Question: Describe the career and works of Harlan Coben. Respond in detail.

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 Describe the career and works of Harlan Coben. Respond in detail.

It’s odd to hear this from a man whose biography is studded with the kind of numbers that torture the more penurious sort of writers. He’s written 27 novels, seven of them New York Times No 1 bestsellers. He has 60m books in print in 41 languages, and his advances are well into seven figures. He’s won the big three in mystery awards – the Edgar, the Shamus and the Anthony. The blockbuster French film based on his novel, Tell No One, was nominated for nine Cesars.
In short, Harlan Coben has more readers, and makes more money, than every writer I follow on Twitter combined.
Readers first fell in love with Coben in the 1990s through Myron Bolitar, a hapless former basketball star who solves mysteries with a waspy sociopath named Win. Coben’s atmospheric, twist-laden stand-alone novels cemented his popularity and earned him an annual spot at the top of the bestseller lists. The latest of these, The Stranger, which comes out in the United States and United Kingdom today, documents desperate acts in a serene suburban hamlet populated with lacrosse moms, and grapples with technological and moral dilemmas taken straight from the headlines.
Coben’s gregarious and voluble personality stands in a direct contrast to his occasionally grim books. The Stranger deals with internet monitoring; his novels, which often draw upon the tools of surveillance, have become inadvertent time capsules of technology over the years. Coben says he intentionally draws upon life in his own town in northern New Jersey for his novels. “I like to set my novels in places that are seemingly placid, places that are the fruition of the American dream– house, 2.4 kids, two-car garage – and show how fragile that is.” But he also wants readers to recognize the Starbucks and dad jeans, “to maybe laugh a little about their own lives”.
His current bout of self-hatred notwithstanding, Coben sticks to a punishing schedule that typically has him beginning a book in January and finishing it in November or December. This year, he’s also busy at work on his first television projects, The Five for Sky in the UK and No Second Chance for the French network PF-1.
Coben numbers both sorts of writers among his friends, in droves. His college neighbor was David Foster Wallace and he is fraternity brothers with Dan Brown. Anna Quindlen is Coben’s main reader, after his family and his editors, and he and Mary Higgins Clark rap about her complicated plots. Many of his writer friends, he tells me, understand the very specific “champagne problems” of the business of being a bestselling author, which he hastens to assure me are not really problems at all.


Question: Describe the technology used by Tommy Jeans for its Xplore line. Respond in 12 sentences.

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 Describe the technology used by Tommy Jeans for its Xplore line. Respond in 12 sentences.

Clothing stores have long employed all kinds of sneaky behaviour to make you want buy their products. The store assistants tell you you look fantastic in everything, the changing mirrors make you look skinnier, they play music that encourages people to make more purchases. Then often when you get home, those trousers don’t look so good after all, and they stay at the back of your closet forever more.
Tommy Jeans, part of the Tommy Hilfiger brand, believe they can solve this part of the problem. Their new line, Tommy Jeans Xplore, will contain smart-chip technology that will track how often customers wear the clothes. Tommy Jeans will offer rewards and experiences, including gig tickets and gift certificates, to people that wear their clothes often enough (presumably some rewards will be even more wear-tracking items).
Tommy Jeans says that by tracking users’ clothes-wearing habits they will be creating a “micro-community of brand ambassadors”.
The collection includes hoodies, T-shirts, jeans and a denim skirt as well as bags, backpacks and hats. Every item is fitted with a bluetooth chip that can be linked to an Xplore app to start collecting “rewards”. As well as rewards for just wearing the clothes, bonus credits will be awarded for walking past special Tommy Jeans locations, which will be displayed on the app. So you could put the jacket on and then travel across town so that you can tell your jacket you’ve gone to where it told you to go.
Tommy Hilfiger representatives said that the data they receive will be encrypted and wearers will be able to turn off the chip’s functionality at any time using the app – so perhaps that will make people feel better about wearing a baseball cap that knows where it is.


Question: Who was Yamauchi Yōdō?

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 Who was Yamauchi Yōdō?

was a Japanese "daimyō" of the mid-Edo period, who ruled the Sekiyado Domain. Starting from relatively humble origins, he first became the karō of the Tatebayashi Domain, before following his lord Tokugawa Tsunayoshi to Edo upon Tsunayoshi's selection to be 5th "shōgun". In the Tokugawa shogunate, he served as Tsunayoshi's personal aide.


Question: Respond in 5 sentences. Hey, I just saw your post about the Hugenot exhibit at the Liverpool museum. It looks really cool!

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 Respond in 5 sentences. Hey, I just saw your post about the Hugenot exhibit at the Liverpool museum. It looks really cool!

Hi, great post, loved the video documentary/podcast. I'm really looking forward to your talk in Liverpool.
My mum's family are of Hugenot descent and in fact they've just come back from the region of France after doing some research about their family there. I've passed this on to her to pass on to family in Ireland who were also part of the research trip. Maybe they can shed some light on if there was a similar thing in Ireland or even back in France.


Question: Describe the Fairground Flea Market in Catawba County.

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 Describe the Fairground Flea Market in Catawba County.

