:: English class ::

:: Monday, December 15, 2003 ::

Chapter 2
Commander Kepling turned to the Chief engineer at his side and directed his attention to the large storage container that had been brought to the engine room under heavy guard.

“Chief, this is the special delivery you were told to expect. It’s the heart of the new main engines.”

“I see Commander. May I ask why it was just now brought on board sir?” The engineer asked with a slight edge to his voice. “Officers from Intelligence were all over this place during the installation of the engine interface and we were told to not ask any questions.”

“Not yet chief, just complete the installation. The captain will answer everything after we get under way.” Kepling finished and headed to the transit shaft. The guards stayed behind to watch over the precious device. The commander hated all this cloak and dagger, but it was the only way to ensure the safety of the ship and the security of the technology against the growing threat of the Church of Creation. They were getting dangerous now. Their numbers had grown significantly over the last few years. Ever since the discovery of the golden sphere and surrounding ruins on the Antarctic continent during an archeological dig after a cliff wall was exposed from a huge avalanche, a religious frenzy had ensued all over the world as people re-evaluated their beliefs. During this fervor information about the nature of the ruins had leaked out and a splinter religion had formed almost overnight. The Church of Creation coalesced from this new religion though the apparent organization of their operations suggested that there was something deeper going on than a simple religious conversion. The core of their beliefs was that man should rebury the ancient city since it was obvious that God had punished them for daring to become god’s themselves. Kepling wouldn’t say they had become gods, but the levels of technology discovered within the city had far exceeded anything that man had ever dreamed. He had to admit though, seeing the bodies of people that were millennia old flash frozen in clothes made of synthetic fibers amongst a city of wonders seemed a little eerie.

Commander Kepling stepped onto the bridge and walked over to Capt. Gamble. “Sir, installation is under way. It should be completed within the hour.”

Gamble nodded, “Thank you Commander, welcome to the bridge.”

Kepling nodded and smiled as he turned to finally look around him. “Incredible.” He moved to sit in his chair next to the captains and punched in his ID to access his chairs information displays.

:: Nathan 3:39 PM [+] ::
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“…Deadlier than anything man has ever built, the Phoenix represents the height of technology. While she is laden with enough firepower to destroy worlds, peaceful exploration is her primary mission. Commanding her crew of twenty officers and eighty crewmen is Captain Mark T. Gamble. He was selected from a long list of candidates based on his command mentality, and past record; primarily his experience in the Systemic Wars. With him, he has brought his command crew from his previous assignment aboard the late ship of the line, Prometheus, which was lost…”

“That’s enough of that,” said Fleet Captain Mark Gamble as he stepped back from the speaker controls to gaze once more out the view ports at his latest assignment.

Flt. Commander William Kepling whistled softly to himself and cracked a small smile as he too admired the ship.
“Isn’t she incredible Mark?”

Capt. Gamble turned and smiled slowly, “She’s amazing is what she is.” At this, the two officer’s attention drifted back to their own private thoughts.

The transport boat docked with a gentle bump against the smooth, silvery black polish of the Phoenix’s outer hull. Nuzzling up to one of her four airlocks, the craft killed her engines and atmospheres equalized with a small hiss. The two officers stepped through the hatch and onto the immaculate deck plates of their ship for the first time.

“Permission to come aboard?” Capt. Gamble directed at the waiting security officer.

“Permission granted sir.” The guard replied with a formal salute.

“The commander here will assume control of final preparations. Will, I’ll meet you on the bridge once you complete stowing away the final cargo.” Mark finished as he turned to the waiting presser. Will nodded as he spoke to the guard about last minute arrangements.

“Bridge,” Mark said to the empty air as he stepped into the apparently empty shaft. A musical tone answered him and he was shot through the transit shaft on invisible gravitonic wings. A mere split second later, he stepped onto the bridge. A glittering hologram of space shone in front of him, with control consoles ringed before it in a half circle.

“Captain on the bridge,” A young ensign intoned.

