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Stanford NLP 14

gutenberg

CHAPTER VII PHIL AND BEN MAKE A MOVE So far Dave and Nat Poole had not met face to face. Our hero had seen the money-lender's son a number of times, but Nat had always been with some of his cronies and had, apparently, not taken any notice. But on the morning following the conversation just recorded, the pair came face to face in one of the narrow hallways. "Good-morning, Nat," said Dave, pleasantly. "Morning," grumbled the other student. He was about to pass Dave, but suddenly changed his mind. "So you got back, eh?" "Yes, I've been back several days." "I heard that Link Merwell got away from you?" "That is true." "Humph! If I had the chance to nab him that you had, I'd not let him get away." "We held Jasniff." "Maybe you let Merwell go on purpose," continued the money-lender's son, shrewdly. "Not at all, Nat. He gave us the slip, clean and clear." "Humph!" Nat paused for a moment. "I got word from my dad that you almost smashed him up on the road with your auto." "Hardly as bad as that." "He is going to make your uncle pay for the damage done." "It wasn't much." "It was enough. You want to be more careful with your car after this. You auto fellows seem to think you own the whole road." "What about your motor-boat, Nat?" asked Dave. He remembered how the money-lender's son had played more than one mean trick while running the craft.

cnn

MAMONI VALLEY PRESERVE, Panama (CNN) -- A famed primatologist says the plight of chimpanzees helped inspire Michael Jackson to write the song "Heal the World." Michael Jackson loved chimpanzees, said Jane Goodall: "They made him smile." But the theme and the lyrics of the song turned out to be about a better world for humanity. "He wrote what he told me he thought was his most powerful song ever, but it didn't end up for animals," Jane Goodall said in a CNN interview Thursday night. Goodall spoke exclusively to CNN in a Panamanian rain forest where she is exploring a partnership on behalf of Roots & Shoots, her global youth education program. The interview comes as a new version of the song, first released on Jackson's 1991 "Dangerous" album, is being recorded by a collection of artists for release in late October. Goodall became friends with Jackson about 20 years ago when he invited her to his Neverland Ranch, where "he talked about his dreams for the place to have animals running, looking free like they would in the wild. ... It was just a very charming day, very low key, nobody else was there," she said. Goodall, famous for her 50 years of groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Africa, said Jackson invited her because "he loved what I did." "He loved chimpanzees," she said. "He loved to watch them feeding. He liked their faces. They made him smile." Years later, she met Jackson's chimp, Bubbles, and has visited him at his retirement refuge in Florida, she said.

cnn

(CNN) -- Cristiano Ronaldo underlined just why Real Madrid agreed to pay him the big bucks on a scintillating evening of European football. The 28-year-old, who inked a new five-year deal with the Spanish club on Sunday, completed a brilliant hat trick as Real raced to a 6-1 rout against Galatasaray. Ronaldo had the final say in Istanbul as he danced past three defenders before blasting the ball into the net for his hat-trick. Summer signing Isco had got Los Blancos off the mark when he picked up a long ball hit from beyond the halfway line by Angel di Maria and hit home after 33 minutes. From then on it was one way traffic as Karim Benzema and Ronaldo added two goals apiece before Umut Bulut pulled one back for the Turkish champions. The away victory saw the nine time European champions kick off a new era of European football under manager Carlo Ancelotti in some style. A pulsating opening round of Champions League group matches featured a flurry of firsts. Former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola safely negotiated his first match in charge of Bayern Munich's title defence with an emphatic 3-0 win over CSKA Moscow. David Alaba hit home a dipping free kick to set the Germans on their way before Mario Mandzukic powered in a header in a dominant first half. Arjen Robben volleyed in a scooped pass from Alaba to tick off a first European win for Guardiola and his defending champions. David Moyes also came through his first game as Manchester United manager unscathed as the club made its first European outing without Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm since 1985.

cnn

(CNN) -- The Internet was made for moments like these. Clint Eastwood and his empty chair didn't so much detract from Mitt Romney's big moment at the last night of the Republican National Convention, as much as they became breakout stars in their own right. Romney and Marco Rubio still had their moments. Clint retained his Hollywood icon status. And two new stars were born, Invisible Obama and Clint's Chair. Those weren't the only OMG moment during the final night of the RNC. 1. More crying "Is crying becoming a 'thing' for Republicans?" asked @libgrrrl Thursday night. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. One of Eastwood's most tweeted moments was his reference to crying when Obama was elected. "I just thought this is great. Everybody's crying, Oprah was crying. I was even crying," he said. U.S. Olympian Mike Eruzione got choked up speaking about carrying the World Trade Center flag during the 2002 Opening Ceremony, but it was Romney talking about single rose his father would leave by his mother's bedside every day that had most eyes welling up, including Romney's. "Mitt's tearing up talking about his parents! Y'all I can't even deal with all this crying tonight," tweeted @rsethib And then there were the weepers in the audience, some of whom managed to hold back tears long enough to tweet, like @ShoshanaWeissmann, "Loving this!!!!!! Crying a little and SO inspired!!!!!!" 2. Homocon CNN reporter Jen Christensen spent time with members of the Log Cabin Republicans who were invited to participate in the convention platform for the first time this year. The LGBT group GOProud threw a Tuesday night party called "Homocon," that included go-go dancers and a velvet rope. However inclusion did not = acceptance. But let's focus on the lighter moments shall we?

wikipedia

International Futures (IFs) is a global integrated assessment model designed to help in thinking strategically and systematically about key global systems (economic, demographic, education, health, environment, technology, domestic governance, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and environment) housed at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures. Initially created by Barry B. Hughes of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver in Colorado, the model is free for public use in both its online and downloadable forms. The Pardee Center for International Futures has partnered with many organizations to produce forecasts and data analysis. IFs has been utilized in the National Intelligence Council's "Global Trends 2020", "Global Trends 2025", and "Global Trends 2030" report. The International Futures model has also contributed to the United Nations "Human Development Report" and the "Global Environmental Outlook". IFs is hosted free for public use by Google Public Data Explorer, the Atlantic Council, and the Institute for Security Studies. The model incorporates dynamically linked sub-models. They include: population, economic, agricultural, educational, energy, socio-political, international political, environmental, health, infrastructure and technology. IFs is a unique modeling tool because it endogenizes the impact of such a wide range of global systems for 183 countries. The help system that accompanies the software provides an extensive overview of the model structure and computer code used to write the model. IFs has three main functions, all connected to its conceptual treatment of integrated assessment forecasts: data analysis, scenario analysis, and display.

cnn

(CNN) -- Fantasia Barrino did not deny an alleged relationship with a married man, but a statement from her manager said the singer-actress did not wreck his marriage. A North Carolina woman, in a child custody case filing, charged that Barrino carried on a year-long affair with her husband, Antwaun Cook, who is the father of her two young children. Paula Cook alleged her husband and the "American Idol" winner "have at times recorded their illicit sexual activity," although her lawyer stopped short of explaining whether a sex video existed. The woman is seeking full custody of her sons, 2 and 6, along with child support, alimony, the family home and a car. The suit was filed last week in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. "Fantasia is certain that she is not responsible for the deterioration of the Cook's marriage," manager Brian Dickens said in a statement to CNN Monday. Barrino has said in past interviews that she was friends with a married man, but she has consistently denied there was a sexual relationship. Photos of Barrino and Cook together, including on a personal watercraft and also walking hand-in-hand, have circulated on the internet for months. Paula Cook's petition said her husband "frequents bars, restaurants, nightclubs and the like" with Barrino. She accused her husband of enjoying "the lavish benefits associated with the high-profile relationship." "Ms. Barrino flew defendant/husband to places such as Atlanta, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Barbados" where he "attended celebrity parties, concerts, photo shoots and award shows with Ms. Barrino."

cnn

(CNN) -- Country singer Kevin Sharp, best known for his hit "Nobody Knows," has died from "complications due to cancer," his mother said. He was 43. Sharp was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager. He was treated, and the disease did not reoccur, but he had problems later in life because of the radiation and chemotherapy he underwent, Elaine Sharp said. She said her son died Saturday night at her home in Fair Oaks, California. "He had a good, strong heart," she said. "He's not hurting anymore." His website added that he died "due to ongoing complications from past stomach surgeries and digestive issues." Sharp grew up wanting to be a singer. According to a 1998 story from Music City News, Sharp -- who grew up in a large family that included a number of foster children -- was a high school athlete and participated in a Sacramento, California, light-opera company. It was during his senior year in high school that he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer that had spread to his lungs. The ailment led to Sharp meeting producer and songwriter David Foster through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Foster, known for his work with such artists as Celine Dion and Michael Buble, helped support Sharp through years of chemotherapy and a determination to wean himself from painkillers after the cancer went into remission. In the mid-'90s, after working at an amusement park to make ends meet, Sharp landed a record deal and went to No. 1 on the country charts with "Nobody Knows." He followed that hit with a handful of others, including "She's Sure Taking It Well" and "If You Love Somebody."

mctest

Millie thought she would like to stop eating meat, but she didn't know if she could do it. Once, when she was younger, she had tried to go without eating meat, but before the first day was over, her stomach had felt a little empty. "Hmm," she had thought. "Maybe it's not good for me to stop eating meat. Maybe that's why I feel so hungry." But, now, she wondered if there was anything she could do so she wouldn't feel so hungry, even if she did stop eating meat. She went to the library, and there, she saw a magazine. Below the title, the cover said, "Learn to live on vegetables!" She read in the magazine that it was good to change her meal plan slowly. If she really felt hungry for a little meat, the magazine said, it was okay to have some, and then go back to eating her veggies. She also read that beans could give her body a lot of the same things meat could, but that eating things like rice and noodles would help the beans do a better job of building her body and giving it energy. That way, she would feel better, instead of feeling so hungry! Millie wasn't sure if it would work this time, but the magazine's tips made her want to give it another try!

race

A 51-year-old lawyer has moved back in with his mother-after giving up his Los Angeles home to a family of strangers for a year. Tony Tolbert looked for a family in need after his father set a glowing example when he was growing up by always welcoming people to stay in their spare room. "You don't have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Oprah," Tolbert told CBS. "We can do it wherever we are, with whatever we have, and for me, I have a home that I can make available. " His mother, Marie Tolbert, added, " He is go giving, and he's always been that way. " Tolbert went to Alexandria House, a shelter for homeless women and children, and came across Felicia Dukes, who lived in a single bedroom with three of her children. Her family had been separated as the shelter was just for children and her eldest son was unable to join them. Tolbert told the staff he wanted to bring the. family back together, and offered his home. The family has now moved into the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home - with Duke's oldest son. It is worth nearly $400,000, according to online estimates. "My heart just fills up with appreciation, " Dukes said, as she wiped away her tears. The heartwarming story comes after the report that l0-year-old Gracie McNulty, from England, served Christmas dinners t0 50 homeless people, achieving her fathers last Christmas wish. Her father Craig, 38, was a regular charity volunteer who had served breakfast to the homeless on Boxing Day. But as a roofer, he suffered serious head injuries when he fell while working. And 'he died soon after the accident in August. "It's been the best Christmas ever, " Cracie said. "I was just at school feeling sad and so I decided I wanted to do something to make him proud and this felt like the perfect thing. "

gutenberg

CHAPTER XI THE FRUIT THAT IS OF GOLD At precisely the hour agreed upon Harcutt and Densham met in one of the ante-rooms leading into the "Milan" restaurant. They surrendered their coats and hats to an attendant, and strolled about waiting for Wolfenden. A quarter of an hour passed. The stream of people from the theatres began to grow thinner. Still, Wolfenden did not come. Harcutt took out his watch. "I propose that we do not wait any longer for Wolfenden," he said. "I saw him this afternoon, and he answered me very oddly when I reminded him about to-night. There is such a crowd here too, that they will not keep our table much longer." "Let us go in, by all means," Densham agreed. "Wolfenden will easily find us if he wants to!" Harcutt returned his watch to his pocket slowly, and without removing his eyes from Densham's face. "You're not looking very fit, old chap," he remarked. "Is anything wrong?" Densham shook his head and turned away. "I am a little tired," he said. "We've been keeping late hours the last few nights. There's nothing the matter with me, though. Come, let us go in!" Harcutt linked his arm in Densham's. The two men stood in the doorway. "I have not asked you yet," Harcutt said, in a low tone. "What fortune?" Densham laughed a little bitterly. "I will tell you all that I know presently," he said. "You have found out something, then?" "I have found out," Densham answered, "all that I care to know! I have found out so much that I am leaving England within a week!"

cnn

(CNN) -- Donald Sterling has agreed to the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Sterling's attorneys told CNN on Wednesday. Last week, Sterling's estranged wife, Shelly, agreed to sell the franchise to Ballmer for an NBA record $2 billion. The Sterlings are co-owners of the team through a family trust. Donald Sterling initially indicated he would fight the sale and filed a lawsuit against the National Basketball Association. The suit has yet to be withdrawn, attorneys Bobby Samini and Maxwell Blecher, said, but that likely will happen this week. "Donald Sterling officially announces today, the NBA and Donald Sterling and Shelly Sterling have agreed to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 billion and various additional benefits. All disputes and outstanding issues have been resolved," Samini said in a written statement. Blecher said he thought that Sterling worked out a resolution with the league or with Shelly Sterling. The NBA was expected to issue a news release commenting on Wednesday's developments. As of 8 p.m. ET, the NBA had not received a sale agreement with Donald Sterling's signature, a source with detailed knowledge of the negotiations said. The source said Sterling was in a room with his two attorneys, going through the deal. NBA owners still have to approve the sale to Ballmer, who has indicated he would keep the team in Los Angeles. Ballmer, according to Forbes magazine, is worth $20.3 billion. Ballmer has tried to buy a NBA team before. Last year, he and investor Chris Hansen were set to purchase the Sacramento Kings, but the NBA nixed the deal because the duo would have moved the franchise to Seattle.

