Original Composition Prompt (Provincial)

Prompt- "Confidence comes from the support of others"

My cold hands gripped my rifle; we are hopelessly outnumbered with no hope of reinforcements. The so called "Winter War" has gone unnoticed, overshadowed by Hitler's invasion of Poland. The Russians have continued to advance through the forests of my homeland, Finland. No matter how many enemy soldiers we kill the Russians seems to have an infinite supply of men and arms. My squad was separated from the main platoon after a motor division of Russian T-28 tanks smashed through our poorly armed soldiers. With less than ten of us remaining it is almost impossible to continue holding the Mannerheim Line. We can still hear the constant pounding of the artillery shells that continue to decimate our forces. The captain had us regroup as we try and stay warm, constant challenge in the minus forty degree weather. Without much ammo remaining we wanted to retreat, to flee. All the men wanted to but no one wanted to be the first to admit it. If it wasn't for my other comrades I would run as fast as I could to get away from the powerful advancing Red Army. The captain was a veteran; he kept the squad together. He knew that we must complete our orders or the reinforcements behind us will be eliminated. We must ambush an infantry division and the supply line that they are guarding.

            The ten of us treaded through the waist deep snow. It was slow moving but we were experienced in the snow. As children we all would go for trips through the woods just to get to school. The Russians on the other hand were not used to being this far north and most of them were from the city; they were suffering. Exhaustion set in on the squad. I have been awake for the last 28 hours when the mortar attacks first started, when people began dying. Some of us are at the end of our line, ready to quit, but the squad banded together to keep on going. I helped carry a pack of one of the squad members who was struggling. He is lightly wounded from shrapnel but he is one of the strongest people in our squad, always be the last to quite. We hiked for the next few hours. It wasn’t until we could go no longer when the captain finally allowed a few hours of rest. I could not sleep in the Arctic temperatures. I shivered uncontrollably for the next hour or so until the captain had us continue our march. We were close to the convoy.

            I could hear the trucks thundering through the forest road, the enemy soldiers chatting with each other. The captain had us set of positions a few clicks down the road and had us wait in hiding until the perfect moment to attack. I looked over at the soldier beside me; his face was white with fear. I wanted to comfort him saying that we were going to make it but being outnumbered three to one there can be no guarantees.  The first truck has just passed when I heard the captain yell the order to fire. The five of us on our side of the road sprang out of our cover emptying our magazines. The Russians were taken completely by surprise, they scattered.  One of my squad members beside me went down with a bullet wound but the rest of so started to converge on the remaining convoy guards. The firefight ended as quickly as it begun. In that short battle we lost three soldiers but we captured two transport trucks and the twelve Russians that surrendered. The captain looked at us and I could tell he was proud. It was a tough last couple of days but with the support of the other squad members we could continue on and complete our mission. 

Novel Research

In "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind the protagonist Richard is given a magic sword called the  "Sword of Truth". I decided to research the process of sword-smithing and what makes a good sword to further understand how Richard has the advantage in combat. His sword is a double-edged broadsword that is comparable swords that were used around 16th century Europe.  From the description in the book his sword would be about 30-45 inches long, weighing roughly 3-5 pounds and also has a single fuller that runs almost the length of the blade.  A fuller is the indent on the blade to lighten the sword yet still retain the strength by forming the blade into almost an I shaped beam. Broadswords are more effective if used for slicing and cutting rather than stabbing due to the lack of ability to quickly manoeuvre the weapon. The hilt of the sword is considered one and a half hand length with the pommel and can be used with two hands but it is meant to be used with a shield or on a horse. His cross guard is curved which is not uncommon for swords but it is uncommon for words to be engraved in the handle, most swords have the engravings on the blade by the hilt. He keeps his sword in a baldric, a scabbard that is strung over his shoulder instead of on his belt. These allow the easier carrying of longer swords without impeding movement. Having these advantages allow for better combat and combined with the magic of the Sword of Truth it gives him the upper hand in melee combat throughout the novel.  

