Becoming a Better English Student

Last year my ability to write was above the average of my English class. At the time I thought that reading and writing were the only things to English. This year I was handed a light to show me that reading and writing are only the outlines of English. When handed this light I started seeing the interior: the texture, the color, and a lot more about the high lights of English.

The texture of English is the thought evolved with it. This past year I have learned how to look at things in different perspectives, and then how to change that into words. We used this “different perspective” when we wrote observational writings. In observational writings we had to write about something that we had observed, but we weren’t allowed say that we were there in any way. This type of writing enhanced our ability to keep our thoughts and ourselves completely out of our writings.

When people write English they can’t only write in the observational writing type. So they use the other types, or colors of English. When colors are thought of, people usually think of something such as the rainbow. But when I think of colors, I think of them as something that gives character, and difference. At the beginning of this year I didn’t have a clue about the colors of English, but now I have used my light to see more that just black and white. This year I have come to see that a few of the colors of English are analogies, sonnets, memoirs, and problem solution papers. I have also been able to learn the difference between certain colors. Last year I not only didn’t see that memoirs and biographies are colors, but I also didn’t know the difference that I know now.

The textures and the colors of English create a picture, but it’s not a perfect picture until you add some highlights. These highlights would be the depth of English. In the ninth grade I thought that any piece of English that had depth, or meaning, had to be this drawn out one hundred-page article. But after reading some of the most simple sentences, such as this one from the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.” I have been able to realize that there are the small sentences that hold so much, so little meaning that makes the perfect picture.

This past school year I walked into another world of English. In the ninth grade world of English I was taught how English looked in the shadows. I wasn’t able to touch it, feel it, or understand it completely. But this year, in the tenth grade world of English, I was allowed the opportunity to gain an understanding of English. I was able to become a better English student by learning the thought, the characteristics, and the depth of English. Maybe my punctuation or spelling didn’t achieve a higher height than last year, but my understanding of English did. Because of that I feel that I am a better English student than I have ever been.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are the shaking, rolling or sudden shock of the earth’s surface. Earthquakes happen along "fault lines" in the earth’s crust. Earthquakes can be felt over large areas although they usually last less than one minute. Earthquakes cannot be predicted -- although scientists are working on it!
Most of the time, you will notice an earthquake by the gentle shaking of the ground. You may notice hanging plants swaying or objects wobbling on shelves. Sometimes you may hear a low rumbling noise or feel a sharp jolt. A survivor of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco said the sensation was like riding a bicycle down a long flight of stairs.

The intensity of an earthquake can be measured. One measurement is called the Richter scale. Earthquakes below 4.0 on the Richter scale usually do not cause damage, and earthquakes below 2.0 usually can’t be felt. Earthquakes over 5.0 on the scale can cause damage. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake is considered strong and a magnitude 7.0 is a major earthquake. The Northridge Earthquake, which hit Southern California in 1994, was magnitude 6.7.

Earthquakes are sometimes called temblors, quakes, shakers or seismic activity. The most important thing to remember during an earthquake is to DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. So remember to DROP to the floor and get under something for COVER and HOLD ON during the shaking.

Manslaughter - Guilty by Definition

By: Adam Shaw

After over 13 years working a nurse I had witnessed some weird and wonderful things. Occasionally, one of them stands out as significant. Back in '97-'98 I went to Australia with a one year working visa. During this time I worked for nurse agencies in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The experience was a good one as I was able to see how another health care system worked.

During this period a stack of interesting experiences occurred for me, though the most significant happened in Sydney. What happened here would alter my perception of life and what nursing was all about.

Working as an Agency nurse in a city usually means working at several different hospitals, in several different wards. This had been my experience after 11 months in Australia.

For some reason I'd been allocated several consecutive night shifts on a rehabilitation ward, in a private hospital. Since this ward was generally quiet for most of the night I usually brought a book along with me to pass the time.

To find my next book I went into a second-hand bookshop, went to the New Age section, stood back and waited for a book to grab my attention. One soon did - The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. I picked it up and started to read it that night.

