text:
The _NORTHERN CONSTITUTION_ is a weekly newspaper in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.[1] It was founded in 1875 under the title _COLERAINE CONSTITUTION AND NORTHERN COUNTIES ADVERTISER_, and was renamed to its current title in 1908.[2]

It is notable for featuring a weekly column entitled _Songs of the People_, from 17 November, 1923 until 9 December 1939, which had been sponsored by the paper's assistant editor at the time, Bob Bacon, who became its editor from 1927 until 1952.[3] Bacon had seen the value of publishing a regular series on folk songs after witnessing the enthusiastic efforts of Sam Henry, who became the newspaper's Song Editor from the column's inception until 28 July 1928 and again—after a long illness—from 22 October 1932 until the end of the series, on 9 December 1939.[4] During his tenure, Henry published just under 690 songs of high quality.[5]

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title: Northern Constitution

question: What is the Northern Constitution?

answer: The Northern Constitution is a weekly newspaper in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

question: When was the paper founded?

answer: The paper was founded in 1875 under the name Coleraine Constitution and Northern Counties Advertiser.

question: What is the paper notable for?

answer: The paper is notable for a weekly column that ran from November 1923 until December 1939. The column was titled, Songs of the People.

question: How many songs did Sam Henry publish in the column?

answer: Just under 690 songs.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The Northern Constitution is a weekly newspaper in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. The paper is notable for a weekly column that ran from November 1923 until December 1939. The column was titled, Songs of the People.


split: train

text:
DATIN JOSEPHINE WONG (born 1 January 1952) is a Chinese-Malaysian model as well as beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Malaysia Universe 1970. She represents her country at the 19th Miss Universe in the Miami, USA where she was placed as one of the Top 15 semi-finalists.

Miss Malaysia Universe 1970

The beauty contest Miss Perak 1970 was held on 5 April in Ipoh city, and it is accompanied by only 6 people. In this national competition, Josephine, 18 by that time, who represented Perak once again create success by winning the title of Miss Malaysia Universe 1970, beating 12 other participants from other states.[1]

Miss Universe 1970

Josephine came to represent Malaysia in international competitions, Miss Universe 1970 in the United States, where she has successfully reached the semi-finals, which is one and only Malaysia's best achievement till this time. Josephine was also named in the list of 'Best In Swimsuit' alongside 9 other international participants. She was also the winner of Expo Queen '70 which was held in Japan during the pageant-week of Miss Universe 1970 pageant.

Personal life

In 1975, Wong married Datuk G.C.A. In August 1984, they have a daughter Andrea Fonseka.

In 2004, Wong's daughter followed her footsteps and joined Miss Universe Malaysia 2004 and also won the title Miss Malaysia.

[1] http://pageantisland.com/josephine-lena-wong-datin-josephine-fonseka-miss-perak-1970-miss-malaysia-universe-1970-miss-universe-1970-semifinalist/

title: Josephine Lena Wong

question: Who is Datin Josephine Wong?

answer: A Chinese-Malaysian model and beauty pageant title holder.

question: What was she crowned in 1970?

answer: Miss Malaysia Universe.

question: Where did she compete in the 19th Miss Universe (location)?

answer: Miami, Florida.

question: How did Wong's daughter follow in her footsteps?

answer: She was crowned Miss Universe Malaysia in 2004.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Datin Josephine Lena Wong is a  Chinese-Malaysian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Malaysia Universe 1970. She went on to be in the 19th Miss Universe in the Miami, USA where she was placed as one of the Top 15 semi-finalists


text:
It feels so good. "Does it feel good for you... too?"

Noboby's there of course, just my pillow. I realize how uterly lonely I am and make a
few quick thrusts just to get it over with.

I hug the pillow in a desperate attempt to quench my lonliness as I roll over on my side.
As I lay thinking that I should really get a girlfriend it lights up a cigarette and takes
a few drags before it decides to leave. The fee already collected. The fee; a small piece of my dignity.

"Until next time" it says with no emotion. Until next time my brain needs to fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

title: Hope you like (very) short story about a Fleshlight

question: Who is the narrator speaking to?

answer: He is speaking to his Fleshlight sex toy.

question: Why does the narrator feel like they have lost a piece of their dignity?

answer: Because they have just finished using a sex to.

question: What is the main character doing at the beginning of the story?

answer: They are masturbating with a sex toy (a Fleshlight, to be specific).

question: Who is the main character?

answer: Little is known about the main character other than that they are single and (presumably) male.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator masturbates with a Fleshlight sex toy. Afterwards, the toy lights a cigarette and then prepares to leave. The narrator feels they have lost a piece of their dignity, but they know they will use the sex toy again the next time they are in the mood.


text:
**The Pro.**

You swing your car into the dingy lot in front of Gutter Ball's and kill the engine. You sit there for a few moments preparing yourself. Almost game time.

You hit the trunk release and get out of the car. The rain stopped about an hour ago and for the first time this week the evening air is cool rather than muggy. Opening the trunk, you retrieve you bag and head toward the entrance, passing Ten Pin's truck on the way.

Gutter Ball's is the kind of place where men take the game of bowling very seriously. Despite it's dim, dingy interior, the lanes are well-kept and gleam with fresh oil. It's like stepping directly into a hurricane sometimes, the balls roaring down the lanes sound like approaching thunder and you can feel the punctuating booms in your chest as they strike the pins.

Classic rock plays nonstop at Gutter Ball's. At the moment Don Henley is lamenting about a certain hotel he never should have stayed in. Gutter Ball is behind the counter chatting up a leggy brunette with an amazing case of acne. Gutter is no prize himself, though at well over 6' 4" his sheer mass seems to cause some women's panties to loosen and from what you can glean from the conversation, it seems to be working for him at the moment.

The place is packed tonight, you knew it would be. Everywhere people are gathered in small groups either at the bar or down in the alley. The chatter is so loud you can barely hear the music. You like it that way though, the chaos helps you concentrate. You can see a much larger crowd than the rest gathered at the far end of the alley, obviously occupying both of the last two lanes. That must be Ten Pin's crowd of admirers. Looking closer, you see him stand up and get into form. He takes a deep breath, moves forward 3 paces and throws a clean strike.

*Good,* you think, *I hope he's already warmed up.*

As you approach the counter Gutter glances at you in annoyance only briefly before resuming his conversation with the brunette.

"I swear. Just by *hearin*,'" he tells her.

"Ain't no way," she says.

Gutter holds up one finger. "Wait for it," he says.

Frustrated, you glance toward Ten Pin's groupies once more and see him going through his motions again. His release is silky smooth, the ball screams down the lane. Gutter stabs his finger in the brunette's direction.

"*That* one's a strike," he says. The brunette whips around to follow the sound. A half-second later Ten Pin's ball slams into the pocket with a crash- not a pin stands. The brunette jumps up and down and giggles with glee.

"AMAZING!" she exclaims. "Do it again! *Please?*" she whines.

"In a sec', sweetheart," he says, finally turning in your direction.

"I don't know you," he says, frowning. "The fuck do you want?"
"I'd like a lane." you tell him. "Down alley next to Ten Pin if you've got one."

Gutter's gaze loosens a bit and he raises an eyebrow at you."Ten Pin, huh?" he eyes you up and down, frowning a little once more. "You for real?" he asks.

You lean over the counter and regard Gutter closely, trying to appear intense.

"You just pay attention," you tell him. "Keep your ears peeled." you smile at Gutter and wink. For a moment he only stares at you and then he cracks a huge grin and slaps you on the shoulder.

"I like you, kid!" he exclaims loudly. Gutter gestures toward the brunette. She smiles at you politely, obviously uninterested. "This here's Sally," he says. She nods in your direction. "What's you name, son?" he asks.

"English," you tell him. "You can call me English."

"English, huh?" Gutter says, his frown returning. Gutter glances at Sally and she giggles once again.

"Well, you go ahead and see to your lane," he says, "*Mr.* English." Sally can't help but laugh loudly this time.

"Thank you," you tell him. Part of you really wanted to like Gutter but another part of you wanted to shove his stone face into the counter-top.

You take your score sheet and head down toward the end of the alley.

title: The Pro.(short fiction)

question: Who are the main characters?

answer: Gutter Ball, Ten Pin, English, Sally

question: Where does the story take place?

answer: Gutter Ball's Bowling Alley.

question: What is Gutter Ball's relationship with English?

answer: Gutter Ball is the owner of the bowling alley. English is there to play against (challenge) Ten Pin.

question: What are they all doing?

answer: Gutter Ball is chatting with Sally. Ten Pin is holding court amongst his groupies and hitting strike after strike. English just arrived and plans to challenge Ten Pin.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer: English goes to Gutter Ball's bowling alley. The place is dingy and dim, but the lanes are well-kept and it's the kind of place where men take the game of bowling very seriously. Gutter Ball is smooth-talking a brunette when English's arrival interrupts him. Gutter Ball rudely asks English what he wants, and learns that English is here to challenge Ten Pin, who is a pretty good bowler. English's cockiness elicits a grin from Gutter Ball, who asks for his name and hands him a score sheet. English wants to like Gutter Ball, but part of him wants to shove his face into the countertop.


text:
_This article first appeared on The Daily Signal._

Kiev, Ukraine—Since 2014, Russia has used Ukraine as a testing ground for its hybrid warfare doctrine, underscoring what some security experts say is a case study for the new kinds of security threats the U.S. and its Western allies can anticipate from Moscow.

