Sean's Blog

The Choice is Yours: Conclusion

2018-03-26T13:22:00.001-07:00

Suddenly, a strangely familiar voice from above roared, “Goodbye, Rezam!” as a piece of the ceiling fell on Rezam, crushing the tyrant on the spot. Enaj recognized that voice — it was Tsruhelkcorb! The assassin jumped down from the roof into the palace and bowed.

“How did you know I was going to be here?” Enaj asked.

“I saw you messing with the roof and figured you might need help, so I climbed onto the roof after you," replied Tsruhelkcorb.

“Thank you, my true friend!” exclaimed Enaj. “You saved my life.”

“Well, you saved mine by dragging me to the healer,” laughed Tsruhelkcorb. “Happily, I now feel stronger than ever! By the time I arrived here, I had aged so much that they did not recognize me as an old exile,” explained Tsruhelkcorb. “But enough talking, there is one more thing to take care of.” Tsruhelkcorb lunged at the remaining guards, who were busy fighting the rebels, stunning them from the back with blows to the head. Enaj was in great pain and he would soon become unconscious, yet he smiled. They had won!

Afterwards, Enaj’s wounds healed, albeit with significant scarring, and he helped set up a democratic system of elections for the leader of the city. He reconciled with the masters, forgiving them after they came to him with their heads bowed, as he was recovering from his wounds on the former tyrant’s bed. The masters explained to him that they were sorry, and that the real reason they hid him from the outside world and provided him with few resources was so that the tyrant would not discover his existence, since beings with any differences from the norm prescribed by the tyrant’s law, such as Enaj’s blue skin, were regularly exiled or, more commonly, brutally killed. Enaj felt his rage cooling, cooling, cooling, his inner lava turning into hardened rock. Enaj became the first democratically elected leader by a wide margin, and he ruled the city with wisdom and kindness for the rest of his ageless life, as he kept getting re-elected by unanimous vote year after year, after year. He sent out search teams for all the exiles, and welcomed them back into the city with open arms. This included his grandfather and his parents, who were reunited with him at last. Every morning, Enaj looked at his fearsome scars and remembered the day when he had to make the choice as to whether or not to kill everyone at the orphanage. He stood up and smiled. For the rest of the day, as Tsruhelkcorb had taught him, Enaj would focus on the present. There was lots to be done.

The Choice is Yours: Part 7

2018-03-25T10:10:00.002-07:00

Enaj and the rebels proceeded to the city gates. Enaj went first, using his training to quickly punch the guards in the necks, causing them to fall unconscious. He then motioned for the rebels to enter the city. All the weapons were concealed to avoid provoking suspicion. They went straight towards the palace.

When they reached it, Enaj said, “Good luck. We will meet in the throne room.”

With that, Enaj leaped onto the walls of the palace and started climbing them, while the rebel gang charged into the palace to take the guards by surprise and engage them in battle. Enaj nimbly clambered onto the top of the palace and moved to the center of the roof, as he knew that the throne room was in the center of the palace. He heard screams coming from below, yet Enaj remembered his training with Tsruhelkcorb and slowed his breathing, focusing on his task. He took an extremely sharp sword out of his robes and started cutting a circle through the top of the ornate roof. After what felt like seconds to him, he finally finished. The circle crashed down to the floor, and Enaj jumped in afterwards. He saw a group of heavily armed guards standing near the doorway, a bewildered look on their faces. Just then, there was a scream of, charge! And some of the rebels rushed through the doors, stabbing the shocked guards in the backs. The surviving guards proceeded to duel with the rebels. The sound of clashing metal and the sickly smell of blood was overwhelming. On the throne was the tyrant Rezam, sitting with a disturbing amused expression, holding a gleaming, gigantic golden sword in one hand, and a golden cup of steaming rose-flavored tea in the other.

“It is just you and me now, Rezam,” said Enaj. “Your reign of terror is over."

“I am afraid you are very much mistaken,” laughed Rezam. “You see, you cannot kill me. But I can kill you. And when I am done with it, I will use this occasion to further tighten my grip on this city.” With that, Rezam threw the scalding tea from his cup into Enaj’s eyes.

As Enaj shrieked with tortuous pain and covered his eyes with his hands, Rezam threw the golden sword right at Enaj. Enaj had not expected this, and his throbbing eyes were closed. He heard the swooshing sound of approaching steel and jumped immediately, yet failed to leap out of the way in time. The sword hit him on his side, knocking him over and drawing blood. When Enaj recovered from the shock and tried to get up, Rezam was already standing over him. Rezam took the golden sword into his hands and kicked Enaj’s weapon into the corner. Enaj’s sword clanged as it hit the wall, and lay silent.

“Do you really think this is the first time my enemies tried to kill me?” Rezam laughed. “All that you have caused me is amusement. I will have the roof repaired today and then I will forget about you. And you… you will disappear, as if you have never existed in this world.” Rezam stepped on Enaj, causing blood to spurt out of his wounds. “Say goodbye,” yelled Rezam with joy. With his strength leaving him, Enaj tried in vain to push Rezam off his torso, but he could not move Rezam’s bulk. Rezam stepped off of Enaj and raised the golden sword above his head, chuckling. Enaj knew that he could not stop it.

The Choice is Yours: Part 6

2018-03-23T14:43:00.002-07:00

That night, Enaj could not sleep. He twisted and turned, thinking about what his grandfather told him, recalling his frail bearded figure dressed in ragged grey linens. What if he was right, and Enaj was about to commit a terrible mistake, one he would regret for the rest of his life? Were the actions of the masters and other orphans really enough to warrant murder? The orphans had already suffered by not having parents. On the other hand, they had all mistreated Enaj greatly. Yet the tyrant was responsible for exiling beings who did not agree with him and for murdering many, so Rezam would definitely have to be eliminated. Enaj wrestled with these questions for hours, and finally fell asleep, having made a decision and accepted it.

The next morning, the rebels were chattering excitedly. This was the day when they would free the city from the tyranny of Rezam. Enaj called a meeting of all the rebels.

“There’s been a change of plans,” said Enaj nonchalantly. “We are not - I repeat, not - going to murder anyone in the orphanage after all. Instead, we will be storming the palace without a distraction.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Inquired Yelraf. “The choice is yours — either change the plan and save the innocent beings yet make success more difficult or achieve what you always wanted and get delicious revenge in the original foolproof plan.”

“I am sure” stated Enaj.

“We had a plan that was a great plan, the best plan, and it put fewer of us in danger!” Yelraf shouted, drops of spit flying everywhere. “We cannot change the plan at the dawn of the day when it is to be executed!”

“I happen to recall that the only person that would be in any real danger in the original plan was me,” retorted Enaj coldly. “Tell me, Yelraf - are you afraid of Rezam’s army, my friend? I suppose you are. Very well then, how about we put it to a vote.”

As the beings started to cast their votes, it was becoming clear that Yelraf’s side would win.

Suddenly, Enaj yelled, “Stop! Weapons are beings, my friends. Let them vote, too.” With the weapons voting, the swords and their allies, including Enaj, had a narrow majority of 51-49 against the daggers and their allies, including Yelraf.

“I win!” Yelraf exclaimed. "It takes sixty votes to confirm a change of plans after an original plan has been set.”

“I thought you were my friend, Yelraf. Tell your side to confirm my change of plans” warned Enaj.

“No,” proclaimed Yelraf. “I am afraid I cannot do that.”

Enaj went nuclear. His eyes flashed red, and he stabbed Yelraf right in the center of his body, killing him on the spot.

“Fifty votes is all it takes. Any objections?” Nobody raised their hand.

The Choice is Yours: Part 5

2018-03-22T14:20:00.001-07:00

Enaj and the rebels camped out in some tents during the night. The next day, they developed a plan to execute a coup, using information about the city from an insurgent who was exiled recently. The dissidents would murder everyone at the orphanage, which happened to be near the tyrant’s palace, while a parade of the city’s army was taking place on the other side of the city. The plan was to force some of the palace guards to head towards the orphanage, at which point they would be framed in the killings by the rebels, who would dress like regular city dwellers and would claim to have seen the guards commit the murders. This would be the spark for a riot. In the meanwhile, Enaj was to infiltrate the palace himself and kill the tyrant during the afternoon partaking of the rose-flavored tea. The hope was that the army, known to harbor resentment towards the tyrant, would support the coup rather than crack down on the riot. Thus, both of Enaj’s targets for revenge would be annihilated — the orphanage community and the tyrant who established it. Yet some rebels objected to the plan, and argued that killing the innocent beings at the orphanage was unnecessary and cruel. Enaj shook his head, and his eyes glowed red. It was getting late, and he told the objectors that the plan could be revised and discussed further the next day. Yet by morning, everyone who objected was dead.

After a few weeks of training led by Enaj, the day before the planned coup had arrived, and Enaj was savoring the thought of finally getting his revenge. He decided to take a walk alone to clear his head from the ramblings of the rebel gang. Although he enjoyed sharing past experiences with Yelraf, who turned out to also have been an orphan, Enaj was not used to so much human interaction and felt an urge for solitude. While Enaj was meandering through the woods and enjoying the sounds of birds singing and the warmth of the sun, he happened to spot a lonely hut in the middle of a clearing. An old man sat next to it, gazing out into the distance. His skin was blue.

His heart pounding, Enaj ran towards the mysterious figure.

The old man looked up and exclaimed, “Enaj! Is that really you? Is it possible?”

“How do you know my name?,” exclaimed Enaj.

“You inherited your beautiful blue skin from me,” the old man explained. “It is the sign of the highest nobility. Enaj — I am your grandfather, Anin. Your other relatives are lost from me — the tyrant forced your family into exile due to their dissent against the autocracy when it was just gaining power, and they hid you in the orphanage.” A moist tear ran down Anin’s face. “I am so glad you are alive,” he whispered, showing his crooked yellow teeth.

Enaj told him of his mistreatment at the orphanage by the masters, and elucidated the plan to obtain revenge. “Is it not great, grandfather?” he asked. “Now the tyrant that exiled you and so many others will pay for what they have done.”

At that, Anin smiled and shook his head, patting Enaj on the back. “No matter what they did to you or others, Enaj, violence is never the answer. Use peaceful methods instead.”

Stunned, Enaj pushed his grandfather away and yelled, “You do not understand what I went through or how I feel!” His head spinning, and feeling like he was going to explode, throw up, or both, Enaj ran to the rebel camp as quickly as he could, not looking back, as his grandfather tearfully pleaded with him to return.

“Come back, my beloved grandson! You do not understand! You just do not understand!” He kept sobbing softly until he fell asleep, exhausted with powerful emotions within his heaving chest.

The Choice is Yours: Part 4

2018-03-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

Tsruhelkcorb collapsed suddenly. It happened during one of their sword fight sessions, yet Enaj had not hit Tsruhelkcorb. Tsruhelkcorb’s face was sweating, and he was shaking.

“What is wrong with you?" Enaj asked.

“I am very sick,” wheezed Tsruhelkcorb, squirming on the floor. “I am in great pain. Do not let me die. Do not let me die!”

Enaj had no idea what ill had felled Tsruhelkcorb, but he tried to nurse Tsruhelkcorb back to health over the following days with random herbs he found in the woods, yet Tsruhelkcorb just kept getting paler and weaker, until he could barely move. In the end, Tsruhelkcorb told Enaj to come closer, and whispered in his ear, “I must go back to the city.”

“But they will kill you!” Enaj retorted.

“If I do not get help from a competent healer in the city, then I will die anyway. I despise the city as much as you do, but I see no other choice. Take care of the hut while I am gone — I promise I will come back as soon as I can, even if I have to escape from prison to do it.” Thus, the two bid each other farewell, and Enaj dragged Tsruhelkcorb to the city gates over the blanket of moist leaves and fir needles covering the forest floor. “You are the best assassin I have ever trained,” Tsruhelkcorb said as they parted. “Use your skills wisely.” Then he crawled into the city on his stomach, groaning with pain with each movement, leaving Enaj standing in stunned silence.

As Enaj was sauntering back to the hut, he had the distinct feeling that he was being watched. Must be a squirrel, thought Enaj.

Suddenly, a group of armed ruffians emerged from the trees and the biggest one yelled, “You are surrounded and outnumbered, give us everything you own, you city scum.”

Enaj drew a curved blade from his belt and threw it at the speaker, whose head, cleanly sliced off, rolled into a stream and floated away, the surprise still in the wide open eyes. As the ruffians lunged at him, Enaj spun around, slicing and slashing until they were all disarmed, wounded, or dead. The surviving ruffians were rolling on the damp forest leaves, clutching at their gaping wounds and protruding intestines.

And yet contemptuous, they cried out, “Do your worst, you city tyrant!”

“I am not in league with the city,” explained Enaj. “I have as much hatred towards it as you do. Trust me, I harbor no ill will towards you. If you let me, I will even heal you with my herbs.” The ruffians explained with tears that they were in fact a band of exiles from the city, and that they had only attacked him because he was walking from the direction of the city and they assumed he was a spy of the tyrant.