wikipedia

The Kingdom of France () was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and the Hundred Years' War. It was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia ("Francia Occidentalis"), the western half of the Carolingian Empire, with the Treaty of Verdun (843). A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected king and founded the Capetian dynasty. The territory remained known as "Francia" and its ruler as "rex Francorum" ("king of the Franks") well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself "Roi de France" ("King of France") was Philip II, in 1190. France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy. In Brittany and Catalonia (now a part of Spain) the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France. Initially, West Frankish kings were elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, but the regular coronation of the eldest son of the reigning king during his father's lifetime established the principle of male primogeniture, which became codified in the Salic law. During the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars (1494–1559).

cnn

Washington (CNN) -- Leading American Muslims on Wednesday strongly criticized this week's planned congressional hearing into the alleged radicalization of members of their community, calling it an unfair attack on loyal citizens and a dangerous break from the traditional U.S. embrace of tolerance and pluralism. Rep. Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has said Thursday's hearing is necessary to explore the extent to which al Qaeda is trying to influence and indoctrinate U.S. Muslims, among other things. But his plans have created an uproar, with critics accusing Republican leaders of bigotry and comparing the hearings to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's allegations of Communist infiltration in the early years of the Cold War. American Muslim leaders have also taken issue with King's assertion that they haven't sufficiently cooperated with law enforcement officials, and dismissed his claim that the overwhelming majority of mosques are run by extremist imams. Such claims are "demonstrably false," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Except for a tiny minority," extremists have found "no fertile ground in America," he said. He said King is engaged in "fear-mongering," and called the New York Republican "unfit" to head the Homeland Security Committee. "We are not in denial as a community that something is going on, that there are bad actors in every community," said Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, a member of the Council of Muslim Organizations. King is "onto something, but he is going in the wrong direction." And Attorney General Eric Holder weighed in as well, disputing King's premise that Islamic leaders haven't done enough to help police during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

race

Cyber language is popular among Chinese netizens, who create English words to reflect novel phenomenon in society. "Gelivable", combining pinyin of Chinese characters Geili (giving strength) with the English suffix for adjectives, literally means "giving power" or "cool". Similarly, "Hengelivable" means "very cool", and "ungelivable" means "dull, not cool at al". "Antizen" referred to the group of college graduates who, earning a poor salary and living in small rented apartments, are like the tiny and laborious ants. David Tool, a professor with the Beijing International Studies University said it's very interesting to combine Chinese with English to create new words. "English is no longer mysterious to the Chinese people. They can use the language in a flexible way according to their own experiences," he said. Chinese words and expressions were created, as well, by netizens. One example was "Suan Ni Hen". This three-character expression, which originally meant "you win" with the first character carrying the same pronunciation as garlic in Chinese, is used to satirize high garlic and food prices this winter. Chinese people use the character "bei" before a verb to show a passive voice, and it is used by netizens to show the helplessness in front of false conclusions and fake media reports. For instance, "zisha" means "suicide" while "beizisha" means "be officially presumed to have committed suicide", and xiaokang means "fairly comfortable life" while "beixiaokang" means "be said to be living a fairly comfortable life". Wu Zhongmin, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, saw the phenomenon of word creation as a natural response of young people to social issues. "Cyber language is more vivid and it shortens people's distances," he said.

wikipedia

Gmina Michałowo is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Białystok County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus. Its seat is the town of Michałowo, which lies approximately east of the regional capital Białystok. (Michałowo gained town status on 1 January 2009 – prior to that the district was classed as a rural gmina.) The gmina covers an area of , and as of 2006 its total population is 7,263, out of which the population of Michałowo is 3,343. The gmina contains part of the protected area called Knyszyń Forest Landscape Park. Apart from the town of Michałowo, the gmina contains the villages and settlements of Bachury, Bagniuki, Barszczewo, Bieńdziuga, Bołtryki, Bondary, Borsukowizna, Brzezina, Budy, Cisówka, Ciwoniuki, Dublany, Garbary, Gonczary, Gorbacze, Hieronimowo, Hoźna, Jałówka, Julianka, Juszkowy Gród, Kalitnik, Kamienny Bród, Kazimierowo, Kituryki, Kobylanka, Kokotowo, Kokotowo-Leśniczówka, Koleśne, Kondratki, Kopce, Kowalowy Gród, Krugły Lasek, Krukowszczyzna, Krynica, Kuchmy-Kuce, Kuchmy-Pietruki, Kuryły, Leonowicze, Lewsze, Maciejkowa Góra, Majdan, Marynka, Michałowo-Kolonia, Mościska, Mostowlany-Kolonia, Nowa Łuplanka, Nowa Wola, Nowe Kuchmy, Nowosady, Odnoga-Kuźmy, Osiedle Bondary, Oziabły, Pieńki, Pieńki-Kolonia, Planty, Pólko, Potoka, Rochental, Romanowo, Rudnia, Rybaki, Sacharki, Sokole, Stanek, Stara Łuplanka, Stare Kuchmy, Supruny, Suszcza, Świnobród, Szymki, Tanica Dolna, Tanica Górna, Tokarowszczyzna, Topolany, Tylwica, Tylwica-Kolonia, Tylwica-Majątek, Wierch-Topolany, Zajma, Zaleszany and Żednia.

wikipedia

Fortran (; formerly FORTRAN, derived from "Formula Translation") is a general-purpose, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing. Originally developed by IBM in the 1950s for scientific and engineering applications, Fortran came to dominate this area of programming early on and has been in continuous use for over half a century in computationally intensive areas such as numerical weather prediction, finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, computational physics, crystallography and computational chemistry. It is a popular language for high-performance computing and is used for programs that benchmark and rank the world's fastest supercomputers. Fortran encompasses a lineage of versions, each of which evolved to add extensions to the language while usually retaining compatibility with prior versions. Successive versions have added support for structured programming and processing of character-based data (FORTRAN 77), array programming, modular programming and generic programming (Fortran 90), high performance Fortran (Fortran 95), object-oriented programming (Fortran 2003) and concurrent programming (Fortran 2008). The names of earlier versions of the language through FORTRAN 77 were conventionally spelled in all-capitals (FORTRAN 77 was the last version in which the use of lowercase letters in keywords was strictly non-standard). The capitalization has been dropped in referring to newer versions beginning with Fortran 90. The official language standards now refer to the language as "Fortran" rather than all-caps "FORTRAN".

cnn

(CNN) -- David Haye claims that Wladimir Klitschko will "freeze like an iceberg" when the heavyweight boxing champions finally meet in Hamburg on July 2, after the date and venue was confirmed on Wednesday. The British fighter will put his WBA belt on the line against the Ukrainian's IBF/WBO and IBO crowns in a long-awaited unification fight at the 57,000-capacity Imtech Arena. The German city is the adopted home of the 35-year-old Klitschko and his elder brother Vitali, who Haye also hopes to fight before his planned retirement in October. "It's great to finally find out the date and venue," Haye said on his website. "I've been training for this fight since the end of 2010 and it's nice to now have a concrete date to work towards. "Hamburg is an accessible city for a lot of British fans, so I'm expecting a huge turnout for what is undoubtedly the biggest boxing event of the year. We're going to have an army of Brits invading Germany on July 2nd and I can't wait to sample the atmosphere." Haye mocks 'fat' Solis after farcical Klitschko defeat The Klitschko camp confirmed that the details had been finalized with a statement on their Facebook page: "Let's get ready to rumble!!! The highly anticipated fight is on." The showdown between two of boxing's biggest names has been on the cards since Haye stepped up from the cruiserweight division where he was also a champion, but he pulled out of a planned fight with Wladimir in 2009 due to a back injury.

wikipedia

Somalis (Somali: Soomaali, Arabic: صومال‎) are an ethnic group inhabiting the Horn of Africa (Somali Peninsula). The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. They are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Ethnic Somalis number around 16-20 million and are principally concentrated in Somalia (around 12.3 million), Ethiopia (4.6 million), Kenya (2.4 million), and Djibouti (464,600), with many also residing in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe. Irir Samaale, the oldest common ancestor of several Somali clans, is generally regarded as the source of the ethnonym Somali. The name "Somali" is, in turn, held to be derived from the words soo and maal, which together mean "go and milk" — a reference to the ubiquitous pastoralism of the Somali people. Another plausible etymology proposes that the term Somali is derived from the Arabic for "wealthy" (dhawamaal), again referring to Somali riches in livestock.

cnn

(CNN) -- Mark McGwire deserves a ban from baseball more than any sympathy. It is sad to hear his quavery confession of a career filled with steroids, his sorrow over the pain it caused his family and fans, his revelation of a life of lies that burned inside him like a hidden disease and consumed the game he loved. But for those of us who also love baseball, the damage he did was too deep and his further threat to the integrity of the game is too great to justify his return. McGwire's entire playing career is indelibly stained and his judgment is not to be trusted. What else are we to make of a man who cheated and didn't come clean for 20 years? Can he be trusted to coach other players who may be using steroids? Is he fit for any job that is also a test of character and personal standards? Baseball should bar him from coaching and never again allow his name on a Hall of Fame ballot. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa, McGwire's longtime apologist, is leading the charge to rehabilitate him in his new role as the Cardinals' batting coach, saying Monday's admission and expression of regret is worthy of respect. This from a manager who either closed his eyes to drug use on his teams, didn't know what he should have known, or kept conspiratorially silent about it through all the years with McGwire on the Oakland Athletics (along with Jose Canseco) and on the Cards.

wikipedia

New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island (or "Te Ika-a-Māui"), and the South Island (or "Te Waipounamu")—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland. Sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire and in 1907 it became a Dominion. Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.7 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, with English predominant.

race

How much pocket money do you get from your parents every month? Maybe 200 yuan? But for Li Beibei, 30 yuan each month is enough. The only thing she buys is lunch--1.5 yuan each day. "Meat is too expensive for me," said Li. Li, 14, is a Junior 1 student at Beijing's Xingzhi Experimental School. Her parents are migrant workers . They came to Beijing from a village in Luohe, He'nan two years ago. Her father now works as a cleaner and gets 500 yuan every month. Her mother has no job. Li Beibei has 460 friends at Xingzhi. Every day, Li gets up at 5:30 am and rides her bike for 20 minutes to get to school. Like many teens, Li has a lot of homework--usually at least one hour every day. But that is not all her work. During the weekdays she helps her mum cook. On weekends, she helps wash clothes. "I could cook when I was eight. Dad said sometimes I cook better than Mum!" Li said she wanted to be a doctor. "I watch TV and find out there are many people with AIDS in He'nan. Some are kids. They need help," said Li. But she is afraid to leave school. "I hope I will always be in school," said Li. "Dad works hard to get money. I promise him I will study hard to be a good student and a good doctor in the future."

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXI. While Bathurst was busying himself completing his preparations for the attempt, Rabda came in with her father. "My lord," she said, "I tremble at the thought of your venturing your life. My life is of no importance, and it belongs to you. What I would propose is this. My father will go to Bithoor, and will obtain an order from one of the Nana's officers for a lady of the zenana to visit the prisoners. I will go in veiled, as I was on the day I went there. I will change garments with the lady, and she can come out veiled, and meet you outside." "I would not dream of such a thing, Rabda. You would be killed to a certainty when they discovered the trick. Even if I would consent to the sacrifice, Miss Hannay would not do so. I am deeply grateful to you for proposing it, but it is impossible. You will see that, with the aid of your father, I shall succeed." "I told her that would be your answer, sahib," Rujub said, "but she insisted on making the offer." It was arranged that they were to start at nine o'clock, as it was safer to make the attempt before everything became quiet. Before starting, Rabda was again placed in a trance. In reply to her father's questions she said that Mary Hunter was dead, and that Isobel was lying down. She was told to tell her that in an hour she was to be at the window next to the door.

wikipedia

A pub /pʌb/, or public house is, despite its name, a private house, but is called a public house because it is licensed to sell alcohol to the general public. It is a drinking establishment in Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Denmark and New England. In many places, especially in villages, a pub can be the focal point of the community. The writings of Samuel Pepys describe the pub as the heart of England. The history of pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the modern tied house system in the 19th century. Historically, pubs have been socially and culturally distinct from cafés, bars and German beer halls. Most pubs offer a range of beers, wines, spirits, and soft drinks and snacks. Traditionally the windows of town pubs were of smoked or frosted glass to obscure the clientele from the street but from the 1990s onwards, there has been a move towards clear glass, in keeping with brighter interiors.

wikipedia

The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though not at the geographic center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the District's street-numbering system and the District's four quadrants. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, particularly with the addition of the massive dome, and expanded chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing and the Senate in the north wing. Like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are formally referred to as "fronts", though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors and dignitaries. Prior to establishing the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia (Independence Hall and Congress Hall), New York City (Federal Hall), and a number of other locations (York, Pennsylvania; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland; and Nassau Hall in Princeton, New Jersey). In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, which met from May 1775 to March 1781.

cnn

Paris, France (CNN) -- She's been called "beautiful," "hot" and "sexy" but when it comes to tennis, the most apt description for Maria Sharapova has to be "tough." The Russian rallied from a set down three straight times to reach this year's French Open final and then prevailed in Saturday's thrilling three-hour finale against rising star Simona Halep, 6-4 6-7 6-4. "This is the toughest grand slam final I've ever played," Sharapova, who was contesting a ninth such match, summed up as she collected her trophy. Even after losing the second set and hitting a flurry of double faults, Sharapova still had the edge. She's almost a sure thing in third sets on clay, having triumphed 20 times in a row. It's been six years since the 27-year-old was defeated after capturing the first set in a clay-court match, too. But if Halep maintains this form, it won't be long before she opens her grand slam account. Smaller and with less power than Sharapova, the Romanian nonetheless almost did the unthinkable -- toughing out the now five-time grand slam champion. Her manager, Virginia Ruzici, remains the last Romanian to win a grand slam, in Paris in 1978. Sharapova famously uttered in 2007 that she felt like a "cow on ice" playing on clay but the French Open has now become her most productive grand slam -- it's the only one she's won more than once and it's the only one she's won after two serious shoulder injuries in 2008 and 2013.