Hypothetical Blog

What if the world no longer needed oil as the primary energy source? If the technology came out tomorrow that no longer requires the use of fossil fuels for transportation and energy how would the world handle it? What if it caused the world to dissolve into anarchy and chaos starting World War III? The entire balance of power will be shifted. Would almost the entire Middle East would be destabilized and broke and massive multi-national oil corporations losing their money with countries going bankrupt from the loss in tax revenue. The USA's trillion dollars worth of oil reserves become worthless overnight; would the world's last superpower fail and go broke? Currencies might fail, hyper-inflation might cause mass starvation and whoever controls the new power supply would suddenly became the most powerful person in the world, if they can keep control of it. War will break out over the new energy supply. It will continue to escalate until the entire world is engulfed in total war, perhaps even nuclear annihilation. That of course would be the worst case scenario. It poses the question that perhaps there might be more than global warming concerning the use of oil. There might be technologies out there that will make the use of oil obsolete but who will sponsor the development of them while risking global destabilization and lose of profits. Oil is pretty much the only currency out there and if energy would suddenly become free what would the implications be? Would the richest people in the world freely give up their wealth for the good of the world or will they fight to keep what they have and bring Earth down with them. I would hope that they have humanities best interests at heart but time will tell their true intentions.

The Road Less Traveled

It is important to be passionate about a job; working 30-40 years in a job that drives a person insane will ruin them and wreck the relationships of the people who live and work around them. If that person is always irritable and depressed because of their job, the people around them start to feel the effects of negative atmosphere. It poisons the work place and decreases the productivity of everyone there. On the other hand, people who enjoy their job will work hard at it and be in a better mood which will make the workplace more positive. At my work place, it is noticeable who enjoys their job and who regrets getting up every morning to go to work. Some people there have worked at the store for the last 25 years and they still enjoy what they do. Others, however, can barely last more than a few months. Most employees do not work in their dream job but rather a job that they merely tolerate and anticipate their next vacation time. If I had to spend the next 40 years working at a grocery store stocking shelves, I could not stand it. Eventually I would become numb and depressed with this insignificant work. Next year I plan on studying in the University of Calgary Engineering department to become a computer engineer or software developer. Working with computers is something I enjoy and would enjoy for the rest of my working years. Computers are always developing and there are always new challenges to solve. Working in a career that has new challenges and is constantly changing keeps the workplace interesting and fresh for a long lasting career.

Write a Review

The Apple notebooks are completely overprice and a waste of money, especially the 13-inch Macbook Pro with the 2.3 GHz Intel i5 Duel Core processor. This is the base notebook of the pro series that is probably the minimum that would be necessary for daily computer use. Furthermore, this notebook starts at a ridiculous price of $1,249 and only goes up exponentially from there. The base components are pathetic and almost require upgrading but with each important upgrade comes with a absurd price while the same upgrade component can be bought independently from a different company for around one forth the price. But not only is it expensive but they make it extremely difficult to open to access the parts so people don't upgrade it themselves and allow themselves to be gorged by Apple. It is almost a must to upgrade the hard drive to at least 500 GB, this feature comes standard on most notebooks above $1,000. Comparing this Macbook Pro to other similar notebooks with around the same performance, the ASUS U41JF-A1 has all the superior internal parts, including the NVIDIA Optimus system which gives it a 3 hour more battery life than the Macbook Pro. All these upgrades and it is $500 less than the Mac! Apple is only rated #4 for reliability and the warranty costs $280 dollars, but compare this to Asus which is ranked #1 for reliability and include the warranty in the price. Though some people prefer the Apple operating system in my opinion it is not worth the extra $500; even if one has a dislike for windows they can switch over to Linux for free to an operating system that will never get a virus. Next time you think about getting a notebook don't get a Macbook without first looking at the better options.

