
-    ‘Deadline’, Mira Grant (Orbit)
-    ‘Embassytown’, China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey)
-    ‘Leviathan Wakes’, James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

BEST NOVELLA

-    “Countdown”, Mira Grant (Orbit)
-    “The Ice Owl”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
-    “Kiss Me Twice”, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s)
-    “The Man Who Bridged the Mist”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s)
-    “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary”, Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
-     “Silently and Very Fast”, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

_Note: 6 nominees due to tie for final position._

BEST NOVELETTE

-    “The Copenhagen Interpretation”, Paul Cornell (Asimov’s)
-    “Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
-    “Ray of Light”, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog)
-    “Six Months, Three Days”, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
-    “What We Found”, Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

BEST SHORT STORY

-    “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)
-    “The Homecoming”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s)
-    “Movement”, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s)
-    “The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
-    “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue”, John Scalzi (Tor.com)

BEST RELATED WORK

-    ‘The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction’, Third Edition, edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)
-    ‘Jar Jar Binks Must Die…and other Observations about Science Fiction Movies’, Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)
-    ‘The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature’, Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image)
-    ‘Wicked Girls’ (CD), Seanan McGuire
-    ‘Writing Excuses, Season 6’ (podcast series), Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson

 BEST GRAPHIC STORY

-    Digger, by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
-    Fables Vol 15: Rose Red, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
-    Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys To The Kingdom, written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
-    Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
-    The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan, created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

-    ‘Captain America: The First Avenger‘, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely; directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)
-    ‘Game of Thrones (Season 1)’,created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss; written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
-    ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2‘, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)
-    ‘Hugo‘, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)
-    ‘Source Code’, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

 BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

-   Doctor Who, ”The Doctor’s Wife”, written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
-   “The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech”, Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
-   Doctor Who, ”The Girl Who Waited”, written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
-   Doctor Who, ”A Good Man Goes to War”, written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
-   Community, ”Remedial Chaos Theory”, written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)

 BEST SEMIPROZINE

-    Apex Magazine, edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore
-    Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
-    Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams
-    Locus, edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
-    New York Review of Science Fiction, edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer

BEST FANZINE

-    Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
-    The Drink Tank, edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
-    File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
-    Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al.
-    SF Signal, edited by John DeNardo

BEST FANCAST

-    The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
-    Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
-    SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz (presenters), Patrick Hester (producer)
-    SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
-    StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

-    Lou Anders
-    Liz Gorinsky
-    Anne Lesley Groell
-    Patrick Nielsen Hayden
-    Betsy Wollheim

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

-    John Joseph Adams
-    Neil Clarke
-    Stanley Schmidt
-    Jonathan Strahan
-    Sheila Williams

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

-    Dan dos Santos
-    Bob Eggleton
-    Michael Komarck
-    Stephan Martiniere
-    John Picacio

BEST FAN ARTIST

-    Randall Munroe
-    Spring Schoenhuth
-    Maurine Starkey
-    Steve Stiles
-    Taral Wayne

BEST FAN WRITER

-    James Bacon
-    Claire Brialey
-    Christopher J. Garcia
-    Jim C. Hines
-    Steven H Silver

THE JOHN W. CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER

-    Mur Lafferty
-    Stina Leicht
-    Karen Lord
-    Brad R. Torgersen
-    E. Lily Yu

Winners will be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention (aka Worldcon)  in Chicago, IL, on September 2, 2012. Once we find out who the winners are, we’ll let you know!

So what do you think of the list? Do you have a favorite to win?

[]

Janice's first memories of the genre were of watching the original 'Star Trek' and classic 'Doctor Who' episodes (Tom Baker, aka the Fourth Doctor, was her first). Soon, she was introduced to 'Godzilla' and her addiction then spread to books, magazines, movies and comics. Janice continued as a closet geek as her thirst and love for sci-fi grew and was only second to her love of baking. Then one night, on a whim, she answered a tweet to be a writer for ScienceFiction.com and the geek girl insider her was soon set free. Within 3 years she became the Senior Editor for the site. When not writing or editing for ScienceFiction.com, Janice is scouring the internet to feed her sci-fi cravings while defending conspiracy theories, protecting scientific theorems and loving all things science fiction.... and baking cookies.

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question: In what year was the name of the Hugo Awards changed?

answer: 1992.

question: What was the former name of the Hugo awards?

answer: Science Fiction Achievement Awards.

question: What is the focus of the Hugo Awards?

answer: It is an award for science fiction and fantasy artwork.

question: Who was the award named after?

answer: Hugo Gernsback, the founder of "Amazing Stories" science fiction magazine.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article talks about the Hugo awards, an award for science fiction and fantasy movies and series. At the time of the article, the winners were scheduled to be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention (aka Worldcon) in Chicago, IL, in September 2012.


text:
The Silent Library of Babble

(Tribute to Borges)

Inside of the building was even more vast than its outside, which was impossible because the outside stretched as far as anyone could see.

The librarian checked my card, then allowed me to pass. They always needed to be sure people were clear to go inside, if they were to let a dangerous felon into the building there’s no telling what kind of mischief he could get into, the least of which being hiding out inside.

I walked down the main corridor, it was as wide as a street. If I had brought an extra couple of quarters, loons, or shillings even, I would have rented a bicycle to travel quicker upon. Instead, I walked.

The shelves were tall, to say the least. Each reached towards a point in the sky, then disappeared as they continued further.

After twenty minutes of walking I came to the first intersection. The light was red, so I paused, allowing the cyclists to cross my path. That was the first I had seen a motorized scooter in here, for the longest time mechanical items weren’t allowed inside, but that rule must have been rescinded recently because a librarian was riding one even.