cnn

(CNN) -- Michael Schumacher has been one of Pirelli's biggest critics this season, but Formula One's tire supplier has backed the seven-time world champion to end his long wait for a victory at Sunday's European Grand Prix. The 43-year-old, who has not finished on the podium since coming out of retirement in 2010, told CNN that dealing with the rapidly degrading rubber this year was like "driving on raw eggs." He has been outshone by Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, but Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery believes the German can perform well in Valencia, where he has failed to make the top-10 in two previous attempts. Schumacher did, however, top the qualifying times at another street circuit last month in Monaco, but started the race sixth due to a penalty and ended up retiring early -- as he did last time out in Canada. "I think you have to look at someone like, maybe Michael, getting the pole position," Hembery told F1's official website. "He probably would have won Monaco if he hadn't been penalized, so why not here? Michael for Valencia, that's where the money should go." Sauber chief: "F1 better than ever" Schumacher, who won 91 grands prix between 1992 and 2006, was penalized in Monte Carlo due to a collision with Bruno Senna at the Spanish Grand Prix. The former Ferrari driver has endured a miserable start to the 2012 season, collecting just two world championship points and retiring from five of the first seven races. Rosberg, meanwhile, is fifth on 67 points and clinched the first race win of his career in China.

gutenberg

CHAPTER VI. THE PRIEST'S CHAMBER. I was very glad that Polly had left school and come home for good. It was far more cheerful and pleasant than it had been at all since I left school. Polly made the place so cheerful with her bright happy smile, and was so full of life and fun, that I never found time to sit and muse, and wonder and fret over the future, as I had done before she came home. She never left me long alone for any time, but every day would make me go out for long walks with her, and indeed devoted herself entirely to cheering and amusing me. Papa too very much recovered his spirits under her genial influence; and altogether she made our home much brighter and more cheerful than before. So our life went on for nearly three months, and then one Friday evening I was told that Sarah was below waiting to speak to me. I was rather surprised, for she had been to the house very seldom before, and then always on Sunday evenings. However, the moment she came in, I saw that she had something very important to tell. Her bright face was quite pale with excitement, and her whole figure was in a nervous tremble. "Oh, miss," she burst out directly the door was closed behind her, "Oh, miss, I have found the secret door!" Although I had tried all along to hope that she would some day do so, that hope had been so long deferred that it had almost died away; and now at the sudden news, I felt all the blood rush to my heart, the room swam round with me, and I sat on a chair quite overwhelmed by the sudden shock.

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My 13-year-old daughter Lisa remembers birthdays, makes people cards when they are sick, and sends encouraging notes written in colored pens in her neat, artistic hand. One day I got a call from her principal, "I called to tell you that in 20 years of teaching I have seen nothing like what Lisa did today", he said I held my breath again as I thought, my Lisa? My sweet daughter? She must be the wrong kid. What could she have done? My silence made him go on. "I've never seen a student do anything so nice for anyone who needed it more." "What did she do?" I asked. He explained to me about the cupcakes . When Lisa came home from school that afternoon, I told her the principal from her school had phoned me. "Yeah", she answered, "I got called out of math class to go to his office. Everyone thought I was in trouble, but he just wanted to know what was going on at lunch." Lisa and Ashley had sat with Jordan, a boy who is in special classes. They talked about birthdays, and Lisa asked Jordan when his birthday was. He told her it was coming up but that he lives in a group home and they don't celebrate birthdays there. "I remembered his birthday was today, so I made the cupcakes yesterday," Lisa explained. "Ashley bought a two-liter bottle of soda and some birthday cups, plates, and napkins left over from her little brother's party, and we got some other kids together at lunch today to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jordan." "The principal wanted to know why they were having a birthday party for Jordan at school. When they told him, he just shook his head, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes," Lisa told me. "Finally, he said he was going to tell my parents that I wasn't in trouble, he was proud of what I did, and I could go back to math class." How different my daughter was from me. Better, in fact! I wouldn't have ever known how to help out disadvantaged kids like that. But my wise daughter knew how-- all it took was cupcakes and adventurous , independent , kind spirit.

cnn

(CNN) -- Springwood teenagers Dean, Kris, Jesse, Nancy and Quentin are having trouble not sleeping: They're knocking back coffee, popping pills, anything to delay another date with their dream stalker (which may explain why these high school students look like college grads). When one of them does drop off, the bedsheets turn red. Wes Craven's 1984 slumber party massacre started from scratch -- it was a low-budget item from what was then a genuine independent studio, New Line -- and became the iconic horror franchise of the decade. With his battered fedora, a striped sweater, a razor-glove and a face like Sal's Famous, Freddy Krueger was the most personable boogie man Hollywood had come up with in a long time, so what if he was also a child abuser? A recurring nightmare who stalked teenagers as they slept, Freddy preyed on the defenseless and played fast and loose with physics: If Salvador Dali had created a slasher movie villain, he might have come up with someone like Freddy. After eight movies, a TV series and a comic book, you might think Mr. Krueger had been done to death. It's been seven years since Freddy put Jason Vorhees in his place (in "Freddy vs Jason"). But you can't keep a good bad guy down, and at the rate Hollywood is cannibalizing its horror back catalogue, we'll be seeing remakes of the remakes any day now. Directed by pop video director Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer, the new "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is actually a lot like the old one. So much so, for a while you wonder why they didn't just re-release it. (You'll wish they had.)

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CBC Canada , CTV News A group of Canadian kids are spreading a bit of Christmas spirit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, by covering warm clothes around light poles for the city's homeless people to pick up and use. _ was such an unusual sight that locals stopped to take pictures to share on social media . Every year, Tara Atkins-Smith collects warm clothes from her community in order to help the less lucky. This year, since the family was traveling to Halifax with their daughter Jayda and seven of her friends to celebrate her 8thbirthday Tara thought it was the perfect time to teach the chidren a valuable life lesson. The kids spent time handing out coats to the homeless and tied the rest around light poles for others to pick up. Each of the clothes had a tag that read, "I am not lost. If you are caught in the cold, please take me to keep warm. " According to Tara, the experience helped the children better understand the difficult situation of homeless people, who have to brave the cold winter on the streets. "When we got back in the car after an hour on the street, they were all freezing cold and crying for the heater to be on because they were cold , " she said. By next morning, all the jackets, gloves, and scarves on the poles were gone. Photos of the inspriring project have been shared about 8, 000 times on Facebook, and have got over10,000 likes. Tara, who did something similar in Toronto in December last year, says she's already planning next year's coat drive. She hopes that the meaningful thing can spread around the world, and she also wants to add $5 fast food gift card so that the homeless people can also enjoy a hot meal. "We've got help from others when we were in need, and we knew how great it made us feel," said Zackary Atkins, Tara's husband.

wikipedia

ISO 20121 (full name: ISO 20121:2012, "Event sustainability management systems –- Requirements with guidance for use") is a voluntary international standard for sustainable event management, created by the International Organization for Standardization. The standard aims to help organizations improve sustainability throughout the entire event management cycle. Every event – from a village barbecue to a major sporting event like the Olympics – will have economic, social and environmental impacts. Water and energy resources are put under pressure, significant amounts of waste and carbon emissions can be generated. Sometimes events can put a strain on local communities. By 2005, practitioners within the events industry were becoming aware of the need for more sustainable practices. Specifically, the Head of Sustainability at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, David Stubbs, was looking for a way to make good on the sustainability promises made in the London Games bid. He raised the issue with the British Standards Institution (BSI) in the UK. This led to the creation of BS 8901:2007 "Specification for a sustainable event management system with guidance for use". After a period of review, the second version of BS 8901 was published in 2009. BS 8901 was received very positively by the international event industry, and was soon being widely used. For example, COP15, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, was certified as compliant with BS 8901 in December 2009. The Microsoft Corporation achieved certification to BS 8901 at its Microsoft Convergence® 2009 event in New Orleans, Louisiana, in March 2009.

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Item 1: JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has signed a publishing deal with Little Brown, to release her first ever novel for adults. The deal means that Rowling's long-standing relationship with Bloomsbury, the London-based publisher that launched the Harry Potter books, has come to an end, at least in terms of new works by the author. Rowling, who is worth an estimated PS530 million, said that the new novel will be nothing like the Harry Potter series, which sold over 30 million copies in the UK alone. She said that with the move from children's to adult fiction, a move to a new publisher seemed like a logical step. Item 2: China's hurdler Liu Xiang was disqualified Thursday at the Stockholm indoor athletics tournament due to false start, giving his rival Dayron Robles of Cuba an easy win of 7.66 seconds. Liu was not willing to explain the reason of his false start, but he told Xinhua that it was not related to his foot injury. Another Cuban Orlando Ortega followed in 7.68 seconds and Balazs Baji of Hungary stood third in 7.70 seconds. Last Saturday, Liu won the men's 60m hurdle final in 7.41 seconds at the Birmingham indoor tournament, setting a new Asian record. He said Wednesday that he hoped to have an even better performance than he did in Birmingham at the Stockholm indoor tournament. Item 3: Former NBA star and current Bobcats owner Michael Jordan filed suit in a Chinese court against Qiaodan Sports Company Limited, a sportswear and footwear manufacturer, for the use of his name without permission. Jordan says "This complaint is not about money, it's about principle and protecting my name." The Chinese company has registered and uses the name "Qiaodan". Jordan has been known in China since he gained widespread popularity in the mid-1980s. Item 4: A commuter train crashed at a busy central station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 passengers and injuring more than 600 people, the deadliest in a series of train accidents in Argentina over the past years. The train crashed at about 8:30 a.m. at its final stop at the Once Station, not far from downtown Buenos Aires. The train was carrying more than 800 passengers and traveling at an estimated 16 miles per hour when it entered the station, slamming into the barrier of the platform, destroying the engine.

cnn

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Actor Jeff Conaway, who was in the TV series "Taxi" and the movie "Grease," died Friday morning, his manager said. While pneumonia was the cause of death, the doctor who treated him for drug addiction for years says it was his dependence on prescription painkillers that eventually cost him his life. "Jeff was a severe, severe opiate addict with chronic pain, one of the most serious and dangerous combination of problems you could possibly interact with," Dr. Drew Pinsky said during a taping for Friday night's "Dr. Drew" on HLN. "The pain seemed to be motivating him back to the opiates, and I told him for years that it was going to kill him," Pinsky said. Conaway, 60, suffered from pneumonia and sepsis in recent weeks and had been in a medically-induced coma in an Encino, California, hospital for two weeks, manager Phil Brock said. His family surrounded Conaway in his hospital room Thursday afternoon when he was taken off life support, Brock said. "He was the consummate performer and entertainer," Brock said. "We're thankful his struggles are over, but we know he will be missed by legions of fans worldwide." On hearing about his death, "Grease" co-star John Travolta said: "Jeff Conaway was a wonderful and decent man and we will miss him. My heartfelt thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this very difficult time." Conaway's struggle with alcohol and drug addiction was chronicled in 2008 on the TV reality show "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew."

wikipedia

Martin Luther (/ˈluːθər/ or /ˈluːðər/; German: [ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ( listen); 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, former monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Late Medieval Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He proposed an academic discussion of the power and usefulness of indulgences in his Ninety-Five Theses of 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor. Luther taught that salvation and subsequently eternal life is not earned by good deeds but is received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority and office of the Pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge from God and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with these, and all of Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans even though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.

mctest

Seedy the watermelon was a very special type of watermelon. He didn't have any seeds. He was green and he had stripes. All of his cousins had seeds, but he didn't have any. He felt very left out. He couldn't thing of why he was different. His mom told him it was because he was a very special watermelon. She also tells him she loves him the way he is. But Seedy didn't think it was a good thing. He wished he could be like everyone else and have seeds. One day, he rolled out to the lawn and looked at all of his new cousins growing in the garden. He rolled around until he found a little baby watermelon that didn't have any seeds either. He sat next to him and talked to him. He told him that he was very special, and was excited for him to be picked off the vine and be his special best friend. He would name him Seedy, Jr.

