text:
This American Life recently had an episode featuring superheroes and superpowers. The first story debated the power of flight versus the power of invisibility. Which would you choose if you had the option and why? Between those two options, I choose the power to fly. Invisibility seems creepy to me and reminds me of that Clay Aiken song, Invisible. And yes, one of his lines in that song is, “If I was invisible, then I could just watch you in your room” (www.azlyrics.com). How was that song his one hit wonder? Pre-adolescent girls must fantasize about superhero stalkers using their powers for evil creeping . . .? Anyway, back to discussing the power of flight. I imagine that flying would be the ultimate freeing experience.

During my walks I like to watch the ravens tease one another with small prey they capture in their talons. They flip, turn and free-fall along the cliff side, and it just seems in that moment that their worries fall away as they whole-heartedly play. Of course, the poor mouse that is repeatedly dropped in the sport is probably not describing the experience as playful or fun. But just think! Flying would save me money on gas, airfare and wasted time sitting in frustrating Bay Area traffic. It would provide me with the exhilarating sensation that I feel when running. That sensation that nothing is holding you back, and you can go it alone and be all right. Many of the interviewees on This American Life stated that they would not want to use their power of flight or invisibility to help others. I sheepishly admit that rescuing people was not the first idea that popped into my mind when I pictured myself capable of flying to Hawaii (for free) on a whim. However, I had a recent experience leave me with a different superpower that I would use for the aid of others.

First, I need to preface this story with a few important details. I have extremely limited knowledge about automobiles. My capabilities when it comes to fixing or addressing issues with my car include putting gas in the fuel tank and refilling the windshield washer fluid. Yes, it’s sad but true. I almost helped change a flat tire on my car, but then it turned out that my wheel lock key was missing. You pretty much get the idea that I'm a dunce when it comes to resolving automobile issues on my own. I drive a Honda Element for work, and one morning a light came on the dashboard. I went to the user manual to decipher the hieroglyphic looking symbol, and it turned out that this particular symbol indicates low tire pressure through the tire pressure monitoring system. Well, I addressed the problem like I do most of my automobile issues: I ignored it hoping that it would go away.

A few days passed by and the damn low tire pressure light was still lit on the dashboard. I made the executive decision to stop ignoring the problem and face it. I turned to my phone and looked up how to put air into a tire. I encourage you to laugh at me, because putting air in a tire is about as basic as refilling the windshield washer fluid. But I had never done it before, and I feared the tire exploding in my face. I did know through my law class that gas stations were ordered to provide air for free, so I knew that it wouldn't cost me anything. Well, I bought a tire pressure gauge and went around to all the tires trying to figure out which one was low. Before you judge me for not just using my eyes, I did look at the tires, and they all looked fine to me. So, I took my new tire pressure gauge and checked all the tires. Sure enough the driver’s side rear tire was low and you could not tell just by looking at it. Great! I successfully determined which tire was low, and now all I had to do was fill it up with some air. Sounds easy enough, but of course being a novice this task was daunting.

I pulled the hose for the air and squeezed the lever to emit the pressurized air. Nothing. I kept squeezing, because like the “door close” elevator button, the more you try the faster it will work . . . Still nothing. Then, I decided to read the directions. Clearly stated on the front of the machine it says that to use the air you just need to go inside to the front counter. I went inside and the nice gentleman turned the air on for me, and naturally when I returned outside it actually sounded like it was on. I squeezed the lever and a shot of air came out. After removing the cap, I held the end of the hose to the nozzle on the tire and squeezed air into the tire. I began panicking though, because I was worried that air wasn’t actually going into the tire, and I was just deflating the tire. I held the end on tighter and squeezed. Paranoid about exploding tires in my face, I stopped and decided to check the pressure with my gauge. Victory! I had successfully inflated the tire to the recommended tire pressure as per the user manual guidelines.

I felt invigorated! I stood a little taller and walked with my palms face out wearing my grease proudly. However, I knew that the real testament to my success depended on that little light on the dash. I turned the car on, the low tire pressure light came on and I started to drive away. Suddenly, the light turned off! At that moment, I was unstoppable. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. As I drove on, I noticed that I began obsessively focusing on every driver’s tires. Custom paint job, imported rims, 16 cylinder 1200 horsepower Bugatti Veyron Vitesse? Nah man, check out those properly inflated tires! Throughout the day I stared at every tire I walked past, and I began feeling the urge to check the tire’s pressure. I resisted the temptation, because I didn’t feel like being arrested. Then, I would have to explain to my arresting officer that I was not trying to steal the car’s wheels; “I swear officer I was only checking the tire pressure.” It did give me an idea though. In order to avoid conflicts with law enforcement I would have to choose the life of a vigilante. I could call myself the Psi Equalizer and rescue citizen’s cars from potential flat tires by warning them about the dangerous villain, low tire pressure. My other adversaries would include broken glass, latent nail and the always conniving, pothole. Flight might not instill a sense of humanitarianism, but my new, real super power has. Fear not humankind the Psi Equalizer is here to save the day!

title: The Psi Equalizer

question: What is the main conflict of the story?

answer: A man has to deal with a tire that is low on air, as well as the notion that the know-how for this task should be a commonly known thing (even though it is probably not as common as the narrator believes, but the narrator is highly conscious about it)

question: What is the relevance of the prolonged discussion about the advantages of the power of flight?

answer: The long discussion about flight is not that relevant at all to the main point of the story -the narrator has simply set the foundation for conclusion of the narrative which is that they engaged in a mental exercise about turning into a vigilante that specialized in handling low pressure tires.

question: Why the the narrator's car have a tire with low pressure?

answer: No direct information was given, but it is assumed from the story that the tire itself has not sustained any damage so it is likely that the loss of pressure is simply from day to day use and weathering.

question: What is the narrator's car?

answer: The narrator drives a Honda Elements.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Man feels extra proud of himself for handling a low pressure tire in his car and has decided that if he were a superhero, he would help other motorists with their low pressure tires.


split: train

text:
Toyota is recalling nearly 188,000 pickup trucks, SUVs and cars worldwide because the air bags may not inflate in a crash.

The recall covers 2018 and 2019 Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs as well as 2019 Avalon sedans.

Toyota says the air bag control computer can erroneously detect a fault when the vehicles are started. With a fault, the air bags may not deploy in a crash. The company wouldn't say if the problem has caused any injuries.

Toyota will notify owners and dealers will update the air bag control software. The recall is expected to begin Oct. 22. The recall covers about 185,000 vehicles in North America and 2,600 in other markets.

_The Associated Press_

question: Why is Toyota recalling vehicles?

answer: Because their airbags may not inflate in a crash.

question: Which vehicles are affected by the recall?

answer: 2018 and 2019 Tundra pickup trucks, Sequoia SUVs, and 2019 Avalon Sedans.

question: What causes the problem?

answer: Air bag control computers erroneously detect a fault when the vehicles are started.

question: How many vehicles will the recall cover?

answer: 185,000 in North America, 2,600 in other markets.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Toyota is recalling 187,600 vehicles, trucks, SUVs, and sedans starting Oct. 22. A fault with the air bag control computer causes the air bags to not deploy during a crash. The company has not said whether the problem has caused any injuries.


text:
**Life, in a Couple Paragraphs**

I wake up one morning feeling adventurous. I hop out of bed and shamble in to the bathroom to take a shower, stopping to pick up my blanket and tuck it into the covers my Mommy had tucked me in the night before.

~

When I exit the shower, I run my hands through my hair and toss my head around like a wet dog to get rid of the water. I go into my room to put on some clean clothes and decide on a green Power Ranger shirt that I get when my family went to Disney last February Vacation and a pair of Lee Jeans, topped off with light up Spiderman sneakers. As I enter the kitchen, I ruffle my dog’s fur and talk to her in that “baby” voice people use on dogs to make them seem more human-like. My brother asks me if I’d make him something to eat and I ask him what he wanted.
	“Cereal, I guess,” is his response. “Lucky Charms,” he adds as I reach for the Oatmeal Squares he usually eats on Saturday mornings before he heads off to his girlfriend’s house on the 11:35 a.m. Subway that takes you Downtown. I pour his cereal and milk on top of it; he only drinks 2% for some odd reason.
	“Thanks,” he says as he wipes his mouth with his long sleeve thermal and seizes his bag from the chair next to him. I ask him what’s in the bag, but all he says is, “stuff.” It takes me a few years to realize what my brother meant, but when I get to junior high I start to understand.

~

“You tryna hit this, dude?” Jed says. I haven’t smoked Marijuana, or “weed,” before, but I don’t wanna look like a pussy. I say “I’ll hit it” and when I inhale I choke for a good two minutes --while Steve and Jed sit on the rock where we hang out after we finish our homework on weekdays.
“First time, huh?” Steve says as he exhales a plume of smoke that makes me gag. I say “yeah” and throw my hand over my mouth.
 “You’ll get used to it,” Jed says exhaling and coughing. Steve points at him and laughs, spitting out the insult, “whatta bitch,” between fits of laughter.

~

“Where is it?” the cop asks. I tell him that I don’t know what he’s talking about and he tells me to “shut up.” He bends me over the hood of my 2005 Acura TL and cuffs my hands together. I know I’m gonna get fucked, even though none of it was my fault. 300 kilos of Heroin “wasn’t my fault?” They wouldn’t buy it, my story. I mean, it starts off sketchy and continues to grow, progressively, worse: like the life of a person that, a few years ago, I would ridicule and make fun of. Society will do that to you. Life will, too. You think you’re “someone” and then, after a couples bad (or good) decisions you’re someone completely different.
The penalty is in after a few brief moments of the jury talking: GUILTY. It wasn’t even close. I had a terrible lawyer. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not the time for excuses, though.

~

“Ten years,” says the Judge. Cheers fill the room and I’m escorted out into a police car, in cuffs.