As I waited I looked at the map near the street corner, its form was in one that was understandable by all. While I looked, I spotted the ‘you are here’ symbol, and plotted my course.

There were myths of times before, when the volumes were still unorganized, before librarians, ancient stories of rival factions fighting for shelter between the massive shelves, when books were used as weapons.

The light at the intersection changed, the small crowd of people that had gathered began walking and riding again. They quickly separated by pace.

I continued for a good couple of hours, I regretted the thought that the walk would be good for me. I regretted not gathering my loose change before I left from my home. A bicycle would have been a blessing. I should have at least brought a snack.

Once I had gotten to my section, I looked up at the shelf that disappeared into a foggy mist, then turned and walked down the aisle.

Books were organized in an obvious, yet difficult to explain, method. After ten more minutes of walking, I was in the precise section that my book would be found, and I began to scour the shelves with my eyes.

The works of Borges were bound separately, each essay, each story in its own thin cover. I craned my neck to read the titles on the tallest shelf I could reach, looking for the proper one. Then my eyes jumped to it, one shelf above where my fingers could grab.

I stood on my tip toes and reached, I jumped, tried everything. I even thought about climbing the shelves, which was strictly forbidden after a disaster of biblical proportions that a falling shelf had once caused. Finally, I gave in and walked away, taking up search for a librarian.

title: The Silent Library of Babble

question: How does this story describe libraries?

answer: The story makes libraries feel like a myth, a secret escape, something so mystic it should be cherished yet explored.

question: How did the narrator describe the organization of the library?

answer: The narrator stated that earlier in the day, there was no rhyme or reason to the organization of the library, and there were massive disasters with many books and massive shelves that were empty.


text:
 Sarah Tew/CNET
The last few years have seen wearables that monitor your heart rate blow up. Panasonic thinks it can do one better, working on camera tech that reads your heart rate just by looking at you.

It's called Contactless Vital Sensing and its software is capable of reading your heart rate without having to use special camera equipment, reports Nikkei Technology. The software works by monitoring skin reflectance, which lowers as more blood circulates through the skin.

Contactless Vital Sensing was shown at Wonder Japan Solutions earlier this month, according to the publication, where Panasonic demonstrated it on a person's face. However, as the software only needs to look at a patch of skin, any part of the body will do. It'll work on almost any camera, including webcams.

The company hopes to take the tech to market next year, primarily for sports TV -- seeing player heart rates next to their scores may not be far off. Panasonic is also considering using the same technology to monitor the stress levels of office workers, Nikkei reports.

_Special Reports: All of CNET's most in-depth features in one easy spot._

_It's Complicated: This is dating in the age of apps. Having fun yet? These stories get to the heart of the matter._

question: What is the source of this article?

answer: CNET

question: What is Contactless Vital Sensing?

answer: A software created by Panasonic capable of reading heart rates without using special camera equipment.

question: Where was this technology debuted?

answer: At Wonder Japan Solutions

question: When was this technology debuted?

answer: It is unclear when exactly it was debuted, but it was within the same month the article was released.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Panasonic has released a new technology capable of reading heart rates without using special camera equipment. The software, known as Contactless Vital Sensing, works by monitoring skin reflectance. The company hopes to release the technology by next year.


text:
[]

Timepieces have traditionally been about conveying the time while hiding the sophisticated operations occurring behind the scenes to keep that time. But for their Opus 12 watch, manufacturer Harry Winston and master watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet created something very different: A watch that celebrates mechanical motion, and even provides a little visual treat every hour on the hour.

[]

While it initially seems complicated, it's easier to tell the time on this watch than I thought it'd be. I'll explain using the photo directly above. The blue tines are the hands, with the slightly shorter one being the hour hand. Together the hands give you the rough time, which here looks to be 10:10. But the little dial in the center contains finer gradations of five minutes, so it is actually 10:12, going on 10:13.

What's wicked is what happens every time the watch goes from x:59 to y:00. Check it out:

If you still don't get what's going on, this video review of the watch may shed some light:

The inspiration for the design of the Opus 12, by the way, is as unconventional as the watch itself:

  Opus 12 defies the conventional rules of watchmaking, giving birth to the most improbable mechanical concept. This exceptional timepiece deliberately overturns the perception of time by drawing its inspiration from the Copernican revolution according to which the earth rotates around the sun and around itself.

[]

  Time no longer reads via a pair of hands positioned in the center of the dial, but by the peripheral drive of 12 pairs of hands going from the circumference to the center. The hands, pointed towards the interior draw attention to the center of time. A retrograde hand, synchronized with the main minuteshand, advances along a five-minute sector. At the end of its travel it flies back to its initial position while the long five-minutes hand pivots and sets itself still.

[]

Before you go and put this on your next birthday wish list, realize that they're only making 120 of these—at $260,000 a pop. I wonder if Copernicus could get his head around _those_ numbers.

See also: A Steampunk Watch Powered by Wireless Induction

-   Favorite

-   Comment

-   &

[]
Rain Noe

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.

question: Who created the Opus 12 watch?

answer: Harry Winston and Emmanuel Bouchet.

question: How much do they cost?

answer: $260k each

question: Who wrote this piece?

answer: Rain Noe.

question: Who is Rain Noe?

answer: An industrial designer born and raised in New York City who now resides in a countryside barn.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The Opus 12, a timepiece crafted by jeweler Harry Winston and master watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet, is an intricate masterpiece, according to this reviewer. The author describes how the gradations of time can be seen through a nearly imperceptible light filter component.


text:
[lindsey-graham-cnn]

US Senators Lindsey Graham (SC) and Ted Cruz (TX), both of whom were candidates this year for the Republican nomination for President, have come out loud and clear in their anger at Friday’s UN Security Council Vote which condemned Israeli settlements. The two are calling for America to end financial support for the United Nations unless the vote is repealed.