At a flea market in Catawba County’s Hickory American Legion Fairgrounds, the tastes and traditions of many cultures come alive.
The early sun makes the empty midway sparkle, lighting up shuttered stands that, when open, sell funnel cakes and deep-fried Oreos. When the fair’s in operation, the Tri City Baptist Church and the Hildebran Lions Club dish out ham biscuits and pie slices here. This morning, however, I peel back the layers of foil and banana leaves on my still-warm tamale and pinch off a bite of soft masa.
Every Thursday morning, at the Hickory American Legion Fairgrounds in Newton, a sprawling flea market, full of fold-out tables and pop-up tents, takes over. That’s where Elizabeth Perez Ańoiue has sold homemade pork and chicken tamales for three years, along with Oaxaca queso fresco, Mexican crema, and, on this morning, fresh camarones (shrimp). Bulk-size bottles of Valentino hot sauce sit beside big bags of salty, crunchy chicharrones (or duros, as they are sometimes called). Originally from Mexico, Ańoiue now lives outside of Winston-Salem and drives the hour to Newton to set up her stand before dawn.
“People set up as early as 5 a.m. and stay according to how hot it is,” explains Bobby Winebarger, who, until recently, ran the fairgrounds and the flea market. At the beginning, 14 years ago, there were many more chickens and goats for sale. You can still find them today, among the entrepreneurs selling everything from wholesale produce to toiletries, antiques to DVDs. While the flea market has grown in size over the years, Winebarger remembers it always being diverse, and now, as we talk, the strains of bluegrass fiddle weave over new bachata by a band named Aventura.
That diversity comes, largely, due to the region’s roots in manufacturing. Nearby Morganton was founded in 1784 and served as a regional railway stop, aiding the growth of the local lumber and textile industries. At the turn of the 20th century, French Waldensians from Italy settled in the Morganton area and helped fill the demand for labor. Starting as early as the mid-1970s and continuing to today, Hmong refugees from Laos and indigenous Maya from Guatemala, among other immigrant groups, settled the region and found jobs with ease in nearby knitting mills, poultry processors, and machine parts factories.
Winter melons and chayote are spread beside round green-and- white-striped eggplants and bags stuffed with crimson chilies.
Those newcomers brought their food and farming traditions with them. Mai Vue, one of the many Hmong who sell at the Fairground Flea Market, comes each week from Lincoln County, where she runs a 10-acre farm with her husband. At her stand, winter melons and chayote are spread beside round green-and-white-striped eggplants and bags stuffed with crimson chilies. Vue explains that the smaller varieties are the spiciest, and then shows off half-gallon Ziploc bags packed tightly with golden-hued rice. This is sticky rice, grown on Vue’s land, and processed entirely by hand. Vue spent all day yesterday shaking and filtering the husks off the grains in preparation for the market. For the Hmong and others from Laos, a new crop of sticky rice is the sweetest of foods. At this morning market, Vue trades bags with other farmers to compare subtle variations in flavor and hulling skill.
Today, North Carolina is home to the fourth-largest Hmong population in the United States. In 1975, when the royalist government in Laos collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War, thousands of Hmong fled to this country as refugees. The first families to settle in the area arrived in Marion in 1976. Today, more than half of the state’s Hmong population lives in Caldwell, Catawba, Burke, and Alexander counties.
The mountains and soil of western North Carolina resemble the terrain of Laos and northern Thailand, and many Hmong began to farm in their new home. Services like the Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina A&T State University and Rural Advancement Foundation International are helping them move from their traditional slash-and-burn farming techniques to something more sustainable.
Today, families like the Vues bring crops including fresh amaranth, Malabar spinach, spinach-like greens called “water morning glory,” yardlong beans, mustard greens, bitter melon, eggplants in all sizes, and, of course, chilies. This weekly bounty of Southeast Asian specialty crops is sold alongside homemade treats like sesame-seed doughnuts, papaya salad, and ground garlic chili paste (jaeow).
As newer communities take root in North Carolina, public spaces like the fairgrounds are evolving. In November, Hmong Carolinas will host its New Year festival on the grounds for the fourth year in a row. But every Thursday, this flea market offers a portrait of the New South, with all of its wonderful, worldly flavors.
Fairground Flea Market is held every Thursday.


Question: Have you heard about Proudly New Brunswick's automated anti-Liberal text campaign?

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 Have you heard about Proudly New Brunswick's automated anti-Liberal text campaign?

Proudly New Brunswick's automated anti-Liberal text campaign continues to stir up strong emotions from New Brunswickers.
The Facebook page, which goes by New Brunswick Proud and is still active after the Sept. 24 vote, is plastered with vitriolic reaction from those who are clearly offended to get unsolicited political messages on their private cellphones.
"At first, I was a little bit shocked," said 30-year-old Heidi McKillop, the director of Proudly New Brunswick, who says this is her first experience taking an activist role in politics.
The former St. Thomas University social work graduate, raised in Harvey Station, now lives in Calgary, where she supports herself on a waitressing job.
She said she's also financing her own documentary on the oil and gas sector, an experience that opened her eyes to what she calls misinformation about the industry.
McKillop said her primary motive is to stimulate conversation in the province that she loves about how to create jobs and keep New Brunswickers at home.
The expletive-loaded pushback to sending out messages using a vendor she won't identify, a budget she won't disclose and donors she won't name, hasn't scared her off.
Instead, she said she intends to stay on her path, which she said it not directed by, or associated with, any political party.
That includes, most recently, a digital petition that calls on Premier Brian Gallant to respect "who won the election."
"Our Province doesn't need an artificial constitutional crisis due to political tricks to hang on to power," states the digital document that indicates nearly 1,700 signatures.
Cybersecurity expert David Shipley said McKillop's campaign is a sign of worse things to come.
"This group, I think, it was a shot across the bow," he said.
"That we need to start getting ahead of, for the next election.
"Because, you know, in about four years, other groups, with maybe more malicious intent or more serious issues, will use the same tactics."
Elections New Brunswick said it has no rules to cover the ongoing activity because the province is outside the election period.
The organization said it's directing all calls on the matter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
When asked about that, the CRTC said it does not disclose whether it has received complaints or whether it's investigating any individual or entity.
The CRTC said robocalls do not fall under Canada's anti-spam legislation, but text messages do.
However, anti-spam legislation only applies to messages that are commercial in nature.
There are relevant telemarketing rules that dictate when the messages can be sent — for example, between 9 a.m and 9:30 p.m. on weekdays.
The call must also begin with the name or "fictitious name" of the individual making the call.
Also, telemarketers must process do not call requests immediately.
McKillop said her adviser is Jeff Ballingall, the founder of Ontario Proud.
That group became an astonishing social media force in the last provincial election, which saw former premier Kathleen Wynne defeated by Doug Ford.
By late June, the Facebook page attracted 145,000 followers — more than the Ontario Liberals, PCs and NDP combined. The following has now swelled to more than 407,000.
A previous CBC News report described the 31-year-old Ballingall as a former Conservative political staffer on Parliament Hill, who acknowledged being small-c conservative.
"We're about fiscally responsible government, lower taxes, pro jobs, and the ability for people to have affordable lives," Ballingall told CBC New Brunswick.
"It's time regular people fought back."
Ballingall said he can't stop the mean and hurtful comments that erupt online.
"What's divisive about what we've done?" he asked. "We're talking about debts and bills and taxes.
"We're speaking against elite out-of-touch politicians who make a lot of money and don't understand the everyday concerns of people who can't afford their hydro bill or to put gas in their tank."
Dusty Green described himself as a concerned citizen, increasingly wary of fringe groups that try to pass themselves off as mainstream media or unbiased news sources.
He said his suspicions were triggered when he answered one of Proudly New Brunswick's recorded phone surveys after he voted in the advance poll.
The 27-year-old marketing and communications worker in Fredericton said he started to do his own research, looking up Quebec Proud or "Québec Fier", Ontario Proud and B.C. Proud.
"If you go between the different Proud groups, they're posting similar content," said Green.
"The motivation seems to be anti-left politics. But you see common themes. There's quite a bit of anti-immigrant information that they put out there.
"That all Liberals are soft on crime, bad with money, that sort of thing."
Green said Proudly New Brunswick's latest tactic tries to sell the message that Gallant's bid to form a minority government is somehow illegitimate.
In his opinion, it's fake news designed to provoke division.
"It's a group that operates by pitting people against each other," said Green.
"And I think that right now, particularly in New Brunswick, I would be really wary of any group that is trying to pit us against one another."