“We are actually planning to infiltrate the city and take over the government, one of them said, trying to reattach his arm. My name is Yelraf, by the way. We could really use someone with your skills — how about you lead our gang, seeing as you killed the previous leader?”

Enaj considered the offer for less than a second — he could live alone in the hut, or he could finally have revenge.

“Sure,” Enaj said. “That would be most desirable.” He licked his lips, tasting the blood of the masters and of the tyrant. How sweet it would be.

The Choice is Yours: Part 3

2018-03-18T08:12:00.001-07:00

Enaj nodded apprehensively, feeling the sharpened chicken bone hidden behind his shirt. He then told Tsruhelkcorb the sad story of his life at the orphanage. Tsruhelkcorb wept as he listened, shocking Enaj, who certainly did not expect such feelings in a hardened brute. Together, they trudged to Tsruhelkcorb’s hut through the thick layer of snow. When they finally arrived, Enaj warmed up at the hearth and was offered a mouthwatering meal of roast horse chestnuts with honey and rabbit. While Enaj was eating, Tsruhelkcorb, with surprising speed and agility, built a bunk out of some spare twigs from a pile behind his hut. Afterwards, his stomach pleasantly full for the first time he could remember in his life, Enaj was so tired and blissful that he fell fast asleep.

In the morning, Enaj woke up to find Tsruhelkcorb staring at him from a distance, silently muttering something to himself, while sharpening a knife.

“Good Morning,” said Enaj.

Tsruhelkcorb silently nodded and pointed the knife at the table. Enaj saw that a meal of boiled bear was waiting for him. He lunged at the bear and devoured most of its chewy flesh, while Tsruhelkcorb watched, unmoved.

“Wow, they must have really starved you at the orphanage,” he finally said. After Enaj finished eating, Tsruhelkcorb went up to him, still casually gripping the knife, and asked, “what is it that you plan to do with your life now?”

Enaj answered that he would be honored to be mentored by the assassin, and that what he desired most deeply was revenge against the orphanage masters and the tyrant who set it up. Tsruhelkcorb smiled slightly out of the corner of his mouth and cracked his knuckles.

“I think that would be useful for both of us,” he said. "It gets lonely living here alone, eating alone, drinking alone, killing alone, and it would be great to have someone to practice with.” And thus, Enaj’s transformation into an assassin began.

For more than four years, Enaj and Tsruhelkcorb trained daily in both the physical, mental, and spiritual techniques necessary for a successful assassination. They practiced fighting with fists and powerful kicks. They practiced using daggers and long elongated blades, of which Tsruhelkcorb had plenty, forged in the furnace he had built right in the hut, using metal ore he dug up in the wilderness and the roaring fire. They practiced meditating and staying calm and alert in the face of danger, and drank a special mind-focusing tea, made from a secret root, each day. They practiced coming up with unique strategies based on schematics of buildings, rooms, and guard patrol paths. They practiced camouflaging themselves to get into places undetected. They practiced quick thinking to get out of challenging situations. Yet rather than getting tired of all this practice, Enaj was invigorated, channeling his rage at the masters into every kick he made. Yet one summer, it all ended.

The Choice is Yours: Part 2

2018-03-15T17:36:00.001-07:00

It was the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, and there had been a seasonal feast in the evening, of which Enaj was not allowed to partake to avoid scaring some important visitors to the orphanage. He had received a pitiful morsel of half-burnt kasha and was sent to his bunk (the most uncomfortable one that nobody wanted) early. Steaming with rage, Enaj was like a nuclear reactor on the brink of a meltdown. That night, once everyone else went to bed with stomachs full of roast geese and strawberry pies, Enaj could not sleep. After a while, he noticed that the master tasked with looking over the students that night was snoring, a half-eaten slice of pie still clutched in his fist. Enaj silently crept out of his bunk and looked around. All the other orphans were fast asleep, saliva dribbling from gaping mouths, full stomachs gurgling. Enaj sprinted outside the front doors of the orphanage into the crisp winter night air as quickly as he could, past the lumbering master guarding the front gates, who weakly grasped at Enaj with a meaty hand, before resuming his snoring, still deep in his dreams. Enaj dashed past bewildered passerby on the narrow city streets, slippery with black ice. He darted past the heavily armed guards at the city gates, ignoring the shrieks urging him to stop. A few arrows whistled past his ear, but he did not stop. He ran far into the dark evergreen forest, hurrying forward until he could no longer hear the sounds of footsteps after him.

Shivering, Enaj realized that he had no plan for surviving in the harsh wilderness. Still, he reasoned, it was better to die in the soft snow than to suffer sharp stings at the orphanage. Enaj lay down in the snow and closed his eyes. He felt at peace and surprisingly warm, content to fall asleep finally free. He did not know whether a few minutes or many years passed. Suddenly, he was shaken awake by a rough hand. Enaj lashed out, thinking it was a city guard, but his arms were numb.

“Relax, I only wish to help you,” said the mysterious person through a slit in his black mask. “I am an assassin, Tsruhelkcorb, exiled from this cursed city twenty six years ago by its tyrant, Rezam. I have a large hut out in the wilderness that I built with my own hands from sticks and stones and a few kind words (at this he waved his muscular arms at Enaj). I can see that you are no friend of the city, either. I know how they treat those who are different — I myself was always ridiculed for learning how to kill much faster than others, and I presume something similar happened to you, due to your blue skin. But I myself have no prejudice. Blue or red, all beings are equally mortal.”

The Choice is Yours: Part 1

2018-03-14T16:31:00.003-07:00

Enaj always remembered being different. He was born blue, the result of a genetic anomaly. He lived in an orphanage ever since he could remember, but was always excluded from the games and activities of the other youngsters. Even the old masters of the orphanage, professing themselves to be wise and kind to all, distrusted Enaj and tried to never let him out of their sight. He was often given the most spoiled low-quality food, fewer personal possessions, and less personal attention and teaching from the masters than the other, normal, red-hued beings. Over the years, blood-red rage filled Enaj up to the brim, yet he could not do anything about it. Every time he was rebuffed by the other students, he stood by himself in the corner of the main room, shaking. He saw the masters stand by and laugh at the futility of his attempts. Enaj especially disliked master Gnas, who urged the other masters to be ever more strict with Enaj and to use even fewer resources on Enaj than some wanted. Thus, from childhood, Enaj experienced coldness and repulsion rather than kindness and respect.

One day, Enaj decided that he could not take it any longer. The very thought of the orphanage and everyone in it physically sickened him, making vomit rise up to his windpipe and burn it with acidity. He knew that he would never be allowed to leave until he was given an apprenticeship at some respectable place and would be a useful member of society once outside. Yet despite the masters’ dislike of Enaj, they seemed to abhor the idea of his being successful outside the orphanage with the normals, even more than the idea of him staying forever. They never allowed him to take any apprenticeship he would be offered, and even told the potential mentors that Enaj was a liar and lazy. No matter how much Enaj pleaded with them to let him leave, the master’s response was always that he was not ready. So Enaj escaped.

Black Holes Research Paper

2016-02-08T12:05:00.004-08:00

Introduction

Black holes have been a subject of science fiction for many years, but only recently has their existence been proven and widely accepted. According to Roeland Van Der Marel, the existence of black holes has been proposed since the eighteenth century, and Einstein’s equations predicted black holes in the 1900s. So what is a black hole? A black hole is an object that has a very concentrated mass - there is a lot of mass in a very small amount of space. This concentration of mass has such a strong gravitational pull that nothing, not even light, can escape outside (Roeland Van Der Marel). The point of no return is called the event horizon, and anything past that point will be sucked inside the black hole. A black hole also distorts space-time in different ways (The Universe). According to Roeland Van Der Marel, scientists believe there are billions of black holes in the universe. Even though we know a lot about black holes, there are still many mysteries surrounding them. The research questions which led this were how do black holes form, how do black holes die, what is inside a black hole, and what effects on spacetime do black holes have.

Formation of Black Holes

Black holes have not been here since the beginning of the universe. They are formed from dying stars of a specific type. Roeland Van Der Marel says, “black holes are formed when the gravity of an object overpowers the atomic and nuclear forces that resist compression.” The object’s gravity makes it fall onto itself and compress into a small point. More massive objects have a higher force of gravity, so black holes can only form if an object has more mass than a critical value, which is twenty five times the mass of the sun (Roeland Van Der Marel). The more mass an object has, the greater the size of the black hole resulting from it. Black holes usually form from dying stars. When a star of a large enough size runs out of fuel (which is mainly hydrogen) it explodes as a supernova (The Universe). What remains after the explosion is a black hole with less than half of the star’s original mass. Most of the star’s material would be blown away in the supernova (The Universe).

A star being sucked inside a black hole

Lifetime of a Black Hole

During a black hole’s lifetime, it gains mass, for example when it captures matter from its vicinity. According to Roeland Van Der Marel, black holes mostly consume gas and dust, but anything that comes beyond the event horizon will get sucked in. Another way a black hole can gain mass is through the collision of two black holes. If two black holes collide, they will merge into one black hole with the combined mass of both black holes. Even though black holes can gain mass, they are constantly losing minute amounts of energy because of quantum effects. There are quantum fluctuations happening in space all the time. When a particle and an anti-particle appear out of nothingness as a result of quantum fluctuation and the anti-particle happens to cross over into the black hole’s event horizon, it will get sucked in. Meanwhile, the other particle will fly away, and this will appear to an outside observer as if the black hole spontaneously emitted a particle. Furthermore, the anti-particle sucked into the black hole will react with some particle within it and they will both be annihilated, thereby reducing the mass of the black hole. This process will eventually cause a black hole to evaporate, ending its life with an explosion. However, according to Roeland Van Der Marel, for huge black holes this end will only happen in trillions of years or more.

A supermassive black hole

Types of Black Holes

There are many different types of black holes, and they all share one important feature.

All the matter in a black hole is squeezed into an infinitely small space called singularity. Singularity is a trait shared by all types of black holes. In fact, Roeland Van Der Marel says, “all black holes have the same properties except for their mass, whether they spin on their axis, and their electric charge.” There are black holes that don’t spin, yet a more common type of a black hole rotates on its axis. Also, most black holes don’t have an electric charge. Finally, there are three types of black holes according to the mass: stellar black holes that are a few times heavier than the sun, supermassive black holes that can have billions of times more mass than the sun, and finally miniature black holes that have a mass less than that of the sun (The Universe). However, miniature black holes are only predicted by theory and have not yet been discovered. Supermassive black holes are found at the center of almost every galaxy.

This shows the structure of a black hole

Effects on Spacetime from a Black Hole

With their enormous gravitational force, black holes distort space and time. For example, according to Roeland Van Der Marel, a black hole bends light, so an observer would see two duplicate images of the same object on opposite sides of a black hole. This distortion of light is called gravitational lensing, and the effect is the more powerful the more mass a black hole has. Gravitational lensing occurs because of a black hole’s immense gravity. Black holes also have an effect on time. A black hole’s gravity would make time slow down near the event horizon. According to Roeland Van Der Marel, in singularity, time completely stops. So if a watch were dropped into a black hole, it would tick slower than a watch of the same type that remained on Earth. Finally, Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts that in the singularity of a black hole, there may be a bridge to another universe or another time (The Universe). This is similar to the effects of a wormhole. However, nobody actually knows what happens in the singularity of a black hole. It is one of their many mysteries.

Conclusion

In conclusion, black holes are extremely heavy objects created by enormous dying stars. Their gravitational pull sucks matter toward them, and nothing can escape once it gets too close. Inside a black hole there is a mysterious singularity. Although black holes are far from Earth and pose no serious danger to us, they are still important elements in the universe. Black holes will remain long after humans have become extinct and all stars have faded away. Black holes are still mysterious and awe-inspiring objects, and will continue to yield answers to the universe for years to come.

Citations

1. The Universe, Black Holes Episode, A&E Television Networks, 2011, Movie Episode

2. "Hubblesite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull Interactive: Ecyclopedia. "Hubblesite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull. Roeland Van Der Marel, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. <http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyclopedia.html>.

Citations for Text Features

csmonitor.com

speed-light.info

universetoday.com

wired.co.uk

The Existence of Black Holes

2016-02-08T11:57:00.004-08:00

You are on a spaceship, cruising in the midst of space. All of a sudden, there is a disturbance. The spaceship starts accelerating toward a point. You quickly turn the engines on to full power in reverse, trying to escape the mysterious gravitational pull on the ship, but to no avail. You are being sucked into a black hole, something you never had believed in. And to think, all this could have been prevented had you just believed… Scientists have long searched for evidence of the existence of black holes. The evidence was hard to find, since black holes don’t let light escape them, and thus they cannot be directly observed. However, their existence has been inferred through their effects on their surroundings. There is one thing black holes can’t hide - their noticeable effect on the gravitational field. Contrary to some who think black holes are only science fiction, black holes really do exist.