  Just spoke with the PM of Israel Benjamin @Netanyahu. I let him know many Members of Congress will push back hard against this UN outrage.

  — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 23, 2016

  I intend to recommend to the Trump Administration and new Congress the US suspend UN funding until this #Israel resolution is repealed.

  — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 23, 2016

So what made this anti-Israel vote different from all other UN votes against Israel? Well this time the language not only condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but also declared all Israeli construction in Jerusalem on the other side of the pre-1967 border to be illegal. This wording includes the Jewish Quarter of the Old City which has been completely rebuilt in the last 50 years and the open prayer plaza in front of the Western Wall, the holiest site to the Jewish people.

So what exactly did Senators Cruz and Graham say? Lindsay Graham released the following statement:

“The Obama-Kerry foreign policy has gone from naïve and foolish to flat-out reckless. With friends like these, Israel doesn’t need any enemies.I anticipate this vote will create a backlash in Congress against the United Nations. The organization is increasingly viewed as anti-Semitic and seems to have lost all sense of proportionality. I will do everything in my power, working with the new Administration and Congress, to leave no doubt about where America stands when it comes to the peace process and where we stand with the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel.

“The Middle East is on fire and Israel is surrounded by threats. Regardless of the terrorist attacks they suffer, or the number of rockets fired their way, Israel is always the bad guy in the United Nations.The United Nations will regret this vote and I hope the Obama Administration will realize the massive mistake they made on their way out of the door. With today’s abstention, the Obama Administration has empowered evil and been a very poor friend to democracy.”

Lindsay Graham also told CNN, “This is a road we haven’t gone down before. If you can’t show the American people that international organizations can be more responsible, there is going to be a break. And I am going to lead that break.”

“I will do everything in my power, ” he added, “working with the new administration and Congress, to leave no doubt about where America stands when it comes to the peace process and where we stand with the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel”

  Spoke w/ Israeli PM @netanyahu tonight to wish him Happy Chanukah & assure him of strong support in Congress. No US $ for UN until reversed.

  — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 24, 2016

As for Senator Ted Cruz, he tweeted the above Chanukah greeting to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he promised “No US $ for UN until reversed.”

And Senator Cruz also released a statement saying that he, “emphatically second(s) the call of my colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham that the consequences of this disgraceful UN resolution should be severe. I look forward to working with Sen. Graham, and with the incoming Administration of President-elect Trump, to significantly reduce or even eliminate U.S. funding of the United Nations, and also to seriously reconsider financial support for the nations that supported this resolution. For those who have put your name to this despicable attack on Israel, you did so with full knowledge of the consequences of your actions.”

Friends of Israel will surely applaud these statements. But it should be remembered here that it is very easy for American politicians to make such declarations. Members of the Congress from both parties regularly condemn the UN for ant-Israel biases. Also, Graham and Cruz may be thinking about running for President again and attacking the UN is always popular among Republican voters.

However, as the Republican Party retains it majority in both the House and Senate, and the next President will be a Republican, Donald Trump, who has no love for the United Nations and has already condemned the vote — a vote which he actually tried to prevent from even taking place — it is more than likely that America will move to defend the UN.

READ MORE ABOUT: anti-Israel UNSC resolution, Israel-Palestine conflict, Jewish settlements, Lindsey Graham, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ted Cruz, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, UN resolution 2334

question: What is the motivation behind Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz's statements?

answer: Lindsay Graham believes the United Nations is increasingly viewed as anti-Semetic. Cruz agrees that the UN resolution is disgraceful. They might be making these statements in support of Israel. It is also possible that they are making these statements because they plan to run for President and wish to garner voter support.

question: Summarize the controversy surrounding the vote.

answer: The language declares all Israeli construction in Jerusalem on the other side of the pre-1967 border illegal. This includes the holiest site to the Jewish people. This move is seen as anti-Semitic.

question: Summarize the roles the presidents play in the article.

answer: Lindsay Graham let Netanyahu know that Congress will push back against the UN ruling. He calls the policy of former president Obama flat-out reckless. Ted Cruz wished Netanyahu a happy Chanukah and assured him of Congress's support. He says the Trump administration will work to reduce or eliminate UN funding. President Trump is not fond of the United Nations.

question: What does the article say about the presidential election?


text:
I've never really written anything before, so sorry if it's terrible. Critique is always welcome!

***********************************************************

   It was two in the afternoon when Jack decided to go for a walk. The house was empty, as usual, and loneliness always made him want to be outside. Grabbing his copy of Animal Farm, he threw on a thin sweatshirt and closed the door softly behind him, as if trying to tell his house of his somber mood. Standing just outside his door, he paused only to sigh, and then set forth toward the park.

   The walk was uneventful, but the park was quite the opposite: children chasing squirrels, couples walking dogs and students holding hands filled the cobblestone walkways while a stranger strumming the guitar laid on the grass, humming to himself in self-enjoyment.

   Jack found an empty bench on the far side of the park; he always found that this area was far more enjoyable. There was less noise, less traffic, and the leaves on the trees were always arranged in such a way that they left little patches of light flickering across the ground. It was late August, the weather was beginning to cool, and the crisp autumn air was creeping up on the humidity of summer.