~

It’s hard to write in here. I’ve been here ten years, come tomorrow. Everyone else is out going to college and getting jobs. Hell, even Jed went to Italy to work with some architects or something. But I’ve been here. Writing all these thoughts on spare pieces of napkins and, well, I’m on to the wall now. Words cover my cell. The guards think I’m planning some assassination or something. They ask me what I’m writing and all I say is “stuff.”

~

It’s so much different on the outside. So many things have changed. We have electric cars now? And we’re in another war? A black guy is President? How many things did I miss? Nothing changes on the inside: Herb’s always playing cards, 10:22 a.m. to 6:37 p.m., every day; Matt’s lifting weights and listening to some new country song when you think he’d be more into Rap and that kind of shit; Scott’s tattooing people, un-professionally, of course. It’s all the same. All the time…

~

Been out from behind bars for thirty-two years now. Met the girl of my dreams, finished school, got a job, dumped the girl of my dreams for some skank I’d been hooking up with from a nearby high school for the past two months, worked for her dad doing something with cars, broke her heart and her dad came after me with a shovel, moved out to Cali, started a surf shop with some guys off the street, got addicted to coke, went to rehab, met another girl on a run through the park when her dog’s leash tripped me, moved back East to Philly with her, got hitched, moved to Southern ME, started working for a fisherman, retired, had an affair with our house maid, got divorced, started smoking Pot again, met another girl, got re-married, got cheated on, followed by another divorce, then I started writing. Got through most of my life without much of anything or anyone. My only prized possessions are an old acoustic guitar that’s always a little flat, an old 60-gig iPod, and a pair of vintage jeans I bought at a Salvation Army a few years back when I found out my youngest child had Leukemia.

~

I’ve written a few best sellers now. And from time to time, people mention my name in the newspaper. I’m long gone in the Caribbean, though; in a small three-room cottage with shitty Internet service and some illegal immigrant I think I’ve fallen for. People stop by every once in a while, looking for a story or something, I don’t know. It’s like they think I wrote it all down.

title: Life, in a Couple Paragraphs.

question: Why did the narrator move to the Caribbean?

answer: Likely to get away.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator tells his life in chunks with years passing between stories. He recalls getting sentenced to jail for 10 years for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. More than thirty years after being released he's lived and loved and written a few bestsellers.


text:
[XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi Winners of Light Welter Weight (64 kg) Boxing Event: Valentino Knowles (Bronze), third from left]

VALENTINO KNOWLES (born 16 August 1988) is a Bahamian former professional boxer.

Career

As an amateur, Knowles represented the Bahamas across various international competitions in the light welterweight division. His best performances include a gold medal at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, a silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games and a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He also competed at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in 2009 and 2011.

Knowles missed qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics and soon after turned professional.[1] He fought two professional bouts in 2013, both wins, over Ruben Ozuna and Alejandro Ochoa. During this time he trained in Miami, under Orlando Cuellar.[2]

Shooting

His career was ended by a shooting in 2014, outside an apartment complex in the Kemp Road area of Nassau. Shots were fired at Knowles and three other pedestrians from a vehicle which had pulled up, with the boxer struck multiple times.[3] Knowles was shot in the leg, upper right chest, chin and twice in his left hand.[4] He was sent to hospital in a serious condition but doctors were able to save his life. His leg was broken in three places and he suffered a fractured jaw.[5]

He is now a certified international amateur boxing coach.[6]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

title: Valentino Knowles

question: When was Knowles born?

answer: August 16, 1988

question: Why did Knowles retire from boxing?

answer: He was injured in a shooting in 2014, which broke his leg in three places and fractured his jaw

question: What does Knowles do now?

answer: He is a certified international amateur boxing coach

question: Where is Knowles from?

answer: The Bahamas

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Valentino Knowles is a former professional boxer from the Bahamas who was born in 1988. He represented the Bahamas at several international competitions as an amateur, but his career was ended in 2014 when he was seriously injured in a shooting. He is now a certified amateur boxing coach.


text:
The door opens.
“What was that?”
“My husband must have gotten home early”
“Fuck, what do I do?”
“I would run if I was you, dumbass”
“Shit look at me, I can kill the motherfucker”
“Did I mention he is an ex marine?”
“That changes everything doesn’t it? So I should run now”
“Bye Randy”
The man quickly grabs his pants and puts them on without the underwear. Rush. Rush. Rush. The husband bursts through the door before the man can open the window.
“Who the fuck is this Sierra?” said the husband.
“Run Randy!”
The man then dashes out the door behind the angry husband and heads for the car. The car is an ran ragged 1994 Aston Martin Vantage with a sun roof, midnight black paint job with brown dust all over it. He slides over the hood of it with the angry husband hot on his trail. He jumps in the car. Starts it. And almost runs over the angry husband while getting away. The angry husband then takes off one of his shoes and busts the taillight of the car. The man the drives off into the sun, thinking about what had just happened.
“Was she calling me Randy?” the man said to himself.
“Who the hell is Randy?” he then added.
He then chuckled and kept driving to the run down shit apartment he has became accustomed to calling home.

This is my first time attempting to write anything, i need feedback. any at all would be appreciated. good or bad. i need it all. thanks in advance reddit.

title: The Man

question: Who is the main character of the story?

answer: Sierra's lover she calls "Randy"

question: Why did Randy run out of the house?

answer: He was sleeping with a married woman when the husband arrives home early.

question: Who arrives home early and catches their partner in bed with another man?

answer: Sierra's husband.

question: How does Sierra convince "Randy" to run away?

answer: She mentions her husband is an ex marine.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer:
Sierra's husband gets home early while she has another lover in bed with her. She calls him "Randy". She mentions he is an ex marine and tell Randy to run.
The husband chases after Randy but he gets away in his Aston Martin.


text:
Mike Colter recently talked about the Marvel and Netflix series The Defenders, which will be a bit lighter in tone compared to its four predecessors.

_The Defenders_ star Mike Colter (who plays Luke Cage in the ensemble street-level superhero team-up) has just stated that the miniseries will have “a sort of lightness” to it, indicating that it will be the most accessible of Netflix’s Marvel shows.

Talking to LRM Online at the Denver Comic Con, Colter stated that _The Defenders_ would have a relatively lighter tone compared to the other four works in the Netflix-Marvel mythos – _Daredevil_, _Jessica Jones_, _Luke Cage_, and _Iron Fist_ – and that it would feel like a “Summer popcorn thing”. This approach isn’t all that surprising given that the Netflix series will have a shorter first season than the other shows – consisting of eight episodes instead of the usual thirteen – and it will have to focus on integrating the ensembles of all four series into a single, concise narrative.

_The Defenders_ join forces on August 18, 2017. The show features an ensemble cast that includes Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock (Daredevil), Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage, Finn Jones as Danny Rand (Iron Fist), Élodie Yung as Elektra Natchios, Eka Darville as Malcolm Ducasse, Simone Missick as Misty Knight, Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Henson as “Foggy” Nelson, Carrie-Ann Moss as Jeri Hogarth, Scott Glenn as Stick, Rachael Taylor as Pasty Walker, Rosario Dawson as Claire Temple, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, Wai Ching Ho as Madame Gao, and Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra Reid.

Source: LRM ONLINE

[Grant Davis]

question: Is Pasty walker a superhero or a villain?

answer: Unclear

question: How many episodes will the first season of "The Defenders" have?

answer: Eight

question: How will "The Defenders" compare to the other Netflix Marvel series?

answer: It will have a lighter tone.

question: When does the show premiere?

answer: August 18, 2017

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The latest Netflix Marvel series, "The Defenders," will debut August 18, 2017. Compared to "Dare Devil," "Jessica Jones, "Luke Cage," and "Iron Fist," it will be decidedly lighter in mood. It will have a shorter first season at only eight episodes compared to the usual thirteen.


text:
The GRASS SKYLINE is a scenic road in Zhangbei County, Hebei, China. It was paved in 2012 and a toll was imposed in 2016. In 2015 three tourist service centres were established on the road along with 23 car parks and 41 public toilets, and in that year it was visited by 330,000 people.[1] The Grass Skyline is a highway in China,which is famous for its amazing scene.It is also known as China's Route 66.It is located at the junction of zhangbei county and chongli county,between chongli ski area and zhangbei grassland scenic spot is also one of the most beautiful roads in mainland China.

Highway

The Grass Skyline is a county road. The total length is about 132.7 km. Zhangjiakou City begun to build it at the end of 2011,which cost about 320 million yuan, open to traffic in September 2012.

Scenic spot

There are the ruins of the ancient Great Wall, Huapi ridge, Yehu ridge, Zhang Bei grassland, and many other cultural, ecological and geological tourism resources. It is at the edge of xilingol prairie, with an average elevation 1400 meters, average annual temperature is 4 degrees Celsius.

Route

Shift from Beijing-Tibet expressway G6 to Zhangcheng high-speed G95 and go to the Huapiling high-speed toll station. Then, go down highway 242 Zhanghu line and turn left.

Caution

1, Don't park your car at will, don't throw rubbish everywhere, don't trample crops and tree. 2, Don't barbecue and smoke in grassland. 3, When entering the village area, don't take pictures without allowance. 4, Remember to bring shirts and trousers, and pay attention to the cold weather and sun burning.

