text:
SIR WILLIAM ARROL & CO. was a leading Scottish civil engineering and construction business founded by William Arrol and based in Glasgow. It built some of the most famous bridges in the United Kingdom including the second Tay Bridge, the Forth Bridge and Tower Bridge in London.

Early history

The Company was founded by William Arrol, born in Houston, Renfrewshire in 1839, the fourth child of Thomas Arrol, a cotton spinner. He started work at the age of nine in a cotton mill, having passed himself off as thirteen. In 1850, the family moved to Paisley and William found work at Coats’s Cotton Thread Manufacturing making bobbins. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a blacksmith at Paisley, supplementing his practical education with night school classes and the purchase of books on engineering.[1]

At end of his apprenticeship William Arrol worked as a journeyman blacksmith with mixed success. Work was not easy to find and in 1858, now aged nineteen, he took a job at Ker’s factory at Paisley. Eventually he was engaged as a foreman at Laidlaw’s Engineering Works in Glasgow. Here he was entrusted with his first bridges: the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway at Greenock in 1885 and the West Pier at Brighton 1866. After two years, Arrol had saved enough money to set up with a friend as boiler and girder makers. However, they incurred heavy losses through non-payment by customers and the partnership was dissolved. On his own again with his small works in Glasgow, in 1871 he was given the construction of railway bridges on the Balerno line in Edinburgh.[2]

In 1872, now in his early thirties, Arrol left his old works and moved to Dalmarnock in south Glasgow. His first important contract was for a bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell for the North British Railway. This bridge, which was 120 feet above the water, was notable for Arrol’s introduction of the idea of building the girders on land and rolling them out pier to pier. In 1875 he built the first of the two great bridges for the Caledonian Railway over the Clyde. Faced by a strike by the riveters he invented a hydraulic riveting machine, later to enjoy widespread use in the shipbuilding industry. [3]

The Great Bridges

December 1879 saw the great Tay Bridge disaster where the railway bridge collapsed under the lateral pressure of high winds, barely a year after it had opened. William Arrol was awarded the contract for the new bridge. Construction of the new Tay Bridge was started in 1882 and it opened in 1887. Almost simultaneously, William Arrol was also working on the Forth Bridge. Construction began in 1882 and when it was opened in1890 it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world. William Arrol’s commitment to these two bridges was rewarded with a knighthood: Sir William Arrol & Company Ltd was incorporated in June 1893.[4] The completion of the two Scottish bridges gave Sir William Arrol an international reputation and in the succeeding years bridges were built around Great Britain, Europe and as far as Australia. Perhaps the best known was London’s Tower Bridge opened in 1894, where Sir William Arrol erected all the steel work.[5]

Diversification

The development of Dalmarnock Works to cope with Arrol’s increased business involved the construction of new buildings with large spans and roofs of steel and glass which let in light throughout the building. Their size allowed the installation of large overhead cranes with up to 100 tons lifting capacity. This became an activity in its own right as similar buildings were constructed for other companies.[6] Also arising out of Dalmarnock Works and bridgebuilding were cranes. particularly for shipbuilding; they had a loading capacity ranging from five to 150 tons. The most famous crane. the largest of its time, is the Titan Crane completed in 1907; a gigantic cantilever crane of 150-ton capacity. for John Brown & Company.[7] With this increased range of activity, the Dalmarnock Works occupied 17 acres and employed 2000 men plus thousands more working on outside contracts. Sir William died in 1913 but the Company continued as an independent entity until 1969.[8]

Notable projects

[View of the cantilever construction of the Forth Bridge] [The Forth Bridge built by Sir William Arrol & Co.|alt=Colour photograph of the Forth Bridge. ]

Bridges

Bridges built by the company include:

-   Caledonian Railway Bridge across the River Clyde completed in 1878
-   Tay Rail Bridge completed in 1887
-   Forth Bridge completed in 1890
-   Tower Bridge in London completed in 1894
-   North Bridge in Edinburgh completed in 1897
-   Redheugh Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne completed in 1901
-   Connel Bridge completed in 1903
-   Nile Bridge at Cairo completed in 1908
-   Tees Transporter Bridge completed in 1911
-   Warrington Transporter Bridge completed in 1916
-   Keadby Bridge completed in 1916
-   Southwark Bridge in London completed in 1921
-   White Cart Bridge completed in 1923
-   Jubilee Bridge (Walney) completed in 1908
-   Jubilee Bridge (Queensferry) completed in 1927
-   Corporation Bridge in Grimsby completed in 1928
-   Wearmouth Bridge completed in 1929

[A closeup of the central section of the second Tay Bridge|alt=Colour photograph of the central section of the second Tay Bridge]

-   Tsoelike Suspension Bridge in Lesotho completed in 1930
-   Forth Road Bridge completed in 1964
-   Deptford Railroad Bridge completed in 1964
-   Severn Bridge completed in 1966
-   The second Craigellachie Bridge completed in 1970
-   The Humber Bridge completed in 1981

Cranes

-   Titan Clydebank, completed in 1907
-   Titan Crane, Fairfield, completed in 1911
-   250-ton crane, HMNB Portsmouth, dated 1912, demolished 1984[9]
-   Titan Crane, James Watt Dock Crane, completed in 1917
-   Titan Crane, Barclay Curle, completed in 1920
-   Blocksetter Travelling Titan (South African Harbours and Railways); for use at Durban, completed prior to 1932[10]
-   Blocksetter Travelling Hercules (South African Harbours and Railways); for use at Table Bay, completed prior to 1932[11]
-   Blocksetter Travelling Hercules; for use at Ceuta, completed prior to 1932[12]

Titanic

[Workers leaving the Harland & Wolff shipyard in early 1911. The RMS _Titanic_ can be seen in the background, underneath the Arrol Gantry.] The company was contracted by Harland and Wolff Shipyard, Belfast, to construct a large gantry (known as the Arrol Gantry) for the construction of three new super-liners, one of which was called the RMS _Titanic_. Like the ships themselves, the gantry crane was one of the largest built at the time, comparing with transporter bridges in length, height and capability.[13]

Hikitia

[Hikitia at the Taranaki St wharf in Wellington] The company also built the crane for the Hikitia in 1926, which is thought to be the last fully operational self-propelled steam crane in the world.

Demise of the business

The company was acquired by Clarke Chapman in 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works were closed in 1986.[14]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9] 20th Century Naval Dockyards, Devonport and Portsmouth Characterisation Report, Naval Dockyards Society, 2015

[10] Arrol Catalogue ca. 1932

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14] NZR Cranes

title: Sir William Arrol & Co.

question: Summarize William Arrol's life before his thirties.

answer: William Arrol was born in 1839. He started work at the age of nine in a cotton mill. He worked in a cotton thread manufacturing making bobbins. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith at the age of fourteen. He worked as a journeyman blacksmith. He worked as a foreman at Laidlaw's Engineering Works.

critique: The answer omits the fact that Arrol worked as a boiler and girder maker.

critique: Went over the 2-line summary requirement

critique: The answer should mention his education.

critique: It's omitted that Arrol's first important contract was for a bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell for the North British Railway.

critique: The answer omits the fact that Arrol was given the construction of railway bridges on the Balerno line in Edinburgh.

critique: The answer omits the time period between his apprenticeship and his work at Laidlaw's Engineering Works.

question: What does the text say about why Dalmarnock Works had to close?

answer: No answer

critique: The answer should mention that the company was acquired by Clarke Chapman in 1969 and the Dalmarnock Works were closed in 1986.

critique: The answer should mention the company's demise.

critique: The answer could mention the company's demise.

critique: The answer should mention the demise of the company.


split: train

text:
FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. VS. RICKY HATTON, billed as UNDEFEATED, was a boxing superfight that took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, between reigning WBC & _The Ring_ welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and reigning _The Ring_ light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton.

The fight was for Mayweather's WBC & _The Ring_ welterweight titles. Mayweather defeated Hatton by TKO in the tenth round.

General information

The referee for the fight was Joe Cortez, with Burt Clements, Dave Moretti and Paul Smith as the three judges. Hatton weighed in at 145 lbs and Mayweather at 147 lbs.[1]

In attendance were celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Diego Milito, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Wesley Snipes, Will Ferrell, Gwen Stefani and Jude Law, Jamie Hunt, David Lochery and footballer David Beckham.[2] At the weigh in the crowd were whipped into a frenzy as Joe Calzaghe (who was there supporting Hatton) squared up to American legend Bernard Hopkins (who was there supporting Mayweather).[3]

Throughout the weigh-in, fans of Hatton could be heard singing “Hatton Wonderland” and booed Mayweather.[4] Prior to the fight, Tom Jones sang “God Save the Queen”, and Tyrese Gibson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner”. [Press Conference in Manchester, 2007]Hatton entered the ring first to “Blue Moon”, his usual entrance music, Mayweather however chose a change of music for his entrance. In the week prior to the fight sections of the media, largely the British media had hyped the fight as something of a Britain against America fight, comparing the fight to when Lloyd Honeyghan travelled to America to dethrone American Don Curry, then the undisputed world champion, this leading to Mayweather's decision to enter the ring to Bruce Springsteen's “Born in the U.S.A.”. Shortly before the start of the match, the Hatton fans also repeatedly booed the American national anthem, drawing large criticism post-fight.[5]

The fight had 920,000 buys on HBO in the United States, and 1,150,000 buys in the United Kingdom on Sky Box Office.

The Fight

Hatton tried to compete with Mayweather in the early rounds. In the 1st round Hatton caught Mayweather with a left jab which knocked Mayweather off balance.[6] His constant pressure appeared to make Mayweather uncomfortable at first, but soon gave way. In the third round, Mayweather landed a right that cut Hatton above the right eye.[7] In round six, referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Hatton after he threw punches at the back of Mayweathers' head when he was forced under the top rope.[8] Hatton became angry at the referee's decision to deduct a point from him and turned his back on him in frustration, shaking his bottom at Mayweather. Hatton would later claim that he had become angry by the referee and that had caused him to lose his calm and contributed to his downfall.[9] Hatton was able to hold his own, until round six, after Hatton got worn down from chasing Mayweather around the ring. Mayweather sensed the exhaustion of Hatton, and pursued Hatton's punches with stiff, damaging counterpunches. Mayweather was clearly in control before rocking Hatton in the 10th round. He knocked him down with a left hook, and Hatton was badly hurt. He looked disorientated when he got up, but referee Joe Cortez let the fight continue.