Perception is Everything

The presentation by Beau Otto is about how us as humans perceive the world and about the factors that can influence it. There are other influences that can change how we see something, such as previous experiences which can affect how one can few circumstances. Two different people might view the same thing differently and can react completely differently to the same situation. Different media news sources can completely change ones views on the world, reading Middle Eastern news sources like Al Jazeera or Russian news like Russia Today compared to a USA news source like Fox which has a different slant. Each news source has a different bias on the same news story, such as the Libyan civil war where Al Jazeera reports on the suffering of the people, Russia Today reports against the US and NATO involvement while Fox does not support the money going to the war. Listening to only one news source can change how one can perceive world events, everything has bias but if someone only listens to one corporation's view point then that is how they will view the world events. It is like when Beau Otto took the same colours and put them on a different backgrounds, the same event can look different depending on how one views it. Colours are perceived differently when they are on a white background compared to a black one, bias can have the same effect on things such as the news. Different culture backgrounds will also affect on how people view different things. One race might consider something acceptable while another does not, Otto said "no one is an outside observer of nature" therefore no one group can set the standard of what is right or wrong. When Western cultures looks at some Middle Eastern cultures we sometimes see somethings as almost "barbaric", like when they force the women to wear a Burqa. But could it not be considered racist to judge another culture by our own? Can one apply our own culture to another and assume ours it right while a woman from the Middle East might look at us as forcing women to dress a certain way and wear certain popular styles. Whether or not one is more right or better than the other I don't know but each should be judged on their own accord using their own morels. On each background the same colour might seem different, for Western culture we might see it as bad but with their culture whether or not they view it as good they should be the ones deciding what to do and not us.

The Perils of Indifference

The hazard of not caring for each other is way of describing the title of the "Perils of Indifference" by Elie Wiesel. The title refers to the risks of mass atrocities happening when people do not care about each other. The "Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a shocking resemblance of what can happen with the perils of indifference. The "Lottery" is written shortly after the Holocaust about what can happen when normal people such as the Germans become indifferent to their fellow Jews. "First They Came..." by Martin Niemöller is a poem about people who did not speak out and was indifferent to first the Jews then the communist and when they came for him there was no one to help him. In the "Lottery" everyone came in a good mood even Mrs. Hutchinson but only when she was chosen to be stoned she cry out at the injustice. If she had not been chosen she most likely would have been one of the people encouraging the stoning. In the Rwandan genocide normal neighbors turned into murders to kill as many people as they could find with whatever weapon they had and in the international community country wanted to dedicate the resources to help them out.  "Perils of Indifference" relates strongly the "Lottery" by showing that if people stand up and are not indifferent to other people's suffering events like that described in the "Lottery" would happen. Old Man Warner had been in the lottery for 70 years; he had taken part in the stoning 70 people and still supports the event. If Old Man Warner, being the elder of the community, stood up for the rights of those people he could have been the catalyst to stop the event; He remained quite. The town was appalled that the other towns were giving up the lottery and looked down upon them. Elie warned that when people don’t care about what happening to others but look down upon those who are being persecuted it gives way to massive atrocities being committed. When the North American governments looked down upon the Jews and refused entrance of the thousand refugees on the St. Louis they caused all but a few to be killed. Whether it is in a small town like in the “Lottery” or on a global scale with the massacre of an almost entire race, the perils of indifference are such that all should avoid.   

Creative Persuits

The best thing in life is cyborg implants. Imagine waking up in the morning with the strength of ten pterodactyls, the knowledge of all Wikipedia sites and eyes of an octopus. With robotic implants it would be easy to do tasks that normal humans would find almost impossible. Having a cyborg implants in the brain one could access the entire knowledge of all the computer data bases in the world. Thousands of zettabytes of information could be accessed with a single thought. A cyborg implant could even be used to calculate the information and win at games like Jeopardy, similar to the supercomputer named Watson. Cyborg implants one could break the world record for speed walking while simultaneously writing a thesis for a doctorate for physics. Instead of having to spend years researching an interest or hobby one could be spend time doing what they enjoy. Life would be a totally different experience. Imagine waking up at 7 to a pre-programmed alarm inside your head. Instantly know how to make a five course breakfast flawlessly while checking Facebook. Turn on the TV without needing to find the secretive remote. Sprint ten kilometres to work without breaking a sweat, life without limits. Just don’t forget to recharge your battery. Excel at work while playing Farmville in your head. Once the cyborg implants have been activated no one would ever want to turn them off again. It would be life without challenge, but no one would want to go back to being a plain, normal human. Seeing the power of the implants everyone would covet to be a cyborg, war might break out for the power of these abilities, no one would be safe. War would never end till either everyone has the power or no one does. But then again sometimes things are best left undiscovered.