"The threats Ukraine faces are harbingers of things to come for the U.S. and its other allies," said Junaid Islam, chief technology officer and president of Vidder, a California-based cybersecurity firm that does work in Ukraine.

"It is in the national strategic interests of both the United States and Ukraine to cooperate deeply in cybersecurity, because Ukraine is a canary in the cyberspace coal mine," Islam told The Daily Signal.

A top Ukrainian security official recently disclosed a cyberwarfare tactic honed by Russia in Ukraine, which could be a bellwether for Russia's next act of political warfare against the U.S.

The Ukrainian government recently has been attacked by "undetectable" computer viruses that target "particular individuals, in particular departments, and they're constructed based on the social understanding of social media by particular people," Dmytro Shymkiv, deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine on Administrative, Social and Economic Reform, explained this month during the Future in Review conference in Park City, Utah.

"Russia recruits psychiatrists, scientists, and neurologists, who construct these things to target particular individuals," Shymkiv said.

According to Ukrainian security officials, Russian agents build a psychological profile of their mark through his or her social media footprint. Then, using that information, the Russians can make personalized computer viruses, or run a social media influence operation specifically crafted with that one particular person in mind.

"People say, 'Well, that's a science fiction.' It's not," Shymkiv said. "When the annexation of Crimea took place, [Russia] shut down the internet to Ukraine, and they used social media to influence people's behavior. And you can influence people's behavior. You do it in a nice way, posting things to their friends, et cetera. There's a whole factory in Russia doing this."

[GettyImages-863082922]

Vladimir Putin in Sochi on October 19, 2017. ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty
This is known in the cybersecurity world as "social engineering"—a form of cyberattack in which people are psychologically manipulated into performing actions or divulging confidential information. According to some security experts, the best defense against this kind of threat is education.

"Man is the weakest link in the chain of information technology," Mykhailo Vasyanovich, head of the Public Council for the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, told The Daily Signal.

"With such cyberattacks, which are now taking place in Ukraine, it is necessary to raise the level of information technology literacy of users by conducting educational work on cybersecurity among employees of private and state enterprises," Vasyanovich said.

Some experts worry this reliance on the security savvy of internet users to fend off Russian cyberattacks might be a vulnerability for the U.S.

"What may especially worry the U.S. is that Russia targets influential individuals, such as journalists or political analysts, especially those of rather skeptical approach toward Moscow," Daniel Szeligowski, senior research fellow on Ukraine for the Polish Institute of International Affairs, told The Daily Signal.

"Unlike institutions or infrastructure, they don't have state protection and are thus vulnerable to intimidation and blackmailing," Szeligowski added. "And given the rising popularity of social media, such a threat is even more widespread."

HYBRID WAR

Russia's hybrid attacks against Ukraine have included, but are not limited to:

-   Using social media to shape public opinion among an adversary's population.
-   Turning commercially available computer software into a tool for espionage and cyberwarfare.
-   Exploiting smartphones to spy on and wage psychological warfare against an adversary's military forces.
-   Using cyberattacks to undermine an adversary's electoral process.
-   Using pseudo-news reports to push a propaganda line that sows division within an adversary's national culture.

All of these tactics have also been used by Russia against the U.S. since Russo-American relations took a nosedive in the fallout over Russia's military aggression against Ukraine in early 2014.

"Ukraine is a perfect testing ground for hybrid warfare," Szeligowski said. "Thus, it is no wonder that Russia has already seized the opportunity, and in Ukraine it has made a dry run of all sorts of its offensive techniques."

Russian hybrid warfare is not covert warfare. Rather, it's the combined use of conventional military force with other means such as cyberattacks and propaganda to sow chaos and confusion—both on the battlefield and deep behind the front lines.

Hybrid warfare is an evolving threat spanning every combat domain. Particularly, hybrid warfare weaponizes many pieces of everyday life, including smartphones, social media networks, commercially available computer software, and journalism.

"Russia is testing in Ukraine both procedures and concepts, which later on are being applied in the West—such as during the U.S. and French elections," a Polish security official told The Daily Signal on background, asking not to be named due to professional restrictions on speaking to the media.

"In short, Ukraine remains for Russia a crucial hybrid warfare battleground and testbed," the security official said. "The Russian hybrid warfare model is being further developed, perfected, and tested as we speak. Russia's ability to escalate rapidly across the whole spectrum of conflict makes the West prone to the 'surprise effect.'"

Russia's use of social media and cyberattacks as weapons of war might be innovative, but, at its core, it's a modern revamp of a Cold War-era idea.

Hybrid warfare is the Kremlin's contemporary take on a Soviet military doctrine called "deep battle," in which front-line combat operations are supported with operations to spread chaos and confusion deep within the enemy's country. Hybrid warfare also draws on the Soviet Union's well-documented history of "influence operations" against the U.S. and other Western allies.

In effect, Russia's overall strategy to undermine the West hasn't changed all that much from the Soviet Union's playbook. But the world in which those Soviet theories are now put into practice is a radically different one than during the Cold War.

The advent of the internet, and social media in particular, has given the Kremlin direct access to the populations of its adversaries—bypassing the gatekeeper role America's media institutions used to play.

"Everything today is digitized, including phone and mail services, and everything runs on the same network," Kenneth Geers, ambassador of NATO's cybersecurity center and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told The Daily Signal. "There is only one internet, and one cyberspace, inhabited by all of the world's citizens, soldiers, spies, and statesmen."

Meanwhile, Americans' distrust in their media institutions has reached historic levels. Russia has stealthily taken advantage of Americans' crisis of confidence in the media to permeate the U.S. news cycle with misinformation spread by propaganda mouthpieces cloaked as alternative news sources, such as RT and Sputnik.

LESSONS LEARNED

Some commercial cybersecurity firms have stepped in both to harden Ukraine's cyberdefenses and use lessons learned from Ukraine to craft better defenses for the U.S. to counter Russia.

"With the world increasingly digital and connected, Ukraine is of strategic, vital interest to the West," said Greg Ness, a cybersecurity specialist and vice president of marketing at Vidder. "What happens in Ukraine doesn't stay in Ukraine."

California-based Vidder has put together a team of cybersecurity experts to comprise the core of a proposed U.S.-Ukraine cybersecurity center with offices in Kiev, Washington, and Silicon Valley.

"By ensuring that Ukraine adopts leading cybersecurity solutions and best practices, we will not only provide Ukraine with the best protection from cyberattacks, but it also helps U.S. experts develop new and more effective technologies and strategies in the future," Islam, Vidder's president, told The Daily Signal. "It will also help establish Ukraine as a secure, stable, prosperous, and reliable ally in Eastern Europe."

The war in Ukraine has shaped how NATO forces are training for the next military conflict. On Thursday, NATO and Ukraine launched a joint center to counter hybrid warfare. The center is part of the Comprehensive Assistance Package that NATO pledged to Ukraine during the alliance's summit in Warsaw last year.

According to NATO, the joint center will be "a platform for identifying lessons learned from hybrid war in Ukraine."

For its part, the U.S. military has reportedly been studying the war in Ukraine to shape its own military doctrine.

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Trump administration's national security adviser, recently directed a study to analyze Russia's hybrid warfare tactics in Ukraine in order to craft recommendations for the U.S. Army.

Szeligowski added, however, that not all of Russia's hybrid warfare tactics in Ukraine would be effective against the U.S.

"There is a yawning gap between Ukrainian and American cyber capabilities, not to mention cultural and linguistic differences between Russians and Americans," Szeligowski said. "But it goes beyond any doubt that, at least at some point, Russia already used hybrid warfare instruments against the U.S.—and did it effectively."

HYBRID WAY OF LIFE

The effects of Russia's proxy war against Ukraine are limited to a 250-mile-long static front line in southeastern Ukraine's Donbas region. The war is moderated in intensity and is geographically frozen according to the rules of the February 2015 cease-fire deal, known as Minsk II.

More than 10,100 Ukrainians have died so far in the war. The conflict has displaced about 1.7 million people. Yet, the physical consequences of the war are quarantined from most of the country. Outside the range of the artillery, mortars, rockets, and tank shots, you'd hardly know there was war going on.

On a physical battlefield, a war extends as far as the range of the weapons used. In hybrid warfare, however, the battlefield knows no limit.

Consequently, there's hardly any part of Ukrainian life that hasn't been affected by Russia's ongoing hybrid war.

Russian cyberattacks have hit Ukraine's power grid, water supply systems, the country's banking system (shutting down ATMs), its largest international airport, and the electoral process.

In December 2016, a cyberattack, which Ukrainian officials attributed to Russia, took down one-fifth of Kiev's electrical grid. Since 2014, Ukrainian security services have thwarted numerous cyberattacks in which malware from abroad was used in attempts to steal classified information from Ukrainian government networks.

In the eyes of Ukrainian security officials, the internet has become as much of a battlefield as the trenches in the Donbas region. The main goal of Russia's information warfare, according to Ukrainian security officials, is to incite civil unrest throughout all of Ukraine and to undermine the government's credibility.

Since 2014, Ukraine has established a Situation Center for Cybersecurity, and Ukrainian officials have fostered closer ties to Western intelligence agencies to bolster their cyberdefenses.

SECURITY STATE

Russia's purchase of $100,000 worth of Facebook advertisements in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election sparked a media frenzy in America and an outcry from lawmakers for social media sites to provide better transparency about the identity of those who purchase advertisements on their sites.