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In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school's coaches were less than enthusiastic. "They said, 'I don't know how you'll be able to do it,' she recalls. "'You won't be able to do it. '" But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted . And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team. Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old. Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones --"just blood and muscle tissue", as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted. After the operation, she adapted quickly. "From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything," she says. Prosthetic legs allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany's solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit. She's rarely _ . Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she's trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who's thrown in the air and caught by her teammates. Brittany doesn't think her problems are more difficult than the next person's. "My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that's going to prepare me for the future," she says. "It's all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball , what are you going to do?"

wikipedia

General Motors Company, commonly known as GM, is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, that designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services. With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, United States, GM manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2008, 8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under various brands. GM reached the milestone of selling 10 million vehicles in 2016. Current auto brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, and Wuling. Former GM automotive brands include McLaughlin, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, as well as Vauxhall, and Opel, which were bought by Groupe PSA in 2017. The company was founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908 as a holding company. The company was the largest automobile manufacturer from 1931 through 2007. In addition to brands selling assembled vehicles, GM has also had various automotive-component and non-automotive brands, many of which it divested in the 1980s through 2000s. These have included Euclid and Terex (earthmoving/construction/mining equipment & vehicles); Electro-Motive Diesel (locomotive, marine, and industrial diesel engines); Detroit Diesel (automotive and industrial diesel engines); Allison (aircraft engines, transmissions, gas turbine engines); Frigidaire (appliances including refrigeration and air conditioning); New Departure (bearings); Delco Electronics and ACDelco (electrical and electronic components); GMAC (finance); General Aviation and North American Aviation (airplanes); GM Defense (military vehicles); and Electronic Data Systems (information technology).

cnn

(CNN) -- During the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night, Jimmy Kimmel made a joke that President Obama laughed at, but that you could see was just killing him inside. "Mr. President, do you remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow?" Kimmel asked. "That was hilarious. That was your best one yet." Yeah it was. I'm sure he still has a lot of hope. But I would dare to say the thing that changed most over these past three years is Obama. The unbridled optimism that his first campaign once embodied has been bludgeoned by dogmatism, pragmatism and bipartisan cronyism. Hope and change are tough when the worst economy in 80 years is waiting to greet you at the door. Hope and change are challenging when Rush Limbaugh, the unofficial gatekeeper of the conservative movement, tells his troops "I hope Obama fails" before your first day on the job. Hope and change are virtually impossible when working with a Congress so dysfunctional that its approval rating never reached 25% in all of 2011 and was as low as 10% in February. No wonder his hair is a bit grayer these days. And no wonder the new Obama slogan is "Forward." "Hope and Change" captured the heart of a people who believed one man could change the culture of Washington. "Forward" acknowledges things are not where he said they would be, but takes ownership of a record that shows he at least has us pointed in the right direction: 12 consecutive months of job losses before he took office, 25 consecutive months and counting of job growth since 2010.

cnn

Lille, France (CNN) -- Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka each faced questions heading into Switzerland's Davis Cup final in France. For Federer, how would his tender back hold up? For Wawrinka, would he recover after a tough -- and contentious -- loss to his higher-profile Swiss at the World Tour Finals in London last week? We got our answers Friday at the Stade Pierre Mauroy on a record setting day in Lille -- but for once Federer wasn't the one rewriting the history books. In front of the largest ever tennis crowd for a pro match -- at 27,432 it eclipsed the 27,200 that turned up to watch Spain beat the U.S. in a converted Seville bullring in the 2004 Davis Cup final -- Federer not only fell to Gael Monfils but couldn't put up much of a fight. The 6-1 6-4 6-3 result against Monfils -- who piped down his histrionics -- marked his most lopsided defeat in 45 singles matches in the competition. "You accept the fact that you're playing the way you feel," Federer told reporters. "But it wasn't all negative. I started to feel better as the match went on. That's very encouraging, I must say." Also encouraging for Federer and the Swiss, Wawrinka thumped a listless Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-2 to begin the day. Federer's performance, coupled with France's apparent advantage in Saturday's doubles, means it's the home team who'll be happier come the end of play. One of the two major titles to elude Federer in his glittering career is a Davis Cup crown and how disappointed he must have been that on his debut in a Davis Cup final he was at less than full strength.

cnn

(CNN) -- A body discovered at Churchill Downs on Sunday, a day after the storied Louisville racetrack hosted the Kentucky Derby, may have been the victim of a homicide, police said. Workers in the barn area discovered the body early in the morning and notified track security, which called police, said Robert Biven, a spokesman for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. "We just got the call just prior to 5 a.m. to respond to the backside" of the racetrack, Biven told CNN. Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said police suspect foul play. The body, which has not been identified, appears to be a Latino man in his 30s or 40s, Biven said. About 400 people were located Saturday night in the rear of the racetrack, he said. "So we are trying to speak with as many people as we possibly can," he said. "We do have a few leads coming in." An autopsy is to be carried out Monday morning. Biven described the track's backside as "like a mini city," with 48 barns, workers' dormitories and areas where trainers live. "It's a 24-hour operation," he said. I'll Have Another wins Kentucky Derby Operations at the racetrack were to continue normally on Sunday, Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher said. No races are scheduled at the track for three days, but cleanup from Saturday's race was to continue and the racetrack museum was to be open, he said. CNN's Kara Devlin and Christine Sever contributed to this report

gutenberg

CHAPTER XIX. ABOUT THE ROBBERY. If Ralph had been astonished before, he was doubly so now. He looked from one to another of the men in amazement. "Do you really think I am one of the thieves?" he gasped. "It's mighty suspicious," responded Jack Rodman. "You were seen in the neighborhood of the post office to-night, and then this knife business is a clew." "I don't think Ralph will run away," said Bart Haycock. "I myself think he is innocent." "Thank you for those words," said the boy. "I am innocent." "Then you have no objections to our making a search about here," said the constable. "Not any objection whatever," said Ralph, promptly. "Search where you please." "I'll help you," said Uriah to the constable. "Hadn't you better hold me tight?" suggested Ralph, with a sarcasm which was entirely lost on the miserly storekeeper. "Well, I dunno," hesitated Uriah. "I will see to it that he doesn't run away," said the blacksmith. "This makes me sick, Ralph," he added, in a low tone. "I know you are as innocent as a babe. That post office was robbed by professionals." The constable and Uriah knocked on the cottage door and Mrs. Nelson let them in. She was greatly surprised when Jack Rodman declared his errand. "Ralph is indeed innocent!" she exclaimed. "You may search the premises all you please." The constable and Uriah took a lamp, and the search began. Every nook and corner of the cottage was gone over, but nothing that looked like what had been taken--money and registered letters--came to light.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XIV GOOD-NIGHT When the three young people had been sitting for half an hour on the wide piazza of Cobhurst, enjoying the moonlight effects and waiting for the return of Dr. Tolbridge, Miriam, who was reclining in a steamer chair, ceased making remarks, but very soon after she became silent she was heard again, not speaking, however, but breathing audibly and with great regularity. Ralph and Dora turned toward her and smiled. "Poor little thing," said the latter in a low voice; "she must be tired out." "Yes," said Ralph, also speaking in an undertone, "she was up very early this morning, and has been at some sort of work ever since. I do not intend that this shall happen again. You must excuse her, Miss Bannister,--she is a girl yet, you know." "And a sweet one, too," said Dora, "with a perfect right to go to sleep if she chooses. I should be ashamed of myself if I felt in the least degree offended. Do not let us disturb her until the doctor comes; the nap will do her good." "Suppose, then," said Ralph, "that we take a little turn in the moonlight. Then we need not trouble ourselves to lower our voices." "That will be very well," said Dora, "but I am afraid she may take cold, although the night air is so soft. I think I saw a lap robe on a table in the hall; I will spread that over her." Ralph whispered that he would get the robe, but motioning him back, and having tiptoed into the hall and back again, Dora laid the light covering over the sleeping girl so gently that the regular breathing was not in the least interrupted. Then they both went quietly down the steps, and out upon the lawn.

wikipedia

500 (five hundred) is the natural number following 499 and preceding 501. 500 is a Harshad number in bases 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15 and 16. Five hundred is also 501 = 3 × 167. It is: 502 = 2 × 251, also a proposed HTTP status code for indicating server is temporarily overloaded, SMTP status code meaning command not implemented 503 is: 504 = 2 × 3 × 7. It is: 505 = 5 × 101, Harshad number in bases 3, 5 and 6 This number is the magic constant of "n"×"n" normal magic square and "n"-queens problem for "n" = 10. New Mexico – Before October 7, 2007, The United States state of New Mexico had a single area code of 505. The state was, and still is, referred to as 'the 505' in slang. 506 = 2 × 11 × 23. It is: 507 = 3 × 13, Harshad number in bases 13 and 14. 508 = 2 × 127, sum of four consecutive primes (113 + 127 + 131 + 137), Harshad number in base 13. 509 is: 510 = 2 × 3 × 5 × 17. It is: 511 = 7 × 73. It is: 512 = 2. It is: 513 = 3 × 19. It is: 514 = 2 × 257, it is: 515 = 5 × 103, it is: 516 = 2 × 3 × 43, it is: 517 = 11 × 47, it is: 518 = 2 × 7 × 37, it is: 519 = 3 × 173, it is:

mctest

Kramer the kitten loved to hunt for mice. He was black with white boots. Kramer was still a baby, so he liked to play all night long and sleep during the day. His favorite toy is a little fake squeaky mouse. One day, Kramer was waking up from a long nap. He saw a little mouse out of the corner of his eye. He jumped up and began to chase him around the room. He ran and ran until the mouse went into a little hole in the wall. Mary the mouse was so scared. She sat in the hole in the wall and cried little mouse tears. Kramer heard the mouse crying and said "Don't worry little mouse I want to play with you! Do you want to play too? Let's play hide and seek!" The mouse poked her head out and said "Sure!" I'm it first!" And Kramer took off around the corner with Mary chasing behind him.

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Imagine what you could do with a machine that could make things disappear. For inspiration, you could read some books. In the books of J.R.R. Tolkein, Bilbo Baggins finds a ring that can make him disappear. Of course, there's also poor Harry Potter, who used his invisibility cloak to hide from danger. Now that you've got some ideas, it's time for the hard part: building the cloak. To do that, you have to give up science fiction and turn to real science. An invisibility cloak has to cheat anything or anyone who might be watching. In order to understand how something can be seen, it's important to understand how we see. Human beings can only see objects that reflect light waves. These waves enter the eye and are then processed by the brain. However, if an object doesn't reflect light, then the waves don't enter the eye, and the brain doesn't process. So building an invisibility cloak is building something that doesn't reflect light. Cummer was part of a team of scientists from Duke University, including David Smith and David Schurig, who built the world's first version of an invisibility cloak. They had been inspired by the work of a British physicist, John Pendry. He in May said that an invisibility cloak was possible and Pendry was not the only one thinking about a disappearing act. At the same time, a Scottish physicist, UIf Leonhardt published a paper on building invisibility equipment. "It wasn't easy," says Cummer. "As often happens in science and research, it didn't work very well the first time. That first cloak didn't work like Harry Potter's --- the scientists didn't actually see anything disappear. So the research is still under way. "

gutenberg

CHAPTER VI THE ECHO OF A CRIME "Macheson, by Jove! Where on earth have you sprung from?" Holderness threw down his pen and held out both his hands. Macheson drew a long sigh of relief. "From the pigsties, Dick. Whew! It's good to see you again--to be here!" Holderness surveyed his friend critically. "What have you been up to?" he asked. "Look washed out, as though you'd had a fever or something. I've been expecting to see you every day." "I've been on a pleasure trip to Paris," Macheson answered. "Don't talk about it, for God's sake." Holderness roared with laughter. "You poor idiot!" he exclaimed. "Been on the razzle-dazzle, I believe. I wish I'd known. I'd have come." "It's all very well to laugh," Macheson answered. "I feel like a man who's been living in a sewer." "Are you cured?" Holderness asked abruptly. Macheson hesitated. As yet he had not dared to ask himself that question. Holderness watched the struggle in his face. "I'm sorry I asked you that," he said quietly. "Look here! I know what you've come to me for, and I can give it you. You can start at once if you like." "Work?" Macheson asked eagerly. "You mean that?" "Of course! Tons of it! Henwood's at his wits' end in Stepney. He's started lecturing, and the thing's taken on, but he can't go on night after night. We don't want anything second-rate either. Then I want help with the paper." "I'll help you with the paper as soon as you like," Macheson declared. "I'd like to go to Stepney, too, but could we hit it, Henwood and I?"

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The television news feature about Ben Heckmann, an eighth grader from Farmington, Minn, was breathless in its praise. "At 14, he has accomplished something many adults can't achieve," the reporter said, "Ben is a twice-published author." But Ben's two "Velvet Black" books, describing a fictional rock band, were not picked from a pile of manuscripts by an eagle eyed publisher. They were self-published, at the cost of $400 by Ben's parents. Over the past five years, print-on-demand technology and a growing number of self publishing companies whose books can be sold online have inspired writers of all ages to avoid the traditional gatekeeping system for determining who could call himself a "published author." The mothers and fathers who foot the bill say they are simply trying to encourage their children, in the same way that other parents buy equipment for a promising baseball player. But others see self-publishing as a lost opportunity to teach children about hardship and perseverance. Mr. Robbins, a critic, thinks it is wonderful to start writing at a young age, but worries self-publishing sends the wrong message. "There are no prodigies in literature," he said. "Literature requires experience, in a way that mathematics and music do not." Alan Rinzler, a publishing industry veteran, suggested parents hire a professional editor like him to work with their child to tear a manuscript apart and help make a better. Ben's father, Ken, said Ben's ambitions "weren't to knockHarry Potteroff the list," but "to get that good feeling inside that you've done something." Ajla Dizdarevic, 12, who has self-published two books of poetry, has been on television and in local newspapers. "Being a published author," she said, "was always a dream of mine." Her new dream: three books by age 15.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XI THE PLANS WORK Dinner was over, the night was hot, and Mrs. Austin had taken her party to the veranda. Wolf had gone; he declared he could not put off another engagement, but Mrs. Austin wondered. The fellow was clever and knew when to stop. A man like that did not go farther than was necessary and risk losing ground he had won. All the same, Mrs. Austin was satisfied. She had paid her debt, and although she had hesitated about asking Wolf, she now felt her doing so was justified. He had interested her famous guests; the dinner party had gone well. Señor Ramirez occupied a chair by a table that carried some fine glass _copitas_ from which one drinks the scented liquors used in Spain. His family was old and distinguished, and his post important. He was thin, dark-skinned and marked by an urbane dignity. As a rule, he looked languid, but sometimes his glance was keen. Don Arturo sat opposite. He was strongly built and getting fat. Although his hair and eyes were very black, he was essentially British. He had known poverty, but now controlled large commercial undertakings and steamship lines. Don Arturo was loved and hated. Some found him strangely generous, and some thought him hard and careless about the tools he used and broke. He made bold plans, and had opened wide belts in Africa to British trade. Mrs. Jefferson, Austin, and two or three others occupied the background. They were, so to speak, the chorus, and in the meantime not important. Austin knew when to let his wife play the leading part.

gutenberg

CHAPTER IV. HAL STANDS UP FOR HIMSELF. Hal now found himself in a tight situation. Felix Hardwick had him by the throat, and was slowly but surely choking him. "Don't! don't!" cried Mr. Sumner, in great alarm. "The miserable tramp!" cried Hardwick. "I'll teach him to call a gentleman a thief." He continued his choking process, paying no attention to his employer's efforts to haul him away. But by this time Hal began to realize that Hardwick was in earnest. He began to kick, and presently landed a blow in the book-keeper's stomach that completely winded the man. Hardwick relaxed his hold, and Hal sprang away. "Stop! stop!" ordered Mr. Sumner. "I will not have such disgraceful scenes in this office." "But he intimated I was a thief," said Hardwick, trying to catch his wind. "And he said the same of me," retorted Hal. "So you are!" "I never stole a thing in my life, Mr. Sumner." Hal turned to the broker. "And I am not a tramp." "Then supposing we make it a poor-house beggar," returned Hardwick, with a short laugh. Hal turned red. The shot was a cruel one. "Hush! Hardwick," cried Mr. Sumner. "There is no necessity for such language." The broker turned to Hal. "You just made a strange statement, Carson," he said. "How do you know Mr. Hardwick contemplated robbing the safe?" "Because I do." "That is no answer." "I overheard him and Mr. Allen talking about the bonds being in the safe." "When?" "The evening I came to New York."

wikipedia

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life. Like DNA, RNA is assembled as a chain of nucleotides, but unlike DNA it is more often found in nature as a single-strand folded onto itself, rather than a paired double-strand. Cellular organisms use messenger RNA (mRNA) to convey genetic information (using the letters G, U, A, and C to denote the nitrogenous bases guanine, uracil, adenine, and cytosine) that directs synthesis of specific proteins. Many viruses encode their genetic information using an RNA genome. Some RNA molecules play an active role within cells by catalyzing biological reactions, controlling gene expression, or sensing and communicating responses to cellular signals. One of these active processes is protein synthesis, a universal function where RNA molecules direct the assembly of proteins on ribosomes. This process uses transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules to deliver amino acids to the ribosome, where ribosomal RNA (rRNA) then links amino acids together to form proteins. Like DNA, most biologically active RNAs, including mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, snRNAs, and other non-coding RNAs, contain self-complementary sequences that allow parts of the RNA to fold and pair with itself to form double helices. Analysis of these RNAs has revealed that they are highly structured. Unlike DNA, their structures do not consist of long double helices, but rather collections of short helices packed together into structures akin to proteins. In this fashion, RNAs can achieve chemical catalysis (like enzymes). For instance, determination of the structure of the ribosome—an enzyme that catalyzes peptide bond formation—revealed that its active site is composed entirely of RNA.

