text:
"You need to stop following me around like this." She seemed angry when she said it.

"What do you mean?"

I honestly didn't feel like I had done anything wrong, but I was starting to feel dumb, like a young boy being shamed by a parent. It could have been the fact that I was starting to realize that I had been naive, or it could have been the crowd. Most likely it was a mixture of the two.

"You've been following me around like a puppy dog all night!" There was anger in her voice and I could hear it now. Clearly. This definitely was not good, but it wasn't over yet, and she continued. "It's been 2 years! It's over, ok? I'm done with it."

The only thing I could think to say was, "Well what about last night?"

I could almost hear my own pathetic desperation. The reality of the situation was crashing down on me. I want to say that I started running through the entire experience of this relationship, but that wouldn't be quite right. It was more like something I imagine people who are dying experience, when their entire life flashes before their eyes. I didn't like what I was seeing.

In this exact moment it became just me and her. I've never quite felt anything like that moment. Life outside of it just ceased to exist.

"Last night was a mistake."

Those words just rang in my head. Here I am in this moment where everything outside just doesn't exist around me, and all that's filling the void are her words. I thought to myself, "how could I be a mistake? What the hell happened? When did everything change?"

I don't remember saying anything, but I guess she could tell from the look of disbelief on my face exactly what I was thinking, because she put out her hand in front of me. One act of complete and definitive proof.

It was perfectly still.

I couldn't even believe what was I was seeing. In front of me was the girl that I was crazy about, who gave me feelings of love that I've never felt before, holding out her hand that used to shake just from standing near me. It was a gesture that said everything. 10,000 words summed up with a single movement, like sign language that my soul could understand.

My mind was still while I was looking at her hand, and slowly the world started seeping back in. I realized where I was, I realized what she was saying. It was over.

I finally took my gaze off her hand and looked around. Everyone was looking at me. I realize now that the moment seemed so quiet because everyone was watching this unfold. An audience for the most painful moment of my life.

I didn't say a damn thing. What the hell could I say? Even if I tried to explain what I was feeling I don't think I could have. I was feeling heartbreak for the first time in my life. So I left. I just walked away. I walked back into the house, up the stairs, and out the front door.

I'm not sure when I started crying, but I did. The whole situation was overwhelming. I just wanted to get the hell out of there, so I got in my car. I quickly realized that I couldn't leave. I was drunk and knew I couldn't drive.

I was fucking stuck in the worst place I've ever been. The worst feelings I've ever had were everywhere, and I couldn't get away. I wasn't even in my own city. I was 500km from my own house.
I don't remember the details of what came after. I remember crying in the car with my best friend beside me, who was oddly emotionless. I have no idea if he was feeling for me and didn't know how to deal with it, or if he didn't feel much but was there because he felt like he should be.

After being in the car for a bit, I remember talking to her, and she was crying too. She was telling me how she didn't mean to make me cry.

I don't remember how I got back to Jack's house, where I was staying for the weekend. I remember he didn't come with me. It was me, my brother, and my best friend, John. They kept telling me we should just leave, and drive home right now. I kept telling them it was a bad idea, and I remember yelling at them when they just wouldn't listen to me. They even took my car and filled it up with gas so we could leave right then. I think they got how bad I was feeling, and understood that I really needed to leave, but we didn't. We stayed.
Huge mistake.
My brother and my friend went and blazed with her the next night. That hurt too. Aren't your friends supposed to hate people you hate? That still seems like bullshit to me.
Either way, we hugged and said good-bye at the end of the night. I told her I forgave her so that she wouldn't feel bad, and made some stupid joke. I hate that I did that. Why the hell should I care how she feels? She clearly didn't care how I felt when she broke my heart in middle of a fucking party.

As she and I are walking in opposite directions, to never see each other again, what the hell do I decide to do? I fucking looked back. I put the nail in my own god damn coffin, where I'd be buried in self-loathing.
She broke my heart. She got to have fun on the last night I was there. She blazed and hung out with my friends. She got the feel ok with it because I told her it was. And I fucking looked back.

I left my dignity, and that precious piece of my soul that carries the capacity for trust, behind that night.

title: Does this story make you understand the intensity of heartbreak? Do you feel for the narrator? (not a true story)

question: Where were the narrator and the girl when all this was happening?

answer: They're at a party in someone's house 500km from where the narrator lives.

question: What's going on?

answer: The girl is breaking up with the narrator in the middle of the party, with everyone looking.

question: Who are the spectators? (everyone)

answer: All the guests, the narrator's brother, his best friend, John, and presumably the girl's friends.

question: What is the significance of the girl's hand in front of the narrator?

answer: She's telling the narrator to stop following her around because it's over between them.

question: Write a ~10 sentence summary.

answer:
The narrator attends a party 500km from his home city to be with the girl he loves and takes his brother and best friend with him.
Something happened last night (presumably they had sex) and the narrator keeps following the girl around like a puppy dog.
The girl gets upset and tells him to stop, telling him last night was a mistake, and puts out her hand in front of the narrator.
The narrator's world stops as he realizes it's over and she's breaking up with him. Time seeps back and he realizes everyone was watching them, so he runs out of the house and cries in his car.
Devastated, he wants to drive back home and his companions are adamant that they do, but he's too drunk to drive and he wants to hang around, so they stay.
Staying at the party was a mistake because the narrator's companions party with his ex all night, having a blast.
At the end of the party, the narrator and his ex hugged. He told her he forgives her for everything but hates himself for saying it. He also hates himself for looking back and feels he left his dignity and his capacity to trust others that night.


split: train

text:
B: While Lucy is in detention, Bethan is standing outside waiting for her and talking to two older boys.

“I was having a real good time before you two wankers showed up”, said Bethan with a cheeky smile. She threw her cigarette and stepped on the bud.

The two boys walked up to her, one of them was Acker. He had gotten Bethans older sister pregnant before he went to jail and had served two months for G.B.H. Allegedly some idiot at a nightclub insulted his babys mother.

“Hi fuckface” he said.
“Well if I’m a fuckface, you’re a cuntface” she replied.

The other guy walking besides Acker was his “colleague” Will. He is standing in his white shirt, with his hands in his pockets. He is skinny like an underfed dog all boney and ribs. He spits through his teeth like a venomous snake and almost hits Bethan, she strikes back with the palm of her hand hitting him, but it doesn’t hurt.

“What you are doing outside the school?” asked Acker

“I’m waiting for Lucy” said Bethan. She’s a grade A student, with nine O levels a prober smart one she is.

“Why does she care so much for her schoolwork, grades and O levels, she won’t use it for anything once she is done.” Said Acker

“She sounds like an uptight Cardiff girl” answered Will.

“I don’t know, but she is smarter than you lot, a brainteaser from her, would melt your brains” Bethan quickly retaliated.

“Do you want to get wasted with us, when you are done here? Asked Acker
“Your sister will be there and some others”

“Sure, Lucy and me will drop by” said Bethan

“Just bring your own drink” said Will.

“Wow, small and cheap, you really are any girls prince charming” replied Bethan.

title: Lucy is in detention, her friend Bethan waits for her outside of the school, when 2 guys show up.

question: What does Bethan do throughout the story?

answer: She finishes smoking a cigarette, challenges a couple "bad boys" outside the school, and accepts an invitation to drink with them.

question: Why is Bethan so comfortable talking with and challenging the "bad boys?"

answer: Because they are familiar, one of them impregnated her older sister.

question: How old is Bethan, what grade is she in, does she attend school with Lucy?

answer: Unclear

question: If Lucy's such a "grade A student, with nine O levels a prober smart one," why is she in detention?

answer: Doesn't say

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Bethan, outside the school smoking a cigarette, awaits her friend Lucy who's serving detention. She puts out the cigarette talking to two older boys she knows rather well. One of them impregnated her older sister. They give her a hard time about waiting for her friend who's an A student, who they say sounds uptight. They then invite her to drink with them when she's done, but bring her own booze.


text:
Secrecy is trade negotiators' stock-in-trade, and it has allowed them to sneak through rules on topics such as copyright and patents that would never pass muster under public scrutiny. EFF has not hesitated to call them out over this, whether the trade agreement in question is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the United States, or the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).

But we also gave credit last year to Europe for committing to make some incremental changes to improve the transparency of the TTIP neogtiations, by releasing its negotiating texts and giving access to all TTIP texts to members of the European Parliament. We weren't alone, being joined by 47 other civil society groups and experts from around the world in calling on the TPP negotiators to follow Europe's lead on transparency.

This week, the first batch of the TTIP documents that we had been promised by Europe has been released online. They take two different forms: two-page fact sheets for each of the 23 chapters, and for certain chapters the negotiating texts given to US negotiators, which in turn may be either actual textual proposals, or a more general statement of intent in the form of a position paper.

What have we learned from these documents? As yet, not much. For the intellectual property chapter—which is the chapter of most interest to EFF—no negotiating texts have yet been posted, presumably reflecting the fact that none has yet been provided to US negotiators. Instead, we have a two-page fact sheet on this chapter (which provides very little detail), and another on “Cultural services” (which gives somewhat more).

