text:
KENTUCKY ROUTE 9 (KY 9) is a state highway maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highway extends from Grayson to Newport (a city in Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio), roughly paralleling the Ohio River between Vanceburg and Newport.

Most of its path, from Grayson to the Interstate 275 loop in Wilder, is also known as the AA HIGHWAY (officially, the JOHN Y. BROWN JR. AA HIGHWAY). KY 10 forms a branch of the AA Highway between Vanceburg and the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge in Grays Branch, near Greenup.

Route description

The AA Highway follows a general northwest-southeast orientation. For most of its length, the AA Highway is a two lane road that passes through a sparsely populated rural area of Northern Kentucky. While the highway passes through terrain that is rolling to hilly, the highway is generally level with moderate grades and no steep grades. Except for Carter County, all counties that the AA Highway passes through border the Ohio River. The only municipalities on the highway are Vanceburg and Maysville and suburban areas of Cincinnati at its western terminus. Those areas are also the only areas with any services used by motorists such as motels, gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores, etc. The only traffic signals on the AA Highway are near Maysville (along a commercial strip with many retail establishments and restaurants), suburban Cincinnati, and at its eastern terminus just north of Interstate 64 near Grayson. There are no rest areas on the AA Highway. Other than the portions that traverse the edge of Maysville and enter suburban Cincinnati, there are no shopping centers or major retail stores along the AA Highway.

While the AA highway is not an expressway, it nonetheless serves as the shortest highway link between Cincinnati and Ashland, Kentucky. As such, it provides a link between Cincinnati and other Midwestern cities such as Chicago, Indianapolis, and Dayton and cities south and east of Ashland such as Huntington and Charleston in West Virginia, Charlottesville and Richmond in Virginia, and Charlotte and Winston-Salem in North Carolina.

High accident rate

The AA Highway is a rural two-lane highway for most of its length and traverses through some desolate terrain.[1] Driver inattention and speeding, in combination with the numerous side road entrances and at-grade intersections have made it a dangerous and deadly road. To address these issues, guide signs comparable to interstate-styled signs have been installed along the highway at major intersections, along with additional overhead lighting. Other measures to improve safety and increase capacity are under consideration.

History

The AA Highway was envisioned as a modern highway from Alexandria to Ashland.[2]

Construction began in 1985 on the first segment of the AA Highway.[3] Estimated to cost $266 million to complete, it was designed primarily as a two-lane controlled-access facility. The first phase included the construction of of the AA Highway from the junction of Interstate 275 and Licking Pike (existing KY 9) in Campbell County east to Vanceburg. The first phase also included the design of two twenty-five mile-long spurs running east from Vanceburg, one ending at US 23 near Lloyd and the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge, the other ending near Interstate 64 in Grayson. [A view of KY9/10 entering Maysville at the intersection of KY9/10 with U.S. 68 & U.S. 62]

When construction began, the costs for the first phase had risen to $292.7 million;[4] the state had sold $300 million in bonds to pay for it. Segments of the highway, from Clarksburg just west of Vanceburg to Tollesboro was routed on an earlier relocated alignment of KY 10.

It officially opened in 1995, however, it was not formally dedicated until 2003.

[AA Highway/KY 10 in Greenup County, Kentucky] [AA Highway/KY 10 in Greenup County, Kentucky]

Numbering quagmire

The AA Highway including the Greenup spur was originally designated as KY 546, and the Grayson spur was signed as KY 694. On May 26, 1988, the designation, “AA Highway,” was proposed to be signed along with KY 546 and KY 694. A few years later, this designation was put in place with the AA Highway being co-signed with KY 546 and KY 694, however, many motorists were soon confused by the ever-changing designations.

To solve this issue, the AA Highway was renumbered in late 1995. The AA Highway including the Grayson spur was renumbered KY 9, and the Greenup spur was renumbered as KY 10. KY 10 also overlaps portions of the AA Highway throughout the entire highway's existence. Old KY 9 in Campbell county was renumbered as KY 915, and old KY 10 between Vanceburg and South Portsmouth was redesignated as KY 8.

Major intersections

Future

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is proposing widening and correcting some deficiencies and addressing growing traffic concerns along the AA Highway from its western terminus near Covington to Maysville.[5] Several options are being considered, such as: removing some of the at-grade intersections, widening to four lanes from two with partial access control, and full access control.

The AA Highway widening study was undertaken. Many residents and users of the road were concerned about intersection safety, while others discussed the high volume of traffic and the lack of passing lanes. Four alternatives were considered:

-   Alternate One: Do Nothing/No-Build
    -   This alternate involves no action to improve the roadway other than maintenance. It was not favored as it does not address any of the project goals. According to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: “Design Year 2025 traffic would operate at an LOS of E or F for the entire corridor. Sight distance, intersection safety, and speed differential problems would remain.” COST: NONE
-   Alternate Two: Safety/Operational Improvements
    -   This alternate involves low cost improvements to the roadway. This alternative would only partially meet the project goals. It would increase the safety of the roadway but does not provide adequate capacity for design year traffic 2025. This alternate received considerable support. COST: $100,000 TO $30,000,000
        -   _Rumble Strips_: The KY 9 corridor has an “unusually large percentage of vehicle collisions with guardrails.” Adding rumble strips would reduce these types of crashes by alerting the inattentive driver that they are leaving the roadway. “This also can potentially reduce the occurrence of drivers using the shoulders to pass vehicles because the audible and physical vibration would cause driver discomfort.” The transportation cabinet is also “conducting a field evaluation of center-line rumble strips.” During rainy conditions, the centerlines on the roadway would be further enhanced (visibility-wise) by the angle of the reflective painting on the strips.
        -   _Field Entrances_: Many of the field entrances, as indicated by the overgrowth of grass and shrubbery, that many are used infrequently. A lot of these entrances are located close to one another but cannot be combined due to the terrain. Entrances with poor sight distances should be considered for elimination. This may reduce crashes by eliminating merging and diverging traffic at these intersections.
        -   _Driveway Entrances_: These are very bad, as most have insufficient radii with guardrail placed too close to the edge of the pavement. Many entrances do not have right turn lanes, lighting, appropriate width, or a sufficient clear-zone.
        -   _Truck Climbing Lanes_: Some truck lanes begin too late into the steep grade of the hill to be really effective; others end too close to intersections. Delineators need to be added from the merge points to provide more time for the traffic to merge.
        -   _Entrance Signs_: Not all intersections are marked with a cross-road sign. Signage on the roadway should be assessed periodically to “confirm compliance with the MUTCD.”
        -   _Turn Flares_: Many intersections have sufficient pavement to improve the turning radius onto side roads but “are not striped accordingly.” These intersections should be restriped.
        -   _T-Intersection Signage_: Black-on-yellow double arrow warning signs at key intersections may be added to alert motorists of the side route's junction with KY 9.
        -   _Fog_: The entire KY 9 corridor is plagued by fog, usually more than 60 days a year. A public education campaign may help. Visibility sensors and weather stations along the highway may help increase notification in these fog events. Highway Advisory Radio messages may also prove to be a benefit. Another major alternative would be the “automated lane indication system,” which is similar to airport technology. Lighting installed in the pavement outlining the lane edges is “activated automatically when heavy fog conditions are sensed. By having the lanes outlined, the lights greatly increase visibility conditions in times of heavy fog, thus creating safer operating conditions. Additionally, these lights are recessed into the pavement so as not to hinder snow removal operations. Since they are used at virtually every commercial airport in the United States, the lights are readily available and qualified installation services are easily attainable. This type of system has been used successfully in many locations, including Interstate 64 near Charlottesville, Virginia.” Rest areas, to keep vehicles and trucks off the road during fog times, may provide a “safe haven”.
        -   _Lighting_: A few intersections along the route are currently lacking overhead lighting. Many complaints, however, is the lack lighting overall on the corridor. Roadway lighting can reduce the ratio of night to day crashes. Intersections without lighting should be reconsidered for lighting, as they can reduce nighttime crashes by 45%.
        -   _Driver Fatigue_: Numerous crashes are attributed to driver fatigue. Many fatal crossover crashes can be attributed to the drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Public awareness, rumble strips, and rest areas are all solutions to this problem. Landscaping, improved lighting, roadside and pavement reflective markings, and billboards which could be targeted toward drowsy drivers have been discussed as well. Median barriers may also be installed, but they cost around $80,000 to $1,000,000 per mile depending on the need to widen the road to accommodate the barrier.
        -   _Truck Traffic_: A large volume of trucks utilize the AA Highway, some to avoid safety checks or heavier speed enforcement. Truck weigh stations may make the route safer for automobiles.
        -   _Deer Collisions_: Deer reflectors have been proven to work successfully where white tail deer are problematic to vehicular travel. These cost around $8,000 per mile and would not need to be installed in the entire project area and would require minimal maintenance needs.
        -   _Intersection Delineation_: Pavement marking on the side of KY 9 are rarely seen at intersections. The white stripe either “abruptly stops or curves with the radii of the intersecting road. This prevents drivers, especially in nighttime and fog conditions, from clearly seeing the driving lanes. Skip reflectors should be continued through the intersections to delineate the KY 9 roadway lane from the adjoining road. This will allow motorists to clearly see the driving lanes at all times through the intersection, and allows vehicles approaching the highway to determine the edge of KY 9.”
-   Alternate Three: Four Lane Facility with Limited Access
    -   This alternate considers the widening of the roadway throughout the study area with an additional travel lane in both directions. This can be done by using a concrete barrier wall or a depressed grass median. Access points would be spaced at a minimum of 1,200' apart. There would be a total of 4 12' lanes and 12' shoulders with both options. Several access points in each county would be closed or relocated to ensure minimum spacing.
    -   Frontage roads may be used to link driveways that currently have KY 9 access. This would control the locations of incoming and outgoing traffic on the roadway. Relocation impacts would be minor.
    -   This alternate meets all project goals for design year 2025. It provides adequate capacity, improves roadway geometries, and eliminates sight-distance concerns. It would also reduce the number of crashes because of side road access improvements. It would also reduce the speed differentials created by “merging and diverging traffic in the truck lanes and intersections. Also, merging and diverging traffic at intersections would have a lane to turn into without fear of an impending rear-end collision.”
    -   _Cost:_ $12,887,000 (design), $3,589,000 (right of way acquisition), $540,000 (utilities), $161,082,000 (construction): $178,098,000 (TOTAL)
    -   Alternate 3 was highly favored.
-   Alternate Four: Four Lane Facility with Fully Controlled Access
    -   This alternate is similar to alternate 3, but this alternate calls for a fully controlled access highway, similar to a freeway. In order to reduce the right of way needed, a median with a concrete barrier should be considered. This will provide the “safety aspects of a median, without the added right of way width (and associated costs) required for a depressed grass median.”
    -   Simple diamond interchanges, for the sake of the study and to estimate the expected cost, was used. No interchange decisions have been made in reality. This would require of additional right of way compared to alternate 3. The number of relocations total approximately 95 residences and 1 business, and would require the closure or relocation of numerous entrances.
    -   Alternate 4 meets all project goals but at a much higher cost than alternate 3. The public perception of this alternate was not as favorable as it was to alternate 3 due to higher costs, the large number of relocations, and limited access. “The potential impacts to the area, including relocations, cultural-historic, archaeological and environmental sites, are much higher than Alternate 3.”
    -   _Cost:_ $33,860,000 (design), $19,410,000 (right of way acquisition), $2,140,000 (utilities), $423,252.000 (construction): $478,662,000 (TOTAL)

