Drugs? - Essay for English C

2006-05-04

Just a few thoughts really...

Drugs - Curse or Blessing

Why are certain drugs all right while others are not? How is it that a drug that has caused the kind of suffering that alcohol has historically is considered basically harmless, while other drugs remain surrounded by a haze of fear and loathing?

Alcohol works by slowly shutting down the brain. Starting at the outer edges and moving inwards as the level of intoxication rises. Little by little alcohol turns off receptors in the brain until it completely ceases to function. How alcohol shuts down the brain and in what order is impossible to predict giving alcohol the added property of being totally unpredictable. Overdoing it with alcohol will render a person automotive, since alcohol gradually switches your brain off... ultimately leaving only the limbic-system up and running (rendering the person a zombie, in effect).

Alcohol is also known to induce aggressive behaviour. This fact along with the fact that it also inhibits coordination and judgement is a recipe for disaster. People are assaulted, raped or even killed by people under the influence of alcohol. The same substance currently being pushed by our government.

In order to avoid absolving drunken drivers and rapists from their own personal responsibility, the role of alcohol is downplayed. Thus throwing the baby out with the bathwater. On one hand, one can not argue with the logic that says that a criminal should be considered responsible for his own actions - but it is dangerous to ignore the effects alcohol at any rate.

If one intends to defend alcohol with a statement reminiscent of the above examples, one should bear in mind that the exact same things are also true about PCP a.k.a Angel Dust. PCP will not, according to (the all-knowing and very convenient) Wikipedia, cause a person that is not violent by nature to act more violently than he would normally. Again personal temperament is what matters in the end. How ever if one removes the self-control normally present in a human being, one might find that he, under the influence of either pcp or alcohol, will act in a much more violent and antisocial way than he would under normal circumstances.

Alcohol is directly pointed out as especially prone to induce psychotic states, along with barbiturates. Why is this fact never ever discussed? Whenever an argument arises about the legalisation of certain drugs, someone will always point out that cannabis causes psychosis. This "phenomena" even has a name (hasch-psychosis) even though alcohol is much more dangerous (and documented) when it comes to starting psychotic episodes.

According to Wikipedia there is no obvious link between cannabis use and psychosis. It states that recent studies has been able to show what appears to be a slightly elevated risk for psychosis, primarily in those predisposed to it. And points out that even though the use of cannabis has increased over the past decades the number of psychotic episodes has not.

Taking a overdose of cannabis requires impossible effort (the user WILL fall asleep before that happens), it is virtually impossible to achieve unless one refines the substance further. However any idiot can overdose alcohol and die. I do not know of anyone dying from a marijuana overdose, in contrast, death by alcohol poisoning is not unheard of.

I personally can't say that I am particular about whether or not cannabis will be legalised or not but I do find it odd that alcohol is considered less dangerous than cannabis, when clearly there is not a cat's chance in hell of that being true. I can not help feeling that if the logic that keeps marijuana illegal was applied to alcohol, it too would be illegal. Not only that but it would also put in class comparable with cocaine, heroin and PCP.

It seems as if the reasons for the widespread acceptance of alcohol, as opposed to other drugs, in the end ultimately comes down to convention - tradition if you will. It has been widely used in the western world through history. And is considered essential in the digestion of small water-living invertebrates.

Are these reasons really good enough to keep this lethal drug legal, whilst other milder ones remain prohibited? Should we perhaps look to the south for guidance in the matter?

Diametrically opposing the views of our society the muslim world any form of intoxication, save the mild drowsy state caused by the carbon monoxid in a water-pipe and perhaps the quickening effect of intensively brewed coffee or tea, is frowned upon.

People to Admire - Essay for English C

2006-02-19

People to Admire

While switching channels I came across what I first perceived to be another tedious program on one of the public channels. It was a monk speaking in to the camera. He looked like an old worn Jesuit. I found myself wondering about the order. I didn't think that they even existed any more. The old Jesuit spoke in a very poetic yet logical manner about atrocities perpetrated against humanity in different places around the world. Finally! Someone had put words to my fragmented thoughts and proclaimed them openly in plain view to the world. I was absolutely mesmerized by his intonation and strangely controlled rage as he clearly, concisely and with a strange precision, in poetry reflected on the injustices of the world. At last someone who isn't afraid to challenge authority, or more likely is but does anyway. I later found out that the speaker wasn't a Jesuit after all, but actually Harold Pinter, the winner of the 2005 Nobel prize for literature.