In Ukraine, Russia has been exploiting social media as a weapon of war for years.

In a sweeping ban announced in May, Ukrainian officials banned Russian internet search engines, including Yandex, as well as popular Russian social media sites such as VKontakte, which millions of Ukrainians used.

The ban prompted some pushback from Ukrainians, who used these sites for many daily tasks and for social reasons. But Ukrainian officials insisted the sites posed a national security threat, which warranted the free speech trade-off.

Also in May, Ukraine banned commercially available Russian software, including anti-virus software from Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab—the same company U.S. officials now say was used as a Trojan horse for Russian intelligence agencies to steal classified information from the U.S. government.

"The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security," the Department of Homeland Security said in a Sept. 13 statement posted to its website.

U.S. intelligence officials said Russian intelligence services had modified anti-virus software from Kaspersky Lab to clandestinely search computers around the world for classified U.S. government documents and top-secret information.

"Possessing a worldwide deployment of sensors may be too great a temptation for any country's intelligence service to ignore, and Kaspersky may have been forced into a quiet business partnership with the Russian government," Geers, the NATO cybersecurity specialist, said.

Similarly, news reports recently detailed how Russian military forces have been targeting the smartphones of NATO troops to gather intelligence.

Ukrainian soldiers in the eastern war zone have long been advised by their leaders not to turn on their smartphones while in the war zone. Russian forces reportedly have used the cell signals emitting from Ukrainian soldiers' phones to target its artillery.

And for years Ukrainian soldiers have reported receiving death threats and demands for their surrender from their enemies over cellphone text messages.

NEW WEAPONS

Journalism has been one of Russia's most lethal weapons against Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have banned a slew of Russian TV stations from broadcasting in Ukraine, and foreign journalists accused of spreading Russian propaganda have been booted out of the country.

Anti-propaganda outlets in Ukraine such as StopFake.org also monitor media reports for Russian disinformation and are dedicated to setting the record straight.

To counter Russian propaganda in the war zone, Ukraine's government has rebuilt its TV and radio broadcast network in the east—which Russia and its separatist proxies destroyed in the opening days of the war.

For years, Ukrainian citizens in eastern Ukraine could access only Russian TV channels for their news. Now, Ukraine has taken back control of the airwaves. While not as evident or as spectacular as the artillery bombardments and the tank battles, the battle for broadcast dominance in eastern Ukraine is a key piece of the overall war effort for Kiev.

After all, many Ukrainian citizens in eastern Ukraine can't tell whether the artillery they are living under is fired from Ukrainian or Russian forces. And so long as they had access only to Russian television networks—which exclusively painted Ukrainian forces as the aggressor and, consequently, responsible for all civilian casualties—public opinion toward Ukraine's central government was under an endless stress test as the war dragged on.

Now, with Ukraine able to defend itself on the airwaves, Russia has lost a potent weapon to turn the citizens of eastern Ukraine against their own government.

Similarly, U.S. lawmakers have debated how to defend the U.S. population against Kremlin-backed news outlets, including RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik, which U.S. officials have called out as Russian propaganda mouthpieces.

The FBI reportedly has turned to a U.S. law intended to prevent the spread of Nazi propaganda to determine whether the two Russian media outlets should register as foreign agents.

In America, as has been the case in Ukraine, manipulation of the media by a foreign power increasingly is regarded as a hostile act warranting retaliation.

"America has experienced a sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our country's division," former President George W. Bush said in an Oct. 19 speech in New York.

Russia "has made a project of turning Americans against each other," Bush said, adding, "Foreign aggressions, including cyberattacks, disinformation, and financial influence, should never be downplayed or tolerated."

_Nolan Peterson, a former special operations pilot and a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is The Daily Signal's foreign correspondent based in Ukraine._

question: Where did this article first appear?

answer: This article first appeared on the Daily Signal.

question: Since 2014, how has Russia used Ukraine?

answer: Since 2014, Russia has used Ukraine as a testing ground for its hybrid warfare doctrine.

question: What has the Ukrainian government been attacked by?

answer: The Ukrainian government has been attached by undetectable computer viruses that target particular individuals in particular departments.

question: What does Mykhailo Vasyanovich suggest to combat the cyberattacks?

answer: He suggests raising the level of information technology literacy of users by conducting education work on cybersecurity among employees or private and state enterprises.

question: What is one thing that Russia's hybrid attacks against Ukraine have included?

answer: One attack has been using social media to shape public opinion among an adversary's population .

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: This article is describing the friction between Russia and Ukraine. The Ukraine government has been under a cyberattack, thought to be brought by Russia. A focus on increasing information technology literacy is suggested by the Head of Public Council for the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine. The article further discusses the attacks Russia had made against Ukraine in the hybrid war they are in.


text:
[Connie Britton - 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party - Getty - H 2018]
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Connie Britton has lined up her next TV gig.

The actress is set to star in and executive produce the first season of Bravo's _Dirty John_ anthology.

Season one of the series will be based on _Los Angeles Times _reporter Chris Goffard's reporting and podcast about "Dirty" John Meehan, his relationship with Debra Newell and his exploits. The drama will tell the story of how Newell's romance with Meehan spiraled into secrets, deception, denial and, ultimately, survival — with shocking ramifications for not just her, but her children.

Britton will portray Newell, who fell for Meehan after meeting him via an over-50 dating site. He denounced her children, who immediately saw him as a con artist.

Bravo's _Dirty John _series will be written by Alexandra Cunningham (_Chance, Desperate Housewives_), who will exec produce the project alongside Mark Herzog, Chris Cowen, Chris Argentieri, Charles Roven and Richard Suckle. The series hails from NBCU studio Universal Cable Productions in association with Los Angeles Times Studios and Atlas Entertainment.

_Dirty John_ marks the latest TV role for Britton after she exited ABC-turned-CMT country music drama _Nashville_. The four-time Emmy-nominated actress, best known as Tami Taylor on _Friday Night Lights,_ is fresh off the first season of Fox's Ryan Murphy-produced procedural _911,_ where she had a one-year deal but could return for the previously announced second season. Britton also recurred on Showtime's _SMILF_. _Dirty John_ is her latest anthology credit, following the first seasons of Murphy's _American Horror Story_ and _American Crime Story_. On the film side, the actress has Netflix's _The Land of Steady Habits_ in the works. Britton is repped by WME, Untitled Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson.

_Dirty John_ landed at Bravo with a two-season order. Season two will feature an entirely new and closed-ended story that has yet to be determined. Bravo sibling Oxygen will also air an unscripted companion series exploring the real-life experiences of those manipulated and harassed by Meehan.

A premiere date for _Dirty John_ has not been determined.

[Lesley Goldberg]

question: What is Connie Britton's next TV gig?

answer: Bravo's "Dirty John" anthology.

question: What will the story portray?

answer: It is going to be based on the LA Times reporter Chris Goffard's reporting about "Dirty" John Meehan and his spiraling relationship with Debra Newell.

question: Who is writing and producing "Dirty John"?

answer: It will bewritten by Alexandra Cunningham who will also executive produce alongside Mark Herzog, Chris Cowen, Chris Argentieri, CharlesR Roven, and Richard Suckle.

question: What else has Connie Britton been in?

answer: This is her latest TV role since Nashville. She has previously been on Friday Night Lights, 911, and SMILF.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Connie Britton is a British TV actor who has landed a role in Bravo's "Dirty John" anthology. This is her first TV role since working on Nashville. The show will be based on LA Times reporter CHris Goffard's reporting about "Dirty" John Meehan and his relationship with Debra Newell. Previously, Britton has appeared on Friday Night Lights, 911, and SMILF.


text: There's always that one kid in the group. There seems to be something wrong. Sometimes you question if he's got some mental handicap or not. This is my story of Trevor. He was that small kid. Between me and the other guys, he was small. Trevor was under five foot eight. The other boys, Owen and Tommy. They were significantly taller being about six feet each and myself at six three. He was kind of socially awkward, although everyone loved him. His sense of humor was that of a young boy. He always cracked a joke. No matter how lame or hilarious it was, Trevor always got the laugh. He's the kind of guy who laughs at his own jokes. Trevor loved the girls too. Though he rarely had girlfriends. He definitely made you think another way. He was our best friend. We all were best friends. Tommy, Owen and I always did "hoodrat shit." We were always tearing down signs, went into abandoned places. We even sneaked into the rival high school's news studio. We drank, smoked cigarettes, and got high once in a while like we were cool. And we were. We lived up to our ancestors high school antics. We loved Trevor. Trevor was the completer of our gang. For a high school project they had to reenact the Banquo's ghost scene of Macbeth. so naturally we got crazy in helping out. Owen became Lady Macbeth. I was a murderer with ketchup on my face. And Trevor was Banquo's ghost. Things got out of hand and next thing we know, the gang had driven to a very special place. In our town there was a minor league baseball field. Knowing that the field had been moved north one town, we went to the old field. We begged and begged Trevor to indulge into our "spoils of war." An admissions sign, a number sign, burned exit sign. Something to remember this. He would not. Trevor has morals that lack in us other three. Trevor was joining us. He didn't smoke a cigarette, steal anything. Nothing. We continued to urge him into these bad things. Now you think he wouldn't be the type of guy to hang with us. So why does he. Then I realized that, we need him as much as he needs us. The three of us are opposite from him alone. So why did we hang out with Trevor? Maybe it's because he needed us to protect him. Maybe we felt like we needed to protect him. Without us, they'd eat him alive. Trevor was a baby bought up by us. His gang. His wolves.

title: the small kid

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: The narrator is one of a group of 4 friends. Himself, Owen and Tommy are big guys with similar inclinations and personalities whereas Trevor is a smaller guy with a different personality.

question: What are the major events of the story?

answer: The narrator wonders how the they became friends with Trevor. He is different from the other three in so many ways. He is smaller, less violent and less inclined to rule-breaking. The narrator realizes that Trevor is necessary to his group of friends.

question: Why did Trevor not participate in the illegal activities?

answer: Trevor has morals that lack in the rest of the group.

question: What is the group's relationship with Trevor?

answer: He is the fourth member of a group of friends. The other three members are similar, Trevor is smaller and less inclined to rule-breaking. The group protected Trevor and Trevor grounded the group.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator wonders how the they became friends with Trevor. He is different from the other three in so many ways. He is smaller, less violent and less inclined to rule-breaking. The narrator realizes that Trevor is necessary to his group of friends, he keeps them grounded.


text:
ISABELLA OF FRANCE (9 November 1389 – 13 September 1409) was Queen of England as the second spouse of Richard II. She married the king at the age of six and was widowed three years later. She later married Charles, Duke of Orléans, dying in childbirth at the age of nineteen.