“At ease,” Mark said with a dismissive air. He strode over to the railing separating the upper and lower halves of the bridge. Gripping the rail, he glanced over the entire bridge, sizing it up, before returning to the command chair in the center of the upper bridge and touching the ‘all ship’ intercom button.

“This is Captain Mark Gamble speaking. By formal order of the Terran Earth Confederacy, I am assuming command of this ship. People, I know most of you personally. We have served together before through thick and thin. I would trust any of you with my life as you trust me with yours. I also have no doubt that those new among us can be entrusted the same, and will prove themselves admirably in the future. Captain out.”

The captain sank into his chair with relief at completing the formal declaration of his command. He had done it only once before, but that command had earned him accolades that would follow him his entire career.

:: Nathan 11:38 PM [+] ::
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NOTE
I can't use indents for new paragraphs on blogger since for some reason it just won't let me. Anyways, there are new paragraphs there, they just aren't indented. I didn't just block everything together. I will try to find an html command that will indent the paragraphs, but until then you'll have to kinda guess.
:: Nathan 2:44 AM [+] ::
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Captain and Commander: Ruins of Empire

Prologue

2103

The bow of the Kitlarr warship sliced through the wreckage of the last orbital defense that had stood in its way. The incursion force had encountered heavy defenses on its way in system to this latest planet, but they had fallen easily before the might of the armada. Cries for help had stopped a long time ago. The populace knew it was doomed.

The first assault boats launched and began burning their way through atmosphere, strafing the remaining population centers with tactical nukes as they descended for the kill. The boats bucked as atmospheric fighters engaged them at high altitude, but only a few succumbed to the mass onslaught of primitive chemical fired missiles. The invading ships locked on to the aircraft with their beam weapons and made them all so much molten wreckage. Moments later the first of dozens of fire blossoms lit the planet as the nukes found their targets. The entire world lay dead mere hours after initial contact with the invaders.

Commander Akarris Durok sat back in his command chair and watched with a small smile on his face as the planet was consumed by nuclear fire. The levels of technology had shown marked advancement the farther they went down this arm of the galaxy. This, coupled with the increasing number of keystones, could mean only one thing; they were close. Closer than they had ever been in the two hundred years since the discovery of the first marker on his home world.

The commander’s warship lit its way across the night sky of the charred world that now lay below it. A lone structure struck itself defiant against the now quiet night. It remained undamaged from the attack as it continued its deafening cry for help across the galaxy, waiting for a reply it would never receive. It noted the presence of an approaching warship descending from high orbit, and knew what it had to do. Shutting off its transmitter, it began overloading its gravity – pulse generator. Space – time began to distort around the golden sphere as the containment shields were overcome and for a brief instant an artificial quantum singularity formed on the surface of the dead world. Instantly, everything within hundreds of square miles was drawn into the heart of the sphere and compressed infinitely. As quick as the singularity formed, it vanished, and the resulting explosion rivaled the brilliance of the systems star. Half the Kitlarr fleet vanished in an instant.

The commander bolted upright in his chair as he witnessed the awesome explosion filtered through the ships monitors. Understanding flashed like lightning in his brain. The sphere on that world had been active!

Chapter 1

2231 AD

The sleek, flowing curves of the new ship of the line, Phoenix, slid slowly by the view port of the transport boat. The spectator gazed on in awe at the wonder of modern technology that lay before them, nestled safely amidst construction girders. She floated serenely, glittering with reflected starlight on her polished black armor plating, parked in lunar orbit at the Terek shipyard -
:: Nathan 2:33 AM [+] ::
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What else could happen?

Things weren't going too bad for me till these last few days. I get this phone call from my dad on Tuesday, my grandma fell, with the nurse standing right there, and broke 2 ribs and fractured a third one. OK, she was out of the hospital the next day and back in her apartment at Brentmoor. However, my dad calls me again and says the nursing home insurance is running out in like a month for what they call a 6 month evaluation period where basically they make her move out of Brentmoor and she can't live in any other nursing home during this time or she can't reapply for another 2 years coverage under her plan. The woman is 91 years old and needs nursing care 24/7, what the hell kind of bullshit is that?! She can't even stay where she's at for those 6 months with us paying the bill without it voiding her contract. We can't even fight this because the 6 month deal is a clause in the stupid paperwork that she signed. Basically then, in like a month, all of her social security money has to go to paying for this place in addition to the extra $1000 a month we supply in addition to her medicines and additional care fee. So, I think the phrase taking it up the ass, is very appropriate here.