Question: Describe the decision to move Tundra from the Indianapolis Zoo to the Detroit Zoo. Respond in 513 words.

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 Describe the decision to move Tundra from the Indianapolis Zoo to the Detroit Zoo. Respond in 513 words.

Tundra, a 29-year-old polar bear, has been living alone at the Indianapolis Zoo since 1988. But her life is about to change.
"The Indianapolis Zoo has made a very difficult decision to permanently close its polar bear exhibit," the zoo announced on Monday. The environment where Tundra was living just wasn't good enough for the aging bear, the zoo decided. Tundra, who was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1986, can't be released into the wild. "As a 29-year-old polar bear who spent her entire life in human care, she is not a candidate for reintroduction in the wild," Carla Knapp, a representative for the Indianapolis Zoo, told The Dodo.
So people figured out the next best thing.
Luckily, not too far away, is what is probably the best place for Tundra in the world: the Detroit Zoo, a leader in conservation and animal welfare that provides sanctuary for animals in need of rescue.
"The zoo's veterinary staff carefully reviewed all of the options and agree that the Detroit Zoo is the perfect facility for Tundra's needs as a senior bear," the Indianapolis Zoo said in the announcement. "Considered one of the leading polar bear facilities in the world, the Detroit Zoo offers large spaces and pools with easy slopes for Tundra to enter and exit the water, especially as she gets older."
Polar bears can be difficult to keep in captivity because they're used to having the freedom to travel long distances to hunt for food. Captive polar bears can exhibit stereotypic behaviors such as head bobbing or even self-mutilation.
"For polar bears, you want the most natural environment you can create," Ron Kagan, executive director of the Detroit Zoo, told The Dodo last year.
The Detroit Zoo's four-acre Arctic Ring of Life, the largest polar bear exhibit in the world, is an environment that seeks to give polar bears what they need most. Tundra will join Talini, an 11-year-old female, and Nuka, an 11-year-old male, at the Detroit Zoo.
"Talini was born at the Detroit Zoo in 2004 to Bärle, who was rescued from a Puerto Rican circus and given sanctuary at the Detroit Zoo until her death in 2012," the Detroit Zoo said in a statement. "Nuka arrived at the Detroit Zoo in 2011 as a potential mate for Talini."
More than most other necessities, polar bears need to feel that they have a sense of choice, and the Detroit Zoo has created an environment based on that knowledge.
"We're always trying to find out how to improve the zoo for animal welfare," Kagan said recently. "If animals aren't thriving in the zoo, they need to be able to go live somewhere they can."
People are relieved that Tundra will finally get a chance to thrive. "When we saw her last month, she did not seem happy," one commenter wrote on the Indianapolis Zoo's Facebook page, in response to the announcement. "Thank you for putting her comfort and quality of life over the zoo's desire to have the attraction."
The Detroit Zoo expects Tundra to arrive on June 25.


Question: What is Time Lock?

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 What is Time Lock?

If you’re reading this, you probably know how Time Lock works, and you may have read about its use for lending FSN to increase the efficiency of the FUSION mining economy.
That’s just the beginning of Time Lock. Time Lock facilitates the realization of the time value of money. The time value of money is the basis of interest rates, lending, and finance generally. The applications of Time Lock are endless. Let’s jump from the crypto-economy to the real economy to see another application of Time Lock. First, we must learn a bit about international trade.
Imagine an import-export deal. The Exporter in Brazil ships beef to the Importer in Phillipines. International shipping is logistically complex. If something goes wrong, how is the situation handled from across the globe? Both the Importer and Exporter feel counterparty risk.
The Importer could pay for the beef before it is delivered, and risk incomplete or flawed delivery. Or the Importer could pay on delivery, in which case the Exporter risks that the Importer fails to pay or rejects delivery.
The banker’s acceptance (BA) is a key financial instrument that secures international trade. A BA is type of time draft, or short-term loan. Specifically, a banker’s acceptance is a promise to pay a set amount to a predetermined recipient at a future date, guaranteed by a bank. BAs represent money that is accessible in the future. A banker’s acceptance is issued by a payer to the recipient, like a post-dated check. In contrast to a post-dated check, banker’s acceptances are tradable on the secondary market. Before the future date occurs, while the BA is still immature, it may be sold at a discount.
By creating an inclusive platform, FUSION will bring competition to the secondary market for risk-free loans, providing fair price discovery for the time value of money.
FUSION’s Time Lock function may be applied to the use case of banker’s acceptance and other forms of time draft. With Time Lock, the “banker’s acceptance” is improved. In a BA, the purpose of the bank is to guarantee the payment at the future date. With FUSION, payment at a future date is guaranteed by consensus of the Blockchain. Banker’s acceptances are a big business for banks that is poised for disintermediation by an inclusive decentralized programmable network, the Internet of Values.
Join us on Telegram if you have any more questions on Time Lock.


Question: What's the latest news about Aggie Square?

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 What's the latest news about Aggie Square?

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and University of California, Davis, Chancellor Gary S. May have established a joint exploratory working group to create a framework for a new technology and innovation campus called Aggie Square. Aggie Square is intended to draw on UC Davis’ core mission of research, education and public service, as well as growing the economic vitality of the broader Sacramento region.
The working group will focus on making recommendations to the mayor and chancellor in three key areas: potential sites within Sacramento to locate Aggie Square; potential city and state funding sources to support the effort; and transportation options to encourage Davis and Sacramento communities to actively engage with such a facility.
The group will explore potential areas of industry growth and determine which current plans and initiatives can be leveraged for Aggie Square. Mayor Steinberg and Chancellor May have requested that the working group submit their report by April 1, 2018.
The group will meet for the first time on December 20 to outline clear goals, objectives and deliverables to meet the April 1 deadline.


Question: Describe the popularity of hybrid vehicles in Europe.

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 Describe the popularity of hybrid vehicles in Europe.

Around 60 per cent of all new Panamera models that have been delivered in Europe were equipped with a hybrid drive. The new Panamera plug-in hybrid models were launched on the European market in June 2017. In some countries, the proportion of hybrid vehicles is even higher.