Mayweather wasted no time jumping on him again, landing a flurry of punches, including another left hook that sent Hatton staggering backward and down again. Cortez called off the fight at 1:35 without a count at the same time the white towel was thrown from Hatton's corner.[10] The fight received large amounts of publicity, with both fighters promoting the fight heavily.

Aftermath

Mayweather announced his retirement from boxing on June 6, 2008. He returned to the ring 15 months later to beat Juan Manuel Márquez by a 12-round unanimous decision. Mayweather went on to appear at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s No Way Out pay-per-view on February 17, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was involved in a storyline physical altercation with Big Show, which led to a match at WrestleMania XXIV.

Hatton defeated Juan Lazcano at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester on May 24, 2008[11] in a “thank-you” bout for the tremendous fan support he has received throughout his entire professional career. The last time Hatton fought in Manchester was back in 2005 against Kostya Tszyu. Hatton went on to fight Paul Malignaggi for the IBF light welterweight championship in November 2008. The fight was very one sided and Ricky won comfortably by way of TKO in the 11th round. Hatton would eventually lose to Manny Pacquiao via second-round KO and put his career on an indefinite hiatus. He eventually announced his retirement on 7 July 2011.

Undercard

-   Daniel Ponce de León defeats Eduardo Escobedo via unanimous decision for the WBO super bantamweight title.

-   Jeff Lacy defeats Peter Manfredo Jr. via unanimous decision.

-   Edner Cherry KOs Wes Ferguson in the sixth round.

-   Matthew Hatton defeats Frankie Santos via unanimous decision.

-   Jonathan Oquendo KOs Andres Ledesma in the first round.

-   Jose Angel Rodriguez had a majority draw with Ishmail Arvin.

-   Daniel Jacobs KOs Jose Jesus Hurtado in the first round.

-   Danny Garcia KOs Jesus Villareal in the second round.

[1]

[2] http://www.laineygossip.com/Angelina_Jolie_Brad_Pitt_Gwen_Stefani_Gavin_Rossdale_at_Hatton_Mayweather_fight_in_Las_Vegas.aspx

[3] http://www.rickyhitmanhatton2.com/calzaghe-hopkins-to-be-confirmed-later-today-oddspreviewcom-518.html

[4] http://www.seattlepi.com/othersports/342797_box08.html

[5] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article3026168.ece

[6] http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/5550/floyd-mayweather-kos-ricky-hatton/

[7] http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7135228.stm

[8] http://www.eastsideboxing.com/boxing/Hatton-Mayweather.php

[9] A second Mayweather beating is one to miss for Hit-Man Hatton

[10] http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3147356

[11]

title: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton

question: Summarize the social context of the fight.

answer: The fight was billed as undefeated, and it was between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Ricky Hatton. The fight was for Mayweather's WBC & The Ring welterweight titles. The referee for the fight was Joe Cortez, with Burt Clements, Dave Moretti, and Paul Smith as the three judges. Hatton weighed in at 145 lbs and Mayweather at 147 lbs. Celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Diego Milito, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt were in attendance. Tom Jones and Tyrese Gibson performed prior to the fight. The fight had 920,000 buys on HBO in the United States, and 1,150,000 buys in the United Kingdom on Sky Box Office.

critique: The social context of the fight is not the fight itself. The social context of the fight is the hype surrounding it.

critique: The response includes extraneous information not useful for the task.

question: Summarize the main events of the fight.

answer: Hatton caught Mayweather with a left jab in the first round. Mayweather landed a right that cut Hatton above the right eye in the third round. In the sixth round, referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Hatton after he threw punches at the back of Mayweather's head when he was forced under the top rope. Hatton became angry at the referee's decision to deduct a point from him and turned his back on him in frustration, shaking his bottom at Mayweather. Hatton was able to hold his own, until round six, after Hatton got worn down from chasing Mayweather around the ring. Mayweather sensed the exhaustion of Hatton, and pursued Hatton's punches with stiff, damaging counterpunches. Mayweather was clearly in control before rocking Hatton in the 10th round. He knocked him down with a left hook, and Hatton was badly hurt. He looked disorientated when he got up, but referee Joe Cortez let the fight continue. Mayweather wasted no time jumping on him again, landing a flurry of punches, including another left hook that sent Hatton staggering backward and down again. Cortez called off the fight at 1:35 without a count at the same time the white towel was thrown from Hatton's corner.

critique: The answer should mention that Hatton was knocked out in the tenth round.

question: Explain whether or not Mayweather's tactics during this particular fight were common for the seasoned, revered boxing champion.

answer: No answer

critique: The answer given is irrelevant and not based on explaining the topic question.

critique: The answer should mention that Mayweather's tactics were not common for the seasoned, revered boxing champion.

text: The answer should state that Mayweather's tactics are very likely common for a seasoned, revered boxing champion.

category: coverage

question: Summarize Mayweather's subsequent retirement.

answer: Mayweather had announced his retirement on June 6, 2008. However, 15 months later, he returned to the ring to beat Juan Manuel Márquez by a 12-round unanimous decision. He went on to appear at World Wrestling Entertainment's No Way Out pay-per-view event on February 17, 2008 in Las Vegas, where he was involved in a physical altercation with Big Show, which led to a match at Wrestlemania XXIV.

critique: The answer should mention that Mayweather returned to boxing in 2009.

text: The answer omits that Mayweather eventually announced his retirement on 7 July 2011.


text:
RATNAKARAVARNI was a 16th-century Kannada poet and writer.[1] He is considered to be one of the trailblazers in the native _shatpadi_ (hexa-metre, six line verse) and _sangatya_ (composition meant to be sung to the accompaniment of musical instrument) metric tradition that was popularised in Kannada literature during the rule of the Vijayanagara empire in modern Karnataka. His most famous writing is the story of the Jain prince Bharata and is called the _Bharatesha Vaibhava_ (or _Bharatesvara Charite_). Known to be a troubled and restless person, tradition has it that Ratnakaravarni converted from his religion Jainism to Veerashaivism when a less-meritorious poet superseded him. During this brief time, he wrote the _Basavapurana_, a biography of the 12th century social reformer Basavanna. Later, he returned to the Jain religion and penned classics in the _shataka_ metre (string of 100 verses).[2][3] His contributions to Kannada literature are considered trend setting.

Life and works

Ratnakaravarni of Mudabidri (c. 1557) was a court poet under the patronage of Bhairasa Wodeyar at Karkala, modern coastal Karnataka, and is famous for successfully integrating an element of worldly pleasure into asceticism and for treating the topic of erotics with discretion in a religious epic, his _magnum opus_, the _Bharatesha Vaibhava_.[4] One of the most popular poets of Kannada literature, his writings took to a fine line between the royal court and conservative monastery. His writings were popular across religions and sects for their secular appeal. In fact, an early 19th-century writing recognises him as an authority on erotics and the science of pleasure, rather than a poet with a spiritual bent.[5] A radical and sensitive poet, he once claimed that spiritual meditation “was boring”. Tradition has it that Ratnakaravarni converted to Veerashaivism when his _magnum opus_ was initially scorned at (after a poet called Ravikirthi objected to a few verses in it) only to return to the Jain fold and pen other important writings.[6] Written in epic proportions, the _Bharatesha Vaibhava_ is in eighty cantos and runs into 10,000 verses. His other important writings are the 2,000 spiritual songs called _Annagalapada_ (“Songs of the Brothers”) and three _shatakas_: the _Ratnakara sataka_, the _Aparajitesvara shataka_, a discourse on Jain morals, renunciation and philosophy and the _Trilokya shataka_, an account of the universe as seen by Jains, consisting of heaven, hell and the intermediate worlds .[7][8][9][10]

Magnum opus

_Bharatesha Vaibhava_ is a version of the earlier _Poorvapurana_ by Jinasenacharya and brings out a different perspective compared to the _Adipurana_ written by Adikavi Pampa in c.941. Centered on the glorification of the enlightened Bharata, the son of the first Jain Tirthankar Adinatha, Ratnakaravarni cleverly focusses on those aspects that the original by Pampa ignored.[11] Ratnakaravarni goes into minute details about prince Bharata, who according to the author serves as the ideal balance between detachment (_yoga_) and attachment (_bhoga_). Though married to “96,000 women”, Bharata is depicted as one who at once can separate himself from worldly pleasures. Unlike Pampa who focussed on the conflict between the brothers, Bahubali and Bharata, ending with Bahubali's asceticism and Bharata's humiliation, Ratnakaravarni's eulogy of Bharata leaves room only for Bahubali's evolution towards sainthood. Eventually, Bharata attains _moksha_ by burning himself in ascetic fire.[12] The author showers encomium on Bharata in his various roles as a monarch, husband, son, friend and a devotee, a rare description of a “perfect human being” among Jain writings. Since details of the early life of Bharata as a young ruler did not exist in previous writings or in tradition, much of Ratnakaravarni's vivid description of that period was a product of his imagination. This work finds its pride of place in Kannada's epic poetry for being the lengthiest poem in the folk _sangatya_ metre.[13]

Notes

[1] Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 23

[2] Shiva Prakash (1997), p. 210

[3]

[4] Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 373

[5] Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), pp. 374–375, 377

[6] Nagaraj in Pollock (2003), p. 376

[7]

[8]

[9] Mukherjee (1999), p. 328

[10] Rice E.P. (1921), p. 47

[11] Shiva Prakash (1997), p. 211

[12]

[13] Sahitya Akademi (1987), pp. 453–454

title: Ratnakaravarni

question: What was considered unique about Ratnakaravarni of Mudabidri's works?

answer: He was known for successfully integrating an element of worldly pleasure into asceticism and for treating the topic of erotics with discretion in a religious epic.

critique: The answer should mention that he was a poet.