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Martha had been working for Miller Laboratories for two years, but she was not happy there. Nothing significant had happened in the way of promotions or salary increases. Martha felt that her supervisor, a younger and less experienced person than she, did not like her. In fact, the supervisor often said unpleasant things to her. One day, while talking with her friend Maria, she mentioned how discouraged she was. Maria gave her the name of a cousin of hers who was director of Human Resources Department for a large chemical company. Martha called him the next day and set up an interview on her lunch hour. During the interview, Mr. Petri said, "You're just the kind of person we need here. You're being wasted in your other job. Give me a call in a day or two. I'm sure we can find a place for you in our organization." Martha was so happy she almost danced out of the building. That afternoon, Ruth Kenny, her supervisor, saw that Martha had come in ten minutes late from her lunch hour and she said, "Oh, so you finally decided to come back to work today?" This was . She could not take another insult. Besides, Mr. Petri was right: she was being wasted in this job. "Look," she said angrily, "if you don't like the way I work, I don't need to stay here. I'll go where I'm appreciated! Good-bye!" She took up her things and stormed out of the office. That night she called Maria and told her what had happened and then asked Maria, "What do you think?" "Well," said Maria carefully, "are you sure about the other job?" "Well, not exactly, but..." Maria continued, "Will you be able to get a recommendation from Mrs. Kenny if you need one?" "A recommendation?...from Mrs. Kenny?" hesitated Martha, in a worried tone. "Martha, I hope you didn't burn your bridges." Maria said. "I think I would have handled it differently."

cnn

(CNN) -- An attorney for a 14-year-old Australian, accused of marijuana possession in Indonesia, is hoping to avoid a prison sentence for his client and have the boy released to undergo drug rehabilitation. The teen, whose name has not been publicly released, could face a minimum of four years in prison, according to Bali police. The teen has been held since his arrest last week in Bali's Kuta street area. "We are still investigating on his involvement for carrying, using and having the narcotics," said Bali police spokesman Hariadi, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. Indonesia's drug laws are among the strictest in the world. But they do have a provision, article 128, under which those arrested with small amounts of drugs can be released to rehabilitation if they can prove they are an addict. In the case of underage offenders, that requires a declaration from the youth's parents, officials said. Mulyadi, superintendent of Bali's police drug squad, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the teen will be dealt with under the law applying to minors needing treatment for a drug problem. His parents would have to ensure he completes rehabilitation, Mulyadi said, and if they fail to report regularly they could face jail time. Michael Tene, spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday that the nation's policy on drug offenses is clear. "I believe everybody should know by now that illegal drugs in Indonesia will face a really severe penalty," he said. The boy's attorney, Mohammad Rifan, said that he and the Australian Embassy are concerned about the junior high school student's rights as a juvenile.

cnn

(InStyle) -- Oscar night is Hollywood's main fashion event, and most notable on the red carpet this year was our favorite actresses stepping out in uber feminine -- not just fashion forward -- looks. Indeed, from the most delicate shades of blush to the boldest fuchsia, the red carpet turned pink! Exaggerated ruffles, soft draping, frothy fabrics, dramatic trains and Cinderella-esque silhouettes gave new meaning to the term Hollywood royalty. The few celebrities who bucked the romantic trend, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep, chose sophisticated styles with retro vibes. From a timeless beauty (Demi Moore) to a graceful Hollywood icon (Meryl Streep), here are the night's fashion winners. Demi Moore Demi Moore often chooses classic, tailored cuts, but last night she glowed in a stunning blush-toned Atelier Versace silk organza gown with petal-like tiers of ruffles. She finished off this softer look with Van Cleef & Arpels tassel earrings and diamond cuffs, a gold leather Salvatore Ferragamo clutch and dress-matching Versace satin sandals. Diane Kruger The ever-flawless Diane Kruger turned to her favorite designer Karl Lagerfeld for her cream and black chiffon gown from Chanel Haute Couture. Both edgy and feminine, the design featured a pleated and ruffled skirt that led into a bow-bedecked mermaid train. See more dresses from the 2010 Academy Awards Jennifer Lopez We love the way Jennifer Lopez commands the red carpet in dramatic dresses, and her choice this year was no exception. Yet rather than going sexy (down-to-there Versace, anyone?), the diva went spectacular in a full-on princess-shaped icy pink Armani Prive confection with a Swarovski crystal-studded waterfall train.

cnn

(Oprah) -- Kick back — there's a reason they call them beach reads. "Seating Arrangements" by Maggie Shipstead Winn Van Meter has everything an affluent person could hope for: a devoted wife of almost 30 years, two daughters, a privileged life in Connecticut, and a summer home on Waskeke — a fictional island resembling Nantucket. Despite his comforts, Winn suffers from a typical midlife dissatisfaction: "He had almost everything he could think to want, and yet still ambivalence bleached his world to an anemic pallor." Maggie Shipstead's "Seating Arrangements" is a whip-smart and engaging debut novel, set on Waskeke over the course of three days. Winn's oldest daughter, Daphne, is pregnant and getting married. His youngest daughter is lovelorn and mourning a recent abortion. Strong personalities clash as Winn struggles with his long-burning attraction to one of Daphne's gorgeous and wildly flirtatious bridesmaids, Agatha, as his marriage grows stale. "He could not be sure that he had ever been in love with Biddy, or with anyone for that matter, but Biddy was the woman he had felt the most for." Shipstead observes the absurdity of the upper class in Winn's trivial anxieties; he's incensed that he wasn't invited to join an elite golf club, and he carries on a rivalry with another island couple. This is the best kind of smart beach read: a book that expertly examines social life with heart and wit. Oprah.com: 20 romantic reads "Heading Out to Wonderful" by Robert Goolrick "Heading Out to Wonderful" — about a drifter who takes up with the wife of the richest man in small-town Virginia — is by "A Reliable Wife" author Robert Goolrick, which means it's deliciously dark and dangerous. Oprah.com: 7 books that will take you on an inner journey

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Jack was a pumpkin farmer. He lived in a big house on the edge of a town and grew the largest Pumpkin farm around the town. Jack's pumpkins were famous , for they always had the perfect shape and never rotted ( ) until well after Halloween . Every year around Halloween , people came from all over the town to buy his pumpkins to make their jack-o-lanterns ( ) One year, Jack was thinking about his pumpkin harvest ( ) of the year when his good friend Pete came to visit him. I have some bad news , Jack ," Pete said. "What is it ? " Jack asked . a little worried. The town decided not to have Halloween this year! They said there was simply no reason for it and they didn't have time to celebrate it because many other holidays were coming up soon . Peter told him. He knew this was very bad news for jack. Jack became very sad and lowered ( ) his head . "What can I do now , Peter?" I have all these beautiful pumpkins and I can't keep them until next Halloween ." Peter replied, " Well , there are always pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread for other holidays." Jack was worried and said, "I sell most of my pumpkins for the Halloween . I can only sell a few pumpkins during the rest of the year. And Pete, it's not so much about the money . I live a simple life out here in the country and I don't need much money . But I feel happy every year when thousands of people get my pumpkins and take them and make them into beautiful jack-o-lanterns. Now all these pumpkins will be useless because people won't make jack-o-lanterns this year. oh, this is very bad news ." Jack began to weep . large tears ran down his face.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XX A LONG CHASE BEGUN As they journeyed down the Hudson the boys and Martin Harris scanned the river eagerly for some sign of the _Flyaway_. "It's ten to one she put down a pretty good distance," remarked Dick. "They wouldn't bring Dora over here unless they were bound for New York or some other place as far or further." "I believe you," said Tom. "But she may be delayed, and if what Harris says is true the _Searchlight_ ought to make better time than Baxter's craft." Several miles were covered, when, Sam, who had just come up from the cabin, called attention to a farmer who was ferrying a load of hay across the river. "If he's been at that sort of work all day he may know something of the _Flyaway_," he suggested. "We'll hail him, anyway," said Tom. "It won't do any harm, providing we don't lose any time." So the farmer was hailed and asked if he had seen anything of the craft. "Waal now, I jest guess I did," he replied. "They war havin' great times on board of her--a takin' care of that crazy gal." "A crazy girl!" cried Dick. "Who said she was crazy?" "One of the young men. He said she was his sister and had escaped from some asylum. She called to me to help her. But I don't want nuthin' to do with crazy gals. My wife's cousin was out of his head and he cut up high jinks around the house, a-threatenin' folks with a butcher knife."

wikipedia

The Inuit (pronounced or ; Inuktitut: , "the people") are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Inuit is a plural noun; the singular is Inuk. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo-Aleut family. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate spoken in Nunavut. In the United States and Canada, the term "Eskimo" was commonly used to describe the Inuit and Alaska's Yupik and Iñupiat peoples. However, "Inuit" is not accepted as a term for the Yupik, and "Eskimo" is the only term that includes Yupik, Iñupiat and Inuit. However, aboriginal peoples in Canada and Greenlandic Inuit view "Eskimo" as pejorative, and "Inuit" is more commonly used in self-reference for these groups. In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classified the Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal Canadians who are not included under either the First Nations or the Métis. The Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in the territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut in Labrador, and in various parts of the Northwest Territories, particularly around the Arctic Ocean. These areas are known in Inuktitut as the "Inuit Nunangat".

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Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs, but he doesn't let this stop him. The brave 26-year-old man plays football and golf, and swims, in spite of the fact that he has no arms or legs. Nick has a small foot on his left side, which helps him balance and makes him able to kick. He uses his one foot to type, write with a pen and pick things up. "I call it my chicken drumstick ," joked Nick, who was born in Melbourne, Australia, but now lives in Los Angeles. "I'd be lost without it. When I get in the water I float because 80 percent of my body is lungs and my drumstick acts as a propeller ." "He's very modest, but he gets marriage proposals from women all the time," said Nick's friend Steve Appel. "He would love to get married and start a family, but he's waiting for the right girl to come along." When Nick was born his father was so shocked that he left the hospital room. His _ mother couldn't bring herself to hold him until he was four months old. His disability came without any medical explanation, which was a rare case. Nick and his parents spent many years asking why this cruel trick would happen to them. "My mother was a nurse and she did everything right during pregnancy but she still blamed herself," he said. "It was so hard for them, but right from the start they did their best to make me independent. My dad put me in the water at 18 months and gave me the courage to learn how to swim."

gutenberg

CHAPTER IX: HONOURS In half an hour Paolo returned leading two horses. By their trappings and appearance both had evidently belonged to officers. "Take off the trappings," Hector said, "then put a saddle on one for me; shift your own saddle on to the other, and picket your own with the spare horses of the staff, then we will ride over and get my saddle, bridle, holsters, and trappings. The horse has carried me well ever since I left Paris, and I am grieved indeed to lose it." "So am I, master; it was a good beast, but I think that either of these is as good, though it will be long before I get to like them as I did Scotty. We shall want housings for this second horse, master." "Yes; there will be no difficulty about that. There are scores of dead horses on the field; choose one without any embroidery or insignia. You may as well take another pair of holsters with pistols." Riding across to the spot where Enghien and his officers were forming up the prisoners, talking courteously to the Spanish officers and seeing to the wounded, Hector, leaving Paolo to find his fallen horse and shift his trappings to the one that he rode, cantered up to the spot where Enghien's white plume could be seen in the midst of a group of officers, among whom was General Gassion. He saluted as he came up. "I am glad indeed to see you, Captain Campbell," Enghien said warmly, holding out his hand; "I feared that you were killed. Some of my friends told me that you were struck down in the third charge, and that they had not seen you since and feared that you were slain."

mctest

It was time for Jill to make her famous apple pie, out of the yellow apples that grew on her land. It was not time to pick the red cherries, or the orange oranges or even the green lettuce, but their nice colors made Jill happy. She would eat some of the pies, and give the rest of them away to her friends and family. She went out to her back yard where the apple trees were, and started picking. A few hours later, she had enough to make dozens of pies. She walked into the kitchen with her apples, and was all ready to start baking when she saw she was all out of flour. She would have to go to the store to get some, since you can't make a pie without flour. While she was at the store, she would also buy some cheese, bread, and milk. She did not need these to make pie, but she did need them to make her dinner. At the store Jill ran into her friends Bob and Steve and George, and told them she would make them all pies. After she had finished her shopping, Jill went to the library to get some books, to the car wash to wash her car, and to her mother's house to say hello. She went home after, and made her yummy pies.

