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Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 863. page
2016-03-10 16:27:40 Post No.7795530
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Anonymous 2016-03-10 16:27:40 Post No. 7795530 [Report] [View thread]
What is the angriest you have ever been in regards to something /lit/ related?
For me, it was when my nieces were telling me about their reading in school. My oldest niece (12) was reading To Kill a Mockingbird.
I told her we were not allowed to read that book because of the use of racial slurs throughout it.
>Oh, they take those out now.
I asked to see her book and saw where the text had been blacked out wherever there were words that would be considered offensive.
I never thought I could be so mad. I don't...
Anonymous 2016-03-10 16:29:33 Post No.7795536
Anonymous 2016-03-10 16:29:33 Post No.7795536 [Report]
Probably when I learned Lena Dunham had a NYT best seller.
ITT: triggered hurtbutt
>the left at work
Try again, faggot. Neoliberal identity politics are a direct result of centrist conservacuckery.
The Anarchist Library 2016-03-10 16:18:43 Post No.7795506
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The Anarchist Library Anonymous 2016-03-10 16:18:43 Post No. 7795506 [Report] [View thread]
Can I trust The Anarchist Library? Isn't it a US government trap?
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/
Socialism is part of the government, so yes its a trap but in a different way than you might think. There is no ancap stuff there, so its not anarchist.
>ancap
>anarchist
samil
I coded a website on which you can begin a story and let people continue it. 2016-03-10 16:09:26 Post No.7795466
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I coded a website on which you can begin a story and let people continue it. samil 2016-03-10 16:09:26 Post No. 7795466 [Report] [View thread]
Check it out on: www.nessir.com
What do you think about the idea, and do you like the launch video?
First of all, you need a better logo my man
The video is awkwardly crammed on the bottom of the page, try fixing that.
Also, you need a better video my man. Don't try to save reading or something, just tell people about how your site is about collaborative writing.
It's Perfect, I Wouldn't Change A Thing!
Interesting idea but yeah what >>7795514 said.
Could you guys point me to authors with extremely poetic prose style of writing, filled with metaphors and imagery? A well-known example of what I desire is Nabokov; the ideal of what I desire is the prose parts of William Shakespeare.
I'm not looking for prose poems, as are the final works of Rimbaud. What I want are writers who work on short-stories and novels, in works that have a plot and characters, but whose verbal texture is notoriously poetic.
Other examples (not as extreme as Nabokov) would be Gogol (who some times produces a wonderful succession...
Could you post more examples of things like:
>"The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit."
Or the last paragraph of "The Dead"?
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Is *he* the savior we were all waiting for? Is he the hero *we* deserve?
> Hailed by Jose Saramago as the best writer of his generation
OK, where to start?
>savior
>hero
>not white
[redpill]tears buddy[/redpill]
I want Gawker to leave.
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Just finished reading this.
Should I like it?
you read it, you tell us.
Well I did but who the fuck am I. I could be Frank Herbert shilling for all you know.
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>I could be Frank Herbert shilling for all you know.
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Why isn't Clark Ashton Smith as famous as Lovecraft and Howard?
He's not as fun.
His work is harder to find.
This, also less adaptations.
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yes, its this time of the month again
chinese litearture thread. this time with 200% more dream of the red chamber!
also , why are there only shitty translations of even the most important classics? try to find the compiled works of Zhu Xi your shit out of luck :( only thing you can find is early marxist literature.
Because reading Eastern works in translation is beyond retarded. The language/culture are too different to do even a half decent rendering.
所以我学习中文, but im still far away from being able to read these books.
you read any Lu Xun? quite depressing for someone who wanted to be a revolutionary.
Homoerotic subtext in books written over a hundred years ago. 2016-03-10 09:30:44 Post No.7794669
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Homoerotic subtext in books written over a hundred years ago. Anonymous 2016-03-10 09:30:44 Post No. 7794669 [Report] [View thread]
Anyone know any examples of it?
Is this for a regular English Class or an Advanced English Class? Also more importantly OP don't get us to do your homework for you
I just want to know after having seen pic related.
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I just read this. Was it good?
Can't make your own opinions?
it was good but you didn't understand hardly any of it
Aren't you the same trash who posted a picture of himself with a zizek book a couple months ago?
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Ive got bad news everyone.
David Foster Wallace the author of Infinite Jest
is dead
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/books/15wallace.html?_r=0
new here, should I read his work? What to start with? What is it like?
I've got some really unfortunate, dolorous information to deliver to you all.
Vladimir Nabokov, famed pedophile and lepidopterist, author of Lolita, and some other books, I guess, is dead.
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nab-v-obit.html
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Books that have made you tear up or cry
Where the Red Fern Grows
circa 2nd grade
Infinite hest
S A D B O Y S
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Anyone read this? Just started it tonight and it's great so far.
>new york times top 100
>has anyone read this
The first five pages are the best. Drop it afterward.
No need to memetext. I am aware that people on this board have read it- I simply wanted to get a thread going.
>The first five pages are the best. Drop it afterward.
Haven't read it yet, but I prefer Pynchon's breezy Lot 49/Vineland/IV stuff over his more lauded labyrinthine pomo works, so I'm thinking it might be up my alley.