Ticket

May 1, 2016, Zhangbei county government information disclosure platform Released the "Zhangbei County Price Bureau on the Grass Skyline Scenic Area ticket prices approved to determine the Grass Skyline Scenic Area began to collect tickets, ticket prices for 50 yuan / person. Zhangjiakou Zhangbei County Price Bureau in April 20, 2016 held a prairie Grass Skyline Scenic Area ticket price hearing. According to the relevant laws and regulations, in line with social benefits, the principle of appropriate compensation costs, the grassland days (in accordance with the relevant provisions of the laws and regulations, Grass Skyline ticket prices approved as follows: Tickets for the 50 yuan / person. Reporters from the May 1 Prairie Grass Skyline Scenic Spot Management Office posted fees to see the elderly over the age of 65, children under 1.2 meters, holding my military card, soldiers card, press card, tour card, the disabled card People, as well as grassland along the road in the production and living of villagers and enterprises and institutions to implement free of charge. In addition, holders of my student card can enjoy half price. The range of tickets collected covers all areas of “Grass Skyline”, from west to east, across Shangyi, Wanquan, Zhangbei, Chongli, Guyuan five counties, a total length of more than 300 kilometers. (Currently only one 132.7 km was opened to traffic, two to be built). 50 tickets covering the two sections. June 19, 2015, Zhangjiakou price department held a 'Prairie Road' scenic ticket price hearing, "a full three hours, most of the hearing on behalf of the endorsement of the Charges, then made 80 yuan per person caused by the charging standard is not a small dispute, the price department said Grass Skyline charges suspended.

Reason for Charges

First, the area carrying capacity is too low and the problem of serious overload, to drive as the main means of sightseeing is bound to bring a lot of vehicles, and had only three road grassland Grass Skyline, obviously difficult to carry such a large number of traffic, not only lead to a sense of ornamental Drop, but also makes frequent congestion.

Second, the lack of service facilities, Grass Skyline the current official service facilities is very small, mainly by private operators to provide, its quality of service facilities is not high, the number of small scenic spots is one of the main causes of serious pollution. Third, the area of service business operators are mainly local farmers, small businesses scattered situation is more prominent, the lack of unified planning and guidance, and even the starting price and kill people from the phenomenon, the lower the level of service and higher prices limit the scenic Further enhance the internal.

Stop charging

Deep in the vortex of public opinion Zhang Bei Prairie Tin Road Scenic Area from May 1 this year, 50 yuan tickets to the issue of tourists, after repeated fermentation, the afternoon of May 20 came the news stop charging. Zhangjiakou City, Zhangbei County Government decided that from May 20, 2016, the abolition of “Grass Skyline” scenic area charges. But the evening news reporter learned that morning, starting from May 21, Sky Road, no longer receive tickets.

[1]

title: Grass Skyline

question: What's the average elevation of the location?

answer: 1400 meters

question: What was the toll fee for visiting?

answer: 80 yuan

question: When did the authorities stop collecting tolls?

answer: May 20, 2016

question: Is photography permitted

answer: Only with permission

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: This article introduces the Grass Skyline, a scenic road in China. It discusses the history and construction of the route, some popular landmarks, and the history of tolls along the road. It mentions that tolls are no longer being collected.


text:
   On the eleventh day of June in the year 2013, a young girl by the name of Annabelle sat in her bed thinking.

   Her best friend, Macy, was texting her the usual amusing conversations that arose between them.

   Her younger sister laid in her bed, probably asleep, but Annabelle had no way of knowing for sure.

   Her parents were in their bedroom, watching TV. Annabelle was alone.

   The air conditioning was on; it had been a hot day. Annabelle pulled the comforter up around her and shot her friend a quick text; she hadn't responded in a while. Annabelle was alone emotionally.

   Music drifted through Annabelle's head, a symphany of symphanies. She could almost feel the pull of her alto saxophone strap on her neck and the smooth metal keys under her fingers.

   Annabelle yawned, it had been a dull day. A dull day stacked upon dull days. Summer stretched on forever, with no end in sight.

   Annabelle glanced around her room. Hanging on her white walls were pictures and drawings and letters and posters. Some of it had been given to her by her friends and family, and some she had made herself. Someday she was going to run out of space, but for now the cluttered wall made Annabelle feel at home in her small room.

   Closing her eyes for a second, Annabelle imagined how her life could be different. It could be worse- seperated parents, no house, no food, no money. But it could also be better: more friends. No matter how many or how good, Annabelle never felt like it was enough. She didn't necessarily want to be *popular*, but she wanted people from all different groups to like her for who she was.

   A lot of times Annabelle felt like her intelligence created a barrier between her and other people. People would hear about her grades or her "good girl" aura before they actually talked to her. She didn't really have any proof, but it was Annabelle's best guess.

   Annabelle was shy, but only sometimes. As much as Annabelle tried not to fit into a stereotype, she sometimes held herself to it. She would dance in math class with Macy to music inside her head, but when there was an oportunity to dance on camera in band, she was one of only 5 people who refused.

   Annabelle wasn't sure if she was pretty or not. Sometimes, she looked in the mirror and really felt good about herself. But othertimes, sometimes later in the day or in a different light, Annabelle thought she was plain. She was pretty convinced this was the truth, and the way everyone saw her. Annabelle didn't think that anyone was beautiful, because to her that was someone with no flaws. Annabelle knew her definition of beautiful was wrong, but she knew she couldn't change it.

   Annabelle didn't know what it meant to be beautiful on the inside. A beautiful soul must be pink and rosy, but everyone had flaws, little black edges. Annabelle wasn't sure if black could be beautiful, or even if black wanted to be beautiful. Maybe black loved to be the other side of the coin.

   Love wasn't something Annabelle felt sure about, but I guess if we are being truthful, she wasn't sure about anything. She didn't know if love was possible at 13 or 14, or even 20. She didn't know what love was. Anyone can find a list of "symptoms" of love on the internet, but Annabelle didn't really believe any of it. Was true love even possible?

   Annabelle stared up at the ceiling fan and watched it spin. It had such a wonderfly boring life. It spun and spun, and when it was cold outside it was stopped. No independent thought or worries or obligations of any kind. It was a ceiling fan and no one expected it to be or do anything extrordinary. What a life.

**TL;DR** A young girl thinks about her life and eventually it all boils down to a ceiling fan.

title: The Metaphorical Life of a Ceiling Fan

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: Annabelle is a teenage girl who thinks about her life.

question: What is the setting?

answer: The setting of the story is Annabelle's bedroom.

question: How is the narrator feeling?

answer: She feels at home and comforted by her room. She realizes her life could be a lot worse than it is. She wants more friends. She thinks her intelligence is a barrier to her making new friends.

question: What does the title, "The Metaphorical Life of a Ceiling Fan" mean?

answer: Annabelle thinks about the ceiling fan's "life". It has a wonderfully boring life, nobody expects anything extraordinary from it.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: Annabelle is a teenage girl who thinks about her life while laying in her bed. She feels at home and comforted by her room. She realizes her life could be a lot worse than it is. She wants more friends. She thinks her intelligence is a barrier to her making new friends.


text: I'm reminded of a time at a Home Depot in Salt Lake City. I was visiting family and realized that I had a situation that was going to be resolved in short order. I could tell immediately that the terms of the resolution could be set by me or the other concerned party. Either way, I was a ticking time bomb. After sanitarily situating myself upon the available depository, I realized that I had a neighbor. Like me, he was also attempting to remedy his plight with the utmost of auditory discretion. I was aware that I was engaged in an epic battle of wills. I was determined to see my adversary committed to the murky depths (without an utterance on its part) when I arrived on the scene, but as events unfolded I was quickly made aware of the fact that I was hopelessly outmatched. Evidently the co-inhabitant of the room was blessed with better fortune than I. He had completed his task in exemplary fashion. It was at such time that my condition had come to a head. All time stood still. The uncontrollable breach was imminent. I knew that the anonymous person adjacent to me was aware, on some level, of my situation due to imperfections in my performance caused by the desperation that had seized me. It was then that I knew, the battle was lost. My thoughts turned to the kamikaze pilots of the Great War. Without thinking I said aloud, " You know what? I'm just gonna let this thing go." With that, I simultaneously collapsed containment and summoned every ounce of strength I had in me. I bore down on my assailant with all my might. The resulting explosion of material, coupled with the massive shock wave of water, was deafening. Silence took the room. I was lost in an eternity of defeat. It was then that the satisfaction and peace washed over me like a warm gentle wave of the sea on a sandy beach. I knew I had lost touch with reality. I was being tugged back to my senses by a mysterious and rhythmic hissing. As my wits returned to me, I could hear the sound coming from my left, just on the other side of the steel partition. The source of hissing sound became apparent to me. Laughter. Laughter from someone overwhelmed by the sensory bouquet that had consumed the entire space only moments earlier. Our somewhat shared experience had obviously overloaded every synapse in his head and his brain was struggling to process what his senses had portrayed to him. By now it was apparent that he was so tightly gripped by the involuntary response that he was having trouble catching his breath. After a few moments he seemed able to collect himself enough to wash his hands and make an exit that was honestly not hasty enough for my taste. None the less I remained in solitude for another few minutes to ensure that my identity remained hidden upon my egress from this gastrointestinal colosseum of terrors. It was a learning experience to be sure. Sometimes a man can only do so much to defend his public image in the face of great adversity.

title: A humorous and irreverent tale of a desperate man.

question: Describe what happens to the narrator, in simple terms.

answer: The narrator rushes to the restroom in order to relieve himself of an urgent need. The man sits on the toilet and then proceeds to poop, loudly. The narrator then feels embarrassed when another person in the room begins to laugh at him.

question: How does the narrator describe his bowel movement?

answer: He describes it on the same terms as a kamikaze pilot.

question: How does the other person in the room react?

answer: The otehr person laughs and then takes their time to leave the room.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: A man relieves himself loudly in a restroom with another person present. After loudly letting himself go, the other person laughs and then leaves. The man waits a little while and then leaves as well.


text:
An EVENT MOVIE or EVENT FILM is a blockbuster film whose release itself is considered a major event. It could be a highly anticipated sequel or a big budget film with state-of-the-art special effects or major stars generating considerable attention.[1] Although it is subjective what is and what isn't considered an event movie, they are usually among the highest-grossing movies in their years of release and become a part of popular culture.