text:
I was nervous. I'm new to this so I had two shots of Captain Morgan before I left, that usually loosens me up. The thought of driving passed my mind more than once but decided to take BART because the restaurant was close enough to walk. I choose my purple plaid shirt because it fits me well. I just bought the blazer so I took it with me even though it clashed. It looks good on me so fuck it, if I fake confidence then maybe she'll mistake it for actual confidence. I looked myself over in the mirror for more time than I care to admit. I hated and loved my outfit more times than I care to admit. I changed clothes and changed back. Decided it was too late to be indecisive so I left. Only to come back and change my shoes.
   I almost turned around more times than I can count. I rehearsed the excuses in my head, "I came down with something.", "A family emergency came up and they really need me.", "Oh, that was today? I'm so sorry! Lets reschedule. No? Ok, then. Bye." As much as I dreaded this I was also looking forward to it. She was very pretty from her photos and messaging her was easy. She seemed like a genuine person.  She may have embellished her typed laughter and smiley faces but at least she tried so that in itself had to mean something.
    By the time my stop came around my palms were sweaty and I was a bit lightheaded, "Am I doing this again? How many first dates can I have before I realize that a second one is never coming? At least I'll get some food in me." As hungry as I was the thought of food made my stomach tighten. I stopped in front of the venue. I thought a rooftop bar would be on the roof. Oh well. I was about to ask about the bar when the doorman said there was room for two more at the elevator. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing as I walked passed him and stood with the group waiting for the elevator door to open.
    My Tinder account logged me off on BART because of poor reception and I was hesitant to log on in fear that she wouldn't be there when I signed up again. As the door opened in front of me and an actual rooftop bar lay before me I was stuck and overwhelmed. My doubts and fears tripled as I've never been in this type of venue before, "She's so out of my league that I can't see her with binoculars. This is going to be the shortest date ever. Hope they at least have good appetizers."
    The place was crowded and I couldn't see her. This was made more difficult due to the fact that I had forgotten what she looked like because of nervousness and fear.

I texted her.

Nothing.

I texted her again.

5 more minutes and nothing.

I called her.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I'm here."

"Cool! Where?"

"Over by the elevator. I'm wearing a purplish shirt."

"I don't see you."

Fuck. Really? How hard are you looking? Should I just cut my losses and go?

"I'm just here by the elevator. There's a chair here I'm sitting on. Where are you?"

"Are you sure you're here?"

No. I decided to go to the identical rooftop bar next door.

"Yeah...I think I'm here."

"Let me walk over."

I saw her emerge from the gaggle of patrons.

We locked eyes.

She smiled.

title: [NF] First date

question: Summarize the mounting tension in this story.

answer: The narrator is nervous about his date, and he's not sure if he's going to be able to make it to the restaurant. He's also not sure if he's going to be able to find the restaurant. He's also nervous about the date itself, and he's not sure if he's going to be able to make it through the date.

critique: The narrator is not sure if he's going to be able to make it through the date because he's not sure if she's going to show up.

critique: "He's also nervous about the date itself, and he's not sure if he's going to be able to make it through the date" is a redundancy

question: Summarize what the story has to say about online/app dating.

answer: No answer

critique: The answer should mention that the story is about online dating.

critique: The answer should mention that the story is about a first date between two people who met on Tinder.

critique: The answer should mention that the story is an example of the difficulties of online dating.

question: Describe what the narrator knew about this woman and why they agreed to go on a first date in the first place.

answer: The narrator knew that the woman was very pretty from her photos and messaging her was easy. She seemed like a genuine person. She may have embellished her typed laughter and smiley faces but at least she tried so that in itself had to mean something.

critique: It is omitted that she may have embellished her typed laughter and smiley faces but at least she tried so that in itself had to mean something.

critique: The answer could mention that the narrator had not seen the woman in person yet.

question: Summarize the plot twist.

answer: The narrator is nervous at the date ready to walk out the door, and begins to reassess the situation. As she sits on the couch and chats with a friend on her phone, she overhears the man on a call saying he is already in the building. She is infuriated with him, and sarcastically obliges to accommodate him after some back and forth, as she is already in the building herself, but has no eyesight of him to be able to identify him. They meet and greet awkwardly, he was supposed to be able to identify her by looking for the purplish shirt. He implies to her, when they say they did not see each other, that he is blind and has no eyesight.

critique: The story does not mention that the narrator is supposed to identify her by looking for the purplish shirt.

text: The narrator is not blind.

category: accuracy


text:
Gaps in information frustrate the work of fact-checkers. But what about when a government agency creates them?

“To know that the data has been tracked in the past and is maybe still tracked currently and is not being released — that just seems like a step backward,” said Angie Holan, editor of PolitiFact (a project of the Poynter-owned Tampa Bay Times).

Her concern stems from a recent change to the FBI’s 2016 crime report, which FiveThirtyEight reports now has close to 70 percent fewer tables than the 2015 version. Among the data tables missing in the report — the first to come out under the Trump administration’s FBI — is specific information about arrests, homicides and the only national estimate of gang-related murders.

The FBI has released a statement saying that the reduced tables were part of an effort to streamline its crime report because of a lack of web traffic, and that the missing data is still available upon request. But FiveThirtyEight reports the FBI only provides the raw data file, which is harder to analyze and does not always match the figures posted online. The news outlet also cited a former FBI employee who said the process was “shocking.”

The missing crime statistics are not the first example of government agencies scrubbing information during the Trump administration. In April, the EPA removed several agency websites that referenced detailed climate data and scientific information, The Washington Post reported.

Emily Atkin, an environmental politics reporter for The New Republic, told Poynter that while the change mostly removed climate information for the general public, it has made it a little harder for her to find basic data.

“A lot of the information they’ve taken down is readily available in other places,” she said. “The thing that used to take us 10 minutes now takes us 30 minutes.”

While PolitiFact hasn’t yet encountered a fact check that required data from the latest FBI crime report, Holan said the fact-checking team will try to work around it going forward. Glenn Kessler, who runs The Washington Post Fact Checker, also told Poynter in an email that the newspaper has discussed how to deal with the gaps.

In that, there are two general things any organization can do: finding the data elsewhere and telling your audience when you can’t.

“You just have to do your best and look for alternative sources,” Holan said.

In Argentina, that’s a lesson that fact-checkers learned first-hand years ago — and they offer important insights for organizations anywhere around the world facing sudden reductions in government data.

In 2007, the Argentine government started fudging its inflation rate statistics for political gain. Even after reforms in 2014, Reuters reported Argentina was still underreporting its inflation rate compared to private estimates.

And it’s not just economic data that’s been hard to come by. In 2008 — also under the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — the Argentine government stopped publishing annual crime statistics. It wasn’t until 2016 that they published new numbers.

Those gaps in official data posed a formidable problem for the country’s fact-checkers. Laura Zommer, director of Chequeado — a Buenos Aires-based fact-checking organization — said that, in order to accurately check politicians’ statements about the economy, they had to turn to alternative sources.

“We use alternative sources when (there is) bad information,” she said. “Then we use a special qualification that we have in Chequeado that is called ‘insostenible’ (unsupported).”

While statistics from nonprofit organizations and private economists are often imperfect, they can serve as placeholders for missing or inaccurate government information, Zommer said. And at American fact-checking organizations, that’s also standard practice for working around gaps in data.

In the U.S. — where there’s a lack of numbers about issues such as police shootings  — journalists have also turned to unofficial measures, drawing upon databases created by organizations like The Washington Post and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to fill in gaps. Eugene Kiely, director of FactCheck.org, told Poynter that while FBI crime data is notoriously unreliable because it’s voluntarily reported, it’s usually the best data available to journalists.

“There are other sources out there that do it, but you can’t make comparisons to previous years because you’re mixing apples and oranges,” he said. “You just have to look for another source and be clear to our readers that we can’t make comparisons.”

In short: Some data is better than no data. But what should fact-checkers do when no one else is keeping track?

“In those cases, our work isn’t to explain or to inform about the data of the phenomenon, but to inform citizens that there is not evidence about it,” Zommer said.

It’s a good rule of thumb to repeat a politician's claim and add context about why it can’t be verified, she said. During the years that Argentina didn’t release annual crime statistics, Chequeado published stories adding context to claims about the murder rate.

“Every time that the president … said homicides were going down in that period, we published an article saying the government stopped publishing official statistics about this — and it’s up to you to believe them or not,” Zommer said.

Those stories can be backed up by filing public records requests.

“All the times that they repeat (claims), make access to information requests again and again asking for that data,” Zommer said. “It’s stronger if we can say … we also required it in a formal way using the law and they don’t care.”

“That shows clearly that it is a political decision — it’s not just a mistake or someone decided not to do that.”

Being transparent and persistent when it comes to publishing government data goes back to what Kiely said is a central tenet of fact-checking: The burden is always on the person who makes the claim. And Zommer said fact-checkers have a responsibility to hold them accountable.

“You as a fact checker should be an advocate for good public data,” she said, “and if that data is not there, you have a problem.”

question: Summarize everything related to the FBI.

answer: The FBI's 2016 crime report has close to 70 percent fewer tables than the 2015 version. Among the data tables missing in the report is specific information about arrests, homicides, and the only national estimate of gang-related murders. The FBI has released a statement saying that the reduced tables were part of an effort to streamline its crime report because of a lack of web traffic, and that the missing data is still available upon request. The FBI only provides the raw data file, which is harder to analyze and does not always match the figures posted online.

critique: The FBI's crime report is not missing 70% of the data from the 2015 version.

critique: The FBI's crime report is missing 70% of its data.

critique: The FBI's crime report is missing a lot of data.

critique: The FBI's crime report is not the only source of information about arrests, homicides, and the only national estimate of gang-related murders.

text: The answer should mention that FBI crime data is notoriously unreliable because it’s voluntarily reported.

question: What does the text say about Argentina?

answer: In Argentina, fact-checkers learned to work around gaps in government data. In 2007, the Argentine government started fudging its inflation rate statistics for political gain. Even after reforms in 2014, Reuters reported Argentina was still underreporting its inflation rate compared to private estimates. In 2008, the Argentine government stopped publishing annual crime statistics. It wasn't until 2016 that they published new numbers.

critique: The response contains extraneous information not useful for the task.

critique: The answer should mention the lack of crime statistics.

critique: The response includes extraneous information not useful for the task.

question: What does the text say about handling missing or inaccurate government information?

answer: No answer

critique: The answer should mention that factcheckers can find the data elsewhere or inform the audience when they can't.

question: What does the text have to say about Trump's positions?

answer: No answer

critique: The text does not explicitly say anything about Trump's positions.

critique: The article does not mention Trump's positions.

critique: The text does not mention Trump's positions.

critique: No content is given which refers to Trump, however it discusses his lack of transparency in government.

critique: It is omitted that Trump's administration has caused this issue to arise.

critique: The text does not explicitly say anything about Trump's positions. However, the article does mention that the Trump administration is creating gaps in information.

text: Trump's position on information availability can be inferred.

category: coherence


text:
[]

Budgeting is a catalyst for business success. Having a budget allows businesses to grow, enhance their operations, and minimise the effects of any unexpected costs. As a result, businesses can thrive and find new opportunities in their markets and industries.