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Is this novel good?
the movie was bretty good.
Novel. I'm talking about the novel. Is it good?
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It's pretty good - haven't read the Original language though, only a translation
>pic related
Wow. Nothing has ever moved me as much. This defines literature.
Care to elaborate?
Dislike it intensely.
Dislike him. A cheap sensationalist, clumsy and vulgar. A prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian.
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Infant morbidity is an important indicator of the health status of infants within a population, and furthermore serves as an indicator of socioeconomic stability of a particular population. It is defined as both communicable and non-communicable disease impact on infants of one year of age and under. Often times, infant morbidity is caused by lack of access to basic and adequate living conditions. Through the collection of statistics on infant morbidity within specific populations, a framework is constructed to develop healthcare practices specific to the health problems faced in individual regions. In Argentina, many issues of infant morbidity are solved within the primary level of the public sector of healthcare. By focusing on the primary level of public healthcare in Argentina (opposed to the secondary and tertiary levels), one is able to develop an understanding of many basic health issues, which communities face everyday that lead to infant morbidity. For these aforementioned reasons, my thesis case study was conducted in Florencio Varela, a municipal outside of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. Specifically, this project focused on the primary public center of health (CAPS) by the name of La Esmeralda, which serves the population in the barrios of La Esmeralda, Santa Rosa, Libertad, Villa Susana, and a few new barrios that have not yet established official names. Many people in this area live in precarious conditions without access to electricity, gas, clean water, sound living establishments, and other basic conditions. For these reasons, problems with infant morbidity are very predominant, and are often addressed by the center of La Esmeralda. Interviews were conducted with five different staff members of this center and other professionals who have studied or contributed to the study of the primary level of care in Argentina. This thesis discusses results and analyzes data from interviews, observation, and research on the health care system of Argentina, including a brief discussion on the history, development, and importance of public health practices in the world today.


text:
U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Organizations Continue Campaign To Be Taken Off Holy Land Case List
By GlobalMB on	 July 24, 2008 Daily
The New York Sun is reporting that he North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) are attempting to have themselves removed from the list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) terrorism financing trial based on the age of the documents used to justify their inclusion on the list. According to the report:
Two major Muslim organizations, the North American Islamic Trust and the Islamic Society of North America, are arguing that the government's evidence of their ties to Hamas is old and, in any event, is no excuse for a decision by prosecutors to name the American groups publicly as unindicted co-conspirators in a criminal case. "Assuming the authenticity of the documents' dates, the most recent documents to mention either ISNA or NAIT are dated 1991," an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the two groups, Hina Shamsi, wrote in a brief filed in federal court in Dallas yesterday. "Almost all of the numerous exhibits that purport to show financial transactions and that contain any mention of ISNA or NAIT are dated 1988 and 1989 … almost a decade before the majority of the overt acts the government alleged in support of its conspiracy charges." The filing also notes that the American government did not designate Hamas as a terrorist group until 1995….NAIT and ISNA said in their brief that the government's response and reports on it by The New York Sun and the Associated Press "exacerbated the injury" the groups have suffered. "The government utterly fails to grasp the singular weight and consequence that an official accusation of criminal conduct carries in our criminal justice system and in our society," Ms. Shamsi wrote.
Last week, the Sun reported that prosecutors had rejected claims by ISNA and NAIT that they had been unfairly named.
While the documents employed by federal prosecutors may date from 1991, there is substantial evidence to indicate that both organizations continued to support Hamas and/or Hamas-related organizations until very recently. This evidence includes
-Support and ties to the HLF itself and, after HLF was indicted 2004, support for its successor organizations;
-Support for the Islamic Association, part of the Hamas infrastructure in the U.S, as late as 2000-2001
-Ties to the Quranic Literacy Institute (QLI), a Chicago area institution which a Federal court in 2004 said was raising and laundering money for Hamas
It should also be noted that ISNA enjoys close relations with the Council for American Islamic Relations, itself a part of the Hamas infrastructure in the U.S.