Two median types were considered: a concrete barrier wall and a depressed grass median. Mountable medians in rural areas are not recommended. With each median type option, there would be travel lanes and shoulders. The depressed grass median would be 40 to , separating the two opposing traffic flows effectively. Due to the high speed of travel, access control with a minimum of is recommended for the limited access alternate.

Also under consideration is using the existing alignment of the AA Highway as the eastward continuation of Interstate 74 from Cincinnati to Grayson, where it would connect with Interstate 64. This would necessitate adoption of Alternate Four described above.

[1] Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Possible KY 9 Improvements. Division of Planning. 2004 1.

[2] Davis, Merlene. “SEVERAL PROJECTS HELPING TO EASE AREA'S TRAFFIC WOES.” Herald-Leader [Lexington] 27 January 1985. 10 January 2007.

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: Kentucky Route 9

question: Why would someone be in favor of Alternate One?

answer: Someone may be in favor of Alternate One because of cost concerns, Alternate One costs no money where the rest cost $100,000 or more.

question: Who do you think regularly uses the AA Highway?

answer: The AA Highway is probably frequently used by trucks going between Cincinnati and other Midwestern Cities, and locals who live in the area, especially those who live just off of it.

question: Compare and contrast Alternates Two and Three.

answer: While both Alternates Two and Three provide safety features to the AA Highway, they are wildly different. Alternate Two utilizes low cost tools, such as increased signage and rumble strips to achieve the desired results, where Alternate Three also widens large portions of the road to four lanes. The downside of Alternate Three is that it costs roughly six times as much as Alternate Two.

question: Why could Alternate Four be controversial?

answer: Alternate Four could be controversial because it would cost nearly $500,000,000, and would require relocating at least 95 residences and 1 business.


split: train

text:
Black voters bolstering Hillary Clinton[]Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonCornyn spox: Neera Tanden has 'no chance' of being confirmed as Biden's OMB pick Groups seek to get Black vote out for Democrats in Georgia runoffs Biden's political position is tougher than Trump's MORE’s bid for the Democratic nomination expect her to deliver results if she wins the White House.

Prison reform, education and increasing black employment are among the issues that black leaders have raised with Clinton as they have pledged their support.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said members of the Congressional Black Caucus have spoken to Clinton about anti-poverty legislation sponsored by Rep. James Clyburn, who delivered a crucial endorsement for the former secretary of State in the days before her big win in South Carolina’s primary.

“She has said that she will support that strongly, and we think she’ll have a strong chance of getting that through,” Cleaver said in an interview with The Hill, adding that Clinton “embraced it quickly, which is extremely important to us.”

If Clinton wins the presidency, she’ll owe a part of the victory to black voters, who have largely been the difference in her primary fight against Bernie Sanders[]Bernie SandersBiden announces all-female White House communications team The 'diploma divide' in American politics Bernie Sanders should opt for a government-created vaccine from China or Russia MORE.

Clinton built her delegate lead by sweeping the South, largely because of the black vote. NBC exit polls show that Clinton trounced Sanders 81 to 18 percent among African-Americans in Florida, where she won a huge victory. In Cleaver’s home state of Missouri, she also fared much better than the Vermont senator among black voters, winning 67 percent.

Given that context and Clinton’s stated desire to take action on income inequality and jobs, it’s easy to imagine the Clyburn legislation — which has drawn support from Republicans — being moved in the first 100 days of a Clinton administration.

Clyburn’s bill would direct at least 10 percent of federal spending on discretionary programs to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for at least the last 30 years. While many of those districts have poor white populations as well, the bill could help black Americans struggling in the economic recovery.

Black leaders who have backed Clinton will be looking for more, however.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) said he hopes the former first lady addresses “inadequate jobs, inadequate housing and inadequate education” in black communities. He’d also like to see diverse appointments not just at the Cabinet level but at the sub-Cabinet level and in the judicial system.

“I believe she gets it,” Hastings added of Clinton’s understanding of concerns within the black community. “I think she’ll listen to me and [Congressman] Charlie Rangel, [Congressman] Bobby Scott[]Robert (Bobby) Cortez ScottNational reading, math tests postponed to 2022 amid coronavirus surge Trump officials approve Georgia plan to remove healthcare.gov as enrollment option House committee subpoenas Education Department staff over for-profit colleges MORE, those of us who had been around, and I think she would spend some time in the communities.”

Cleaver, a longtime Clinton supporter who endorsed her in the 2008 presidential primary, said he sat down in a Des Moines hotel room with the Democratic front-runner to talk about issues that black voters want the next president to focus upon.

“I can’t say I laid out an agenda, but by the time the general election begins, that’s when we start speaking very specifically about what we’d like to see her champion,” Cleaver said. “No one is going to be hesitant to be candid. She’s trying to win the primary election and this may not be a good time for one particular group to demand things.”

Clinton is hoping that black voters keep her on top in New York’s primary on April 19.

On Sunday, she made stops at three African-American churches in New York City to highlight her work and her husband’s work when he was president.

The effort hit a major speed bump last week when Bill Clinton[]William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonOne-termers: What Trump can learn from Carter and Bush's re-election losses Biden's climate plans can cut emissions and also be good politics Trump says he'll leave White House if Biden declared winner of Electoral College MORE got into a public argument with protesters in the Empire State over the 1994 crime bill he signed into law. As protesters chanted “black youth are not superpredators,” he defended the legislation, arguing the protesters were “defending the people who killed the lives you say matter.”

Bill Clinton a day later said he regretted the comments, but Sanders has sought to make them an issue.

Independent observers say the remarks hurt Hillary Clinton, but that reservoirs of goodwill for the Clinton years will help the former first couple weather them.

“That comment will make it harder to woo younger African-Americans to her side,” said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. “But I think older African-Americans remember how bad things were at the time.”

A Quinnipiac University poll late last month showed that African-Americans in New York support Clinton 66 percent to 31 percent for Sanders.

Clinton in some ways is following in the steps of Barack Obama[]Barack Hussein ObamaMullen: 'National security issues do not wait' for presidential transitions Is Trump headed to another campaign or to a courtroom? With the Chang'e 5 launch, China takes a giant leap forward in the race to the moon MORE in forming a coalition of support in the Democratic primary. In 2008, the then-Illinois senator, not Clinton, benefited from black support because many in the community wanted to help elect the first black president.

Obama was under pressure after his election to do something for the black community, and there are critics who argue he did not do enough.

“Historians are going to have a field day trying to juxtapose how in the era of the first black president, the bottom fell out for black America,” talk show host and frequent Obama critic Tavis Smiley said late last year on Fox News. “Black people were still in many ways politically marginalized, socially manipulated and economically exploited.”

Obama frequently talked in his first term about how he wanted to be the president for all Americans — not just black Americans.

In some ways, that situation arguably put him in a more difficult position upon entering the White House than Clinton would find herself in. Clinton would at least not face critics guessing that a position to help black America was being taken because of her race.

Cleaver and Hastings say that despite some misgivings over the crime bill and welfare reform, black voters have good memories of the Clinton years that are now helping the former first lady.

“A large part of it has to do with Bill Clinton,” Hastings said. “They were a team. And people know they will be a team.

“What people saw in Bill Clinton was a person who was sensitive to their needs,” Hastings said. “Black folks would be really happy if she accomplished 75 percent of what her husband did.”

Clemmie L. Harris, a visiting assistant professor at the Center for African American Studies at Wesleyan University, said some in the black political class feel as though they had greater access to the White House under Clinton then they did under Obama.