First of all, scientists have observed large clouds of cosmic dust, stars, and other matter orbiting an invisible massive object at extremely high speeds (The Universe). Some of those objects get closer and closer to the center of rotation until they disappear from view. Physicists have modeled this phenomenon and came to the conclusion that the most likely explanation is that the matter is getting sucked inside a black hole. According to Roeland Van Der Marel, these observations and their theoretical explanation are based on Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which predicted the existence of black holes back in 1915. Furthermore, stars and other known galactic objects do not have a high enough gravitational pull to make matter orbit them at such high speeds, and they do reflect light, so if the mysterious object in the center of rotation were a regular star or a dust cloud the scientists would have been able to see it (Roeland Van Der Marel). So overall, the only phenomenon that could be causing the matter’s perplexing behavior is a black hole.

Scientists have also observed gamma rays streaming from the points where the matter disappears under the invisible gravitational pull (The Universe). According to NASA, the types of cosmic objects that can produce high energy gamma rays include remains of supernovas, quasars, neutron stars, and black holes. In the case described in The Universe, there are no visible objects such as stars, supernovas, quasars, or neutron stars in the vicinity. The remaining plausible explanation is that the gamma rays are emitted due to the extremely rapid acceleration of matter falling into the singularity of a black hole.

The most direct evidence of the existence of black holes is in the relationship between the mass and size of massive objects lying at the center of many galaxies, including our very own Milky Way galaxy. By dividing the mass of an object at the center of our galaxy by its size, scientists have calculated the implied density, which turned out to be high enough to produce a black hole. As discovered by Einstein in his general theory of relativity, once the density of matter exceeds some critical value, any particle that gets close enough will be sucked in and won’t be able to escape even if it moves with the speed of light. This is how black holes appear (The Universe). Astronomical observations of cosmic matter’s behavior near the center of our galaxy and several other galaxies are precisely consistent with the phenomena predicted to occur near black holes.

Despite all the evidence, black holes may actually not exist. According to Stephen J. Crothers, even though it may seem as though black holes exist, the idea of black holes goes against the theory of quantum physics, and therefore it is impossible for black holes to exist. If quantum physics had more evidence supporting it, that would be a valid concern. However, quantum physics is itself an unproven theory, with substantially less evidence for it than for the existence of black holes. So actually, the theory of quantum physics might itself be wrong, while the theory that black holes exist looks perfectly valid.

Black holes have a profound effect on everything in the universe, and there is ample evidence for their existence. First, matter has been seen orbiting invisible objects at high speeds, eventually getting sucked into a point, nowhere to be seen. Second, high-energy gamma rays have been observed radiating from those points, as cosmic matter falls into a gravitational singularity of black holes. Finally, the densities of massive objects at galaxy centers lie above the critical level where the space warps and a black hole appears. All these facts indisputably point to only one thing: the existence of black holes. Even Einstein would agree.

Works Cited

1. The Universe, Black Holes Episode, A&E Television Networks, 2011, Movie Episode

2. "HubbleSite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull Interactive: Encyclopedia."HubbleSite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull. Roeland Van Der Marel, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. <http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/encyclopedia.html>.

3. Stephen J. Crothers, person

4. "Gamma-rays." Gamma-rays. NASA, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/gamma.html>.

Lab Report: Hydrogen Peroxide and Yeast Exothermic Reaction

2016-02-08T11:55:00.002-08:00

Abstract: Hydrogen peroxide is a substance which destroys yeast, an organic fungi. When hydrogen peroxide is added to yeast, an exothermic reaction occurs, which means the temperature rises. Yeast has an enzyme has catalase which acts as a catalyst. When yeast and hydrogen peroxide are mixed, hydrogen peroxide is decomposed into oxygen gas and water. When the ratio of hydrogen peroxide to yeast in the reaction changes, the change in temperature will differ. The maximum amount of temperature change would be reached when the formula of the reaction, 2H2O2-->2H2O+O2, is balanced. A way to find a ratio closer to the formula’s ratio in real life is to try doing the reaction with multiple trials with differing amounts of yeast as the independent variable and the same amount of hydrogen peroxide as the control. When done, the results were that the reaction with the greatest temperature change was when a half cup of hydrogen peroxide was mixed with ¼ of a teaspoon of yeast. This led to the conclusion that as the yeast added to hydrogen peroxide decreases, the temperature change will increase. However, in the end, when the ratio was reached, decreasing the yeast would stop making the temperature change greater.

Introduction

According to Newton Science, an exothermic reaction is a chemical reaction in which the reactants heat up after the reaction. A good example of an exothermic reaction is the reaction that occurs when yeast and hydrogen peroxide are mixed together. Yeast cells create hydrogen peroxide, but this compound destroys them. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent which reacts with the organic compound cell walls of the yeast. Yeast uses an enzyme called catalase to destroy it. Therefore the hydrogen peroxide naturally decomposes into oxygen gas and water. In the process heat energy is released, which makes it an exothermic reaction.The formula for the reaction is 2H2O2-->2H2O+O2.

Let’s Talk Science states that Exothermic reactions occur regularly and are important in our everyday lives. Fire is one of the most useful exothermic reactions. It is a type of exothermic reaction called a combustion reaction, according to Brinkster Misterguch.

A combustion reaction is when oxygen combines with another compound to form water and carbon dioxide. Since these are exothermic reactions, the temperature increases.

According to How Stuff Works, hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing agent and a weak acid. It is a clear liquid. Hydrogen peroxide is usually stable, but when heated above eighty degrees Celsius, it decomposes.

Candida Plan states that hydrogen peroxide consists of two hydrogen and two oxygen atoms. Hydrogen Peroxide has many uses. For example, people put hydrogen peroxide in cuts. When they do this, fizzing occurs. This is because blood cells contain catalase, which makes hydrogen peroxide decompose. Catalase does this very efficiently, up to two hundred thousand reactions a second. The bubbles seen during the fizzing are made out of oxygen gas. Hydrogen peroxide is also used as an antiseptic and as bleach. It was even used in high concentrations for rocket engines in World War Two. Hydrogen peroxide was discovered in 1818 by L. J. Thenard, according to Fact Monster.

Yeast has long been important for humans. It is a microscopic fungi. According to Grolier Online, yeasts are the true fungi of the class Ascomycetes, subclass Hemiascomycetidae. Yeast is heterotrophic, don’t have chlorophyll, and are widely dispersed. Yeast is found in plant leaves, flowers, skin surfaces, and the intestines of warm blooded animals. The most well known yeast type that has the most commercial uses is Saccharomyces cervisiae. Yeast is used for fermentation, for cooking, for making bread, for biofuels, and in the case of brewers yeast, for treating disease. Yeast ferments fruit and grains to make wine and other alcoholic beverages. When making bread, the dough rises because of the yeast. Yeast cells are unicellular, have round cells, and reproduce mostly by the process of budding.

The hypothesis was that when different amounts of yeast are mixed with the same amount of hydrogen peroxide, the different amount of yeast should affect the temperature change differently. The prediction was that as the amount of yeast decreases, the temperature change will decrease. According to Middle School Chemistry, as the amount of catalase, in hydrogen peroxide’s case yeast, increases, the temperature change will also increase. That was the basis of the hypothesis.

Methods

The materials used in the experiment were hydrogen peroxide, yeast, measuring cup, measuring spoons, a pen, a notepad, and a digital thermometer. ½ cup of hydrogen peroxide was poured into the measuring cup. The temperature of the hydrogen peroxide in the measuring cup was measured with the digital thermometer, and recorded. A teaspoon of yeast was measured out and poured into the measuring cup. After the reaction, the temperature of the substance was measured again with the digital thermometer, and recorded. These steps were repeated with ¼ teaspoon of yeast and ½ teaspoon of yeast.

Results

Graph 1: This graph represents the positive change in temperature, in degrees Celsius, when three different solutions were mixed outdoors- 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 1 teaspoon of yeast, 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 0.5 teaspoons of yeast, and 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 0.25 teaspoons of yeast.

Graph 2: This graph represents the positive change in temperature, in degrees Celsius, when three different solutions were mixed indoors- 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 1 teaspoon of yeast, 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 0.5 teaspoons of yeast, and 0.5 cups of hydrogen peroxide mixed with 0.25 teaspoons of yeast.

Trial 1 Experiment Results

Trial 1: Outdoor	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 tsp yeast	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 tsp yeast	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 tsp yeast
degrees before and after	17.9ºC, then 13.8ºC	16.6ºC, then 32.9ºC	15.3ºC, then 31.5ºC
change in temperature	15.9ºC	16.3ºC	16.2ºC
calorie increase	1908cal	1956cal	1944cal

Table 1: This shows the data collected in trial 1, the degrees before and after, the change in temperature, and the calorie increase.

Trial 2 Experiment Results

Trial 2: Indoor	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1 tsp yeast	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 tsp yeast	½ cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 tsp yeast
degrees before and after	24.2ºC, then 37.9ºC	23.2ºC, then 37.1ºC	21.7ºC, then 37.8ºC
change in temperature	13.7ºC	13.9ºC	16.1ºC
calorie increase	1626cal	1644cal	1932cal

Table 2: This shows the data collected in trial 2, the degrees before and after, the change in temperature, and the calorie increase.

Image 1: This figure shows the yeast that was used in the experiment.

Image 2: This shows the hydrogen peroxide used during the experiment

Image 3: This shows the measuring cups used in the experiment.

Image 4: This figure show how the hydrogen peroxide was measured before the yeast was added.

Image 5: This shows how the hydrogen peroxide looked like before adding yeast.

Image 6: This shows how the hydrogen peroxide looked after 1 teaspoon of yeast was added to it in trial 2, indoors. The Hydrogen Peroxide started to bubble and fizz when yeast was added.

Image 7: This shows how the mixture of the hydrogen peroxide and yeast was measured. The temperature measured was at 31.3 degrees Celsius.

Discussion

The hypothesis was proven wrong by the data in both Graph 1 and Graph 2. The hypothesis was that as the amount of yeast added to the hydrogen peroxide decreases, the temperature change will decrease. The graphs show a steady increase in temperature change as the amount of yeast added to the hydrogen peroxide decreases. This is the opposite results than the prediction and hypothesis, so the hypothesis is therefore invalid. This was because in experiment, there was too much yeast particles than to have the chemical equation for the reaction balanced. Therefore, when the amount of yeast was lowered, the ratio of yeast to hydrogen peroxide was closer to the one in the equation, and the temperature change was greater.

An inverse relationship between the amount of yeast and the temperature change is shown in the graphs. As the amount of yeast decreases, the temperature change increases. There is also a relationship between the calories and the temperature change. This is shown in Table 1 and Table 2. As the temperature change increases, the amount of calories increases. The average temperature change is about 16.3ºC. The table shows that the average number of calories is 1740Cal. Human error is when people naturally make mistakes, because humans cannot be perfect. A possible human error in the experiment is that the digital thermometer was put in late or early, which changes the data. Also, the weather might have impacted the results, mostly in the outdoor experiments. Furthermore, the amount poured into the mixture might not have been accurate because of human error. Human error might have changed the results, but the experiment was conducted as carefully as possible to limit human error.

Images 1 and 2 show that the hydrogen peroxide and yeast were quality, and it also shows the size of a packet of yeast and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. The yeast is organic and the hydrogen peroxide has a concentration of 3%. Image 6 shows how the bubbles and fizzing were huge. Compared to the amount of hydrogen peroxide in Image 5, the hydrogen peroxide increased in volume. The temperature increased, and steam started spewing out of the mixture, which shows that the temperature increased very rapidly.

A problem faced during the experiment process were that members of the group forgot to bring enough yeast, so the amount of yeast in the experiment was changed. Also, there wasn’t a towel to clean the materials, so the workspace got messy. Another problem was that the hydrogen peroxide ran out fast, and some yeast was spilled which made it also run out fast. Some of the pictures were unclear, so they were unable to be used. However, the group members were organized, worked together well, and got the experiment done quickly and on time.

Next time, the experiment would be changed in some ways. First, there would be more than two trials for more reliable data. Also, all the trials would be held indoors to reduce human error caused by varying weather. Furthermore, the amount of yeast would vary more and there would be more different amounts of yeast than just three. This is all to to reduce error and make the results more meaningful, clear, and accurate. To reduce human error even more, after each experiment the material would be cleaned. The equation would also be taken into account when deciding the amount of yeast. A good video explaining the experiment and showing all the steps would be made next time to be able to present the results better. Overall, the experiment making an exothermic reaction using yeast and hydrogen peroxide went well and the work was split evenly.

References

1.Barrans, Richard E. "Hydrogen Peroxide and Yeast Formula." Newton Science. Government, n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

2."Hydrogen Peroxide." Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help. Columbia University, n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

3."Yeast." Fact Monster: Online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help. Columbia University, n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

4."Why Does Hydrogen Peroxide Foam When You Put It on a Cut?" HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

5."Use of Yeast: Major Developments." Explore Yeast – All You Have to Know about Yeasts. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

6."Candida Diets: Part II: Hydrogen Peroxide « Candida Blog by Dr. Jeff McCombs, DC."Candida Blog by Dr Jeff McCombs DC Candida Diets Part II Hydrogen Peroxide Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

7."What Is an Exothermic Reaction." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

8."TheSix Types of Chemical Reaction." The Six Types of Chemical Reaction. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

9."Yeast." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2013. Web. 9 May. 2013.