Egyptian Brotherhood Not Divided, Brotherhood and Analyst Agree - 07:04 PM RECOMMENDED READING: "MB IN THE GULF" - 07:41 PM
BREAKING NEWS: Wagdy Ghoneim Arrested In South Africa - 06:43 PM
British Muslim Brotherhood Leader Is Resentful Of "The Evil Jew In Britain" - 09:12 AM Wagdy Ghoneim To Be Deported From South Africa - 10:37 AM
U.K. Muslim Brotherhood Group Part of Protest Against U.S. Intelligence Facilities - 05:19 PM MPAC Joins With Rabbi To Accuse Presidential Candidates Of Excluding Muslims - 05:53 PM
Tariq Ramadan Meets Famous German Philosopher; Answers Questions About Controversies - 12:41 PM BREAKING NEWS: Israel Bans Union of Good Members - 06:05 PM
BREAKING NEWS: CAIR Chairman Resigns - 11:41 AM The Muslim Brotherhood In Saudi Arabia - 11:53 AM
Saudi Arabia Invites Rabbi To Muslim World League Interfaith Conference - 11:57 AM Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Says It is Target of New Legislation - 05:40 PM Islam Online To Hold English Classes In Second Life - 02:08 AM
Muslim World League Interfaith Conference Likely Public Relations Exercise - 04:36 PM
BREAKING NEWS: Al-Arian Released On Bail - 10:56 AM
Muslim World League Conference To Include Mostly Global Muslim Brotherhood, Individual With Right-wing Extremist Background Also Invited - 12:16 PM
MPAC Complains About Lack Of Access To U.S. Government - 12:38 PM
Scottish First Minister Accused of "Cronyism" By Giving Funds to Muslim Brotherhood Group - 09:11 AM
IslamExpo Concludes In London, Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas Supporters Behind The Event - 10:09 AM U.S. Prosecutors Defend Naming Of ISNA and CAIR As Unindicted Co-conspirators - 05:32 PM BREAKING NEWS: Anwar Ibrahim Arrested In Malaysia - 12:51 AM
Serbian Mufti Tied To European Muslim Brotherhood Leader Re-Elected - 05:46 PM New Scottish Muslim Brotherhood Organization Given Government Funds For "IslamFest" - 06:11 PM
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Leader Celebrates Release Of Prisoners - 05:33 PM
Saudi Interfaith Conferences Ends On Dispute Over "Zionism" - 12:49 PM Qaradawi Elected To Al-Azhar Islamic Research Council - 01:11 PM Muslim Brotherhood Defends Sudanese Government - 01:57 PM
Mutual Fund Tied To U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Doubles Its Assets - 02:04 PM Yusuf Islam Awarded Libel Damages, Singer Tied To Global Muslim Brotherhood And/Or Hamas Support - 06:28 PM Unindicted Co-conspirator In World Trade Center Bombing Behind New York City Subway Ad Campaign - 11:00 PM CORRECTION: Amana Fund Post - 12:48 AM
Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood Leader Criticizes Plan To Include Women In Parliament; Annouces Formation Of Religious Police - 05:26 PM Global Muslim Brotherhood Endorses Letter Of Support For Anwar Ibrahim - 05:40 PM
Muslim Brotherhood In Kurdistan - 04:06 PM Qaradawi Organization Calls On World To Reject ICC Action On Sudan - 04:19 PM
U.K. Minister Explains Decision Not To Attend IslamExpo; U.K. Muslim Brotherhood Responds - 04:35 PM U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Organizations Continue Campaign To Be Taken Off Holy Land Case List - 04:59 PM French Muslim Brotherhood Leader Comments On Burqa Controversy - 04:15 AM
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Launchs Facebook Discussion Forum - 07:09 AM Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Says It Meets Regularly With EU MP's - 01:04 PM Pakistani Islamist Leader Says "Real Terrorists" Are Washington, Tel Aviv, And New Dehli - 04:14 AM
Grand Mufti Of Bosnia Blames West For Terrorism And "Moral Degneration" - 04:57 PM Aide To Palestinian President Says Hamas Receives Orders From The Muslim Brotherhood - 03:42 AM
CAIR Leader Says AIDS Results From "Extraordinary Freedom" - 11:37 AM First Sharia-Compliant Insurance Company Launched In The U.K., Shariah Scholars Linked To Muslim Brotherhood Investment Fund - 02:57 PM
U.S. Senators Ask Secretary Of State To Stop Funding U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Organizations - 11:13 AM U.K. Student Societies Tied to Muslim Brotherhood; Members Most Likely To Hold Intolerant Views - 12:01 PM BREAKING NEWS: Obama Names Chicago Lawyer As Muslim Campaign Adviser; Selection Is Trustee of Organization Close To U.S. Muslim Brotherhood - 04:10 AM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Is there any API service to filter out json data? Is there any service that would filter-out unnecessary data from JSON from an API so I need not to deploy a server only for this task?
I develop for wearables. The current JSON data from API is too big for the wearables to handle: they run out of memory. I need to remove unnecessary data so the wearable don't run out of memory.
Is there any service to do such task so I need not to care about the server development and maintenance?
Simple white-list of identifiers not to be filtered-out would do the trick.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I wanted to thank you for an excellent show on Friday evening at Wokefield Park. You made a very success team meeting special and definitely memorable. We were all immensely impressed with your skill and the way you kept us engaged. We have no clue how you did it – it must be magic! "
"Steve was amazing, you were right. All the adults were really taken in and loved his tricks! We are still talking about him. Please pass on our thanks - we would have no hesitation in recommending both your team and Steve to all our friends."
We just wanted to drop you a line to thank you again for your hard work last night! You really wow-ed the guests and as they were leaving I heard a few people say "thanks for the party – the magician was great!" We very much look forward to working with you again soon!"