I didn't believe that people like this existed any more. I honestly thought that the age of great men was over. That the system/systems of government and trade had learned from the mistakes of the past and could predict who would stand up and become a problem and launch the appropriate countermeasures ahead of time to stall and counteract them. Discrediting anyone who would stand in their way well ahead of time.

When we were first given this assignment I slowly came to the realization that I didn't seem look up to anyone in particular. After reflecting on the subject I found that the people I admire tend to be the individuals that tirelessly and tenaciously stand up for and defend their principles, and mine.

These guardians that protect me and everyone else against the enormous enemies of mental sloth and the exploitation of which, that in my mind is one of the reasons for the unparalleled monopoly that Microsoft enjoys and perhaps also the extreme indifference shown by the government of the United States of America in regards to human rights.

When I first started to use computers I never gave much thought on the conditions and the limitations that were imposed on me. I didn't know there were any. I just wrote my texts, played my games and frolicked with the screen-savers. Until the day I came across a strange occurrence on the Internet. People were trying to give me software for free and the only thing they wanted in return was that I would use their software! I had seen "share-ware" before where one is free to use the software under certain circumstances but never anything like this.

After downloading and installing a GNU/Linux operating system a whole new world opened up to me. A world of excellent text editors, mail applications, and web-browsers and limitless information - all of it for free! In the course of familiarizing myself with this new abundance of opportunities I was surprised to find an incredible generosity in regards to information. The programmers who had made the applications I was using had taken great care to inform me, as the user, of what was actually going on in my system. everywhere I turned there was information about how things worked. I was simply not used to being included and encouraged to find out more about how the programs worked.

This way of doing things was very different compared to how the proprietary software vendors treated the user. They did offer help pages (of course) but compared to the manual pages on my new GNU/Linux system I found them superficial at best. This little adventure into the realm of free software opened my eyes to the fact that the "Microsoft way" was not the "only way".

I couldn't understand why everybody else didn't use it already nor why the authors of the software insisted on giving it away for free. Why would you spend hours, days and weeks writing a program just to give it away for free? The answer is because of the GNU Public Licence GPL. When licensing your work under the gpl you are saying that the reader may use, make copies of, and redistribute it as he sees fit as long as he provides a copy of the gpl. This means that anyone can make copies of this work print it and sell copies of it if they wanted to. One could also make changes to it as long as one does not take the credit for the original bits of it. Any work that is based on a copylefted document has to be published under the same licence. One must make the buyers aware of the fact that it is published under the gpl and as such it is available (often on-line) free of charge. This model enables programmers to share information without fear that someone else is going to steal their ideas and prohibit them from using their own ideas

All of the companies and organizations that were giving their programs away had this one thing in common. A word kept reappearing in relation to them... The GNU. (It is supposed to be pronounced Gah-Noo in order to differentiate it from the African Wilder beast and the English pronunciation of the word "new").

I felt compelled to pay a visit to the original source of it all, out of sheer respect. I pointed my browser at www.gnu.org and was enlightened. The "GNU" being a recursive acronym for "Gnu's Not Unix" is the name of a project started in 1984 by Richard M. Stallman. The aim of this project is to provide the world with a free (as in freedom) operating system. An operating system that doesn't exclude the user from knowing how it works or from modifying it as they see fit.

Richard Stallman , also known as rms, considers himself to be the "last of the true hackers". Born in 1953 rms stemmed from a time when computer programmers routinely shared their innovations with the rest of the computer community. Small improvements or clever solutions to problems were known as hacks. the people that hacked were benevolent. When someone solved a problem in an original and unexpected way their achievement might have been referred to as a "hack". Over time however the irresponsible use of the word hacker by the media has tainted the word and distorted its original meaning. It is now commonly associated with the act of illegally gaining access to other peoples systems and exploiting weaknesses. A more appropriate label for these people who engage in this kind of ill mannered behavior might be "cracker" (according to the Wikipedia; from the phrase criminal hacker) a term suggested by Richard Stallman himself in an effort to salvage what was left of the original meaning of the word hacker.