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How much do you know about Albert Einstein? Albert Einstein, born on March 14, 1579 in Germany, was a great scientist in the world. He was strange because he hated haircuts and new clothes. He believed in peace. All his life, he hated war. However, his most famous idea, E=mc2, helped create the world's most dangerous weapon . Many people think he was the smartest person in the world. But Einstein said that _ What did he like? Einstein liked learning sailing . He sailed in small boats all his life. He once joked, "Sailing is the sport that takes the least energy!" When Einstein was a child, his mother made him take violin lessons. At first, he didn't like the violin. But then he learned to love music and became a good violinist. Later, he said, "Love is the best teacher." Why is the sky blue? In 1910, Einstein asked a question which many children often ask, "Why is the sky blue?" After his careful research, he answered the question like this: "It's because light is made up of many colors including blue. When light travels to Earth, gas particles spread the blue light all over the sky." His answer is true in physics.

cnn

(CNN) -- It was at San Francisco's Olympic Club that "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, world heavyweight champion and to many the man who took boxing from a brawl to an art, trained and coached. Twenty-two years after his death, the sports club hosted its first U.S. Open golf tournament in 1955. Ben Hogan lost in a playoff to an unknown golf pro from Iowa and the course was on its way to developing a reputation as the graveyard of champions. Now, after four U.S. Opens there, the first rule of Olympic Club favorites is ... there are no Olympic Club favorites. That's more true than ever this time around. It remains to be seen whether we're in the post-Tiger Woods era or just an interregnum in his reign, but what's certainly the case is that these days a large number of players turn up at major championships with a genuine belief and chance of winning. One simple fact supports them: the last 14 majors have been won by 14 different players. It was very different back at that first Olympic U.S. Open. Then, Ben Hogan was the man. Nine major championships under his belt and already the subject of a Hollywood movie, Hogan went to San Francisco in search of his fifth U.S. Open. He seemed to have won it too: the TV commentator congratulated him on his victory and the broadcast went off air proclaiming Hogan as U.S. Open champion. Rather inconveniently, Jack Fleck, a pro from a municipal course in Iowa, birdied 15 and 18, forced Hogan into a playoff and then -- in one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time -- beat the great man by three shots.

wikipedia

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre. With over 250,000 residents, Vancouver is the fourth-most densely populated city in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. Vancouver is consistently named as one of the top five worldwide cities for livability and quality of life, and the Economist Intelligence Unit acknowledged it as the first city ranked among the top-ten of the world's most well-living cities for five consecutive years. Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which were held in Vancouver and Whistler, a resort community north of the city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home. Several matches of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place.

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Vanilla is my best friend. She is a lovely girl with two big, beautiful eyes. But she always hides them behind a pair of black glasses. One day, though, I nearly ended our friendship. I remember that day clearly. We were sitting in class. The teacher was giving us our results for a Chinese test. I had done badly. I felt so sad that I wouldn't talk to anyone. At lunchtime, I even stayed in the classroom alone. Suddenly, I heard a voice. It was Vanilla. "You look very unhappy," she said. "What's wrong?" I looked up at her, but said nothing. I knew Vallina had got a good mark in the test. I thought she was making fun of me. I stayed silent , but Vallina didn't go away. She kept asking me questions: "Is it because of the exam? Do you want me to show you the right answers?" I looked away from her. When I looked up again, Vanilla had gone. And so had my exam paper! I didn't know what to do. I looked everywhere for me paper, but couldn't find it. In the afternoon, Vanilla came up to my desk and gave me my exam paper back. I looked at it and got a big surprise. Vanilla had written the right answer next to every one of my mistakes. My face went red. Vanilla had been trying to help me all along. How mean I had been to her when she was being so nice. I wanted to hug her, but all I did was to hold her hands and say, "Thank you." That afternoon, Vanilla and I walked home together. I felt so happy that I had to thank her again. We were still best friends.

cnn

(CNN) -- My Fellow South Africans, Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding President of our democratic nation has departed. He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of December 2013. He is now resting. He is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude. They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free. Our thoughts are with his wife Mrs. Graca Machel, his former wife Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with his children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family. Our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside Madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle. Our thoughts are with the South African people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood. Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause. This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son.

cnn

Abidjan, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- The European Union announced a recovery package of 180 million euros for the Ivory Coast on Tuesday as residents of the African nation attempted to adjust to life with a clear leader and relative stability after months of bloodshed. Forces arrested former President Laurent Gbagbo after storming his residence on Monday. Gbagbo defied calls to step down after an electoral commission declared he lost a presidential election in November to Alassane Ouattara. Ouattara has been recognized internationally as the legitimate winner. A violent power struggle followed the standoff, with supporters loyal to both sides taking to the streets in protests since December. Hundreds have been killed, according to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Andris Piebalgs, EU commissioner for development, announced the recovery package on Tuesday. "We will stand by Ivory Coast and its people by immediately starting to work with the government of President Ouattara to support him in getting the country on the right track towards reconciliation, democracy, economic recovery and sustainable development," he said. The funding will provide support to ensure basic needs for citizens such as health, water, sanitation and to support the agricultural sector, Piebalgs said in a statement. It also will clear the Ivory Coast's debt accumulated through the European Investment Bank. Top military brass pledged their support to Ouattara in a ceremony Tuesday at a hotel in Abdijan. Gen. Phillipe Mangou, Gbagbo's former army chief of staff, said on state television that the generals were received by Ouattara and given orders to take measures to restore order in the country.

gutenberg

CHAPTER XXXII "You are very smart, Ernestine," he said, looking her admiringly. "One must be smart at Ascot," she answered, "or stay away." "I've just heard some news," he continued. "Yes?" "Who do you think is here?" She glanced at him sideways under her lace parasol. "Every one I should think." "Including," he said, "Mr. Scarlett Trent!" She grew a shade paler, and leaned for a moment against the rail of the paddock in which they were lounging. "I thought," she said, "that the Mazetta Castle was not due till to-day." "She touched at Plymouth in the night, and he had a special train up. He has some horses running, you know." "I suppose," she remarked, "that he is more of a celebrity than ever now!" "Much more," he answered. "If he chooses he will be the lion of the season! By the by, you had nothing of interest from Fred?" She shook her head impatiently. "Nothing but praises! According to Fred, he's a hero!" "I hate him," Davenant said sulkily. "And so," she answered softly, "do I! Do you see him coming, Cecil?" "In good company too," the young man laughed bitterly. A little group of men, before whom every one fell back respectfully, were strolling through the paddock towards the horses. Amongst them was Royalty, and amongst them also was Scarlett Trent. But when he saw the girl in the white foulard smile at him from the paling he forgot etiquette and everything else. He walked straight across to her with that keen, bright light in his eyes which Fred had described so well in his letter.

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The Dutch Republic, also known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden), Republic of the United Netherlands or Republic of the Seven United Provinces (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Provinciën), was a republic in Europe existing from 1581, when part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule, until 1795. It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces (Verenigde Provinciën), Federated Dutch Provinces (Foederatae Belgii Provinciae), and Dutch Federation (Belgica Foederata). Until the 16th century, the Low Countries – corresponding roughly to the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg – consisted of a number of duchies, counties, and Prince-bishoprics, almost all of which were under the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the county of Flanders, which was under the Kingdom of France.

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Rudy Saldia is a 25-year-old postman from America. Every day he rides to deliver parcels across his hometown of Philadelphia with his six-month-old cat called MJ always sitting on his shoulders. MJ, short for Mary Jane, is different from other cats. She was born in a drawer in Rudy's bedroom on April Fool's day. When she got older, Rudi noticed that her favorite place to rest was his shoulders, so he decided to train her to work with him. "The first day we crossed one block. The next day we tried two blocks and now we can ride about 25 miles every day. MJ enjoys moving around on my shoulders," Rudi said. However, Rudy hopes to be able to ride 100 miles with MJ in the coming day. "People are always surprised and excited to watch us. I often hear someone shout, 'Oh, my God, he has a cat on his shoulder! How lovely that is!' MJ is so comfortable on my shoulder and she never hurts me with her claws. We always get on well with each other and have a great time during the work." Rudy smiled. MJ loves noisy streets of Philadelphia, the only problem is that she is scared of the siren . However, her owner Rudi is always there for her. One day, if you go to Philadelphia and see a postman with a cat on his shoulder, don't be surprised!

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Marjorie Baer used to joke about her retirement plans.She wasn't married and had no kids, but she didn't intend to be alone--she and all her single friends would move into a fictional home she called Casa de Biddies.Instead, Baer developed terminal brain cancer when she was 52.But just as she'd hoped, her friends and family provided her with love and care to the end. Ballance was only the first of Baer's friends who became her unofficial caregivers.With her brother Phil Baer from Los Angeles, they worked out a system to watch over their friend and allow her to keep some of the privacy and independence she cherished. Baer's good friend Ruth Henrich took Baer to doctors' appointments and helped her deal with all the aspects of life --answering machines, TV controls, and even phone numbers.After Henrich sent out an e-mail request, a group of volunteers signed up to ferry Baer back and forth to radiation therapy .Others in Baer's circle offered up particular talents: A nurse friend helped Baer figure out how to get what she was due from Social Security and her disability insurance; a lawyer pal helped Baer with her will; a partner who was an accountant took over her bills when she could no longer manage them."There was this odd sense that the right person always showed up," says Ballance.Their arrangement worked remarkably well. Unmarried women are one of the fastest-growing groups in America; experts are concerned about how care-giving will be managed for them as they age.If the experience of Baer's friends is a guide, _ .It's already making it possible to create communities of caregivers who may have only one thing in common: the person who needs their help.On personal "care pages" set up through services such as Lotsa Helping Hands, friends and family members can post a list of tasks that need to be done, volunteer to do them, and keep updated on the person's condition.As Baer's cancer progressed, for example, her friends set up a page on Yahoo! where people could sign up to deliver meals or do errands . Catherine Fox, one of the friends who were present when Baer died, was deeply affected."It was so comforting to know that if you're willing to ask for help, the generosity of family and friends can be phenomenal .It makes me feel secure and hopeful to know that help is there when you need it."

cnn

(CNN) -- Rutgers quarterback Philip Nelson has been dismissed from the football team, the school's coach said Tuesday. Nelson had been arrested Sunday and charged in connection with an assault that apparently left Isaac Kolstad -- a former linebacker for Minnesota State University, Mankato -- in critical condition. "The Rutgers football family's thoughts and prayers are with Isaac Kolstad and his family," football coach Kyle Flood said, referring to the young man whom Nelson is accused of assaulting. Nelson, 20, faces one count of first-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault. Authorities in Minnesota also arrested a second person in connection with the assault, a Mankato, Minnesota, city spokeswoman said. Trevor Stenner Shelley, 21, was arrested Monday afternoon. He is charged with first- and third-degree assault. Officers found Kolstad, who graduated in December, near a downtown intersection. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital. Kolstad, 24, was in critical condition after suffering a severe head injury, his family said. Nelson was a recent transfer to Rutgers. A native of Mankato, Minnesota, he played at the University of Minnesota, according to Rutgers' website. Nelson never played a down for Rutgers before his dismissal. CNN's Mariano Castillo and Dana Ford contributed to this report.

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David Moore taught science at the City School. He needed some expensive books, and so he bought them. He put the books in his car in a quiet street. Then he went to other shops to buy something else. At six he came back to the car. One door was open - and the books were not there! David drove home to Fry Road. On Friday people read this in the newspaper: Books: Have you any old books? I buy old and modern books. Open all day on Saturdays. David Moore, 26 Fry Road. David stayed at home on Saturday. The first man came at eight. David took him to the kitchen. At half past nine another man arrived. He had a bag under his arm. "Mr Moore?" the man asked. "That's right," David said. "Can I help you?" "I've got some good books. You buy books, don't you?" "Yes. Bring them in. Let me have a look." Soon the books were on the dining-table. "Come in now," David called, "and bring the list." A policeman came into the dining-room. He read the names on the books and the names on the list in his hand. They were the same. "Come with me, sir," the policeman said to the man.

gutenberg

CHAPTER VIII. A further account of Glubbdubdrib. Ancient and modern history corrected. Having a desire to see those ancients who were most renowned for wit and learning, I set apart one day on purpose. I proposed that Homer and Aristotle might appear at the head of all their commentators; but these were so numerous, that some hundreds were forced to attend in the court, and outward rooms of the palace. I knew, and could distinguish those two heroes, at first sight, not only from the crowd, but from each other. Homer was the taller and comelier person of the two, walked very erect for one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick and piercing I ever beheld. Aristotle stooped much, and made use of a staff. His visage was meagre, his hair lank and thin, and his voice hollow. I soon discovered that both of them were perfect strangers to the rest of the company, and had never seen or heard of them before; and I had a whisper from a ghost who shall be nameless, “that these commentators always kept in the most distant quarters from their principals, in the lower world, through a consciousness of shame and guilt, because they had so horribly misrepresented the meaning of those authors to posterity.” I introduced Didymus and Eustathius to Homer, and prevailed on him to treat them better than perhaps they deserved, for he soon found they wanted a genius to enter into the spirit of a poet. But Aristotle was out of all patience with the account I gave him of Scotus and Ramus, as I presented them to him; and he asked them, “whether the rest of the tribe were as great dunces as themselves?”

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Bob, Jim and Alice are good friends. They all study in the same class in Red Star Middle School. The weekend is coming and the weather is going to be sunny and warm. Now they are talking about their plans. Bob is going to the hospital on Saturday. It is not far from his house, so he wants to go there by bike. He is going to visit a sick boy called Ben in the hospital. He wants to make Ben happy and give him some interesting storybooks. He is going to stay there for the whole day. Jim is going to ride to Great Zoo with his father on Sunday. He wants to see the pandas, tigers, lions and elephants. He wants to stay there for the whole day. On Saturday, Alice is going to the Green Park with her friends on foot. She is going fishing by the lake, going boating on the river and playing on the slide . She plans to stay there for the whole afternoon.