"That is brilliant... genuinely brilliant"
"That is the best magic I have seen... I don't even like magic"


text:
Аутор: Hewson Clarke
ting, after dinner, over the desert and wine, the winter and the spring, and their good when he received the dispatches
containing behaviour had attracted the affection of the this important news. Marshal Blucher re inhabitants in an unusual degree. The little presented the late conflict as an affair of out- Scotch, as they were called, were the theme posts, likely to lead to no important result, of affectionate praise among the Flemings. and it was the opinion of the military men They were so much domesticated in the stationed at Brussels that the enemy was en houses where they were quartered, that it deavouring, by a false alarm, to induce the was not unusual to see the Highlander takallies to concentrate their chief force in the ing care of the children, or keeping the shop neighbourhood of Ligny, while his real in- of his host. They were now to exhibit themtention was to menace Brussels, and hasten selves in a different character, They assem. a decisive conflict with the English army. bled with the utmost alacrity to the tune of Orders were issued that the troops should be the pibroch, " Come to ine and I will give in readiness at a moment's notice, and the you flesh," an invitation to the wolf and
the arrival of another courier was anxiously ex raven, which on the next day was too amply pected. It was past midnight, and profound gratified, at the mutual expence of these repose seemed to reign over Brussels, when brave men and of their enemies. They comsuddenly the drums beat to arms, and the posed part of Sir Thomas Picton's division, peal of the trumpet was heard from every and early in the morning of the 16th marchpart of the city. It is impossible to describe ed out, together with the other troops, under the effect of these sounds when heard in the the command of that distinguished and lasilence of the night. . A second courier had mented officer. The duke of Brunswick arrived from Blucher-the attack had be marched out at the head of his * Black come serious--the enemy were in consider Brunswickers," so termed from the mournable force--they had taken Charleroi, and ing which they wore for his father, and which had gained some advantages over the Prus. at this moment they continue to wear for the sians. Our troops were ordered to march gallant prince who then led them. The indiimmediately to support them, and every viduals whose fate it was to see so many brave place resounded with martial preparations. men take their departure on this eventful In less than three hours every regiment was day, will not easily forget the sensations on the road to Charleroi. Many of the offi- which the spectacle excited at the moment, cers were yet in their ball dresses, which and which were rendered permanent by the neither the hurry of their march, nor their slaughter which awaited them, anxiety to occupy their respective posts, had Fears for their own safety, mingled with given them time to change. The town of anxiety for their brave defenders, and the Brussels was one universal scene of confu- agony of suspense sustained by those who sion. The soldiers were seen assembling remained in Brussels to await the issue of from all parts, in the Place Royale, with the day, was felt in the most lively manner knapsacks on their backs; some taking leave by those whose lot it was to sustain such of their wives and children ; others sitting various emotions. The anxiety of the inhadown unconcernedly on the sharp pavement, bitants of Brussels was increased by the waiting for their comrades; others sleeping frightful reports of the intended vengeance on packs of straw, surrounded by all the din of Napoleon. The friends whom he had in of war, while draught horses and baggage the city were few, and of țittle influence.--waggons were loading, artillery and commis- Reports, however, of treachery were in cirsariat trains harnessing, officers riding in all culation, and tended to augment the horrors directions, carts clattering, chargers neighing, of this agonizing period. There was afterbugles sounding, drums beating, and colours wards found, in Buonaparte's fort-folio, a list Aying.
containing the names of 20 citizens who, as Those distinguished Highland corps, the friends of France, were to be exempted from 42d and 92d, were among the first to muster. the general pillage. But whatever might be They had laid in garrison in Brussels during the case with some individuals
, by far the Еe
Or vil
sin len. dea WO , cha
majority of the inhabitants regarded the suc of a tremendous cannonade in the direction cess of the French as the most dreadful mis of Waterloo. The thunder of the artillery fortune which could befal their city, and continued, and all was suspense, alarm, and listened to the distant cannonade as to sounds agitation. Every hour only served to add upon which the crisis of their fate depended. to the dismay. The hatred of the Belgians They were doomed to remain for some time to the French is so inveterate as to be proin uncertainty, for a struggle on which the verbial, and their fears were proportionate to fate of Europe depended was not to be de
their enmity. cided in a single day. A striking contrast Upon the 16th, as we have already mento the gloom, the sorrow, and the anxiety of tioned, the left wing of the French, under the inhabitants, was presented, by a long
long general Ney, commenced its march for Brusprocession of carts coming quietly in as usual sels, by the road of Gosselies. At Frasnes from the country to market, filled with old they encountered and drove before them Flemish women, who looked irresistibly some Belgian troops who were stationed at comic, seated as they were among their piles that village, but the prince of Orange was of ramages, baskets of green peas, potatoes, now advancing to the support of his advanced and strawberries. Totally ignorant of the posts, and reinforced them so as to keep the cause of warlike preparations, they gazed enemy in check. at the scene around them with many a look It was of the utmost importance to mainof gaping wonder, as they jogged merrily tain the position now occupied by the Belalong, one after another, through the Place gians, and which formed a connected line Royale, amidst the crowds of soldiers and between the villages of Sarta Mouline and the confusion of baggage waggons.