Steven Spielberg's _Jaws_ from 1975 is the first film that was considered an event movie at the time of its release,[2] but some sources also retroactively apply the term to earlier films such as _The Birth of a Nation_ (1915), _Gone with the Wind_ (1939), and _Ben-Hur_ (1959). Examples more recent than Jaws include Spielberg's _Jurassic Park_ (1993), James Cameron's _Titanic_ (1997) and _Avatar_ (2009), and the _Star Wars_, _Harry Potter_, and _Lord of the Rings_ films. In the 2010s, other event movies include _The Hunger Games_ (2012), _Frozen_ (2013), _Deadpool_ (2016),[3] and many films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in particular _Avengers: Infinity War_ (2018) and _Avengers: Endgame_ (2019).

[1]

[2] 'Jaws,' The First 'Event Movie,' Turns 35

[3] Why event movies are overtaking A-list stars from USA Today

title: Event movie

question: What is an event film?

answer: An event film is a blockbuster film that's release itself is considered a major event.

question: What are the parameters for considering a film an event film?

answer: While the parameters are subjective, they are usually the highest-grossing movies of the year and become a part of popular culture.

question: What is considered to be the first event film?

answer: Many consider Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" released in 1975 to be the first event film.

question: Who coined the term "event film"?

answer: Not answered.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: An event film is a film that's release is so highly anticipated that the release is considered an event.


text:
I wrote this for my English 12 class, feedback/suggestions would be great. :)

*Red*

The morning light shines through my window, hitting my face, bringing me back into consciousness. I throw off my duvet, and note the absence of my cat from the bed. I need to let him outside, he tends to get stir crazy. I have my fuzzy robe on within a minute, and after making my bed, I head towards the bathroom.

Brush teeth, wash face, comb hair. The morning routine has been drilled into my head for ages. But I like it that way. Orderly.  Routine. I start to make my way back to my bedroom, pausing at the first doorway on my left. It's the twins' room. The door was wide open, but my cat wasn't inside. A bunk bed is in the corner, the top with a bright pink blanket, the bottom with a baby blue one. Toys scattered the floor, a half-full glass of dark red juice sitting on the bedside table. I pick up the worn, stuffed rabbit from the carpet, feeling the threads - they barely holding it together. It was once my toy, but it was given my sister. No one ever asked me if I was okay with that, they just assumed I was finished with such childish things. I never liked the rabbit much anyway, toys seem like a waste of time; but I put the rabbit in the big pocket on the front of my robe.  I walk over to the dresser, running my finger along the edge of it, gazing at my reflection in the mirror on the wall. My dark hair falls just past my shoulders, contrasting the pale skin and light green eyes I inherited from my mother. I have always liked being pale; it makes me feel like a ghost. Like I can be invisible.

I softly close the door behind me as I exit the room, making my way to the next one. I really need to find my cat.

My eldest brother's room is even more messy than the twins'. Clothes and books and magazines and pens and CDs and game controllers and posters everywhere. They covered the now barely visible laminate, futon bed, and red walls - like a collage of my brother and everything he is. The CDs he had bought at a yard sale last weekend lay piled beside the bed. I pick up one of them, the edge of the case was cracked, but the album art was pretty. Abstract and complex. A picture had been thrown to the ground, ripped in two. My brother had recently been broken up with, and seemed very distraught over it. I don't understand his emotions. Why would he feel sad about someone who didn't want him anyway? His face looks happy in the photo. I always wonder what people are really thinking in photographs. Are they really happy? Or are they faking it?

I slam his door as I leave, it had been difficult to close ever since him and my father had been playfully wrestling and broke through it. I remember it sounded like a gunshot, or at least what I thought a gunshot sounded like at the time. So loud and out of place.

The next door was to my parent's room; maybe the cat is hiding in there. My mother tries to keep it orderly, the effort is evident. Clothes folded, but never put away. A small garbage can in the corner, but it hadn't been changed in so long it had begun to overflow. Both of my parents work nine to five jobs and have four children to raise - so keeping a neat room was not a priority. I lay down on the their cozy, king-sized bed, with its deep red comforter and silky white sheets. I could smell my mother's favourite perfume and my father's aftershave that my brother had bought for his birthday. Amateur hand-drawn pictures by my siblings lined the walls, maybe to remind the two that they had something to get up for in the morning. My mother's jewelry lay scattered on her vanity, her beautiful white gold bracelet with little diamonds embedded was right on the edge. She has always told me I could have it someday. I hope that day is soon. I enter the hall and slowly close the door to the room, to avoid that irritating creaking sound it makes sometimes.

I wonder if the cat has gone back to my room.

As I enter, I feel the breeze come in from the open window, blowing my hair behind me. Most of my room is white, the colour always looks neat. I gaze around at my books, all ordered alphabetically. At the bedside table, where my alarm clock and lamp are placed flawlessly parallel to each other. At the closet, where the transparent curtain covering it revealed the neatly hung clothes within. At the desk, where not a single thing is out of place. Perfection.

Hunger hits me suddenly; I should go join my family downstairs. I hang a sharp right outside my door and descend down the staircase, towards the kitchen. I ignore the sticky wetness under my feet as I put some bread in the toaster. The cat was sitting on the counter, looking at me. Almost glaring. How long has he been down here? I wonder why he didn't sleep in my room last night. I cast open the window over the sink, so he can go outside.

I stare out at the cloudy sky through the now open window; an airplane speeds across, and a flock of birds land in a nearby tree. Sometimes, I feel like I'm a bird - floating through life, often with no direction, no feeling. The popping toast breaks the perfect silence that had fallen over my house. I eat it plain, my hunger wouldn't allow for any more delay. I finish the toast, and sigh, my stomach finally satisfied. I feel content.

I turn around, away from the counter and towards my family.

Red smears the walls, the cupboards, the counters, the floors. And the five bodies on the floor. Their unseeing faces and clothes and skin all covered with that ruby red substance. Some dishes and cutlery lay scattered with them, knocked down in the struggle. The colour coats the fallen items and people, blending them all together. Red. So much red.

A scream pierces the air, breaking that beautiful silence once more. A look of horror on our neighbour's face as she walks into the kitchen; I forgot she was coming by to pick up her casserole dish. Maybe she can help me clean up; this is quite a mess. I sit down in the crimson and run my fingers through it as she sobs into the telephone, summoning emergency services. I don't see what the emergency is - there's no saving those who are gone.

title: Red

question: Did the narrator kill her family?

answer: Unclear, but she's incredibly, coldly comfortable with the murderous crime scene and the fact that her family is dead. One can presume she did it.


text:
The most common misconception about male vs. female sexuality is that men are creatures of nature, while women are creatures of meaning. Biology drives him. Emotions drive her.

But while we say women are so complex, we need to remember that men are not so simple. In my practice, I frequently hear stories from patients that indicate these gender myths make us lose sight of what is actually happening.

Saddled with these narrow ideas of sexuality, we suffer through unfulfilled sexual and emotional needs. And our relationships pay the price.

So let's explore some ways that this common script can be turned on its head.

Male Sexuality Can Be Relational -- and Emotional

A major unknown of male sexuality is how relationally-driven it really is. Men hold hidden stories that they often don’t share with anyone. Even themselves. This is as true in sex -- where we expect men to be driven -- as it is in men’s emotional lives. Perhaps even more true in the arena of sex because of the age old concept of what it means to be "a real man."

Fear of rejection, performance anxiety, guilt, shame, insecurity, and depression -- all these are internal states that greatly influence a man’s feeling about himself and his self-esteem. They seep directly into his sexual self, his desires, and fantasies. And they determine his sense of entitlement and deprivation. This makes male sexuality very emotional.

Male sexuality is about how the man feels about himself in view of the other. This explains why so many men would rather not be with a partner. It is easier to be alone than to feel the pain associated with “measuring up” -- or the anxiety of failing to.

I often hear men say that nothing turns them on more than to see their partner (male or female) turned on. Women who come into my office rarely express the same sentiment.

In being turned on by seeing their partners "into it", these men reveal some important features of themselves. They reveal their generosity, their care for the pleasure of their partner.

I've often found that this pleasure is important to men because it confirms that he is not being predatory. In his partner's blissful face, he knows that he is not hurting, he is pleasing.

As such, men are dependent on their partners for reaffirmation and proof that they are kind and loving men. It is another way of looking at what the reality is of being a "real man". And it is highly relational.

Female Sexuality Can Be Narcissistic (in a Good Way)

In contrast to what I hear from my male patients, many women tell me they’re animated by being the turn on. Her flicker comes from inside, not from the other, and if she is not into it, nothing will happen.

The unspoken truth about women’s sexuality is how narcissistic it can be -- in the best of ways. The female's ability to focus on herself is the pathway to erotic pleasure.

By channeling an internal focus, women are freed from their social roles, which often revolve around tending to the needs of others. In that freedom from care and attention to the well-being of others, they are able to find space to experience pleasure.

Female sexuality is widely believed to be rooted in commitment, but that is not always true. If it were, sex would thrive in loving, committed relationships. We know the opposite is often the case - desire flags once commitment sets in. We also know that women lose interest first - after a shorter amount of time, and rather precipitously.

But If That Is The Myth, Then What Is The Reality?

The reality is that sexual yearnings of partners are often divergent.

I can’t tell you how many desperate husbands have shown up in my office with a reluctant wife in tow, telling me that they are tired of the nightly rejections. “She’s obsessed with the kids,” they tell me. “She’s tired every night. No matter how much I try to help out around the house or encourage her to take a break, I can’t get lucky. She’s just not interested in sex anymore.” Often the wives agree, telling me they don’t really care if they never have sex again.

Couples like this one are in a bind that twists deep below the surface. It’s not that the woman is less interested in sex or the man is always up for it. Rather, the woman is less interested in the sex she can have, while the man is seeking connection through sex with an uninterested partner.