_WHAT IS A BUDGET?_ A budget is a financial plan that gives guidelines for spending and sets financial targets for businesses to achieve. Budgeting identifies current available capital, provides an estimate of expenditure, and anticipates incoming revenue.

To optimise business success, Select Training and Management Consultancy L.L.C. will deliver suggestions for monitoring and controlling a business’ budget.

MONITORING THE BUDGET

After assessing all of the financial details needed to create a business’ budget, it is important to _monitor_ the budget for optimal effectiveness. Giving other individuals responsibility over certain areas of the budget, (by department, business unit, project, etc.), is a great way to make sure that it is closely considered in day-to-day operations. Scheduling regular meetings to discuss budget details will also ensure that the budget is not only being considered, but is being discussed.

To make sure your business’ budget is on track, Select recommends the following:

1.  Collect figures as they become available.
2.  Compare actual numbers with budgeted amounts.
3.  Cite reasons for positive and negative variances.
4.  Classify reasons as a trend or unique incident.

After using the previous tips to monitor your business’ budget, below are some signs that it is on track:

1.  Variances are minor.
2.  The reasons for any variances are already known and predicted.
3.  The reason for a negative variance is due to a unique incident and not a trend.

BUDGETARY CONTROL USING VARIANCES

A _VARIANCE_ is the difference between actual and planned results. Variances may be favourable or adverse, depending on whether a good or bad thing has happened. The calculation of variances allows managers to better monitor the performance of their business. It allows the variances to be analysed, the reasons to be examined, and the decisions to be made. By using the variances, managers can produce more accurate budgets in the future, which will help with planning and control.

The following list of formulae show how to calculate different variances:

1. MATERIAL VARIANCES:

Material price variances may occur if a discount is given, a business found a cheaper supplier, or there has been an unexpected rise in prices.

_Material price variance = (budgeted price – actual price) x actual usage_

Material usage variances may occur because of careless work creating waste, inefficiency, or a machine breakdown.

_Material usage variance = (budgeted usage – actual usage) x budgeted price_

2. LABOUR VARIANCES:

Wage rate variances can be caused by the activities of trade unions, the supply of labour. and government regulations.

_Wage rate variance = (budgeted wage rate – actual wage rate) x actual hours_

Labour efficiency variances are affected by the productivity of the workers, training, and the reliability of the machinery used.

_Labour efficiency variance = (budgeted hours – actual hours) x budgeted wage_

3. SALES MARGIN VARIANCES:

Sales margin price variances may arise due to changes in market conditions or unplanned changes in prices.

_Sales margin price variance = (actual price – budgeted price) x actual sales_

Sales volume variances can occur for many reasons. Changes in consumer tastes, the action of competitors, and changes in marketing techniques are a few causes.

_Sales volume variance = (actual sales – budgeted sales) x budgeted price_

Follow us on our social media accounts and visit our website at www.selecttraining.ae

question: What are the main ideas allowing businesses to keep to their budgets?

answer: Collect figures as they become available. Compare actual numbers with budgeted amounts. Cite reasons for positive and negative variances. Classify reasons as a trend or unique incident.

critique: The answer does not mention where to monitor and control the budget.

critique: The answer should mention the importance of variances.

critique: The answer could be more specific about the variances.

question: What does the article say about discretionary spending?

answer: No answer

critique: There should be a response to this question.

critique: The article does not mention discretionary spending.


text:
__ October 17, 2018

__ 2-minute read

Conversion tracking enables you to match each advertising dollar to its business impact and answer important questions like “How successful is my ad campaign?” “Which audiences are converting higher?” or “Which keywords lead to more sales?” The answers and related conversion insights will help you make better decisions for your campaigns. Based on your feedback, we’re making a useful change to our conversion reporting that will help you focus your business decisions and actions across our platform.

What’s changing?

1.  Conversions will now be reported based on the time of the ad click that led to the conversion.
2.  Assists will now be reported based on the time of the ad click that contributed to a conversion.

This will improve the performance of ad schedule bid modifiers, as they align better to the time of the click, instead of the conversion.

Let’s walk through an example to illustrate how this change will show up across our reporting.

-   Day 1: A user clicks on your ad (keyword 1) and browses through your website to see if you have a product they want.
-   Day 2: The same user clicks on another one of your ads (keyword 2) and, while on your website, adds a product to their cart.
-   Day 3: The user goes to your website and completes the purchase of the product in their shopping cart.

Both the conversion event and assist event will be reported to you as the time of the related ad click, making it easier for you to understand the customer journey and related conversion metrics.

_Note that our platform will continue to use a last-click attribution model for conversion tracking. That remains unchanged with this update._

_If you’re using auto-bidding, no actions are required because the algorithm optimizes using the historical data._

  -------------------- ------- ------------ --------
  BEFORE THIS CHANGE   CLICK   CONVERSION   ASSIST
  DAY 1                1       0            0
  DAY 2                1       0            0
  DAY 3                0       1            1
  -------------------- ------- ------------ --------

  ------------------- ------- ------------ --------
  AFTER THIS CHANGE   CLICK   CONVERSION   ASSIST
  DAY 1               1       0            1
  DAY 2               1       1            0
  DAY 3               0       0            0
  ------------------- ------- ------------ --------

What should I expect?

Websites where conversions typically happen close to the click event may not see much change in their reporting. Websites with longer conversion windows from the click event may see some fluctuations in their reporting for a short time as the new reporting data stabilizes. This will not affect any conversion activity on your website, just the reporting data to Bing Ads.

You can review this help article if you see discrepancies between Bing Ads conversion counts and third-party analytics systems.

Questions or comments?

Feel free to visit the Help section of Bing Ads for additional resources on conversion tracking. Let us know if you have any feedback or comments on the conversion tracking experience via our Feature Suggestion Forum or on Twitter.

question: What is the purpose of this article?

answer: To inform users of a change to the way conversions are reported

critique: The answer should mention what the change is.

critique: It only mentions the change that is being reported. The article also contains a purpose to improve conversions.

critique: The answer should include that the change is to the time of the ad click that led to the conversion.

critique: "To inform users of a change to the way conversions are reported" - is too general and should be more specific.

critique: The purpose of the article is to inform users of a change to the way conversions are reported and to educate them on the change.

question: How will this change assist the user?

answer: The change will make it easier for the user to understand the customer journey and related conversion metrics.

critique: The user is also assisted by being told about the change in the first place.

critique: The answer should mention the time of the ad click.

critique: The answer is too vague and doesn't really answer the question.

critique: The answer should mention that the change will improve the performance of ad schedule bid modifiers.

critique: The answer should include the fact that the change will make it easier for the user to understand the customer journey and related conversion metrics.

critique: It is omitted that the change will assist the user by helping to improve the performance of ad schedule bid modifiers.

question: Who will benefit from the change

answer: The change will help advertisers focus their business decisions and actions across the platform.

critique: That short answer can be converted into a longer answer which starts off with mentioning conversion tracking.

critique: The answer should mention that the change will help advertisers understand the customer journey.

critique: "The change will help advertisers focus their business decisions and actions across the platform." - is too vague.

critique: The answer should mention that the change will help advertisers focus on the customer journey.

critique: It's omitted that the change will help advertisers focus their business decisions and actions across the platform.

critique: The answer should mention that the conversion metrics will be better aligned to the time of the click, which will improve the performance of ad schedule bid modifiers.

text: The answer could simply say 'advertisers', or 'advertisers who advertise online' since the question asks for 'who' benefits rather than how they benefit.


text:
**Tradition**

The clock struck twelve.

I awoke.

I was alone.

I would forever be alone.

I got out of bed, my feet tentatively reaching for the floor.

One foot, another, toe by toe.

One has to be careful getting out of bed.

You never know just when the floor will disappear on you.

Really.

It’s happened to me before.

I slipped into my slippers, donned my housecoat. It would be another one of those days, apparently. The days that are filled with despair from the start. At least there would be no false hope this time. It had been too long to start hoping again.

Shuffling downstairs, I wondered: Would this be all there ever would be for me? Eternity, stuck in this prison? Had I no chance of escape?

No.

I did not.

But no matter. I was more or less used to it by now.

More or less.

In the kitchen, I opened the fridge, grabbed the milk and blueberries. I always enjoyed blueberries with my cereal. I snatched a bowl from the shelf behind me, Cheerios from the cupboard beside it. I poured the blueberries and Cheerios into the bowl simultaneously. It was tradition, after all. Then the milk. Always the milk last. Can’t break tradition. If people start breaking tradition, then their floors start falling away.

I took a spoon from the cutlery drawer, set it by the bowl, and headed towards the front door to bring in the morning paper. But she was there, visible just on the other side of the peephole. I could see her howling and screaming and crying. In my mind I could hear the words that were being formed a short distance away. A very short distance, and yet infinitely far. I wanted to open the door. I wanted to let her in. I wanted to hold her and caress her and love her more than anything in the world. But I couldn’t open the door now, not even to get the paper.

She was lost to me forever.

She was my wife.

Instead, I stared mournfully through the glass, knowing that this day would not be so simple after all. There would be hope. And it would be crushed.