10."A Catalyst and the Rate of Reaction." Middle School Chemistry. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.

Lab Report: Finding the effect of various substances on a microbial fuel cell

2016-02-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Abstract: Microbial fuel cells are devices that generate electricity from soil using bacteria. The bacteria transfer electrons from the soil to the circuit of the microbial fuel cell. The microbial fuel cell is a sealed container to prevent oxygen from entering. This causes the bacteria inside to use anaerobic respiration, which causes them to produce energy in the form of ATP. Different substances are usually added to the microbial fuel cell in order to stimulate the bacteria so more energy is produced. However, different substances affect the energy output of the microbial fuel cell differently. Therefore, different substances should be tried to find the one which has the greatest affect on the electricity output. In this experiment, there were three trials. In the first trial, water was added, in the second trial, salt was added, and in the last trial, citric acid was added. Overall, the microbial fuel cell generated the most electricity when salt was added to it. The conclusion from this was that ionic compounds like salt would generate the most energy. However, it is hard to know if this is accurate since there was only one type of ionic compound used, so the success of salt might have been a coincidence.

Introduction:

The microbial fuel cell is an energy generating container that generates energy through mud and water. The experiment that was conducted was an experiment to see which medium would work best mixed into the soil to generate the energy. The experiment consisted of salt, tap water, and citric acid. They made up the independent variable of the experiment. The dependent variable was the amount of energy generated. The hypothesis was that if we used acid type chemicals, then the energy generated would be greater than if we used other types of chemicals. The MFC kit is a way to generate green electricity.

The MFC can use a bacteria known as geobacter, which has the ability to transfer electrons which enables it to extract energy from biomass. (Adrian Covert, 2009) Biomass is the total mass of organisms in a given area or volume. Basically, this bacteria can extract energy from things like mud and dirt. Topsoil is what was used during the experiment. Other bacteria can be used to generate electricity. MFC’s are devices that use bacteria as catalysts (a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected) to generate electricity. (Bruce Logan, 2006)

Recovery for electrical energy is a key point for evaluating a MFC. (Li Xiao, 2014) MFC’s are used for green energy, green energy is green because it saves energy, and recovery of energy is also part of saving it. It is also green since it uses things like wastewater, instead of other non-reusable resources, or unused water. (Rita Martin, 2014)

Methods

The materials used in the experiment were a microbial fuel cell, purchased from Keego technologies, fine grained salt, tap water, citric acid, from Carolina Biological, a notebook, a multimeter, also from Keego Technologies, and finally topsoil, which was collected from Battery Park, in New York City. At first, the topsoil was mixed with water until it was of a doughy consistency. Next, the topsoil was poured into the bottom of the microbial fuel cell container until the layer was one centimeter high. Next, the anode was placed on top of the soil, and then more soil was added until it was up to four centimeters above the bottom of the container. After that, the cathode was placed on top of that and air bubbles were removed from the container. Finally, the wires were placed through holes in the lid and the lid was sealed onto the top of the container. Each day for five days, starting from the first day the microbial fuel cell was assembled, a multimeter was used to measure the electricity output of the microbial fuel cell by placing the two wires of the multimeter over the two wires of the microbial fuel cell so that the metal parts touched. The results were written down in a notebook. The same steps were repeated two more times, except for in the second trial, 15 milliliters of salt were mixed into the soil along with the water, and in the third trial, 15 milliliters of citric acid were mixed in. Between each trial, the microbial fuel cell was thoroughly cleaned with water and the soil that was in it was thrown out.

Results

Graph 1: This graph shows the microvolts generated by the microbial fuel cell over five days for each type of medium put in. The mediums were water, salt, and citric acid.

Discussion:

The hypothesis was that acids added to a microbial fuel cell would cause it to produce more energy than if other types of substances were added. This hypothesis was proven wrong by the data in graph 1. The graph shows that every single day of the experiment, when salt was added to the microbial fuel cell it produced the most energy, more than what the acid in the experiment, citric acid, produced. This is against the hypothesis, so the hypothesis is therefore invalid.

Also, the graph shows that for each consecutive day when water was in the microbial fuel cell, the microbial fuel cell produced more energy than the last day. This might have occurred because the bacteria were more active as time went on. In contrast, for salt, after two consecutive days of increasing energy production, on the fourth day there was a sudden drop in energy production, and on the fifth day the energy production was even lower than that of the fourth day. This might have happened because the soil had run out of enough electrons for the bacteria to transfer to the circuit. For citric acid, there was a spike in energy production on the second day, but on the third day the energy production had fallen drastically. From there, the energy production slowly increased for the remaining two days. This might have happened because the soil ran out of electrodes for all the bacteria, but then the bacteria started transferring energy a bit more effectively for the coming days.

Human error might have changed the results of the experiment. First, the amount of soil or water mixed into the soil might have varied slightly, and the amount of each substance added to the microbial fuel cell could also have varied. This could have changed the results. Furthermore, the fact that the soil was from the same park but from different parts of the park could have caused the decreases in energy made in the citric acid and salt trials. The multimeter might have measured the energy output with a margin of error.

A problem faced in the experiment was that the ground was often frozen over, which made it impossible to gather soil, even with the use of a metal shovel. This caused there to be less trials, which made the results be less accurate. Furthermore, the chemicals ordered from Carolina Biological never got shipped, so there was a smaller variety of chemicals to choose from to conduct trials with. Also, since only three substances were tested, of which one was the control, the power of any specific type of substance to cause the microbial fuel cell to produce more energy than from other substances could not be proven. It could be, for example, that out of all the ionic compounds, only salt helped, and that other types of acids would help the microbial fuel cell generate more energy than citric acid did.

If the experiment were conducted again, there would be more trials of each substance, and more types of substances would be used. The soil would be collected in the fall when it would be easy to collect but wouldn’t change too much before the experiment. Also, to prevent error, a more powerful multimeter would be used.

References

1. "Microbial Fuel Cells Rss." Popular Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

2. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 40, NO. 17, 2006

3. "Recovery of Electrical Energy in Microbial Fuel Cells." - Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ACS Publications). N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

4. "Microbial Fuel Cell – for Conversion of Chemical Energy to Electrical Energy."Microbial Fuel Cell – for Conversion of Chemical Energy to Electric... N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

5. "Microbial Fuel Cells." Microbial Fuel Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

6. "Transmenu Powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club."Microbial Fuel Cell. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

7. "Actions of Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells." The Energy Metabolism of Microorganisms. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

8. "Adenosine Triphosphate." Adenosine Triphosphate. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

9. "Fuel Cells 2000." - Types Of Fuel Cells. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

10. "Microbial Fuel Cell Microbes." Microbe Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Evolving Technology in World War Two

2016-02-08T11:52:00.002-08:00

Guess which event killed the most people ever? Think it was the fall of a huge asteroid sixty five million years ago? No, it was most certainly not! The matter of fact is, World War II was the most destructive event as far as people are concerned. Sixty million people died and even the world map got changed as a result. German Reich rose and fell in power through the war. Soviet empire, on the other hand, first fell and then rose. The power of the United States kept ascending through the war, while the power of the Great Britain kept descending. Britain started the war as a mighty empire and reached the end of the war seeing its empire crumble and collapse. The Axis and the Allies were both forces to be reckoned with. World War II led to the inception of many technological innovations, since battles were no longer about soldiers galloping on horses brandishing sabers. Amazing battle technology was developed, including the most powerful bomb in the world at the time.

World War Two was waged mostly in Europe and the Pacific. However, the countries involved were from all around the world. The main adversaries were Germany, Italy and Japan on the Axis side, versus the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States as the Allies. Many other countries were involved but they did not play as crucial a role. Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, started the war by first annexing Austria, then eating away at Czechoslovakia, and finally declaring the war on Poland. Germany’s goal was to rule all of Europe and eventually the world. Germany was incessantly developing new battle technology during the war. One of the main reasons Germany won the first battles in the beginning of the war was because it had better battle technology and better experience using it on the modern battlefield. For example, Germany developed advanced tanks before the other countries. Britannica Online’s article on World War II describes Germany’s technological advantage and concludes that even if German troops were outnumbered, they could still win. Germany had such a jump start in technology because they made the better use of the disarmament treaty signed after World War I. While other countries were exhausted from the previous war and were harboring pacifist hopes, they didn’t put much priority on researching new advanced battle technologies. Germany, on the other hand, which did not accept its defeat in World War I and was preparing for a re-match, violated the disarmament treaty and spent two decades quietly building up a greater military force and inventing better battle technologies (Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the Second World War).

Germany’s luck turned to the worse when the Allies caught up and overtook the Axis in battle technology. For example, the nuclear bomb was first developed by the United States, not Germany. Britannica Online’s World War II article also points out that the country with the best and most powerful tanks at the end of the war was Russia. As it happened, Germany started the war with winning many battles thanks to superior technology and ended it with its technological superiority completely lost. This shows that battle technology has a big impact on the outcome of the war.

The three important areas of battle technology were ground, water, and air. The major innovation in ground technology was the tank. Big technological advances in navy weapons happened in submarines. In the air, radar was developed by the Allies and jet missiles were developed by Germany. Without these battle technologies fewer people would have died and the outcome of the war might have been different.

Sub Topic One: Battle technology on the ground in WW2

Ground battles were very important in WWII because many of the warring countries were neighbors geographically. One of the most important ground battle technologies were tanks. Germany was the first country to develop modern tanks with powerful cannons and heavy armor. In fact, Great Britain was the inventor of tanks back in World War I, but in the years between the wars they did not put much importance into this technology. According to Winston Churchill, the British let their technological advantage slip away into the hands of Germany (Churchill, 108). The tanks obliterated enemy infantry (the standard war unit at the time) with their powerful cannons and machine guns. This was because tanks were too heavily armored for the infantry to do much against them. The greatest tank fight in the history of World War II was the Battle of Kursk (Battle of Kursk, Williamson Murray), with about 3,600 tanks participating on the Soviet and German sides. The Soviet forces won the Kursk battle after a fierce struggle. The Soviets wielded tanks that by now were as good as the best German tanks, and beyond that they had also achieved substantial numerical superiority. The main German battle tanks, Tiger and Panther, were too complicated to build in sufficient numbers. The main Soviet tank T-34, on the other hand, was cruder and simpler, which meant it could be built quickly on a huge scale.

Highly explosive land mines are another technology developed during the war. Land mines could do a lot of damage (Mike Croll, History of Land Mines). They were concealed under the ground and exploded when a tank or an infantry soldier stepped on it. Land mines were designed to create defensive barriers against an attacking enemy.

Heavy cannon turrets were developed in World War II and used by the French in their defence fortifications. The PBS movie “Command and Control” directed by James Millar describes the great fortification called the Maginot Line and its powerful turrets in vivid detail. The movie describes a big line of turrets protecting each other on France’s eastern border. German forces respected the Maginot Line so much that they took another route into France through Belgium and Netherlands to avoid having to storm it.

Ground battle technology was critical throughout the war, as we have seen with just three ground technologies -- tanks, land mines, and turrets. Imagine the full impact of all the ground battle technologies. The key ground battle technologies of World War II, such as tanks, are still very important because they may still determine the course of battles. Land mines laid in past wars are still buried today in many locations, so everyone should care about them. About every twenty minutes, a person steps on a land mine and is either killed or injured (Mike Croll, History of Land

Mines). In Afghanistan, where a war is being fought today, the USA uses land mines and they still have a very important role in battles. Advanced turrets are used even today on navy ships and in fortifications. Ground battles have been going on almost since humans first evolved, and they still determine the fate of wars. Ground battle technology advanced a lot in World War II and will keep evolving for many years. If your country has good ground battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.

Sub Topic Two: Battle Technology in the Air in WW2

The air was a relatively new battlefield at the time of World War 2, but it was already very important. As British prime minister Winston Churchill said in one of his parliamentary speeches referring to aircraft crewmen, “never before have so many owed so much to so few”. The air power did not deploy as many fighting men as the army and the navy, but superiority in air technology was key to winning the war.

One of the most important new air battle technologies developed in World War 2 was radar. The side who had the radar, the Allies, were safe from surprise attacks and could keep track of the location of enemy aircraft. This was a huge advantage. Radar is widely used even today in things like air traffic control, in war, detecting weather formations, and detecting terrain (British Broadcasting Company, Radar).

As aircraft became faster, it became important to enable pilots to withstand high acceleration without passing out due to outflow of blood from the brain into the lower part of the body. In response to this need, the United States developed a novel technology called g-suits, which consisted of tight-fitting pants with attached bags of gas or fluid, which would expand and put pressure on the pilot’s abdomen and legs during the aircraft’s acceleration(Phil Buckley, G Suits in WW2- USSAF Service). This protected pilots when accelerating at high speeds, so the planes could now go faster, the pilots would not be as exhausted, and their brain would work better.