What couples need to understand

1.  For women, lack of sexual interest should not be unequivocally associated with a weaker sex drive. Instead, it helps to acknowledge that female sexual desire is a drive that needs ongoing engagement. It needs to be stoked intensely and imaginatively throughout the years.
2.  Male desire needs to be looked at through a lens that incorporates relational and emotional factors. Sex is the language through which men have license to ask for love, tenderness, surrender, sensuality, affection and more. Often sex is the only keyhole he has to fulfill these emotional needs.
3.  For both: sex is never just sex. Even if it is a hit and run. It takes a lot of emotion to make sex emotionless.

And for therapists, this conversation is just getting started.

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

If you’re a therapist or coach interested in gender relations and sexuality, join us at SESSIONS LIVE 2018: THE MASCULINITY PARADOX FOR AN ESSENTIAL TRAINING ON THE CURRENT CULTURAL CRISIS. MORE INFORMATION HERE.

question: What affects a man in the arena of sex?

answer: Performance anxiety, fear of rejection, guilt, shame, insecurity, and depression.

question: Why is female sexuality termed narcissistic?

answer: The female sexuality has been termed narcissistic (in a good way) because of the woman's ability to focus on herself on the path of pleasure.

question: What is male sexuality about?

answer: Male sexuality is mainly about how the man feels about himself in view of the other.

question: What do couples need to understand?

answer:
- A woman's sexual desire is a drive that needs ongoing engagement.
- A man's desire needs to be looked at in a way that incorporates relational and emotional factors.

question: Write a ~8 sentence summary.

answer:
Male sexuality can be relational and emotional. The age-old concept of being a "real man"  often comes in the way. The fear of rejection, performance anxiety, guilt, shame, and insecurity are all internal states which influence a man's feelings. Male sexuality is about how a man feels about himself in the view of others.

Females on the other hand can be egocentric (in a good way). By being narcissistic, women are freed from their social roles which generally revolve around tending to others' needs.

What couples need to understand is that sex is never just sex. It takes a lot of emotion to make sex emotionless.


text:
“BROKEN PROMISES” is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American television series _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division), revolving around the character of Phil Coulson and his team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they are attacked by a rogue Life Model Decoy (LMD). It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The episode was written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Garry A. Brown, serving as the first in the second “pod” of episodes for the season, subtitled _LMD_.

Clark Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from the film series, and is joined by series regulars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, and John Hannah. Recurring guest star Mallory Jansen portrays Aida, the LMD that attacks S.H.I.E.L.D. A second version of Aida is also introduced, with Jansen wearing a slightly different costume to highlight the change. Another storyline follows recurring guest star Parminder Nagra as Senator Ellen Nadeer and Manish Dayal as her brother Vijay. For this subplot, Henstridge had to learn a Southern American accent and film a rare action sequence for her character.

“Broken Promises” originally aired on ABC on January 10, 2017, and was watched by 4.66 million viewers within a week of its release according to Nielsen Media Research. Critical response to the episode was mostly positive, with reviewers feeling the episode was a strong beginning to the _LMD_ arc and praising the comedic performances of Simmons and guest star Natalia Cordova-Buckley. However, the Nadeer subplot received mixed responses, with some considering it to be a “step back” for the series.

Plot

After gaining control of the _Darkhold_, the Book of Sins, S.H.I.E.L.D. looks to destroy it to keep it from being used for evil. Agent Leo Fitz and Dr. Holden Radcliffe are sent to clear the memory of the android Aida they have built, as she has read the book. However, her reading the _Darkhold_{{'}}s secrets appears to have granted her sentience, and Aida overpowers the pair. She then takes control of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems, and attacks the secret facility in search of the book.

Vijay Nadeer recovers at a family home after spending several months inside an Inhuman Terrigen cocoon. He is looked after by his sister, Senator Ellen Nadeer, who is the leader of the Humans First political movement; the siblings have a hatred for aliens after their mother died during an alien attack, and agreed that if either was “infected” and revealed as an Inhuman, the other would kill them. Nadeer orders a group of Watchdogs—anti-Inhuman terrorists she has aligned herself with—to kill her brother. He asks her to spare him, as he has not shown any sign of Inhuman abilities, but when S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Jeffrey Mace arrives with Agents Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons after Simmons had helped Vijay escape his cocoon, Vijay exhibits enhanced reflexes. Ellen convinces Vijay to go with her rather than S.H.I.E.L.D., but as they escape in a helicopter, Ellen kills her brother and dumps his body in a lake, where it is enveloped in another Terrigen cocoon.

Agent Phil Coulson gives the location of the _Darkhold_ to Agent Melinda May, who Aida has replaced with a Life Model Decoy—an android replica. From this, Aida finds the book. Fitz is able to take back control of the facility's systems before Aida can escape, and Agent Mack beheads the android with his ax. Radcliffe later laments about this to a new model of Aida, as he believes the book holds the secret to eternal life and wants it for himself. He had programmed the original Aida's apparent sentience in an attempt to steal the _Darkhold_, but must now rely on the May LMD to retrieve it for him.

Production

Development and writing

In December 2016, the mid-season finale episode of _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._, “The Laws of Inferno Dynamics”, ended with the android Aida seemingly replacing main character Melinda May with a Life Model Decoy, a replica android. Executive producer Jed Whedon explained that LMDs would be the subject of the season's next “pod” of episodes, subtitled _LMD_. He also said that the reintegration of Daisy Johnson into S.H.I.E.L.D. would be explored following her vigilante actions in the previous pod, _Ghost Rider_, and executive producer Maurissa Tancharoen added that at least the first episode of the second pod would deal with the mystery surrounding Senator Ellen Nadeer and her Inhuman brother.[1]

On changing from _Ghost Rider_ to _LMD_, Whedon explained that the Life Model Decoy technology is “something that we’ve been wanting to get to, and now we’re finally able to get to ... We want everything to feel like its own mini world, and to have its own flavor. So we do think you’ll come into the next section [of episodes] and immediately feel like, ‘Oh, this is a different kind of story.’” The first episode of the new pod was revealed to be titled “Broken Promises”.[2] At the end of the month, Marvel announced that the episode would be written by Brent Fletcher, and directed by series producer Garry A. Brown.[3]

Ahead of the episode's airing, actress Natalia Cordova-Buckley said that the episode would see some “stability” for the characters Alphonso “Mack” MacKenzie and Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez, after the pair begin a relationship in the mid-season finale. Cordova-Buckley noted that actor Henry Simmons and herself are both minorities, and that Rodriguez is an Inhuman character, allowing the series to explore an interracial relationship “based on respect and love” that viewers can “compare to the world we’re living in”.[4] The episode also introduces a second model of Aida, with actress Mallory Jansen saying that “Aida 2.0” would be programmed by Radcliffe to be more ruthless, and would have to learn from scratch everything the first version had learned during the season. The character's costume is a darker shade of gray than that worn by the original Aida to reflect these changes.[5] The episode features a reference to the film _Chopping Mall_ (1986).[6] Jim Wynorski, the director of _Chopping Mall_, messaged Fletcher thanking him for referencing the film and sent Fletcher an autographed Blu-ray of the film.[7]

Casting

In December 2016, Marvel confirmed that main cast members Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May, Chloe Bennet as Daisy Johnson / Quake, Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons, Henry Simmons as Mack, and John Hannah as Holden Radcliffe would be starring.[8] The guest cast for the episode includes Cordova-Buckley as Rodriguez, Jason O'Mara as Director Jeffrey Mace, Jansen as Aida, Parminder Nagra as Senator Nadeer, John Pyper-Ferguson as Terrence Shockley, Manish Dayal as Vijay Nadeer, Patrick Cavanaugh as Burrows, Blaise Miller as Agent Nathanson, Shari Vasseghi as Sunjna Nadeer and Bryan Keith as Zack Bynum.[9] Cordova-Buckley, O'Mara, Jansen, Nagra, Dayal, Cavanaugh, and Miller reprise their roles from earlier in the series.[10][11][12]

Filming

For the sequence in which Jemma Simmons goes undercover as a Washington, D.C. lobbyist, Henstridge had to use a Southern American accent. The British actress, who had never used any American accent during her career, explained that she used the accent because the episode originally included dialogue that explained her disguise's Southern origins, though they were ultimately cut. To prepare, Henstridge listened “to some recordings during the breaks” in filming. For the ensuing fight sequence, the production had only a short time to film at the “close of a late shoot”. For the fight's final stunt, Henstridge had one attempt to smash a fake glass over a stunt man's head, which she felt “turned out OK”.[13]

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

The backstory of Ellen and Vijay Nadeer, introduced in this episode, revolves around their mother's death during the Chitauri invasion of New York, as seen in the film _The Avengers_. A short sequence depicting the character's death during the events of the film is shown as a dream Vijay has while recovering from his time in an Inhuman cocoon.[14] A similar storyline to this was featured in the MCU series _Jessica Jones_, where another antagonistic character's backstory features a loved one dying during the Chitauri invasion.[15][16]

Release

“Broken Promises” was first aired in the United States on ABC on January 10, 2017.[17] It began streaming on Netflix, along with the rest of the fourth season, on June 15, 2017.[18]

Reception

Ratings

In the United States the episode received a 0.8/3 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 0.8 percent of all households, and 3 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was watched by 2.72 million viewers.[19] Within a week of its release, “Broken Promises” had been watched by 4.66 million U.S. viewers.[20]