With a new Clinton presidency, they hope it will “return to that level of opportunity.”

question: Summarize all the information relating to Bill Clinton.

answer: The work Bill Clinton did for African-Americans while he was president is highlighted by Hillary Clinton during her campaign. This was undermined when he argued with a protester protesting against the 1994 crime bill that he signed into law. He regretted the comments. Black voters have good memories of the Clinton years because they feel that Bill Clinton was sensitive to their needs.

question: Summarize all the information relating to Barack Obama.

answer: Barack Obama formed a coalition of support in the Democratic Primary. He was a senator for Illinois who benefited from black support because many wanted to help elect the first black president. Obama was under pressure after his election to do something for the black community, and there are critics who argue he did not do enough. Obama wanted to be the president for all Americans. This put him in a difficult position when entering the White House because it was assumed that he took a position to help black Americans because of his race. Some black politicians feel that they did not have access to the White House when Obama was president.

question: What is the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton?

answer: They are married. They work as a team.

question: What is the impact of Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton's campaign and possible presidency?

answer: Hillary Clinton is forming the same coalition of support as Barack Obama did in the Democratic primary. Clinton's position upon entering the White House should be easier than that of Barack Obama, because she would at least not face critics guessing that a position to help black America was being taken because of her race. The black political class feel that they did not have access to the White House when Barack Obama was president, they hope to have more access when Hillary Clinton is chosen as president.

question: What is the impact of Bill Clinton on Hillary Clinton's campaign and possible presidency?

answer: Bill Clinton's remarks to a protester hurt Hillary Clinton, but reservoirs of goodwill for the Clinton years will help the former first couple. His comments will make it harder to woo younger African-American, whereas the older generations remember how bad things were. Despite the crime bill and welfare reform, black voters hope that she can accomplish 75% of what her husband did. The black political class had access to Bill Clinton when he was president, they hope the same situation would exist with Hillary Clinton.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Hillary Clinton is endorsed by the African-American who remember fondly the years her husband, Bill Clinton, was president. They hope to have access to the White House and that she will % accomplish 75% of what her husband did if she wins the presidency.


text:
_CHONGGAKMU_ or CHONGGAK RADISH, also called PONYTAIL RADISH,[1][2] is a variety of white radish. It is a small radish with many fine roots; of which the entire plant, including the leaves and stems, is used in Korean cuisine.

Names and etymology

The Korean word _chonggakmu_ () is a compound of _chonggak_ (, “bachelor”) and mu (, “radish”). In premodern Korea, unmarried men and boys pulled their hair into a long braid, while married adult men wore their hair in _sangtu_, a topknot.[3] On the day of the coming of age ceremony, a boy's braid was undone and it was first made into _chonggak_, hornlike double topknots, before it was undone again and be made into _sangtu_.[4] As the shape of chonggak radishes resembled the shape of _chonggak_ hair, it came to be called by the name of _chonggak_ radish.

Description

[Chonggak radish sprouting] The taproots of the radish weigh , and are about ten to thirteen times smaller than a regular Korean radish. The upper part of the roots are subterranean stems, from which the long ovate leaves grow. The roots are long and the rhizomes are long.

Culinary use

Radish greens, called _mucheong_, is dried to make _siraegi_ or used fresh in cooking. Whole, vertically halved, or quartered chonggak radishes along with the leaves and stems are often used to make kimchi, called _chonggak-kimchi_, with the seasonings similar to those of _kkakdugi_ (radish kimchi). Chonggak radishes can also be used to make _dongchimi_, a soupy winter radish kimchi.

File:Chonggakkimchi (chonggak radish kimchi) 2.jpg|_Chonggak-kimchi_ (chonggak radish kimchi) File:KOCIS Dongchimi (4814810848).jpg|_Dongchimi_ (radish water kimchi) made with chonggak radishes

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

title: Chonggak radish

question: What is Chonggak radish?

answer: a variety of white radish

question: Which cuisine uses the entire plant?

answer: Used in Korean cuisine.

question: What are some culinary uses for Chonggak radish?

answer: Often used to make Chonggak kimshi and also used to make dongchimi- a soupy winter radish kimchi.

question: What are the origins of Chonggak radish?

answer: This information is not found in the article.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Chonggak radish is a variety of white radish used in Korean cusisine.


text:
It was a small boring house in Los Angeles, California that suprisingly no one ever noticed, and has been abandon for probably thirty years now, which is pretty strange why that house hasn't been taken down yet. It was.... how do I put this...... it was creepy, in a really interesting, nostalgic, and somber way, maybe because it reminded of my simple, small appeal childhood in Moscow, Pennsylvania.
           I recently discovered the last family that moved into that house either disappeared or died. Fifth-teen feet away from that house, I saw a boy that was probably about thirteen, all alone sitting on a tree stump and looked down at the grass depressed. I then realized, that kid looked exactly like me when i was his thirteen.
                        I then said to him, "Why are you sitting alone depressed?" the boy looked at me like I had nine arms and said "Could you see me? I was the soul of the kid that lived in that house!" At first I thought he was just being an asshole to get me away, then he yelled, "I'm serious! PLEASE, just maybe I could prove it!"
            The way he yelled made me shocked no one noticed that. It was so loud, but I didn't let it get to me. I said to him "Okay, try to 'prove' it then." suddenly the boy walked through me, "Do you believe me now!?" I was astonished "How did you do that?!" I said "I've been deceased for five years now..." "Whats your name?" I asked him. "My name is Mills"
               Words cannot describe how much that astounded me. My name is also Mills. I soon realized he had the same cloths I wore when I was his age. he had sagging jeans and my old gym t-shirt that said Trojans on it. I also realized the house he was sitting by looked exactly like my old house in Moscow, Pennsylvania. The only difference    between me and that kid was that lived in Pennsylvania my whole childhood.
              To be continued........

title: The ghost from the house. Part 1

question: Where does this story take place?

answer: A small house in Los Angeles, California.

question: Who are the major characters in this story?

answer: The narrator and the ghost, both of whom are named Mills

question: How long has the ghost been dead for?

answer: 5 years

question: What does the narrator notice about the ghost?

answer: They notice that the ghost looks exactly like they did when they were thirteen.

question: How did the ghost die?

question: How does the ghost prove he is dead?

answer: By walking through the narrator.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Mills travels to a small abandoned house in Los Angeles. He meets a boy outside of the house who looks exactly like he did when he was thirteen. The boy claims he is a ghost and has been dead for five years. The boy (who is also named Mills), proves that he is a ghost by passing through the narrator.


text:
Hi, my name is Emmy. I'm the author of one book currently, Silver Follows, which is fantasy/adventure. This is a realistic fiction short story that I'm trying out as a first post just to see what people think and to get the ball rolling, as I haven't written in a long time. I'm very open to feedback and criticism and would love to know how people feel about my writing! (Note: I added more to this story but didn't go far with it.) Enjoy:)

2-7-15

	She was sitting on the park bench with a wet bum, holding a black umbrella, watching the snowflakes fall past her azalea-pink fingers. Her leather gloves had been discarded onto her lap where they sat helplessly on the hem of her peacoat, the warmth seeping from the stiff fingers, while the warmth of her own fingers had long been chased away. Thirty-one degrees and a ten-minus wind would do that.
	The sound of footfalls on the damper of snow caused her to look up, just as her nose was turning pink. Her scarf was thrown back, the ends hanging down past her short auburn hair, leaving her collarbone and throat exposed. Snowflakes fell on her cheeks and a man with a gray beard smiled down at her.
	He was not a happy man, though.
	“You should be in the ward,” he said to her. “You should be where it’s warm.”
	His thin lips pressed together tightly. His forehead was wrinkled, but the cold dissolved his frown lines. It made his skin look more alive, less ashy and serious. She liked him better outside, where the trees hung long hands over pathways that could be taken anywhere in the world, and the place he suggested was the only place she did not want to be.
	She crossed her legs at the ankles, locked her knees, stuck them far out so that many snowflakes could settle on her jeans. She smiled at him, a real smile, genuine and sweet. Her eyes were dark brown, Indian brown, dark chocolate, brown of the bark of a cedar tree.
	He regarded her without interest, but nonetheless, asked a question that was slipping from everyone else’s lips, and never in front of the girl.
	“What makes you so happy?”
	She knew this question. She knew its intrigue. So many patients at the ward came for depression, for conflicts of anger, for a chemical imbalance inside their bodies that led them to some extreme.
	“I have no chemical imbalance,” she told him, which was one thing he knew, one reason why there was so much reverie. “But I do have decisions, options, choices, and places to be. There is so much life around us, and I may be the only one who can see. I know how precious it is. I don’t have time to waste on things that don’t make me happy; therefore, everything makes me happy, and still, no one agrees.”
	“Does the ward make you happy?” he asked. “Does the cold? The snow? Does being a patient make you happy?”
	“The universe cares about me,” she said carefully. “I’m not fond of the ward, not particularly, but it doesn't make me unhappy.”
	He pondered that for a long while, staring at her without getting too close, as if she could be contagious with some imaginary disease. He was a doctor, and could put his face next to any patient at the ward; but not her. He couldn't look at her for long without being reminded that he was unhappy. Life, love, his career, his wife, it didn't matter if it was a big thing or if it was the taste of the coffee he had every morning; he was unhappy, and people always seemed to be reminded of their unhappiness when they were around her. He was no exception.
	“But how did you escape?” he asked. “How did you get away?”
	She laughed; it was a soft sound, a humorous response, the kind of laugh that Clark Kent would make if someone asked how he survived a burning building, how he got off the seventeenth floor; as if she had a great secret she would laugh to reveal.
	“I put on my coat,” she said. “I take out my gloves. I wrap a scarf around my neck, and I leave my room, my floor, down to the lobby. I smile at the nurses. Sometimes they even talk to me, tell me goodbye or good luck. I don’t do anything, really, but smile and walk to the door, and they let me go. They always let me go. Why would they stop me?”
	He stared at her, his large eyes wide, intelligent and calculative, and he understood exactly. She was a patient who checked herself out nearly every day, a plain girl with unremarkable features but a remarkably happy smile, the sort of smile expected to be seen on a patient who was granted permission to leave. The nurses didn’t question it. No one questioned her, and she was plain enough that her face could never be remembered. The only wonder was her true happiness, but then, looking at her, he couldn’t doubt that she was happy. She was smiling at everything - no, she was beaming, radiating like the sun, grinning, laughing silently, with only a disturbance of breath.
	He wanted her to tell him this secret, this reason she was so happy. Did someone love her? Was it religious? But of course she would always say, “I just decided to be.”

title: [RF] Short Story: Of Harper-Lee

question: What was so intriguing about the woman sitting on the park bench?

answer: The woman in the park was sitting on a bench during a snowfall when a man approached her to question why she was not in the ward. She was a radiating woman, full of smiles and as happy as can be. The woman had apparently escaped the ward and the man wanted to know how she did it. Her response was that she simply put her coat on and walked out as no one had questioned her anytime she did it. The only wonder was about her true happiness. The man wanted to know her secret but she would always respond with, "I just decided to be".


text:
There wasn't much to the camp site, it was mostly just a clearing with a few benches and tables set up by the lake. But we were grateful for the clean water and fire-pits. There were also two abandoned tents- Spencer reckoned whoever was staying here had heard about the 'commotion' and took off looking for their family. There was also the possibility that they were whisked off to heaven before anything bad happened to them, 'Only if They's good Christian of course.' Spencer'd told us. By the looks of the tents, I'd put my money on the former. One leaned crooked and bent almost trampled, the other flat on the ground with dirty boot prints running across, fully trampled. And there were supplies left behind all over the place. Power bars and hiking gear, fruits and Nalgene bottles. Good Christians don't leave their stuff scattered out like that, people in a panic do. I didn't have to ask before Spencer offered an explanation for his still being here.