The opening chapters explain, amongst other things, that the main difference towards death in the East and the West is that in the East people are generally prepared for death from a very young age. The West has a general theme that we don't usually face up to death until it's staring us in the face.

This resonated with me. How true. I had seen it on numerous occasions - scared patients and hysterical families attempting to make sense of the impending demise of a loved one after being given a death sentence by a doctor.

I thought about this a lot during the next couple of nights.

During my time on this rehabilitation ward I got to know the patients quite well. Each night I would stop in and have a chat with each of them, handing out the assorted pharmaceutical delights, which they had become accustomed to.

One of my patients was a lady called Dorothy. She had fallen over at home several months ago. She had no medical history, just a case of bad luck. She had a lovely smile and a most pleasant demeanour.

After about eight shifts on this ward I went in one night to be informed that Dorothy would be going home the next day. I entered her room last that night so that I could have a longer chat with her, beyond the cursory 5 minutes that we usually spent together.

'Congratulations. You must be delighted,' I told Dorothy, as I walked into the room.
'Huh! Delighted? What possible reason would I have to be delighted?' Dorothy was unusually curt in her response.
'I don't understand. Are you not happy to be going home?' I asked.
'What have I got to be happy about. I live on my own and I can barely make it from the bed to the toilet. I'm dependant on someone else to do my washing, cleaning, shopping and cooking. I can't ask my daughter to look after me - she has enough on her plate. She has two young children and a very demanding job. I have absolutely nothing to look forward to.'

Upon hearing this from this sweet, usually smiling, old lady I found myself momentarily speechless. I had not expected that from her. My mind went blank.

After a prolonged pause I asked her, 'Do you believe in life after death?'
Then it was Dorothy who paused, before looking me in the eye and saying, 'Well, I'd like to but I just don't know.'

This prompted a discussion about life after death and some various perspectives that I'd come across at that stage. We talked for well over an hour and a half. I mentioned the Dalai Lama being reincarnated several times and that this was fact according to millions of Buddhists across the world. I'd also heard about a Native American Indian ritual whereby people knew they were about to die and sat around a fire and gave all of their worldly belongings away. This was their way of cutting the ties with this world and moving on to the next.

I had not thought about death too much before - but given the choice between life after death and no life after death - I knew which one I preferred the sound of. Despite this, I wasn't sure either way.

At the end of our chat Dorothy grabbed my arm and her face lit up. 'Thank you Adam, this has been the most useful conversation that I've ever had.'

Her words touched me, though I thought little of it at the time. She had been experiencing anxiety and I had said something to alleviate it. I'd done this numerous times before. I wasn't really sure about what I'd told her but she seemed happy enough, so my job was done.

I looked in her room before leaving the next morning but Dorothy was sound asleep, so I left the ward and went home.

That night I went back into the same ward. As I arrived, there were doctors running down the ward and into the room that Dorothy had been in. I wondered what was going on, as she should have been discharged. I slowly made my way to the room and Dorothy was flat on the floor and the crash team were attempting to resuscitate her.

I went numb at the door as I witnessed the futile attempts of the crash team to resuscitate her and the subsequent disbelief of the entire ward staff. Dorothy had no medical history - this was out of the blue. I'd been responsible for the death of Dorothy and I was the only one that knew it.

After I had watched the resuscitation team in action and gone numb, I felt a resounding peacefulness permeate my body. Had Dorothy waited for my return to die?

I'll never know this for sure. What I do know is that any doubts about whether there is life after death were eradicated for me that day. For all of the books that I had ever read on or around the subject, nothing had ever, or indeed has ever, come close to what happened on that ward during those two nights.

I dedicate this article to Dorothy and thank her for the gift of hope beyond doubt that she has given me.

Bulu Perindu - The Enchanted Grass

By: Leonard Lee

Nature produces the most intriguing life-forms. We are normally aware of the animal, insect, and plant kingdoms--these we come across and interact with in our every day life and are perceptible to the senses; other creatures are too microscopically small for us to perceive with our naked eyes, these are the bacteria, germs, etc. Other life-forms not too commonly found are the transitions between the plant and animal kingdoms: "plant-like" animals and "animal-like" plants. Zoologically, they exist as microbes and also are to be found in abundance on a larger scale in the oceans and seas such as the polyps, sea-anemones, star-fishes, etc.