Amongst the biggest gripes for Europe that it plans to address in TTIP, as confirmed by these texts, is that the United States, unlike others countries, does not require radio stations to pay royalties to performers when their performances are played on air—only the composers receive royalties. But this is unlikely to change anytime soon. Although contentious, the exemption for performance royalties on radio has long been accepted as a _quid pro quo_ for free marketing that artists receive when their performances are broadcast, which flows into sales of albums, concert tickets and merchandise.

Similarly, in the US composers do not receive royalties when their songs are played in bars or restaurants. But this too has been the subject of a long hard-fought battle, which has even made its way to the World Trade Organization (which ruled, in part, against the United States). Europe has its work cut out for it if it expects the US to reverse its position here. So too it has a hard battle in pushing for payments to visual artists on the resale of their works, which the released documents have also flagged for the EU wish-list, but which conflicts with the US first sale doctrine.

None of these issues are likely to have a direct impact on Internet users; in particular, online music streaming is already treated differently from radio broadcasts and from performances in that royalties are already payable to both performers and composers. So we are somewhat comforted that Europe is not pushing for proposals that would extend into the online and digital environment, though we still maintain our position that copyright is not an appropriate subject for trade agreements at all, and we will be continuing to closely monitor information about the intellectual property chapter as it comes to hand.

Meanwhile, there are other aspects of the agreement that remain troubling to us, perhaps most notably including Europe's insistence on including provisions on Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), that could allow foreign investors to challenge laws that they believe impact the value of their investments. Although the ramifications of this policy extend much further, there is the prospect that balanced intellectual property laws that one country adopts—such as an orphan works law, for example—could trigger an investor's claim.

Perhaps the most important thing that we have learned from these documents is that the sky has not fallen simply because negotiating texts have been released. The US has not stormed away from the table, and Europeans are not rioting in the streets. That being so, it is becoming increasingly untenable for the USTR to hold its position that there should not be a similar show of transparency in the TPP and TISA negotiations, nor indeed that the US proposals for TTIP should not also be released.

question: What are the changes being discussed?

answer: Some changes are being made to negotiations between the EU and the US, for more transparency.

question: What is considered troubling to the author?

answer: They don't like the idea of a law that allows foreign investors to challenge laws.

question: Will these changes affect internet users?

answer: Not likely, according to the author.

question: What are relations like between the US and Europe in light of the discussed events?

answer: They are continuing negotiations, but tensions are high.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article details the state of negotiations between the EU and the US concerning trade agreements. The article details several points of contention between the two regulatory bodies, with included speculation about how they might be resolved going forward.


text:
[First edition
Cover artist: Stephen Hutchings] _NOBODY'S SON_ is a 1993 fantasy novel by Sean Stewart. It was first published by Macmillan of Canada.[1]

Synopsis

When peasant Shielder's Mark breaks the curse of the Red Keep and frees the kingdom of Swangard from the Ghostwood, he claims as his reward the princess royal's hand in marriage. The ramifications of this choice are far more complex than he expected, however, especially since the aristocracy does not particularly like him.

Reception

_Nobody's Son_ won the 1994 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work,[2] and the Canadian Library Association's 1994 Young Adult Book Award.[3] _Canadian Literature_ praised Stewart for transcending the usual stereotypes of fairy tales, calling _Nobody's Son_ an “existential drama” with “breathing, clearly individualized characters”, and comparing Shielder's Mark to the creations of J. D. Salinger.[4]

John Clute noted that “[the novel's] title contradicts the very heart of all modern commercial fantasy, and almost any other kind of fantasy as well”, and described it as “the most intensely _likeable_ story” that he had read in years.[5] Jo Walton called it “immensely readable and [with] genuine emotional depth”, but noted that — as was typical of her experience with Stewart's works — she was unable to retain much memory of what had happened in the novel.[6]

[1] _Nobody's Son_ at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database; retrieved December 20, 2016

[2]

[3] Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award, at the Canadian Library Association; retrieved December 20, 2016

[4] '“The Morning After”, by J. Kieran Kealy; in _Canadian Journal_ #141 (1993); retrieved December 20, 2016

[5] “Unhampered”, by John Clute; originally published in _Interzone_ #86 (August 1994); collected in “Scores”, by John Clute, published by Orion Publishing Group, 2016

[6] Growing Up: Sean Stewart’s _Nobody’s Son_, by Jo Walton, at Tor.com; published June 4, 2012; retrieved December 20, 2016

title: Nobody's Son

question: Where was Sean Stewart born?

answer: The text doesn't say.

question: John Clute is mentioned. Explain.

answer: He is mentioned and quoted because he reviewed Nobody's Son, which he praised as "intensely likable."

question: When was Nobody's Son first published?

answer: 1993.

question: Is the book under discussion fiction or non-fiction?

answer: Fiction.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This text offers information about Sean Stewart's fantasy novel, Nobody's Son, and provides a brief synopsis as well as comments from reviewers of the book.


text:
[From 1840 to 1842 the orchestra was based in the Stadttheater in Frankfurt an der Oder.] [The Konzerthalle Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Frankfurt (Oder)] The BRANDENBURGISCHES STAATSORCHESTER FRANKFURT or _BSOF_ is a symphony orchestra based in Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany. It is the orchestra of the state of Brandenburg. Since 2007 its leader has been Howard Griffiths.

History

It was founded in 1842 and gave its first public appearance on 1 November that year at the opening of the Frankfurter Stadttheater (designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and built by Emil Flaminius at 22 Wilhelmsplatz), performing Albert Lortzing's Zar und Zimmermann. In 1871 the Philharmonischer Verein was founded, organizing three concerts a year as well as choral concerts at the Singakademie, before dissolving itself in 1895.

The theatre was destroyed during the Second World War and its ensemble and the orchestra both moved to the Musiklandheim, built in 1928-1929 by Otto Bartning - in 1952 it was renamed the Kleist-Theater. Some of the theatre's musicians founded the separate Frankfurter Kulturorchester in 1953, which was renamed the Philharmonische Orchester Frankfurt (Oder) in 1971. The orchestra made its first appearance at the Choriner Musiksommer in 1973.

List of leaders

-   1971–1982 Wolfgang Bothe
-   1982–1986 Heinz Struve
-   1986–1989 Andreas Wilhelm
-   1990–2000 Nikos Athineos
-   2001–2007 Heribert Beissel
-   2007–present Howard Griffiths

Recordings

Education work

title: Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder)

question: Where was the orchestra based from 1840-1842?

answer: Stadttheater.

question: In which country is Stadttheater located?

answer: Germany.

question: When did the Stadttheater give its first performance?

answer: November 1, 1842.

question: During which war was the theater destroyed?

answer: World War II.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder) is an orchestra and ensemble based in the Frankfurter Stadttheater. The theater was founded in 1842 with its first performance in November of that year. It was destroyed during World War II, so the ensemble and orchestra both moved to Musiklandheim. Some of the theater's musicians founded the separate Frankfurter Kulturorchester in 1853. Many of these theaters and or buildings have had name changes over the years.


text:
Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. [express_logo_christmas]

PROOF, as if it were needed, that house prices in many areas of the UK stayed steady over the summer, was released by the Land Registry this morning, confirming that house prices in some regions crept up slightly in August.

PUBLISHED: 16:34, Wed, Oct 17, 2018

| UPDATED: 17:00, Wed, Oct 17, 2018

[]

Cottage in Yorkshire, where property prices are increasing (Image: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

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Whilst parts of the UK are currently expecting a downturn in the wake of Brexit uncertainty, the Land Registry data, which is based on completed transactions, provides evidence that some parts of the country are still seeing a positive environment for sellers and buyers.

The East Midlands, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber are all seeing prices increase modestly month on month by 1.5, 1.4 and 1.2 per cent respectively.

However, true to recent form, prices in the capital and its commuter-belt of the South East, together with the South West all saw property values fall over the same period by anywhere up to 0.5 per cent.

According to the Land Registry data, the average UK property value is now £232,797 with prices seeing an average rise of 3.2 per cent.

Although the figures are slightly historic, they do underpin what has been observed by other house price indices previously, and as such are considered by many industry professionals as a reliable benchmark in terms of values.

But is Brexit really having that much of an impact on housing market activity? The answer is that clearly, it depends where you are in the country.

In London and the surrounding areas, there is definitely sensitivity due to the ongoing negotiations around the UK’s divorce from the rest of Europe, mainly linked to employment where jobs may be at risk, depending on what deal is agreed. Here, the market is stagnating due to lack of confidence and activity.

[]

PM May and Jean-Claude Juncker: Brexit is just over five months away (Image: JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)

However, in areas where jobs are based more on the local economy and therefore not as much impacted by the outcome of Brexit negotiations, prices are increasing and transaction numbers remain solid.

As Nick Leeming, Chairman of estate agents Jackson-Stops, commented: “It is positive to see the East and West Midlands once again reporting strong annual house price growth, demonstrating greater levels of confidence in the face of our impending exit from the EU.

“London experienced a slight dip in prices both on the month and the year, but given we are in the midst of an uncertain and politically challenging time, this is hardly surprising.”

Nick continued: “Now Brexit is just over five months away, it will be interesting to see what is addressed in Philip Hammond’s Budget statement at the end of the month.”

Mike Scott, chief property analyst at online estate agents Yopa, also expects the currently observed trends to continue into next year.