Quatre Bras. The latter farm house, Before eight in the morning the streets, lage, derives its name from being the point which had been filled with busy crowds, were where the high road from Charleroi to Brusempty and silent; the great square of the sels is intersected by another road, at nearly Place Royale, which had been filled with right angles. These roads were both essenarmed men, and with all the appurtenances tial to the allies. By the high road they and parapharnalia of war, was now quite de- communicated with Brussels, and by that serted. The Flemish drivers were sleeping which intersected it, with the right of the in the tilted carts that were destined to con the Prussian army, stationed at St. Amand. vey the wounded: the heavy baggage wag. A large and thick wood, called Le Bois de gons ranged in order, and ready to move Bossu, skirted the road to Brussels, on the when occasion might require, were standing right hand of the English position: along under the guard of a few centinels, and some the edge of the wood was a hollow way, officers were still to be seen riding out of the which might almost be called a ravine, and town to join the army. The duke of Wel- between the wood and the French position lington had set off in great spirits, observing, were several fields of rye, which grows in that as Blucher had 'most likely settled the Flanders to an unusual and gigantic height, business himself by this time, he should per In this situation it became the principal haps be back to dinner. Sir Thomas Picton object of the French to secure the wood, mounted on his charger in soldier-like style, from which they might debouche on the with his reconnoitring glass slung across his Brussels road. The prince of Orange made shoulder, gaily accosting his friends as he every effort to defend it: but, in defiance of rode through the streets in the highest his exertions, the Belgians gave way, and the spirits, left Brussels never to return. After
After French occupied the disputed post. At this the army was gone Brussels assumed the ap critical moment the division of Picton, the pearance of a perfect desert
. Every counte-corps of the duke of Brunswick, and shorily nance was marked with anxiety or melan after the division of the guards from Enghien, choly, every heart was filled with anxious came up, and entered into action.
66 WVlat expectation. About three o'clock they were soldiers are those in the wood ?" said the still more powerfully alarmed, by the sound duke of Wellington to the prince of Orange.
Vali the the Bri tion ter hou pos
evei nica batt bout
of I
lane by s who the
Belgians", answered the prince, who had' Colonel Macara promptly ordered the reginot yet learned the retreat of his troops from ment, which was advancing in column, to this important point. " Belgians!" said the form itself into a square. In performing this duke, whose eagle eye instantly discerned evolution, two companies were left out, or what had happened : " They are not Bel
They are not Bel- rather, were in the act of falling in, when the gians, but French, and are about to debouche lancers charged upon them, and in a moment on the road. They must instantly be driven overwhelmed, and literally annihilated them. out of the wood." This task was committed Encouraged by this, they charged on the to general Maitland, with the grenadiers of square, and though repulsed with loss, sucthe guards, who, after sustaining a destructive ceeded in cutting down great numbers of the fire from an invisible enemy, rushed into the Highlanders. The brave colonel was among wood with the most determined resolution. the killed. The French, who were supposed to be unri Lieutenant-colonel Dick now assumed the valled in this species of warfare, made every command, although he had been wounded in tree, every bush, every ditch, but more espe the shoulder by a musket bullet. He rallied cially a small rivulet which ran through the the regiment, formed them into a diminished wood, posts of determined and deadly de- square, and awaited another attack. The fence, but were pushed from one point to lancers again rushed desperately on them, another till they were driven out of the posi- and although once more repulsed, did too tion. Then followed a struggle of a new and much execution. The lieutenant-colonel singular kind, which was maintained for a fainted from loss of blood, and was carried length of time. As often as the British en from the field. The next senior officer asdeavoured to advance from the skirts of the sumed the command. Not a man thought wood, in order to form in its front, they were of retreating or yielding. Again the lancers charged by the cavalry of the enemy, and precipitated themselves on the Highlanders ; compelled to retire. The French again ad- and it was not until the gallant regiment was vanced their columns to force their way into reduced to less than a tenth of its original the wood, but were compelled to desist by number, that the enemy was put to flight. the heavy fire and threatened charge of the The prince of Orange, advancing too far, British. In this manner there was an alterna- in the ardour of the pght, was surrounded tion of advance and retreat, with great slaugh- and made prisoner ; but a battalion of Belter on both sides, until, after a conflict of three gians, seeing his danger, rushed to his relief, hours, general Maitland obtained undisputed and in a moment rescued him from the enepossession of this important post, which com my. The prince tore off the insignia of his manded the road to Brussels.
order, and threw it among the soldiers, exMeanwhile the battle was equally fierce in claiming, " There, my brave fellows! you every other part. Profiting by their nume
have all deserved it." They immediately rical superiority, the French attacked some fastened the star to their colours, and shoutbattalions who were separated from the main ing, " The Prince for ever!" swore to defend body, and almost annihilated them, A corps it to the last man. They were at that moof Belgians was ordered to advance with the ment exposed to a galling fire, and
of forty-second Highland regiment to support them fell as they were pronouncing the oath. a detachment which was briskly pushed by Protected by their numerous cavalry and the French. Whether occasioned by the artillery, the French succeeded in forcing the ardour with which the British rushed to the British positions, and penetraied to the vilfight, or the slowness and reluctance with lage of Quatre Bras. The duke of Wellingwhich the Belgians followed, the two batta ton was undismayed. He stationed himself lions were separated. A column of French in an open part of the plain, in the
hotlancers, who were lying in ambush, concealed test of the fire, where he could be distinctly by some hedges and high standing corn, and seen by both armies, and there issued his orwho could not be seen till they were close on ders with as much coolness and precision as the British, suddenly rushed upon them. if his troops were mancuvring at a review.