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Gaius Julius Caesar (Latin: CAIVS IVLIVS CAESAR, , born: 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), usually called Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He is also known as a notable author of Latin prose. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed a political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power as "Populares" were opposed by the "Optimates" within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms. Civil war resulted, and Caesar's victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence.

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A biome is a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in. They can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate. "Biome" is a broader term than "habitat"; any biome can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on a human body. A 'biota' is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for biotic community of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its current definition, based on earlier concepts of phytophysiognomy, formation and vegetation (used in opposition to flora), with the inclusion of the animal element and the exclusion of the taxonomic element of species composition. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, calling it ecosystem. The International Biological Program (1964–74) projects popularized the concept of biome.

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Vishnu (; Sanskrit: विष्णु, IAST: "") is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, and the Supreme Being in its Vaishnavism tradition. Vishnu is the "preserver" in the Hindu trinity (Trimurti) that includes Brahma and Shiva. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, the supreme, the Svayam Bhagavan, who takes various avatars as "the preserver, protector" whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces. His avatars most notably include Rama in the "Ramayana" and Krishna in the "Mahabharata". He is also known as Narayana, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba, and Hari. He is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism. In Hindu inconography, Vishnu is usually depicted as having a dark, or pale blue complexion and having four arms. He holds a padma (lotus flower) in his lower left hand, Kaumodaki gada (mace) in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha (conch) in his upper left hand and the Sudarshana Chakra (discus) in his upper right hand. A traditional depiction is Vishnu reclining on the coils of the serpent Shesha, accompanied by his consort Lakshmi, as he "dreams the universe into reality". Yaska, the mid 1st-millennium BCE Vedanga scholar, in his Nirukta (etymological interpretation), defines Vishnu as "viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā", "one who enters everywhere". He also writes, "atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati", "that which is free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu".

cnn

(CNN) -- Americans snicker over the sordid details of Rep. Anthony Weiner's Internet escapades. But they pity his wife, Huma Abedin. They see an accomplished and beautiful woman betrayed by her husband's Twitter posts. And she's pregnant? The details just get worse and worse. Abedin and other political wives before her have been forced to face the public flogging of their husbands, heightened in this case by the technological evidence that Weiner left behind and by the helpful testimony of his correspondents. Americans love to debate the role of the wronged political wife. What will Hillary Clinton, Jenny Sanford, or Newt Gingrich's wives (pick one) do? What should they do? Actress Julianna Margulies was nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of "The Good Wife" on CBS. Will she ever leave her fictional cheating husband? To which author Laura Munson says, "Stop." Stop calling these women victims. Unless there are threats to her physical safety or financial security, only Abedin decides if she is a victim. (And she's not talking publicly.) When her own husband, suffering through a midlife crisis, threatened to break up their marriage to end his pain, Munson chose not to play the victim. Instead she planned a summer of joy for herself and her two kids -- and her husband when he wanted to join them. She gave him six months to work through his crisis. How did she stop herself from pleading with him or simply dumping him just to get it over with? How did she choose a third way?

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Once upon a time there was a cute brown puppy. He was a very happy puppy. His name was Rudy. Rudy had a best friend. His name was Thomas. Thomas had a nice dad named Rick. Thomas and Rudy had been friends for almost a year. Rudy and Thomas loved to play in the big back yard. Sometimes, Thomas would ask his friend Jacob to come to the back yard and play with them. Jacob would always bring his puppy too. Jacob's puppy was named Sally. Thomas and Jacob would run around the back yard and Rudy and Sally chased them and barked. They all had so much fun playing together. One day, Thomas told Rudy that tomorrow would be a very special day. It would be Rudy's birthday. Rudy was very excited. The next day came and Thomas threw a birthday party for Rudy. All of Rudy's friends were there and they had presents for him. Jacob brought Rudy a new ball and Sally brought him a bone. There was one more present for Rudy to open. When he opened the gift from Thomas, Rudy was so exited that he jumped and barked. It was a new red collar with a shiny name tag on it. It was the best gift Rudy had ever been given.

gutenberg

CHAPTER II ABOUT THE PAST "Did you get any more particulars?" asked Sam, of the college poet. "No. The newspaper man was busy, so the Doctor said, and didn't have time to go into details," answered Songbird. "Did he say who the other prisoners were who got away?" asked Dick. "Yes, a tramp who was up for robbing a man on the road and a bank clerk who took some money from the bank." "None of the crowd we are interested in," said Tom. "I'm glad of it," returned his older brother. "It is bad enough for Crabtree to get away. I hope they keep a strict guard over the others after this." "Oh, they will, rest assured of that," came from Stanley Browne. "The head jailer will get a raking over the coals for this, mark my words." "The Stanhopes and the Lanings will be sorry to learn that Crabtree got away," said Sam. "I wonder if they aren't searching for him," mused Sam. "Oh, they'll search for all of them," put in Songbird. "I think the newspaper man said the sheriff had a posse out." "Too bad!" said Dick, shaking his head gravely. "And just when we felt sure old Crabtree wouldn't be able to give us any more trouble!" "It beats the nation, what that man can do!" cried Sam. "Maybe be hypnotized one of the jailers-- just as he hypnotized Mrs. Stanhope years ago. "He'd be equal to it-- if he got the chance," answered Tom; and then all of the students had to go in to their classes.

cnn

(CNN) -- Real Madrid have reduced Barcelona's lead at the top of the Spanish Primera Liga to three points after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Almeria on Thursday. Madrid, looking to bounce back following their defeat in "El Clasico", suffered a poor start and fell behind in the 14th minute. Kalu Uche broke down the right and his low cross was met by the unmarked Albert Crusat at the far post. And the home side nearly doubled their advantage just seven minutes later when Domingo Cisma's free-kick was superbly saved by Iker Casillas. However, the visitors drew level in the 27th minute thanks to a moment of superb skill from Cristiano Ronaldo. The $125 million man burst past two defenders, fooled a third with one of his trademark stepovers and fird home a shot into the far corner for his 19th league goal of the season. From then on, Real were the better side. Veteran midfielder Guti struck the post from the edge of the area before Rafael Van der Vaart put the rebound wide. And the winning goal came in the 69th minute when Van der Vaart collected Gonzalo Higuain's pass before firing home a low shot into the bottom corner. Madrid should have added to their lead, but Ronaldo was denied by goalkeeper Diego Alves while Karim Benzema and Mahamadou Diarra also missed good chances.

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Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, development starting in the 1970s at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others. Initially intended for use inside the Bell System, AT&T licensed Unix to outside parties from the late 1970s, leading to a variety of both academic and commercial variants of Unix from vendors such as the University of California, Berkeley (BSD), Microsoft (Xenix), IBM (AIX) and Sun Microsystems (Solaris). AT&T finally sold its rights in Unix to Novell in the early 1990s, which then sold its Unix business to the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) in 1995, but the UNIX trademark passed to the industry standards consortium The Open Group, which allows the use of the mark for certified operating systems compliant with the Single UNIX Specification (SUS). Among these is Apple's macOS, which is the Unix version with the largest installed base as of 2014. From the power user's or programmer's perspective, Unix systems are characterized by a modular design that is sometimes called the "Unix philosophy", meaning that the operating system provides a set of simple tools that each perform a limited, well-defined function, with a unified filesystem as the main means of communication and a shell scripting and command language to combine the tools to perform complex workflows. Aside from the modular design, Unix also distinguishes itself from its predecessors as the first portable operating system: almost the entire operating system is written in the C programming language that allowed Unix to reach numerous platforms.

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Something bad happened to sam this morning. He fell over and broke his nose in the school hallway. When Sam looked up, he saw his friends. "Are you OK?" They asked him. But he didn't say anything to them. He stood up and ran to the classroom quickly. Sam put his schoolbag on his desk and went out to the school hospital. On his way back to the classroom he saw his friends again. They were laughing. Sam thought they were laughing at him, so he didn't talk to them for the rest of the morning. At lunchtime, Sam's friends came up to him and asked, "How is your nose?" "Fine!" Sam shouted. "I saw you laughing at me this morning!" "We didn't. We laughed just because Jenny told us a joke," his friends said. "Well, I'm sorry. Can you _ me?" "Yes, of course. But next time you should ask us before you assume something." They looked at each other and laughed happily. They were still friends. ,,.

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The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass . Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations, and the Research and Development branch. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the only major national land agency that is outside of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, due to concerns regarding Yellowstone National Park beginning as early as 1875. In 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Franklin B. Hough was appointed the head of the office. In 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the public domain as "forest reserves," managed by the Department of the Interior. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry. The Transfer Act of 1905 transferred the management of forest reserves from the General Land Office of the Interior Department to the Bureau of Forestry, henceforth known as the United States Forest Service. Gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

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The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper which has been published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. The "Times" was first published on December 4, 1881, as the "Los Angeles Daily Times" under the direction of Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner. It was first printed at the Mirror printing plant, owned by Jesse Yarnell and T.J. Caystile. Unable to pay the printing bill, Cole and Gardiner turned the paper over to the Mirror Company. In the meantime, S. J. Mathes had joined the firm, and it was at his insistence that the "Times" continued publication. In July 1882, Harrison Gray Otis moved from Santa Barbara to become the paper's editor. Otis made the "Times" a financial success. Historian Kevin Starr wrote that Otis was a businessman "capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment". Otis's editorial policy was based on civic boosterism, extolling the virtues of Los Angeles and promoting its growth. Toward those ends, the paper supported efforts to expand the city's water supply by acquiring the rights to the water supply of the distant Owens Valley. The efforts of the "Times" to fight local unions led to the October 1, 1910 bombing of its headquarters, killing twenty-one people. Two union leaders, James and Joseph McNamara, were charged. The American Federation of Labor hired noted trial attorney Clarence Darrow to represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty.

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Phone Soap: Charge and Clean Your Phone You may charge your phone every day, but do you clean your phone as much? Whatever your hands touch, your phones touch. It has been discovered that some phones have 18 times more bacteria and viruses than any surface in a public restroom. So it probably won't surprise you that a 2011 University of London study found that one in six of our phones have bacteria and viruses on them--specifically, the bacteria called E. coli. The research on bacteria and viruses led to the invention of Phone Soap. It is not actually liquid like dishwasher soap. It is a phone charger that uses the electromagnetic radiation used in hospitals to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria and viruses, cleaning your phone while it charges. "There are really certain types of bacteria and viruses that we should not be in touch with, and they are really on our phones," says Wes Barnes, the Phone Soap co-founder. It all started while his cousin and co-founder, Dan LaPorte, was in his cancer research lab at college. "He realized he got the idea of getting rid of bacteria and viruses on the phones," said Barnes. "In the lab they used UV-C light for destroying them. He realized this would be the fastest, most powerful way to kill any bacteria and viruses living on electronic machines." Phone Soap looks like a little metal suitcase. Your phone rests in to charge and get cleaned at the same time. Instead of plugging your phone into the wall, you'd plug it into the Phone Soap charger box. The process only takes a few minutes but, Barnes says, "The idea is that you can leave it in there overnight if you want to keep charging. Reflective paint keeps the light completely around the phone so it cleans the phone fully." The co-founders spent 2013 finding the right companies and they started shipping the product in late November. By last week's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Phone Soap was all grown-up. Both co-founders have left their previous jobs and are selling Phone Soap nonstop. "We're shipping almost more than we can handle each day," Barnes says. "It's been a great adventure."

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Believe it or not but it is true. There are people who lose the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage. But they become extremely good at something else. They become experts at spotting liars. The condition in which people lose their power to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasia . A study conducted in Massachusetts, U.S., has clearly proved that aphasics make good lie detectors . In the last 100 years, many doctors studying the brain have mentioned examples of this amazing power of patients suffering from aphasia. Recently, scientists conducted tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true. They studied the powers of a mixed group of people. Some were normal; others were aphasic. And it was proved clearly that the normal volunteers still got fooled by words. The aphasics were far ahead of them in recognizing false speech. The results of the study were reported in the magazine Nature. `Fourteen years ago, famous American doctor, Dr. Oliver Sacks, wrote about his experiences with aphasic patients in a book. He remembered a particular incident in a hospital. Patients from the aphasia room were watching TV. Their president, Ronald Reagan, was giving a speech. He was trying to put feelings into each and every word of his speech. But his speech had an opposite effect on the patients. They were not impressed. On the contrary, the whole room shook with their laughter. The aphasics knew that he did not mean a word of what he was saying. Dr. Sacks saw aphasics as more gifted than normal people. Normal people "get carried away" by words. An aphasic cannot understand words. But he or she can still understand what is being said. He said most of the aphasics had this superior understanding. So, while normal people think of aphasic patients as brain damaged, they actually seem to understand human expressions better.

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Plato (; Greek: "Plátōn", in Classical Attic; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Others believe that the oldest extant manuscript dates to around AD 895, 1100 years after Plato's death. This makes it difficult to know exactly what Plato wrote. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the very foundations of Western philosophy and science. Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." In addition to being a foundational figure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics, Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality. Plato's influence on Christianity is often thought to be mediated by his major influence on Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the most important philosophers and theologians in the foundation of the Western thought. In the 19th century, the philosopher Nietzsche called Christianity "Platonism for the people". Numenius of Apamea viewed this differently, he called Plato the Hellenic Moses. This would justify the superiority of Christianity over Hellenism because Moses predates Plato—thus the original source of this wisdom is the root of Christianity and not Hellenistic culture.

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Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam approximately north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867, including 24,488 students. There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area in the Bronze Age and in Roman Britain; under Viking rule, Cambridge became an important trading centre. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although city status was not conferred until 1951. The University of Cambridge, founded in 1209, is one of the top five universities in the world. The university includes the Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The city's skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the spire of the Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital and St John's College Chapel tower. Anglia Ruskin University, evolved from the Cambridge School of Art and the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, also has its main campus in the city. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen with industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies born out of the university. More than 40% of the workforce has a higher education qualification, more than twice the national average. The Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the largest biomedical research clusters in the world, is soon to be home to AstraZeneca, a hotel and the relocated Papworth Hospital.