:: Nathan 12:41 PM [+] ::
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Project 4 paragraph

Ok, my idea for this assignment is for me to work with my blog as an online publisher for a story idea I have. It would be a good way for me to work on my creative writing as well as showing off my work to a large audience. It's not often I get the opportunity to write from the imagination instead of citing from other peoples work and I think it would help me to expand my thought patterns a little bit as well as making for interesting reading hopefully.
:: Nathan 12:22 PM [+] ::
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Martin Luther King jr. summary

Martin Luther King jr. takes the time to respond to criticism of his work in Birmingham while confined in jail.

He explains why he is there against the view that argues that outsiders shouldn't meddle with local affairs.

Injustice is being done in Birmingham and like Paul, he must respond to the Macedonian call for aid. It doesn't matter that it is in another state, for all states are tied together and what happens in one affects the other.

The demonstrations are taking place because the citys white power structure has left the black community with no other recourse other than demonstration.

In any nonviolent campaign though, there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustice exists, negotiation, self purification, and direct action. All these steps had been taken, but to no avail.

At one point, leaders of the Birmingham merchants and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth agreed on stopping the demonstrations in return for the removal of humiliating racial signs in store windows. This promise was broken.

Realizing that something needed to be done. Self purification began. Workshops were set up to teach nonviolence and accepting blows w/ out retaliation. It was decided to put pressure on the merchants during the Easter season by slowing the flow of business to make them confront the issue.

Noticing the mayoral election was coming up though, they decided to postpone the activities so as the actions wouldn't cloud the issues. They had many postponements though, and could wait no more.

Why direct action and marches though? Why not negotiations? Aren't they better? Yes, they are, but sometimes direct action is required to force the other party into negotiations once the situations gets unbearable.

They couldn't wait for the new city elect to act since they would take as much prodding about the situation as the last one did. The new mayor may be genter, but is still a segregationist.

Remember, Freedom is never given by the oppressor, it is demanded by the oppressed.

They have waited for more than 340 years for their constitutional and God given rights. Other countries are doing so much more quickly. The people are understandably impatient.

They break some laws but not others. There are two types of laws, just ones and unjust ones. They will only obey the just ones.

What is the difference between the two though? A just law is one that squares with the moral law or law of God. Disobey unjust laws since they are morally wrong.

A just law is one made by the majority and is applied to both the majority and minority equally.

Sometimes a law is just on its face, but unjust in its application.

Advocates civil disobedience and accepts the penalities openly against unjust laws.

It should not be wrong to follow courses of action to gain freedom that could conceviebly lead to violence.

He stands between two parties of the black people. Those that are complacent and those that want action. He is trying to take the middle way. Yet, he is being called an extremist.

Hoping to find help among white clergymen, he found outright opposition to his movement for freedom and equality. This shattered his dreams, but he came to Birmingham anyways.

He considers the modern church to at times have a weak and ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. Not speaking out for what is morally right. He hopes the church will stop backing the status quo and come to the aid of the needy in the decisive hour.

He isn't happy with the clergyman that commended the Birmingham police force for keeping the peace. He points out the way the police are mistreating the people in the jail. He says that instead the clergyman should have commened the sit inners and the nonviolent demonstrators.

He hopes that later he may meet the clergyman in the letter as merely a fellow christian brother, not as an intregrationist or civil rights leader.

** He uses moral arguments to make his case, referencing them with real life issues.



:: Nathan 12:11 PM [+] ::
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Sources of Review - Aerosmith "Just Push Play"
:: Nathan 1:53 AM [+] ::
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Questions from page 409 and 411

1. I'll be reviewing an audio cd of Aerosmith which is of course a rock band. The band is led by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. The group uses traditional rock band instruments, guitars, drums, etc. They typically play ballads and moderate rock tunes.