As they
Some squadrons of Brunswick horse had bers, the duke of Wellington had obstinately
in vain attempted to stem the torrent. They contested every inch of ground. By the ar-
rapidly retreated along the high road through rival of the guards he was enabled to act on
the village, and were closely pursued by the the offensive. The enemy was driven from
French cuirassiers, when the ninety-second every position which he had gained. The
regiment, which lined a ditch bordering the whole French line was intimidated, and
road, poured on the French, who were almost could with difficulty preserve itself from be-
at the muzzles of their guns, an unexpected ing broken. The danger was imminent.
volley which destroyed every man in the Ney sent in haste for the first corps, when,
direction of their fire, and made a complete to his utter astonishment, he was informed
chasm between the front and rear ranks of that Napoleon had already disposed of it, to
the squadrons which were galloping by. The enable him to carry the position of the Prus-
few who were in advance dashed on. They sians at Sombref.
reached the spot on which the duke was post For a moment he
to deed, and rushed on him and his staff; but they spair. All his plans were disordered, and the were, to a man, either killed or taken. The
day was inevitably lost : but recalling his rear of the enemy, disconcerted by this un- self-possession and skill
, he brought into acexpected reception, turned their horses and tion the whole of the reserve of the second ted. The ninety-second now leaped from corps, and led them himself to the charge. the ditch to charge in their turn.
The French cuirassiers advanced with much rose, a volley was poured upon them by a courage, but they were unable to withstand mass of French infantry at a little distance. the cool intrepidity of the British troops, and The staff of the regimental colours was shat- receiving a galling and murderous fire from tered to pieces, and the ensign shot through some infantry who lined the wood, they the heart. The British infantry cheered and turned their horses and fled. advanced. A little further on was a house, The twenty-eighth regiment now distinwith a garden on the opposite side of the guished itself. It was attacked by a numeroad. These were occupied by the enemy, rous body of cuirassiers and lancers, and bewho, protected by the enclosure and the ing promptly formed into a square, long conwalls, kept up a tremendous fire on the Bri- tinued to fire from three sides at the same tish as they approached. The impetuosity time, on one of which the lancers presented of the ninety-second was not to be restrained; themselves, and on the two others the cuithe garden and the house were speedily rassiers. În vain the cavalry repeatedly and cleared, and the enemy pursued to the skirt desperately charged upon them. As the of a wood. But in this short space of time front ranks were pierced by the sabres or they had sustained a loss of three hundred lances of their horsemen, their places were
Four commanding officers were suc- instantly supplied, and as their numbers dicessively wounded and carried off the field, minished the square was gradually lessened; and the regiment was now separated from but not for a moment were they disordered ; the rest of the line, and reluctantly compelled not one opening was left for the cavalry to to retire.
penetrate, and at length, by their incessant, The guards again advanced to the attack deliberate, and murderous fire, they succeedof the infantry, which had now occupied its ed in completely repulsing their assailants
. former ground. Again the enemy was un- Many squadrons of the enemy, however, yet able to stand before them; and once more hovered round them, and it would have been pushing on too far in the eagerness of pur- dangerous to have deployed. They theresuit, the cavalry rushed on them as before, fore advanced in square against a mass of mand drove them back to the wood. A corps fantry, and in an instant pierced their centre of Brunswickers now joined the British, and and routed them; then deploying, they advancing together, they finally succeeded charged in line, and cleared the whole front in compelling the enemy to retreat.
of a cloud of skirmishers, which covered the Although overpowered by superior num. retreat of the main body. The terror of the
T but


text:
New York Times Series on Private Equity Misses the Mark
Posted on July 5, 2016 by Yves Smith
Thanks to the press of Brexit, I'm late to comment on a series on private equity that the New York Times ran last week. One of the reasons for the delay is that I needed to ponder a bit so as to not fall into the problem that was allegedly described by Julius Caesar: "Because I did not have time to write you a short letter, I wrote you a long one."
Another factor impeding dealing with these articles crisply isn't that they are wrongheaded, but that they are flabby and inconclusive. They are reminiscent of a McKinsey progress review where the team got a ton of data but didn't figure out the "so what's" so they instead dumped a ton of slides in a semi-organized manner on the client to show they had done a lot of digging and initial analysis. You might call this the "Here is a lot of shit, I am sure you can find a pony" school of journalism.
The worst of this is that the fact that the Times appears to regard these pieces as impressive (among other things, they created custom graphics for each, as well as giving them lots of real estate) when the basic issues are all old news. Yes, private equity regularly crapifies their offerings through via overly-aggressive cost-cutting and installing know-nothing managers. Yes, alternative investors have been providing public services via infrastructure deals and other types of outsourcing, and their business model virtually requires that they provide a lower level of service at a higher cost to citizens. And yes, they regularly bankrupt companies.
One of the stories, When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers, follows two companies that went bankrupt. One, TransCare, was purchased out of bankruptcy but later failed. And it didn't go into Chapter 11, but a Chapter 7 liquidation, which left its customers stranded, with no emergency service provider. The authors fail to explain how unusual a Chapter 7 failure for a business of reasonable size is. The most likely explanation is that the business was so mired in suits over patient injuries and deaths that no one would touch it.