He suggested we will see: “Continued house price growth led by the Northern and Western regions, while London and the Southern and Eastern regions of England will stagnate or even fall back a little.”

[]

Average UK property value is now £232,797 with prices seeing an average rise of 3.2 per cent (Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Mike added: “However, growth rates since the 2008 credit crunch are still far higher in the South East than in the rest of the country, and the North and West will have to grow at a faster rate for some time if they are to catch up to the same relative position as ten years ago.”

But is house price growth really relevant to those who, for the foreseeable future at least, are staying put?

According to Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau an increase in prices can be helpful, as he explained: “Whilst it’s easy to dismiss house prices as not particularly relevant unless you’re moving home, the reality is the better rates on remortgage deals are reserved for those with more equity in their property.

[]

Philip Hammond is to announce his budget statement in a few weeks (Image: TOBY MELVILLE/ REUTERS)

“Therefore, those who are perhaps currently taking a more cautious approach and have decided to stay in their current home for the moment, may find that if the value of their property has increased, they are able to access cheaper remortgage rates as a result.”

Many lenders have held their rates at competitive levels since the Bank of England raised interest rates over two months ago, possibly as a way to tempt new customers on to the books before the end of this year.

With the possibility of a breakthrough in Theresa May’s dialogue with her European counterparts over the next couple of days, should a deal be announced we may yet see a late Autumn bounce as the positive impacts of a known outcome kick-start the market, due to the pent-up demand we’ve seen over the last few months.

question: Summarize the impact of Brexit on house prices.

answer: With Brexit five months away, uncertainty and a lack of confidence, especially when looking at employment, is causing the housing market in London and the surrounding areas to stagnate causing house prices to fall. However, in areas like the East Midlands and Humber where jobs are based on the local economy, and not impacted by Brexit as much, house prices are increasing and transaction numbers remain solid. It is predicted that the house price growth will continue in the Northern and Western regions and that London and the Southern regions will stagnate or even fall back further. There is a pent-up demand that could be kick-started if Theresa May reaches a deal.

question: Summarize the context surrounding Brexit.

answer: Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is negotiating within the next few days with her European counterparts to reach a deal for Britain to exit the European Union. If a deal is announced it will address the lack of confidence and uncertainty specifically in London and the surrounding area.  Uncertainty is linked to employment where jobs may be at risk. Brexit will happen in five months' time. Other factors playing into the uncertainty is Philip Hammond's budget statement that will happen at the end of the month.

question: What does the article say about home owners that are not moving?

answer: There is a pent-up demand for new houses that may be kickstarted once certainty around Brexit is reached. However, for home owners staying put the house price growth can be helpful because better rates on remortgage deals are reserved for those with more equity in their property. The home owners currently taking a more cautious approach may find that their property value has increased and that they are able to access cheaper remortgage rates as a result. Numerous home owners in London and the surrounding areas have decided to stay put, causing the housing market to stagnate due to lack of confidence and activity.

question: Describe the local economy sustaining house price growth in East and West Midlands.


text:
CARABAO DANG ENERGY DRINK (; ) _Khārābāw dæng_ (“red water buffalo”) is a Thai energy drink launched in 2002 by Carabao Tawandang Co Ltd. It is now Thailand's second most popular energy drink. It is the key brand of Carabao Tawandang in Thailand, with an estimated 21 per cent market share in 2014.[1]

The name “Carabao Dang” comes from the Carabao Group's association with the band Carabao, combined with the German Tawandang Brewery Restaurant. It is marketed with the slogan “Carabao Dang: The Fighting Spirit”.[2]

The drink's launch was accompanied by a high-profile TV advertising campaign featuring the company founder, rock star Yuenyong Opakul, also known as Aed Carabao.[3] This campaign was investigated by the Office of the Consumer Protection Board for being too violent.[4] but went on to win a gold and a silver medal at _Media & Marketing_ magazine's Asian Brand Marketing Effectiveness Awards in 2003.[5] A second ad, featuring clips of late actor Denholm Elliott, digitally altered so he was drinking Carabao from a trough, was less successful.

The drink was introduced to the United States and Europe under the brand name _Carabao_ leading to an increase in sales of the Thai brand on the west coast of the US in 2004.[6] Exports to China and India began in 2007.[7] Carabao was introduced in Australia at the beginning of 2018.[8]

Market and share

The market for energy drinks in Thailand is estimated at 35 billion baht in 2018. Carabao research indicates that more than eight million Thais consume energy drinks. Nineteen per cent live in Bangkok, 32 per cent in other urban areas and 49 per cent in rural provinces. Carabao aims to increase its market share from 25 per cent in 2018 to 33 per cent in 2020, making it the leader in the domestic energy drinks market.[9]

Carabao Group expects 2018 revenues to reach 15 billion baht, up from 13 billion baht in 2017.[10]

Production

Carabao completed work on a new production site in the Bang Pakong District of Chachoengsao Province in mid-2018. The 8.7 billion baht, 180 rai facility includes a glass bottle plant, an aluminium can plant, and a bottling plant. Bottle production will increase to 1.6 billion bottles per year, up from 1 billion, and can production will increase from 800 million per year to 1.5 billion. Future plans include a fourth factory on the site.[11]

Sport sponsorship

In June 2015, Carabao Dang became the main sponsors of English Football League Championship side Reading F.C.,[12] renewing their contract as Reading's primary sponsor from June 2016 to the summer of 2019.[13] Additionally, Carabao Dang became the primary training kit sponsors of English football champions, Premier League club Chelsea F.C. in the summer of 2016.

In November 2016, Carabao Dang announced a three-year deal with the English Football League to become the official title sponsor of the EFL Cup, becoming known as the Carabao Cup from 2017 to 2018 to the 2019–2020 season.[14]

In December 2016, Carabao Dang announced a six-year deal to become a sponsor of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo until January 2017. In 2018 the company will be the main sponsor of the team.[15]

On 28 March 2019, Carabao Dang announced a sponsorship deal with Tajikistan League team FK Khujand.[16]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

title: Carabao Energy Drink

question: What is behind the Carabao Dang energy drink's success for the past 15 years?

answer:
Carabao Dang energy drink debut in Thailand in 2002 with a high-profile TV advertising. Though one of the adverts was banned, it still won a gold medal at one of Asia's top marketing award ceremonies.

The drink was introduced to the United States and Europe in 2004 and had since exploded in popularity thanks to sports sponsorship in the English Football league.


text:
The sign spells "Oleander's". A fitting name, perhaps, for oleander can be either a deadly poison or a potent medicine depending on which parts and how much you choose to process. Much like alcohol. Since I'm already here, I might as well sit down and treat myself to an evening glass of something, and so I ask for a glass of mojito.

 For a tavern, it's strangely quiet and vacant, unlike all those depictions of the establishment in stories everywhere. There's no barfight, no quarrel, nothing above a whisper. Maybe the rain has driven the customers away, maybe it's a local tradition to not drink on this day, or maybe the bar is inadequate for the folks' tastes.

There's a homely feeling to this place, as I notice. I suppose it's the quietness that's rarely associated with any place that allows alcohol consumption. I'm not a crowd person. If I had to choose to live between rotting in a chair alone and associating with others incessantly, I would pick the former of the two. It's never until you've talked to so many people that you started to cherish the precious silence with a book, or a hot cup of chocolate by your side.

On my left sits an old, rusty, scarlet-colored Hecker radio. Heckers, having been out of production since 1985, are undoubtedly rare now. Carla Bruni's *Quelqu'un M'a Dit* is playing, fully accompanied by crackles and static and everything you'd expect from such an old model. The song sounds better this way, as do most French songs, I recognize.

"Mister? Here's your mojito. Please enjoy!"

I look up and catch the waitress' gaze. She has clear, hazel eyes. The type of eyes that would never give away what they are hiding behind. Just like yours.

I thank her and take a sip. For a moment, I see you also looking back at me through the fogged glass.

April 12

title: Taverns and mojitos

question: What is the setting?

answer: The setting is a tavern named Oleander's.

question: Who is the protagonist?

answer: The protagonist is an unnamed man.

question: What is the protagonist picking?

answer: The protagonist says he would pick a more solitary setting when given the opportunity.

question: Why does the protagonist have a Hecker radio?

answer: The protagonist does not have a Hecker radio, the tavern does.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: A man walks into Oleander's tavern for a drink. It is a quiet and homely place. The man notices an older Hecker radio playing music. A waitress comes over and gives him his mojito. Her eyes remind him of someone else, who he sees through the glass as he takes a sip.


text:
[Worried by US spying revelations, India has begun drawing up a new email policy to help secure government communications, but th]
Worried by US spying revelations, India has begun drawing up a new email policy to help secure government communications, but the man responsible for drafting the rules still regularly uses Hotmail

Worried by US spying revelations, India has begun drawing up a new email policy to help secure government communications, but the man responsible for drafting the rules still regularly uses Hotmail.

Like many of his peers in ministries across New Delhi, IT Minister Kapil Sibal's office recently sent an email inviting journalists to the launch of his new personal website using the free email service.

Others, including senior foreign ministry officials, the information and broadcasting minister and the health ministry secretary, also use Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo instead of their government accounts.

When asked why he continued to use his Hotmail for official use, Sibal declined to comment, but a senior bureaucrat in his ministry admitted that he personally preferred Gmail because it is "just a lot easier".