“I don't think the big man upstairs would take me out of the game when there was so much I could do. That'd be like benching your star quarterback before the game even starts. Plus. I'm Christian, but I ain't exactly good.” He said with a wink and a smirk.
My first instinct was to fill up the bottles and ration the food for the week. I knew the military wouldn't be able to clear things up for at least a month or two- not after what I had heard from New York. Spencer's first instinct was to make weapons by breaking the benches and tables and marrying them to the metal skillets in the fire-pits. It made me think of Lizzy in her apartment, about what she'd seen that cab driver go through and how she dreaded it to the point of suicide. I told Spencer I agreed, weapons first.
There was something about the uncertainty of those first few days, I can still feel it- I remember looking up to the clear blue sky above and feeling like the earth had already died and we were the left over bacteria feeding off the corpse. Yeah, now that I think about it, those first few days were hard. And easy would never come again.

* * * *

We slept in half hour shifts, whoever did the most work during the day, either hunting or searching for fire wood took the first shift to rest. Anyone dealing with the fox-holes (that's what we called the 'bathroom') would take the night off entirely. On this particular day that was me. You'd almost looks forward to that stench, it meant you were sleeping a full four hours. Where once four hours had been a complete drag, now it was a blessing. I was about two hours into the deepest sleep in four days when I heard it. The dead. Their throats push out a lulling droll, it's impossible to mistake it with anything but the vocal chords of something that shouldn't be making any sound at all. The first came at me through the tent- he clawed at the fabric trying to rip his way through. I jumped up and ran out to the rest of the group- Emily sat against a tree, makeshift weapon in hand. She'd fallen asleep on watch. The dead thing rose from the tent and stumbled toward me quicker than I thought they could- I snatched the two by four from Emily's hands and drove the metal pick we'd stuffed inside it through the walker's frontal lobe.
Emily woke up with a start- her hands prickled in splinters. For a moment she looked at me like I was a madman. Then it dawned on her. What had happened- what was still happening. Spencer woke up and raised Ryan, they rushed to the cache of weapons and armed themselves. Ryan tried his best to pretend he wasn't about to shit himself.
There were only three left but in those early days that seemed like a lot. One was still fresh, still strong, those are the biggest priorities- Spencer must have seen him too because before I do anything he'd already knocked that one down and put a boot through his skull. The others must have turned when it all started because their skin has begun to dry and rot. Spencer hammered his bat down and blew one of the thing's head's open like a water melon. I did my best to swing as hard as possible for a one hit kill, there's nothing I hated more than having to bash their heads in repeatedly- it didn't go my way. It growled at me and reached, its teeth baring like a shark's. I hit it in the head over and over until it finally popped. Spencer thought it was cute how hard I was working to kill just one. “It's not that easy for me. A month ago the thought of bashing someone's brains in never would have crossed my mind.” I said between breaths.
“Things are different now, killin' is livin'” he said, and though I didn't want to admit it, he was right. Killing was a part of life, and the more I wanted to fight that fact, the least likely I was to survive. But I dreaded being in a group with someone who so easily accepted this fact- and the worst part was, because of his callousness, Spencer was the most useful member of the group. That simple fact raised a number of philosophical questions I didn't have time to think about- at least not right then. When it was all over and the area was clear, Spencer came upon on Emily so fast I thought there was a walker near by- he grabbed her by the throat and squeezed.
“You could've killed us!” he shouted and pushed her against the tree behind her. For a moment I was quiet, I knew I couldn't beat him in a fight and reasoning was out of the question. Then I remembered the boy running into the woods and I thought about how he would probably be here right now if I had been brave. I pulled Spencer's arm down- Emily collapsed to the ground, eyes watering, neck bruised, “We can't turn on each other, she fell asleep, it was a mistake, it won't happen again.”
He towered over me breathing hell fire from his narrow nostrils. I knew he was still hot from the fight and the pumping blood in his veins fueled his rage- I gripped my weapon tight, then he dropped his.
“Fine. You're on watch then.” He said and went back to his tent, but before he got in he called out- “Emily!”
The tiny girl jumped up an ran after him still rubbing her neck. Ryan walked past me in silence and fixed the fallen tent. “I'll take next shift” He said and went to sleep.
The next day Spencer gathered us all for a meeting. Emily's right eye was black and swollen. It was like living at home again. She was like Bambi, the way she looked to the ground whenever his eyes glossed over to her- the way she only nodded whenever he asked her opinion on something, anything.
“How'd that happen?” Asked her. She looked at me with surprise. No one really addressed Emily direct, you had to go through Spencer first. I knew she wouldn't respond. And I knew what the answer was. But I asked anyways, so it wouldn't be ignored, so Spencer knew it wouldn't be ignored. Like I said, I couldn't take him in a fight, and if he decided it was my time to leave the group I wouldn't have much of a choice. So a seemingly normal question was the only way to get us both on the same page without me signing my own death certificate. Emily only watched as the earthworms dig. Spencer looked at me like I was the guy who tells you the item you're buying costs more than you have.
“Happened in the scuffle.” He said. A lie was more interesting than the truth, it showed he know it was wrong and that he cared what we thought of him. “This camp ain't safe enough. We either gotta make it safe or go somewhere else.” He scanned mine and Ryan's face for a reaction. The truth is he was right and I told him so. That's all he needed.
Today we would gather up food and anything we needed to head out. Tomorrow we'd be on our way. That night I took first watch, I sat out in the dirt staring at the stars thinking about the future. Living in a world like this would only make a guy like Spencer worse. I knew my time with him was limited. It didn't matter how useful he was when shit went down, if he couldn't control his temper, he was a liability. I wasn't going to let what happened to my sister happen to someone else, especially someone who depended on me to survive just as much as I did on her. But Spencer wasn't leaving  Emily, and he wasn't leaving the group, neither was I. Those thoughts soaked in my head until Ryan came to do his shift. As I lay in my tent waiting to go to sleep, I had one very clear idea in my mind, one that stayed until my brain shut itself off from exhaustion. Sooner or later, I was going to have to kill Spencer. And knowing what I know now, it should have been sooner.

title:
The Walking Dead: Winter Chronicles
Chapter 3: Killin' is Livin'

question: Who are the main characters of the story?

answer: The narrator (unnamed), Spencer, Emily, Ryan

question: Where does the story take place?

answer: A deserted campsite.

question: What is going on?

answer: It's the zombie apocalypse and they're trying to survive.

question: Who said "killin' is livin'?"

answer: Spencer.

question: Write a ~9 sentence summary.

answer: During the zombie apocalypse, a group of survivors Spencer, Emily, Ryan, and the male narrator come upon a deserted campsite and decide to stay. Spencer is a big man with a temper and he is their self-appointed leader. Emily is with him and Ryan agrees to everything. The narrator is at odds with Spencer but knows he will not win in a fight. One night, Emily falls asleep on her watch, and the camp gets attacked by zombies. After they dispatch the zombies, Spencer chokes Emily and slams her into a tree, telling her she could have killed them all. The next day, Emily's eye is black and swollen, which Spencer says was from last night's zombie attack, which is a lie. The narrator knows that his time with the group depends on what Spencer feels about him, and he is in a tough spot. The narrator thinks Spencer's quick temper is a liability and decides that one of these days, he has to kill him.


text:
…says sustaining Osun as most peaceful State in Nigeria non-negotiable

The Governor of the State of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola, has inaugurated Osun Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Board, and the Independent Complaints Board as part of the administration’s efforts to further guarantee the security of lives and property of the citizens.

The two boards were inaugurated to complement the efforts of the conventional security agencies in the quest to build a virile and healthy security architecture in the State.

Oyetola said the initiative would go a long way at maintaining and sustaining the security status of Osun as the most peaceful state in Nigeria.

The Osun Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Board, and the Amotekun Independent Complaints Board are products of the Osun Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps (Establishment ) Law 2020 created to ensure fair and effective administration, implementation and operation of the security outfit.

They will collaborate with the conventional security agencies to ensure fair and absolute security of the State by complementing the conventional security agencies to stop the incidents of rape, illegal mining, possible banditry, kidnapping and other crimes which sometime crept into the state as a result of the deplorable security situation in the country.

The Governor said, “In line with our resolve, we have adopted proactive and creative measures to deliver security to our people by collaborating with the military, the Police and other security agencies when the raging security situation in the nation was having adverse effect on our security profile.

“Our ultimate solution to the situation was the collaboration with our sister States in the South West who share the same territories and destiny with us to found the Amotekun Corps to police and secure the region and deliver peace to our people.