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(CNN) -- First it was Mario Gotze. Now Robert Lewandowski is leaving Borussia Dortmund for German powerhouse Bayern Munich. The sought after Polish international signed a five-year contract with Bayern Munich, Bayern said on its website while calling the 25-year-old one of the "world's top strikers." He'll join the Bavarian outfit at the end of the season, when his current deal with Dortmund was due to expire. "We are very happy that this transfer has gone through," Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. "Robert Lewandowski is one of the world's top strikers. "He will not only strength our squad, but his arrival will also give the entire club a boost." Some would say Bayern hardly needs it, since it won five trophies in 2013 and is on pace to cruise to yet another Bundesliga crown. Lewandowski co leads the Bundesliga in scoring this campaign with 11 goals and has netted 91 times in 165 games for Borussia Dortmund since joining from Poland's Lech Poznan for a bargain basement $7 million in 2010. His goals also helped Borussia Dortmund reach last season's Champions League final, although Bayern Munich came out on top in London. Gotze's move to Bayern Munich was announced last April while he still played for Borussia Dortmund and the German international became a highly unpopular figure among many Dortmund fans -- so Lewandowski might expect some jeers himself. Lewandowski's impending departure is a further blow to Dortmund. The German champion in 2011 and 2012 -- Lewandowski played a key role -- Jurgen Klopp's side has slipped to a distant fourth in the league and narrowly advanced to the second round of this season's Champions League.

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Marry me! During the "Idol" finale, season 5 singer Ace Young proposed live to season 3 runner up Diana DeGarrno. She was genuinely surprised in one sense but the two have bonded closely since they met on Broadway during a production of"Hair." The first true"ldol' couple (though others have dated) have already set a wedding date on June l of 2013, Ten years and still relevant. Season one winner Kelly Clarkson has survived a decade in the brutal music business with her dignity intact and enough chart-topping songs to generate a greatest hits album at the tender age of 30. Her career is as strong as ever. She sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl. Her song "Stronger" was a No. I hit. She was a mentor on an ABC summer series"Duets." She became engaged to Reba McEntire's stepson in November. All in all, life is good for Clarkson and we as"Idol" fans couldn't be more proud. Keep calm and Carrie on! Season four victor Carrie Underwood has now sold more albums than any other "Idol" with about 14 million to date. Her current album "Blown Away" has generated two top two hits in 2012: "Good Girl" and the title track. That makes 15 consecutive top 2 hits on the Billboard country chart over seven years dating back to "Jesus, Take the Wheel." She hosted the CMAs for a fifth year with Brad Paisley. Last month, she landed a role as lead in a remake of"The Sound of Music." She toured to sold-out crowds again, hitting Gwinnett Arena earlier this month, where she thankecl "Idol" for getting her to where she's at, something, she certainly no longer needs to do but still does. Class act, that lady.

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(CNN) -- Timothy Jones Jr. allegedly went on a 700-mile journey that began in South Carolina with the bodies of his five young children wrapped in garbage bags in the back of his SUV, authorities said Wednesday. Jones, a 32-year-old computer tech and Mississippi State University graduate, told neighbors last week that he was moving his children from their home near Lexington to another state. The father of five was being held Wednesday in a Mississippi jail in connection with the deaths of his children, ages 1 to 8, whose bodies were dumped in Alabama. It's still unclear how or why Jones allegedly killed his children, but acting Sheriff Lewis McCarty of Lexington County told reporters that Jones drove for several days with their decomposing bodies in the back of his SUV. It is believed he killed the children at the same time, and that the crime happened in Lexington County, McCarty said. "I don't understand why he did it but, yes, these children were in the car, deceased, in garbage bags for some period of time," McCarty said. When Jones was picked up Saturday at a police checkpoint in Mississippi, he seemed "very strange, maybe somewhat disoriented, a little bit on the violent side," McCarty said. In the car, police later found "cleaning material, they saw blood, they saw children's clothing but no children." McCarty said Jones, who allegedly was in possession of synthetic marijuana and a drug called "bath salts," faces five counts of murder when he's returned to South Carolina.

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Even at school there had been an unhealthy competition between George and Richard. "I'll be the first millionaire in Coleford!" Richard used to boast. "And you'll be sorry that you knew me," George would reply "because I'll surely be the best lawyer in our town!" After graduation, George never became a lawyer and Richard was anybody but a millionaire .... Instead, it happened that both men opened bookshops on opposite sides of Coleford High Street, while it was hard to make much money from books then, which made the competition between them worse. Eventually, Richard closed down his, dreaming of making a fortune elsewhere. Now, with only one bookshop in the town, business was better for George. But sometimes he sat in his narrow old kitchen and gazed out of the dirty window, thinking about his former rival . Perhaps he missed him? George was very interested in old dictionaries, and he had recently found a collector in Australia who was selling a rare first edition. When the parcel arrived, the book was in perfect condition and George was quite delighted. But while he was having lunch, George glanced at the photo in the newspaper that the book had been wrapped in. He was astonished -- the smiling face was older than he remembered but unmistakable! Trembling, George started reading: "Bookends Company has bought ten bookstores from its competitors. The company, owned by multi-millionaire Richard Pike, is now the largest bookseller in this country."

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(CNN) -- After a difficult past year, Rafael Nadal is back where he feels most comfortable -- but his rivals are battling to find form ahead of the French Open. While the Spaniard cruised into the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo tournament he has won for the past eight seasons, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic again had to come from behind to earn his place while Andy Murray suffered a crushing defeat that will demote him to third in the rankings. Fourth seed Tomas Berdych and No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro also crashed out Thursday to thin out the competition for Nadal as he continues his winning return to the ATP Tour following longterm knee problems. His 6-2 6-4 rout of German 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was his 16th successive victory this year following a defeat in the final of his comeback event in Chile in February. "I feel more relaxed, yes. I had some uneasy moments during the past year," Nadal said after his 44th consecutive win at the clay-court event, which set up a clash with 21-year-old Bulgarian Gregor Dimitrov. "Now I'm back on the tour. Just being here is good news. And winning matches -- I say it every day, but winning every match is very important to me today. Every time I have the chance to go on court and play well, feel competitive, is a really good feeling." Dimitrov is also on a roll, having followed up his opening victory over world No. 10 Janko Tipsarevic by beating Germany's Florian Mayer 6-2 6-4.

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CHAPTER THREE. Obedient to orders, Tom Brixton lay perfectly still on his back, just where he had fallen, wondering much whether the cord was really cut, for he did not feel much relaxation of it or abatement of the pain. He resolved, at any rate, to give no further cause for rough treatment, but to await the issue of events as patiently as he could. True to his promise, the Irishman after supper sang several songs, which, if not characterised by sweetness of tone, were delivered with a degree of vigour that seemed to make full amends in the estimation of his hearers. After that he told a thrilling ghost story, which drew the entire band of men round him. Paddy had a natural gift in the way of relating ghost stories, for, besides the power of rapid and sustained discourse, without hesitation or redundancy of words, he possessed a vivid imagination, a rich fancy, a deep bass voice, an expressive countenance, and a pair of large coal-black eyes, which, as one of the Yankee diggers said, "would sartinly bore two holes in a blanket if he only looked at it long enough." We do not intend to inflict that ghost story on the reader. It is sufficient to say that Paddy began it by exclaiming in a loud voice--"`Now or niver, boys--now or niver.' That's what the ghost said." "What's that you say, Paddy?" asked Gashford, leaving his own separate and private fire, which he enjoyed with one or two chosen comrades, and approaching that round which the great body of the diggers were already assembled.

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CHAPTER XL CAPTAIN ICHABOD PUTS THE CASE In the river at Bridgetown lay the good brig King and Queen, just arrived from Jamaica. On her deck was an impatient young gentleman, leaning over the rail and watching the approach of a boat, with two men rowing and a passenger in the stern. This impatient young man was Dickory Charter, that morning arrived at Bridgetown and not yet having been on shore. He came for the purpose of settling some business affairs, partly on account of Miss Kate Bonnet and partly for his mother. As the boat came nearer, Dickory recognised one of the men who were rowing and hailed him. "Heigho! Tom Hilyer," he cried, "I am right glad to see you on this river again. I want a boat to go to my mother's house; know you of one at liberty?" The man ceased rowing for a moment and then addressed the passenger in the stern, who, having heard what he had to say, nodded briefly. "Well, well, Dick Charter!" cried out the man, "and have you come back as governor of the colony? You look fine enough, anyway. But if you want a boat to go to your mother's old home, you can have a seat in this one; we're going there, and our passenger does not object." "Pull up here," cried Dickory, and in a moment he had dropped into the bow of the boat, which then proceeded on its way. The man in the stern was fairly young, handsome, sunburned, and well dressed in a suit of black. When Dickory thanked him for allowing him to share his boat the passenger in the stern nodded his head with a jerk and an air which indicated that he took the incident as a matter of course, not to be further mentioned or considered.

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CHAPTER XIII. FLAXEN'S GREAT NEED. Flaxen wrote occasionally, during the next year, letters all too short and too far between for the lonely man toiling away on his brown farm. These letters were very much alike, telling mainly of how happy she was, and of what she was going to do by and by, on Christmas or Thanksgiving. Once she sent a photograph of herself and husband, and Anson, after studying it for a long time, took a pair of shears and cut the husband off, and threw him into the fire. "That fellow gives me the ague," he muttered. Bert did not write, and there was hardly a night that Ans lay down on his bed that he did not wonder where his chum was, especially as the winter came on unusually severe, reminding him of that first winter in the Territory. Day after day he spent alone in his house, going out only to feed the cattle or to get the mail. The sad wind was always in his ears. But with the passage of time the pain in his heart lost its intensity. One day he got a letter from Flaxen that startled and puzzled him. It was like a cry for help, somehow. "Dear old pap, I wish you was here," and then in another place came the piteous cry, "Oh, I wish I had some folks!" All night long that cry rang in the man's head with a wailing, falling cadence like the note of a lost little prairie-chicken.

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(CNN) -- Police have made an arrest in the home invasion slaying last year of a Southern California couple in their beach house, authorities said Monday. Joshua Graham Packer, 20, of Ventura is facing charges including three counts of murder and two counts of robbery, Capt. Ross Bonfiglio of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department said. Packer is accused of murdering Brock Husted, his wife, Davina Husted, and her fetus. The Husteds, who were both 42, were stabbed to death in their seaside home in Faria Beach, California, on May 20. Chief Gary Pentis of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department said it appeared the suspect targeted the victims. "My personal opinion? This was not a random act," Pentis said at a news conference Monday. Until the couple's slaying, the gated community of luxury homes had not recorded a homicide in 15 years, police said. According to investigators, the Husteds were home with their two young children on the night of the slaying. Their daughter was asleep in bed, and their son was watching "American Idol" in the living room. About 10:30 p.m., the suspect entered the home through French doors that face the ocean, police said. The killer was dressed in dark clothing and wore a motorcycle helmet, authorities said. He walked past the child who was watching television and stabbed the Husteds. Davina Husted was four months pregnant. The home was not ransacked, and the alleged murder weapon was left at the scene, Bonfiglio said. A sample of Packer's DNA taken after an arrest in Santa Barbara matched the genetic material found at the Husted crime scene, said Pentis the sheriff's department chief. He added that items from the victims' house were found at the suspect's home.

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Seoul (CNN)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is continuing to rule with an iron fist, having ordered the execution of about 15 senior officials so far this year, according to an assessment by South Korean intelligence agents, a lawmaker who attended a closed briefing said. Shin Kyung-min, a lawmaker with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, told a handful of reporters that he had been given the information by the South Korean National Intelligence Service. CNN cannot independently confirm the executions. The nature of the intelligence supporting the National Intelligence Service allegations was also not immediately clear. North Korea is one of the most closed societies in the world. According to Shin, intelligence officials say Kim is ruling in an impromptu manner and does not countenance excuses or any views at variance with his own. He considers those a challenge to his authority, the intelligence officials said, according to Shin. For example, a senior official with Ministry of Forestry was executed for expressing dissatisfaction with the country's forestry program, the lawmaker said. North Korean defectors share their ordeals The vice chairman of the State Planning Commission was executed because he objected to changing the design of a science and technology hall from a rounded shape to one resembling a flower, the intelligence officials said, according to the lawmaker. And in March, according to the South Korean lawmaker, Kim executed on charges of espionage four members of the Unhasu Orchestra, including the general director, because of a scandal, Shin said. Kim became North Korea's Supreme Commander in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. According to the National Intelligence Service, he is reported to have executed 17 senior officials in 2012, 10 in 2013 and 41 in 2014.

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Chapter XIV. And Jill Finds It Out Jill worried about it more than he did, for she was a faithful little friend, and it was a great trial to have Jack even suspected of doing anything wrong. School is a child's world while he is there, and its small affairs are very important to him, so Jill felt that the one thing to be done was to clear away the cloud about her dear boy, and restore him to public favor. "Ed will be here Saturday night and may be he will find out, for Jack tells him everything. I do hate to have him hectored so, for I know he is, though he's too proud to complain," she said, on Thursday evening, when Frank told her some joke played upon his brother that day. "I let him alone, but I see that he isn't badgered too much. That's all I can do. If Ed had only come home last Saturday it might have done some good, but now it will be too late; for the reports are given out to-morrow, you know," answered Frank, feeling a little jealous of Ed's influence over Jack, though his own would have been as great if he had been as gentle. "Has Jerry come back?" asked Jill, who kept all her questions for Frank, because she seldom alluded to the tender subject when with Jack. "No, he's off for the summer. Got a place somewhere. Hope he'll stay there and let Bob alone." "Where is Bob now? I don't hear much about him lately," said Jill, who was constantly on the lookout for "the other fellow," since it was not Joe.