Life

[Richard and Isabella on their wedding day in 1396. He was twenty-nine years old; she was six.] Isabella was the daughter of Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. On 31 October 1396, at the age of six, Isabella married the widower King Richard II of England in a move for peace with France. The fact that she was a child was discussed during the negotiations, but Richard replied that each day would rectify that problem, that it was an advantage as he would then be able to shape her in accordance with his ideal, and that he was young enough to wait. Isabella herself told the English envoys that she was happy to be Queen of England, because she had been told that this would make her a great lady. She is described as pretty, and reportedly practised in order to be able to perform her role as queen. King Richard travelled to Paris to fetch her, where the wedding was celebrated with grand festivities at the French royal court, before they continued to the English enclave of Calais, where the formal wedding ceremony was performed on 31 October.

Queen of England

After the wedding, Queen Isabella followed Richard to England, where she was placed in Windsor Castle with her own court under the supervision of her appointed governess and chief lady-in-waiting Lady de Coucy (later replaced by Lady Mortimer). She was formally crowned Queen of England in Westminster in London the following year, 1397.

Although the union was political and an arranged marriage, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutually respectful relationship: Richard regularly visited her in Windsor, where he treated her with respect and entertained her and her ladies-in-waiting with humorous conversation, and Isabella reportedly enjoyed and looked forward to his visits.

By May 1399, the Queen had been moved to Portchester Castle for protection while Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland. During the following rebellion against Richard, Isabella was moved by the Duke of York first to Wallingford Castle and then to Leeds Castle. When on his return to England Richard II was imprisoned and died in custody, Queen Isabella was ordered by the new King Henry IV to move out of Windsor Castle and to settle in the Bishop of Salisbury's Thames-side Sonning Palace in formal house arrest.

Later life

In 1400, Richard was killed, and the French court requested that Isabella return to France. King Henry IV initially refused, deciding Queen Isabella should marry his son, the future Henry V of England, but she refused. Knowing her spouse was dead, she went into mourning, ignoring Henry IV's demands. In August 1401, he let her go back to France, but kept her dowry.

In 1406, Henry IV repeated his suggestion that Isabella marry his son, but it was refused by the French court.

On 29 June 1406, Queen Isabella, aged 16, married her cousin, Charles, Duke of Orléans, aged 11. She died in childbirth at the age of 19. Her surviving daughter, Joan, married John II of Alençon in 1424. Isabella's body was interred in Blois, in the abbey of St Laumer, where it was later discovered in 1624, curiously wrapped in bands of linen plated over with quicksilver. It was then transferred to the church of the Celestines in Paris.

Arms

Ancestry

title: Isabella of Valois

question: Who killed Richard II?

answer: Though not expressly stated in the passage, it is assumed he was killed at the request of Henry IV.


text:
クロスオーバーLIVE（FB編）
Crossover LIVE (FB Chapter)
[CrossoverLIVEFB.png]
Event Info
Event Type
Mission
Starting Date
December 9, 2017 15:00 JST
Ending Date
December 15, 2017 21:00 JST
Debuting Song
[Star.png] HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)
Event Unlockable
Crossover Girl (Mylene)
Event Exclusive
Unlockable
No
Event Chronology
Previous Event
_Wings Of Goodbye_
Next Event
_Christmas Hesitation_
-   v
-   t
-   e

クロスオーバーLIVE（FB編） (クロスオーバーLIVE -FBへん- _Kurosuōbā LIVE -FB hen-_ ENGLISH: _Crossover LIVE -Fire Bomber Chapter-_) is the 13th event of Uta Macross and its 5th mission event. As implied by its title, the event focuses on crossover content with character interactions and songs that span multiple series instead of revolving around one.

This event features a major overhaul of the mission event.

-   GENERAL MISSION EVENTS
    -   Event point has increased dramatically overall
        -   Point gain will now be based on difficulty with extra bonuses based on mission selection, episode categories, and event song selection.
    -   Amount of rewards given have also increased
        -   Number of milestone rewards have increased and occur more frequently
        -   Tiering rewards increased on all tiers
-   MISSION SELECTION
    -   Missions are randomized, but now feature 3 missions of progressively increasing difficulty rather than 3 random selections of missions entirely.
    -   Some missions may have tougher enemies appear similarly to previous events. Taking on these missions will result with a +20% boost to the mission bonus on top of its default value.
    -   Failing missions no longer penalize players, but instead just denies players from any mission bonuses.
    -   Harder missions increases the percent bonus of event points gained.
-   SONG SELECTION
    -   Players may now use any song they have unlocked to complete the mission(s).
    -   Daily event may be selected, but are still limited to 3 plays a day.
        -   Daily song drops are still fixated to whatever resource the song is focused on.
        -   Players no longer have to sacrifice event points to play daily songs so long as they select a daily song to execute the mission event.
    -   Event-focused songs in the EVENTS tab will give players an extra 10% bonus to the event points gained.
        -   The debuting event songs will be featured everyday. The other event-focused song will be cycled daily with the exception of the last day of the event.
        -   Extreme difficulty can still only be played with event-focused songs.
-   ZODIAC CONSTELLATION MEDALS
    -   Like the previous event, Zodiac Constellation medals have been added into the event rewards

  Attribute    Song Name                                                                 Days Available (JST)
  ------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------
  [Star.png]   [HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version).png] HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)   Every day
  [All.png]    70px 小白竜                                                               December 9, 12, 15
  [Star.png]   70px ユニバーサル・バニー                                                 December 10, 13, 15
  [All.png]    70px 星間飛行                                                             December 10, 14, 15

  Mission (EN)                                                                                Mission (JP)                                                                                Reward
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------
  [Daily] Clear a mission challenge with any song                                                                 【デイリー】イベントのミッションにチャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                1000 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a score greater than 700,000                       イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」をスコア７０万以上でクリア                  200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a score greater than 850,000                       イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」をスコア８５万以上でクリア                  200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a score greater than 1,000,000                     イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」をスコア１００万以上でクリア                200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a score greater than 1,150,000                     イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」をスコア１１５万以上でクリア                200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a score greater than 1,300,000                     イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」をスコア１３０万以上でクリア                400 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear 10 mission challenges with any song                                                                       イベントのミッションに１０回チャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                      100 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear 15 mission challenges with any song                                                                       イベントのミッションに１５回チャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                      200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear 20 mission challenges with any song                                                                       イベントのミッションに２０回チャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                      300 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear 25 mission challenges with any song                                                                       イベントのミッションに２５回チャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                      400 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear 30 mission challenges with any song                                                                       イベントのミッションに３０回チャレンジして楽曲をクレア                                      700 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a full combo at an Easy or higher difficulty       イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」の難易度EASY以上をフルコンボでクリア        200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a full combo at a Normal or higher difficulty      イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」の難易度NORMAL以上をフルコンボでクリア      200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a full combo at a Hard or higher difficulty        イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」の難易度HARD以上をフルコンボでクリア        200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a full combo at a Very Hard or higher difficulty   イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」の難易度VERY HARD以上をフルコンボでクリア   200 Sagittarius Medals
  Clear the event song "HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)" with a full combo at Extreme difficulty                 イベント楽曲「HOLY LONELY LIGHT (Duet Version)」の難易度EXTREME以上をフルコンボでクリア     400 Sagittarius Medals
  Complete 5 mission challenges playing the event song "XXX"                                                      イベント楽曲「XXX」で５回ミッションにチャレンジして楽曲をクレア                             500 Sagittarius Medals
  Complete 10 mission challenges playing the event song "XXX"                                                     イベント楽曲「XXX」で１０回ミッションにチャレンジして楽曲をクレア                           500 Sagittarius Medals