   On the bench, Jack made himself comfortable. He leaned back, draped the ankle of his right foot over the knee of his left, and opened the book. In Jack’s opinion, reading was an activity that was best enjoyed outside in public places. It let him dive deeper into his thoughts, and though he was surrounded by many people, it left that lingering feeling of loneliness. It was a feeling that Jack was so accustomed to that he had convinced himself that he truly enjoyed it.

   Jack was only a quarter of the way down his third page when he first saw the glimmer of light-orange out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t look up, but he could tell that a person was approaching him, a girl. Confidence was in her steps, and when she neared the bench, she stopped.

   “Mind if I sit here?”

   Jack looked up. Her golden hair was the first thing he noticed, followed quickly by her bright orange dress that swayed gently with the wind. Her sudden vibrant appearance caught him so off guard that he almost forgot to reply.

   “Oh, of course!” He slid over to the left, making room for her.

   The girl smiled, a genuine, kind smile, and sat down gracefully. She put her bag down beside her and pulled out a book of her own. Within minutes, the two were completely absorbed in their reading. Any stranger that walked by could have rightfully assumed that they were blissfully unaware of the other.

   Except that Jack wasn’t. He was painfully aware of the girl’s presence, even more so when she pulled out an old copy of 1984. More than once, he debated turning to her and innocently exclaiming, “Orwell!”

   She would look at him with confusion. “Sorry?”

   “George Orwell,” he would say again, motioning toward her novel.

   “Oh, yeah.” She would smile and look at the cover, as if noticing it for the first time.

   “It’s a good one.”

   “Oh it’s my favorite!” She would exclaim. The two would look into each other’s eyes, smile shyly and feel an instant connection.

   Then she would introduce herself, and Jack would shake her hand and introduce himself. And with that small conversation, a friendship would sprout, and from a friendship, perhaps something more.

   However, Jack said none of those things. He sat in silence, pretending to read his book while imagining what fun the two could have if he would just speak to her. But the more he imagined, the more scenarios popped up into his head.

   Perhaps she wasn’t like how he imagined. Perhaps she would hate him, think he was annoying if he tried to talk to her while she was reading.

   He would exclaim, “Orwell!”

   “Sorry?”

   “George Orwell, 1984.”

   The girl would raise her eyebrows in mild annoyance, but remain polite. “Yup!”

   “It’s a good one.”

   Finally, she would sigh and look at him. “Excuse me, but I’m just trying to read.” She’d put her book back up, shielding out Jack, and he’d be left slightly embarrassed, wishing he had never said anything.

   And so, Jack did exactly that: he never said anything. He went back to reading his book and left the girl in the orange dress alone.

   After a long while, when Jack was on page 40 or so, the girl’s cellphone rang. She picked it out of her pocket and read a text, laughing quietly to herself. She tapped out a quick reply, put her phone back and picked up her bag. As she stood up to leave, Jack looked up one last time, pretending that he had just remembered her existence. The girl looked back at him as well, and smiled. Not a big a smile, nor a significant smile, but a smile.

   And with that, she walked away, and in a few minutes, she was out of sight. Jack sighed. He wondered how he always got so attached to these people he met on the street, characters in a story whose names were not even revealed. It tugged at something deep in his heart, and loneliness filled his thoughts for a split moment; but after that moment, it was all gone.

   He convinced himself that people were not as interesting as he made them out to be, that each person's life story was not something he should bother to learn. Not realizing that another opportunity had just passed him by.

*******************

*******************

Thanks for reading and alla that

title: [Romance-ish] Missed Chances (876 Words)

question: Does Jack want to be on his own?

answer: Jack does not stay at home because it feels lonely being on his own, however he does pick an area of the park that allows him to sit and read by himself.

question: Why does the girl sit next to Jack?

answer: She wants a place to sit and read, it doesn't appear as though she is looking to make a friend.

question: How does the author relay what Jack truly wants?

answer: Through a fantasy sequence which involves the girl and Jack connecting over their shared love of Orwell.

question: Why are '1984' and 'Animal Farm' connected?

answer: They are both written by George Orwell.


text:
Small waves lapped against the next contestant as she bobbed in the water. The game was called “Don’t shit a brick.” The goal was to see who could doggy paddle the longest while holding a brick. Juvenile, sure. Was it fun? You’re damn right it was.

Jennifer had cried out with glee when she first entered the water, then her face squished in like a sponge when she was handed the brick. She momentarily grimaced as the red, clay brick scraped against her inner thigh. But she managed to hold onto it surrounded by the vibrantly colored speedboats of her classmates.

Her red and blue bikini top was fastened tight around her neck, but the grasping texture of the brick threatened to expose her sun shaded breasts to the boys leaning off the sides of their boats, cheering wildly like she was crossing the finish line with each minor stroke.

The coldness of Lake Holshire had sucked my breath away earlier in the afternoon, when the first round of tubing had begun.  The coldness could be seen on Jennifer’s face, in the way she gasped for air and kept her eyes focused on one spot in the sky.

Maybe if we had brought more than one brick, the contestant would have felt better about dropping it to the mossy bottom below. As it were, Jennifer struggled with the weight and the beers she had drank earlier.

She managed to keep herself afloat as someone yelled, “She looks like she’s shitting a brick!”

The three speedboats all had their engines killed and their anchor points tethered, leaving a triangular opening in the water. As Jennifer struggled with her clay weight, the boats sloshed and shimmied so that Jennifer was no longer in the center of the triangle, but closer to Davis’ boat, a shining red and black beast that could hit sixty miles an hour without blinking.