"We keep moving, get different designations, go different places and with that, our emails change. You lose contacts and important emails, which you don't need to worry about with a Gmail account," the bureaucrat told AFP.

"To be honest, the quality of our official mail isn't that great yet. It still needs some work," he added on condition of anonymity.

SECURITY CONCERNS

IT security expert Sunil Abraham said the use of Gmail and the like was highly risky since the American services had their servers in the US and the National Security Agency has been known to tap into their database systems.

It is unclear how many state and federal public workers actively use popular email services for office, but some of the estimates are startling.

"As much as 90 percent of government officials use private email (services) for official use... that's because their official email is not as stable or speedy," said Abraham, executive director of the Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society.

[More than 11,000 Indian websites were hacked or defaced between May and August this year, with a large number of attacks on the ]
More than 11,000 Indian websites were hacked or defaced between May and August this year, with a large number of attacks on the ".in" domain whose servers are in India, the Times of India reported last month

In September Sibal's ministry announced a new "Email Policy of the Government of India" in the wake of spying allegations about the NSA revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

NSA's tentacles not only crept into the Indian embassy in Washington and its UN office in New York, but also accessed email and chat messenger contact lists of hundreds of millions of ordinary citizens worldwide, according to media reports.

During a single day last year, the NSA's Special Source Operations branch collected 444,743 email address books from Yahoo, 105,068 from Hotmail, 82,857 from Facebook, 33,697 from Gmail and 22,881 from unspecified other providers, The Washington Post said, according to an internal NSA presentation.

The $11 million Indian project aims to bring some five million public employees onto the government's email domain powered by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as early as mid-December.

It is awaiting clearances and suggestions from all ministries before the proposal goes to the cabinet this month.

J. Satyanarayana, secretary of the department of electronics and IT, dismissed claims that the policy was too late and was a response to the Snowden scandal.

"The policy is not a reaction to any global spying revelations, it was already in the works. It is just a mere coincidence that both came around the same time," he said.

FRESH DOUBTS

Some cyber security experts say bringing millions aboard a centralised server could make a hacker's job easier, with all critical government information available on a single platform.

More than 11,000 Indian websites were hacked or defaced between May and August this year, with a large number of attacks on the ".in" domain whose servers are in India, the Times of India reported last month.

"Making the use of a centralised government server is not the best way to proceed. Having everything on one platform makes it even more vulnerable to cyber attacks and hacking," said Abraham.

"It also brings about new worries of the NIC becoming the local snoop."

Some also predict that the ambitious policy would eventually fizzle out for lack of attention from ministers and bureaucrats, who work in government offices where stacks of yellowing files and papers are still a common sight.

"It's sad but most of these officials don't understand much about technology, so mastering email is something that is miles and miles away," said Vijay Mukhi, a Mumbai-based cyber security expert.

"These guys saw all the snooping news and suddenly they woke up and said 'lets make an email policy'. Enforcing this is not possible on a practical basis."

The IT ministry also plans to conduct workshops to teach employees about email security such as when to change passwords and user names and how to use email.

"Every employee should know how, what and when critical data can be vulnerable... with most work still done on paper, it is important to know the nitty-gritty of using email," Satyanarayana said.

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© 2013 AFP

CITATION: Indian government wakes up to risk of Hotmail, Gmail (2013, December 8) retrieved 1 December 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2013-12-indian-hotmail-gmail.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

question: What email platform does the IT minister prefer to use for official use?

answer: Gmail.

question: Why is it considered imperative to learn about cybersecurity when dealing with email?

answer: To know when critical data can be vulnerable to online hacking.

question: Why do ministry officials still make use of Gmail and Hotmail services instead of their government accounts

answer: It appears their official email is not as speedy or stable as the popular email services.

question: What is the major security concern over the use of Gmail service

answer: The Gmail services have their servers in the US, and the NSA usually taps into their database system.

question: Why isn't the use of a centralised government server considered a good idea

answer: It increases vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The article talks about the cybersecurity concerns in India in light of the US spying revelations. The IT minister issued a new email policy that will control the number of cyber-attacks and vulnerability of users online. According to Sunil Abraham, using a centralised government server is not a good idea and having every information in one platform increases exposure to cyber-attacks and hacking. The IT ministry planned to organise a workshop training session equipping staff with the necessary information needed to use email, when to change passwords, and usernames.


text:
[Home]

More than 60 members and associates of a Latino street gang carried out a campaign of racially motivated violence targeting African Americans in South Los Angeles, according to a 53-count federal racketeering indictmentunsealed Oct. 17.

[]

Leaders of the Florencia 13 street gang, which operates in a racially mixed district of South Los Angeles, engaged underlings in “cleansing their neighborhood of … members and associates of African-American street gangs,” according to federal prosecutors.

“The most disturbing aspect of the case is that … gang members allegedly engaged in a series of attacks on rival African-American gangs that extended to innocent citizens who ended up being shot simply because of the color of their skin,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien.

Like most Latino street gangs in Southern California, Florencia 13, or “F-13,” swears allegiance to the Mexican Mafia, a prison-based criminal syndicate. The _Intelligence Report_ revealed in January that Mexican Mafia shot callers have issued a “green light” for Latino gang members to harass and attack any African American found in a neighborhood claimed by a Latino gang.

Four members of the Avenues, a Latino gang in the Highland Park neighborhood, were convicted of federal hate crimes in 2006 for terrorizing and murdering black residents.

According to the latest indictment, in one case F-13 leaders ordered attacks on African Americans in retribution for black gang members supposedly shooting at Latino children in the neighborhood. The L.A. Sheriff’s Department attributes 80 shootings — 20 of them fatal — to warring between F-13 and black gangs since January 2005.

An Oct. 18 _Los Angeles Times_ article by Sam Quinones, headlined “Gang rivalry grows into race war,” details how gang wars and increasing racial tension in a working class neighborhood that was once predominately black but is now mostly Latino have merged to create “a gangland version of racial profiling.” The article quotes one Florencia gang member describing how the Mexican Mafia ordered his gang to “kill this black guy just because he’s black.”

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said he couldn’t yet comment on whether federal prosecutors would charge F-13 gang leaders with hate crimes in addition to racketeering.

According to gang expert Alex Alonso, F-13 is the largest single Latino gang in Los Angeles, “in terms of turf size and membership.”

question: Why do authorities cite racial tensions as a reason for this gang war?

answer: Non-gang members who are African-American civilians have been targeted, meaning it is not limited to rival gang members.

question: Why is this considered a hate crime?

answer: It is a hate crime when people are targeted due to the color of their skin, which is clearly the case here.

question: Who is the narrator of this piece?

answer: There is none-this is written in the third person.

question: Why would a Latinx gang target the Black population?

answer: The area is historically Black, so the members are trying to take it over, and probably capitalize on store fronts to seize profits and maybe to instate local figures in politics and law enforcement to influence lucrative exchanges such as drug trade.


text:
DAVID MOXOM (born May 15, 1972) in Cleveland, Ohio, is a retired American soccer player who spent most of his career in the U.S. indoor leagues. However, he was also a member of the Milwaukee Rampage’s 1997 championship team.

Youth

Born in Ohio, Moxom grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he played for the Pittsburgh Beadling.[1] He graduated from Baldwin High School in 1990. He then attended Robert Morris University, playing soccer from 1991 to 1994.[2] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications. He later earned an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.[3]

Professional

In 1995, he signed with the Pittsburgh Stingers of the Continental Indoor Soccer League. In March 1996, the Kansas City Wiz selected Moxom in the second round (fifteenth overall) of the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft. The Wiz released him on April 16, 1996.[4] He then spent the 1996 season with the Carolina Dynamo of the USISL 20 (0)[5] In the fall of 1996, Moxom signed with the Milwaukee Wave of the National Professional Soccer League. In March 1997, the Tampa Bay Mutiny selected Moxom in the first round (tenth overall) of the 1997 MLS Supplemental Draft. He never played for the Mutiny, but went on loan in the summer from the Wave to the Milwaukee Rampage of the USISL A-League, winning the league title that season. He also played one game on loan to the Jacksonville Cyclones for one game in June 1997.[6] The Mutiny waived Moxom on April 1, 1998.[7] He returned to the Wave in the fall of 1997. That season, Moxom and his teammates won the NPSL championship. He was forced to miss much of the 1998–1999 season after becoming ill with chronic ulcerative colitis (bleeding ulcer) during a trip to Brazil with the U.S. national futsal team. He made a comeback in 1999, playing two more seasons with the Wave, winning another two league championships. In January 2000, he joined Team USA.[8]

[1] Beadling Soccer Club

[2] RMU soccer players in the pros

[3]

[4] April 17, 1996 Transactions

[5] All Time Carolina Dynamo players

[6] Peterson looks for improvement

[7] Wednesday's Sports Transactions

[8] Four players added to Team Canada

title: David Moxom

question: Who is David Moxom?

answer: He is a retired American soccer player who a member of the Milwaukee Rampage’s 1997 championship team. He spent most of his career in the U.S. indoor leagues.

question: Summarize everything relating to Moxom's early life and education.