The development of the atomic bomb was a very important milestone that changed war forever. Scientific non-military research in nuclear fusion started more than ten years before World War 2, both in Germany and in allied countries such as United States and Great Britain. In the mid thirties, when Hitler came to power, a number of physicists escaped Germany and immigrated to the United States. Einstein himself came to the U.S. and at some point he wrote a letter to President Roosevelt urging him to start work on building the atomic bomb. Although Einstein was a pacifist he realized that if Germans were the first to develop atomic weapons it would be a disaster for the entire world, so he believed the U.S. should be the ones to get this powerful technology first. President Roosevelt agreed and he authorized the Manhattan Project, which was a huge military and technological effort which, indeed, resulted in building the first atomic bombs. The development of atomic bomb was probably the biggest technological project of World War 2, employing thousands of scientists and engineers. The atomic bomb has changed war forever (Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty First Century, Stephen M. Younger) . Just one bomb could now kill hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians within a few seconds. This is more casualties than in the entire Revolutionary War! Many small wars have been going on since the end of World War 2, but there has been no World War 3 partly because a country that decided to make nuclear war on another country would be obliterated as well. War has changed drastically after WWII because now there is a fear of retaliation.

Air battle technology had a great impact throughout the war, as we have seen with just three air technologies- radar, G suits,and the atomic bomb. All the air battle technologies together had an even bigger impact. We should care about radar because it is still used today in war. An example of how it is used is in detecting enemy aircraft. Radar is also used for many things outside war like the field of science. G suits are used in war even now for pilots to function better and have a comfortable experience. Even pilots going at high speeds not in war wear G suits. The atomic bomb created the fear of retaliation that changed war forever. It is important because more advanced versions are developed and if a country like North Korea developed them humans might become extinct. That is how important the nuclear bomb is. Air battles are a relatively new field of warfare, but are already crucial to the outcome of the whole war in general. Air battle technology improved a lot in WWII and will keep evolving for many years after. Wars in the country you live will affect you so if your country has good air battle technology, you will be affected. Also the threat of extinction by nuclear war is always looming the horizon.

If your country has good air battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.

Sub Topic Three: Battle Technology in the Seas and Oceans in WW2

Sea battles were extremely important in WW2. This is because if a country wasn’t in control of the sea, it didn’t get important supplies like ammunition, planes, and building parts, transported to it. So without control over seas and oceans the other forces like the army and air force suffered.

An important type of new technology were submarines equipped with snorkels, which were bigger than earlier models and carried powerful torpedoes. Equipment to extract oxygen from sea water was also developed. Submarines were hard to detect by sight. Submarines were the wolves of the sea, striking the enemy without a trace with their deadly torpedoes.

Before WW2, battleships were the best and most powerful type of navy vessels. In WW2 that all changed. A lot of new technology was invented that changed the course of battles. A new type of vessel - aircraft carriers - were developed by the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, and they became even more important than battleships(WW2 Aircraft Carriers, Military Factory) Aircraft carriers had a long operating range because their planes could strike at a distance. However, at close range battleships were still formidable opponents. Thanks to technological advances, new battleships were faster and lighter. They also had more firepower. The hull was enhanced and made harder to penetrate by cannon fire. Battle cruisers were not as powerful as battleships. One of the best examples of a battle between H.M.S. Hood, a very advanced and powerful British battle cruiser, and the German battleship Bismarck. It was an epic battle but in the end the Bismarck won. In only about seven rounds of fire the Hood’s armor was pierced and it sunk. The Bismarck had better armor but its mobility was still damaged because of the battle. The British prime minister Winston Churchill was struck by the news, according to his World War 2 memoirs, but resolved to destroy the Bismarck, in which Britain eventually succeeded with the use of several navy technologies combined. The British hunt for Bismarck employed a number of navy aircraft from an aircraft carrier, a fleet of cruisers and battleships, new magnetic-warhead torpedoes, navy radar, and code-breaking technology used to decipher German communications. In the end one powerful navy technology succumbed to a combination of other technologies.

Another very important piece of technology is sonar. It has remained in wide use through today. Sonar was developed to help detect submarines, like its cousin radar that was originally developed to detect planes. Sonar helped surface ships detect precise location of submarines so they could shoot at them accurately. Underwater torpedoes were used in WW2 against both submarines and ships. Acoustic homing technology was developed, originally by Germans and then by the allies, to improve accuracy of torpedoes (Clash of Arms, Torpedo: A Historical Review).

Water battle technology was critical throughout the war, as we have seen with five water technologies-- aircraft carriers, advanced submarines, torpedoes, advanced battleships, and sonar. We should care about aircraft carriers because they and more advanced versions of them are still in use today. They still change the course of battles because of their power. Advanced submarines are still in use today and the submarine technology is even used by the field of science and others to make amazing discoveries. This is an example of a battle technology being developed for war but being used for other purposes too. Torpedoes and more advanced versions of them developed in recent years are still in use today in war and play a major role. A single torpedo hitting a ship can sink it while a thousand bullets from a gun won’t. Torpedoes are even more powerful than missiles that are shot from ships in battle. Advanced battles are harder to destroy, bigger, and carry better weapons than earlier battleships. They are still used and at close range are even more powerful than aircraft carriers. Battleships are good at doing blockades to ports and can win decisive victories even in modern times. Sonar is still used in modern times to detect submarines and ships in battle. Sonar is also used in science to make discoveries about the ocean floor. Water battles have been going on since Ancient Times. The Greeks already had water battles. They are still extremely important, because the planet is mostly water and the way to get resources from other countries is by controlling the oceans. Water battle technology advanced a lot in WWII and will keep evolving for many years after. If your country has good navy battle technology, it will be strong enough to defend against the enemy, and therefore you will be safer.

The technology from World War 2 was much more destructive than technology from previous wars. As a result, more people died in WW2 than in any other war. About sixty million people died in WW2. A lot of new battle technologies were invented in WW2. Those battle technologies changed how war would be fought for decades thereafter. Many tactics from before have now become obsolete. The atomic bomb was the one battle technology that changed the world the most. Now if there is a war between two countries they could just drop a couple of atomic bombs of each other and both countries would be devastated. A nuclear war would hurt civilians more than soldiers in an effort to make the enemy country surrender. The effect would be felt long after the war is over because of the radiation effects. So nuclear countries are afraid to declare war and bomb each other, since there will be no clear winner. This is because now there is a fear of retaliation when countries make nuclear war against each other. In the near future wars may become fully or semi-automated. War will be like a video game with robots on the ground, robot planes, and robot ships all controlled from a command-and-control center. In the end the robots will fight completely by themselves and humans will just have to produce robots and give them occasional orders. This future may be closer than you think. In fact, a number of military aircraft flying over Iraq and Afghanistan have no pilots sitting in them and are instead remote-controlled by operators in Florida! Battle technology will keep evolving while the human race still lives.

Works Cited

Buckley, Phil. "ANTI G SUITS IN WW2 – USAAF SERVICE." Heritage Flightgear

Displays. Phil Buckley, 27 Mar. 2010. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Churchill, Winston. Memoirs of the Second World War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959. Print.

Command and Control. James Millar. Public Broadcasting System, 2007. DVD.

Croll, Mike. "The History of Landmines." The History of Landmines. International Campaign to Stop Land Mines, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.

Dean, Bryan. “Technological Advancements Claim Roots in WW2 Era.” Oklahoman, 28

November 2007. Web. 14 January 2013

Murray, Williamson. "Battle of Kursk." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.

"Radar." BBC News. British Broadcasting Company, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

"Torpedo:A Historical Review." Clash of Arms. Clash of Arms, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

"WW2 Aircraft Carriers." Navy Ships. Military FActory, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.

"World War II". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2012

"World War 2 on the Water." Military Channel. Military Channel, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.

Younger, Stephen M. "Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-First Century." Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-First Century. Los Alamos National Laboratory, 27 June 2000. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.

Too Late

2016-02-08T11:48:00.002-08:00

In a pitch black bar, there are poker and drinks available. People of many different backgrounds from all around the city reside there. It reeks of alcohol. It is close to midnight. Larry is deep in thought about making money. If only I had an abundance of money, I would have everything I want and would be the happiest person on earth, thought Larry. He is wearing an oversized fur coat, decorated with ornate designs. Meanwhile, a woman named Maria is relaxing and texting on her smartphone. A bright yellow purse is over her arm, while she wears a light blue shirt over black. But malicious thoughts are being thought in the dark corner of the room. An old, wrinkled, hunched over card player with no name thinks to herself, If I get that man to sell me that woman’s purse and its contents, I would earn more than from my whole career of playing poker. So the mysterious card player invites Larry for a game.

“Psst. Young man, come here and play a game with me. You might learn something” she whispers a bit menacingly. The poker player, with her sunken face and eyes covered with dark glasses, extends her long, wrinkly, bony fingers encrusted with a large number of rings, and beckons him to the table. She stinks of rotten fish. Larry jumps in surprise, being wrenched from his thoughts, and slowly lumbers over and sits down. He gulps. Larry and the mysterious card player play a game of poker, which the mysterious unnamed card player wins effortlessly.

“I’m sorry, but I have no money to give you, even though you won” mumbles

Larry, looking at his toes. “I wish I did have extra money” he adds, sniffing. Larry’s shoulders are hunched, and he puts his hand out to shake the poker player’s hand. All of a sudden, the poker player grabs him with an iron fist and pulls him close.

“Listen here, young man. If that is what you really desire, then we can easily come to a good bargain. So, this is what you will do, and you WILL do it: go trick the woman over there with the fancy purse into leaving her purse with you while she goes somewhere. Then, take the purse and sell it to me. Do we have a deal?” The player’s hot, musty breath is all over Larry’s face. He tries not to breathe. His hand, which the poker player is still clutching tightly, feels like it is about to fall off. Larry is in pain like he is getting bitten by a poisonous snake.

“How much would I earn, exactly?” he gasps. His palms are getting sweaty, and his face is red. Larry feels his forehead pulsing.

“You will not be disappointed” blurts out the mysterious poker player. “GO, AND DO NOT FAIL ME!” yells the poker player, spittle flying out of her mouth and landing all over Larry. She pushes Larry on the floor with all her might, leaving him gasping for breath.

He turns pale and his breath quickens. Larry’s head throbs. His head down, Larry looks back at the mysterious card player. She is playing another game of poker, and doesn’t pay attention to him. He wipes some sweat off his brow, and gets back into a healthy posture. Larry saunters toward Maria. Hmm, I gotta play the role to enchant her, thinks Larry. When he is about a foot away, he plops down at the table Maria is sitting at.

“Hey girl, come over here,” he says in a deep voice.

“Excuse me?” Maria looks up, her head cocked.

“You must be infatuated with your blond hair,” says Larry.

“Why is that?” Maria asks, arms and legs crossed with one eyebrow raised.

“Because you picked your purse to be a perfect color match - good taste,” explains Larry.

Maria says, “Oh, thanks! Yellow is indeed my favorite color.”

“Well, too bad I don’t like it,” says Larry lazily. “Hey waiter, whisky for the lady, and two for me! Stirred, not shaken.”

“Ha, someone here likes James Bond, huh?” said Maria. The waiter brought three diminutive glasses on a silver platter.

“Cheers!” says Larry.

“Cheers!” responds Maria, smiling. Larry continues his teasing conversation with Maria for another twenty minutes, ordering another couple of drinks for her along the way. The more she drinks, the more she feels butterflies in her stomach - wow, what a funny and confident guy! she thinks.

“Umm, you know what, I got to go to the bathroom,” says Maria. “Let’s keep talking when I get back.”

“You got it,” replies Larry, “I’ll go for a dance in the meanwhile, I think that girl in the red standing in the corner is bored.”

“Umm… actually… actually… oh, yeah! I was actually going to ask you to wait for me here and keep an eye on my purse, because it’s too bulky to carry with me into the bathroom.”

“Ah, well,” says Larry, “I hate waiting, but okay, I’ll do it just this once.” Maria, smiling and giddy, pecks Larry on the cheek and dashes to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Larry’s smile disappears. How can I betray that charming women? he thinks to himself. I am in love with her. He rips out his hair, jumping up and down. But the money, the happiness. “Mmmmm. How can I ever decide?!” he blurts out, his head down. Eventually, after many long minutes of mulling it over, pacing back and forth, Larry’s spine straightens. I can be happy with her too, he thinks. Maria comes out of the bathroom and heads toward Larry, smiling.

“Can I dance with you?” she asks, tussling his hair. Larry trudges over, frowning. “I have something to tell you” he says dolefully.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” Maria asks, her brows creased.

“Um, I, ah-huh” Larry sighs. “I did a very bad thing, and I hope you will forgive me. I made a deal with someone to, um- I made a deal for me to enchant you and then steal your purse” Larry blurts out quickly. At first, there is a long silence. “I-” Larry begins.

“How could you! I thought you were my friend!” yells Maria, her eyes welling with tears. Maria’s face is flushed with blood. Her eyes pop, and her heart goes into her throat. “You betrayed me!” she screams. Maria slaps Larry with all her might, and bolts out of the bar, crying.

Larry is crestfallen. He cries, and puts his face in his hands. Sobbing, he hates himself for admitting his secret to her. I could have pretended the deal didn’t exist, and everything would have been fine Larry thinks. Now I won’t even get any money. Eventually, Larry stops crying. His gaze drifts to the table, where Maria’s yellow purse still lies. In her hurry, she had left her purse. With a deep sigh, Larry takes the purse and drags it over to the mysterious poker player, sniffing and his head down. His shoulders are hunched. “Here is the purse.” Larry says, weakly dropping the bright yellow purse into the poker player’s lap. She looks up with a crooked smile.