Hidden in the tropical jungles of South America and Asia are many plant species with unusual animal characteristics and mobile powers not possessed by the lesser evolved plants. We know of some of the more cultivated types such as the "Venus fly-trap" and the Mimosa.

In the recesses of the tropical jungles and rain-forests of Kalimantan (Borneo) of the Indonesian archipelago, exists a strange type of grass that the local Dayak natives of the Kubu and Kaharingan tribes call "Bulu Perindu," or "hair that causes longing." It is not known whether this grass has been classified and given a Latin name by botanists even in the face of its popularity among the occultists of Indonesia. Sometimes in the hollow of bamboo stems are found strands of bamboo fibre connected to the base and top and this is called "Bamboo Perindu"--not to be confused with the Bulu Perindu. In appearance the Bulu Perindu grass resembles a black strand or string. It has a broad base and tapers-off at its other end which may be golden-brown in color.

The Bulu Perindu grass possesses strange qualities--for one, they wriggle and move when placed on the palm of the hand or when warm ashes are strewn all over them. They are evidently heat sensitive; however, cold water is also able to vivify them. Immerse them in water for a few seconds and then put them on a clean, flat surface and watch them wriggle like a bunch of worms!

The Bulu Perindu grass are used by the Kalimantan shamans as an essential ingredient in their love philters and rituals. They would immerse a grass or two into their love oils and empower them with certain occult charging techniques and mantras. Dabs of the oil, here and there, on one's person is sufficient to cause fascination to whosoever looks at one. A drop of the oil on one's fingertips before handshakes could cause a strong subliminal impression on others, potently attracting them to us. The opposite sex are especially drawn to the user of the Bulu Perindu oil. If the liquid comes into contact with someone through one's touch, someone whom we deeply wish to attract, and if this is done in conjunction with the appropriate ritual backing it up, it could cause them to constantly have us in their thoughts and to make them terribly miss or long for us when we are absent from their presence--hence the name "Bulu Perindu"--the hair that causes longing. The grass when carried as an amulet, or the oil applied to one's body also has the virtue of increasing one's charisma and attracting luck. Some occultist affirm that it also has the power to ward off psychic attacks and disturbances from malicious spirits.

One of the rituals of attracting someone specific with the use of the Bulu Perindu grass is as follows:
Immerse the grass in a glass of water for a few seconds and then place it on clean sheet of paper. When it stops moving keep the grass in your wallet or purse. While the grass is being immersed in the water recite the Al-Fateha verse 1x:

"Bismillaahir-rohmaanir-rohiim. "Al-hamdulillahi rabbil 'aalamiin, ar-rahmaani ar-rahiim Maaliki yaumid diin, Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaaka nasta 'iin. Ihdinash Shiraathal Mustaqiim. Shiraathal Ladziina an'amta alaihim. Ghairil Maghduubi Alaihim Walaadh Dhaaliin. Amin."

Then continue with the following affirmation while visualizing the person you wish to attract:

"My soul is one with yours N . . . We are united on spiritual levels and so shall we be in the physical. So be it!" 33x

Close the ritual with the Al-Fateha verse once again.

Why does the occult virtues of the grass produce such arousals and reactions in others? We know that the power of scent works on both the conscious and subconscious levels. It is possible that the Bulu Perindu contains pheromones--one reason why the grass produces such strange instinctive reactions in people. Pheromones are described as an exotic group of hormones triggering sexual responses in animals.

We once carried out an experiment: two bottles of aromatic oil were prepared. One plain, the other with the Bulu Perindu grass immersed. After a period of about a month we put a few drops of the oil with the grass in a vessel of water and the oil in the water reacted with a ceaseless motion. The oil without the grass showed little movement on the water's surface. Many questions arose from this, but without sufficient experimentation and the qualified training we refrained from arriving at a satisfactory conclusion. On the more pragmatic and commercial side of the question, what if the molecule compounds of the chemicals in the grass were isolated and applied in cosmetics? Would this not cause a revolution in the industry because of the magnetic effects that it provides?