answer: Moxom was born on May 15, 1972, in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he played for the Pittsburgh Beadling. After graduating from Baldwin high school in 1990, Moxom attended Robert Morris University and played soccer from 1991 to 1994. He has a bachelor's degree in communications and later earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

question: What professional indoor soccer league does the Pittsburgh Stingers team belong to?

answer: The Continental Indoor Soccer League

question: How many NPSL championships did Moxom win when he was a member of the Milwaukee Wave?

answer: Three

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: David Moxom is a retired American soccer player who a member of the Milwaukee Rampage’s 1997 championship team. He also won the NPSL championship three times while playing with the Milwaukee Wave. He spent most of his career in the U.S. indoor leagues. In January 2000, Moxom joined Team USA.


text:
KIMBERLEE GREEN (born 5 March 1986 in Sydney, Australia) is a former Australian international netball player. Green was the captain of the Giants Netball team in the Suncorp Super Netball league and represented the Australian national netball team on 74 occasions.[1]

Biography

Green is the daughter of South Sydney Rabbitohs footballer Michael Green and Olympic & Commonwealth Games swimmer Denise Langford;[2] her great-grandfather is former New South Wales politician Fred Green. She is also married to New South Wales Blues cricketer Trent Copeland.[3]

Green played six years in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, for the Sydney Swifts and AIS Canberra Darters.[4] With the start of the ANZ Championship, Green signed with Sydney franchise the New South Wales Swifts, which won the inaugural championship in 2008. Later that year, she was selected for the Australian Netball Diamonds team.[5] During her international career, Green has won a bronze medal at the 2009 World Netball Series in Manchester, and a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, a gold medal at the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore and a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

In 2011, for the first time for Australia, Green played at the Wing Defence (WD) position in the first of three tests against Jamaica. In 2014 Green was named in the Australian Netball Team to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games who went on to win gold. Green went on to captain NSW Swifts in the 2014 season. After the 2015 Netball World Cup, which Green was part of as a gold-medallist with Australia, she announced her retirement from international netball.[6]

In 2017, she was appointed inaugural captain of the Giants Netball team. She suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Giants' round five win over the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Canberra.[7] She returned to captain the Giants to a preliminary final in the 2018 season.[8] On 22 August 2019, Green announced her retirement from professional netball.[9]

Awards

-   2014 ANZ Championship joint-MVP[10]
-   2014 FOXTEL ANZ Championship All-Star Team (WA)
-   2013-2014 QBE NSW Swifts Most Valued Player
-   2011-2014 NSW Swifts' Members' Player of the Year
-   2010 NSW Swifts' Players' Player

Netball Career Facts

-   2015 World Championship gold medal
-   2014 Australian Netball Diamonds Captain (England Series)
-   2014 Australian Netball Diamonds Commonwealth Games Netball Gold Medal
-   2014 Australian Netball Diamonds Vice-Captain
-   2014 NSW Swifts Captain
-   2013 Australian Netball Diamonds Vice-Captain in two-test Malawi Queens series
-   2012-2013 NSW Swifts co-Captain
-   2011 World Championship gold medal (extra-time)
-   2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist (double extra-time)
-   2008 ANZ Championship victory with the NSW Swifts (inaugural season)
-   2006-2007 CBT Champions

Personal Life

Green married NSW cricketer Trent Copeland in August 2012. In June 2020, the couple announced on Instagram that they were expecting their first child, due in December 2020.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

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[9]

[10]

title: Kimberlee Green

question: What does the text say about Green's family?

answer: Green is the daughter of Michael Green, a South Sydney Rabbitohs footballer, and Denise Langford, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimmer. Her great-grandfather is Fred Green, a former New South Wales politician. She married New South Wales Blues cricketer Trent Copeland in August 2012, and in June 2020, they announced they were expecting their first child later in the year.

question: What does the text say about Green's education?


text:
Giving first short story a revision - based off of Heat Death of Universe prompt. Any crit is welcome and appreciated, starting to give writing another go after long break.

So Shall It Be in the End.

While he sat staring out into the darkness his mind wandered. The overhead air vent released a cocktail of atmospheric gases in the form of a brisk breeze that swept across the room, sending chills down his spine and his mind’s eye racing into the past. He could feel the once familiar sensation of grass between his fingers, the cool dirt of the hillside pressed against his palms as he sat aside his father staring at what remained of the stars above.

“You know, a long time ago so-called scientist sat, just like we are, debating how there could be any dark spots in the sky.” They both sat on the hillside, their knees bent. Mak leaning back, his outstretched arms supporting him, curiously stared into the heavens. His father, lacking his son’s intrigue, hunched forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands lazily clasped between them.

“They claimed that at the end of time, the sky would be filled with the light of a million burning stars as the universe collapsed,” he said. Mak opened his mouth as if to speak but no words came out.

“Funny idea isn’t it?” his father said with a smirk, “I would give a pretty penny to see the look on their faces now.”

Mak remained silent, trying to envision the night sky filled with stars but it was difficult to imagine as a mere handful of glimmering spots scattered in the abyss was all he had ever known. His father, seeing the look of consternation across his young son’s face, took the opportunity to run his fingers through the boy’s blonde hair. Mak could almost feel the sensation of his hair between his father’s fingers when the cool breeze of the autumn night, or rather that of the ventilator above, sent goose bumps running up his neck. The cool dirt of the hillside was suddenly replaced by the cold reality of the steel bench beneath him.

He stood up, paying no mind to the viewing pleasure of others in the ship’s observation room as, per usual, he was alone. A sense of disappointment in returning to reality swept over him as he raised his right arm, pressing his palm against the viewing pane. He shifted his adept focus from the darkness that encompassed the regulated travel lanes, his route of mental escape, and stepped back, his hand tapping off the halo that ran from temple to temple across the rear of his head before returning to his hip. What moments ago seemed to be a portal into the vast darkness of space was now anything but as his enhanced optics faded back to relative norm. Millions of sublight engines burned bright as did their respective ship hulls glimmering in the reflection of the last star in the known universe, Exodus Prime, and what was a window into the emptiness of space was now nothing more than a dark island in a sea of vibrant red and orange hues.

Mak stood, contemplating the gravity of the spectacle before him as he had done on a near daily basis. The last remnants of known life were gathered here, crowded together around this last bastion of energy. Civilizations that had once spanned millions of light years were reduced to an existence entirely reliant on a single sun. “Irony,” he thought to himself. Mankind had managed to find a solution for nigh all of the obstacles that existed in the universe but it could find no solution for the very essence of the universe itself. Empires that had withstood the Great Wars and all those before them were now losing what would be their final fight - that against the forces of entropy.

Mak took yet another step back, his eyes squinting as he took in the burning glory of the fiery mosaic that filled the window and he laughed to himself. He laughed to himself for he came to a sudden realization that he had never reached before; all around him space was filled with the light of a burning stars as the sleek metal of ship hulls glowed amber in the reflection of the red dwarf that was Exodus Prime. The known universe was collapsing and what remained had amalgamated into a distorted sphere surrounding the last known sun. From where he stood, he realized, those so-called scientists were right.

“If only I could see the look on your face now,” he said, the corners of his mouth rising in a satisfying smirk as he visualized sitting aside his father on that long ago night.

title: [SF] So Shall It Be in the End.. Constructive Crit please

question: What does the story say about Mak's mother?

question: What does the story say about Mak?

answer: Mak is the protagonist of the story. He lives in a time when the known universe is collapsing. Mak recalls a time he spent with his father as they both sat on a hillside looking at the dark sky. His father told him about the scientists' claim that the sky would be filled with the light of a million burning stars as the universe collapsed, and how he would give a pretty penny to see the look on the scientists now that the sky has gone dark. Mak is on a starship out in space near the universe's last remaining source of energy and light, a red dwarf known as Exodus Prime.

question: What is the setting of the story?

answer: The story is set in a bleak future where the known universe is collapsing. The stars that used to populate the sky at night are all gone except for one red dwarf known as Exodus Prime. The story takes place inside one of the last remaining ships carrying what's left of mankind.

question: What is the story's theme?

answer: The theme is the persistence of life in the universe. After everything that happened (all the stars dying), civilizations found a way to create ships that could travel in space indefinitely while looking for the last remaining sun, Exodus Prime. It is also about accepting the finality of life and the fact that some problems have no solution.


text:
The 1905 GRANT FOOTBALL TEAM represented the Chattanooga campus of U.S. Grant Memorial University—now known as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga—in the 1905 college football season as an independent.[1]

Schedule

[1]

title: 1905 Grant football team

question: What did the 1905 Grant Football Team represent?

answer: The Chattanooga campus.

question: Of what university is the Chattanooga campus a part?

answer: U.S. Grant Memorial University.

question: What is the university known as now?

answer: The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

question: What kind of American football is this?

answer: College football.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The 1905 Grant Football Team  represented the Chattanooga campus of U.S. Grant Memorial University—now known as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.


text:
SALLY RACHEL BANES (October 9, 1950 – June 14, 2020) was a notable dance historian, writer, and critic.[1][2]

Life, education, and performance career

Born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland,[3] a suburb of Washington, D.C., Banes studied dance, and particularly ballet, throughout her childhood. She attended the University of Chicago and graduated in 1972 with an interdisciplinary degree in criticism, art, and theater. While at college she worked as a lighting assistant and wardrobe mistress. She also belonged to a group known as The Collective. Joining in 1970, Banes became one of several actors who met several times a week to collaborate on work. These collectively written theater pieces were performed in workshops as well as public performances.