Critical response

Reviewing the episode for Nerdist, Joseph McCabe said that any doubts he had about the series moving on from the _Ghost Rider_ storyline “are more or less eliminated”, feeling that the episode's take on a robotic antagonist was “_Avengers: Age of Ultron_ done right ... where it most obviously improves on the overstuffed second Avengers film is in the humor department, with a running commentary from Mack that references most every killer android movie of the 1980s.” McCabe called the Nadeer storyline “the dark heart and soul” of the episode, and praised the series continued confidence in “mirror[ing] real world events” with the hatred shown towards Inhumans.[21] At IGN, Terri Schwartz scored the episode 9 out of 10 for an “amazing” episode, calling the transition from _Ghost Rider_ to _LMD_ smooth, and praising the choice to have humans be the real monsters in the end of the monster-robot episode; Schwartz felt the Nadeer storyline complimented the Aida storyline well, and that the Radcliffe reveal was a smart direction to take the series.[22]

Alex McCown-Levy at _The A.V. Club_ graded the episode a 'B+', praising the reveal that Radcliffe was behind Aida's “sentience”, which he felt was well supported by the series' development of the character. He also praised the back-and-forth between Mack and Rodriguez as “the best running gag of the episode”, and called the Nadeer storyline “surprisingly strong”. McCown-Levy accredited the episode's success to Fletcher's writing, saying “both clumsy exposition and subtle character exchanges are handled with aplomb”.[23] Marc Buxtom of _Den of Geek_ called the change to _LMD_ “pretty enjoyable”, feeling the series “remains the old comfy slipper of the current slate of superhero shows ... _Agents Of SHIELD_ remains consistently fun and steady without ever sparking tonnes of interest or buzz.” Buxtom praised Aida as an effective “big bad”, and Mack and Rodriguez's storyline as “one of the highlights of the episode”, but was critical of the Nadeer storyline. He called the arc "your typical _X-Men_ stand-in stock plot ... after the freshness of the _Ghost Rider_ half of the season, this just feels like a step back.[24]

Collider's Evan Valentine gave “Broken Promises” 3 stars out of 5, indicating a good episode that “doesn’t maintain the heights of [the series'] days with Ghost Rider in the driver’s seat, but it does manage to remain a solid entry on the airwaves.” He felt that the opening scene, in which Aida fixes her own bullet wounds, was an interesting way to “reel” in viewers without the excitement of Ghost Rider, and said his favorite part of the episode was Mack's hatred of robots and constant pop culture references. Valentine was very critical of the Nadeer subplot: he felt that the Watchdogs had been “pretty much played out at this point”; that the Inhuman storyline had become stale after the previous two seasons, and now the “breath of fresh air” that was Ghost Rider is gone; and that the Nadeers' backstory comes across as a repeat given a similar storyline on Marvel's _Jessica Jones_.[25] Kevin Fitzpatrick, writing for ScreenCrush, said that the episode “got off to the best possible start” given the change to _LMD_ was “obviously less of an immediate hook” than _Ghost Rider_. He felt the episode overcame cliche by mixing standard set pieces with Mack and Rodriguez's comedy, and by having “as much fun with a killer robot showdown as possible, and then reveal[ing] a more sensibly long-term threat”. However, Fitzpatrick criticized the Nadeer storyline as “flat” and dragging the rest of the episode down.[26]

Accolades

Simmons and Cordova-Buckley were named as honorable mentions for _TVLine_{{'}}s “Performer of the Week” for the week of January 9, 2017, for their performances in this episode. The site praised the pair for their comedic performances, keeping the episode “light and lively—and marvelously meta.”[27]

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title: Broken Promises (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

question: What is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. about?

answer: It's based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D., and revolves around the character of Phil Coulson and his agents as they are attacked by a rogue Life Model Decoy.

question: Why did Vijay Nadeer need to recover at his family home?

answer: He had spent several months inside an Inhuman Terrigen cocoon.

question: Who wrote the "Broken Promises" episode?

answer: It was written by Brent Fletcher.

question: When did "Broken Promises" air?

answer: It originally aired on January 10, 2017.

question: Summarize the Filming section.

answer: Elizabeth Henstridge, a British actress who plays Jemma Simmons, had never used an American accent before, but needed to use a Southern American accent to play her character. This section discusses how she practiced, and how Henstridge only had one take to do the final stunt in a fight scene.

question: Who is mentioned to be in the main cast?

answer: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, and John Hanna

question: Who is Brent Fletcher?

answer: He seems to be a writer for the show.

question: Describe the general reception of the episode.

answer: The episode received generally positive reviews.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: This article details the the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, "Broken Promises". It aired in January 2017 on ABC. It was written by Brent Fletcher and directed by Garry A. Brown. This article discuses the plot, production, release, reception, and accolades for the film.


text:
[ Africa Proconsularis (125 AD)]Dzemda is a locality in Tunisia. The site is located near Jougan, Tunisia[1][2] 20 kilometers south west of Zaghouan. The site is notable for ruins from the Roman era.[3] The ruins are considered to be two separate Roman settlements, situated on opposites sides of a wadi:

-   Henchir Ksour Dzemda, a vicus and possible imperial estate
-   Sempta (Africa), a Municipum (city).

Henchir Ksour Dzemda

Henchir Ksour Dzemda is a set of ruins located at Dzemda in Tunisia,[4][5] 20 kilometers south west of Zaghouan noted for ruins from the Roman era,[6] including a _structure of Vaulted construction_.[7] Alfred Merlin excavated the site and noted its occupation from 199BC - 799AD.[8] These date agree roughly with the Conquest of Roman North Africa to the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb. The site is notable in the abundance of its inscription remains.[9] [10][11][12]

Although being legally a vicus (village) the settlement has considerable remains. Given its location it is probable that the village was actually an imperial estate, which were common in the area during this time. The town was also the seat of an ancient Bishopric.[13] This adds weight to the probability it was an imperial estate.

Semta

During Roman times, Annaeus was near the Municipum of Semta (Africa) which lay on the opposite side of the Faida-Dzemda stream. The two set of ruins have been treated in modern times together[14] though the presence of two different bishops in the two settlements indicates separate entities during the Roman and Byzantine era.

[1] R.B. Hitchner, Vicus Annaeus.

[2] Barrington Atlas, 2000, pl. 32 E4.

[3] Montesanti, A. 2011. “Mappa archeologica tunisina. Quei siti e dove”, in InStoria. Quaderni di percorsi storici. InTunisia, 15, Roma, 114-23.

[4] R.B. Hitchner, Vicus Annaeus.

[5] Babelon, Ernest. Archaeological Atlas of Tunisia:. Special edition of the topographical maps published by the Ministry of War. Accompanied by an explanatory text (E. Leroux. , 1893].

[6] Montesanti, A. 2011. “Mappa archeologica tunisina. Quei siti e dove”, in InStoria. Quaderni di percorsi storici. In Tunisia, 15, Roma, 114-23.

[7] Carte de l'Atlas archéolgique de la Tunisie: Feuille 42, footnote 9.

[8] Merlin, Alfred,Vicus Annaeus (Henchir Ksour Dzemda), at Trismegistos.

[9] Louis Poinssot & Robert Lantier , Q. Geminius Sabinus, Princeps peregrinorum, _Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_ / Année 1923 / Vol67, Num3, p.197-201.

[10] Hahn, E Adelaide. The Classical Weekly17 (Oct 1, 1923): p119-120.

[11] see also Juan José Palao Vicente , Legio VII Gemina (Pia) Felix. Study of a Roman Legion (University of Salamanca, 2006) p188.

[12] Herman Dessau, [https://archive.org/stream/inscriptioneslat03dessuoft/inscriptioneslat03dessuoft_djvu.txt INCKIPTIONES LATINAE SELECTAE. (Paris, 1991).

[13] Jean Louis Maier, The Episcopate of Roman, Vandal and Byzantine Africa (Swiss Institute of Rome 1973 ) p197.

[14] Carte de l'Atlas archéolgique de la Tunisie: Feuille 42, footnote 9.

title: Dzemda

question: What Roman settlement ruins are located in Dzemda?

answer: Henchir Ksour Dzemda and Sempta

question: What country is Dzemda in?

answer: Tunisia

question: Why is Henchir Ksour Dzemda notable?

answer: It has an abundance of inscription remains

question: When was Henchir Ksour Dzemda occupied?

answer: From 199BC to 799AD

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Dzemda is a locality in Tunisia notable for containing the ruins of two Roman settlements, Henchir Ksour Dzemda and Sempta.


text:
RISK PERCEPTION is the subjective judgement that people make about the characteristics and severity of a risk. The phrase is most commonly used in reference to natural hazards and threats to the environment or health, such as nuclear power. Several theories have been proposed to explain why different people make different estimates of the dangerousness of risks. Three major families of theory have been developed: psychology approaches (heuristics and cognitive), anthropology/sociology approaches (cultural theory) and interdisciplinary approaches (social amplification of risk framework).

Early theories

The study of risk perception arose out of the observation that experts and lay people often disagreed about how risky various technologies and natural hazards were.

The mid 1960s saw the rapid rise of nuclear technologies and the promise of clean and safe energy. However, public perception shifted against this new technology. Fears of both longitudinal dangers to the environment and immediate disasters creating radioactive wastelands turned the public against this new technology. The scientific and governmental communities asked why public perception was against the use of nuclear energy when all the scientific experts were declaring how safe it really was. The problem, as experts perceived it, was a difference between scientific facts and an exaggerated public perception of the dangers.[1]

A key early paper was written in 1969 by Chauncey Starr.[2] Starr used a revealed preference approach to find out what risks are considered acceptable by society. He assumed that society had reached equilibrium in its judgment of risks, so whatever risk levels actually existed in society were acceptable. His major finding was that people will accept risks 1,000 times greater if they are voluntary (e.g. driving a car) than if they are involuntary (e.g. a nuclear disaster).