“It is our hope that the Osun Security Network Agency and the Amotekun Corps will offer improved security of lives and property and close the gaps created by the obvious overstretching of the conventional security agencies, while the Amotekun Independent Complaints Board will act as checks and balances for the activities of the Corps personnel.”

Charging the leadership of the newly-inaugurated boards on the need to champion fairness, patriotism and honesty in the discharge of their duties, Oyetola urged them to see their emergence as a call to service, particularly at a time when security of life and property as well as the economic situation of the state is precarious and requires selflessness, patriotism and utmost dedication to lead the state to peace and prosperity.

“As distinguished professionals who have given their best to the State and the nation at both good and trying times, I have no doubt that we have called unto the deep and the best of us to keep us at this challenging time.

“We are confident that, as co-managers of Osun security, you will do your utmost to secure the lives and property of the people and sustain the status of Osun as the most peaceful state in Nigeria. The Government and the People of Osun are also looking up to you to provide a peaceful environment for the successful implementation of the Development Agenda that will, among others, attract massive investment to the State, revolutionise the economy and deliver sustainable development.

“I must at this juncture implore you to lead a trained, disciplined, loyal and committed corps that has a human face to collaborate with other security agencies within and outside the State to secure our people.

“Let me remind us all as Osun people that Amotekun is our baby and that making it work is a collective responsibility. I therefore urge you all to collaborate with the bodies that we are inaugurating today by providing useful information and offering other necessary support in our collective interest,” Oyetola urged.

The 15-member Osun Security Network and Amotekun Corps Board is chaired by General Ademola Aderibigbe (rtd.) while Justice Moshood Adeigbe (rtd.) would serve as the Chairman of the three-man Amotekun Independent Complaints Board respectively.

The newly-inaugurated Board comprises General Ademola Aderibigbe (rtd.) as the Chairman; General Bashir Adewinbi as Corps Commander; Comrade Amitolu Shittu, Field Commander; Hassan Taiwo Agbelekale, Secretary and Legal Adviser to the Board; Mrs. Abiodun Ige, Special Adviser to the Governor on Security and Dr. Seyi Atanda of the Security Trust Fund.

Others are the State Commissioner of Police or his Representative; Commander (ECC Ede) or his Representative; Director DSS or his Representative; Commandant (NSCDC) or his Representative; Orangun of Oke Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin; Olufi of Gbongan, Oba Adetoyese Oyeniyi; Olubosin of Ifetedo, Oba Akinola Akinrera; Philips Olufemi Olubowale, (CDA West); Elder James Oni (CDA East) and Bayo Oyekanmi (CDA Central).

Members of the Independent Amotekun Complaints Board are Justice Moshood Adeigbe (rtd.) as Chairman; Mr. Bankole Awoyemi and Mrs. Ajibola Olaide Alade.

In their separate remarks, the Chairman, Osun Security Network and Amotekun Corps Board, General Ademola Aderibigbe (rtd.) and the Chairman of the three-man Amotekun Independent Complaints Board, pledged to put in their best to justify the confidence reposed in them to serve the State.

The duo promised to raise the bar of security architecture in the state, noting that with their emergence, the State would be safer than before.

Those in attendance were the Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi; two former Speakers of Osun House of Assembly, Professor Mojeed Alabi and Hon. Adejare Bello; Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Charles Akinola; Deputy Chief of Staff, Prince Abdullahi Binuyo; Head of Service, Dr. Festus Olowogboyega Oyebade; members of the Cabinet; and traditional rulers led by Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, among others.

question: What does the article say about efforts to increase security?

answer: The Governor of the Nigerian State of Osun, Oyetola, has inaugurated the Osun Security Network Agency and Amotekun Corps Board, and the Independent Complaints Board as a part of their efforts to guarantee the security of lives and property of their citizens. The two boards complement the efforts of the conventional security agencies. The two boards are products of the Osun Security Network AGency and Amotekun Corps Law of 2020 created to ensure fair and effective administration, implementation, and operation of the security outfit. They will focus on stopping the incidents or rape, illegal mining, possibly banditry, kidnapping, and other crimes.


text:
[ARBORETUM 2]HOOD RIVER MIDDLE SCHOOL OUTDOOR CLASSROOM PROJECT

_The Outdoor Classroom Project is a work in progress where students are the researchers, engineers, designers, architects, builders, and users of a multidisciplinary, multi-sensory learning experience._

What you see when you approach the schoolgrounds at Hood River Middle School is nothing short of remarkable. From solar panels on the roof to a working greenhouse in the back, Hood River Middle School exhibits the markings of a unique and visionary school of the future.

As more and more schools around the country are beginning to organize their curriculum to include concepts of ecology, community, and sustainability, some programs, through innovation, vision and determination, move forward in meshing those concepts into a cohesive, integrated and successful program and serve as a model for others to follow. The Hood River Middle School Outdoor Classroom Project has become an exemplary program that began small and grew to encompass an ecological framework that gives students a unique blend of science, technology and permaculture that connects them to real world issues within their community.

Since 1998, science teacher Michael Becker has guided a program that offers students a higher level of connectivity between school and community. Using a hands-on approach to solving real-life problems, students at HRMS accelerate through the basic skills and concepts outlined in the Oregon Academic Benchmarks. The Outdoor Classroom Project is a work in progress where students are the researchers, engineers, designers, architects, builders, and users of a multidisciplinary, multi-sensory learning experience. The Outdoor Classroom Project connects students to key concepts in sustainability through a field based, experience-driven curriculum. Key themes of the project include Diversity, Water, Food, Energy, and Waste.

The Outdoor Classroom Project is divided into three separate strands.

[STUDENT HARVEST FROM THE GARDEN.]

Student harvest from the garden.

STRAND 1. GARDEN PROJECT

The Garden Project has been developing learning laboratory sites on-campus for 6 years. The Garden Project follows a set of ideas called Permaculture, a term developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Permaculture is an ecologically based development design tool that examines the links between water, shelter, plants, animals, and energy. By seeking to create gardens that are ecologically diverse, biologically sustainable, and economically productive one must take into account a wide array of variables. In these variables we find rich opportunities for math, science, writing, and social issues.

Students take tremendous pride, ownership, and responsibility for their work in the outdoor laboratory. The gardens offer an ideal interface to connect with the outside world through a multitude of avenues from selling a tomato plant, to creating a community composting system, to understanding cutting edge active solar technologies, global agriculture systems, and the complex energy grid we are part of. Connecting to a sense of place in a deeper and ultimately practical way provides students a secure launch pad to explore roles and connections at a larger scale. These connections are where the real learning and personal development take place for students. This type of learning ends the eternal question of, “When will I ever use this?” Students don’t just read about it, they are active learners and members of a larger community of research and learning.

[Students installing solar electric system with electrician.]

Students installing solar electric system with electrician.

Students involved in this project are seen in a new light by other members of the science and business community. The outside world gets to experience students as engaged, respectful people with important learning goals and agendas. Students become teachers.

Conversely, students are able to interface with professionals from a variety of backgrounds and make connections of how school choices may lead to career paths. Most importantly, students interact with adults that are striving lifelong learners outside the educational realm, validating the importance of their studies now. This project is a bridge between school and the world.

Our students plan and grow gardens that provide food for student feasts and celebrations through the year and also a dedicated set of students work spring and summer at the

Gorge Grown Farmer’s Market that happens here at school each Thursday.

[STUDENT SCIENTIST IN THE FIELD.]

Student scientist in the field.

STRAND 2. OUTDOOR SCHOOL

This past spring marked the fourth year of our independent Outdoor School Program. Students travel from Hood River to Brooks Memorial State Park Environmental Learning Center, for a two-night, three-day field-science experience.

By traveling out of the local environment we are able to experience a new ecological niche and expand our understanding of Columbia Gorge systems. Students are involved in a water quality assessment of the headwaters of the Little Klickitat, study the amazing array of wildflowers on the high slopes above camps Ponderosa Pine forests, and they track and study the diverse wildlife of the this edge habitat.

After spending three days studying the systems of this new place, students are engaged in a land-use simulation activity in which they have to account for increased human habitation development within the parks borders, a very real situation in our home town.

Students stay in cabins with parent volunteer chaperones, eat family style meals in the dining hall and have campfire each night. Students regularly pick this experience as the highlight of their 6th grade year. Many of out students come from Hispanic families where camping is not a cultural norm and so for many of our students this is a huge “first”. First away from families overnight, first time in the mountains, first time seeing wildlife, all huge experiences in the life of a child, and often for parents as well.

Starting last year high school students from the AP Biology and Ecology class are helping teach field study and staying in cabins with students. This current school year we will have high school students that went to our program as 6th graders, offering them another chance to be part of our project.

Student habitat analysis work in the park has resulted in grant funding through the Washington State Park service to complete habitat restoration projects that our students have identified as a need. We have developed a unique relationship with the park Rangers and they are an integral part of our program.

[Elliot 2]

Students with Mr. Becker on the climb to view the Eliot Glacier on Mt. Hood.

STRAND 3. ALPINEE OUTDOOR RESEARCH PROGRAM

The Alpinees were a Mountain Education and Search and Rescue Organization in Hood River started after World War II. In 2007, the club decided to disband and began looking for an heir to its assets. The club owns a historic lodge in Hood River that served as their base of operations. This lodge is currently for sale and after the close of sale approximately $200,000.00 will be  placed in trust to provide annual funds expressly for the purpose of taking students on outdoor experience field trips. This fund will provide a source of transportation funds for many years to come. Based on the growth of the fund, there will be consistent funding to weather the variability of school trip budgets. The fund has two main student goals:

1.  To expose students to a variety of lifelong outdoor pursuits, in all seasons.
2.  To engage students in field research in the natural sciences.

The funds are earmarked expressly for student transportation costs and teacher training.