The tales surrounding the Bulu Perindu are mystifying. The grass is said to come from a certain haunted mountain called Mt. Bondang in the region of "Puruk Cahu" in the upper recesses of the Barito river, Central Kalimantan (the grass has also been discovered in East Kalimantan). According to one myth, whosoever goes to this region are reluctant or even forget to return to civilization. The reason is because of the joy and happiness that the region instills in one. Being too overly-focused on their ecstatic state, many are said to have died because of the forgetfulness to eat and drink. It is probable that the region is a power spot, one of the points of a ley-line that produces disorientation in the mind as a side-effect. This is supported by the locals who consider the area as filled with extraordinary magickal power. The power according to them, induces hallucinations and a strong uncontrollable attraction for the area. Those that are fortunate enough to escape its grasp find themselves a strong longing to return. Many daring explorers among the native Dayaks have found themselves being possessed by the spirits of the area.
The natural objects such as grass, pieces of bamboo, soil, etc., to be found in the area are believed to be imbued with the same power and qualities as the region itself and are utilized by occult practitioners in their "ilmu pelet," or "magical art of attraction."

Mt.Bondang is believed to be haunted with powerful elementals, nature spirits, and other unseen beings of the forests. It is said that if one were to chop off a piece of bamboo from this area, screams of pain may be heard coming from the dryad of the tree (bamboos are actually the tallest grass in the world), like the screams said to be heard from the mandragore while harvesting the root.. The existence of spirit dwellers in plants and trees throws new light on the experimentation of certain horticulturists on the sentiency of plants.

The acquisition of these natural objects such as the Bulu Perindu grass is not an easy task (attempts to cultivate the Bulu Perindu grass outside of its home territory has presently proven to be a failure), as the mountain is rather inaccessible, steep and high. Most of the natives will not go there because of the risks mentioned above. One of the creatures capable of travelling to and fro from the mountain are the hawks, and if we were to come across a hawk's nest observed to have been built in the same location (a short flying distance from the magickal territory) for seven consecutive years, we can be sure that its home is made up of the Bulu Perindu grass. To verify this the nest is submerged in the Barito river, and if any grass of the nest would float upstream in the direction of the mountain, this would be the Bulu Perindu grass from Mt. Bondang seeking to return to its place of origin, as though a magnetic or etheric attraction existed between the two.

Getting the Bulu Perindu grass out of the Kalimantan/Borneo island is another problem in itself as it is believed that taking anything sacred out of the territory of spirit beings brings about catastrophes in some form during the returning journey. Occult practitioners have found ways of overcoming this, though. One of their methods is to place the grass in a white pouch which in turn is placed inside of a fruit. The fruit itself is placed in a larger fruit, like a Chinese puzzle, and this, it is believed to be sufficient enough to keep any disgruntled spirit off the scent.

The local Dayaks of Kalimantan consider the acquisition of the Bulu Perindu as a blessing, even if it is just a grass or two. To them, while the grass may be insignificant looking, the power that they possess are immense and it is this power that they praise and tap to improve their lives in some way.

Background Checking : Becoming More and More Popular

By: Bercle George

The long term troubles that an office can potentially incur due to a trivial thing such as negligence (in determining the true history of an employee) is truly alarming. To begin with, the current function being carried out could be a major issue but more importantly, the firm's reputation could be so damaged that it would take years to repair it, this in turn could have the impact of severely affecting the revenue generation capabilities of the organization.

All of the problems incurred could have been prevented only if a simple background check had been carried out before staff with questionable histories were hired in the first place.

There are various processes that can be included in the various background checks which are carried out but in summary : During a background check, employment and character references are checked. Other forms of background checking processes go into education verification and related areas.

There are other types of checking which are used by some firms and that leads them on to being very thorough in the level of detail that they go into. Everything really all depends on the sensitivity of the job and how much responsibility will be on the shoulders of the new employee. When all the checks come back positively, then the candidate is truly considered, otherwise they are not considered for further interviews and others are sought after.