“Oh good. I knew you would bring it eventually. Now here is your reward” she rasps, throwing a large bag full of hundred dollar bills to Larry. Larry takes the bag and retreats to the corner to think. I am now richer than in my wildest dreams, but why am I still so unhappy and melancholy? Larry thought. He knew the answer. Suddenly, it dawned on him. The only person who really profited today.., is that despicable poker player. I’ve been tricked! thought Larry. He clenches his fists, and stomps back toward the poker player.

“I want the purse back” he snarls. “I will give you back the money. Then I will go and give the purse back to Maria. I will spend the rest of my life searching for her if necessary!” says Larry forcefully.

“Oh, but it is too late!” laughs the poker player evilly, standing up and shaking her hands in front of her. “The transaction is done. Mwahahahahahaha!”

Thoughts about History and Analysis of the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond

2016-02-08T11:38:00.004-08:00

History has been shaped by many varied forces, and controversy exists as to why some societies conquered others, instead of being conquered themselves. The book Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, has an unusual theory as to why Eurasia conquered much of the world: geography. The author distills the differences among various civilizations to their underlying geographies, such as the amount of domesticable animals and plants available for farming, arguing that an excess of those factors in Eurasia gave it an edge over other societies. The author uses examples spanning the themes of human-environment interaction, culture interaction, state-building, creation of economic systems, and the development of social structures to prove his argument.

One instance of the theme of human-environment interaction in the book is the various diseases that the domestication of large animals conferred upon farming societies. The author writes that the most lethal diseases, like smallpox, flu, malaria, etc, have evolved to infect humans from animals. Over time, societies with a large variety of livestock species, such as the farming societies in Eurasia, would have been exposed to many such diseases. The people in those societies eventually became resistant, as a population, to the microbes’ harmful effects. Thus, when they came into contact with societies with fewer domesticated animals and thus fewer dangerous infections, the lethal diseases spread among the hunter-gatherers. For example, when Pizarro arrived to the Incan empire, most of the Incas had already died of diseases like smallpox that had been spread earlier by Europeans. Thus, the diseases, and indirectly domesticated animals, changed history by being the main reason that Europeans conquered the Incas, and not the opposite. Thus, this supports the author’s main argument that geography led certain societies to have an advantage over other societies. This example illustrates the theme of human-environment interaction because it is the environment, in the form of the domesticated animals, interacting with humans and passing on diseases to them, giving them more immunity to those diseases compared to hunter-gatherers. I chose this example of the theme because it was interesting to see how such small things like bacteria and viruses can have such a large effect on history, and how, even though the Eurasians suffered from the diseases in the short-term, it led them to conquer much of the world in the long-term.

An example of the theme of interaction of cultures in the book is the dissemination of gunpowder throughout the world. First, gunpowder was invented in China. The technology eventually spread to the Arabs from there. The English saw the Arabs using cannons against the Spanish, and the English introduced cannons and guns to their own armies. From there, the technology inevitably spread across all Europe, since countries who refused to use it would be conquered by those who did. An especially interesting case occurred when one New Zealand tribe acquired muskets from Europeans, thus having an enormous military advantage over other tribes. New Zealand then had the musket wars, where the individual tribes either acquired muskets or were destroyed by those who had. It is also a great example of the immense power of technology, and how even one technology can cause a large advantage for the societies that have it. This example supports the author’s argument because although the technology rapidly disseminated across Eurasia for a specific reason- the author argues this is because of its East-West axis. Specifically, the East-West Axis allowed for diffusion because locations at the same latitude have similar climates, making it easy for people to trade with each other. On the other hand, technology dissemination did not occur in the Americas, with a North-South axis, since there were many varied climates across Panama, which separated North and South America. That difference in technology made it very easy for few Europeans to subjugate Native American civilizations. This example illustrates the theme of interaction of cultures because it is about how technology spreads by way of cultures interacting, whether the technology gets spread through trade or through war. I chose the example of gun technology dissemination because it showed how cultures were forced to acquire the latest technology, even if they did not wish to do so.

An interesting example of the theme of state-building is the conquest of the Incas by the Spanish, with the Spanish aiming to expand their empire. The Incas had more than 80,000 soldiers, while the Spanish had only 150. However, using their superior metal weaponry of cannons and guns, the Spanish destroyed the Incan empire in a series of battles. An intriguing part of the conquest is what the Spanish used to justify the conquest. According to the writing of a Spanish soldier who had been with Pizarro, the reason the Spanish attacked was that Atahualpa dropped a copy of the bible on the ground after it was given to him by a priest. This example supports the author’s argument that it is geography - which causes contrasting technology in places with different geographies, as explained in the previous paragraph- that causes one society to triumph over another. This is because it shows how superior technology that arose from favorable geography, in this example ships and gunpowder, can play such a large role in the meeting of two civilizations. The Spanish subjugation of the Incas is a great example of the theme, since it shows the enormous lengths societies will go to to conquer more land and build up their state’s power. I chose this example because it was fascinating how the Spanish used a seemingly weak excuse of someone dropping a book to start an enormous war with the Incas.

The main example of the creation of an economic system in the book was the emergence of specialized workers, who could produce unique goods to trade with others, from an agricultural lifestyle. Farming developed in different locations around the world independently, though for similar reasons. First of all, there had to be suitable crops in an area, for example barley, rice, wheat, and other productive plant species. Rising populations could have led some societies to start planting crops purposefully after noticing plants growing from seeds accidentally dropped onto soil. Crops provided a large excess of food, which meant a part of the population would be free to pursue activities other than food production. These were specialized workers who could create items like pottery, art, and metal. These items were then traded with other societies. This example supports the author’s argument because it shows how important agriculture is to the creation of specialized products, which could lead to advanced technology. Specifically, geographical conditions were more favorable for agriculture in some parts of the world than in others, and those with agriculture developed an advantage over those who remained hunter-gatherers in population size, and, more importantly, developed specialized products that led to trade and dissemination of technology and ideas. Specialization because of agriculture illustrates the theme by showing how varied products emerged that could then be traded with other civilizations. I chose this example because it was intriguing how knowing the diet of a civilization correlates with its influence.

An important example of the development of social structures is the author’s description of the evolution from bands to chiefdoms. Bands are groups of less than a hundred related people. They are nomadic hunter-gatherers, and thus cannot support a large population. Tribes are larger, with hundreds of people, that live in a village and may use farming. In both, the members are kin to each other, and there is no actual leader with more power than the rest of the people. However, at the next stage of social structure, a chiefdom with thousands of people, different economic classes emerge. One person, the chief, had power over the others in that he made all the major decisions, and that role was hereditary. Food surpluses in chiefdoms went to the chief and various bureaucrats, who did not actually work the land. Slaves were sometimes used, a practice nonexistent in bands and tribes. The commoners gave tribute to the ruling class,some of which was given back to them eventually. Overall, societies became more complex and unequal as time went on. However, this evolution started occurring earlier in areas with agriculture, giving those areas that progressed to more complex societies a military and technological advantage over those still living as bands or tribes. Thus, the author’s argument is supported, since the root cause of why one society triumphed over another is once again distilled down to social structure, which in turn arouse from geography, as discussed earlier. This example illustrates the theme of development of social structure by showing its evolution from bands to chiefdoms and the changes that occurred from that progression. I chose this example because it is interesting that though societies became wealthier on the whole, most of them went to the emerging upper class, so income inequality vastly increased.

In conclusion, the book Guns, Germs, and Steel made a good argument for geography being the root cause of historical destinies of various societies. The author claims that an excess of domesticable plants and animals, an East-West axis, and other geographical factors led the Eurasians to lead the world in complex societies and technology. It was thus geography, not the people themselves that was really responsible for their success or failure, and people should take in account geographical factors when predicting the success of present societies.

Thank You-Poem One

2013-12-23T12:02:00.002-08:00

Thank You.

the air stale,

musty and misty,

missed the escape!

the ancient guard blocked-

the entrance with new paradoxes

the cell reeked of riddles!

3 days worth of why,

6 months worth of whats,

5 years worth of hows.

he gives the answers-- try to pack them in tight.

one day he'll slip,

a question will repeat.

this marathon repeats,

the cells are out of space

the last breath comes

you're free to go!

again and again, tricked into learning.

An interesting aspect of the Wizard of Oz book

2013-10-19T06:22:00.003-07:00

At first glance, the book The Wizard of Oz seems like an innocent children’s story. But when looking deeper, hidden political commentary begins to emerge. The book The Wizard of Oz, by Frank Baum, has a genre of both satire and fantasy. Directors of two films based on this story took one of those genres and used their creative license to emphasize either the hidden political view element or the fantasy fairy tale aspect, for their own reasons. So both the film “The Wiz”, directed by Sidney Lumet, and the film “The Wizard of Oz,” by Victor Fleming changed the original to suit their needs and used various film techniques to show it better. All of these three pieces of literature help us better understand the political situation of the age the book or film is produced.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, the tin man, the scarecrow, and the cowardly lion go through many obstacles and adventures while trying to get what they want. They defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and get what they want. Oz, a false Wizard, gives everyone except Dorothy what they want, while Dorothy’s magic shoes get her home, which is what she wanted. It seems like a childrens story, which is what it is mostly meant to be, but Baum had inserted his own political views hidden in the book. This story was published in 1900, when America was a new country and monetary issues were important. An example of this is the silver slippers. Silver is not the most beautiful color, so why was it picked? A possible reason is to represent the silver standard. The shoes were precious and in the end let Dorothy get what she wanted, so the message Baum is sending is that the silver standard has real worth and should be used. The green emerald city and the Wizard of Oz symbolize green paper money. The line, “but when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything looks green” shows that the Emerald City is not really green. The Wizard is, “a humbug” so he has no real value. Baum did this to show that green paper money is a fraud with no real value. The tin man said of his joints, “they are rusted so badly that I cannot move them at all.” The tin man is always in danger of rusting, which represents the fragile steel industries at the time. Oz stands for ounce, which is what metals like silver are measured in. All of this influences an adult reader’s opinion to Baum’s political opinion, which is one of the purposes of the book. In spite of all this, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is still a children’s story, which is an equally important purpose for Baum. There are witches and magic shoes which rule out that it is nonfiction. There are many adventures like going through the forest, fighting the Kalidahs, and killing the witch of the West. So The Wizard of Oz has both elements of a satire and fantasy mixed in to create a story which is interesting to both children and adults.

In “The Wizard of Oz” movie, which has the same plot and setting as in the book, many elements of political commentary are removed because the purpose of the film is purely to entertain. The silver slippers are now ruby red, because ruby red is a more beautiful color. The witch is more active in the movie than in the book, because that creates more action and entertainment. Color plays a huge role in the movie. It was one of the first films to use color. Color only appears when Dorothy steps into Oz. When she is back home, it becomes sepia again, which shows that her home is boring and dull compared to Oz. The bright, colorful world of Oz helps show the happiness and liveliness of Oz. This is also used for more contrast in the scenes in the Wicked Witch’s castle, where there is low-key lighting and a less colorful background. The affect of this is to better highlight and contrast the rest of Oz with the witch’s castle and Oz with Kansas. The director did this so people would understand better than in the book that Oz is a very great place, and therefore make it more of a mystery of why Dorothy went home. Even though some elements which in the book made it partly a satire still exist, they are not focused on. For example, in the movie there is a song about the wonderful thing the Wizard of Oz does, while in the book it only mentions that Oz is powerful. So the director of the film purposefully tried to remove the political commentary or put attention of it.

The movie “The Wiz” has a different, more modern setting of an urban city. However, the plot is mostly the same. Since this movie was made in modern times, when cities are the average place and much of the land is urban, the land of Oz is like different cities with taxis, bridges, amusement parks, and libraries like today. The film made later in the past and the book were made in a time when countryside was the main landscape. This movie was made to empower African Americans to feel more self-worth and raise awareness that they could ascend the socioeconomic ladder to positions of power in society. That is why all the characters, including the star of the movie, Dorothy, are African American. This alone is a unique thing which arouses emotions and makes people think. There are very few films in which the main character is African American, and even less where all of the cast are African American. This political message was the main purpose of the people who made the film. The story elements are just there to keep it interesting. So this is mostly a satire. The sound used in the film is very important for understanding emotion. Also, some of the music is music made by or widely listened to by African Americans, so it helps the person watching the film understand the emotions of African Americans.

In conclusion, the book and the two films have different combinations of satire and fantasy. The combination depends on the purposes of the people or person who made the piece of literature. The directors of the films used an artistic license to make changes to the original to help suit the purpose. People insert political commentary into movies and books for a reason. People are more relaxed and open to new ideas when reading books or watching movies that they think are for entertainment. For “The Wiz”, people can consciously see the political commentary and soak it in more readily than in a political speech. In the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, even if people don’t consciously find all the political commentary, their subconscious mind may discern it and change their views without the people even knowing what did it. This is the reason people insert their political views into entertaining literature. This aspect is important because people can sometimes be influenced by the hidden or sometimes open political and social meanings. So every time people are reading books, they will be aware for politics hidden deep inside.