This early approach assumed that individuals behave rationally by weighing information before making a decision, and that individuals have exaggerated fears due to inadequate or incorrect information. Implied in this assumption is that additional information can help people understand true risk and hence lessen their opinion of danger.[3] While researchers in the engineering school did pioneer research in risk perception, by adapting theories from economics, it has little use in a practical setting. Numerous studies have rejected the belief that additional information alone will shift perceptions.[4]

Psychological approach

The psychological approach began with research in trying to understand how people process information. These early works maintained that people use cognitive heuristics in sorting and simplifying information, leading to biases in comprehension. Later work built on this foundation and became the _psychometric paradigm_. This approach identifies numerous factors responsible for influencing individual perceptions of risk, including dread, novelty, stigma, and other factors.[5]

Research also shows that risk perceptions are influenced by the emotional state of the perceiver.[6] The valence theory of risk perception only differentiates between positive emotions, such as happiness and optimism, and negative ones, such as fear and anger. According to valence theory, positive emotions lead to optimistic risk perceptions whereas negative emotions influence a more pessimistic view of risk.[7]

Research also has found that, whereas risk and benefit tend to be positively correlated across hazardous activities in the world, they are negatively correlated in people's minds and judgements.[8]

Heuristics and biases

The earliest psychometric research was done by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who performed a series of gambling experiments to see how people evaluated probabilities. Their major finding was that people use a number of heuristics to evaluate information. These heuristics are usually useful shortcuts for thinking, but they may lead to inaccurate judgments in some situations – in which case they become cognitive biases.

-   _Representativeness_: is usually employed when people are asked to judge the probability that an object or event belongs to a class / processes by its similarity:
    -   insensitivity to prior probability
    -   insensitivity to sample size
    -   misconception of chance
    -   insensitivity to predictability
    -   illusion of validity
    -   misconception of regression
-   _Availability heuristic:_ events that can be more easily brought to mind or imagined are judged to be more likely than events that could not easily be imagined:
    -   biases due to retrievability of instances
    -   biases due to the effectiveness of research set
    -   biases of imaginability
    -   illusory correlation
-   _Anchoring and Adjustment heuristic_: people will often start with one piece of known information and then adjust it to create an estimate of an unknown risk – but the adjustment will usually not be big enough:
    -   insufficient adjustment
    -   biases in the evaluation of conjunctive and disjunctive event (conjunction fallacy)
    -   anchoring in the assessment of subjective probability distributions
-   Asymmetry between gains and losses: People are risk averse with respect to gains, preferring a sure thing over a gamble with a higher expected utility but which presents the possibility of getting nothing. On the other hand, people will be risk-seeking about losses, preferring to hope for the chance of losing nothing rather than taking a sure, but smaller, loss (e.g. insurance).
-   Threshold effects: People prefer to move from uncertainty to certainty over making a similar gain in certainty that does not lead to full certainty. For example, most people would choose a vaccine that reduces the incidence of disease A from 10% to 0% over one that reduces the incidence of disease B from 20% to 10%.

Another key finding was that the experts are not necessarily any better at estimating probabilities than lay people. Experts were often overconfident in the exactness of their estimates, and put too much stock in small samples of data.[9]

Cognitive Psychology

The majority of people in the public express a greater concern for problems which appear to possess an immediate effect on everyday life such as hazardous waste or pesticide-use than for long-term problems that may affect future generations such as climate change or population growth.[10] People greatly rely on the scientific community to assess the threat of environmental problems because they usually do not directly experience the effects of phenomena such as climate change. The exposure most people have to climate change has been impersonal; most people only have virtual experience through documentaries and news media in what may seem like a “remote” area of the world.[11] However, coupled with the population’s wait-and-see attitude, people do not understand the importance of changing environmentally destructive behaviors even when experts provide detailed and clear risks caused by climate change.[12]

Psychometric paradigm

Research within the psychometric paradigm turned to focus on the roles of affect, emotion, and stigma in influencing risk perception. Melissa Finucane and Paul Slovic have been among the key researchers here. These researchers first challenged Starr's article by examining expressed preference – how much risk people say they are willing to accept. They found that, contrary to Starr's basic assumption, people generally saw most risks in society as being unacceptably high. They also found that the gap between voluntary and involuntary risks was not nearly as great as Starr claimed.

Slovic and team found that perceived risk is quantifiable and predictable. People tend to view current risk levels as unacceptably high for most activities.[13] All things being equal, the greater people perceived a benefit, the greater the tolerance for a risk.[14] If a person derived pleasure from using a product, people tended to judge its benefits as high and its risks as low. If the activity was disliked, the judgments were opposite.[15] Research in psychometrics has proven that risk perception is highly dependent on intuition, experiential thinking, and emotions.

Psychometric research identified a broad domain of characteristics that may be condensed into three high order factors: 1) the degree to which a risk is understood, 2) the degree to which it evokes a feeling of dread, and 3) the number of people exposed to the risk. A dread risk elicits visceral feelings of terror, uncontrollable, catastrophe, inequality, and uncontrolled. An unknown risk is new and unknown to science. The more a person dreads an activity, the higher its perceived risk and the more that person wants the risk reduced.[16]

Anthropology/sociology approach

The anthropology/sociology approach posits risk perceptions as produced by and supporting social institutions.[17] In this view, perceptions are socially constructed by institutions, cultural values, and ways of life.

Cultural theory

One line of the Cultural Theory of risk is based on the work of anthropologist Mary Douglas and political scientist Aaron Wildavsky first published in 1982.[18] In cultural theory, Douglas and Wildavsky outline four “ways of life” in a grid/group arrangement. Each way of life corresponds to a specific social structure and a particular outlook on risk. Grid categorizes the degree to which people are constrained and circumscribed in their social role. The tighter binding of social constraints limits individual negotiation. Group refers to the extent to which individuals are bounded by feelings of belonging or solidarity. The greater the bonds, the less individual choice are subject to personal control.[19] Four ways of life include: Hierarchical, Individualist, Egalitarian, and Fatalist.

Risk perception researchers have not widely accepted this version of cultural theory. Even Douglas says that the theory is controversial; it poses a danger of moving out of the favored paradigm of individual rational choice of which many researchers are comfortable.[20]

On the other hand, writers who drawn upon a broader cultural theory perspective have argued that risk-perception analysis helps understand the public response to terrorism in a way that goes far beyond 'rational choice'. As John Handmer and Paul James write:

National Culture and Risk Survey

The First National Culture and Risk Survey of cultural cognition found that a person's worldview on the two social and cultural dimensions of “hierarchy-egalitarianism,” and “individualism-solidarism” was predictive of their response to risk.[21]

Interdisciplinary approach

Social amplification of risk framework

The Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF), combines research in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and communications theory. SARF outlines how communications of risk events pass from the sender through intermediate stations to a receiver and in the process serve to amplify or attenuate perceptions of risk. All links in the communication chain, individuals, groups, media, etc., contain filters through which information is sorted and understood.

The framework attempts to explain the process by which risks are amplified, receiving public attention, or attenuated, receiving less public attention. The framework may be used to compare responses from different groups in a single event, or analyze the same risk issue in multiple events. In a single risk event, some groups may amplify their perception of risks while other groups may attenuate, or decrease, their perceptions of risk.

The main thesis of SARF states that risk events interact with individual psychological, social and other cultural factors in ways that either increase or decrease public perceptions of risk. Behaviors of individuals and groups then generate secondary social or economic impacts while also increasing or decreasing the physical risk itself.[22]

These RIPPLE EFFECTS caused by the amplification of risk include enduring mental perceptions, impacts on business sales, and change in residential property values, changes in training and education, or social disorder. These secondary changes are perceived and reacted to by individuals and groups resulting in third-order impacts. As each higher-order impacts are reacted to, they may ripple to other parties and locations. Traditional risk analyses neglect these ripple effect impacts and thus greatly underestimate the adverse effects from certain risk events. Public distortion of risk signals provides a corrective mechanism by which society assesses a fuller determination of the risk and its impacts to such things not traditionally factored into a risk analysis.[23]

[1] Douglas, Mary. Risk Acceptability According to the Social Sciences. Russell Sage Foundation, 1985.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6] Bodenhausen, G.V. (1993). Emotions, arousal, and stereotypic judgments: A heuristic model of affect and stereotyping. In D.M. Mackie & D.L. Hamilton (Eds.), Affect, cognition, and stereotyping: Interactive processes in group perception (pp. 13-37). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10] “Slimak & Dietz, 2006Koger” cited in Susan M., and Deborah Du Nann. Winter. The Psychology of Environmental Problems: Psychology for Sustainability. 3rd ed. New York: Psychology, 2010. 216-217

[11] Swim, Janet, Susan Clayton, Thomas Doherty, Robert Gifford, George Howard, Joseph Reser, Paul Stern, and Elke Weber. Psychology & Global Climate Change. Publication. American Psychological Association, 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-change-booklet.pdf>.

[12] “Sterman, 2008” cited in Koger, Susan M., and Deborah Du Nann. Winter. The Psychology of Environmental Problems: Psychology for Sustainability. 3rd ed. New York: Psychology, 2010. 219

[13] Slovic, Paul, ed. The Perception of Risk. Earthscan, Virginia. 2000.

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18] Douglas, Mary and Aaron Wildavsky. Risk and Culture. University of California Press, 1982.

[19] Thompson, Michael, Richard Ellis, Aaron Wildavsky. Cultural theory. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1990.

[20] Douglas, Mary. Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural theory. New York: Routledge, 1992.

[21]

[22]

[23] Kasperson, Jeanne X., Roger E. Kasperson. The Social Contours of Risk. Volume I: Publics, Risk Communication & the Social Amplification of Risk. Earthscan, Virginia. 2005

title: Risk perception

question: Why is there continued interest in studying risk perception?

answer: Studies on risk perceptions seem to focus primarily on people's perceptions of big, often global, issues of the day, suggesting that it might influence public and therefore political responses to these issues.


text:
I couldn't sleep. Her angel hair, falling over her gentle face. She gave me a quizzical look, studying my emotions. I loved her. I loved her with all I had. All emotions drained from my body for her.