  : Crossover Live (FB Chapter) Event Missions

Milestone Rewards

  Event Points   Reward                     Event Points   Reward                                        Event Points   Reward
  -------------- -------------------------- -------------- --------------------------------------------- -------------- --------------------------
  100            10 Song Gems               50000          30 Medium Stone Sets                          280000         500 Sagittarius Medals
  400            6000 Union Credits         53000          500 Sagittarius Medals                        295000         60 Medium Stone Sets
  700            120 Small Melody Stones    57000          20 Large Stone Sets                           310000         40 Large Stone Sets
  1000           120 Small Melody Stones    61000          20 Large Stone Sets                           325000         20 Song Gems
  1500           500 Sagittarius Medals     65000          10 Small Crystal Sets                         345000         ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL
  2000           ☆3 WAKE UP, BASARA!        69000          4 Medium Crystal Sets                         365000         280 Small Melody Stones
  2500           60 Medium Melody Stones    73000          SNS TALK: IN THE CENTER OF SHERYL'S CONCERT   385000         140 Medium Melody Stones
  3000           60 Medium Melody Stones    77000          20 Song Gems                                  405000         500 Sagittarius Medals
  3600           SNS TALK: CROSSOVER LIVE   82000          2 Large Crystal Sets                          425000         50 Large Melody Stones
  4200           20 Song Gems               87000          240 Small Melody Stones                       445000         120 Small Melody Stones
  4900           20 Large Melody Stones     92000          500 Sagittarius Medals                        475000         60 Medium Melody Stones
  5600           20 Large Melody Stones     97000          120 Medium Melody Stones                      505000         500 Sagittarius Medals
  6300           500 Sagittarius Medals     103000         40 Large Melody Stones                        535000         40 Large Stone Sets
  7000           60 Small Stone Sets        109000         ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL                        565000         320 Small Melody Stones
  8000           60 Small Stone Sets        115000         SNS TALK: 2 PEOPLE BREATHING IN SYNC          595000         160 Medium Melody Stones
  9000           30 Medium Stone Sets       121000         120 Small Stone Sets                          625000         60 Large Melody Stones
  10000          30 Medium Stone Sets       127000         60 Medium Stone Sets                          655000         160 Small Stone Sets
  11500          20 Song Gems               134000         40 Large Stone Sets                           685000         80 Medium Stone Sets
  13000          ☆3 WAKE UP, BASARA!        141000         20 Song Gems                                  715000         50 Large Stone Sets
  14500          20 Large Stone Sets        148000         20 Small Crystal Sets                         745000         15000 Union Credits
  16000          20 Large Stone Sets        155000         10 Medium Crystal Sets                        775000         500 Sagittarius Medals
  18000          6000 Union Credits         162000         6 Large Crystal Sets                          805000         20 Medium Crystal Sets
  20000          20 Song Gems               169000         240 Small Melody Stones                       835000         10 Large Crystal Sets
  22000          120 Small Melody Stones    176000         500 Sagittarius Medals                        865000         200 Medium Melody Stones
  24000          120 Small Melody Stones    183000         120 Medium Melody Stones                      895000         80 Large Melody Stones
  26000          60 Medium Melody Stones    190000         40 Large Melody Stones                        925000         120 Medium Stone Sets
  28000          60 Medium Melody Stones    200000         ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL                        955000         60 Large Stone Sets
  30000          500 Sagittarius Medals     210000         TITLE: CROSSOVER LIVE (FB CHAPTER) - SILVER   985000         500 Sagittarius Medals
  32000          20 Large Melody Stones     220000         8000 Union Credits                            1015000        20 Medium Crystal Sets
  35000          20 Large Melody Stones     232000         20 Song Gems                                  1045000        10 Large Crystal Sets
  38000          ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL     244000         ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL                        1075000        500 Sagittarius Medals
  41000          60 Small Stone Sets        256000         10000 Union Credits                           1105000        500 Sagittarius Medals
  44000          60 Small Stone Sets        268000         120 Small Stone Sets                          1140000        500 Sagittarius Medals
  47000          30 Medium Stone Sets

Tier Ranking Rewards

+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Ranking Tier                      | Rewards                           |
+===================================+===================================+
| 1 - 100                           | -   400 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   240 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   100 Large Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   TITLE: DYNAMITE 7 - GOLD      |
|                                   | -   10 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL     |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 101 - 500                         | -   400 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   240 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   60 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   7 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 501 - 1,000                       | -   400 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   160 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   60 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   6 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 1,001 - 2,000                     | -   400 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   160 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   50 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   5 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 2,001 - 5,000                     | -   400 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   100 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   50 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   4 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 5,001 - 10,000                    | -   200 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   100 Medium Stone Sets         |
|                                   | -   50 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   3 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 10,001 - 25,000                   | -   200 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   50 Medium Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   10 Large Stone Sets           |
|                                   | -   2 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 25,001 - 50,000                   | -   200 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   50 Medium Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   1 ☆4 SMILING FLOWER GIRL      |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 50,001 - 100,000                  | -   100 Small Stone Sets          |
|                                   | -   50 Medium Stone Sets          |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| 100,001 - 500,000                 | -   50 Small Stone Sets           |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

question: What is the purpose of this webpage?

answer: To inform players of an online Japanese game (Uta Macross) of an upcoming mission event and how it affects the game.

question: When was this webpage created?

answer: Likely shortly prior to December 9 2017, which is when the event is due to begin.

question: Who is this webpage intended for?

answer: Players of the online game

question: What is the gameplay like?

answer: Players embark on missions with the use of specific songs. It is also implied there are enemies to be defeated on missions.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This webpage covers a time-limited mission event for a online game, including changes to game mechanics, and various rewards for players who achieve certain milestones/rankings or complete certain missions.


text:
非接触式便利 —

The mobile payments service is supported by every major bank from day one.

[Apple Pay launches in China, its largest market yet]
Apple Pay, after hitting the US in 2014 and the UK in 2015, has today launched in its largest market yet: China.

While bank support for Apple Pay in the UK came in fits and starts (Barclays _still_ doesn't support it), it appears that every major bank in China will support Apple Pay from day one. The key to this rapid roll out seems to be Apple's partnership with China UnionPay, the country's only domestic bank card organisation. Much in the same way that most credit cards in the west are backed by Visa, MasterCard, or American Express, _every_ bank card in China is backed by UnionPay.

The bigger question, though, is whether Chinese consumers will actually embrace Apple Pay or not. Unlike in the US and UK where Apple Pay was the first major attempt at mobile payments, China already has two mature services in the form of Alipay (by Alibaba) and WeChat Payment (WeChat is a messaging platform used by hundreds of millions of people in China). While Apple Pay requires the merchant to have a newer NFC-enabled UnionPay QuickPass payment terminal, Alipay and others use QR codes, which are supported by older, lower-tech sales terminals.

Still, if Apple Pay does take off in China, there's a _huge_ addressable market. China is by far the largest smartphone market in the world, with about 650 million smartphone users—much more than the US and EU combined.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world still waits with bated breath for Android-based mobile payments solutions to properly arrive. Android Pay is still only available in the US, and Samsung Pay is available in the US and South Korea. Neither service has announced a launch date for China or Europe.

question: Where is Apple Pay launching?

answer: China.

question: What makes the Chinese market significant?

answer: It is Apple Pay's largest market yet.

question: Will every bank support Apple Pay in China from day one?

answer: Yes.

question: How many smartphone users are there in China?

answer: 650 million.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The article discusses Apple Pay's inroads into China, its largest market yet. It discusses the banks that will be involved and the number of customers available.


text:
(I would recommend listening to Time by Hans Zimmerman when reading this! Also, first ever post, please be nice! Short piece that took 20 minutes to write)

Hues of crimson and cobalt flashed around his head. Groggily, he opened his eyes, and presumed his mind was tricking him, everything was upside down. Don't worry, he heard them say. We're gonna get you out, he heard them call. His breath became heavy in his chest, as he glanced around. He looked to the passenger side of the car, where she had been, where she was, because she was still there. Her long, chestnut hair had become darkened with blood, her arms hung loosely either side of her head. He managed to get her name out, but was replied to with silence. He tried again, and again. Nothing. All he heard was nothing. Outside noise blended into the silence, as he focused on her. His eyes began to feel heavy, like a weight had fallen on him. He blinked slowly, his flow of adreneline preventing him from feeling anything. Pain, fear, anguish, nothing. He glanced again to where she was. A pair of arms slowly lifted her out. It was like time itself had slowed down, had wanted him to live in this one, cruel moment for as long as possible. Darkness soon enveloped him, consuming his emotions, and he allowed himself to drift.

He opened his eyes, curious to see where he was. No longer was he in the silent car, but in a meadow, a field of crystal blues, and dainty yellows. Curiousity forced him to sit, and drink in his new scene. He noticed her lying there, still in her outfit from that faithful night, yet it was unnervingly clean. The entire atmosphere was sombre, as if time had yet again stood still. He crawled slowly over to where she lay, as she too rose from the ground. Gently, he placed a hand on her porcelain face, holding it tenderly. She gazed at him with her hazel eyes, a sense of love flooding over her. She held his hand to her cheek, a diamond ring evident. Soothingly, she stroked his hand, as he put his forehead to hers, knowing, but not wanting to believe. Silent tears began to fall from them both, as he pulled her into his lap. They sat, quiet as ever, a delicate breeze surrounding them. He held her close, not tight, as he inhaled her trademark floral scent. She held onto him, like her life depended on it, but her grip was not enough. The breeze began to grow stronger, letting them both know the inevitable has to happen. They both got to their feet, and shared a final, love filled kiss. Swallowing sadness, they whispered their goodbyes to each other, before she turned away from him, and started walking, slowly, slowly, until he could not see her anymore.