By simply existing the GNU is a counterweight to the commercial software companies that have no interest in enlightening their customers about their options or rights and don't mind stepping over the corps of what used to be their users freedom. Producing an operating system that is completely candid and transparent transforms the user from being without choices or options to the undisputed masters of their own machines. Free to reject any software they don't want.

Considered by some to be a motley crew of long haired hippie-liberals the GNU and the Free Software Foundation have stood the test of time, 22 years in the front-line of the computer-business, in the computer-world this is the equivalent of an eternity. unfocused computer hippies without a clear sense of purpose wouldn't have lasted that long. Along the way they have seen and overcome their fair share of obstacles. They have been ridiculed and scoffed at but in the end the sound basic ideas of the GNU has prevailed and continues to gain momentum.

Since 1984 the GNU has provided for the world, weather the world wanted it or not, the freedom of choice. In a world that is becoming more and more locked down by software licenses the GNU will ensure that I have my personal freedom intact. Thanks to Richard M. Stallman stubborn unwillingness to simply let businesses dictate the conditions of our computer usage.

To me the very existence of a movement like the GNU is a tangible and contemporary expression of faith in humankind.

Why IBM won - essay for English C

2006-05-29

Why IBM won

1. Why?

Have you ever wondered, why? Of course you have, it is a fundamentally human trait to keep asking that question. The tiny word "why", is probably the most significant difference between human beings and other animals. I do not mean to say that animals would not in some way ask themselves "why" now and again, but rather that we tend to ask it more frequently and that we are better equipped to deal with the question. Along with the question we almost always append a cause, and wherever we find the cause we also find a question in relation to it. Regardless of which one of the two words you find more appealing, the hen or the egg, they are symbiotic in nature. The question leads to an answer that warrants another question in turn.

1.1 The "first love" never dies, it just fades to gray.

The first computer I ever came in close contact with was the Commodore Amiga 500. My mother in her then infinite computer illiteracy had decided to purchase a personal computer so that her boys would not lag behind their peers in regard to computers. Three boys... ONE computer. Peace was a thing of the past. The intrigues and arguments over who's turn it was to play computer games turned into epic battles of three unyielding wills.

The Amiga 500 was an amazing machine, it plugged right in to the television set, making an expensive separate screen for the computer redundant. The keyboard and floppy drive were integrated with the computer, making the whole package look like an over sized computer-keyboard with heat-vents at the back. I never understood how it worked, but I desperately wanted to. I almost broke it several times in my attempts to make head or tales of it all. Remember that "Peace" we were talking about earlier? well the combination of three preteen boys and one single mother ultimately resulted in the permanent removal of said machine. This, however, did not quench my thirst for computer knowledge. It was very much kept alive by movies like TRON, War Games and Jumping Jack Flash. The concept of text magically appearing on the TV as a result of a person tapping letters on a keyboard never failed to amaze me. Now a couple of years later, and well in to my own little inquiry into the internals of computers, I am gradually starting to understand how it is all put together. Small fragments of clarity have joined together to form a sort of meshed picture of what it is all about.

In my quest I have probably used most operating systems for personal computers available today. and what this promiscuous attitude towards computer interfaces has yielded is the insight that something is not right about the way we view computers. And the question of "why" has started to bubble up in my head more frequently of late. Why do people dislike Microsoft so much? Why did the IBM PC become the standard for personal computers? Why not the Amiga?