Question: What do you know about Sir Timothy Patrick Lankester? Respond in 27 words.

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 What do you know about Sir Timothy Patrick Lankester? Respond in 27 words.

Sir Timothy Patrick Lankester, KCB (born 15 April 1942), former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, England and the first economic private secretary to Mrs Margaret Thatcher.


Question: Describe the plot or premise of the TV series 11.22.63.

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 Describe the plot or premise of the TV series 11.22.63.

Sarah Gadon, as Sadie Dunhill, and James Franco, as Jake Epping, in 11.22.63.
Today, though, streaming services are where ambitious TV events live, and so Hulu will be rolling out its eight-part King adaptation 11.22.63 once a week starting Feb. 15. The premise—thrusting a contemporary teacher (James Franco) back in time with a mission to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing John F. Kennedy—is simple and dispensed with quickly. It’s so simple, in fact, that conspiracy theories don’t enter into it. King knew, in writing his 2011 novel, that preventing an infamous tragedy had primal appeal; the team behind the miniseries gets the added advantage of luxurious period visuals.
It’s unfortunate, though, that Franco is at this project’s center. Though he certainly reads as contemporary, he’s not committed enough to the show’s strangeness to compel us. Far better is Sarah Gadon, a Canadian actor who’s excelled in the films of David Cronenberg. She presents the sort of allure that might keep a time traveler from achieving his objective.
Eight episodes, here, is too many; the series goes down several blind alleys before it gets to Dealey Plaza. But its best moments thrum with tension, as when the past rebels against our hero, trying to repel him. You probably shouldn’t try to go back to the past. But whether it comes to changing history or reviving a genre, it’s too tempting not to try.


Question: "Describe your experience with the Great Books of the Western World or what it means to you."

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 "Describe your experience with the Great Books of the Western World or what it means to you."

Posted here for your convenience is the fullest free eBook list of Mortimer Adler’s Great Books of the Western World.
What makes this list more useful than the eBooks @ Adelaide list, from which the bulk of this version comes, is that several of the holes have been filled in by Project Gutenberg, and others by the Internet Archive. Links not provided by eBooks @ Adelaide are italicized. Notably, some links do not lead to eBooks, some of these even to simple Web pages. If an eBook or PDF of the appropriate work becomes available, leave a comment so this list can be updated. However, due to copyright concerns, please do not link to free eBook versions of books still under copyright in the United States.
All works listed between On the Sphere and Cylinder and the Book of Lemmas may be found in The Works of Archimedes.
Thanks! What a fantastic resource!
Yeah, I saw that in my original searches, but I tried to give preference to downloadable things. But if that’s what we have, that’s what we have.
I rescind my earlier whine. That is a much superior link!
I am in the midst of my journey through the Great Books. This is a terrific resource you have compiled for those wishing to go the digital route.
I consider the Great Books of the Western World one of the several corner stone publications to enhance knowledge and learning for all people. This resource is great and should be used for these purposes. I only wish we would have had these resources during my “learning years”.
There are many great books from around the world that should be included with the pages of gut Great Books, but at least these pages give us a reference and starting point on the important aspects of learning from different cultures, subjects, and people.
I cannot say enough about it since I am in my retirement years and cannot afford purchasing the complete set. Yes, even people my age like and need to learn. This resource provides a consolidated starting point; thank you.
really get into these topics.
A liberal education in the palm of my hand. Thank you!
It would be wonderful if the Syntopicon could be made available, and each reference notation, appropriately hyperlinked.
I use GBWW as the principal resource for an aesthetics course that I teach at Chattanooga High, Center for Creative Arts. Having just retired, I was considering whether to purchase the set, volume by volume, at my local used book store. Finding this resource on line may now make that mote. Bravo!
This is amazing. Far better than the actual PDF being sold or any other digital collection I’ve found. Thank you so much.
As a philosophy student I want to read Great books of the Western World.Really!
Thank you for putting this list together. It’s very helpful, and a great resource for any serious readers.
Wow! I am more excited than a two tailed dog and happier than a child trap in a candy shop! Thank you is not enough to display the gratitude to whomever is responsible for making all of these resourseces of great information available for free.
Good evening. How are you doing?I am glad that we found this blog. I just wanted to give back in return for the insight Ive gained here from the article. Seven years ago my mother was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. The news was a monumental setback for us all particularly for my son. Things turned around when my uncle suggested Jade Tun Noy. Jade Noy is a non-denominational mind over matter practitioner. He taught and guided us through the ordeal. Just google him if you want to get in touch with him.
Thank you so much for this great source! You’re fantastic!
Thank you Soo much again….


Question: What is the International Championship of A Cappella Open?

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 What is the International Championship of A Cappella Open?

Our first season of The Open is here!
Congratulations to all of the groups accepted to the 2017 Open! We couldn’t have imagined how big the #acaopen would be in its very first year and are so thrilled to have these talented groups joining us in the excitement! This year, The Open will feature nearly 600 performers in 65 groups from across 4 continents! Some of these groups have been together for years, others formed a cappella “dream teams” just to compete in The Open, and all of them really astounded us with their talent. You won’t want to miss seeing them on our stage.
The first season of The Open will be made up of six regional semifinals events across North America and one virtual (online) semifinal for our international competitors, who hail from too disparate of locations to come together in person. The winner of each of these seven semifinals will be named Regional Champion and will advance to The Open Finals. As in the ICCA and ICHSA, groups that place second and third at semifinals are entered into our Wild Card, a virtual round evaluated by some of our top Varsity Vocals judges — and the Wild Card Champion also advances to The Open Finals. The stage for The Open Finals, then, will feature our seven regional champions, one wild card champion, and of course our 2017 ICCA and ICHSA champions, competing at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, September 23, 2017, for the title of the world’s best a cappella group and a $25,000 grand prize.
Unfortunately, and largely due to geographical constraints, we were not able to accommodate all the groups who applied. If you don’t see your group’s name on the list, we hope we’ll hear from you again next season. We hope you’ll attend an Open event — they’ll be a great experience from the audience, too — and that you’ll consider applying next season.
Tickets for most events in The Open will go on sale on June 1. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for a reminder, or better yet, join our mailing list. Please remember that many of our Varsity Vocals events sell out in advance, so we recommend picking up tickets as early as possible.
Congratulations to our accepted groups, and welcome to the first season of the International Championship of A Cappella Open!


Question: Write an essay on the gun laws in the Czech Republic.

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 Write an essay on the gun laws in the Czech Republic.