A blinding light roused him from his slumber. Slow, steady beeps echoed through the quiet halls. Outside the window, night had fallen. Stars twinkled in the blackwash sky, dancing around the void. The way they glistened, the way they shone brightly, it reminded him of her.His surroundings were no longer that of the wonderous meadow , they were now that of clinic white. Stainless steel implements hung in the room, as he breathed heavily, praying to himself that what he had just seen, what he had just experienced, was a dream. Everything he looked at, it reminded him of her. He longed to know he'd see that smile, hear that giggle once more, even just to have her brush his arm again. He wanted desperately, unconditionally for her to be okay, for her to walk through that door, to hug him just one more time. Her mother walked in the door, followed by his own. God, she looked just like her. Her mother looked at him, and just shook her head, and placed her ring in his hand. He held it tightly in his fist. Why, why was it not a dream. Why did it have to become a reality. If they'd gone when she wanted, she'd still be here. But no, she had left. Gone. His whole world caved in around him, angry tears escaping from his eyes. His own mother held her boy, like only a mother could do. He cried, cried for their lost love, cried for himself, but most of all, he cried for her.

title: [RF] For her

question: What is the story about?

answer: A man who is in a facility after an accident.

question: What does the man dream about?

answer: Being near the love of his life.

question: What is the man upset about when he wakes up?

answer: That his love is no longer there.

question: Where is the man at the start of the story?

answer: In a car.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This is a story about a man who goes to a facility after an accident and has a dream about the love of his life.


text:
Residential energy is saved and vulnerable gain skills through behaviour change project.

With a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK coming from the residential sector, there’s a need to find new ways to help households reduce energy use. While some of this is related to building condition and type, much is related to the way people use energy. In the last two years we have been working to tackle this issue in Wiltshire homes, and meanwhile provide a social benefit.

Here’s how to reach more than 20,000 subscribers that are interested in green economy content

The project, Achieve, began life in Frankfurt five years ago to address the combined issues of high fuel costs and rising unemployment. In Germany if you’re unemployed the state covers your energy bills, so an idea was born to tackle both issues at once. Achieve trains and supports the unemployed to provide energy advice directly to vulnerable consumers – often their peers – in their homes, resulting in saved energy, changed behaviours and meanwhile helping people reintegrate into the job market.

At Severn Wye Energy Agency, an independent charity and not-for-profit that promotes sustainable energy, we spotted the potential and with European funding partnered with Wiltshire Council to run a series of training programmes. The programmes provide advice to residents struggling to pay energy bills and, meanwhile, the local unemployed to gain valuable new skills. To date we’ve trained seven advisers, helped more than 200 families and, as a consortium, reached over 1,700 homes in France, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Germany.

Gary Hardman of Trowbridge, who first became interested in Achieve through his local Job Centre Plus in the summer of 2012 has now undertaken more than 100 visits, and said: “I had never thought of working in this area, but I’m finding it really exciting and I have already found loads of ways to save in my own home.”

Achieve involves two free home visits. During the first, the trained advisers assess the home including bills and areas where energy is being wasted. This could include: the use of tungsten or halogen lighting, appliances routinely left on standby, or draughty doors and windows. The adviser then assesses which of a number of simple energy-saving devices may offer the greatest benefits for the household based on their current energy tariffs, and critically what this will mean for them in financial terms. On the second visit, the adviser installs the most appropriate devices and presents a report outlining their findings – including the time the original investment will take to be repaid to the household.

Key to the design of Achieve was that we did not want to rely completely on the ability of people to make long-term changes to their behaviour in order to make savings. Rather, we wanted to show people some small savings that they could make by installing simple devices. Through this, people are educated about the cost of specific appliances and will motivate others to go further with their own behaviour change.

One particular device that has proved successful in the savings reached and in its acceptance by clients is the retrofitting of halogen down lighters with LED equivalents. Having limited funding, we were usually only able to install one or two bulbs – an array typically has between three and five bulbs, and some households have more than 10 50-watt bulbs. This gave the client the opportunity to test the technology and to consider the return on further investment. During return visits we were pleasantly surprised to find a number of clients, despite their limited budget, had invested in further LEDs.

We also focused on highlighting the cost of appliances on standby, such as obsolete and unused video-players costing over £30 a year. While the savings are quite modest for individual modern appliances cumulatively they can soon add up. Where funding prevented us from installing a device, we were still able to translate the energy use into monetary terms for the resident, and it is this translation that we believe is key. Combined with educational material and remote support, we caught resident’s interest and have seen them take further energy-saving steps themselves.

In some cases the project has been able to go further and help households to access funding toward heating and insulation measures. One client in Melksham commented: “Top service. Thanks to your report, our housing association funded our switch from Economy 7 storage heaters to full gas central heating, making savings of about £45 a week.”

Climate change discussions and calls to reduce emissions will only go so far, and with so many people. But innovative projects like Achieve demonstrate how behaviour change can be achieved through tailored advice and a focus on the bottom line.

Expose your company to in excess of 3000 B2B delegates

Make sure you get the best SA and international green economy stories delivered to you, as frequently as you like.

Here’s how to reach more than 20,000 subscribers that are interested in green economy content

The best way to gather hundreds of qualified leads

Source: THEGUARDIAN

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question: What does the text say about carbon dioxide levels in London?

question: What does the text say about the Achieve project?

answer: Achieve is a project that began life in Frankfurt. It aimed to address the combined issues of high fuel costs and rising unemployment. Achieve trains and supports the unemployed to provide energy advice directly to vulnerable consumers in their homes. These consumers are often the adviser's peers. The results are saved energy, changed behaviors, and helping unemployed people reintegrate into the job market.

question: What does the text say about the Achieve process?

answer: The Achieve process involves two free home visits. During the first visit, the trained advisers assess the home, checking areas where energy is being wasted and evaluating all the bills. The adviser then assesses which of a number of simple energy-saving devices may offer the greatest benefits for the household based on their current energy tariffs and what this means for them in financial terms. On the second visit, the adviser installs the most appropriate devices and gives a report outlining their findings.

question: What does the text say about changing behavior?

answer: Achieve did not want to rely completely on the ability of people to make long-term changes to their behavior to make savings. The project wanted to show people small savings that they could make by installing simple devices. Through this practice, people are educated about the cost of specific appliances and will motivate others to go further with their own behavior change. Achieve demonstrates how behavior change can be achieved through tailored advice and a focus on the bottom line.


text:
> This is part one, hopefully I'll have some more later!
>

“There is a collar on line 4, Dick.”

A gentle but immediate shudder ran through Dick’s shoulders and down his back, causing him to frown and lose that blank stare that daydreamers held. Or the insane.

“Pardon?” he called out the door, towards Keisha who was perched at her desk rattling through a game of minesweeper.
Lazy slut, he thought. He was bitter and on edge, even more so since Keisha opened her fucking mouth.

“Line 4 Dick, there’s a caller asking for you. Says it’s urgent.”
Dick sighed. It was a cocktail sigh of relief and annoyance. I’m going to fire this bitch, he ruefully thought as his ears soaked up the constant clicking of her mouse with a similar appreciation that a slug soaks up salt. At least the clients liked her, a pretty little brunette with some nice proportions who smiled at anyone and everything. She could see two homeless guys jerking each other off and smile like it was a puppy gently tumbling through the grass.

Oh well.

“His name K, did you get his name. Or where he’s from.  What he does? Anything to indicate who this person might be? Jesus.” Dick dabbed at his brow with a red cotton napkin, wondering why he was sweating a little. It was probably because of Keisha.

The clicking stopped. “Oh...just..eh..ooh, here it is. Kenton Dall. His name is Kenton Dall” she read off a stained post it note, and then added “He sounds pretty!”  More clicking.

Dick was genuinely surprised that she had the brainpower to write anything down, even if it was inaccurate. The man’s name was actually Trenton Dall, a particularly influential man from an up-town investment group with a face like bulldog who played catch with a brick wall. Doused in hair tonic. He was about as ugly as he was hairy, but that didn’t matter right now because Trenton was on the other end of the phone and Dick knew why.

He was angry. Maybe even furious.

Dick had been ducking his calls, getting his otherwise incompetent secretary to call him back with excuse after excuse after his line kept conveniently disconnecting. And his cell phone was constantly out of battery. And he was supposedly never at home. Dick was practically unreachable as far as Trenton was concerned. So understandably as a result of his shenanigans, Trenton was getting impatient.

And he was angry. Maybe even furious.

Fuuuuck. The word stretched and sailed through his head, calming down his firing synapses as they collectively made a decision. He breathed deep and picked up the phone. “It doesn’t work.”

And then he hung up.

Across the street in a tinted black Toyota Trenton couldn’t help but smile as he slipped his Blackberry into his suit's inner pocket. Even though he couldn’t see Richard, he knew how tense he was right now. He also knew that he was going to leave the office in the next 20 minutes and drive straight home. Dick left the office 6 minutes later.

Of course it worked.

EDIT: Word choice, spelling mistakes.

title: With the people.

question: Who is the main character in the story?

answer: The main character in the story is Dick.

question: How can you describe Dick's relationship with Trenton Dall.

answer: Dick's relationship with Trenton Dall does not seem to be a very good one as Dick has be ducking all calls from Trenton. Trenton seems to be furious at Dick.

question: How does Dick feel about Keisha?

answer: Dick does not like Keisha and says he is going to fire her.

question: What was Trenton's reaction after he had called Dick?

answer: Trenton couldn't help but smile after he had called Dick, knowing Dick would be going straight home.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This story is about a man, Dick, who has not gone home, and has another man, Trenton furious and impatient with him.


text:
Roused by a rumbling sound and the trembling walls of my 4th story apartment, I groggily rolled over and sighed.

