Vocab Words Week 2

1) equivocate (verb) - to use ambiguous or unclear expressions

2) eradicate (verb) - to tear up by the roots(abolish, eliminate)

3) erode (verb) - To make or form by wearing away

4) erratic (adjective) - Having no fixed or regular course

5) escalate (verb) - To increase, enlarge, or intensify

6) esoteric (adjective) - mysterious

7) espouse (verb) - choose and follow

8) eulogy (noun) - High praise or commendation

9) euphoria (noun) - A feeling of great happiness

10) euthanasia (noun) - The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition

11) epitome - A representative or perfect example of a class or type

Current Event 01/29/08

ELLSWORTH, Maine (AP) -- His lottery ticket was a $1,000 winner, but police have seized it saying it was bought with proceeds from an illegal drug sale.

Michael David, who had been staying at an Ellsworth motel, sold four 10-milligram methadone pills for $15 each last week, Police Chief John Deleo said.

He then went to a convenience store and bought lottery tickets and other merchandise and went back to his motel room, where he was busted.

"I guess it will be up to a judge to decide, but it's in our possession right now as proceeds from a drug transaction," Deleo said of the winning ticket.

David, 46, remained in custody Monday in the Hancock County Jail on drug trafficking charges. An official at the jail said David was not available for comment.

I think that everyone would do the same thing as the cops did. 1000$? However, the drug business has always been an amazing issue of the world and this is only one of the examples.

Book report #5

Martel Yann, Life of Pi, Canada
Canongate Books Ltd.:2002

Reason, Type and Setting: I chose this book, because the name caught my interest. This novel is an allegory and it takes place in India, the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Canada in 1990's.

Plot:An anonymous author decides to leave his home, Canada, for India where he meets a man named Francis. He tells him a story, which is supposed to be as good, as he will make him believe in God. The rest of the book is the story itself. The story is devided into several parts. In the first one, a boy called Pi is pictured as a desperate kid, who didn't have a really easy childhood. His family decided to move to the Canada. As they sail, the boat starts to sink and Pi loses his family. He lived it in a emergency boat with a tiger. They face a lot of problems, but at the end Pi is taken to the hospital and the tiger runs away.

Character: PI. He is the narrator for the most part of the book. He is a protagonist. He loves animals and links the world of men to the world of animals.

Evaluation: Honestly, I didn't get this book and ,frankly, I didn't like it either. The plot was really boring for me and kind of unreal. Pi trains his own tiger on a emergency boat...???? The only message this book could bring to world is that miracles happen. I would say it that way. I really don't wanna put myself in the plot, because I don't like it.

Author, Context and Trivia: After reading this book, I'm not planning on reading any other books, which I would waste my time on. However, the author has written several books, including Seven Stories, Self, The facts behind the Helsinki Romaccatio.

Reflection "Why we fight"

I find this movie really interesting. I've always been interested in world's politics, especially the way how US are trying to take over the entire world. I think the majority of Americans, better said, of the entire world's population would be glad to see US troops out of every other country. I enjoyed the objectivity of this piece, they considered opinions of both sides. Either those, who were for the Iraq War, or those who shared opinions with me, that was really fair.

Overall, I liked this movie pretty much.

Current Event 01/23/08

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ten Air Force Reserve F-16 fighter jets were the cause of the lights seen over parts of central Texas earlier this month that many believed to be UFOs, according to an Air Force Reserve news release.

Ricky Sorrells said he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Texas home.

The F-16s were on a nighttime training mission over the Brownwood Military Operating Area on January 8, near Stephenville, Texas, the statement said.

A military operating area is airspace designated for military training, according to Air Force officials.

Several people in the area saw lights moving fast across the night sky. The Air Force reported it had no aircraft flying that night, which left people wondering what they saw.

Wednesday, an Air Force Reserve statement from the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base said it made a mistake in its initial reporting, and that there were planes in the area that night.

"In the interest of public awareness, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs realized an error was made regarding the reported training activity of military aircraft," the news release said.

A spokesman for the Air Force Reserve fighter wing, Karl Lewis, said the error in the reporting resulted from an internal communications problem between offices at the base.

Lewis said he received the flight information earlier this week, confirmed it with officials on the base and sent the news release out Wednesday.

The release said the planes were in the area between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., about the time many people reported seeing the lights, according to reporting at the time.

Lewis said the planes were from the 457th Fighter Squadron based at the reserve base outside of Fort Worth, Texas.

Vocabulary Week 1

1. intrepid - resolutely fearless

2. trepidation - tremulous fear, alarm, or agitation
3. despondent - feeling or showing profound hopelessness
4. decorum - dignified propriety of behavior, speech, dress, etc.