Research partners are still being developed, but include the Hood River County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Gorge Ecology Institute and the US Forest Service. By putting students in the field with real tasks that have detailed and specific reporting goals, student expectations and deliverables increase dramatically. Students understand that this is real work, not just something headed for the recycle bin. The interaction between field professionals and students is a huge added benefit.

The combination of the day long field-science trips, the outdoor campus laboratories and the three day Outdoor School Program immerses students into fieldwork in a variety of settings, seasons and tasks. By having such a variety of experiences over the entire school year we are able to capitalize on the learning opportunities and give students a myriad of ways to apply, express, and present their learning to an array of audiences.

The new and very exciting development in the project is our new science and music complex. Voters approved a bond that will construct an approximately 5000 square foot complex that will house a large music center with excellent sound acoustics, practice rooms and plenty of instrument storage and also a large science laboratory classroom. The science classroom will have a grant funded 1000 square foot Victorian Glasshouse Conservatory directly attached for student experiments in botany, horticulture and aquaculture. The building is targeting beyond LEED Platinum certification, and has set a goal of reaching The Living Building Challenge. This goal has at it’s base standards a building that is 55% more energy efficient than code, creates it’s own energy on a net zero cycle, catches and stores rain for its water needs and deals with all solid waste on site. In a project like this, the student learning opportunities are endless and don’t have to wait for completion of the structure. Students have been involved in the design phase from day one and worked with many of the professionals side by side on the planning. This building will be a showcase in what is possible for a public building to achieve.

_For more information on this program, contact Michael Becker at mbecker@hoodriver.k12.or.us_

Read interview with Michael Becker

question: Which science teacher started the program?

answer: Michael Becker.

question: Which Middle School is the Outdoor Classroom Project located in?

answer: Hood River Middle School.

question: How long has the Garden Laboratory been developing learning sites on campus?

answer: 6 years.

question: What do students gain from the experience?

answer: Hands on practical learning experience.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The article describes numerous outdoor education programs at Hood River Middle School called the Outdoor Classroom Project. This program introduces students to science through practical, hands-on education. The article ends by describing sleep-away provisions in the Alpinee Outdoor Research Program and how voters have approved the construction of a new outdoor education center.


text:
ALEKSEI ALEKSANDROVICH ALYAKRINSKY (; born 22 November 1976) is a former Russian professional footballer.

Club career

He made his debut in the Russian Premier League in 2000 for FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk. He played 2 games in the UEFA Cup 2001–02 for FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk.

Honours

-   Russian Second Division Zone Center best defender: 2004.

title: Aleksei Alyakrinsky

question: Who is Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alyakrinsky?

answer: a former Russian professional footballer

question: Who won Russian Second Division Zone Center best defender in 2004?

answer: Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alyakrinsky

question: When did Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alyakrinsky make his debut in the Russian Premier League?

answer: 2000

question: What team did Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alyakrinsky play for?

answer: Chernomorets Novorossiysk

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alyakrinsky is a former Russian professional footballer.


text:
ANN CARLSON (born October 21, 1954 ) is an American dancer, choreographer and performance artist whose work explores contemporary social issues. She has performed throughout the United States and internationally and has won a number of awards.

Beginnings in dance

Carlson was born in Park Ridge, Illinois.[1] She graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in modern dance from the University of Utah in 1976. In 1983 she became one of the first students of the University of Arizona to earn a graduate degree in dance.[2] Even though Carlson received extensive dance training as a child, she defined dance as “any conscious movement in time and space”.[3] Carlson came to this conclusion when she was 12 years old after attending a lecture and demonstration by Murray Louis at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.[4] Because of her broad view of dance, Carlson often tackles important issues in her work and works within a number of disciplines to respond to ideas, concepts and themes.[5] As a result, Carlson takes her work far beyond the confines of traditional “dance” into a realm that could be called performance art.

Career

In the early part of her dance career, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Carlson performed with Territory Dance Theater in Tucson, Arizona, and later, when she moved to New York in 1984, performed with Susan Rethorst and Meredith Monk.[6] She was an original member of the PS 122 Field Trip Tours, a group of solo performance artists and choreographers that toured their works throughout the United States in the late 1980s. Ms. Carlson presented her first evening-length work, “Real People”, in 1986 at Performance Space 122. That piece became the catalyst for an ongoing group of works that Carlson referred to as the “Real People series”, works made with and performed by people gathered together around common professions, activities or shared relationships. This body of work, described as “delegated performance”, became the foundation for much of Carlson's later choreography. The work “Sloss, Kerr, Rosenberg & Moore” (or “the lawyer piece”) was performed by four (actual) New York attorneys. Carlson's second evening-length work, “Animals”, debuted at Dance Theater Workshop in 1988 and toured throughout the U.S. into the mid-1990s. Carlson choreographed the opera “Kabballah” to music composed by Stewart Wallace.[7] Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass's chamber opera “Hydrogen Jukebox” was staged by Ann Carlson in June 1990.[8] A 2017 work by the artist entitled “Doggie Hamlet,” which included “five performers, three herding dogs, a dog handler, a dog trainer and a flock of sheep,” was performed in a meadow at dusk.[9]

As a choreographer, Carlson’s work has been performed throughout the United States; some notable places her choreography has been featured include Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.[10] Internationally her work has been performed in West Germany, Prague and Mexico City. From 1990 until 2010 Carlson collaborated with video maker Mary Ellen Strom on a number of performances and performance videos. These videos are held in collections in museums and private collections.

Awards

Carlson’s choreography has earned her a New York Dance and Performance Award in 1988, American Dance Festival Award in 1988, a prestigious three year choreographic award from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1989–1991, the CalArts Alpert Award in Dance in 1995,[11] and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award in 1998, A New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in 2000, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University in 2004, a USA Artist Fellowship in 2008, an American Master's Award in 2010, and a Creative Capital Award in 2016.

Style of work

Some critics refer to Carlson’s work as dance-theater and some refer to it as talking dancing.[12] Her work often incorporates different movement components, speaking or acting components, and props or sometimes animals.[13] A piece entitled _The Dog Inside the Man Inside_ represents all these areas of Carlson’s work and is from a series of work called _Animals_. The setup of this piece includes a straight chair, a television set, a white picket fence, and, most notably, a real live dog.[14] Other animals are later featured, including a goldfish, a cat and a goat.[15] Carlson said she wanted “to make works that could respond to a living being, that I couldn’t choreograph in the way that I’d been taught to choreograph”.[16]

[1] Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn. _International Dictionary of Modern Dance._ (Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 1998), p. 106–108.

[2] Harris, William. “DANCE; On a Tour of Tableaus, You Move, They Don't.” _The New York Times._ 14 May 2000. Section 2; Page 46. University of Texas Lib., Austin, TX. 24 March 2008. LexisNexis

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12] Tobias, Tobi. “Dance Review: Ann Carlson Is Her Own Kind of Down-to-earth.” _New York Magazine_. (28 Feb 2000). 24 March 2008 http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/dance/reviews/2246/

[13] Keefe, Maura. _Talking Dancing: The Choreography of Space and Character in Contemporary U.S. Dance._ (Ann Arbor, MI.: ProQuest Information and Learning Company, 2002), 127

[14] Keefe, _Talking Dancing_, 122

[15]

[16]

title: Ann Carlson

question: What are the unique contents of Ann Carlson's dance philosophy?

answer: Carlson believes dance can be used to address social issues. She also uses dance to cross other disciplines, bring various influences into her dance routines. She brokes the confines of traditional dance by redefining it as "any conscious movement in time and space”.


text:
DON'T RUN... DON'T PANIC... JUST READ...

Hello You,
Was it a surprise when you stepped into your little hiding place and found this waiting for you? I hope so. How long was it before you actually reached out and tore the envelope off the branch? Not too long I hope. I've been waiting for you.
Has your belly done a little flip and flutter? Are the butterflies bouncing off the walls of your stomach as you read this? Are they bashing their little brains in? I bet they are, aren't they?
Are you wondering why you found this envelope with this letter inside?
Why do you think?
It's because I watch you. I watch you watching me. Out of the corner of my eye.
Did you think that I had no idea? Did you think that every night I would come to my bedroom window, look out into my garden and not know that you were watching me? The darkness is not a good place to hide the twinkle of an eye. Why do you think I stand there night after night?
It's because I like it.
I like to feel your eyes on me.
I like the anticipation of waiting to appear to you. Sometimes I feel like I'm a star, waiting backstage, ready to perform to an adoring crowd of fans. I don't need a crowd though do I? I've got you. My biggest fan. I walk up, ready to be framed for you. Picture perfect. A perfect living, breathing picture. Do you like it when I pose for you?
I know you like it when I undress.
Do you not worry that as you're reading this, little insects might be finding their way into your clothes and onto your skin. Don't you hate to feel the tickle of their little feet? I do.
It's lonely in here tonight, those that are here don't talk to me anymore. It's been so long since I've heard a friendly voice or seen a friendly smile, that's why I like you. The first time I saw you, my heart leapt straight into my throat, I almost gagged on it. That's how happy I was.
What made you choose me over that other pretty lady that lives across from me? Was I just an accident one night? I hope not, I like to believe in fate.
I'm rambling now, I bet you're wondering what the point of this letter is. Well, the point is this... I think it's time for the flirting to finish.
I want to play.
By the time you read this I'll be naked and splayed, ready for you. My hair and my make up is done and my skin is tingling. My eyes are black and my lips are very, very red.
I am perfect and I am beautiful.
It's been so long since I've felt a warm touch and I'm hungry. Wouldn't you like to wash yourself in my wet mouth? I don't want to be alone tonight.
The door's open...
Why don't you come on in?

title: Dear Tom

question: Describe the narrator.

answer: The narrator has black eyes and red lips. She has done her hair and makeup in anticipation of her encounter with Tom.

question: Who is Tom?

answer: A man who has been spying on the narrator through her bedroom window.

question: What is the narrator inviting Tom to do?

answer: She is inviting him to have sex with her.

question: Describe the relationship between the narrator and Tom.

answer: Tom has been spying on the narrator through her bedroom window as she undresses. She has been aware of him the whole time and enjoys exposing herself to him.

question: What is the significance of the title?

answer: The man the letter is addressed to is a peeping Tom.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator leaves a letter for the peeping Tom who has been watching her undress through her bedroom window. She tells him that she is aware he is spying on her and that she enjoys it. She then invites him to enter her home and have sex with her.


text:
The Lizard by skin-suit

A witch makes a bet with a young Tiny.