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

I stared into her face of elegance like a child seeing a toy he so desperately wanted. She didn't know. My love was like a tall oak, each leaf holding a piece of my heart, slowly swaying in the autumn wind. Each leaf falls as she stomps carelessly on my fallen affection, a crisp crunch from every crack in my heart she creates.

I moved my head left to right and forced a smile onto my lips. She smiled back. Her eyes gave a light that lit the dim room. She wouldn't be mine, not now, not tomorrow, not ever.

She placed her soft lips onto my forehead, her warmth coursing through my body, leaving me in Nirvana. I watched as she got off the bed. Slowly pulling a veil over her immaculate figure. How I wish she would never wear anything.

"I Love You" I said

She turned, "I love you too", grabbed the money off the table and left. Until next week.

This is my first time posting anything. Any feedback would be appreciated!

title: Night Stand

question: Write a ~0 sentence summary.


text:
Just below my bedroom window was a bush. In that bush lived a bird I called Jerry. When I would spend time in my yard cleaning things up and trimming things, Jerry would sit atop the bush monitoring my duties. When I would sit on the deck with my friends, Jerry would sit atop his bush watching our every movement.

One Saturday afternoon, I was trimming hedges and when I got to Jerry’s bush, he flew up into a nearby tree and watched intently, making sure I properly remodeled his home. After I was done, he returned to his home and sang a wonderful song of happiness. I put out some high quality seed for him to munch on and a fresh bowl of water for him to bathe in. Jerry was the most cared for wild bird on the planet, at least in my mind. He was like a beloved pet to me, even if I never got to hold him or touch him. I showed him my affection the only way I could, by giving him a nice home and the essentials for life. He showed his appreciation by singing me songs while perched atop his home that was the bush under my bedroom window.

Sunday morning, Jerry woke me up with a beautiful bird song. I greeted him from my window, to which he paused, let out a soft chirp, and continued on with his song. I went on with my daily activities after briefly checking on Jerry’s food and water supplies. I returned home from some errands and invited over a couple friends. As we were sitting on the deck discussing worldly affairs and enjoying some drinks, Jerry popped out of his bush and took perch atop his home. Karen noticed him immediately. “That’s a pretty bird. I wonder what kind it is.” I explained that I had spent hours trying to figure out what kind of bird Jerry was…”Jerry?”

Yes. Jerry. I had grown quite fond of him as he seemed to also be fond of me. So, I named him Jerry. One day, when I was in my yard taking care of my garden, I didn’t see Jerry in his usual spot. I called out for him, by name, and within seconds, he was perched atop his home. He had grown so used to my voice saying his name that he came on command. “That’s kind of silly.” Karen didn’t seem to understand the bond that Jerry and I had. I gave him a home and he gave me beauty. “That’s cute.”

My other friend, Carl, wasn’t as perceptive to all this as Karen. He said things like, “That’s gay,” and, “Fucking weird.” I told him if he didn’t like it, then he didn’t have to listen or talk about it. Jerry wasn’t like my other friends. He didn’t express feelings of prejudice, and didn’t say things that were hurtful. He only showed magnificent beauty and appreciation for my affections.

I truly believe Jerry could sense the emotions that were being radiated from the deck that night. Carl’s uncaring bigotry. My disappointment. Karen’s mild sarcasm. All of those things lent to the events that followed.

Carl stood up and started walking towards Jerry. I strongly suggested that he sit back down, but he continued. “Carl, just leave the bird alone and let Shawn have his little fantasy.” Carl, unwavering in his decision, stepped up to the bush, tried to snatch Jerry from the top of his home, and sent Jerry flying in a maniacal fashion. I jumped up and ran over, just as Jerry made a shoddy landing in the nearby tree. I snapped at Carl, telling him to leave my house. His merciless presence was no longer appreciated in my vicinity. Carl mumbled some things under his breath as he walked around the side of my house to get into his car.

“That was…interesting.” Karen exhibited compassion towards the situation, but still didn’t seem to be entirely sincere. “Poor little thing looked pretty flustered.” I tried calling Jerry back down to his home, but he remained firm in his position, perched on a high branch of the neighboring tree. I presumed he needed some time to compose himself and evaluate the situation before regaining his trust and returning to his perch atop the bush.

It wasn’t until after Karen left and it was clear I was the only soul left in the yard that Jerry timidly made his way back to his perch atop his home that was the bush below my bedroom window. I graciously welcomed Jerry home with some fresh seed and a clean bowl of water. I greeted him and he respectfully chirped in reply. Jerry was always polite and well mannered, not like the people whom I thought were my friends.

Jerry was a true friend, which made it all the more difficult when I found him lying under the bush the next morning. I had awakened to silence, which was puzzling, as Jerry had been my alarm clock for months prior. Fearing that Jerry had become disillusioned by the previous day’s commotions and decided to find a new friend, I went to his home that was the bush below my bedroom window. Seeing him lying there motionless, I said his name in a voice that was dreadfully quavering, only to find my call unrequited.

I slowly reached in and cautiously scooped Jerry into my warm hands. He let out a painstakingly soft chirp, which I knew was probably his final word. I told him it was okay; that he didn’t need to say anything. As a single tear ran down my cheek, I told him that I truly appreciated all the beauty and warmth he brought into my life, and that I would never forget him. As he lay, cradled in my hands, I watched, sitting on the dewy grass next to his home that was the bush below my bedroom window. I watched as he let out one breath…two breaths…three breaths…and then he was at rest.

I placed Jerry’s delicate body into the hole I dug for him under his favorite perch and gently covered him with the soft soil that had long ago sprouted his home that was the bush below my bedroom window. I whispered, “Farewell, my friend,” as I smoothed over his new home and made sure it was packed down tightly.

Monday morning I was awakened by a beautiful bird song, one not unlike the one Jerry would sing to me. I excitedly jumped out of bed and ran to the window, hoping to see Jerry sitting atop his home that was the bush below my bedroom window. As I peered out the window, only to find that there was no bird in sight, I realized that the song could not have come from Jerry, as I myself had watched him breathe his final breath. I myself had placed him into the ground and covered him. Where was the singing coming from?

I turned to walk to my bed and as I was sitting down to ponder the mysteriously celestial bird song, I know I saw Jerry fly from his perch and off into the sunrise. Jerry made an appearance one last time, if only for my own comfort, to sing me a song, and to bid farewell to his home that was the bush below my bedroom window.

title: The Bird and the Bush

question: Who was Jerry in relation to the narrator?

answer: Jerry is a bird, the narrator treated as a pet.

question: What kind of bird was Jerry?

answer: This information is not found.

question: How was Carl hurtful?

answer: Carl was not as perceptive to the bird as the narrator's other friends.

question: How did Jerry die?

answer: It is unclear in the text how he died. However, the narrator mentions the previous day commotion as a potential cause.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator befriends a bird that lived below his bedroom window. For months the narrator treated the bird as a beloved pet. Some of the narrator's friends said hurtful things about Jerry the bird. The next day, Jerry was found motionless under the bush. The narrator gives his farewell to Jerry and buries him under his favorite perch.


text:
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[]

Published Date: February 5, 2014 Last Edited: May 4, 2018

FRONTIERS

New research on the ability of honeybees to taste with claws on their forelegs reveals details on how this information is processed, according to a study published in the open-access journal, _Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience_.

Insects taste through sensilla, hair-like structures on the body that contain receptor nerve cells, each of which is sensitive to a particular substance. In many insects, for example the honeybee, sensilla are found on the mouthparts, antenna and the tarsi – the end part of the legs. Honeybees weigh information from both front tarsi to decide whether to feed, finds the latest study led by Dr. Gabriela de Brito Sanchez, researcher, University of Toulouse, and Dr. Martin Giurfa, Director of the Research Centre on Animal Cognition, University of Toulouse, France.

Hundreds of honeybees were included in the study. Sugary, bitter and salty solutions were applied to the tarsi of the forelegs to test if this stimulated the bees to extend or retract their tongue – reflex actions that indicate whether or not they like the taste and are preparing to drink. Results revealed that honeybee tarsi are highly sensitive to sugar: even dilute sucrose solutions prompted the bees to extend their tongue. Measurements of nerve cell activity showed that the part of the honeybee tarsus most sensitive to sugary tastes is the double claw at its end. Also, the segments of the tarsus before the claws, known as the tarsomeres, were found to be highly sensitive to saline solutions.

“Honeybees rely on their color vision, memory, and sense of smell and taste to find nectar and pollen in the ever-changing environment around the colony,” says Dr. Giurfa. “The high sensitivity to salts of the tarsomeres and to sugar of the tarsal claws is impressive given that each tarsus has fewer sensilla than the other sense organs. The claw’s sense of taste allows workers to detect nectar immediately when they land on flowers. Also, bees hovering over water ponds can promptly detect the presence of salts in water through the tarsomeres of their hanging legs.”

But what if honeybees receive contradictory information, for example, about tasty sucrose from the right foreleg, but about water or distasteful caffeine from the left? The central nervous system of honeybees weighs this information from both sides, but unequally: input from the side that is first to taste something tasty or distasteful counts for more. For example, if a bee first tasted sucrose on one side, she would typically extend her tongue and subsequently ignore less attractive tastes on the other. But if the order was reversed, she was around 50% less likely than normally to extend her tongue for sucrose.

—

On The Net:

-   Frontiers

Comments

comments

question: When was the article published?

answer: February 2014

question: Where was the study published?

answer: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, an open-access journal

question: How do insects taste things?

answer: Via sensilla, hair-like structures on their bodies that contain receptor nerve cells

question: Who led the new study?

answer: Dr. Gabriela de Brito Sanchez and Dr. Martin Giurfa

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: A new study explores how honeybees are able to experience taste with their claws and how they then process that information.