I yelled to Davis, “Get her out, man. She’s finished.”

He didn’t even look at me, but kept staring down at the top of her breasts that glistened just above the surface of the water.

In the afternoon sun, the water was a navy blue, like the oppressive folds of storm clouds about to spit rain.

Davis was now laying on the edge of his Mastiff, as he called the red and black racer, urging Jennifer to just give up and take her top off. She didn’t need to be weighed down by it. Her faux laugh filled her mouth with Lake water, which she spit out with squinting eyes.

“Shut up, Dave,” was all she managed to mouth before slipping under water.

Davis turned to Trev, “Did you hear what she said?” He didn’t see her submerge into the triangle of darkness, like a pole searching for the bottom of Lake Holshire.

The water rippled outwards where the crown of her head had gone under, breaking symmetry on the side of the Mastiff. One, two, three seconds pass. No sign of her. She’s not coming up. I search the black water to see if I can find her, but cannot.

I glance at the others. There’s more than a dozen people and not one of them seems concerned that Jennifer has just taken the plunge to death. She’s a caught bobber and no one wants to reel her in.

Alcohol does dumb shit to people.

I dive in, momentarily wondering if I should have jumped in feet first rather than swan dive into the water. But I don’t hit her. I open my eyes and am amazed at how bright it is underwater. The boats cast long shadows down a corridor of the lake, but there’s wide expanses receiving bright sunlight now. I can see Jennifer with her eyes closed about ten feet below.

She is drifting there like a person caught between a dream and waking. She’s let go of the brick but her hands still hold it near her chest. Something in the water brushes against my eyelids causing them to close momentarily. I fear she’ll be dead when I get her in my arms. Will she drift away when I’m back?

I reach her, grab her underneath her arms and start kicking for the surface. I can see the long angular shadows from the boats spread wider and wider, until I’m panting above the dark expanse of the black triangle.

title: Black Triangle

question: Why doesn't Jennifer just drop the brick and save herself?

answer: She's been drinking. Perhaps she's not thinking clearly. The narrator thinks that she may be hanging onto the brick because it is the only one they have.

question: Why doesn't Davis save Jennifer when he is asked to?

answer: He is so busy looking at her breasts that he doesn't seem to notice that she is distressed.

question: Why doesn't anyone help Jennifer?

answer: They have all been drinking in the sun and seem a little phased out.

question: Did Jennifer survive?

answer: It seems she did

question: Write a ~9 sentence summary.

answer:
The game is called “Don’t shit a brick”, the goal doggy paddle the furthest without dropping the brick. Jennifer is the next contestant. The water is icy and is threatening to expose Jennifer’s breasts. She has been drinking and she’s not giving up despite struggling.

The narrator yells for Davis to get her out of the water. Jennifer slips under the water. The narrator notices that no one is going in after her so he jumps in. The water is surprisingly light and he sees her floating on the sand below. He lifts her and takes her to the surface.


text:
Health Care

Tax bill protects vague language that critics say helps nonprofit hospitals maintain exempt status while reducing free care.

[The Cleveland Clinic is pictured. | POLITICO]

A window washer works on one of hundreds of shimmering building fronts amid the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio in June. The nonprofit hospital topped more than $715 million in profits between 2015 and 2016. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

Continue to article content

Despite Republicans’ boasts about closing tax loopholes, there’s one sector that the sweeping tax reform bill mostly leaves alone: The tax-exempt hospital sector, which enjoys billions of dollars in tax breaks even as big hospitals raise prices and perform less free care.

Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit health system, cleared more than $1 billion in profit between 2015 and 2016. Cleveland Clinic, another nonprofit hospital, topped more than $715 million in profits in that span.

Congress’ most significant overhaul of the tax code in more than 30 years — finalized on Wednesday — protects those hospitals’ multibillion-dollar tax exemptions, an outcome that frustrates consumer advocates, officials and researchers who say that hospitals are taking advantage of rules that fail to adequately define the benefits they must provide to their communities in order to remain tax-exempt.

“It was, in my view, a missed opportunity,” said Daniel Skinner, an Ohio University political scientist who studies how hospitals serve their communities. “The tax bill could have been a good place to begin to hold non-profit hospitals accountable.”

“The whole thing of how they define charity care is a joke,” added Laurel Prussing, who served 12 years as mayor of Urbana, Illinois, and battled with the local hospital over its tax savings. “Hospitals set an artificially high price and when an uninsured patient can’t pay, they lower the difference and call it charity.”

The new tax law hurts universities and local charities — but largely spares the nation’s 3,000 tax-exempt hospitals, which again avoided significant reforms to how they’re regulated. Under the final bill, Republicans dropped a plan that would have prevented hospitals from issuing tax-exempt bonds, provisions that alarmed the politically powerful hospital lobby and sparked a messaging campaign.

The GOP’s reversal will preserve billions of dollars in annual savings for hospitals, analysts say. The American Hospital Association’s own study found that tax-exempt bond financing was worth $2.5 billion to hospitals in 2013, annual savings that are likely higher today as more hospitals embark on major construction projects.

In another significant victory for hospitals, Republicans declined to touch the loose regulations governing how hospitals qualify for their tax exemptions, despite long-running questions about whether hospitals do enough charity to earn more than $25 billion in annual tax breaks.

While hospitals must document their free care and other charitable activities — known as community benefit — to be classified as tax-exempt, the IRS doesn’t require hospitals to perform a minimum amount. Hospitals also can self-define "community benefit," which critics say allows them to perform an accounting trick: Most “community benefit” isn’t free care or other activities that directly benefit patients, but related to Medicaid payments that hospitals say are too low to cover the cost of the care they provide.