Never mind that there are fewer than 4,000 Muslims in this country of 10 million people — gun purchases spiked. One shop owner in East Bohemia, a region in the northern center of the Czech Republic, told a local paper that people were scared of a "wave of Islamists."
The Czech Republic came out hard against the directive. Officials warned — somewhat ominously — that the measure would limit the country's ability to build "an internal security system" and make it nearly impossible to train army reservists. And a total ban on military-style rifles that can fire large numbers of rounds would make illegal thousands of weapons already owned by Czech citizens, potentially creating a black market for terrorists to exploit. Finland and Germany offered their own reservations; Europe's pro-gun groups also mobilized against the bill with the support of politicians on the extreme right.
After months of contentious negotiations, the EU passed a compromise last month; the Council of Ministers will confirm the measure this spring. All member states will have 15 months to comply with the new gun restrictions. The final measure bans the sale of most military-style rifles and requires all potential buyers to go through a psychological check before they can buy a weapon. If someone fails a check in one E.U. state, that information will be shared in an international database so that the person can't procure a gun somewhere else. Online sales are also severely curtailed. The Czech Republic was the only country to oppose the directive for being too strict. Luxembourg also voted against the measure, but on the grounds that it was too weak.
That means that regardless of how the Czech parliament votes on the terrorist-hunting measure, gun laws in the Czech Republic are going to get stricter. All gun purchasers will be required to pass the psychological checks, though it's not yet clear if gun owners will have to turn in newly illegal weapons. That ambiguity has led one Czech newspaper to suggest that the Interior Ministry's latest move is much more about political safety than safety from terrorism.


Question: Describe Evie Amati's experience leading up to the 7-Eleven incident.

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 Describe Evie Amati's experience leading up to the 7-Eleven incident.

EVIE Amati has denied she was angry when she attacked strangers with an axe at a 7-Eleven store, telling a court she was depressed because she has been rejected “over and over”.
A SYDNEY woman who attacked three people with an axe has denied she was very angry after perceiving she had been rejected because she was transgender.
“I have experienced rejection countless times before,” Evie Amati told a NSW District Court jury during her cross-examination on Monday.
Amati, 26, has pleaded not guilty to wounding customers Benjamin Rimmer and Sharon Hacker with intent to murder at a Sydney 7-Eleven store and attempting to wound pedestrian Shane Redwood with intent to murder in the early hours of January 7 in 2017.
Her lawyer says the jury will have to consider the state of mind and intent of Amati — who was affected by hormonal and illicit drugs and depression — and whether a defence of mental illness can be made out.
Amati previously testified she has no memory of attacking the strangers but recalled earlier hearing voices in her head saying “kill and maim” after she smoked cannabis and took what she thought was MDMA.
She said she’d fallen into a “depressive episode” after she cut short a Tinder date believing the woman rejected her because she was transgender.
Amati told prosecutor Daniel McMahon on Monday that the rejection triggered depression rather than deep anger which he’d suggested contributed to the attacks.
“(Rejection) has happened over and over — it is a part of my experience,” she said.
Mr McMahon played the CCTV footage of the two store attacks and pointed out she appeared to have waited until Mr Rimmer was distracted before striking him in the face with the axe.
“I cannot explain any of the behaviour,” Amati replied.
The prosecutor noted Ms Hacker was also attacked when she was not looking.
“Yes, I think it is incredibly cowardly,” Amati said.
But the 26-year-old denied his suggestion she remembered the attacks.
She also denied pretending to be unconscious when she was found in a nearby courtyard.
“I cannot explain any of this behaviour,” she said.
Amati testified that from late-2016 she had violent hallucinations involving an axe she had just bought and saw visions of herself running at police with it and being shot dead.
Mr McMahon asked why she didn’t seek medical help.
The accused said when she’d previously asked for help over other visions she was told “because I had a job and played drums I’m fine”.
“I was trying to cope by myself,” she said.
“You expect the jury to accept you had specific hallucinations about using an axe and you didn’t seek help over the entire month?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes, because I sought help previously,” she replied.


Question: "What can you tell me about the National Weight Control Registry?" Respond in 352 words.

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 "What can you tell me about the National Weight Control Registry?" Respond in 352 words.

Recruitment for the Registry is ongoing. If you are at least 18 years of age and have maintained at least a 30 pound weight loss for one year or longer you may be eligible to join our research study.
Have you relocated over the past year? Please update your contact info here.
Learn more about our research. To date, we have published articles describing the eating and exercise habits of successful weight losers, the behavioral strategies they use to maintain their weight, and the effect of successful weight loss maintenance on other areas of their lives.
Registry members' weight loss stories are diverse and inspiring. Read about the accomplishments of some of our members.
Read about the developers, co-investigators and research staff of the NWCR team.
Looking to feature the NWCR in your article or story? Contact us for more information.
Learn more about the sub-studies of the Registry.
Rena Wing, Ph.D. from Brown Medical School, and James O. Hill, Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, is the largest prospective investigation of long-term successful weight loss maintenance. Given the prevailing belief that few individuals succeed at long-term weight loss, the NWCR was developed to identify and investigate the characteristics of individuals who have succeeded at long-term weight loss. The NWCR is tracking over 10,000 individuals who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods of time. Detailed questionnaires and annual follow-up surveys are used to examine the behavioral and psychological characteristics of weight maintainers, as well as the strategies they use to maintaining their weight losses.
Research findings from the National Weight Control Registry have been featured in many national newspapers, magazines, and television broadcasts, including USA Today, Oprah magazine, The Washington Post, and Good Morning America.
Are you a successful loser?
Find out more: Please contact us with any questions or comments.
If you are a successful weight loser and under 18 years old, click here!
PLEASE NOTE: The National Weight Control Registry is NOT a weight loss treatment program and we are unable to respond to requests for general information on weight loss and maintenance.


Question: Respond in 2 sentences. What is the AELC?

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 Respond in 2 sentences. What is the AELC?

The Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (, "Association of Writers in the Catalan Language", or "Association of Catalan-Language Writers"), also known by the acronym AELC, is a professional organisation of authors, poets, scriptwriters, translators and other writers in the Catalan language. It is headquartered in Barcelona


Question: Respond in 4 sentences. Provide a description of Teresita, Missouri.

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 Respond in 4 sentences. Provide a description of Teresita, Missouri.

Teresita is an unincorporated community in western Shannon County, Missouri, United States. It is located just off U.S. Route 60, approximately six miles east of Mountain View.
A post office called Teresita was established in 1903, and remained in operation until 1990. It is unknown why the Spanish name "Teresita" was applied to this community.