You might think that the process of having to check people to learn about their history is not so critical a matter for the company. But you'd be surprised what good it could do you. Sure, there are those who are very sensitive about their privacy, but that is only unfortunate. The law calls for it, common sense calls for it; you need to investigate the people you employ. It's all about playing safe and being on the right side of the law.

Banks and big businesses aren't the only ones who need to do background checks. Even small businesses, two-man partnerships and sole proprietorship in particular have to make sure that they are not bringing in someone who will bring down the whole enterprise. A little research on each applicant for a job position can settle all that.

Online background checking is one form of investigation that is fast becoming popular. It is as good as the traditional means of investigation. In fact, it is better because one can access information without much waste of time.

It is ideal and sometimes makes sense to run background checks on oneself occasionally. This is to avoid taking chances as our personal details may have changed without our knowing. Presently, employers use it as a measure to employing applicants. The sectors that are most concerned are banking, health, children, education and security.

The process where mothers carry out investigation on an intended nanny they intend hiring uses a similar process to the one used by the larger companies. The basic thing mothers seek to know about nannies is their criminal history. This is to save their children from any form of assault.

Free websites most times do not offer in-depth information when conducting background check. The premium services are better. This is because they are more detailed and accurate.

IS DIVORCE THE ANSWER?

By: James Walsh

Yet another reason for the fact that 40% of the marriages in the UK end in divorce is the Divorce Reform Act of 1969, which has made the process easier.

A survey conducted by The Grant Thornton Forensic Practice, shows that adultery is the prime cause for divorce, followed by ‘unreasonable behaviour'.

‘Unreasonable Behaviour’

The Divorce Reform Act of 1969, regards ‘Unreasonable Behaviour’ as grounds for divorce. The law is rather fuzzy on this, and almost anything may be cited as unreasonable – be it snoring, unattended dirty laundry, or a tube of toothpaste squeezed the wrong way. No wonder divorce has become so easy to procure.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

It is up to you to stop and think. Is your spouse guilty of ‘unreasonable behaviour’, or are you just being petty because you need a break? Marriage experts say that taking a break once a year from each other can rejuvenate your marriage. The distance will help you see things objectively, value each other, and recall the things you loved about one another in the beginning.

Teach your Children Well

If you have children, remember that it is they who will suffer most. They learn by your example, and you will be teaching them that love between adults does not last, and therefore, neither will your love for them.

Marriage Counselling

Whatever the cause for the problems in your relationship, marriage counselling is your first option. A good marriage counsellor can help you pinpoint the underlying reasons for your conflict and help you deal with them, but it requires time, and effort from both of you. In the end, you will know whether the marriage is worth saving or not.

Separation Agreements

If you are not living together, but would like to set mutually agreed upon terms regarding finances, property, children, or a divorce in the future, this is an option. This is a commonly taken route, and the agreement is binding, but because it does not involve the court, agreements may prove difficult. For example, a spouse may refuse to disclose his financial status, or disagree about visiting rights if there are children. However, this gives you two years to think it over.

Judicial Separation

This is best if you cannot reconcile your differences, especially if there are pension or religious or ethical objections to divorce. Or if the marriage is less than a year old, in which case, a divorce decree is not applicable. This separation can only be granted on grounds of:

1 Adultery
2 Unreasonable behaviour
3 Desertion by the other partner after two years
4 Separation with consent after two years
5 Separation without consent after five years.

This will enable the court to make decisions about money and property matters. However, the court will ensure that arrangements made for children, if any, are acceptable.

Soulmates

There is destiny involved in marriage. That is why marriage is a sacrament, blessed by God in all cultures. My 84-year-old English friend says that had he and his wife divorced during the many bleak years of their marriage, they could never have recovered their original love and improved on it immeasurably. The Buddhist way of thinking, so popular in the UK (consider the ever- increasing Buddhist community) views marriage as a serious karmic bond necessary for the spiritual growth of the couple that have come together. Each person has something to learn from the other, and if he or she fails to do so, and escapes from the situation, the situation will recur in some other form till it has been resolved. For example, if ego is the prime cause of the conflict, it must be dissolved, or the individual will constantly face similar confrontational situations.