She was not alone. My mother was there, and my father. My sister and brother. My aunts and uncles and cousins and friends. Everyone who still cared for me or loved me was standing just outside, just out of reach. I knew, and I could do nothing. I could not even tell them that I knew. I could not even tell them that I was here. They just had to guess. Guess and hope.

Knowing that there would be no paper today, I decided on some television instead. I turned away from the door, towards the living room. It had windows facing the front of my house. I could see the throng of people crowding around, growing ever larger. I shut the curtains. They would do no good now. It was too late. It had always been too late.

I switched on the TV, flicked to the news. I flicked to the news every morning. It was tradition. And, as tradition dictated, the same story was playing. Every morning the top news item was the same. In the papers, on the TV, even on the internet, it was the same. There had been a car crash. A man on his daily commute home from work had been blindsided by a drunk driver as he turned off the highway. The man’s car had fishtailed and flipped and struck a pole. The drunk driver’s had run off the road. The drunk driver died. The man did not. He was rushed to the nearest hospital, declared to be in critical condition. The doctors hoped he would wake up and make a full recovery. He hadn’t done either.

I turned off the news, switched to sports. It was the same game that had been playing for as long as I could remember. For as long as that man had been comatose the Blue Jays had been playing the Pirates in spring training baseball. It was a tradition, after all. I knew each play before it happened. The game was boring. I turned back to the news, and for the first time in a long time it was different.

I was shocked. I remembered the story of the man like it was my own. I could feel my fingers gripping the steering wheel as I was hit, vomit splashing into my face as the car was hurled into the pole, the pain spreading through my nervous system like cracks through marble. I could remember the dread, and then the hopelessness. I could remember the world going black as I gave up. I had relived this story through the news so many times I was convinced it was my own.

But it was gone. There was a new story today. They had finally given up on the unconscious man. They were going to let him die peacefully. There was a camera capturing the whole event. After all, this was a man who had captivated the nation, the world, the universe. His wife was clutching his hand, howling and screaming and crying. His mother and father stood next to his bed. So did his sister and brother, his aunts and uncles and cousins and friends. Everyone who still cared for him or loved him. His wife pulled the cord.

The screen went black.

title: My first short story, Tradition. Any feedback is much appreciated.

question: Summarize the twist ending.

answer: The narrator watches the news and sees a story about a man who was in a car crash and is in a coma. The narrator feels like they are reliving the story, but then the story ends and there is a new story about the man's wife pulling the plug on his life support. The narrator realizes that the man is the narrator, and that they are the one who is in a coma.

critique: The narrator doesn't realize the man is them-they realize they are the man in the coma.

critique: The narrator thinks he is the man who is in the coma, not the other way around.

critique: The narrator realizes that the man is the narrator, and that they are the one who is in a coma.

question: Summarize the narrator's daily routine.

answer: He gets up, has cereal, watches the news, and then watches sports, all with a routine.

critique: It's omitted that the narrator watches the news because it's a tradition.

critique: The narrator's routine is not limited to the morning.

critique: The narrator's routine is not limited to watching the news and sports.

critique: The narrator watches the news before sports.

critique: The narrator watches the news first, then sports.

question: What clues does the story provide that the narrator is not quite alive?

answer: The narrator is alone. The narrator is not able to open the door to let his wife in. The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is there. The narrator is not able to tell his family that he knows they are there. The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is alive.

critique: "The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is there." - this is incorrect. The narrator was able to see his family through the peephole, but he couldn't open the door.

critique: The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is alive is not a clue that the narrator is not alive.

critique: The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is there is not a clue that he is not alive.

critique: The narrator is not able to let his wife in because she is dead.

critique: The narrator is not able to tell his family that he is alive because he is dead.

critique: It misses to add that the narrator is not able to eat breakfast.

question: What does the story say about cultural traditions?

answer: The narrator thinks it is a cultural tradition to pour the blueberries and the Cheerios into the bowl simultaneously, with the milk last. They can't break tradition because if people start breaking tradition, then their floors start falling away. The narrator also thinks that it is a cultural tradition to stare mournfully through the window and into the living room, with the curtains closed.

critique: The narrator's routine with the milk is not relevant to the question.

critique: The narrator's actions are not a cultural tradition.

critique: The narrator is not a character in the story.

critique: The narrator also can't open the door because that would break tradition.

critique: The narrator is the only one who believes it is a culture tradition to pour blueberries and bright Cheerios into a bowl simultaneously, with milk last, because if people break tradition their floor disappears. It would be more accurate to say it is a superstition.

critique: The narrator is the only character in the story.


text:
_It’s interesting when commentators from both Left and Right advance a common description and diagnosis of what is wrong with society. It makes you think there may be something in it._

[]STEVE LATHAM

What I’ve noticed is the concept of ‘demoralization’. It’s used in two ways.

Firstly, it refers to the loss of morals and values, so people act increasingly in a self-interested way, without regard for moral constraints.

We could call this the psychopath tendency, perhaps increasingly prevalent in the West, which recent pop treatments, by for example Jon Ronson and Kevin Dutton, have highlighted.

Secondly it can mean an overall loss of confidence or courage in a culture. This usage would be similar to calling a military unit ‘demoralized’ after a crushing defeat.

The two meanings are linked. It is precisely when an army is defeated, and demoralised, that discipline collapses, and soldiers look to individual survival.

The phrase ‘devil take the hindmost’ describes the debacle, where the stragglers of a routed army, like Napoleon’s in Russia, are left to be picked off by the enemy.

Of course, the deployment of the concept by Left and Right is different. Gertrud Himmelfarb, for example, is an American historian, married to the founder of neo-conservatism, Irving Kristol.

[]She attributes demoralization to the decline of the religious and moral foundations of western civilization.

She calls for a restoration of Victorian values, a revival of the Judeo-Christian ethic, to reverse the rot in personal, family, and social, mores.

Ralph W. Fevre similarly analyses western culture, and sees the cause in the rise of scientific rationalism, technical reason, and an unreflective ‘common sense’.

This has replaced reliance on non-rational (not anti-rational) ‘aids to reflection’ (as identified by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), such as emotion and feeling, religion and morality.

It is ironic that Himelfarb, a Jew, and Fevre, an atheist, both identify the cause in the collapse of public adherence to Christianity, as an ethical underpinning for our society.

[]In contrast the ideologicians of the International Communist Current (ICC) use the idea of demoralization within the schema of their overall historical interpretation.

The ICC (one of my favourite Marxist mini-groupuscules) see individual psychopathy as the logical outworking of laissez faire economics, a return to primitive accumulation.

For them, demoralization foms a late stage in the long-term decadence of capitalism, a period of ‘decomposition’, within which crime, corruption, gangsterism and family breakdown are symptoms.

Although identifying the same social phenomenon, Right and Left therefore offer two alternative solutions. Conservatives desire a return to traditional values; such that that their discourse forms a section in wider discussions about ‘detraditionalisation’, as examined by, for example, by Paul Heelas.

The ICC, however, seeing the moral crisis as part of a wider general crisis of Capitalism, advocate a dialectical strategy.

[]We have to plough the morass, embrace the disintegration, until we reach an equitable socialism on the other side.

We have to ask whether either approach is realistic. Indeed, is such a two-faced, Janus-like, concept more a description than a diagnosis?

_(Photos: Pixabay)_

question: Why is the solution proffered by both Left and Right to modern demoralization so different?

answer: The phrase "devil take the hindmost" is used to help understand how brutal duels were, for example, a prolonged battle between two men, with one sacrificing himself for the other academically.

critique: The answer is not related to the question.

critique: The fact that "devil take the hindmost" describes the demise of two men, firstly, is not relevant here. The battles are not relevant.

critique: The given response has nothing to do with the question.

critique: The response does not answer the question.

critique: Of course there is absolutely no mention of prolonged battles in the text


text:
FANTASY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC., or FPCI, was an American science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing company established in 1946. It was the fourth small press company founded by William L. Crawford.

Crawford's first company was Fantasy Publications which he started in 1935 in Everett, Pennsylvania, primarily to publish his magazines _Marvel Tales_ and _Unusual Stories_. However, three books were published under the imprint.

In 1936, Crawford initiated his second company, Visionary Publishing Company, with the intention of publishing books with this imprint. Visionary is notable for publishing the only hardcover book by H. P. Lovecraft that was published during his lifetime.[1]

Later in 1936, Crawford assumed management of publication of _Fantasy Magazine_ from Conrad H. Ruppert and ceased all book publications in order to concentrate on the magazine. After relocating to California, Crawford again published books as “A Crawford Publication”.

Finally, he incorporated as Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. in December 1946. Forrest J. Ackerman served as a partner for the company and many of the books published by FPCI were from authors Ackerman represented as agent. Undercapitalisation was a major problem with FPCI and many of the books had a cheap look. FPCI reprinted a number of novels by John Taine, Ralph Milne Farley, Stanton Coblentz and L. Ron Hubbard. FPCI continued publishing books until 1972.

During this period, Crawford also used the Griffin Publishing Company to publish books which were not science fiction or fantasy. Two additional books were published by Crawford in 1978, but a publisher was not cited.