2. How it happened!

Contrary to popular belief the IBM PC was not around from the beginning of the PC revolution, that the advent of personal computers meant. The very first micro computer that brought the power of computing to the realm of mortal men, was the MITS Altair in 1975. Prior to this computers were not available for mere mortals but were reserved for the privileged people, also known as "the priesthood". At the Universities and other institutions potential programmers were not allowed to access the computers themselves. The aspiring programming "guru" had to write code on paper which had to be converted into punched cards. He would then hand the punched cards over to a member of the "computer priesthood" who would load his program into one of the university's computers. Needless to say this process made computer programming a complicated task. When the Altair appeared, computer enthusiasts "lined up" to buy it. Even though the only way to interact with the machine was through levers for input, and blinking lights on the front cover for output - the Altair meant freedom. The Altair paved the way for all other personal computers since.

2.1 The emerging Apple

After the Altair there were several "clones" trying to bud in on newly created personal computer market, but none proved as successful as the small company started by the "two Steves" - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak4. Steve Jobs came up with the name; Apple. Weather he conceived the name while reminiscing upon the time he worked in an orchard, or if he was influenced by the Beatles record label (this has since turned into a court battle5 between the record label and Apple Computing, which might explain6 Jobs' insistence upon picking the name at random). Steve Wozniak designed the computer that started it all - The Apple I(7).

In 1979 Steve Jobs were given a tour of the facilities of Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). Against the explicit recommendations of researcher Adele Goldberg, the Xerox Development Corporation let Steve Jobs through the gates, carrying a "wooden horse" in the shape of an investment opportunity of 1 million dollar in Apple, in return for "opening the kimono at Xerox PARC"8. At Xerox PARC the marvel of a graphical user interface (GUI) were revealed to Jobs, along with an entourage of Apple executives. Xerox had the first working GUI, using icons and the mouse. Even though Jobs never gained access to the actual technology that produced what they saw on the computer screens, the concepts of how to build a graphical user interface was revealed to him.

2.2 Enter the PC

In 1981 the IBM PC was introduced. There were two different operating systems available for what was later contracted into the more general PC. One was a 16bit Disk Operating system designed by Tim Paterson at Seattle Computer Products initially called SCP-DOS. SCP-DOS was a poorly written clone of Digital Research CP/M (Control Program for microcomputers) bought, modified and marketed by Microsoft as MS-DOS. The other system was the actual Digital Research's CP/M, Market-leader at the time. Initially IBM had planned to ship their PC's exclusively with MS-DOS but a lapse in IBM's security let Gary Kildall (President and founder of Digital Research) see just how similar Microsoft's Disk Operating System was to his own CP/M. He threatened to sue if IBM did not agree to market his operating system along side MS-DOS. IBM responded by charging $40 for MS-DOS (IBM referred to it as PC-DOS) and $240 for CP/M, the rest is history.

Later Bill Gates managed to license Apples technology for his Windows system (running on top of dos) by threatening to halt all development of Microsoft's software for the Mac9. This classic Microsoft behavior has led to the belief that Microsoft "stole" the GUI from Apple. This is not true. The GUI was developed in its current form by researchers at Xerox PARC. Xerox squandered the opportunity to become market-leading in the field of personal computers by letting Apple in on its secrets. Microsoft might have bullied Apple into licensing its technology but does that really mean that they stole it? Can one really own an idea? and if so, who should you pay for using the wheel?

3. "The Mother of all demos"

"By 'augmenting human intellect' we mean increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation, to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems."
Douglas Engelbart

Several of the developers from Xerox PARC where recruited from a project led by the computer visionary Douglas Engelbart. Engelbart had a vision in which the human intellect was extended by the use of computers. In his efforts to achieve this, Douglas Engelbart is attributed with inventing, among other things, the computer mouse. His work-methodology consisted of a process he called bootstrapping in which one builds a tool that is used to build a more powerful tool that in turn is used to build an even more powerful tool.

A lot of the things that impress us nowadays were already possible in the late 60's. In December of 1968 at the FCJJ (Fall Joint Computer Conference) in San Francisco, Douglas Engelbart (from the Stanford Research Institute at Menlo Park) was sitting at a futuristic desk, with keyboard in the middle and two odd looking devices on either side of it. He looked like a mad scientist from a low-budget horror-film. One of the devices was a mouse and the other was a pad with several lever-shaped buttons on it. Around his neck he wore a typical sixties headset with a microphone that amplified his voice over the auditorium and was used to talk with another project member sitting in another room through the computer.