The second, Rural/Metro, had a disastrous run under its first private equity owner, Warburg Pincus. Although the Times tried getting metrics across five customers, their methods differed, but four showed serious declines in performance to patient-endangering substandard levels. Bondholders sued for fraud because Warburg Pincus overstated its likely revenues. Investors who bought the falling safe of the company's falling bonds didn't expect the bankruptcy filing. OakTree Capital Management decided to take over the company but it did not halt the decay. Because the Rural/Metro also had ran outsourced fire fighting, the article has a long section on that that comes off as not integrated (and the story was already disjointed).
Despite all the spade work (and the authors mention the use of FOIAs and the analysis of lawsuits). this blog post provided more insight. From Managing Healthcare Costs:
Ambulance companies should inherently be profitable. Patients sick enough to come to a hospital by ambulance generally can't "shop around," and so these companies generally don't find themselves forced to accept steeply discounted contracts. (An exception is Medicare which has low allowances for ambulance rides, and Medicaid, which generally has low allowable fees for all service providers.)
Here are the ways an ambulance company can fail economically:
1) Fees are too low (but the barrier to increasing fees is low for most payers- ambulance companies should be profitable)
2) Collection efforts are inadequate (but the private equity owners put in place processes to improve collection rates, including punitive processes)
3) High service provider wages (but the private equity owners generally slashed personnel costs and pensions –and workers were not protected by unions as are many municipal workers.
4) High executive and management salaries (the article is mum on this issue –and as these companies are privately held that information might be hard to obtain)
5) Operational incompetence
6) Too much debt.
Too much debt is likely the problem here. The private equity companies loaded a lot of debt on to these companies as they purchased them. Debt is good for investors who believe in their company – who can borrow money without giving up ownership interest as they would with a sale of stock. But a company that should be profitable often won't be when it's saddled with a half billion of debt – as Rural/Metro was after the Warburg Pincus investment.
High debt loads can help concentrate the minds of executives; with high debt payments they cannot afford to waste any money – and can squeeze additional efficiencies from the business.. In this instance, though, the ambulance company employees had instructions to steal supplies from hospitals, and often ran short of supplies and equipment.
Ambulance services are better delivered by fire departments and municipalities. Many private companies perform productive "pruning" when faced with substantial debt – but outsourcing ambulance services to private equity companies has led to inappropriate debt levels which have left these companies unable to discharge their responsibilities to the public.
And this is where the Times story failed abjectly. Despite presenting a litany of horror stories, it never made a case for the fundamental unsuitability of private equity for this type of activity. The best it could do was hope that local officials would learn about these bad results and steer clear of private equity owned vendors. Instead, the authors bend over backwards not to reach any firm conclusions:
In many of the fields where private equity now operates, it has not necessarily performed better or worse than the banks and governments it replaced. In some cases it financed projects that others wouldn't fund and provided crucial public services, including emergency care.
And the excuse offered for the private equity misfire was that they misjudged the market:
Private equity investors swept into the ambulance business with high hopes.
"Tremendous growth potential," Warburg Pincus said in a statement in 2011 when it bought Rural/Metro with plans to acquire rival ambulance services and improve bill collection.
Other firms bet that fragile towns would outsource emergency care. And, the thinking went, President Obama's health care overhaul would insure millions more people, providing new paying customers.
But many newly insured Americans turned out to be on Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Medicaid restricts some of the most aggressive billing tactics.
"It didn't quite play out like they had hoped," said Mike Ward, executive director of the National EMS Management Association.
So some private equity firms fell back on a time-tested moneymaking strategy: slashing costs.
But again, this framing lets the private equity firms off the hook. Private equity general partners rely on high levels of borrowing not just to lever their returns but also to minimize taxes. As tax expert Lee Sheppard wrote, "Private equity often resembles a tax reduction plan with an acquisition attached." The traditional private equity formula was to buy businesses with stable cash flows. Levering up with the expectation of growth would make the borrowing manageable is playing Russian roulette with way too many chambers loaded.
Gretchen Morgenson regularly delivers more bang with far less investigative flailing about. Too bad she wasn't given access to all this raw material.
This entry was posted in Media watch, Private equity on July 5, 2016 by Yves Smith.
← The Cambridge Capital Controversy, or Why Microeconomics is All Wet 2:00PM Water Cooler 7/5/2016 →
Dana Smith July 5, 2016 at 10:39 am
Saw the same and my reaction landed on your tarmac. I can barely stomach the Times when they whitewash their friends down on the Street. Infuriating to the extreme. Thanks and now perhaps they'll retract the piece and post your article instead.
David July 5, 2016 at 10:47 am
I agree. I have been trying to fjnd out basic facts like How many companies do this outfits control? How much revenue.?How big is the total debt bomb? The industry claims 4 trillion in assets and 11 million employees. IRS partnersip stats have seen a massive rise in mysterious partnersips in recent years in the financial sector. Are those the pe and hedge funds? There seems to be a lot of double counting going on. There looks to be a massive disaster potential here and no transparency at all.
flora July 5, 2016 at 11:02 am
Great post. Thanks. This is why I read NC. (and too bad the Times didn't have Morgenson write the stories, or at least edit them for content and clarity)
washunate July 5, 2016 at 11:11 am
…not just to lever their returns but also to minimize taxes…
I'm with you Yves. I thought it has been common knowledge for years that the financial engineering is largely a game of tax minimization (where it isn't an outright recipient of government spending).