After graduating college, Banes continued to live and work in Chicago. In 1974 she founded the Community Discount Players which was a loosely organized company of actors, dancers, filmmakers and visual artists. Like The Collective, the Community Discount Players focused on collaboration to produce work and performances. She also founded MoMing, which was a collectively owned theater where actors and dancers could come to teach one another class. It also provided an environment for further collaborative efforts and the performance of these partnerships. This is where she first performed for Kenneth King. She also performed in ‘’Paris/Chacon’’, a dance-theater collaboration by Meredith Monk and Ping Chong.

In 1976 Banes moved to New York City. She continued exploring the post-modern world and attended workshops with members of Judson Dance. She also performed for Simone Forti, Kenneth King, and Meredith Monk. As she grew older, Banes continued to take dance classes in both Chicago and New York City. She studied ballet with Ed Parish and Peter Saul. She also studied modern with Jim Self, Maggie Kast, and Shirley Mordine as well as taking class at both the Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham studios. At one point she raised $70,000 for an alternative multicultural bicentennial celebration. In 1978 Banes produced a film of Yvonne Rainer's 1966 dance piece “Trio A (The Mind is a Muscle, Part 1)”.[4]

While in New York she continued her education by enrolling in NYU’s Department of Graduate Drama. She earned her PhD with a dissertation on Judson Dance Theater. This dissertation was later published as ‘’Democracy’s Body: Judson Dance Theater, 1962–1964’’. While doing her doctorate work she studied under and with some of the biggest names in dance research. Her doctoral advisor was Michael Kirby and she also learned from Deborah Jowitt, John Mueller, Dale Harris, Gretchen Schneider, David Vaughan, and Selma Jeanne Cohen. Some of her classmates were Sally Sommer, Barbara Barker, Brenda Dixon-Gottschild and Joan Acocella.

Personal life

Banes was married to fellow art and film philosopher Noël Carroll. In May 2002 Banes suffered a massive stroke, from which she never recovered. She remained cognitively and physically severely handicapped, until her death of ovarian cancer[5] on June 14, 2020.[6][7][8]

Artistic work

Banes' first work, _A Day in the Life of the Mind: Part 2_, was created in collaboration with dancer Ellen Mazer. It was a day-long performance beginning at the lagoon in Hyde Park and ending at a popular local bar, Jimmy's. The audience followed the performers from the lagoon and down 57th Street while listening to a Charlie Parker record on repeat and having soy beans thrown at them. On the way, the performance traveled through Banes' apartment, conveniently located on 57th Street, where they were greeted by her grandmother. They exited onto her back porch and continued on. When it became dark nightgown-clad dancers appeared in the large lighted windows of the Regenstein Library as the performance continued to its end at Jimmy's. This work was meant to be a celebration of Hyde Park as well as the blurring of lines between everyday life and art.

Banes also collaborated with Ellen Mazer on a series of works about an imaginary 19th century woman named “Sophie”, who was “sometimes a ballerina, sometimes a communist.” In the piece _Sophie Eats Shrimp_, Banes and Mazer load cartons on and off a rental truck. In another piece an old fashioned washing machine and pieces of broken glass litter the stage. Banes continued to explore “Sophie” upon reaching New York in her piece _Sophie Heightens the Contradiction_ which was performed at P.S. 122 in 1983.[9]

Writing and research

Banes first worked for the _Chicago Reader_ starting in 1973. Initially she was in charge of theater and restaurant reviews. She also wrote book reviews for the _Chicago Tribune_. _Sweet Home Chicago: The Real City Guide_, coauthored by Banes, was her first published book. One day, a colleague approached her with a proposition. This colleague had been commissioned to write a book about modern dance, but was claustrophobic and therefore could not sit through shows. Banes took over the project and decided that the best way to learn how to write about dance was to practice. Thus, she convinced her editor at the _Chicago Reader_ to allow her to write dance critiques, and eventually became the Dance Editor.[10] This book eventually became _Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-Modern Dance_, published in 1980. She stayed at the _Reader_ until 1976 when she moved to New York City.

Upon reaching New York she continued working as a dance critic for the _Village Voice_, the _SoHo Weekly News_ and _Dance Magazine_.[11] as well as working as editor for the _Dance Research Journal_ from 1982 to 1988.[12] Since these times she has authored eight major books about dance, frequently of the post-modern era.

On top of an extensive written portfolio, Banes has taught at various institutions. She was an assistant professor at Florida State University in 1980. From 1981 to 1986 she taught at SUNY Purchase. From 1986 to 1988 she taught at Wesleyan University and from 1988 to 1991 she taught at Cornell University. Finally, starting in 1991 she began teaching at University of Wisconsin – Madison[13] where she was the Marian Hannah Winter Professor of Theater and Dance Studies. She was also the chair of the dance program at UW – Madison from 1992 to 1996.[14]

Banes was a past president and Honorary Fellow of the Society of Dance History Scholars. In 1989 and 1998 she presented at the Society of Dance History Scholars Conference. The first time her lecture was titled “Merce Cunningham's Story”.[15] The second conference she presented “The Last Conversation: Eisenstein's Carmen Ballet”.[16]

_Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-modern Dance_ (1987)

This work is a history and critical study of post-modern dance. It specifically focuses on certain choreographers and their styles, motivations, goals and works. The choreographers include Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Trisha Brown, David Gordon, Deborah Hay, Lucinda Childs, Meredith Monk, Kenneth King, Douglas Dunn and The Grand Union.

  Rainer, Simone Forti, Steve Paxton, and other post-modern choreographers of the sixties were not united in terms of their aesthetic. Rather, they were united by their radical approach to choreography, their urge to reconceive the medium of dance. – Sally Banes, _Terpsichore in Sneakers: Post-modern Dance_[17]

_Democracy's Body: Judson Dance Theater, 1962–1964_ (1993)

A history of the revolutionary Judson Dance Theater, whose choreographers and works represented the beginning of the post-modern movement, it not only tells the story of Judson Dance Theater but describes the dances produced by those in the group and the dynamics of the group's working relationships.

  The choreographers of the Judson Dance Theater radically questioned dance aesthetics, both in their dances and in their weekly discussions. They rejected the codification of both ballet and modern dance. They questioned the traditional dance concert format and explored the nature of dance performance. They also discovered a cooperative method for producing dance concerts... Attracting a grassroots audience of Greenwich Village artists and intellectuals, the Judson Dance Theater affected the entire community and flourished as a popular center of experimentation. – Sally Banes, ''Democracy's Body: Judson Dance Theater, 1962–1964[18]

_Greenwich Village 1963: Avant-garde Performance and the Effervescent Body_ (1993)

This book focuses on the year 1963 and the changing face of the art world. It specifically focuses on Greenwich Village and the performing arts.

  A distinctively twentieth-century, postwar, postindustrialist American avant-garde art: democratic yet sophisticated, vigorous and physical, playful yet down-to-earth, freely mixing high and low, academic and vernacular traditions, genres and media. There was a feeling – so unlike the early 1990s – that all things were possible... and permitted. – Sally Banes, _Greenwich Village 1963: Avant-garde Performance and the Effervescent Body_[19]

_Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism_ (1994)

This book is an anthology of published and unpublished essays and talks about dance since the 1970s. Through this collection, as well as the evolution of her own writing and style of analysis, Banes explores the evolution of postmodern dance throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

  Perhaps to some readers this collection simply will appear to be a mélange. But I am convinced that it is emblematic of postmodernism, in a number of ways. It is, first of all, concerned with crossovers between 'high' and 'low' dance cultures – the avant-garde, the popular, the commercial, and the vernacular. Moreover, it analyzes relationships between mainstream dance and its counterstreams, which contest, challenge, subvert, and undermine the mainstream traditions. In terms of methodology, my approach is postmodernist in that it has a tendency toward the contextual, historical, and ethnographic. It is also concerned with bringing the margins to the center. – Sally Banes, _Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism_[20]

_Dancing Women: Female Bodies on Stage_ (1998)

Banes' attempts to retell the familiar dance canonical history from the purely feminist perspective. She covers everything from mid nineteenth century Romantic ballet in France and Denmark to historical modern dance of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s in Germany and the United States to contemporary ballet from the 1930s to the 1950s in Europe and the United States.