The Dark Prophecy

2013-10-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Dark Prophecy

One day, the guardians started getting news of many disappearances. They thought they could easily find out what was causing it. They were wrong. They put surveillance cameras, super powerful tracking spells so they could find out where the people were taken, and anything else they could think of. It all failed totally. The surveillance cameras of the disappeared people were mysteriously broken, and the tracking spells malfunctioned and didn't work. The guardians made a graph, and it turned out that the people that were disappearing was the first week 1 squared, then 2 squared, then three squared, etc. They didn’t know what to do. It was a state of panic, and everything they tried failed. The biggest blow was when a guardian that was guarding a random person disappeared mysteriously along with the person! When the group that believed in Ore asked him, he was as clueless as everyone else.

Just when the guardian organization was about to give up, something happened.

It turned out that some random person named Borya had suspected this was being done by evil dark forces. So he used all his money to buy seven of the strongest lights that existed, and placed them around his bed. Borya put a cover over his eyes to sleep. One day, he heard a moan and put off the lights. He saw a dark shadow darker than the darkest black Borya had ever seen lying on the lights.

He suspected it was the evil force causing disappearances, and quickly called the guardians. They came, and almost fainted with joy. They inspected the shadow and saw that it was immune to spells and made them disappear. They now knew its weakness was bright light, but it only stunned it. The guardians started arguing about what to do next. There were all kinds of ideas, but just a few were to put it in jail surrounded by lights, throw it in acid, smother it with lava, leave it there, put a camera on it and let it go, wait for it to wake up and ask it questions, and many more. Everybody voted, and the final candidates were to research brighter lights, put it in jail surrounded by lights, and to try to kill it to remove the threat.

The most popular vote was to put it in jail and to put lights around it and guard it with their most powerful guards. So they did that, and were happy. However, when it woke up everyone was afraid it would unleash some evil spell. It did nothing, but everyone thought it was biding its time. The guardians questioned it, but the shadow only snarled. They tortured it by putting it in acid, in lava, spikes, bombs, but it did nothing to it. The shadow laughed, but they couldn’t do anything. The guardians started to research brighter lights. Meanwhile, they were trying to recover the lost people.

Since the questioning failed, they searched the whole earth, even in the center of the earth where dragons and other fire creatures lived, to no avail. They searched in the sky, the moon, mars, mercury, venus, all the other planets, even the sun! They didn’t find a single lost person. One day, the guardians looked at all the surveillance cameras. When they had almost lost hope of finding the lost ones in the seventh to last surveillance camera they saw something. It wasn’t totally broken but still mostly broken. It was a blurry image of a ripped piece of something black on the floor. Around it, there was a dark hole, or so it seemed. The guardians rushed to that house as fast as they could and tried to open the doors. They were locked. The guardians could have done an opening spell, but in their excitement they banged the door down and rushed in. They inspected the whole house, every crevice, corner, and under broken tiles of it. They didn't find anything, and came to the conclusion that it was a way to teleport. Overall, the disappearances stopped so everyone thought it was over and they could just keep the shadow in jail. The guardians stopped researching brighter lights because the threat was over and to celebrate they made a party which lasted seven days seven hours seven minutes seven seconds nonstop. However, they acknowledged that they didn’t find the lost people. Overall, everyone relaxed and thought that it was finally over and there would be a long period of relaxation with no threats. What they didn’t know was that this shadow was only one and the weakest sent to take prisoners out of a huge army of dark forces. It was only the beginning of the beginning.

The Journey Of Ore

2013-09-20T13:54:00.001-07:00

The Journey Of Ore

The greatest wizard who ever lived and ever will live was Ore. It was he who created magic, the world, and everything we know and don’t know. His wisdom, however, was just as great as his magic. He made himself an island somewhere in the universe and lived there alone. No one knew where he was and whether he was even alive. His story was just a myth.

There was just a little organization of seven people that believed in him. They dedicated themselves to finding him, but they were nowhere near that, if he existed. Before there were over a hundred members, but now only seven were left. The others had died or deserted.

Meanwhile, life was peaceful. After a year, however, the human population wasn’t in check. The guardians didn’t know what to do. They could kill the people, or make a race of animals that would keep them in check. Another problem was there were almost no animals except humans. Animals like crows, pigeons, and other city dwellers were the only animals left. Global warming had destroyed the ice, so humans lived at the poles too.

The only person who could save earth, and most people didn’t even believe in him if he was real, was Ore. The organization who did asked the guardians for transporters, weapons, and recruits. The guardians refused at first, but when there was almost no hope gave them what they wanted. They gave transporters, which were planes made out of a magical metal called aruba and had limitless fuel, magic. The organization also got troops who were equipped with aruba armor. They carried laser guns, acid guns, plasma guns, and best of all, wands.

The organization had a meeting. The names of the people in the organization were Bob, Joe, Sillena, Tipu, Caster, Issy, and Toughy. “Lets just fight everyone in our way until we get to him” said Toughy. “But how will we find him?” asked Bob. “I shall use my tracking skills to find him” said Sillena. “Um, no offense, but that hasn’t worked all these years” snickered Joe. “If we all work our magic together, guys who know magic, plus the troops in our army, plus the guardians, plus every magical person or creature on our side, then we should have enough power to find him” whispered Caster. “That’s all very well, but will they listen? If the guardians don’t listen, it will not work” criticized Issy. “We shall ask!!!” retorted Tipu, enraged.

So they did. After a long pleading, the guardians agreed. Everyone who knew magic let out their strongest finding spell at the same time, linking the spells together and making one ultra-powerful finding spell. They knew where Ore was in five seconds.

Everyone got into their ships, and they set off for Pluto. It took a year for them to get there, but they had enough food and water for five. When they got there, they met an army of creatures waiting. They also saw an American flag under a giants foot. “Attack”!!!!” yelled Toughy, getting a superheavy ultra-plasma gun. It was an awesome battle. Caster was calmly destroying monster after monster with his magical spells while in the safety of a magic shield. Not everyone was so lucky. A bunch of troops were dead or wounded after the battle, but they fought hard. Some of the organization was dead too. Issy had died while yelling at a trooper to fight harder. Toughy, for all his strength, was lying on a stretcher knocked out. Joe had done a heroic deed and destroyed the lead monster, saving everyone from destruction. It cost him his life. The enemy army was destroyed in the end, but it was not a happy victory.

After a month of mourning, everyone knew they had to complete what they wanted to do: find Ore. The acid blasters blasted the surface again and again, and after a long while a door was visible somewhere in the middle of Pluto. What was left of the organization opened the door and went in.

They had found Ore. He was sitting in a comfy chair with his eyes closed. The room was small, with no stuff except the chair. They waited until Ore opened his eyes and said,“Yes. I will help earth. For you have been brave. Your dead are alive again, your planet is healed. The people have learned their lesson. You may go back now and leave me in peace.” With that, he closed his eyes.

It was true. Everyone who had died or been injured was alive and well. When they got back, they saw earth as lush as it had ever been. There were animals, and no warming. They were heroes, with everyone congratulating them. Everyone was happy, except for Caster. For the great prophecy had not yet been fulfilled. That prophecy could be fatal, and with nobody on their guard, it was going to be hard. He needed to be alert, and sharp. For prophecies had very unreliable timings.

That concludes episode two.

Episode one: Evil Wizard

2013-09-13T04:28:00.001-07:00

Evil Wizard

Once upon a time there lived a wizard. He was the most powerful wizard in the world, but he was evil. He used his powers to see a prophecy of the future. This is what it said: you think you’re so great, evil guy. There shall come your downfall, when a baby of blue is born. Beware, evil guy, for your time shall soon be upon us.

The evil wizard was enraged! He shouted at the prophecy, and vowed it would not come true. However, five years passed, with the evil wizard getting stronger and recruiting minions, and there was no sign of the prophecy coming true. Meanwhile, a baby was born. The baby was normal except for one thing: it was blue! The doctors wanted to kill the baby so they could study it, but the dad refused. The doctors were actually evil minions of the wizards, so they threw the dad in prison and got ready to kill the baby. They told the wizard about the baby, and promised him it would be dead by sunrise.

When they went to the jail where they put the baby, they didn’t find him! They searched everywhere, with no avail. The minions fled, for they knew what their punishment would be. Luck was not with them, for their former master found them and killed them on the spot. He did this with pleasure and excitement.

Meanwhile, the baby was crawling along the busy street, with people thinking him a robot. The bad guys had underestimated him. He could already crawl and speak. The baby was gaining knowledge and size by the minute. In an hour, he went to sleep under a tree. When he woke up, he was a wise man.

He knew his mission, the thing he was born to do: defeat the evil wizard. It was not going to be easy, but he knew he would do it in the end. He also knew what would happen afterward.

The wizard, meanwhile, was fortifying his castle, and telling all his minions to defend him with their lives. The ones who refused, he slaughtered. He got his best wand for the job. He didn’t need a wand to do magic, but it channelled his energy and made his magic even stronger, if it was possible. The blue man, not a baby anymore, was also a wizard. However, now he was stronger than the evil wizard, for blue is the color of the most powerful magic.

He gathered an army, but his troops were loyal to him because of his kindness, not because of fear. He marched to the castle. He knew where it was because he used the most powerful finding spell on earth. There were stronger spells in the universe, but those could detect anything in the universe. He could use them, but he didn’t need to.

After a week, the evil wizard heard the cry of battle. He was scared out of his wits, so he went to the basement, ordered everyone to fight, and hid there. Though outnumbered, the good wizards recruits fought well. The blue wizard, as everybody called him, was marching toward the castle, deflecting spells left and right.

At last, he used a finding spell to find the evil wizard and arrived at the basement.

It was an awesome battle, but at last, tired of fighting and scared, the old wizard surrendered. For he was old, and tired of this fighting. He allowed the blue wizard to kill him, but the blue wizard changed him into a peaceful spirit instead. As soon as he did that, he felt utmost peace. He had completed what he was meant to do. He closed his eyes to relax, knowing what would happen and welcoming it. He never opened his eyes again. For he had completed his life, and turned back into what he was originally: a guardian orb. For they protected the universe from evil, and he was the weakest one, sent to earth to complete the mission. For the guardians, however, the evil wizard was the least of their worries. For something was rising, something that was not going to be that easily defeated. Maybe it wasn’t going to be defeated at all.

The next one of this adventure will be in a week. Stay tuned to find out what happens!

The Space Phenomenon Series Chapter one

2013-09-04T05:56:00.001-07:00

The Space Phenomenon

In 2027, there lived a boy named Ethan. His life’s dream was to be an astronaut. He always had dreams of flying in space and doing important missions for his country. Also, Ethan was very ingenious, so all the children in his neighborhood, and even some adults, regularly went to him for help with all their problems. He had once built a nuclear reactor by himself, making all the materials and setting them up just by his amazing brain. Ethan had not used any instructions or purchased any of the parts. His reactor was more efficient than any nuclear reactor built before it. It gave the most energy with the least pollution. Ethan always liked to wear white, as that was the color of spacesuits. He was of average height, but his head was larger than that of most people’s. One day, he called his friend Bobby. “Do you want to sneak into the NASA base? It will be fun.” “What if we get caught?” asked Bobby. “We won’t, let’s just go” replied Ethan. So they snuck into the NASA space base. They dug a hole which led into the center of the base, bypassing all the defenses. Ethan had a high-tech camera which had internet anywhere, was pressure-proof, heatproof, chill-proof, waterproof, bite-proof, and foolproof. Just when they first glimpsed the training center, Ethan heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. He jumped inside the rear of a nearby spacecraft and shut the door. His heart was thumping so loudly, he was sure the guards could hear him. “Ahhhhhhh!!!” screamed Bobby. “I knew we shouldn’t have come!”

The guard captain ran into their hiding place and grabbed them both by their necks. Ethan knew Tae Kwon Do, however, so he punched the guard in his stomach and left the guard knocked out. “Don’t be so foolish Bobby! Just stay quiet” said Ethan angrily. Then they jumped back in the spaceship. They heard a guard say, in an excited voice, “ prepare for takeoff. Everyone inside.” Then they heard the sound of a door lock. When Ethan and Bobby heard the guards leave, he tried to open the door at the rear of the spaceship. It refused to budge. That’s when Ethan realized that the spaceship he was in was about to be launched. With him in it. All he had wanted to do is to film the astronauts in the training room as they trained. Now he was in for something much bigger than he had expected. Ethan’s hands started to sweat. He started banging against the walls of the spaceship. Then Ethan remembered his dreams of flying in space, and his breathing slowed. He looked at Bobby. Bobby had fainted from fright and was lying motionless on the floor. Ethan knew he couldn’t help Bobby, so he started to look around the spacecraft. He saw that it was huge and he was in the back. The size of the spaceship amazed him. But what amazed him most was the weaponry. He saw laser guns, plasma cannons, acid guns, and cannons with names he hadn’t even heard of. Ethan thought that he was dreaming and pinched himself. It hurt. A big sign over the back door said, “United States Space Corps-Flagship-Armageddon.” Before Ethan could process all this, he heard a voice- “ready for launch. countdown. 10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, launch.” Ethan felt sheer exhilaration when the ship’s mighty engines started to move the ship at supersonic speeds. “Finally,” thought Ethan, “I am living my dream.” He was slammed to the wall and pressed against it. After a time which felt like years, he could sit normally again. “Launch achieved. Your mission is to patrol, seek out enemies and annihilate them,” said a robotic voice. It was then that Ethan realized that there was something fishy going on. The United States was at war with something or someone, either aliens or another country, and hardly anyone on earth knew about it! Ethan was determined to find out the truth, so he started filming the sign, the weapons, out the window, and everything that was happening to him. He wouldn’t tell Bobby about this. He just hoped he could get home...alive.