I remember feeling angry at the earthquake. What a silly feeling to have had, but how was I to know?

Through a blurry haze of shapes and dull colors, I reached for my glasses, stretching farther than I thought I should have until finally, I fell off the bed with a thump. I reached out for my nightstand once again with no luck. Defeated, I tried to stand.

I remember feeling panicked when I realized that my legs did not react to my commands. If only I had my glasses, then I could have seen.

I dragged myself back onto the bed, much more easily than I thought I should have, but solace was had as the tremors ceased and I drifted back to sleep.

Memories of the previous night’s events flooded my mind as I woke, naturally, from my slumber. I spent almost half a minute looking for my glasses before I remembered that I didn’t own a set.

I remember feeling relieved when I realized that it was all a dream. It was the logical thought.

I looked down at my fully functioning legs and laughed quietly to myself as I stood and moved to open the curtains.

“What are you laughing at,” I spun wildly to face the voice, “This is a very serious matter.”

There was no one to be seen. I leapt over my bed towards the door, ready for a fight with whomever had broken into my home.

“What’s the hurry?” Again, I swung around to face the voice that came from behind me. “Don’t wear yourself out.”

I crossed the room again and flung open the curtains, freezing as I stared at a metal sheet blocking my view.

I remember feeling more confused than frightened. The clues had not yet come together and I simply didn’t know.

I clawed at the latch, I needed a closer look, I needed to touch it.

“I wouldn’t do that,” came the voice for a third time from behind me, “you’ll let all the air out.”

“Where are you?! Come and get me!” I screamed frantically, attempting to look in every direction at once.

“But I already have. You are ours now, in perpetuity.”

I threw the curtains closed and crossed the room again, grasping at the door handle. It didn’t budge.

“That won’t work until you land,” The voice paused to let the words sink in before finishing, “for your safety.”

I remember feeling excited when the shutters left my window. I looked out to see a massive white wall across the empty street below me and a flaming red sun hanging in the deep violet sky. The feeling left me in an instant.

I let myself fall backwards onto the bed, tears welling in my eyes. It was an uncontrollable reaction. Culture shock, more than sadness or fright. A few minutes passed and I heard a click from behind me.

I was tired of hearing things from behind me at this point, and I didn’t turn to look.

“Don’t you want to go out the door?” asked the voice. “Don’t you want to see?”

I moved to the door, opening it slowly. I crossed the apartment to stand on the balcony and get a better view. Tall dark figures in brightly colored clothes lined the top of the wall now, a sign in the distance was covered in strange markings.

I remember feeling afraid again when I heard the knocking on my door. I grabbed a bat from my closet and quietly looked out the peep-hole.

“Marty?!” I exclaimed, opening the door and quickly pulling him inside. “What is happening, Marty?! Where are we!?”

“I don’t know man, but look, have you seen the sign?”

“It’s too far, I can’t read what it says.” I paused, “If you ask me if it opened up my mind I will —“

Shoving a pair of binoculars into my hands, he replied flatly, “This is a very serious matter. There's only one english word on that sign. Look.”

I stepped onto the balcony and peered through the binoculars. First noticing the figures, I realized that they were not wearing normal clothes, but some sort of full body suit. I found the sign once more. “That’s definitely no language I’ve ever seen, Marty.”

“Look at the last thing… in the brackets.”

I read it aloud as I found it, “Human.“ I collapsed and fell forward onto the railing, which, in turn, collapsed and fell forward onto the street. I don’t remember hitting the ground. I don’t remember much of anything now.

Through a blurry haze of shapes and dull colors, I reached for my glasses, stretching farther than I thought I should have until finally, I fell off the bed with a thump. I reached out for my nightstand once again with no luck. Defeated, I tried to stand.

I remember feeling terrified at the sound of the door opening and a man entering the room.

“It’s me, it’s Marty,” I shook and screamed, flailing my arms into the darkness.

“Why can’t I see!? Why can’t I stand up!? What is happening!?”

Silence filled the room as I writhed on the floor. When I had finished squirming, Marty helped me back onto the bed, his voice breaking the silence.

“You fell four stories. You landed on your head.”

“I what!? How am I alive!?” I cried. “Your voice, Marty. What’s wrong with your voice?”

“I’m old now. You’re old now. This is it. This is how it will always be.”

“How what will always be? Why can’t I stand up?”

“They couldn’t figure out how to fix your legs so they just took them. They don’t know anything about us. After all of this time, they are just studying us. They are watching us constantly. They gave us immortality and they took everything.”

Years passed as we aged endlessly in our tiny prison, I don’t know how many… Marty says its been hundreds, but I don’t remember. I don’t remember how long a year is. I don’t remember what the sun looked like. I don’t remember where I’m from. I don’t remember if I had a family. I don’t remember if anyone loved me. I don’t remember what Marty looked like. I don’t remember what I looked like. I don’t remember much of anything.

But I do remember feeling.

title: [SF] Feelings.

question: What does the story say about how the narrator feels about their first dream?

answer: The narrator feels angry at the earthquake. They fall off the bed and feels helpless as they cannot reach their nightstand. They panic when they realize that their legs do not react to their commands. Then they wake up and feel relieved when they realize that it was all a dream.

question: What does the story say about why the narrator feels confused after waking up?

answer: The narrator does not understand what is going on. They hear a voice but cannot see anyone. They try to get out of the room, but cannot open the door. They see strange figures dressed in some sort of full bodysuit and see a sign written in an unknown language. Someone enters the room and tells the narrator they fell four stories and landed on their head. They are said that they are old now.

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


text:
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10 Things We Can Learn From the World’s Greatest Surgeon
 10 Things We Can Learn From the World's Greatest Surgeon

of our most popular posts

Cardiac Guru • Pioneer of Innovation • Trailblazer

MICHAEL DEBAKEY WILL BE MISSED!

[michael debakey]On July 12, 2008, the world lost an incredible talent. A renegade physician, a pioneer, the father of open-heart surgery, and perhaps the best surgeon who ever lived, Dr. Michael DeBakey died of natural causes at 99. Because of his groundbreaking research, cutting-edge medical devices and maverick approach to cardiac surgery, DeBakey literally changed the rules of the game and thousands of lives are saved each day.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MICHAEL DEBAKEY’S LIFE AND CAREER?

1. Build your brand.

With a career that spanned more than 70 years, DeBakey built a reputation for being indispensable. His patients included everyone from the ordinary person next door and people with no means to a list of Who’s Who among world leaders. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, President Boris Yeltsin, King Hussein of Jordan, the Shah of Iran, Turkish President Turgut Ozal, just to name a few, engaged DeBakey because they knew he was the best. The Journal of the American Medical Association said in 2005, “Many consider Michael E. DeBakey to be the greatest surgeon ever.” Is your personal brand strong enough that if you left your company, colleagues and customers would have a difficult time getting along without you?

2. Be a guru, thought leader, industry expert.

Dr. DeBakey published more than 1,000 medical reports, research papers, chapters and books on topics related to cardiovascular medicine. He helped establish the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest and most prestigious repository of medical archives. DeBakey played a key role in organizing a specialized medical center system to treat soldiers returning from the war. This system is now the Veterans’ Administration Medical Center System. For his numerous contributions Dr. DeBakey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest civilian honor, the National Medal of Science, the country’s highest scientific award, and The United Nations Lifetime Achievement Award. Do people see you as a guru in your field? How distinctive is your knowledge base? How well do you garner, contribute and leverage knowledge?

3. Never quit learning.

As a child, DeBakey was required to borrow a book from the library each week and read it. He read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica before entering high school. Overseeing cases, consulting with colleagues and mentoring younger surgeons, he made his mark on the world right up to the end. DeBakey performed his last surgery at age 90 and continued to travel the globe giving lectures. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Who would want a 90-year-old surgeon operating on them?” The answer could be, “Someone who’s performed more than 60,000 cardiovascular procedures in his career.” Do you have a reputation for lifelong learning, for continually adding value? When we stop bringing something new to the game, the game is over.

4. Risk more, gain more.

DeBakey took risks others weren’t willing to take to advance medicine. Tubing, clamps, pumps, protocols all bear the mark of DeBakey’s passion for innovation. Yet, product and process innovations often pull people out of their comfort zones and some of DeBakey’s early breakthroughs weren’t accepted initially—in fact they were ridiculed. For example, in 1939, when Drs. DeBakey and Alton Ochsner linked cigarette smoking to lung cancer, many in the medical community derided it. Then in 1964, the Surgeon General confirmed their findings and documented the cause and effect.

There was also skepticism when DeBakey discovered that he could substitute parts of diseased arteries with synthetic (Dacron) grafts—a procedure that enables surgeons to repair aortic aneurysms in the chest and abdomen. He initially figured out how to stitch synthetic blood vessels on his wife’s sewing machine. Now the procedure is widely used.

DeBakey was also the first to perform bypass surgery and the first to perform a successful removal of a blockage of the carotid (main) artery of the neck, a procedure that has become the standard protocol for treating stroke. Those who are unwilling to take risks do not change the world. Is your passion for advancing your field by taking a risk bigger than your fear of rejection or by making a mistake?