2. I like the music cd I'm reviewing in its entirety. It's an average example of the music the group puts out. My opinion hasn't changed significantly about this cd recently. I like all their musical works on about the same level. There isn't really any similar piece that I'd say is definitely better than this one.

3. I know many things about the lead singer of this cd. I wrote them all down in the profile I wrote about the person. There are 10 other compilation cd's out by this same band as well as a soundtrack from Armegeddon. All the music is basically the same from the group. There might be a slight change in musical style since the 1970's when they started, but nothing wholly noticeable. I know this genre started long before this group with Elvis Presley, but they've done well with it.

4. There are of course reviews on the different cd's out by Aerosmith. A good place to look is any online store that carries music cd's. They always put official reviews as well as customer reviews. Many of the people that buy this music now are already devout fans of the group and so very little negative stuff is said in a review. Generally the critics and reviewers agree about the quality of the music. The only problem with this is that it means the group has a lot of expectation to live up to for each new cd.

5. People wanting to buy an Aerosmith cd are likely to be interested in a review on one. They are likely to be people that like listening to rock music and have a outgoing personality. They are also likely to be very knowledgeable about the subject and group. They probably have decided which groups they primarily want to listen to. They will probably weigh my opinion with everything else they have read or know about the groups past cd's and current reviews on this one. They will probably agree mostly with my opinion since it will probably be mostly positive. Critical reviews are likely to be what they are familiar with. Ones that compare this cd to other ones already made and known. The readers like listening to good music.

Page 411

1. Qualities I'm looking for:
* Opening song grabs your attention - something fresh
* Cd as a whole is on an even par with their other works
* A good mix of their musical styles - different moods of music
* Cd must have its own mood/style not identical to other works
* Good liner notes
* Needs more than 6 tracks
* At least one song that makes you want to buy the cd for just it

2. Qualities most people look for:
* Cd is as good as other works
* Compares to other works some way
* Has at least one song that is worth buying the entire cd
* good liner notes
* Has a good mix of their types of music

3. Bad examples:
* Pretty picture on cd
* cd was cheap
* like all their other works
* got cd for free
* place bought at

4. People liked my list of criteria.

5. List handy.


:: Nathan 11:33 AM [+] ::
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Questions from Page 390 and 396
1. I noticed a definite moment when he evaluated the album in comparison to Jay-Z's other works in paragraph 4.
2. He supports his 4 star evaluation of the new album by praising it as more family based than his other works. It shows the different sides of Jay-Z, the hustler and the teacher, and the combination strikes a good chord. This can be seen in paragraphs 6 and 8.
3. The criteria Marriott used was how did this album compare to Jay-Z's other works. This was stated implicitly since the author never came out and actually said, this is what I base my rating on.
4. He explains the shift Jay-Z has had to make since becoming a father, and having lived the life he did. His background as a hustler is what was behind his music, now as a father, he must confront his past and be a good teacher. Marriott uses this shift in musical perspective as his basis for the rating in that this album shows another side to the singer, and is more personal.

1. Calling something a classic means that it is a work that has endured time and scrutiny and is widely regarded as a success. It distinguishes a work on its longevity and popularity amongst audiences.
2. He compares "Raging Bull" to the famous "Godfather" movies and goes on to note that the movie is a good shot at the melting pot of urban culture in New York in the '40s and '50s. The quality of the storyline, the twists it takes is what makes it a good movie .
3. The "Godfather" movies are generally considered classics in their own rights. By comparing this movie to them he is setting them on the same par. He also uses this comparison to show how the grittiness of the show, a total antithesis to the "Godfather" movies, makes it that much more intriguing. A true reflection of the life that the boxer led.
4. The larger forces talked about are society and the changing times. They are shown in the film through the actors portrayal of the rise and fall of a boxer who was fighting to keep his head up in the world that changed around him. The two levels in the biography show the life of the boxer and the larger world he lived in.
:: Nathan 1:39 AM [+] ::
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