While Ethan was gone in the spaceship, his mother had gotten home. “Where is Ethan?” she cried. His mother searched for him everywhere, but in the end she called the police and gave them a picture. The police investigated, and in the end found the guard who had been kicked. “That’s the person who snuck into the base and hit me. Two hundred years in solitude, I’d say!” said the guard angrily. The police was instructed to never let the secret of the space wars escape, so they told the mother that Ethan had committed suicide by jumping into fire. The only way they knew is because of security cameras, the police had told Ethan’s mother. But she didn’t believe them. She vowed to search the whole world for Ethan until she was either dead or had found him.

Suddenly, Ethan heard a blaring alarm. He didn’t see anything out the windows, but he guessed the radar had spotted something. “Fire the cannons!” he heard. People rushed into the room and saw him. They were very surprised. “What-who-how- how did you get here?” the one in front said. While that was happening, everyone was distracted from the enemies, and out of the corner of his eye Ethan saw a plasma blast bang against the hull. Boom! “We’ll deal with you later” said the captain, running to the wheel. The ship sped away from the enemy, but an alarm was blaring saying, “Air escaping. Warning, warning.” There was space exactly in the part of the hull which was hit with a repair kit. The repair kit was only about a foot long, but contained extremely useful tools without which the ship could not be fixed. It had fallen in a part of the ship which had bent inward, creating a tiny crevice. “Grab it, or we’re doomed!” yelled the captain. The crew were yelling and screaming. They were jumping up and down and ripping their hair in a panic. Alarms started screaming loudly. The tension in the air was overwhelmingly dense. All of the crew tried to reach it, but failed. They were just too big to reach into the crevice. They refused to give up. However, the captain said wearily, “It’s no use. Ready the escape pod.” Ethan looked around desperately, thinking. He had just thought that everything was wonderful and he would have an amazing adventure. Ethan jumped up and down in despair. Now, his heart was thumping as fast as if it was running a marathon. Ethan asked the Captain if there was anything, absolutely anything they could do to prevent this from happening. Ethan thought he was dreaming. His head spinning, Ethan relinquished all common sense. He started running randomly in different directions. Chaos was everywhere. The Captain tried to get everyone back in order, but it was just too hard to make his voice heard. Fire erupted somewhere in the back of the spaceship. Finally, holding a loudspeaker, the Captain screamed “Get in the Escape Pod if you want to live!” He then said wearily, “Get in the escape pod, kid. Before it’s too late!” A rain of bullets bounced of the ship. Some windows broke. Alarms were blaring very loudly, even louder than before. But Ethan refused to abandon his dream. He knew that the only hope of the ship was the repair kit. It had very efficient tools which could fix even the most broken of ships. He ran to the crevice in which it was, his lungs gasping for air. Ethan’s vision was beginning to blur, and his head hurt as badly as if he was hit by a train. Muscles aching, he reached the crevice and squirmed his hand inside. An inch from the repair kit, his hand got stuck. “Noooooooooo!!!” Ethan screamed. “I was so close! Nooooooooooo!” He heard a blast of more plasma hitting the ship. From the windows, Ethan saw the enemy ships closing in fast, shooting all the time. The smell of smoke was in the air. The spaceship slowed to a stop. Suddenly, it shuddered and turned on its side. Ethan heard explosions. A bullet whizzed by him. He was about to die, thought Ethan. How could his life have gotten to this? All he had wanted was to film the astronauts in the space center. He had not even considered that he might die. Ethan had thought that at the worst he would be captured by guards, and maybe even put in jail. Ethan’s lungs were about to burst. Just when everything was fading and Ethan let go of all hope, surrendering to death, he was pushed from behind until he finally grabbed the repair kit, and with all his strength, slowly, without even fully realizing what he was doing, pulled it out. Ethan faded into oblivion without another thought.

Ethan woke up on a bed. “You saved us! What a relief. Now we thank you and you can be a part of the crew until the next time we land. Then you, and your friend who is in the hospital, will be free to go home.” said the captain excitedly. “Really? Thanks a lot!” said Ethan. “Is Bobby ok?” Ethan asked. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine” replied the captain calmly. He was warmly accepted by the crew and was fed and received a bunk bed. The only thing he couldn’t do was go into the control room. “It is for your own good,” the captain had said.

Ethan was walking around the ship. He had been in the spacecraft for about three weeks, but Ethan was still learning new things. He walked over to the weapons room. He picked up an acid blaster and started examining it. Suddenly, the lieutenant came into the room. “Oh hi, how are you doing?” asked Ethan. “I just need to get something from here for repairs” replied the lieutenant awkwardly. Ethan turned away and continued inspecting weapons. Next Ethan went into the escape pod. “Wow, the technology is very cool here,” thought Ethan. At the end of the day, Ethan dreamt about all the technology coming alive and him talking to the gadgets with them talking back to him.

One day, the lieutenant said that he could cook for the day. He started throwing beef and sausages around the cabin. “Catch it, eat it!” the lieutenant said. Ethan was walking by the kitchen. He rushed in and smacked the lieutenant. “Cook away, but I can do better!” “Oh yeah, well let’s have a contest.” “Deal.” So each of them cooked fish soup. Then the officer, smiling, poured some white powder into the fish soup he was preparing. Ethan ran to the other crew and said, “the lieutenant has put some white powder into the soup!” The crew all started laughing. “That was just salt, you dummy, ahahahaha.” “Oh, ok.” “Well, too much salt is bad so I will win the contest.” The crew tried Ethan’s fish soup, and agreed that it was a goody. “We rate it 8 out of 10 points.” Then they tried the lieutenant’s soup, and fell down unconscious. “See, it was so good that they fainted from its goodness” said the lieutenant. “Muahahaha!“ the lieutenant roared. Try it yourself.” “No thanks” said Ethan. “I’m not hungry.” And Ethan went to his room, suspicious. His cheerful mood was gone. From his room, he watched the lieutenant. “Mwahahahaha,” laughed the now lieutenant general. He tied up the whole crew and started getting something from his pocket. Ethan, meanwhile, had jumped into the kitchen. “I caught you in the act, so give up!” said Ethan. His hands were sweating and he was shaking as he said that. The officer got a pistol from his pocket, with the words absolute zero-pistol. “You will freeze-literally” said the lieutenant general. He started shooting balls of absolute zero at Ethan. Ethan dodged, and they hit one of the engines, which froze instantly. “Hahahaha. This is most amusing” yelled the lieutenant general. The lieutenant general ran suddenly at Ethan and pushed him against the wall. The lieutenant general pointed the gun at Ethan’s head, while holding Ethan’s throat with his hand. “So. The end has come. You are just a puny, insignificant little boy, after all. Prepare to die!” “Ethan closed his eyes. He knew there was nothing he could do. The lieutenant’s words stung him, but he knew that it was true that he was just a ten year old boy, with no super strength or anything like that. Just then, Ethan heard a slam and a loud scuffle. He opened his eyes. Bobby had come to the rescue. He had hit the lieutenant on the back of the head, which made him be knocked out cold. “Thank you so much!” Ethan told Bobby. “Now let’s go to the control room, quickly.”

So Ethan and Bobby went into the control room and saw a map which showed Mars and the Moon. On the moon, U.S.A. Territory was written, and there were some military garrison names. On Mars, Russian Federation Territory was written, and there were no garrisons labeled. Then, Ethan realized that the space wars between Russia and the U.S. were far from over. He saw on the radar that more than twenty enemy ships were approaching fast. He looked out the window and saw the flag of the ship in front- three stripes, the top stripe white, the middle stripe blue, and the bottom stripe red. Ethan pressed the red button which said do not press except in an emergency, in a panic. The spaceship’s engines went on warp speed and an enormous missile shot out, which hit one of the enemy spaceships and decimated it instantly. However, the engines were almost all frozen over, so the spacecraft Ethan was in was unable to escape the enemy. Laser beams hit the ship in many places, and Ethan knew that the situation was desperate. He and Bobby loaded all the crew that was tied up, who were still unconscious from the powder, in the escape pod and untied them. Then they themselves went into the escape pod and pressed the escape button. The escape pod was blasted back to earth at a huge speed. During the ride back, while still in space, Ethan shared the videos he took in space on the internet with his extremely high-tech camera. Soon, almost everyone with internet knew about the space wars. The escape pod landed somewhere in an ocean, and by that time the had crew woke up. Ethan knew that his life would never be the same again. His journey was far from over. Will Ethan be rescued? And even if he is, what will the government think of him and Bobby and do to them after they gave away its secret? But whatever happens next is sure to be full of mystery and adventure.

My Thoughts About The Universe

2012-04-18T13:04:00.003-07:00

" There are looming questions that nobody knows the answer to. People

have ideas, but nobodies ideas are proven. I will share with you my ideas about

these questions. The ﬁrst question:is there life in the universe other than on

earth? My opinion is that there is other life in the universe. Even if the sightings

of UFO!s are all fake, there are many other signs of life in the universe.

" On Mars signs of water and tiny bacterial life have been found. The signs

are ice, which means there was water once, holes on Mars shaped like lakes, oceans, rivers, etc. Also, signs of underwater caves with liquid water where life is

living tucked away without anyone knowing it. Investigations about this are to

drill very deeply down into the surface of Mars to ﬁnd that life, if it exists. One

ﬁnal thought is that earth-like planets have been found very far away. The

universe is limitless, so even if only one in a trillion stars has a planet with life

orbiting it, there will be trillions of those planets!!! That is my perspective.

" The next question:can you see into the past? My opinion is that you can

see into the past, but it is extremely hard. The way to see into the past, in my opinion, is to

travel faster than the speed of light to a place the number of light years away

from earth you want to see into and bring an ultrastrong-telescope. When you

look back on earth through the telescope, you will see earth as it was the umber

of light years away you are from it. How is that possible? Well, you see by your

eyes picking up light and your brain prossecing it. If you are for example looking

on earth from a place 1000 light years you will procces the light that has started

going to the place 1000 light years away 1000 years ago! If it is 1000 light years

away, that means it takes light 1000 years to travel to that place! Therefore you

are proccesing light that left earth 1000 years ago! You will see into the past!

" However, seeing into the past is only possible theoretically for now

because nobody has yet invented something that can go faster than the speed of

light. As a ﬁnal afterthought, imagine what it would be like if somebody in the

future did invent something that can travel faster than light. Maybe it is impossible to create something like that. But if something like that happened, then seeing into the

past would become a reality, in my opinion.

An Exciting Yesterday

2012-03-15T13:09:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was an exciting day. People were coming to see our house, so we cleaned a

lot. We were supposed to go to tae kwon do and then go to the library with food.

We were so busy cleaning that we forgot the food! We drove to tae kwon do, where it

was sparring day.

" On sparring day what you do is drills at ﬁrst. There are arm guards, leg guards, a

helmet, and a pad which you put on. You need those equipment because after the drills

you kick and punch each other using techniques. The equipment protects you from

damage. I sparred against someone that I know. His name is Noah. The sparring was

so intense. Noah was really offensive, so I had to use counterattack-drills to avoid

getting hit as much. My tactic was kicking and then quickly jumping out of range. It

worked well, but it was about a tie. The tae kwon do was very fun for me. It energized

me a lot.

" After tae kwon do, we realized we didn!t have food and we were hungry. My

mom suggested going to a restaurant or buffet, and we picked the Chinese buffet. I was

so hungry, I got food right away. First I got seafood, mushrooms, and lo mein. Next I

devoured more lo mein with mushrooms and chicken. It tasted really good! For desert I

had peaches. The last part was the fortune cookies. My fortune said,“From now on

your kindness will lead you to success” My brother got something saying he would

prosper in the medical ﬁeld, which I doubted. My mom got a saying saying,“Idleness is

the holiday of fools.”

" We went to the library and got some books. I read a book about the history of

the U.S and got books about wizardology and the internet. My moms saying came true

when we went home. We played games untill bedtime and joked that we were having a

holiday of fools. When I went to sleep, I was content and happy.

New Website

2011-06-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you like this blog, check out another website made by me! Click this link, and it will take you to it. If you like that website and this website, remember to bookmark them!

CLICK THIS

Live Healthy!

2011-06-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

These are very good books! They are good because they tell you how to never get sick!

I tried doing the things the author said to do and it worked! I really think you should read these.