Many advocates say that because of limited oversight, not-for-profit hospitals increasingly act like big businesses, employing strategies that are indistinguishable from Fortune 500 companies, save for their tax exemptions. For instance, as hospitals’ revenues have gone up, their charitable care has fallen and their community benefit spending has stayed flat.

“It’s indicative of this tax bill,” said Ray Madoff, a Boston College professor who studies nonprofits. “There was a failure to revise the rules in a way that would work better for the charitable sector and society in a whole.”

The bill does include some pain points for nonprofit hospitals. For instance, they’ll lose their ability to use what’s called "advanced refunding" of outstanding bonds, which essentially allows them to tap into lower interest rates. "There are ways to work around that," said Johnny Hutchinson, an attorney at Squire Patton Boggs who specializes in tax-exempt bonds. "The biggest issue that hospitals were concerned about was not being able to issue tax-exempt bonds of any kind … and the bigger bullet was dodged."

The package also repeals the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which will have consequences across the health care sector and likely hurt hospital revenue by reducing the number of Americans with health insurance coverage. Not-for-profit organizations also would be required to pay a 21 percent excise tax on compensation for executives that exceeds $1 million, a provision opposed by hospital lobbyists because it would affect most health systems and many large hospitals. (A Modern Healthcare survey found that the average health system president or CEO is being paid $1.1 million in cash compensation this year.)

However, earlier versions of the bill would have given not-for-profit hospitals more political power by repealing the Johnson amendment, which restricts political activity by all organizations classified as 501(c)3. The planned repeal — backed by President Donald Trump and Republicans who wanted to empower churches to lobby on behalf of individual candidates — was struck by the Senate parliamentarian because it violated the Byrd rule on what’s permissible through budget reconciliation. Its original inclusion had alarmed experts on hospital spending, who saw the potential for abuse.

“The last thing we need to do is give hospitals the ability to engage directly in electoral politics,” added Yale University professor Zack Cooper, who’s studied how some tax-exempt hospitals used their political influence to win higher Medicare payments and, ultimately, higher executive compensation.

Republicans’ decision to protect hospitals’ tax treatment — and perhaps inadvertently seek to further empower them — is notable given years of congressional scrutiny about hospitals’ charitable practices, led by longtime Senate Finance Committee member Chuck Grassley. On the eve of tax reform in September, the Iowa Republican reiterated his long-running concerns in a Stat News editorial, citing a POLITICO investigation into hospitals’ declining charity spending and other examples of tax-exempt hospitals not behaving charitably.

“All of this is contrary to the philosophy behind tax exemption,” Grassley wrote. “In exchange for the taxes they’d have to pay if they were for-profit businesses, nonprofit hospitals are supposed to provide treatment for those who can’t pay or can’t pay enough toward the cost of their own care.”

However, Grassley didn’t push the issue in this round of tax reform. “Sen. Grassley's focus has been on enforcement of existing law as Congress intended,” a spokesperson told POLITICO.

Republicans also have searched for revenue sources to defray their planned tax cuts, another reason why it’s notable that hospitals’ current savings went untouched.

“It has surprised me that they’ve decided not to deal with the specific issue,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University professor who found that the total value of hospitals’ tax exemptions — when including state and local savings — was worth nearly $25 billion in 2011 and projects it’s worth billions of dollars more today.

Seeking to head off congressional scrutiny, the American Hospital Association in October published a report, prepared by Ernst & Young, that concluded hospitals’ federal tax exemptions were worth $6 billion per year and found that hospitals spent 11 times as much on community benefit. “Hospitals of all kinds — urban and rural, large and small — are demonstrating the value they provide,” Rick Pollack, the CEO, said in a statement accompanying the report.

The AHA did not respond to repeated requests for comment about its lobbying activity and efforts to protect hospitals’ tax-exempt status. The organization spent more than $12.9 million on lobbying through the third quarter of 2017, nearly three times as much as America's Health Insurance Plans — the nation's top health insurance lobbyist — spent in the same period.

Grassley’s office also said that Republicans’ decision to pursue through tax reform through budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority but forces legislation to comply with the so-called Byrd rule, limited the options. “Rules governing the reconciliation process in the Senate make enacting modifications to current non-profit hospital requirements a challenge as part of tax reform,” a Grassley spokesperson said.

However, many experts didn’t agree, noting that there were likely multiple opportunities to tighten the rules around hospital tax exemption.

“If the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that establishing new or increased requirements for tax exemption would cause some hospitals to lose tax exemption — and therefore raise revenues — it would probably survive a Byrd bath,” said Ed Lorenzen of the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget.

For instance, “it would’ve been pretty easy to build in something for 501(c) bonds for hospitals” to require that hospitals must satisfy certain community benefits, said Hutchinson, the attorney who specializes in tax-exempt bonds.

Prussing, the former Urbana mayor who’s still involved in her city's lawsuit with the local Carle Foundation Hospital over millions of dollars in tax exemptions, says lawmakers should be able to craft nuanced rules around which hospitals are taxed. “Give a tax break to poor hospitals to in a rural area, but not hospitals making more profits than the average business,” she said.

Prussing said that her 42,000-person city suffered as millions of tax dollars were steered away from schools and other civic initiatives — even as Carle Foundation Hospital was identified as one of the top 10 most profitable hospitals in the nation. According to a Health Affairs study, the hospital earned profits of $163.5 million in 2013 or more than $2,000 per patient.