Question: Explain the issue with Cisco ASA and FTD devices, and how to address it.

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 Explain the issue with Cisco ASA and FTD devices, and how to address it.

On March 29, Cisco became aware of several customer outages involving different releases and models of Cisco ASA and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) appliances. Cisco has published a Field Notice urging Cisco customers who are running specific releases of software to reboot their devices to prevent a device from hanging and stop passing traffic.
The issue is documented in Cisco Bug ID CSCvd78303.
Cisco ASA and Cisco FTD devices are affected by a functional software defect that will cause the device to stop passing traffic after 213 days after of uptime. The affected software versions are listed in the Field Notice.
The issue is due to a software regression bug introduced when addressing Cisco bug ID CSCva03607. The current issue impact is limited to device operability and it is not a vulnerability, nor is there continued exposure to the vulnerability that was already addressed. This issue cannot be triggered by a threat actor.
Updated software versions that address this issue will be published in the coming weeks. Cisco is proactively notifying customers of available workarounds that mitigate this issue.
To mitigate the risk and impact of device stop passing traffic, Cisco urges customers to proactively reboot their Cisco ASA or FTD devices that are running affected versions, and those rebooted devices should have fixes available before they are at risk of the issue again.
If you have deployed Cisco ASAs in failover mode, you can first perform the reboot on the standby unit, and then reboot the primary, in order to minimize downtime.


Question: Describe the ICC World Test Championship. Respond in 58 words.

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 Describe the ICC World Test Championship. Respond in 58 words.

The ICC World Test Championship is a league competition for Test cricket run by the International Cricket Council (ICC), which started on 1 August 2019. It is intended to be the premier championship for Test cricket. It is in line with the ICC's goal of having one pinnacle tournament for each of the three formats of international cricket.


Question: Describe the Circus Maximus in Rome. Respond in 33 sentences.

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 Describe the Circus Maximus in Rome. Respond in 33 sentences.

Erected in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, the Circus Maximus (Circo Massimo in Italian) was 600 metres long and up to 200 wide, with a spine that must have measured 340 metres. This makes it the biggest building for public spectacles of all time.
Original form of the Circus Maximus is still recognizable today, the huge tuff and travertine remains from the time of Julius Caesar surviving. It was surrounded by steps carried on several rows of arches which could seat over 200,000 people.
According to tradition, the first wooden stadium used for races, set in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine, was built by Tarquinius Priscus. Without doubt, however, the present building is the result of centuries of extensions and rebuilding. First the timber structures were repla-ced by stone steps, then in the late 4th century BC the carceres, the starting bays for the horses, were built at the short north end.
Model of Ancient Rome Circus Maximus, Domus Augustana and the Palatine.
Reconstruction Sketch of Circus Maximus – Photo Credit & Sketch. J.C GOLVIN. One of the occasional fancies of Imperial extravagance was to carpet the floor of the arena with precious powders — red lead, mica or malachite.
In 174 BC the seven “eggs” were placed on the spine to mark to number of circuits of the course. In 33 BC Agrippa added seven bronze dolphins. Augustus’s principal addition was the obelisk of the Pharoah Ramses II (thirteenth century BC), brought from Heliopolis and erected on the spine. Much later, in 357 AD, Constantius II added a second obelisk, that of Thothmes III (fifteenth century BC) from Thebes. In 1587 both of the shattered obelisks were unearthed by Pope Sixtus V. The first was later placed in Piazza del Popolo and the second in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano.
Drawing of Circus Maximus, Rome,1582.
The circus remained in use throughout late antiquity. At the end of the imperial age there were sixty racing days, each of which had, since Nero’s time, lasted until sundown. The last races were held there in 549 AD by Totila (reigned 541-552) , king of the Ostrogoths. After this, largely because of the dereliction of Rome in the early Middle Ages, it gradually began to be covered in soil, which today conceals most of the building.
The race-track in the circus was divided down the middle by a masonry spine with a pillar (meta) at each end to mark the turns. The chariots, drawn by two or four horses, were extremely light and it took great skill on the part of the charioteers to keep them from overturning (though disastrous falls were one of the attractions for spectators).
Two-horse chariot in the circus, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo, Rome.
The skill of the charioteer lay in taking the turns as close as possible so as to gain ground. The rules allowed all sorts of foul play to obstruct opponents and send them crashing into the walls. Horses and chariots were divided into teams, distinguished by different colours, and each had its supporters: the various colours eventually formed factions and had a notable influence on political life.
“The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer” by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1883.
The charioteers were idolised and if particularly skilful would accumulate immense fortunes. One Diodes, of Portuguese origin, raced for the Reds for twenty-four years in the second century AD: he won 3000 times with a two-horse chariot and 1462 times with a four-horse team. When he retired he had accumulated the fabulous sum of 35 million sesterces. Around the circuses, like football stadiums today, there stood myriads of taverns, kiosks, and booths, and while the spectators on the terraces watched up to a hundred races a day, thieves, prostitutes, peddlers and hucksters of all sorts mixed with the crowd.
Circus Maximus set in the center of Roman Forum, 0,7 km from (9 min walk) from Colosseum.


Question: Explain the situation surrounding the Israeli airstrike on Latakia, Syria and the related consequences.

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 Explain the situation surrounding the Israeli airstrike on Latakia, Syria and the related consequences.