Using video cameras the two men held a computer driven teleconferencing session where they were able to see one another through the computer screen, in a little cut out in the corner of the screen. Through the group-ware called NLS (oNLine System) they could both work on the same project at the same time while communicating over the network via cameras and microphones. This demo has later been dubbed; "The Mother of all demos"11 by the computer community.

After this project, sponsored by the DARPA Department of Defense Agency, Douglas Engelbart was also included in the creation of the ARPAnet, The DARPA'S attempt at building a network that could remain in use even if one of the nodes in the network were incapacitated (as they might be in case of war). The ARPAnet is what later became the Internet.

4. Imagine... The end.

"You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one"
Imagine - John Lennon

Why did the IBM PC become the industry standard? People wanted the big brand of the business to give its approval before venturing themselves into a business they did not understand very well. IBM clearly preferred the business style of Bill Gates and Microsoft to the Digital Research's superior CP/M. Not for the reason of excellence but rather because they were more familiar. IBM probably thought that the attitudes at Microsoft better coincided with their own and thus preferred them.

Why did not Apple become the standard in personal computers? They had superior hardware but they were expensive. One thing that I have found to be overlooked is the fact that the business methods of Apple are no better than Microsoft's. Microsoft has a history of trying to lock the end user into using their own software where the user might be better off using a freely available option. Apple extends this practice to its hardware as well as its software. The Ipod being an excellent example; the Ipod requires Apples Itunes to be installed on the computer. Other MP3-Players need no special software but Apple wants to tie the user of the Ipod to their own software, by stripping the customer of the freedom to choose what ever program he or she wants to use to play music. That said some find this lack of freedom a relief, though.

As promised the answers to our questions has generated even more questions. But I hope that the original questions were answered in this paper. The purpose of this paper has been to shed some light on some of the misconceptions surrounding the use of personal computers and to put the things we see on the computer screen in our every day life in a slightly different light. Things are not always what they seem. IBM would have launched their PC with or without Microsoft, there were obviously better alternatives12 available at the time. Before the IBM PC, Apple was selling vastly superior machines in great numbers. The Apple MacIntosh was introduced in 1984 with mouse support and a fully functioning graphical user interface. Microsoft's windows 3.0 did not enter the marketplace until 1990.

Even though most people might find it hard to imagine a world without IBM or Microsoft the fact remains; neither one was essential to the personal computer revolution! They merely took market shares from the true innovators of the time. It might just be, that the development in personal computers might have come further if they had never existed. Food for thought at the very least.

I my self am committed to the use of free software (" ``free'' as in ``free speech,'' not as in ``free beer.'' "13) that make me free to chose whatever computer I like and whatever operating system I prefer. Perhaps someday you will join us...

5. A slight afterthought and a Bibliography

If all of this is true then what made the vast majority of people choose the inferior computer with the inferior operating system? Other answers to this question can be found in Neal Stephenson's14 excellent essay; "In the beginning... Was the Command Line". This essay15 describes in syllables and metaphors the relations between different operating systems and their users. A compulsory read for a computer aficionado or anyone else for that matter. In this essay Neal Stephenson explains the sometimes irrational behavior people display when dealing with computers and why mainstream consumers might reject a good deal in favor of a bad one.

Freiberger, Paul & Swaine, Michael. _Fire in the valley_ city: New York, San Francisco, Washington,D.C Auckland, Bogotá Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto McGraw-Hill 2000, second edition - 1984 first edition

Douglas Engelbart: The mother of all demos
http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/ engelbart.html
2006-04-25

The demo is available as ram-streams real player streams at:
http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/ 1968Demo.html
2006-04-25

Bill Gates letter to hobbyists:
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/ newsletters/ homebrew/V2_01/gatesletter.html
2006-04-25

Old Computers - Video clips - including the Xerox GUI (Quicktime recommended):
http://www.digibarn.com/ collections/movies/index.html
2006-05-12

Neal Stephenson - Essay: In the beginning... Was the command Line:

http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html

http://www.nealstephenson.com
2006-05-12

writing assignment

2006-02-05

Writing Assignment

(Page 44)

One morning on her way to school, Alice heard loud cries. She looked up at the tenement building and saw a young child standing on a window ledge. Smoke was billowing from the open window...