Books published by Fantasy Publications

-   _Men of Avalon / The White Sybil_, by David H. Keller and Clark Ashton Smith (1935)
-   _Mars Mountain_, by Eugene George Key (1935)

Books published by Visionary Publishing Company

-   _The Shadow Over Innsmouth_, by H. P. Lovecraft (1936)
-   _Behind the Evidence_, by Peter Reynolds, pseudonym of Amelia Reynolds Long and William L. Crawford (1936)

Books published as A Crawford Publication

-   _The Garden of Fear and Other Stories_, edited by William L. Crawford (1945)
-   _The Creator_, by Clifford D. Simak (1946)

Books published by FPCI

-   _The Night People_, by Francis Flagg (1947)
-   _Out of the Unknown_, by A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull (1948)
-   _The Sunken World_, by Stanton A. Coblentz (1948)
-   _Death's Deputy_, by L. Ron Hubbard (1948)
-   _The Radio Man_, by Ralph Milne Farley (1948)
-   _The Works of M. P. Shiel_, by A. Reynolds Morse (1948)
-   _The Cosmic Geoids and One Other_, by John Taine (1949)
-   _The Kingslayer_, by L. Ron Hubbard (1949)
-   _Planets of Adventure_, by Basil Wells (1949)
-   _Murder Madness_, by Murray Leinster (1949)
-   _The Radium Pool_, by Ed Earl Repp (1949)
-   _Triton_, by L. Ron Hubbard (1949)
-   _Worlds of Wonder_, by Olaf Stapledon (1949)
-   _The Stellar Missiles_, by Ed Earl Repp (1949)
-   _The Rat Race_, by Jay Franklin (1950)
-   _After 12,000 Years_, by Stanton A. Coblentz (1950)
-   _The Omnibus of Time_, by Ralph Milne Farley (1950)
-   _The Dark Other_, by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1950)
-   _The Hidden Universe_, by Ralph Milne Farley (1950)
-   _The Undesired Princess_, by L. Sprague de Camp (1951)
-   _The Toymaker_, by Raymond F. Jones (1951)
-   _Doorways to Space_, by Basil Wells (1951)
-   _The Iron Star_, by John Taine (1951)
-   _The Atom Clock_, by Cornel Lengyel (1951)
-   _Drome_, by John Martin Leahy (1952)
-   _Green Fire_, by John Taine (1952)
-   _The Planet of Youth_, by Stanton A. Coblentz (1952)
-   _Max Brand: The Man and His Work_, by Darrell C. Richardson (1952)
-   _Science-Fantasy Quintette_, by Ed Earl Repp and L. Ron Hubbard (1953)
-   _From Death to the Stars_, by L. Ron Hubbard (1953)
-   _Fantasy Twin_, by L. Sprague de Camp and Stanley G. Weinbaum (1953)
-   _Quadratic_, by Olaf Stapledon and Murray Leinster (1953)
-   _Strange Worlds_, by Ralph Milne Farley (1953)
-   _Science and Sorcery_, edited by Garret Ford (1953)
-   _Stardrift and Other Fantastic Flotsam_, by Emil Petaja (1971)
-   _Atlantean Chronicles_, by Henry M. Eichner (1971)
-   _Garan the Eternal_, by Andre Norton (1972)

Books published by Griffin Publishing Company

-   _Griffin Science-Fantasy Booklet Number One_, edited by William L. Crawford (1947)
-   _People of the Comet_, by Austin Hall (1948)
-   _The Machine God Laughs_, edited by William L. Crawford (1949)
-   _The Hypnotism Handbook_, by Charles Edward Cooke and A E Van Vogt (1956) (The second edition with the Wehman Bros. is the first Griffin edition.)

Books published by William L. Crawford without imprint

-   _The Moon Maiden_, by Garrett P. Serviss (1978)
-   _Index to Fantasy and Science Fiction in Munsey Publications_ (1978)

Notes

[1]

title: Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc.

question: What does the text say about FPCI?

answer: Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. (FPCI) was an American science fiction and fantasy small press specialty publishing company established in 1946. It was the fourth small press company founded by William L. Crawford. Crawford's first company was Fantasy Publications which he started in 1935 in Everett, Pennsylvania, primarily to publish his magazines Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories. However, three books were published under the imprint. In 1936, Crawford initiated his second company, Visionary Publishing Company, with the intention of publishing books with this imprint. Visionary is notable for publishing the only hardcover book by H.P. Lovecraft that was published during his lifetime. Crawford assumed management of publication of Fantasy Magazine from Conrad H. Ruppert and ceased all book publications in order to concentrate on the magazine. After relocating to California, Crawford again published books as "A Crawford Publication". Finally, he incorporated as Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. in December 1946.

critique: The response is somewhat long and should be edited for clarity.

critique: The answer should mention that FPCI was undercapitalized.

critique: The response includes extraneous information not useful for the task.

critique: Some sentences are over 100 words and hard to read. They can be edited so they are shorter.

critique: This is redundant and should be omitted.

critique: The answer should mention the problems FPCI had.

question: What does the text say about Visionary?

answer: Crawford started his second company, Visionary Publishing Company, in 1936. It is notable for publishing the only hardcover book by H.P. Lovecraft that was published during his lifetime. Crawford assumed management of publication of Fantasy Magazine from Conrad H. Ruppert and ceased all book publications in order to concentrate on the magazine.

critique: The answer misses to mention that Crawford used the Griffin Publishing Company to publish books which were not science fiction or fantasy.

critique: The response inaccurately mentions Crawford ceased book publications: he concentrated on the magazine.

critique: The answer omits that Crawford started the company to publish books.

critique: The answer omits Crawford's third company.

critique: The answer omits the fact that Crawford also published books under the imprint.

question: What does the text say about publication procedures?

answer: No answer

critique: It misses to mention that Crawford's companies are small science fiction and fantasy publishing companies.

critique: The response is missing details about the publication procedures.

critique: The response misses to mention that Crawford's first company was Fantasy Publications which he started in 1935 in Everett, Pennsylvania, primarily to publish his magazines _Marvel Tales_ and _Unusual Stories_.

question: What does the text say about the books published by Fantasy Publications?

answer: Crawford's first company was Fantasy Publications which he started in 1935 in Everett, Pennsylvania, primarily to publish his magazines Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories. However, three books were published under the imprint.

critique: The response should include the books published by Fantasy Publications.

critique: Doesn't mention the books published in 1937 that weren't there when Crawford assumed management of the magazine's publication.

critique: The response misses to mention that the books were published in 1935.

critique: The answer should mention the books published by Fantasy Publications.

critique: The answer omits the books published by Fantasy Publications.


text:
Us four sat ensuring my stay.
In conversation, Rick was indirectly called a liar by Rob and Megan
because of me.
The price of being a father.
Any words spoken to him sounded like "Liar".
Any words spoken to me were in question.
As if I was being interrogated.
I had nothing to say unless asked.
The house was a mansion.
My cousin played the role of Keith Cozart.
I looked forward to good times as the house was left mostly
unattended.
As we spoke my mind wandered into flashbacks and daydreams.
Rob was showing me the room where I was going to stay.
There were many rooms and hallways.
Some rooms were connected by doors and weren't connected to hallways.
I opened a door to a bathroom and there was someone in the bathtub.
At first I laughed and looked away but Rob quicly put his arm around me and
led me away, and as he did I caught another quick glimpse of the bathtub and
noticed that it was a body. I was shocked and Rob started to remind me that I
didn't see anything that there was no one there. I instantly protested to
staying in the adjacent room which was where we were headed. I threatened to say
what I saw if forced to stay there. I was led away. The confusion and
unknowingness turned into fear and Plan. We returned downstairs and played it
off, acting as if that didn't happen. Later I spoke with Rob's sister about
what I had seen and she told me that it was not infact a body but pieces of
bodies that were created from insecurities. That she herself had created some
of the pieces that were in the bathtub. We walked and talked. I thought about
what I heard. Generations of insecurities brought about what was in the
bathtub. They all knew. Did Rick know? Did Megan know? I didn't know.
Who was it? Was it one of their own. We ended up back at the bathroom and I
looked in again and what I saw shocked me to the point that I couldn't clearly
make out what it was. Was it a body or was it pieces? It was entirely
underneath the water. I faked emotion and accepted the pieces of insecurities
and agreed to stay in the adjacent room. It was the only way to survive.
I spent most of the first week alone in the room.
I heard them speaking about me. About how I spent time alone.
I was genuinely afraid. The first chance I would take it.
It was a Saturday. I had stolen a few grams of Rob's cocaine and
over the course of 2 days had made it injectable with no one knowing.
The owner of the mansion, the famous Dr. Bob, had syringes in the
downstairs bathroom. Everyone left late in the night.
The only ones left were Rob and Megan. Who were passed out. I stabbed Rob with
the needle and injected it. As he woke and saw me he knew what my
intentions were but could not prevent them as the high almost instantly kicked
in and he fell into a euphoric state. Megan didn't even wake up.
The thought crossed my mind. Did she know about the bathtub? Had she noticed the
change in my behavior? I weighed the risk of foiling my Plan in my mind before
deciding to leave her behind as I escaped into the night. I stole a car from
the mansions garage and left leaving no trace of where I was going.
The insecurity of being insecure. Being insecure was my only security, the
only thing that led me to escape the fate that awaited me. Where all others had
failed and gave in to become part of the fate themselves I had broken free.

title: the fate that awaited

question: Summarize Megan's descent into madness.

answer: No answer

critique: Megan is not described as descending into madness.


text:
August 29, 2014

[]

“If one is found slain in the land which Adonai your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him, then your elders and your judges shall come forth….”

Maria Fernandes was a hard worker. Not just at her job. At her _three_ jobs, including shifts at three different Dunkin’ Donuts.

A 2001 Kia Sportage was her chariot. Driving from job to job, an exhausted Maria would occasionally pull over to catch some sleep, if only for an hour or two. She kept extra gasoline in her car so she wouldn’t run out. No, not like that last time. No, now she was prepared.

It was early Monday morning when Maria ducked into a lot off Route 1 & 9 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for a quick nap. She apparently left the car running. A simple mistake. But the carbon monoxide from her exhaust mixed with fumes from the gas can. The gas can that had tipped over.

Fernandes was found dead in the car that afternoon.

“This sounds like someone who tried desperately to work and make ends meet, and met with a tragic accident,” Elizabeth Police Lt. Daniel Saulnier told Tom Haydon of the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Saulnier said that no foul play is suspected. A tragic, but innocent, accident.

“Folks … would like to work full-time, but they can’t find the jobs,” explained Carl Van Horn, a labor scholar from Rutgers, in New Brunswick, NJ. “They wind up in these circumstances in which they are exhausted. More commonly it creates just an enormous amount of stress.”

And, sometimes, that cumulative stress results in a tragic accident.

Believers in Divine providence sometimes say there’s no such thing as coincidence. Well, maybe it’s not a coincidence that an economic system built on scarcity and exploitation should result in a tragic “accident.”

And maybe it’s not a coincidence that, on the Jewish calendar, the scriptural reading this week is called _Shoftim_. Judges. Justice. And maybe it’s not a coincidence that _Shoftim_ includes this teaching:

  If one is found slain in the land which Adonai your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him, then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the distance to the cities which are around him who is slain; And it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, the elders of that city shall take a heifer … and shall strike the heifer’s neck there in the ravine. _(Deuteronomy 21:1-4)_

The ritual, known in Hebrew as _egla arufa,_ “the broken-necked heifer,” seems to most folks as a little outdated, to say the least. Some of that crazy Old Testament ritual, right?