He must go into the cave and retrieve the diamond of youth. If he wins, she will give him eternal youth. However, at some point he will encounter the horrible cave wizard, and he must slay it or it will kill him.

So the Tiny agrees to the bet.

He wonders into the cave, leaving breadcrumbs as his trail. He finds it is a long and windy cave.

When he gets to the end of the cave, his torchlight reveals the diamond of youth... grasped in the arms of a skeleton. He looks high and low for the cave lizard and sees none, so he grabs the diamond from its arms.

The witch says, "You failed to slay the lizard!"

"What?" says the Tiny. "But I didn't even see the lizard!"

The witch says, "The lizard doesn't eat Tinies. He eats bread."

title: The Lizard

question: Who is the narrator?

answer: A young Tiny

question: Who will give the narrator eternal youth?

answer: A witch

question: Why must the narrator slay the cave wizard?

answer: If he doesn't kill the wizard, the wizard will kill him

question: Describe the diamond of youth.

answer: It is an item in a cave held in the arms of a skeleton, and it is desired by a witch

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: A witch asks a young Tiny to get the diamond of youth in exchange for eternal youth. The Tiny travels through a cave, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, and gets the diamond. He returns to the witch, and she says he didn't slay the cave lizard, which eats bread.


text:
JEFF BLAINE PICKLER (born January 6, 1976) is an American professional baseball coach. He is the game planning and outfield coach for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has also coached for the Minnesota Twins.

Biography

Pickler was born in Garden Grove, California.[1] He attended Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California, where he played for the school's baseball team.[2] He then enrolled at Cypress College, where he played college baseball for the Cypress Chargers for one season. He then transferred to the University of Tennessee to continue his college baseball career with the Tennessee Volunteers.[3] In 1997, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League, helping to lead the Gatemen to the league title.[4]

In 1998, Pickler was named the Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Year.[5] He graduated magna cum laude from Tennessee.[6] The Milwaukee Brewers selected Pickler in the 11th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft;[7] he played in Minor League Baseball for the Brewers, Texas Rangers, and Colorado Rockies organizations for eight years.[8]

After he retired as a player, Pickler became a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. After three years with the Diamondbacks,[9] he spent one year as an assistant coach for the Arizona Wildcats of the University of Arizona.[10] He then spent four years as a scout for the San Diego Padres. Pickler joined the front office of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014 as a special assistant in professional scouting and player development.[11]

The Twins hired Pickler to their major league coaching staff prior to the 2017 season.[12][13] The Cincinnati Reds hired him before the 2019 season.[14]

Pickler's father, Scott, is the coach for the Cypress College baseball team[15] and the longtime field manager of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[16]

[1] _Jeff Pickler_, baseballreference.com

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10] http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/10/07/98825-the-bounce-ua-s-lopez-hires-a-pest-as-an-assistant/

[11] http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dodgers-642580-president-recently.html

[12]

[13]

[14] https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2019/01/03/reds-name-caleb-cotham-their-assistant-pitching-coach/2477187002/

[15]

[16]

title: Jeff Pickler

question: Who did Pickler play for?

answer: He played college baseball for the Cypress Chargers and for the Tennessee Volunteers. He also played collegiate summer baseball for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

question: Did Pickler attend college?

answer: Yes, he went to Cypress College and transferred to the University of Tennessee.

question: Who are the Twins?

answer: It seems to be a Minnesota baseball team.

question: Who is Pickler's father?

answer: His father is Scott Pickler, who is the coach for Cypress College baseball team and the longtime field manager of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: This article discusses the life and career of Jeff Pickler. He is an American professional baseball coach who is the game planning and outfield coach for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He has also coached for the Minnesota Twins.


text:
from Love & Chemicals: The Memoir

Rostov-on-Don, ‘Gateway to the Caucasus’,
population one million,
is located just on the safe side
of the southwest corner of Russia,
nearby Chechnya, Georgia and Armenia,
it acts like a land-locked port city
between the feudal tribal lands and Moscow (Putin)...
I had just accepted a one-year contract to work there,
with a hefty bonus if I completed my obligations,
so my spirits were soaring with optimism
as my wife and I began to explore this new region.

We ventured outside for the 1st time
from our new subsidized apartment
located beside the calm Don River,
happy to be in warmest climate possible in the Slavic world.
The 1st stranger we encountered in the autumn afternoon
was completely and absolutely F’d out of his skull,
and we shook our heads as we walked by,
even laughed a little at his misfortune.
The 2nd and the 3rd person we passed by were even worse,
a pattern which quickly wiped away our coy smiles
as we approached the central market.

Later that evening we attended an Expat Meet-Up,
thankful for the fruit of the growing internet.
We met the 2 residing managers of an IKEA
that had opened 6 months earlier as a corporate experiment.
An ethical international company that refused to pay bribes,
the store was still not connected to the Central Power Authority.
Eight portable diesel generators ran non-stop in the parking lot
to keep the feeding frenzy for cheap furniture open to the public,
as the corruption issue continued behind closed doors.

Sven told us about the time when he was sitting at a local bar
chatting up the waitress between shots with business partners,
as a cocktail glass came flying from the corner of the room
inadvertently aimed just centimeters shy of his left ear.
The Swede took his cue and left the premises,
but not before marking who the perpetrator was.
“From the Caucasus, an F’n Muslim, of course.”

My wife is Muslim, and we had just gotten married a month before.
I was the first non-Islamic person, never mind Jewish,
to be allowed to wed in her town’s central mosque.
A gracious donation from her faithful grandmother
was able to arrange a meeting with the Imam,
who then stated that no matter his personal beliefs
his G-d wouldn’t forgive him
if he denied the Love he witnessed
in our conversation together.

Stefan told us about the time when he was riding in a taxi,
dozing off in the backseat crossing the congested city,
where the next thing he knew he woke up in the forest,
in his underwear, bound, and left alone.
After escaping and finding a small village in the distance
no one answered the door as he asked for assistance
until one young man decided to save his life.
This savior refused any reimbursement upon Stefan’s safe return,
just the promise to never tell anyone that he had helped him,
there was no reason to raise the suspicion of the watchful neighbors.

My first week of teaching was with a private student,
a middle-aged man who had won Teacher of the Year
from the government of the Republic of North Ossetia,
currently occupied by the Russian Federation.
He was from the town of Beslan, and taught in the building
beside the school that housed the infamous hostage crisis
that left 186 children killed, and 783 injured.
His reward for the honor was 2 weeks of lessons with me, and an iMac,
and I hope I was worth more than the hardware.
He had been inspired as a teenager to be a Soviet MiG Pilot
after watching ‘Top Gun‘ on a friend’s smuggled VHS tape,
but his training was abruptly cancelled when the USSR collapsed
only a year away from graduation.

It was then a friend of a friend who introduced him to Depeche Mode,
which inspired him again, but this time to understand and teach the English language.
Every class he taught thereafter was introduced to Maverick and Goose,
to help his students deal with loss.

2 weeks later, my wife and I were jumped outside a café
for the unspeakable act of using English too loudly.
A group of young men attacked us from behind,
kicking us to the ground with their Nike sneakers,
the distinct smell of McDonald’s on their breath
as they instinctively screamed, 'Yankee, go home!’

We escaped when a passing taxi driver finally had some sympathy
and interrupted the impromptu show of force.
This savior refused any reimbursement upon our return home,
just the promise to never tell anyone that he had helped us,
there was no reason to raise the suspicion of his usual customers.

We met a New Zealander a few weeks later
who was the manager of the 1st golf course ever in the area,
and he invited us out for a day on the links.
We only made it to the driving range because of overcast skies,
where my wife got her 1st chance to swing a 1 wood.
She lucked out a few times and found the sweet spot,
the pain from her black eye forgotten
as she looked back and smiled coyly at me.

We spent the next year holed up in our apartment,
the price to pay for being in public had proved too alarming.
We quietly cursed the screaming children every Saturday morning
at the daycare center located on the ground floor of our building,
but the result was that our relationship grew stronger than before.
We knew we could live through anything,
what was most important
was to remain close to each other.

title: [NF] Hell in Rostov-on-Don, Russia

question: Why was the narrator allowed to wed in the mosque despite being Jewish?

answer: His wife's grandmother made a donation to the Imam.

question: Why isn't the IKEA connected to the Central Power Authority?

answer: because they refuse to pay bribes

question: What happens to Stefan?

answer: After dozing off in a taxi, he woke up in the forest, stripped and bound. A local from a nearby villages helped him find his way back to the city.

question: Why do the narrator and his wife spend a year holed up in their appartment?

answer: After being assaulted by a group of young Russian men, they realized that they were not safe in public.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator and his wife are living in Russia. While there, they bond with other expatriots. After being assaulted by a group of young men, they decide it's best to remain indoors for the rest of their time in Russia.


text:
_VAUGHAN V MENLOVE_ (1837) 132 ER 490 (CP) is a leading English tort law case that first introduced the concept of the reasonable person in law.

Facts

The defendant built a hay rick (or haystack) near the boundary of his land which bordered the plaintiff's land. The defendant's hay rick had been built with a precautionary “chimney” to prevent the hay from spontaneously igniting, but it ignited anyway. He had been warned several times over a period of five weeks that the manner in which he built the hay rick was dangerous, but he said “he would chance it.” Consequently, the hay ignited and spread to the plaintiff's land, burning down two of the plaintiff's cottages.