5. Refuse to sell out on your dream.

DeBakey developed an interest in medicine in his father’s pharmacy where he listened to physicians talk shop. The vision to become a doctor was clear, the question was, “what kind?” In 1932, there simply wasn’t anything you could do for heart disease, if a patient had a heart attack the long-term prognosis wasn’t good. While he was still in school in 1932, DeBakey invented the roller pump—a critical part of the heart-lung machine that takes over the functions of the heart and lungs during open-heart surgery. This not only created the era of open-heart surgery, it cemented DeBakey’s passion to make a mark in the world of cardiovascular medicine. Engagement is about pouring your heart, mind and soul into a dream that causes you to fire on all cylinders. Does your career fulfill your desires? Or, have you sacrificed a dream that could make you come alive for a life of duty and routine that simply “works”?

6. Play to your genius.

DeBakey said, “I like my work, very much. I like it so much that I don’t want to do anything else.” Most people who are happy in life spend time doing what they love. This usually makes them extremely good at what they do. Dr. DeBakey exemplified the power of what can happen when our work requires what we are good at and passionate about. Playing to your genius is about using your gifts and talents to pursue a passion that makes a significant contribution to the people and the world you serve. Playing to your genius also promotes autonomy and self-direction, cultivates commitment, stimulates personal growth and makes work fun. Are you engaged in work you’re good at and passionate about—work that makes a contribution and needs to be done? Or are you just biding time?

7. Balance passion with discipline and focus.

With regard to his patients, the indefatigable DeBakey had an uncompromising dedication to perfection. He was known as a taskmaster who set very high standards, yet he never demanded more from others than he demanded from himself. Heart surgeons who trained under DeBakey say he was hard to keep up with when making patient rounds. They joked that he was from another world because he could maintain his focus and intensity for hours.

In a world of competing priorities and information overload it’s easy to lose focus and get distracted. But, if you are playing to your genius and doing what you love, it’s easier to be disciplined and maintain a maniacal focus. Are you disciplined? Do you have a maniacal focus? Would your customers (internal and external) say you are relentless when it comes to pursuing perfection?

8. Find a void and figure out how to fill it.

Michael DeBakey’s innovations are on par with the likes of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Jonas Salk, Henry Ford and Alfred Nobel. During World War II, he helped establish the mobile army surgical hospitals or MASH units. He was a key player in the development of artificial hearts, artificial arteries and bypass pumps that help keep patients alive who are waiting for transplants. He was among the first to recognize the importance of blood banks and transfusions. He also helped create more than 70 surgical instruments that made procedures easier and clinical outcomes more effective. If something couldn’t be done, DeBakey found a way to do it.

In 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant in South Africa. Dr. DeBakey was among the first to begin doing the procedure in the United States. The problem was that recipients’ bodies rejected the new organs and death rates were high. In the 1980s cyclosporine, a new anti-rejection drug paved the way for organ transplants. Again, DeBakey was among the first to develop new protocols and advance the field of heart transplants. Where are the gaps in your organization or industry? What would happen if you developed a reputation for filling these voids?

9. Show people that their work matters.

Michael DeBakey is known not only for his prolific contributions to the medical field, but also as a symbol of hope and encouragement to his colleagues. Many years ago a colleague of ours shadowed Dr. DeBakey for a day at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. He was struck by DeBakey’s capacity to affirm each person he saw in the course of the day.

In one particular encounter, DeBakey began chatting with an elderly janitor who was sweeping the floor. DeBakey asked the man about his wife and children. He told the older man, obviously not for the first time, that the hospital couldn’t function without the janitor because germs would spread, increasing the chances of infection in the hospital. Later in the day, our colleague tracked down the janitor and asked him, “What exactly do you do? Tell me about your job.” With pride, the janitor replied: “Dr. DeBakey and I? We save lives together.”

He’s right. After all, consider what would happen to our healthcare systems if the cleaning crews went on strike. DeBakey understood that showing the janitor exactly how he contributes to a larger, more heroic cause is crucial. This creates a powerful dynamic. Realizing that he is working toward a worthy goal, the janitor’s perceptions about his work changed. It had new meaning and his enthusiasm for the job was rejuvenated.

Great leaders make time to help people see how their work is connected to something bigger. For a surgeon like DeBakey, those five or ten minutes each day were costly, unless, of course, you consider the productivity generated by a janitor whose work has been transformed. Right now, how many people in your organization are engaged in work that five years from today no one will give a rip about? Can you make the link between what you do and a noble or heroic cause? Can you make this link for others?

10. Be generative—inspire others to pursue the cause.

Generativity is the care and concern for the development of future generations through teaching, mentoring, and other creative contributions. It’s about leaving a positive legacy. All great leaders are generative and Michael DeBakey was no exception. He inspired many medical students to pursue careers in cardiovascular surgery. His reputation brought many people to Baylor College of Medicine and helped transform it into one of the premier medical institutions in the world. DeBakey trained and mentored almost 1,000 surgeons and physicians. In 1976, his students founded the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society. Many of his residents went on to serve as chairpersons and directors of their own successful academic surgical programs in the United States and around the world. Are the people you’ve touched in your career learning, growing and making a difference as a result of your influence? Have they been inspired to build a better world than the world they inherited?

Michael DeBakey applied his problem-solving skills to many parts of medicine that have changed our way of life. Timothy Gardner, M.D., president of the American Heart Association said it well, “DeBakey’s legacy will live on in so many ways—through the thousands of patients he treated directly and through his creation of a generation of physician educators, who will carry his legacy far into the future. His advances will continue to be the building blocks for new treatments and surgical procedures for years to come.”

Michael DeBakey’s life and legacy proves that one person who chooses to play to their genius can change the world and make it a better place for all. What legacy will you leave behind?

2020-07-08T10:40:54-07:00

question: Who is being discussed in this article?

answer: Michael Debakey

question: Who is Michael Debakey?

answer: Michael Debakey is a renegade physician, a pioneer, the father of open-heart surgery, and perhaps the best surgeon who ever lived.

question: When did Michael Debakey die?

answer: He died on July 12, 2008.

question: What are some of the messages we can learn from Michael Debakey's life and career?

answer: Some messages we can learn from Michael Debakey's life is to be a guru, thought leader, industry expert, never quit learning, risk more, gain more, and refuse to sell out on your dream.

question: How many medical reports, research papers, chapters and books on topics related to cardiovascular medicine did Dr. DeBakey publish?

answer: He published more than 1,000 reports.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: This article describes the achievements of Dr. Michael DeBakey as he has passed away. As the father of open-heart surgery, Dr. DeBakey is well-established and well-achieved. Many great lessons can be learned from him and his career.


text:
It was too late; she was gone. The teenage boy stood over the body of his best friend, his confident, and the only person who stayed as a constant in his life. For a moment, the boy could do nothing but stare at the gaping wound in her chest and attempt to convince himself she was still alive- that in a moment she would jump up and laugh at him for getting emotional over her little prank. But finally, he could deny it no longer.
It was in that moment of acceptance that his legs lost their strength and he fell to the floor beside her. As badly as he wanted to cry, he was unable to overcome the state of shock that came with the girl's death. It took several minutes for him to regain control over his body and when he did, he placed a hand over her injury. With his other hand he brushed the hair away from her face and smoothed the hair on her head. With a shaking voice the boy began to speak.
He spoke to the girl as if she was still alive, recounting the countless memories he had of her. He started from the day they first met and continued to tell stories of the 8 years they spent together as best friends. Finally, when he reached the current day, his voice cracked and tears began to fill his eyes. "I've had this  day planned out for weeks now. Did you know that? This definitely wasn't supposed to happen. I was going to pick you up from your house like I do every Saturday morning and tell you I had a surprise for you. You were going to be excited because you loved nothing more than unexpected surprises. I was going to take you to the lake where you taught me to swim and when you asked why we were there I was going to grab your hand and give you speech I've been rehearsing for a year now. I was going to tell you how you're the most important person in my life and I was tired of pretending you were only my best friend. I was going to tell you that I couldn't stand seeing guys flirt with you and I hated pretending I was happy for you whenever you started liking a guy. I was going to tell you how I almost killed Eric when he made you cry that one day. I was going to tell you that I love you. That I want you and no one else. And even if you didn't feel that way about me I would always love you and I would never lose you as my best friend."
He did nothing to stop the tears as they began to freely fall down his cheeks and onto the body of the girl he loved. "I guess I screwed that one up didn't I? Everything would have gone perfectly as planned, maybe we would even be kissing right now as a happy new couple. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. I couldn't control my jealousy. It wasn't even your fault. You just made an innocent comment about that boy you kissed last year and I blew up on you. I didn't stop yelling until you couldn't take it and you ran away from me. I was so mad I didn't even try and stop you. We were so close to the lake too. It took me so long to realize I was being irrational and stupid. Too long. When I finally went to go search for you by your favorite tree it was too late. The bullet had already pierced your heart. And mine."

title: Pretty short story I wrote while I was waiting for a plane. Critiques, comments, advice, etc are appreciated :)

question: What could the boy have done to stop his friend from committing suicide?

answer: He shouldn't have gotten so mad at her and he could have told her he loved her sooner.

question: Why didn't he confess his love sooner?

answer: Could be that he was scared of rejection.

question: What are the main feelings of the boy?

answer: He is feeling regret and shock over the girl's death.

question: What could be the reason she killed herself?

answer: Maybe she didn't know how to deal with the tense situation between her and her friend.