  In each chapter I focus on one or several dances, in order to retell the story of Western theatrical dancing from a woman-centered perspective. I analyze of representations of women are constructed in major works of the theatrical dance canon written by both men and women. Setting the creation of these works in socio-political and cultural context, I show that choreographers have created images of women that are shaped by – and that in part shape – society’s continuing debates about sexuality and female identity. I argue that the dance stage has often reflected and reinforced, but has also formed and in some cases criticized cultural conceptions of corporeality – in particular, conceptions of women’s bodies and identities – and that through dance, men’s attitudes toward women and women’s attitudes about themselves are literally given body on stage. – Sally Banes, _Dancing Women: Female Bodies on Stage_[21]

_Subversive Expectations: Performance Art and Paratheater in New York 1976–1985_ (1998)

This book is a collection of Banes’ reviews and articles concerning New York performance art and paratheater from 1976 to 1985. These articles were published chiefly in the _Village Voice_ and the _SoHo Weekly News_, two alternative publications based in New York City. This time period was the height of the performance art genre, which had surpassed other forms of avant-garde to become “the preeminent form of avant-garde art.” This volume contains 90 articles and reviews including those of Yvonne Rainer, Meredith Monk, The Ringling Brothers, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Unlike mainstream theater productions, which can flourish or die according to critical reaction, performance art – usually operating on a shoestring budget or with funding subsidies – did not depend on a critical mass of spectators for economic well-being. And alternative press critics like me certainly did not wield the make-or-break power of the mainstream press. In any case, most of the performances were one-night stands or short runs and had ended by the time my reviews were published. So I felt a certain freedom in knowing that my role as a critic was not that of a judge, arbiter of taste, or consumer guide. Rather, my role was to join a longer-term conversation about performance art in a public yet immediate way. – Sally Banes, _Subversive Expectations: Performance Art and Paratheater in New York 1976–1985_[22]

_Reinventing Dance in the 1960s: Everything was Possible_ (2003)

This book is a collection of essays analyzing the revolutionary and experimental art world of the 1960s. It consists of eleven essays, including one by Banes herself and a section of choreographers' statements from the White Oak PAST_Forward_ project, organized by Mikhail Baryshnikov. These choreographers include Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Simone Forti, David Gordon, Deborah Hay, Steve Paxton, and Yvonne Rainer.

The 1960s was a decade of ferment in the arts, society, and politics. So many things that had been viewed complacently, in a world that seemed always to be the same as it ever was, were suddenly cast in a new light. And this led to a desire to cast off the old ways, to break all the rules, to find new directions and new freedoms. There were no limits, nothing that could not be tried, from rising up to protest injustices like racism, sexism, and the Vietnam War to ingesting mind-expanding drugs to sexual experimentation. – Sally Banes, _Reinventing Dance in the 1960s: Everything was Possible_[23]

_Before, Between, and Beyond: Three Decades of Dance Writing_ (2007)

This book is a collection of Banes' reviews encompassing and incredible history of dancers and choreographers. These reviews feature everything from very early Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane performances, to the beginnings of Pilobolus, to the discovery of breakdancing, to the world's introduction to Elizabeth Streb, as a performer.

  Many of the emerging artists Banes reviewed are now luminaries of the historical canon... Like all collections of dance reviews, this one not only provides a valuable register of dances and dancers, it also points out the importance and responsibility of dance criticism as it engages with an art form whose history largely exists in movement, in a culture that privileges what can be written down. – Andrea Harris, _Before, Between, and Beyond: Three Decades of Dance Writing_ [24]

_Dance Research Journal (Congress on Research in Dance)_ 29/1 Spring (1997), 30/1 Spring (1998), 31/1 Spring (1999)

In this specialized academic journal, Banes and Carroll debate Gregory Scott, at the time the Director of Doctoral Studies in Dance Education, NYU, in a series of 3 articles (and in conferences), when a reaction to post-modernism in dance has begun. Scott argues for a traditional view of dance that has been applicable for over 2000 years, stemming from Plato's Laws II (665a), as “ordered body movement”, which Plato says makes choral art when combined with music or song (harmonia) in the theater. Ironically, this conception even allows Rainier's Trio A, which Banes championed, to be dance. Nevertheless, Scott critiques some of the principles of post-modernism as Banes and Carroll define them, setting up a further debate stemming from Carroll and Banes's ″Dance, Imitation and Representation″ (1999; espec. pp. 14-20),[25] that continue most recently until 2019, in Scott's A Primer on Aristotle's DRAMATICS (also known as the POETICS), espec. p. 103.[26]

Awards and honors

In 2003, Banes won the Lifetime Achievement Award for her Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research from the Congress on Research in Dance.[27] The Society of Dance History Scholars has also given her a similar lifetime achievement award and Banes has won a Bessie Award for her Lifetime Contribution to Dance Criticism.[28]

There is also a Biennial Sally Banes Publication Prize in her honor. This prize awards $500 to the publication that best explores the intersection of theater and dance or movement and has been published within the previous two years. The nominees are judged based on the innovation and rigor with which they explore their topic and the intersection therein. The first Publication Prize was awarded in 2009.[29]

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[6]  2020 June|language=en-US}}

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title: Sally Banes

question: What did Sally Banes do?

answer: She was a dance historian, writer, and critic

question: Where was Sally Banes born?

answer: Silver Springs, Maryland

question: What award did Sally receive from the Congress on Research in Dance?

answer: The Lifetime Achievement Award for her Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research.

question: What other cities has Sally lived in?

answer: Chicago and New York City

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: This Wikipedia article describes Sally Banes, a dance historian, writer, and critic. The article introduces her life, education, and performance career. It continues with her personal life, artistic work, and writing and research. It concludes with her awards and honors.


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

Alexa

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

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

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

title: Alexa

question: Where did David meet this girl?

answer: David has yet to meet the girl, but he sees her at what seems to be an ice cream parlor.

question: Is David a college student?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Does David have a plan to talk to this girl?

answer: David doesn't seem to have a plan.

question: What is the main point of the story?

answer: David develops a crush on a girl and wants to talk to her.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: David is a shy 20 year old man who spends time on the computer and only has one friend. He develops a fascination with a beautiful girl he sees working at an ice cream parlor, but he's too shy to introduce himself. He continues to think and dream about her.


text:
Along the roadside in a dusty, barren countryside, there lived an old woman who never spoke to anyone.  In fact, nobody even knew her name.  She never left her house, and few ever even claimed to have seen her at all, lest knew what she looked like.  She ate only the food she grew in her garden, although no one ever seemed to see her actually gardening.  It would just be barren and then repopulated with fruits, vegetables, and grains.  It is safe to say that many people in the nearby town of Misgave thought the woman to be pretty odd indeed.  The oldest residents of the town of Misgave even tell stories of when they were young, recounting their knowledge of the odd woman who lived in the house by the dusty roadside.  Many thought this to be impossible, as the old townsfolk were very old themselves, and how old would this make the woman?  Most likely it was an old wive's tale passed on generation to generation, but the old townsfolk insisted that their stories were true.  And especially older gentleman by the name of Took Adams even claimed he met with the old woman when he was a boy, about 9 or 10 years old, and that she invited him in for lunch one day since he found himself wandering the old dusty overgrown road by the woman's house by himself, no doubt daydreaming about cowboys, or being a famous gunslinger himself.  Took Adams tells of the woman being cheerful in nature, with an odd mysticism about her, and that her hair smelled faintly of old sage and basil.  Once during their lunch, he asserts, she offered him some sweet candy that she said she made from the ingredients of her garden.  Took claims it was the sweetest and most delicious candy he'd ever tasted, but at some point during their lunch, the old woman became angry with him, and showed a side of herself that he hadn't expected.  He later told of seeing a sort of fire in her eye, and teeth bared, stained a putrid green.  Took said the woman quickly regained her composure, and delightfully sent him on his way and told him that perhaps he shouldn't wander this far down the road again.  This story has no doubt been embellished over the years, most so by old Took himself, perhaps to make himself more exciting or interesting, as he desired the company of people more in their youth, so as to feel younger himself, as older people tend to do.  "She must be close to 110 years old by now!"  Took would exclaim to anyone that would listen.

In the barren countryside, along that dusty roadside, more dust than usual was spitting and clouding up.  A car was zooming past the old woman's house.  "Be careful Aaron!  This road isn't exactly the autobahn as you've probably noticed.  Slow down man!"  Riley Trainer was very protective of his new car, and allowing his younger brother Aaron to drive his new Chevy Volt even a couple miles during their cross country road trip was nerve racking to him.  The fact that Aaron was thoroughly testing the shocks in the Volt on a country road was most displeasing to him.  "Alright alright, sorry, I'll let you get back to your precious driver's seat", but just as he finished his placating to Riley, a loud *SNAP* emitted from under the car, and a *POP* and *SCRAAAAPE* came from under the hood.  The car rolled to a stop about a hundred yards from an old looking house down the road.  "Shit, man!  If you screwed up my car I'm going to kill you!  Get out, let's check it out."  Riley jumped out of the car and began inspecting the damage.  Aaron sheepishly opened the driver side door and put his hands in his pockets, sauntering over to his brother who was on his hands and knees examining the underside of the car.  "I'm sorry Riley, I wasn't going that fast, I was even slowing down when it happened."  "It's alright, it's alright, let's just see if we can get it started again and drive it to the nearest town."  Riley sounded exasperated, or possibly relieved that his younger brother was no longer driving the car, albeit at the expense of his newly acquired vehicle.  "Hey, Riles, why don't we just walk to that house and call a tow truck or something from there?"  Both boys turned their gaze to the distant house on the side of the dusty road.  It puffed out a calming cloud of white smoke from the chimney and the two brothers exchanged satisfied glances.  "At least someone's home", Riley stated simply.  They began walking to the odd looking house when all of a sudden a light burst on from the inside of the dwelling.  A bright, light pink glow seemed to emanate from deep inside the old place…

To be continued…

title: First chapter of a book I'm writing (please give feedback)

question: What kind of being is the old woman?

answer: She must be nonhuman because it appears she is immortal.

question: Why is the pink light coming from the dwelling?

answer: It is probably the house where the old woman lives.

question: Why does the old woman become angry with Took?

answer: She is probably some kind of nature spirit or fairy with the potential for malevolent expression.

question: How much time has passed between Took Adams' story and Riley and Aaron's part of the story?

answer: It's not clear, but probably a while because they have electric cars, and the first part of the story was told with an older tone.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This story is about an old woman who lives in a mysterious house in the town of Misgave, who seems to have existed for a very long time. We transition to the tale of two brothers who drive their car up to the house, and begin to encounter the mysterious presence.


text:
The KLW SE15B is a low-emissions diesel switcher locomotive built by Knoxville Locomotive Works. It is powered by a single MTU Series 2000 engine which develops a total power output of . An unknown number SE15B locomotives is being produced for Chevron to be used in the refineries of Houston and Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX.