And with the sneak attack on Latakia which involved using a Russian IL-20 ELINT war plane as radar cover Israel has now not only raised the stakes to an unacceptable level, it has also ensured that this may be the last such aerial assault it will ever be able to carry out.
The setup is pretty clear. Israel and France coordinated an attack on multiple targets within Syria without US involvement but with absolute US knowledge of the operation to provoke Russia into going off half-cocked by attacking the inconsequential French frigate which assisted Israel’s air attack.
Any denunciation of sinister intent by Israeli Defense Forces is hollow because if they had not intended to provoke a wider conflict they would have given Russia more than one minute to clear their planes from the area.
That would constitute an attack on a NATO member state and require a response from NATO, thereby getting the exact escalation needed to continue the war in Syria indefinitely and touch off WWIII.
This neatly bypasses any objections to a wider conflict by President Trump who would have to respond militarily to a Russian attack on a NATO ally. It also would reassert NATO’s necessity in the public dialogue, further marginalizing Trump’s attacks on it and any perceived drive of his for peace.
That this took place within the 60 days window of the mid-term elections should also not be discounted.
This attack took place just hours after Presidents Erdogan and Putin negotiated a ‘peaceful’ settlement for Idlib province by declaring a De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) 15-20 kilometers wide which everyone, including Erdogan’s pets Jabhat al-Nusra would have to abide by.
Peace was breaking out in Syria and Israel and the war-hawks in D.C. weren’t standing for that.
By conducting this attack like this Israel and the NATO crowd figured it would be a win/win for them.
If Russia strikes back at France, then NATO invokes Article 5 and they get their wider war.
If Russia doesn’t strike back Putin loses face within Russia, his popularity drops 5 points and John Bolton begins salivating at the prospect of regime change in Russia. Yes, they are that insane.
It was a neat piece of geopolitical maneuvering, almost judo-like. Russia and Syria looked to be on the verge of victory, extending themselves in a major conflict that would result in months of bad press. We were expecting a possible false-flag chemical weapons attack, cries of humanitarian crisis and all the rest of the tired virtue-signaling we can expect by US ‘diplomatic’ officials that has been all too common even under Trump.
What we got was the opposite, a carefully-crafted assault on Russian military forces wherein Russia’s vaunted air-defense systems would be blamed for its own people’s deaths and a mistaken counter-attack that justifies the “Putin is a Vile War-Monger” narrative to justify a US invasion of Syria which has been held in amber since 2013 and Putin’s skillful defusing that situation via diplomatic means.
For once, this almost looked like a well-thought out plan. Not the usual ham-fisted crudities we’ve been treated to over the last few years. But, here’s the rub.
By naming names and immediately not responding militarily during the ‘fog of war’ Russia and Putin again prove to be more skilled at this than their adversaries.
Because none of what I just outlined will come to pass. And France, Israel and the US will be the ones to lose face here. And with Israel betraying Putin’s forbearance after April’s air strikes on Damascus, he will have no choice but to upgrade Syria’s air defense systems from S-200’s to S-300’s and possibly S-400’s.
This is Israel’s worst nightmare. A situation where any aerial assault on targets within Syria would be suicide missions, puncturing the myth of the Israeli air force’s superiority and shifting the delicate balance of power in Syria decidedly against them.
This is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked Putin so hard over the last two years. But, this incident wipes that slate clean. This was a cynical betrayal of Putin’s trust and patience. And Israel will now pay the price for their miscalculation.
Giving Syria S-300’s does not avenge the fifteen dead Russian soldiers. Putin will have to respond to that in a more concrete way to appease the hardliners in his government and at home. His patience and seeming passivity are being pushed to their limit politically. This is, after all, a side benefit to all of this for the neoconservative and globalist hawks in D.C., Europe and Tel Aviv.
But, the real loss here for Israel will be Russia instituting a no-fly zone over western Syria. Any less response from Putin will be seized upon by and the situation will escalate from here. So, Putin has to deploy S-300’s here. And once that happens, the real solution to Syria begins in earnest.
Because at that point it will be the US’s move to flat-out invade without provocation, now that a solution is in place in Syria between Russia and a NATO member, Turkey.
The only good news in all of this is that US forces were not involved. This still tells me that Trump and Mattis are still in charge of their chain of command and that other forces are conspiring to drag them into a conflict no one in their right minds wants.


Question: Describe the efforts BART has taken to improve bike access.

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 Describe the efforts BART has taken to improve bike access.

More people than ever are using bikes to get to BART, reflecting overall record ridership, and BART has set a new goal for bike access that aims to improve the safety and convenience of the BART experience for cyclists and noncyclists alike.
In 2012, the BART bike plan’s goal was to double bike access (the number of people getting to and from BART by bike) from 4% to 8% by 2022.
That goal is on track to be eclipsed because access in 2015 was already at 6.4%.
The new goal is to hit 10% bike access by 2022, Beroldo said an in interview this week. The BART bike program wants to increase access as part of the overall effort to relieve congestion in the Bay Area, he said.
BART and partner groups in the community are working hard on efforts to make sure the system can accommodate the new riders and that cyclists and noncylists alike exercise courtesy and respect safety rules.
Robert Prinz, education director of Bike East Bay, said one improvement has been partnering with BART to decrease bike thefts by outreach at stations, providing BikeLink starter cards for electronic access, and other efforts.
"We collaborated on in-person education on proper bike lock techniques, 90-plus station visits and 500-plus BikeLink starter cards," he said.
A bike capital plan that priorities major improvements for high-demand stations.
BART is trying to accommodate increased ridership by adding more secure parking to encourage riders to park their bikes at their home station.
Projects are moving forward at MacArthur, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Lafayette, Downtown Berkeley and Walnut Creek to expand parking.
To accommodate bikes on trains, BART will be introducing straps to help hold bicycles in place in the designated bike spaces; the BART bike rules say cyclists are not allowed on crowded trains and should only board cars that can comfortably accommodate them and their bike.
On Tuesday, at the 19th Street Oakland Bike Station, pictured in two images at top right, daily commuters passed through in the afternoon rush hour to pick up their bikes, which were neatly stacked in double decker racks. Bikers can utilize free valet parking and buy biking equipment, or even get repairs done while they work.
“We have 130 spaces and every day we almost exceed capacity,” an attendant at the bike station said.
In another bike accessibility improvement, BART, in partnership with Bay Area BikeShare, they will be expanding its number of bikes from bikes from 700 to 7,000 with 25% of those new bikes being added to 16th/24th St. Mission, 12th St. City Center, Downtown Berkeley, MacArthur, 19th St. (bike racks inside 19th St. Oakland station pictured in middle image above); Ashby, and Lake Merritt stations by early 2017. (In last image, outdoor bike racks at San Leandro Station are shown in front of electronic bike lockers, another kind of secure bike storage.
Beroldo emphasized that increasing bike access to BART helps everyone -- not only noncyclists who take BART, but those who drive and those in the community at large, by improving environmental conditions.


Question: What causes a 22° halo around the Sun or Moon?

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 What causes a 22° halo around the Sun or Moon?