She screamed out to the child, telling him not to move. Although not entirely sure about what to do Alice realized that this situation was clearly more than she could handle on her own. She pulled her cellular-phone out of her backpack and dialled the emergency number - 112.

Understanding that the situation was precarious, she started to worry about the little one. The little child continued to scream and move about, it was becoming clear that he wouldn't be able to keep his footing for very much longer.

Alice frantically looked around for the firefighters '-where are they?' she thought. There was nobody else around. Alice is becoming more and more stressed by the situation, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Finally after a few seconds, that seemed to go on forever, something in her mind made the decision that she was the only one there to take care of the child.

She moved closer in order to be heard. Using the softest and most comforting tone she could muster she talked to the boy, calming the boy down enough to keep him from stirring, until the firefighters arrived.

Alice ignored her own fears and did what ever was necessary to keep the boy from falling off the ledge and this shows that Alice was not only cool on the face of danger but in every sense of the word a real heroine.

National Exam

2006-05-17

My text

for the national exam

We were asked to write a short text describing our attitudes towards an international career.

An international career - pros and cons

One great advantage to having an international career might be that you would learn more about the culture and life of the people that you work with, as you work. Experiencing different cultures, in the flesh, has the added dimension of yielding a deeper understanding of how people in other countries think. This would hopefully lead to a more tolerant attitude towards other cultures that you might not be familiar with at all.

The focus, among the companies recruiting today, has been shifted towards the highly educated people. People who are able to - talk and think across the borders. This might also abstract the leaders from the actual work being done. Speaking two languages, at the same time, requires that one think in a more general way. Orders that are poorly adapted to the practical aspect of the work could be a negative effect of this. Orders given by managers that erroneously believe that they are more in tune with reality than they actually are.

In the article Vincent Wauters, is quoted in response to the question "where might he end up?" as saying: "Everywhere is equally interesting," this could be interpreted as meaning: places may vary but the business stays the same. As European companies standardize the way they do business, the international career might not be that different from a normal career after all. If this concept brings the old way of doing things in the commercial sphere to shame, the configuration will inevitably spill over into any organization that spans over the borders of nations. To what extent the global companies and organizations will implement this thinking is hard to predict.

If one recognizes some of these issues and find a good way to address them, the career as a "nation hopper" might not be so bad after all. If one wants a diverse job where one is paid to travel, meet people and learn new things on an every day basis, this might be as close to Nirvana as one can get here on earth. In my case I do not believe that I have much to gain in working for an International business that would require me to live somewhere else. I have an obligation to my family; to be available to them. Since a lot can be done without physically travelling to other countries, I think it would be unreasonable to demand of the recruit to uproot and move when ever the company would require it.

Short story

2006-02-27

Right on Crime

(For English C)

-What? Had time stopped? The thought swooped around his brains, with a circular motion, carefully avoiding contact with anything that might cause it to settle down. His eyes simply refused to focus, moving in and out of focus, while his body hurled forward in space. strange as it may seem he knew exactly where he was, his brain had just not settled in enough to recognize the void before impact.

The silent no mans land of existence. Where sounds are muffled and visual input is blurry at best. Who would put that pole there? This thought was not on his mind. The only thing occupying it at the moment was the echo of an all-engulfing pain as it faded into darkness.

After experiencing the chain of events again, only backwards, Tom slowly opened his eyes. And there it was, blurry vision. The pain that once mercifully had faded out, now unmercifully faded back in again. it had obviously brought a friend - almost as if to make up for the previous absence. For a brief moment it seemed as if the world had flipped upside down and that total and complete confusion had somehow become the norm.