Original buyers

  Railroad             Quantity   Notes
  -------------------- ---------- ---------------------------------------------------
  Chevron (Texas)[1]   ?+
  Richmond Pacific     2[2]
  SEPTA [3]            1          Built from former SFS 92 exx AT&SF 2075 née 2861.
  Total                Unknown

[1]

[2]

[3] http://www.trainweb.org/rpotw/RPOTW180225.htm

title: KLW SE15B

question: What is a KLW SE15B?

answer: It's a low-emissions diesel switcher locomotive produced by Knoxville Locomotive Works.

question: What engine does the locomotive use, and what is its power?

answer: It uses one MTU Series 2000 engine, but the article omits its power output.

question: Who is the buyer of these locomotives, and how many did they buy?

answer: Chevron bought an unknown amount.

question: Where does Chevron use the KLW SE15Bs?

answer: In their Houston and Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas refineries.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The KLW SE15B is a low-emissions diesel switcher locomotive built by Knoxville Locomotive Works. It is powered by a single MTU Series 2000 engine. An unknown number of SE15B locomotives are being produced for Chevron to be used in the refineries of Houston and Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX.


text:
Two weeks ago, I shared my first impressions of IronMQ. Last week, I looked at some infrastructure to facilitate pulling from IronMQ. This implementation worked, but I hadn’t put it under stress yet; “First make it work, then make it fast”, and all of that.

I arranged a simple scenario for testing: one message type - thus one queue, where there are eight queue consumers that simultaneously pull messages from that queue, and dispatch them to a handler which sleeps for one second.

    public class MessageSleepForOneSecond { }

    public class MessageSleepForOneSecondHandler : IMessageHandler<MessageSleepForOneSecond>
    {
        public void Handle(MessageSleepForOneSecond message)
        {
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
        }
    }

To establish a baseline, I foolishly set the polling interval to only 100ms, and pulled 2000 messages from the queue one at a time. With this configuration I processed all 2000 messages in 2 minutes and 20 seconds, with an average throughput of 14.3 messages per second. In theory you would expect the throughput to be higher though.

The constraint in this story is the CLR’s thread pool. Every time a queue consumer’s internal timer ticks, the callback which pulls from the queue and invokes the messagehandler, takes up a new thread on the thread pool. The thread pool makes a few threads available when you start your application, but once they’re all in use, it will have to start new ones, which is rather expensive. More importantly though, when you’re queuing too many tasks on the thread pool, and the number of active threads is higher than the number of processors, it will slow down, and wait 500ms to see if it can reuse the existing threads, before creating a new one. When the maximum number of threads is reached, the thread pool will still enlist your tasks in its queue, but only start processing them once threads become available again. In short, the thread pool has a few tricks up its sleeve to protect you from saturating your resources. Remember that too much parallelization and its corresponding context switches won’t do you any good.

Having established a baseline, and having learned a bit more on how the thread pool behaves, I tried one of the first optimizations I already had in mind last week; pulling batches instead of single messages. This reduces the number of necessary HTTP requests, and the number of threads needed to do work on. To support this, I extended the queue consumer configuration with a new property, and changed the queue consumer to take the batch size into account.

    public interface IQueueConsumerConfiguration<T>
    {
        int PollingInterval { get; }
        int BatchSize { get; }
    }

    try
    {
        var messages = (IEnumerable<Message>)null;

        if (!_queue.TryGet(out messages, _queueConsumerConfiguration.BatchSize))
            return;

        foreach (var message in messages)
        {
            try
            {
                var messageBody = (T)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(message.Body, typeof(T));

                _messageDispatcher.Dispatch<T>(messageBody);

                _queue.Delete(message.Id);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                _errorHandler.Handle(ex, message);
            }
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        _errorHandler.Handle(ex, null);
    }

On repeating the test with 2000 messages, the same polling interval of 100ms, but with a batch size of 30, the messages were now all processed in one minute and fifteen seconds, resulting in a throughput of 26 messages per second. That’s almost an improvement of 100%.

This throughput isn’t sustainable though if we had a lot more messages to process. We’re starting a new thread every 100ms or 500ms, while the work we are doing on it only finishes after a rough 30 seconds (it’s not only invoking the handlers, but the HTTP requests also take time). We’re burning through threads quicker than we’re releasing them. If we would run out of threads on the thread pool, it would just stop starting new ones, and queue the tasks until other threads are done doing work.

In my previous post I also considered a smart polling algorithm, but I haven’t looked at that yet, what’s in place is more than good enough for me at the moment.

Be sure to take these numbers with a grain of salt. I would have to test my infrastructure with millions of messages on the queue instead of just 2000 to get trustworthy results. I feel I can predict fairly well how the system will behave when put under load for a longer amount of time though; it would grind to a halt. As mentioned before, we would run out of threads to do work on. I simulated this by lowering the thread pool’s maximum number of threads. Other parameters that influence the numbers in this test are: size of the messages, version of the runtime, the operating system, the amount of processors, latency of the network… I ran these tests with empty messages, .NET 4 installed on my own Windows 7 box with an Intel i7 on board.

It comes down to cherry picking a configuration per queue consumer that will be sustainable based on the amount of messages you expect, the desired throughput, and the time it takes to process a single message.

question: What language is this article's code written in?

answer: Java?

question: What are threads?

answer: Unclear, processes that run concurrently?

question: How fast does the author's app initially work?

answer: 14.2 messages per second

question: How fast does the author's app work after optimization?

answer: 26 messages per second

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The author designs an app that pulls and processes messages from a server using threads and a thread pool. Slowed by several system level constraints, they increase their throughput by 100%. They acknowledge that their findings are skewed by the small sample size, admitting that a database of millions of messages would be necessary to prove viability.


text:
Human Rights Watch this week published a scathing report detailing of what it calls a state policy of torture in Syria that amounts to a crime against humanity.

It documents the locations of numerous detention facilities around the country and outlines the methods of torture used in them. The rights group conducted more than 200 interviews with victims of torture since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March of last year.

"They hung us by our arms, with our bodies suspended in the air," said one protester who described his detention and torture at a Syrian intelligence prison near Homs. "They beat us and said, 'You want freedom, you want Democracy? Here is your freedom.'"

James Reynolds, a BBC correspondent reporting from the Turkey-Syria border, said he's spoken with two teachers who took part in peaceful demonstrations and were detained by security forces.

"The first man said he was made to shout 'There is no God but Bashar al-Assad.' When he refused to do so, on religious grounds, he was kicked. He said the beatings continued for so long that in the end he tried to offer money to his guards to kill him to end the pain," Reynolds said.

The other teacher was kicked and made to offer information under threat of the guards brutalizing his wife and daughters, Reynolds said.

Human Rights Watch says that not only activists are being targeted and tortured. The organization says Syrian forces are even torturing children.

"It's notable that, in the refugee camps near here, we do see not just adults, but we see entire families. It gives you an indication of the kind of fear that these refugees have. More than 30,000 are now on this border," Reynolds said.

It's difficult to get an overall picture about the refugees and their motives for fleeing, Reynolds said, because foreigners, including foreign media, aren't allowed in. The refugees are guarded by Turkish military, making it difficult to find out what drove the refugees out of their homes.

"What we really understand from those we've been able to speak to is they're just too scared to go back. They may be scared to go back, because their homes have been destroyed; they may be scared to go back of the fear of torture," Reynolds said.

Human Rights Watch has called for the International Criminal Court to become involved, but that's highly unlikely at this time, because their involvement would be triggered by a referral from the United Nations Security Council. To date, Russia and China have used their positions on the council to block tough measured aimed at Syria.

The organization is also calling for additional, targeted sanctions against individuals in Syria behind the torture.

[]

question: What is this article revealing about Syria?

answer: There is a state policy of torture.

question: Why did the man offer the guard money?

answer: To kill him to end his pain.

question: Who is guarding the refugees?

answer: Turkish military.

question: Why were the teachers detained and tortured?

answer: They were part of a peaceful demonstration.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Human Rights Watch reports that on the Turkey-Syria border, refugees and peaceful protesters in detention camps are being tortured under what is being called a "state policy of torture". Some have spoken out, including a teacher who says he tried to pay a guard, who was beating him, to kill him and end his pain. Many of the refugees protected by the Turkish military are to scared to speak to journalists.