Linden, A., Klar, L., and Feldthusen, B. (2014). Canadian Tort Law Cases, Notes & Materials (14th ed). Canada: LexisNexis (p. 185).

Judgment

Trial

At trial the judge instructed the jury to consider whether the fire had been caused by gross negligence on the part of the defendant, and stated the defendant “was [duty] bound to proceed with such reasonable caution as a prudent man would have exercised under such circumstances.” The jury found the defendant negligent.

Appeal

The defendant appealed the trial court's verdict, arguing the jury should have instead been instructed to consider “whether he acted bona fide to the best of his judgment; if he had, he ought not to be responsible for the misfortune of not possessing the highest order of intelligence.”

The court, composed of Tindal CJ, Park J and Vaughan J, rejected the defendant's argument, holding that the lower court's jury instructions were correct and therefore affirming the verdict. The court stated that to judge,

The court indicated that although this was a case of first impression, the “man of ordinary prudence” standard was supported by a similar duty of care applied in cases of bailment, in which liability was imposed only for negligence relative to that standard. The court also viewed the “reasonable man” standard as supported by the long-settled principle that persons must use their property so as not to harm that of others (_sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas_). Finally, the court held that the question of whether the defendant was liable because of negligence in violation of the reasonable person standard was a proper question for the jury (“The care taken by a prudent man has always been the rule laid down; and as to the supposed difficulty of applying it, a jury has always been able to say, whether, taking that rule as their guide, there has been negligence....”).

Significance

The defense counsel had argued that there was no duty imposed on the defendant to be responsible for the exercise of any given degree of care, in contrast to the duty of care imposed on common carriers and bailees, or under an implied contract. This case was decided during a transitional period in the history of the common law rule on negligence and liability. Until the mid- to late 19th century in the United States and England, there was no settled standard for tort liability. Courts in the early 19th century often found a negligence requirement for liability to exist only for common carriers or bailees. English and U.S. courts later began to move toward a standard of negligence based on a universal duty of care in light of the “reasonable person” test.

title: Vaughan v Menlove

question: How could the fire have been avoided?

answer: If the defendant had listened to the warnings that the way he built his hay rick was dangerous.

question: What would the affect have been on law overall had the outcome of the case been different?

answer: The concept of the "reasonable person" might not have become prominent in law.

question: Why was the defendant willing to call himself unintelligent?

answer: Because he thought it would help overturn the trial's verdict.

question: Why is the word “chimney” written in scare quotes?

answer: This seems to imply that it was not a proper chimney.


text:
CHIRODA is a village and former petty Rajput princely state in Gujarat, western India.

History

Chiroda was one of many princely states in Gohelwar _prant_, under the colonial authority of the Eastern Kathiawar Agency, comprising solely the village and ruled by Sarvaiya Rajput Chieftains.

In 1901, it had a population of 247, yielding a state revenue of 2,500 Rupees (nearly all from land), paying a tribute of 135 Rupees, to the Gaekwar Baroda State and Junagadh State.

External links and sources

-   Imperial Gazetteer - Kathiawar

Category:Princely states of Gujarat Category:Rajput princely states

title: Chiroda

question: Where is Chiroda?

answer: Chiroda is in Gujarat, India.

question: Who ruled Chiroda?

answer: Chiroda, in the past, was ruled by Sarvaiya Rajput Chieftains.

question: What was the population of Chiroda in 1901?

answer: The population of Chiroda in 1901 was 247.

question: How is Chiroda described in the article?

answer: It is described as a princely state.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article discusses the history and location of Chiroda, a princely state in Gujarat, India.


text:
It seems counterintuitive, but you'll close more deals if you stop pitching. Ask questions, listen and get to know what your prospective client really needs.

Grow Your Business, Not Your Inbox

Stay informed and join our daily newsletter now!

March 14, 2017 4 min read

Opinions expressed by _Entrepreneur_ contributors are their own.

Most salespeople think they’re using a modern selling approach, fit for today’s fast-paced, information-saturated market. In reality, most sales tactics in use today were invented more than a century ago -- and they haven't changed a bit.

It’s no surprise that so many salespeople struggle to dominate the competition in sales: They’re using outdated techniques that sabotage them every time they sell.

If you want to make sure you’re not one of those salespeople, banish these four old-school tactics -- forever.

1. TRYING TO PERSUADE PROSPECTS.

Persuasion: Some call it an art. But in sales, it’s just an overused selling habit that no longer works. Nothing turns prospects off more quickly than realizing you're actively persuading them to buy something they’re not even sure they need.

The biggest problem? Not all prospects you meet are qualified to be your customers. Expending the effort to persuade every single prospect who comes your way wastes time and resources.

Focus instead on disqualifying prospects who aren’t a good fit for your product or service. Ask questions about budget scope, their decision-making process, and their biggest challenges. The result? You’ll gain tons of information about your prospects so you can decide whether your offer can help them achieve their goals.

RELATED: 3 CONVERSATIONS STARTERS TO CONVERT PROSPECTS INTO CUSTOMERS

2. LEADING WITH A PRODUCT PITCH.

Your prospects today can go online to learn everything they want to know about your product or service. They don’t need to hear it all again from you. And they certainly don’t want to hear your pitch right after meeting you. When you lead a sales meeting with a product pitch, you’re using a predictable, unimpressive sales approach.

The best salespeople don’t even mention the features, bells, and whistles of their product until the very end of the sales meeting -- or until the prospect explicitly asks for that information. Getting to truly understand your prospect's needs is far more important (and effective) than pitching your product. You’ll close more sales if you never lead with a pitch again.

3. TALKING INSTEAD OF LISTENING.

For decades, salespeople everywhere have been associated with fast-talking conversationalists. While it’s great to be able to carry on a good conversation with prospects, talking should never be your main action in a selling situation. Listening should.

When you spend more time listening, you gain a deeper understanding of your prospects. At the same time, you build strong, trusting connections. People want to feel they've truly been heard.

It might feel uncomfortable at first to let silence rule. Still, try talking less in every selling situation -- even if your prospect isn’t too chatty. Ask insightful questions about your prospect's company, goals, difficulties, and goals. Don’t jump in or interrupt with relevant information about your product or service. Just listen.

RELATED: WE ALL ARE SALESPEOPLE. USE THESE 3 TECHNIQUES TO BECOME A BETTER ONE.

4. TURNING ON THE FAKE ENTHUSIASM.

Are you aware of how dramatically your voice, demeanor and personality change when you’re in a selling situation? Chances are, you become vastly more enthusiastic, cheerful and loud when you’re selling. That’s because most salespeople are taught to turn on the fake enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, that does grave damage to your chances of closing a sale. It puts your prospects on the defensive. And it does nothing to help you discover your true sales personality and achieve your ultimate success.

Instead, talk to your potential client as you would talk to a friend or family member. You’ll notice that your prospects will act more at ease, and they'll be more likely to buy from you if they sense you’re being genuine.

RELATED: 20 GENUINE GESTURES THAT WILL BOOST YOUR BUSINESS AND COST YOU NOTHING

question: What does the article say about tips for being a good salesman?

answer: The article advises asking a customer about budget scope, their decision-making process, and their biggest challenges to gain information about your prospects; not to pitch your product but until the very end of the sales meeting or until the prospect explicitly asks for that information, try to truly understand your prospect's needs, spend more time listening, not to turn on the fake enthusiasm but talk to your potential client as you would talk to a friend or family member instead.

question: What does the article say about what a potential customer expects from a salesman when they enter a shop?


text:
The ACADEMY OF SCIENCES GLACIER (; _Lednik Akademii Nauk_), is a large ice cap on Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Federation.

It is the largest in Severnaya Zemlya and is also the largest single glacier formation of Russia.

History

This glacier was named after the Soviet Academy of Sciences by the 1930–1932 expedition to the archipelago led by Georgy Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev.[1]

A long ice core was drilled between 1999 and 2001 from a drilling site located near the summit of the Academy of Sciences Glacier.[2]

Geography

The Academy of Sciences Glacier is roughly circular in shape with a diameter of about and an area of .[3] It covers almost two thirds of Komsomolets island, except for an unglaciated area at the northern end. Its average height is with a maximum elevation of .[4]

This vast ice cap is located on the southern side of the island, stretching from coast to coast, with the Laptev Sea on its eastern side at Krenkel Bay, the Red Army Strait in the south and the Kara Sea on the west at Zhuravlev Bay.[5]

  --------------------------------------------------------------
  [View of the Academy of Sciences Glacier from Zhuravlev Bay]
  --------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Архипелаг Северная Земля — один из наиболее крупных районов оледенения на территории России

[2] Glaciology - A 275 year ice-core record from Akademii Nauk ice cap, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Arctic

[3] Dynamic instability of marine-terminating glacier basins of Academy of Sciences Ice Cap, Russian High Arctic

[4] Комсомолец // Словарь современных географических названий / Рус. геогр. о-во. Моск. центр; Под общ. ред. акад. В. М. Котлякова. Институт географии РАН. — Екатеринбург: У-Фактория, 2006

[5]

title: Academy of Sciences Glacier

question: What is the Academy of Sciences Glacier?

answer: A large ice cap on Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Federation.

question: What is the etymology of its name?

answer: It was named after the Soviet Academy of Sciences by the 1930-32 expedition by Ushakov and Urvantsev.

question: How big is the glacier?

answer: Unclear, numbers missing.

question: How much of Komsomolets Island does it cover?

answer: Two thirds.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The Academy of Sciences Glacier is a large ice cap on Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Federation. It is the largest in Severnaya Zemlya and Russia as a whole. The glacier was named after Soviet Academy of sciences by the 1930 expedition to the archipelago led by Ushakov and Urvantsev. It covers two thirds of Komsomolets Island.