Slowly as the hazy world cleared away, he found himself laying on the ground facing the sky. A beautiful blue sky with scattered off-white clouds drifting softly across it. A slender metal column rose up straight into it, it seemed to sway against the striking backdrop. At the top of the pole a sign pointed to the right with the words ``crime st.'' in raised black letters on a dirty-yellow metallic surface.

It is said that the only speed a human-being is able to handle is walking speed. Anything faster than that and the brain can't keep up. Our hero has just experienced this, the hard way. A couple of days earlier while he was sitting in his favorite coffee-shop, facing the window and drinking his favourite drink (carbonated water in a recycled paper-cup) a blurry figure raced across his field of vision. He could barely make out her facial features. Tom's memory was in a class of its own, his brain tended to warp things that lay around idle for to long leaving him used to the feeling of deja vu. But this was different somehow. Suddenly the hesitant impression gave way to the unquestionable certainty of a platonic idea. He knew her.

Nearly chocking on his finely sizzling cup of water, Tom started up and before he knew it he was chasing someone down the street. Given Tom's mental condition, according to some ``being himself'' was a handicap in its own right, perhaps this wasn't all that out of character. There was something about the intensity of his actions and the determination in his eyes, that set this instance apart from other occational whims.

The feminine figure seemed to move with an unnatural speed, he found it impossible to catch up. As the woman turned a corner, a white paper square whirled through the air caught in the back-current, before slowly settling down on the pavement. When Tom turned the corner she had already vanished. He went back to pick up what she had dropped. He found to his astonishment that it was addressed to him. The note contained nothing but a hastily jotted down email-address.

a couple of days later while rushing along the main street Tom found himself becoming more and more restless, a feeling only fractions away from panic started to bubble up inside him. LATE. He was going to be too late. The public transportation services had failed him today. Although he tried to keep this feelings under control they started to eat up everything else until they were the only thing on his mind. His steps started to become quicker and quicker until he was racing uncontrollably towards an intersection. The instructions were clear; right on crime street second door on the right. The appointment had been set up in advance. Discretion was essential, nobody was to know, hence the complicated procedure. He looked around frantically to see a street sign on either one of the buildings he was passing not noticing the obvious danger ahead of him.

Tom raised himself off the ground and proceeded down crime street, until he came upon the second door on the right. The green wooden door looked heavy. It had a brass mail slot. Oddly plain, it was completely anonymous. no name or other distinguishing marks save the mail slot. He wondered how ever they received their mail. There was no knob so he carefully pushed the door inwards. The door opened in to a arched corridor with dirty-white concrete walls. At the far end of the hallway, the ceiling and wall met in a bow making the corridor look like a tube with a rounded end.

He entered and let the door close behind him.It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the murky conditions. The two candles perched besides the portrait of a flower, were illuminating the hallway in warm welcoming tone. This along with the strangely personal depiction a plant made the passage a little more personal, though bizarre, he found it quite inviting. An opening in the floor appeared where the walls and the ceiling met, partially covered with a rusty iron grid floor and a matching winding stairway leading downwards.

After carefully negotiating his way down the creaky stairs, he entered a well lit rounded living room. It was a fairly spacious room with lounge chairs and a cozy fire in the fireplace. in the middle of the room there was a table. standing out from the rest of the interior in being slightly elevated compared to the low, comfortable sofa and chairs. The walls were decorated with renaissance-paintings in lavish golden frames.

He placed his left hand on the table and using his right hand picked up an envelope. His name was written on it with large Uncial letters. There was something about the timeless ambience of this place that made him forget about his fears and troubles. He slowly tore the envelope open. Inside he found an old photograph. The photograph showed a man and a woman. Wearing smiles from ear to ear they glowed with the innocent happiness of newlyweds. An air of bliss that seemed to emanate from the plastic covered paper. Tom slowly exhaled.

Writing assignment

2006-01-25

Bill Sprocket's letter

(A letter to Bill Sprockets father, explaining the situation.)

Dear dad,

During the course of our correspondence I fear that some instance of great misunderstanding has occurred.