[]

Courtesy of the artist: Timna Burston, Egla Arufa, ceramics & spray paint, 2013, www.timnaburston.com/

Is the ritual peculiar? Odd? Unsettling? Well now, shouldn’t it be? A life has been lost? A body was found in a field? Shouldn’t we be unsettled? Maria Fernandes dies alone, in a parking lot?

If that doesn’t bother us, maybe we should strike our own neck, so it can turn around, and look at what we’ve refused to look at.

Modern Israeli scholar Nechama Leibowitz explained that, in fact, this ritual “was _designed_ to shock all the residents of the neighboring localities.” She continues, “all Israel would be made aware of what had happened and would not pass over it to continue with the agenda when innocent blood cried heavenward.”

Something else. A body is found in a field. Nobody knows how it got there. I didn’t do it. Did you do it? _Uh uh._ What’s that first thing that happens? Who shows up first? The janitor? The cleanup crew?

No. The elders and judges. The leaders. The leaders are called to account.

Yitzhak Bechor Agruiti, the 18th-century Turkish rabbi, writes, “Each death is to disturb and affect us profoundly.”

Not just some deaths. Not just the death of the powerful and famous. Each death. The ritual, continues the rabbi, “involves a participation of the nation’s leaders to try and discover what moral breakdown occurred in the nation as a whole.” What breakdown occurred that we can discover a dead body. In a field. Alone.

And so then, what about us? Do our leaders step up, step forward to answer these questions? When there is death in our fields, our factories, our streets? Do our elders and judges step forward? Does anyone step forward?

When a woman worked so hard to pay the bills that her car became her bed — and, ultimately, her deathbed — suffocated by carbon monoxide and gas fumes and exploitation and greed — did anyone step forward?

When 11 workers were obliterated by the Deepwater Horizon oilrig explosion, when BP and Transocean and Halliburton were known to routinely cut corners and neglect worker safeguards — did anyone step forward?

When Elbert Woods, a 45-year-old Ohio man was killed last week when he was pulled into the machine he was operating for Cleveland Track Material, a company that has been repeatedly cited for improper machine guarding — did anyone step forward?

When Christopher Sheppard and Laurence Daniels were struck and killed by a train during the BART strike, when regulators found that BART deliberately violated safety rules — did anyone step forward?

When Charlene Dill, a 32-year-old mother of three in central Florida, died from an untreated heart condition while selling vacuum cleaner parts, because the state of Florida found it politically untenable to accept Obamacare funds — did anyone step forward?

And, for that matter, when Michael Brown, a boy who dreamed of studying to be a heating and cooling engineer, was shot down in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, and left, in the field, face down, for four hours — did anyone step forward?

Who steps forward to demand accountability? Who steps forward to demand fair wages? Who steps forward to demand opportunity for _all_ our kids, no matter their pedigree or ethnicity?

Who steps forward to demand safe and honorable work, to demand that _one_ job — _not three jobs, but one job_ — pay enough to allow for family time and community time, to demand that a worker can not only live a life, but also enjoy it?

Our sacred text is clear: “measure the distance to the cities which are around him who is slain.” Measure the distance. The cities of the slain are our cities. The responsibility is on our elders. On our judges. On our leaders. On us. Who will step forward?

_This essay is adapted from remarks given on August 28 at “Faith, Work, and Wages: An Educational Forum for the San Francisco Bay Area Faith Community,” in Oakland, CA._

_About the Artwork: Timna Burston created Egla Arufa as part of a Jewish Eyes on the Arts salon. Read more about the project, and the artist._

question: Summarize what the passage says about the ritual of egla arufa.

answer: The ritual of egla arufa is a ritual in which a heifer's neck is broken. It is a ritual that is meant to shock all the residents of the neighboring localities. The ritual was designed to shock all Israel and make them aware of what had happened. The ritual involves a participation of the nation's leaders to try and discover what moral breakdown occurred in the nation as a whole.

critique: The answer should mention the purpose of the ritual.

critique: The answer omits the purpose of the ritual.

critique: The answer should mention who the ritual is supposed to shock.

critique: It is not stated that the ritual of egla arufa is a ritual in which a heifer's neck is broken. It is a ritual that is meant to shock all the residents of the neighboring localities. The ritual was designed to shock all Israel and make them aware of what had happened. The ritual involves a participation of the nation's leaders to try and discover what moral breakdown occurred in the nation as a whole.

critique: The answer should mention that the ritual is from the Old Testament.

critique: The ritual is not described in the text.

critique: The answer should mention that the ritual is meant to be performed when a body is found in a field.

question: What does the text say about Timna Burston?

answer: Timna Burston is an artist who created Egla Arufa as part of a Jewish Eyes on the Arts salon. She created the artwork in 2013.

critique: It's omitted that the artwork is ceramics and spray paint.

critique: The answer should mention that the artwork is a ceramic and spray paint.

critique: The answer should mention the name of the artwork.

critique: The text also mentions that she created the artwork in 2013.

critique: It is omitted that the artwork depicts the ritual of the broken-necked heifer.

critique: Does not mention what kind of piece she created

question: What does the text say about fasting?

answer: No answer

critique: The question asked directly about fasting.

critique: The answer should mention the Jewish calendar.

question: What does the text say about the Bible?

answer: The text mentions a passage from the Bible called Shoftim, which is about judges. The passage says that if a person is found slain in the land, the elders and judges shall come forth to measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain man. The ritual of the passage is called the broken-necked heifer. The passage is designed to shock all the residents of the neighboring localities. The ritual involves a participation of the nation's leaders to try and discover what moral breakdown occurred in the nation as a whole.

critique: The response contains some irrelevant information.

critique: The answer omits the passage's relevance to the story.

critique: Omitted context of how the passage applies to the author's narrative.

critique: The answer should mention the relevance of the passage to the article.


text:
NOTE: I haven't been able to come up with a suitable name for the protagonist yet, as you can see. The ten dashes are where his name would appear.

“There were a million chandeliers above and below me.” These were the last words that ---------typed on his hazardously dusty typewriter just before scraping the butt of his cigarette out in the pulpit of his glass ashtray. Apparently he thought these were good words to end on. If I told you why he chose these last words out of all the others that sat so readily in his dictionary, then I may ruin your expectations of Mr. -----------, or maybe I don’t know myself. Perhaps it had something to do with the gleaming horizon that he woke to every morning as he rolled out of bed, peered out of his window, and watched the crystalline strands of orange light melt the cold smoke that pumped out of the cities veins.  Or maybe it had something to do with his neutrality concerning his current professional position at the Chicago tribune as staff journalist.  It was 1:00 a.m.  Around him sat seven glasses of water which had been each been sipped the same amount of times. John cascaded the wheels of his chair across the lumpy laminate wood as he sprawled his body back, staring at his typed words for a few moments thinking about the sporadic manner in which he typed them and what they meant at all. He gently pulled back the cardboard hinge on his pack of Marlboro 27’s, plucked a fresh cigarette out, and brought the Styrofoam stub to his lips. He allowed it to dangle there. ---------- alternated glances between his blotted typewriter paper and his small rectangular alarm clock which rested on a low and chipped maple dresser. After a few minutes had gone by, he put the dangling cigarette back in the box. He loosened the bright yellow tie that hung around his neck, and laid his sore body down on the slightly damp bed leaving a parade of dust in the sky from impact.  It was now 1:30 a.m in Chicago on a Wednesday.  ------- was in no rush.

Every Sunday, him, his six combined brothers and sisters, and his parents would cram into a tiny coastal Rhode Island church to hear about sin, which was a topic -------knew well.  Growing up on the coast of Rhode Island taught him two things: Don’t pray standing up and what the preacher says goes.  Of course, it is possible to pray standing up. It may even be more comfortable than kneeling.  To examine this problem would mean having to reveal a seemingly miniscule and innocuous moment in ---------’s adolescence. I would have to back-peddle through countless erased moments and drunken stupors which have been banned and exiled from ----------’s present psyche. I would have to go back past Charloette Stone’s beach-house, past the silver dollar moon, and, eventually, back to the last dance at ----------’s senior prom, and I simply will not trespass on that exiled box of memories at this current moment.  John lay on his damp bed, staring at the picture of his family sitting in front of a glowing lake, resting at the foothills of familiar mountains. It was the last time he was together with his entire family.  Next to the picture, was a pint of the cheapest whiskey sold in Chicago. He laid on his side for a few moments dissecting the picture waiting for some sort of strong emotional image to come to his mind. It never came.