The familiar 22° halo around the Sun or Moon occurs because of refraction in tiny hexagonal ice crystals in the air. With the 60° apex angle of the prism formed by extending the sides of the crystal and the index of refraction of ice (n=1.31) one can calculate the angle of minium deviation to be 21.84°.
Further refinement using n=1.306 for red and n=1.317 for blue gives angles of 21.54° and 22.37° for red and blue respectively. The inner edge of the halo is sharp and appears reddened - the angle of minimum deviation for red is less and you see it from crystals closer to the Sun or Moon direction. The out edge of the halo is blue in appearance but less saturated because other wavelengths can refract at that angle.
Calculation Can you have diffraction at this angle?
Can you see a 22° halo from the equator?
The familiar separation of the colors of white light in a prism is a result of dispersion, the variation of the index of refraction of light with wavelength. Since hexagonal ice crystals make up a section of a a 60° prism, they separate the colors of white light. This gives the rainbow hues of the parhelia.
At the points on the 22° halo which are on a horizontal line with the sun, the arc commonly broadens to two bright spots, reputedly referred to by artic people as the sun's dogs. The refracted light at these points is so much more intense than the remainder of the 22° halo that they are often seen when the remainder of the arc is not. The parhelia often show rainbow colors from the dispersion in the ice crystals. While appearing on the 22° halo when the sun is at the horizon, they appear to be slightly outside it at higher altitudes and will flare into a white tail leading away from the 22° halo. Under appropriate conditions the tail may extend far outward on the horizontal "parhelic circle". This extension of the sun dogs is reflection from the vertical sides of the flat hexagonal ice crystals.
The accentuated light at the intersection of a horizontal line through the Sun's position is attributed to the preferential orientation of the hexagonal ice crystals. Ron Edge models the tendency toward this flat orientation of the crystals in terms of the Bernoulli effect.


Question: Who is David Kerley? Respond in 2 sentences.

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 Who is David Kerley? Respond in 2 sentences.

Paul David Kerley III (born May 30, 1957), known professionally as David Kerley, is an American journalist who is a correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C..
A native of Southern California, Kerley earned a bachelor's degree from California Polytechnic State University. During college, Kerley, who grew up near Disneyland, worked at the theme park's Tomorrowland.


Question: Describe the upcoming EVANESCENCE and Lindsey Stirling tour and "Lost Whispers" release. Respond in 12 sentences.

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 Describe the upcoming EVANESCENCE and Lindsey Stirling tour and "Lost Whispers" release. Respond in 12 sentences.

Craft Recordings will release EVANESCENCE's "Lost Whispers" on Record Store Day, the annual celebration of the annual celebration of independent record stores, which takes place this year on Saturday, April 21. Presented on blue translucent vinyl and limited to 2,500 copies, this represents the first time that "Lost Whispers" has been available on vinyl as a stand-alone release.
The "Lost Whispers" album gathers EVANESCENCE's sought-after bonus tracks, B-sides and rarities, including a studio version of the fan-favorite tour intro "Lost Whispers" and an intimate re-recording of one of the band's earliest songs, "Even In Death (2016)" (originally featured on the 2000 demo album "Origin").
Find or request your copy at your local indie record store here.
EVANESCENCE and acclaimed electronic violinist Lindsey Stirling will embark on a co-headlining 2018 summer amphitheater tour across North America. The trek, produced by Live Nation, will kick off July 6 in Kansas City, Missouri at the Starlight Theatre and will make stops in 31 North American cities. The tour will wrap September 8 in Ridgefield, Washington at the Sunlight Supply Amphitheater.
Both artists' shows will be accompanied by a full orchestra, highlighting both acts musicality and their incredible performance abilities that continue to blow fans away. The orchestrated performances will also perfectly accent the astounding amphitheater venues across the U.S. and Canada that the two will be performing in, making for a magical summer evening.
The two artists recently collaborated on the song "Hi-Lo" from the latest EVANESCENCE album, "Synthesis", which features a virtuosic violin solo by Lindsey Stirling.
"Synthesis" was released in November. The disc sees many of EVANESCENCE's songs reworked in new ways, incorporating orchestral and electronic elements into the original compositions.


Question: What did the Stanford defense do well against San Diego State in their season opener?

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 What did the Stanford defense do well against San Diego State in their season opener?

Tom FitzGerald Sep. 4, 2018 Updated: Sep. 4, 2018 7:16 p.m.
Stanford Cardinal wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside (19) celebrates his touchdown catch with Stanford Cardinal center Drew Dalman (51) during an NCAA football game against the San Diego State Aztecs at Stanford Stadium, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Stanford, Calif.
Given the problems Stanford had running the ball against San Diego State and the consequential success K.J. Costello had throwing to JJ Arcega-Whiteside, it was easy to overlook a fine game by the Cardinal defense.
It was gashed by tailback Juwan Washington during a touchdown drive in the second quarter, and the Aztecs moved the ball on a field-goal drive in the third. But aside from those two series and a 39-yard run by Washington late in the third quarter, Stanford’s defense gave up just 70 yards in Friday night’s season opener.
The Cardinal finished with five sacks and seven tackles for loss, limiting the Aztecs to 263 yards of total offense in the 31-10 victory.
The defense even recorded a safety when linebacker Bobby Okereke forced quarterback Christian Chapman into an intentional-grounding penalty from his end zone.
Head coach David Shaw said Tuesday that it wasn’t easy to get a grip on what the Aztecs were doing offensively.
“They do a really good job of keeping you off balance with formations, with motions, with plays that start off looking the same but that end up being a little different,” he said.
The defense’s task will be much greater when the No. 10 Cardinal host No. 17 USC at 5:30 p.m Saturday. The Trojans lost 4,000-yard passer Sam Darnold, 1,500-yard rusher Ronald Jones and 1,000-yard receiver Deontay Burnett from last year’s team, but they still have plenty of weapons.
In USC’s opening 43-21 win over UNLV, the freshman pass combination of JT Daniels and Amon-Ra St. Brown was impressive. The Trojans beat Stanford twice last year, including a 31-28 verdict in the Pac-12 title game.
Statistically, the oddity of the San Diego State game was that Okereke — named the team’s defensive player of the game — had just three tackles. In addition to the safety, however, he would have had a quarterback hurry despite being given the high-low treatment by Aztec blockers. They were assessed a 15-yard penalty for the chop block.
San Diego State was assessed 125 yards on 11 penalties, compared with just 20 yards on three penalties for Stanford. The Cardinal typically are among the least penalized teams in the Pac-12.
Considering the stress San Diego State put on stopping the run, he gave the offensive line a B — “a B-plus at times” — for its performance.
As a result, All-America running back Bryce Love had just 29 yards on 18 carries — and Stanford still won by three touchdowns.
Briefly: Wide receiver/return man Connor Wedington will miss the USC game with an undisclosed injury, as will center Jesse Burkett for the second straight week, Shaw said. … Cornerback Alijah Holder, however, will be back after missing the opener. … Drew Dalman again will start at center, and Devery Hamilton, Foster Sarell and Brandon Fanaika probably will all see action at left guard again. … Jake Bailey’s 63-yard punt Friday, which went out of bounds at the 1-yard line, was the second-longest of his career.