It is without question so, that you mistakenly have come to believe that the land, family and home I have described in my letters to you, were my own. This has in turn led to an impossible situation for which I am solely to blame. As I received such a overwhelmingly positive response to the first letter I wrote, describing the valley, I was swept away by the concept of owning it and could not see the insanity of it all.

Life here has not been as fruitful as I, nor you, would have wanted. In a time of great hopelessness I took the habit of wandering about in the fields and valleys on the weekend. Whilst out on one of these walks I came across the valley that has become the subject of most of our letters. As I saw this beautiful land for the first time it was as if a calm and mild flow of benevolence washed over my eyes and all of my troubles seemed to fade away

In the beginning it all seemed harmless enough, I took the bus down to "my" valley and observed what was going on there. Later I returned to my home at the boarding house and put it all to paper. Of course - substituting the landowner with myself and living a little bit larger, if only for a brief moment.

The life I actually lead here is a disappointment to me, as it would have been for you - had you come here sooner. I had the chance of being able to offer my own imagination I chance to roam free. While letting you believe that your son was a prospering landowner I effectively avoided to deal with my own life and was able to concentrate on my imaginary equivalent. This little lie had the intoxicating ability to offer what the dreary life I did have - could not. The possibility of shear happiness. It wasn't very long before this bizarre charade completely engulfed every aspect of my life.

My reason for writing to you about all this now is that I feel that I'd best rectify my mistake, to what degree I can, before events get too far out of hand. Before you come here to visit - only to find my imaginary land.

I am truly and deeply sorry for the pain I have, through my own sloth, bestowed upon you and although unforgivable; I would like to offer my apologies.

Yours sincerely

Bill Sprocket

Summary of short story

2006-01-25

Summary of "The Feather Men"

(By Ranulph Fiennes)

In a clearing in the park a young man was suspended from a tree, his arms tied with straps of a torn shirt and some belts. Slouching and unconscious the boy had wet his trousers during some act of brutal abuse. Above his right knee two feathered bolts protruded. A third projectile was lodged in his left thigh.

A man lay hunched in the grass, clutching his belly. Another bolt protruded in between his fingers. Beside him there were two other young men, one with his bloody face buried in his hands and the other one grabbing his scrotum.

A few feet away a crouching figure of a man was pulling a six inch bolt from the neck of an old beagle dog. He gently wrapped his own vest around the dog and put her back on the ground. His eyes narrowed as he turned towards the boy, still hanging from the tree.

After tending to the boy Captain Daniel de Villiers left the unusual scene. Suppressing the level of his own involvement he gave a nearby police officer his name and a description of the situation.

The Captain did not know himself whether or not he would have stopped to help the boy if it wasn't for the dog.The unusual circumstances surrounding de Villiers upbringing had left him wary of the evil that men - not animals - do. There was something in the inherent innocence of animals that made him sympathize with them rather than fellow humans.

Summary of an article

2006-02-05

Summary of "Who knew?"

(By Joel Achenbach - Washington Post Staff Writer)

Blue haired cockroaches?

The subject of insect aging is not very interesting to most people, except that it brings the cockroach one step closer to being a ``good cockroach''. In the article ``Who Knew?'', published in The National Geographic Magazine in the July issue of 2004, the author Joel Achenbach (staff writer for the Washington post) lists a couple of ways to make good use of the little hexapod.

Regardless of our attitudes towards these heavily armored sources of infinite annoyance - they have proven to be excellent pets to the scientific community. According to the author one could cram cockroaches into a garbage bin, line the rim with Vaseline and feed them dog-food once a week. The cockroach can also be attributed the good taste of being easily dissected due to their size and very robust nervous system. These things are attractive to those who would carve them open and tear nerves from their flesh.

cockroaches harbour a trait that naturally follows this insects level of popularity - they are very fast, not in actual speed but rather in reaction. This high level of alertness declines in relation to the invertebrates age. Geriatric cockroaches start to stumble over their own legs and their incredible reaction-times slow down or ceases arbitrarily.

In addition to the research on aging, the studies of cockroaches might aid in the building of robots with self-sustaining properties for use in space. Due to an ingenious redundancy in the insects nervous system that sometimes enables them to function even after being decapitated.