“Congress should be looking at nonprofit hospitals,” Prussing said. “They shouldn’t be getting away with huge amounts of money.”

question: Which hospitals are tax-exempt?

answer: Nonprofit hospitals, for example, Mayo Clinic and Cleveland clinic are tax-exempt.

question: Does the author think that nonprofit hospitals being tax-exempt is just?

answer: No, they do not because many nonprofit hospitals misuse the tax regulation and earn high profits instead to help those who cannot pay for their care although that's the idea behind tax exemption.

question: Why are nonprofit hospitals tax-exempt?

answer: Nonprofit hospitals are tax-exempt because they are supposed to provide treatment for those who can’t pay for their own care.

question: Does Congres support nonprofit hospitals' tax exemption?

answer: Congress protects those hospitals’ dollar tax exemptions.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Nonprofit hospitals are tax-exempt because they are supposed to provide treatment for those who can’t pay for their own care. However, the regulations governing how hospitals qualify for their tax exemptions are loose. Hospitals must document their community benefit, but the IRS doesn’t require hospitals to perform a minimum amount. Most community benefit isn’t free care but hospitals set an artificially high price which they lower if a patient can’t pay. Although hospitals’ revenues have gone up, their charitable care has fallen, and some hospitals used their political influence to win higher executive compensation.


text:
Of all the things that could have seared that memory into my mind, it was the color.

The middle of June.

The zenith; the relentless shine. The upbeat and the discard of the drab. The illustrious woman candidly backdropped by the deeply rich brown hue of the logs of the cabin wall. The palpable reflective green of the leaves through the immaculately polished two story windows. The unpredictable shimmers of dancing yellow from the surface of the crystal lake just feet away. The golden, flowing hair. The flawless flesh. The billowing crimson satin. The wonderful illusion.

The familiar fleeting.

The delightful discord.

The lapse and the lucidity.

This is not mine.

I am here, unknowingly, undeservedly, and I lie to myself amidst this gorgeous rainbow of untruth.

In this moment, all is clear, and in this moment, all is indescribably, enigmatically, and fantastically confounded.

title: Synesthesia

question: What happens to the narrator's golden hair?

answer: It's unclear who has golden hair, but nothing happens to it, it is just described.

question: Describe the building.

answer: The building present has two stories and polished windows.

question: What is synesthesia?

answer: This is not specified by the story.

question: What is the narrator feeling?

answer: Entranced and confounded.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator describes and reflects on the abstract, illusory effects of synesthesia.


text:
Ashes, a tee shirt, and a mental slideshow. That's all I have left. I gently pressed my face into the tee shirt, waiting for the scent to take me on a winding trail of memories. Mental snapshots took life, moving slowly, with blissful happiness. That place, those smiles, these uncertain days. I rejected my raging sea of emotions, only hoping to delay the storm surge for a while longer.

Snap me back into my world, how I welcome and despise it. I lifted the plain tee shirt from my face, and put it into a small bag, and sealed it shut. Beside it, a small jar that contained everything I'd ever allowed close. It was the only other part that understood who I was. I gripped it tightly. More memories began to flow, the levees had finally given way.

Beach, stars, gentle rumbling of waves on the smooth white sand. The air was totally still, only gentle wafting scents hinted at the fact the world was still slowly churning on. There, beside me, you sat. I was accepted wholly here, no regrets. A thick band of stars became obscured by soft light, making a thin dotted white strip across the sky. I wish you could still join me on those nights, watching the Milky Way rise. We used to sit here, picking out which stars we would visit before time ended. Everything blurred again.

Face to face, eyes locked. We handed each other ear-buds, small grins traversing our faces. Our song came on, along with all those warm feelings. Late night fields filled with life, grass gently swaying in the midnight breeze. Starlight softly illuminated our world, everything became so tranquil. Peacefulness, happiness.

Sunlight began to warm my cheeks. I furrowed my brows, I wasn't ready to leave just yet. I don't want to let go, I want to stay here. Why can't time grant me this one favor? Just one more experience, one more memory. One last souvenir to bury my stinging emotions with.

I sat, looking over the field. Our field. Painful awareness had taken control for now. A jar of ash and a tee shirt, that's what all of this had been reduced to. No breathing, laughing, heartbeat, smile, watery blue eyes, nothing anymore. Carbon atoms, back to the way we both used to be, before the beginning of the world.

Supernovas, the crucibles of our Universe that finally gave way. Your atoms had begun the journey back without mine to go with them. This haunting scientific realization meshed itself to my feelings. Everything you are to me, everything you were, could be, had been. My thoughts and reality pulsated, briefly merging with each other.

I lost all control. Tears, hurt, and loss all rushed forward from every fiber in my being. I felt myself tear open, shattering into tiny pieces. Fear began to settle in. I fear that this beautiful maze of chance might never repeat itself again.

Supernovas, where it all began. Where the lighter elements were fused into the atoms of life. This is where our story began. We exploded forth into this existence, atoms mashing and combining together. Our Universe ignited these elements in the void, watching as our miracle took place. It haunts me to think about us in this way. How, after all those billions of years, we came into contact, unaware of the framework allowing for this to happen.

All I want when my days come to an end, is to explode with you once more. I want to surge outwards again, your atoms with mine. I want the maze to send us as wanderers across each other's paths again. I want to feel the same instant connection I felt when we met. I want to know that feeling of faint familiarity and unyielding curiosity, and it's absolute pull.

I want to build a home in it all.