At a macro level, it's a tax cut for the wealthy. Not too dissimilar from all the other tax cuts we've given to the wealthy over the past few decades.
hemeantwell July 5, 2016 at 11:53 am
You might call this the "Here is a lot of shit, I am sure you can find a pony" school of journalism.
so true of the Times. I've found that skimming a' Evelyn Wood until about 50-60% through the article gets you to what's most important. Is there a "school" of journalistic writing responsible for this? I guess it could be argued that they are interesting the reader with anecdotes prior to trying to explain them, but reading Times articles is often like listening to a blabby neighbor, or two, at the bus stop after they've had their coffee.
Sluggeaux July 5, 2016 at 3:22 pm
The NYT didn't even touch the issue of how ambulance services are being privatized: pervasive corruption of local politicians eager to tamp down the power of public employee unions. It's also easy to under-bid for essential services and then to extort increases under threat of early termination. Rural/Metro was a Protection Racket and a Ponzi Scheme rolled into one. They thought that they could put the squeeze on everybody while extracting massive management fees.
Warburg's CEO was none other than Timothy Geithner — you could smell the sulfur…
Lambert Strether July 5, 2016 at 9:22 pm
See here on the example of Waupaca County in Wisconsin: There's no reason to introduce profit-making into non-emergency medical transportation at all. And after privatization, service was crapified.
Larry July 5, 2016 at 10:34 pm
Not that it bears repeating on this site or on your site Lambert, but introducing profit seeking into delivery of any public service always leads to crapification for at least one vested party. But because government expenditures represent such a large stream of potential GDP, the fat cats can always sing their songs off efficiency to make sure they get as much cream as possible in the process.
cnchal July 6, 2016 at 12:28 am
. . . While under the control of Warburg, Rural/Metro once sent a $761 collections notice to an infant girl born in an ambulance.
"The matter may be reported to a national credit reporting agency," the notice read, effectively threatening a baby with a bad credit report.
Only sulfur?
From the Times:
. . . Private equity gained new power and responsibility as a direct result of the 2008 crisis. As cities and towns nationwide struggled to pay for basics like public infrastructure and ambulance services, private equity stepped in. At the same time, as banks scaled back their mortgage operations after the crisis, private equity firms — which face lighter regulation than banks, and none of their rainy-day capital requirements — moved in there as well.
The power shift has happened with relatively little scrutiny, even as federal authorities have tightened rules for banks. Unlike banks, which take deposits and borrow from the government, private equity firms invest money from wealthy individuals and pension funds desperate for returns at a time of historically low interest rates.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity firms have gone from managing $1 trillion to managing $4.3 trillion — more than the value of Germany's gross domestic product — according to the advisory firm Triago. Retirement nest eggs are fueling the growth and sharing in private equity's risks and returns: Nearly half of private equity's invested assets come from pensions.
Pirate equity gets it coming and going, robbing the public and private blind. The pirates have a sinister henchman in the Fed, which funnels investors demented by ZIRP and NIRP right into cannonball alley for easy pickings, and provides the cheap takeover financing.
The grand irony. Public pension funds investing in pirate equity so the pirates can take over the public sector jawbs which the pensions are for. There was even some distant logic in having the pirates asset strip and crapify a private company bought from a widow that doesn't want the business anymore in that they might share the spoils, but this really is beyond belief.
One would think that public sector unions should never invest with the pirates as a basic principle. They are the enemy.
David July 6, 2016 at 9:36 am
In the case of Illinois one makes his fotune iff the Illinois pension funds and then becomes gov and tries tio destroy those funds. …..
Robert NYC July 6, 2016 at 1:23 pm
well said, no sane society and economic system should tolerate these financial predators in an economy let alone incentivize such activities through the tax code. It's nuts! The fact that public pensions are funding what amounts to a vicious attack on working Americans is just slightly ironic.
TheCatSaid July 5, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Wonderful post, Yves–worth the wait–and +1000 to all the previous comments.
Robert NYC July 5, 2016 at 11:50 pm
I think Gretchen M. is trying to fight the good fight but she his hamstrung by the nature of her employer as well as the complexity of the topic. Times journalists have to pull their punches in the name of "objectivity" and "balance" so we often see pieces with false equivalency, bogus caveats, etc. Thankfully we have sites like NC, ZH and Stockman amongst others who can speak more freely and forcefully.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Home / Astonishing Thor #5 - Limited Edition Giclee on Stretched Canvas by Mike Choi and Marvel Comics
Astonishing Thor #5 - Limited Edition Giclee on Stretched Canvas by Mike Choi and Marvel Comics
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Set includes two 75-stitch garter bars, connector set, and instructions.
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Audi is set to overtake rival Mercedes-Benz for the first time in luxury car sales, finishing 2011 as the world's second biggest premium automaker.
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How Much of Your Posts Do People See?
Home/Branding, Content Development/How Much of Your Posts Do People See?
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