As J.R.R. Tokkein says in a letter to Michael Tolkein in 1941 -

‘Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.‘

Novelists And Cigars: A Long-Running Romance

By:

Like coffee, alcohol and other, somewhat more illicit pleasures, cigars have a longtime fascination for certain kinds of creative folks. Perhaps this is especially true of novelists, whose work compels them to sit staring at a page for hours a day, typing, looking for any small pleasure to momentarily enliven their bored senses. One of Philip Roth's characters nails it: "I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and I turn it around again. Then I have lunch." No wonder so many writers are also passionate smokers' and no wonder that devotees of a medium that requires and repays careful, disciplined attention often opt for the most refined and subtle-tasting form of tobacco: the cigar.

Writer Sally Feldman names just a few examples: "The novelist Kurt Vonnegut, former president of the American Humanist Association, was a fanatical chain-smoker until his death earlier this year. Karl Marx sported cigars; Vaclav Havel, reforming literary president of the Czech Republic, is never seen without a cigarette; Jean Cocteau, Mary McCarthy, Dennis Potter and Martin Amis are just a few of an endless litany of freethinkers who have adopted smoking as their prop and their identity."

Here are a few more who made cigar-smoking, specifically, part of their lives:

Gertrude Stein & Ernest Hemingway

If anyone was ever a "writer's writer," that writer was Gertrude Stein; and if anyone ever managed to personify literary glory while connecting with a broad audience, it was her disciple Ernest Hemingway. Stein's gristly, repetitive, surreal prose has defeated as many intelligent readers as it has influenced, those influencees include Sherwood Anderson, Ezra Pound, Mina Loy, Paul Bowles, Richard Wright and, of course, Hemingway, her friend during his own Paris years in the 1920s, whose mannered ultra-simplicity represents a break with earlier ideas of style so extreme that it's hard to imagine without Stein's example. Both were passionate cigar smokers' so much so that a brand of cigar named itself in honor of the latter.

G.K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton wrote eloquently about the taste of a good cigar - and about nearly everything else under the sun, including politics, Christianity, logic, fairytales, music, science, and losing one's hat. His apologetic works made a convert out of C.S. Lewis, among many others, and his mystery stories and fantasy novels left him such literary disciples as Hemingway (surprisingly), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Neil Gaiman, among many others. (He also got props from Orson Welles, Franz Kafka, Dorothy Day, Ingmar Bergman, Gary Wills, Hugh Kenner, Gandhi, and Michael Collins, not to mention his personal friends George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells.)

His comment on wine describes his attitude toward tobacco as well: "Let us praise God for beer and wine by not drinking too much of them."

John Irving

Writer Jerry Janicki describes the author of The Cider House Rules and Until I Find You as a young man: "At Iowa in the early 1970s John Irving would have been in his early 30s. He was partial to long thin cigars. He used to come into class, light up, set his cigar on the edge of the table and then talk about Charles Dickens much as though they were contemporaries, as though they'd had Christmas dinner together, which, in a sense I guess, they did."

Indeed, if any living American writer deserves to be compared to Dickens, it's Irving, with his roomy, entertaining, emotionally direct novels, which bypass the metafictional gamesmanship that distinguishes so many of his contemporaries. A former wrestler, Irving attended the Iowa Writers' Worskshop (where he later taught) and published a handful of well-regarded novels before his The World According to Garp'a long, funny-serious chronicle of a writer's lunatic life, full of Irving's acerbic reflections on contemporary feminism, and best described perhaps by one of its own lines: "Life is an X-Rated soap opera." His next novels continued this tradition, but leavened the X-rated soap operatics with serious reflections on contemporary issues: Abortion (The Cider House Rules), faith (A Prayer For Owen Meany), sexual abuse (Until I Find You). He has continued to sell better than most writers of equal seriousness, often landing on magazine covers' with cigar in mouth.