5. aspire - to long, aim, or seek ambitiously
6. vacillate - to waver in mind or opinion
7. desultory - lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected

8. fallacy - deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.

9. formidable - causing fear
10. heritage - something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth
11. guru - an intellectual or spiritual guide or leader

Current Event 01/09/08

A Mexican boy glued his hand to his bed because he did not want to go back to school after the Christmas break.

"The holidays were such fun," Diego Palacios, 10, who lives outside Monterrey, told Reforma newspaper.

His mother Sandra found him watching television with his hand stuck to the bedstead. "I don't know why he did it," she said. "He is a good boy."

Police and paramedics eventually managed to free him unharmed, and he was only a few hours late for school.

Diego had got up early to fetch some industrial-strength glue from the kitchen.

His mother spent two hours trying to free him with nail-polish remover before calling for expert help.

Diego watched cartoons while paramedics dissolved the glue with a spray.

Book report #4 01/07/08

Melville,Herman, Moby Dick, Los Angeles
Dover Publications: 2003

Reason, Type and Setting: I selected this book, beacuse I have heard about it a lot in the past, the name is really popular. It is an adventure novel with a tragic end, so that makes it partly a tragedy. It takes place in worlds oceans, such as Pacific, Atlantic and Indian in around 1830's.

Plot: The narrator of this book, Ishmael, wanted to sail aboard a whealing boat. He meets harpooner Queequeg, they start working together and meet a old one-leged sailor Ahab, who's leg was eaten by a while whale, Moby Dick. Ahab joins them, they sail all around the world looking for Moby Dick to kill him. At the end, they found him, but he sank their boats, so everyone dies, except for Ishmael, who was far enough to escape from a whirpool made by the sinking boat.

Character: I picked Ahab, because with his evil and passionate characteristics is special for me. He is single-minded in his pursuit of the whale, using a mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join him. As a captain, he is dictatorial but not unfair. He dies in the end, so he didn't change at all.

Evaluation: I enjoyed this book pretty much, even the sotry line wasn't that complicated. Character of this book was not to inform but entertain, and sometimes it made me laugh. Ahab was an amazing character, almost like a pirate. I would recommend this book to every single lover of action stories, you will like it. I kind of didn't expect the book to end the way it did, I was more like they really are gonna get that whale. If i yould put myself onto the plot, I couldn't play any of those characters, but if I would have to stay myself, we wouldn't probably chase after the Moby Dick.

Author, Context and Trivia: Herman Melvielle was an American novelist, essayist of the 19th century. His greatest novel is obviously Moby Dick but he also wrote novels as Ossle of the Cross, Redburn: His first voyage etc. I definitely plan on reading some other book from him.

Book report #3 12/27/07

Cooper, James Fenimore, The Last of the Mohicans, New York
Carey & Lea of Philadelphia: 2000

Reason, Type and Setting: The reason why I selected this book, is that I already read it when I was in the third grade as a part of requested reading. It's kind of an adventure and romantic novel, takes place in the New York State, during the summer of 1757, within the French and Indian War.

Plot: Guided by the displaced Huron warrior Magua, four people—Major Duncan Heyward, Psalmodist David Gamut, and Alice and Cora Munro—strike through the wilderness forest for Fort William Henry, which is besieged by the French near Lake George. Led by Magua, they encounter the white woodsman Hawkeye and his two Mohican companions, Chingachgook and Uncas, whereupon the villainous Huron escapes. Later on, all the Indians are killed except Magua, who gets away again. After that, a quiet interest develops between the young Uncas and the brunette Cora, while Heyward shows a deference toward Alice. The final moment is when Hurons get attacked and Cora, Uncas, and Magua are killed.

Character: I chose Uncas, because he is the last of the Mohicans. He is an Indian, and son of Chingachgook. He is noble and really proud young man, who is a significant participant in one of the two love stories in the novel, and his tragic death marks the death of the entire tribe of Mohicans. He interests me with his pride, even he is so young. Unfortunately, at the end he dies, but that is the main idea of this book.

Evaluation: Honestly, I didn't find this book really interesting, I read it only because of its famous name. I would recommend this book to girls, because the main point of this book is in opinion showing the interraction between a love and a friendship. However, this book is linked with a real life really closely. Men's and women's relations are really complicated and often there are debates, either to stay just friends, or to raise the relationship to something more. I really don't want to put myself into the plot, because I'm not really interested in it.

Author, Context and Trivia: Cooper was a popular American writer of the 19th century. He is known by his novels such as Leatherstocking Tales, The Pathfinder, or the Island Sea... I don't plan on reading any more books from this author, beacause a romantic literature is kind of boring for me.