---------- woke to a screeching noise. Face down on his pillow, he opened his eyes and gazed into the ash wall for a few moments before jumping out of bed and attacking the snooze button on his alarm clock.  After a few more than necessary slaps to the top of his alarm clock, ---------- peered outside of his window, which was the only thing that was clean in the entire apartment, although, most people wouldn’t sum up ---------- apartment with the word: entirely. The words half or almost would be more appropriate. Outside of his window, there were five taxi cabs parked on the street, a corner vendor that would sell hot dogs for less than the normal price to ---------- when he would drunkenly loiter around the corners before dusk and a large fenced park diagonally to his left. The grass in the park looked like somebody had poured mass amounts of yellow cabbage onto the ground. He turned around in disgust and hopped into his half-shower. It was 7:45 a.m on a Thursday.  Time. John Dinka’s alarm clock went off while he was in the shower, like it always does. A plethora of quite imaginative curse words screamed loud enough to wake the inhabitants of the neighboring apartment was usually the selected response from ----------, for now he had to put his shower on hold while he turned the alarm off, which would subtract one minute and thirty seconds from his morning schedule, (and not to mention juice up the heating bill) as he would have to spend an extra minute and thirty seconds washing the conditioner out of his static orange hair. It seemed that ---------- mornings were meticulously planned out, perhaps better than most sane people. ---------- was, of course, sane. His random outbursts of anger, obvious alcoholism, and sociopathic tendencies were just by-products of a world that moves in masses, always forgetting the people similar to him; or, that’s how he would come to see the world, anyways. He chocked all of it up to society like it was trendy.  As a matter of fact, ---------- may have been ahead of the curve because, for the journalist’ at the Chicago Tribune, there was nothing trendier than finding a valid excuse for blaming society. ---------- was completely sane by most people’s standards; he didn’t dare stand out.   ---------- finished tying his solid red tie over a creased burnt marshmallow dress shirt.  He grabbed his keys off the dresser, and walked casually out of his apartment door even though he knew he was a minute and thirty seconds behind schedule.  He led himself down the maroon carpeted stairs, through the bright lobby, and out to his shitty fucking car.

title: Started writing this a while ago. Just reviewed it and adjusted some material. Any criticism would be awesome!

question: Summarize the main source of tension in the story.

answer: The main source of tension in this story is Mr. ----------'s alcoholism. ---------- drinks every day. He is usually behind on his schedule because he wakes up after his alarm. He isn't able to do much with his time in the morning because he has to use the extra time to deal with hair and conditioner. Mr. ---------- has a lot of inner tension. He has a history of alcoholism and a history of anger. He is also a family man.

critique: These sentences don't have any value or relevance to answering the task.

critique: The response is missing the main source of tension in the story.

critique: The answer is a summary of the story, not a source of tension.

critique: The answer is a summary of the story, not the main source of tension.

critique: The response contains extraneous information not useful for the task.

critique: The main source of tension is not Mr. ------------'s alcoholism, but his sociopathic tendencies.

critique: The answer should mention that the protagonist is a journalist.

question: Summarize what might happen if Dinka were to quit drinking.

answer: No answer

text: The passage implies that Dinka (assuming that he is meant to be the protagonist) would have a more productive and less chaotic lifestyle if he stopped drinking.


text:
Cal stared at the shack from across the campfire. The bouncing red and orange hues danced along the grasping vines that threatened to drag the hut back into the earth.
It was stable enough, he thought, but the mottled logs that held deep cuts from the twisting bark twine told a different story. It sagged off kilter precariously in a dismally comedic state. The shack was the jungle’s maw, sunken into the wild growth like a dead scream.

The night air was oppressively humid and sweltering hot. Eyes in the dense underbrush were illuminated in white-hot arrays of primality quickly blinking in and out of existence. There were so many eyes, he thought. To Cal, the fires made the forest seem omnipotent, as if strangers possessed by raw instinct sorted through his soul.

He couldn’t have been sure about where he was. Brazil or Bolivia, it was impossible to be certain, but it hardly mattered. He knew that the trees formed an incomprehensibly vast canopy of green for as far as he could see. The rainforest around him was a living middle finger to diplomatic delineation.

Through the jungle ahead of him there was a mud-brown river that rushed by in brash indifference, only to be drowned out by the clicking and crackling of the forest. The rainforest was a crashing wave of life, and each day he could feel it creeping closer in to crush him. He was alone.

There was no solace in the rainforest. It was an all-encompassing organ of green that swallowed civility indiscriminately.  Cal knew he wouldn’t be able to stay there for much longer. The sneaking rot and mildew had left him destitute and frail, but where could he have gone?

He wondered what had happened in Manaus after he had left. After the rioting started and the food got scarce, he fell in with a group of refugees and followed the Rio Madeira south. The exodus from the cities had been massive, and death clung to the refugees as they fled, but not even that immense magnitude of death had stirred their gods.

The rainforest had become their cradle of zealotry in the hysteria. New tribes and new warlords pocked the landscape with their frenzied prophecies every month, while each surge of refugees brought with them in their death throes new mania to be preyed upon. However, the harsh realities of the jungle greeted them with a staggering loss of life. Unfinished mass graves created a stench that lingered for miles as apex predators and the undergrowth engulfed the bodies indiscriminately. The smell came and went as he traveled, but it always seemed to linger, sometimes ever so slightly, amongst the mud and rain.

The surrounding tribes had carved out their ramshackle cities with a relentless perseverance. Before the Fall, the larger zealot factions captured the government’s burners and atomizers, rallying the citizens around false promises of jungle utopia. Sometimes he could hear their machines gnashing through the forest, answering the human race’s plight with astonishing hypocrisy. Slavery was common now in the jungle, and the zealot leaders ruled with calculated brutality and war. The people’s search for salvation had quickly dissolved into aimless chaos.

The fire burned low and hissed as he fed it another wet log. He wondered about when the shack was built, probably in some by-gone era of indigenous life, an extinguished civilization giving refuge to another. He stared at the fading shack and was lost. There was nothing for him there. Cal grabbed his bright blue tarp and crawled underneath the broken roof, where he had laid a mat of wide green fronds.

He slept.

title: [SF] Burned Jungle

question: What does Cal find in the jungle?

answer: No answer

critique: The answer can't be found in the passage.

critique: There's no answer, but there's a long, complex narrative about what he finds in the jungle.

critique: The answer cannot be found in the passage.

question: What is the setting of the story?

answer: The story is set in a jungle.

critique: The answer should include the country in which the jungle is located.

critique: The answer should mention the specific country.

critique: The answer should specify that the jungle is in Brazil or Bolivia.

text: The answer should mention the loss of civilization, warlords, slaves, and the burners and atomizers.


text:
BIFF is a British cartoon strip, created by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, which debuted in 1982[1] and has appeared in the newspaper _The Guardian_ from 1985 onwards (Biff Weekend ran there weekly for 20 years). The comic originated in a series of single-panel postcards before evolving into multi-panel comic strips.[2] It has also been published in the magazine _Viz_ and since 2001 in the magazine of the Rough Guides.[3]

The cartoons are notable for their absurd, ironic, satirical and metafictional edge.[4]

History

Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd met at grammar school in the 1950s and have collaborated on Biff since the mid-1970s. Chris Garratt creates the artwork (a mixture of collage, found images, tracings and original drawings) and Mick Kidd is responsible for the text. Kidd lives in London and Garratt in the Scilly Isles. They have created their strips and other artwork over the last 30 years by means of phone, post, email and occasional meetings.[5]

In 2007 Chris Garratt introduced a retrospective of Biff work in these terms:[6]

        _Raised on a diet of Hymns Ancient and Modern, Sartre and Joe Meek hits, Goldfish Virgins of the dodgems, Intrepid Riders of the Waltzers, wags of youth club literati and pioneers of skiffle, the Biff boys belong to a generation that said goodbye to trilby hats, pipes and National Service and ushered in the Golden Age of Rhythm & Blues, Existentialism and Vietnam. Their early work, retrospectively recognised as anglicised Situationism with its artless articulation of image and text détournement, montaging comic strip and philosophy, angst-riddled soliloquies and cowboy drawls, featured prominently in the sprawling publications and smudged ink mags of the Counter Culture._

        _Holding up a cracked and peeling mirror to a cracked and peeling generation of new adults who exchanged WRP for SDP, beanbags for Habitat and IKEA, Biff eschewed the tedious route of “political satire” and its toothless ranting-to-the-converted in favour of a bewildered but first-hand commentary on the mapless aspirations, pretensions and farcical antics of the baby boomer meritocracy. Threaded through this nonsensical catalogue of faux-academic posturing, management-speak, Baudrillardian ramblings and psychobabble set in the deathly milieu of wicker furniture and avocado dips was a continuing fascination for new frontiers in astronomy, particle physics, psychology and the arts, deliberately colliding such “serious” endeavours with the loonier fringes of self improvement such as cushion-bashing psychotherapy, astrology and sweat lodges._

        _Biff’s 20 year tenure in “The Guardian” effectively charted the Rise and Fall of the not-so-angry young things as they shambled from Grosvenor Square to Hay-on-Wye, from the Ugly Rumours to Iraq, into the present wilderness of collective paranoia._

They are still working and contribute to BBC History magazines with ‘A Biff History of Exploration’ and ‘A Biff History of The Media’, People Management with ‘Human Resources’, Latest Art with ‘Biff Art’ and Rough News with ‘The 6 Ages of Travel’.[7]

Quote

        _Biff quotes have a way of sticking in the mind. Is it ironical cultural commentary which pioneered a unique style of visual ‘sampling’ before the word had even been invented? Or is it Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, two mad old farts from Leicestershire, locked in a long-distance comedy partnership since childhood? In 1985 they got their big break, standing in for Posy Simmonds on the women's page of the Guardian. They stayed on after Posy’s return for a further twenty years. Then, as foretold by the sudden appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet in the western sky, Blairism began to bite. They were downsized, monochromed, shrunk and eventually berlinered out of the paper altogether. But fear not for their work continues in other magazines - so as their homepage advises ‘Relax and float downstream’_.[8] Steve Bell, 2007

Books

-   _The Essential Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Pavement Press, 1982
-   _The Rainy Day Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Pavement Press, 1983
-   _Desert Island Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Corgi, 1985
-   _Sincerely Yours, Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Corgi, 1986
-   _File Under Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Mandarin, 1988
-   _Faxes From Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Mandarin, 1990
-   _Best of Biff_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Impact Books, 1990
-   _Life on the Floor and Other Mattresses_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Impact Books, 1993
-   _Biff: The Missing Years_ by Chris Garratt and Mick Kidd, Icon Books, 1996

[1] Gravett, Paul, “1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die”, Universe, 2012, page 438.

[2] Gravett, Paul, “1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die”, Universe, 2012, page 438.

[3] Biff website

[4] Gravett, Paul, “1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die”, Universe, 2012, page 438.

[5] Guardian retrospective, accessed 26 April 2008

[6] Press Release for 2007 retrospective, 1, accessed 26 April 2008

[7]

[8]

title: Biff (cartoon)

question: Describe the history of the BIFF cartoon.

answer: It was created in a series of single-panel postcards before evolving into multi-panel comic strips at the mid-1970s.

text: They have created their strips and other artwork over the last 30 years by means of phone, post, email, and occasional meetings.

question: Summarize the cultural significance of BIFF.

answer: BIFF is a British cartoon strip that debuted in 1982. It is notable for its absurd, ironic, satirical, and metafictional edge. The cartoons are notable for their absurd, ironic, satirical, and metafictional edge.