-Dedicated to Kathryn

title: Build a Home

question: What did happen to the narrator's partner?

answer: It is not stated but it implied the partner died.

question: How is the narrator related to the person that was with them on the beach?

answer: They are partners.

question: How does the narrator feel?

answer: The narrator is desperate.

question: Will the narrator meet their partner?

answer: Probably not, because it seems the partner is dead.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator says that a jar of ash, a tee-shirt, and memory is all they are left. The author reflects on the days that they spent with their partner. The author wants that time to go back.


text:
He rose to the feeling of movement.

He knew not where the movement came from, but Chris was completely sure that movement was near. His eyes opened and adjusted to the almost impenetrable gloom of his bedroom at midnight. The shelves reached out from his walls, seeming ghostlike in nature at this hour, in the dark. The television at the opposite side of his room peered at him through the dark, reflecting his pale, panicked expression as he sat in his bed, staring around his room. But it didn’t move. Neither did the jeans he wore yesterday, slung across his char, or his shoes, sat haphazardly not too far away.

The movement persisted and Chris knew he would have to investigate. His eyes moved from corner to corner in his room, scoping every inch for tell-tale signs of entry, or even one of his two dogs running around the house, but neither showed; only the lonely emptiness of darkness and silence in the house, and a tap dripping ever so quietly from the bathroom were present at this hour. He checked the time on his mobile phone (he had no clock in his room, he saw no need for such a thing since he already had at least 3 items with clocks built into the software), and the time read 01:32, 08/02/2010.

But still the movement…

He couldn’t hear anything, or see anything, but he knew the movement was near. He could almost sense it, wriggling, crawling around, as if it was under his skin. A sharp pang of panic rang through his body, and he sat still, upright in his bed. The movement *was* under his skin. And it was growing with intensity with every passing second. And then the pain started.

Oh, the pain. His flesh burned at first with only slight discomfort; he could have initially mistaken the sensation for an itch or even a tickle. But it grew. It grew with an alarming pace, the speed matched (possibly even bested) by the growing of his panic at the sudden voluminous pain racking his left arm. He threw off his bed covers and gasped, his mouth agape, at the sight he saw before him on his arm.

His entire forearm was alive - barely - with blisters, open sores, weeping with dull black blood and oozing yellow, sickly pus in equal measure. But that was only intensified by the rate at which this affliction was spreading – the sores were erupting up past his elbow and onto his arm. But worse still, his forearm was only getting deader. The flesh on his forearm was beginning to necrotise, skin peeling back, revealing rotten muscle tissue and tendons ready to snap from pressure.

As his skin began to peel – and his initial shock began to subside – Chris began to scream. Not the classic Hollywood scream, not a voluminous howl you hear in the movies. That sort of scream doesn’t happen in these situations. What came from Chris’ mouth was a low whimper, the sound you would normally hear from someone as they had just received a blow to the stomach that ejected the air sharply from the lungs, but extended over a period of a few seconds. He screamed (although you could call it a sigh and still not be quite wrong) and flopped out of bed and on to all fours, the fingers on his left hand practically disintegrating in the process. They fell off like ash from burned paper – and looked none too different. His entire arm now looked like the result of severe burn damage, and skin

*Or was it muscle? It was becoming increasingly hard to tell. It was all coming off, what was the use in discerning which it was?*

Was flaking off at an alarming rate.

The bones of his arm were becoming visible. Not just visible, but prominent. You’d be forgiven, from looking at a snapshot of this moment, for assuming he was born without flesh on his arm, and at this precise moment was beginning to miraculously generate flesh. His flesh was disappearing before his eyes, flaking away like ash, and all Chris could think was “why isn’t there any blood?”

And as quickly as it began, it was over. He had closed his eyes only for a moment, breathing in with choking sobs, and opened them – to see that his skin was back. But all wasn’t well. He began to scream again; only this time with some real volume.

For his skin had become greasy green scales, and was writhing with a mind of its own, the pain replaced by horrid, grating nausea. Chris rose, stumbling against his bookshelf in the process, knocking a couple of books to the floor, and stumbled out of his room. As he stepped into the hallway, he noticed a new sound, complemented by a strange feeling under his feet.

*Crunch*

Bugs. Cockroaches, spiders, and beetles lay over every surface. Floors, walls, windowsills and doors were coated in bugs, and, Chris noticed, were crawling on a thick coat of viscous dark red liquid. Blood, he thought to himself, barely holding back a gag, heaving at the thought. He brought his right hand to his face to catch a cough, he noticed that his right arm had also become covered in scales, and that they were peeling off just like his skin previously had done, and the pain had returned in full force, and then some.

Yelling through his teeth, Chris pressed on to the bathroom, crushing bugs beneath his feet, noticing that the felt oddly soft against his skin –no, scales. He flicked the bathroom light on and walked to the sink, not yet looking in the mirror, but at his feet which he noticed had a fresh coat of scales on, and claws posing proudly as toenails. He gathered the courage to look into the mirror, and saw that his face was also covered in scales, and that he had webbing protruding from his back; not only that, but as he opened his mouth to scream, he noticed a snake’s tongue in his mouth, and slits for nostrils.

And when he did scream, all that came from his mouth was a long, reptilian hiss.

title: The Itch (draft). Just over 1000 words. Criticism needed!

question: What kind of mood is the author trying to evoke?

answer: Eerie and sinister.

question: What might have happened if Chris didn't look in the mirror?

answer: He wouldn't have know that his face was also covered in scales.

question: Why did Chris wake up in the middle of the night?

answer: He woke up to the feeling of movement.

question: How did Chris's body change over the course of the story?

answer: First, his body was oozing from sores, then his skin began to peel. After a while, his skin becomes green and scaly.