Walk A Paragraph

            My leg felt like it was frozen. Every morning was like this, a battle to just get out of bed. I guess that is just the side effect of getting old but it doesn't make it any easier. Today is important, every couple of days a group of us retirees meet for coffee. I guess one could say that this was the most important event of the week for me, few times I get out. My leg is like a chain. It forces me to stay at home most of the time making it a struggle to get out. I have been lonely since my wife passed on, empty void in my life. Living in a small apartment doesn't help, never liked to cook and clean. I suppose that's why I enjoy spending so much time out at the mall, always people around. I suppose the food is okay but doesn't compare to my wife's. I still have two hours before we are supposed to meet. I still get up early, been years since I had to go work at my desk job but getting up early is a part of me now. Strategically, I get ready for the day, careful not to put too much weight on my right leg. Still dress semi-formal. My job meant for to me more then I thought at the time I retired but I am too old to work anyway. Habits don't change. I grabbed by black socks and polished dress shoes. It was cold. I feel it more as I get older. Putting on my favourite sports jacket and toque I do a quick glace down at my watch, still an hour and a half till we meet. Leaving the apartment I headed to the elevator, used to take the stairs but even that is too difficult for me now. I take the bus now, owning a car is too much effort the small amount of places I go. Thankfully the bus stop is only a few hundred feet away, for me it feels like a mile. I am on the list for hip surgery but they say my condition isn't severe enough. Never liked the cold waits for the bus but I knew I timed it right, the bus on schedule. I do like the new buses, they are much more prompt and the seats hurt my hip much less. Thankfully the mall is only a few stops away anyway. I do enjoy the small city, my wife convinced me to move here. Used to enjoy the busyness of the large cities, I was hesitant at first to move here, though now I wouldn't move away. The bus stopped, I got off. The mall just opened and on these days I am usually one of the first people here. I move to my usual spot, it is always the same people here at this hour. I grab a stack of paper, now that I am retired I can finally spend time interested in the news.  I think that is true for most of us who get together for coffee, since we can't get out and do something interesting there would not be much to talk about. The seats at the mall hurt my hip, tough to tolerate for long periods. Putting a few papers as cushions help a relieve the agony a bit but it is getting tougher as my hip gets worse. I miss the large papers of the big city, takes more then a few minutes to read. I usually buy the snacks for the group, not much other uses for my money now that it is too hard to travel. After glancing at some fliers for a bit I hear John come up.

            "Hi Malcolm! How are you holding out?" John said while taking a seat, he too puts papers on the seat. He has needed to use a walker for some time now and he also has a tough time getting out to our meetings. Like most of us he wouldn't miss this time for anything.

            "I'm going pretty good, do you want some coffee?" I asked already knowing the answer. Looking over I see A&W opening up, making my way over I help the lady open it. The nice lady who seems to always be the one who has to open the restaurant, after I help here move the metal door she prepares my order of two coffees before I even need to ask. Thanking her I go back and give John his coffee, before long we are discussing the news. The rest of the group starts trickling in, within a few minutes there are six of us around the table. Laughter breaks out as we discuss the current events. We are like a community, all of us sharing so much in common and knows that this morning coffee means so much in combating the loneliness of being retired.  

21st Century Education

The most important skills I need for my post high school is the ability to problem solve and think of original ideas in coming up with computer programming. Computer programming requires to think of complex solutions to the problem. Unfortunately that is not something that I learn in school. Math is very important and problem solving can be learned in physics when solving complex problems and deriving formulas to efficiently solve the problem. In school the most important thing is to remember the facts and regurgitate them on the tests. All that is required in school is to try hard and redo what you can to get a better mark. Even in math class we have to only solve the question using one method that is given to us. There are only a few units in math that require to come up with a new way to solve the question, in trig identities, combinatorics and probability. In all the other units it is just required to follow the steps that was given to us. Physics also requires the ability to solve new and challenging situations without the help of a basic set of guidelines to follow to the answer. But in courses like chemistry, history and biology it is only about recalling facts and information about the subject. It is impossible to develop good problem solving skills to be used outside of high school. In the perfect school there would be no wasted time and the courses would be mostly self based. I was homeschooled from grade one to eight and I could get all my work done by noon each day, in grade 8 I had a workbook filled with worksheets and I just worked all of them and finished the course in march. In grade nine when I entered school I was shocked when my class only made it two thirds of the way through the text book missing lots of sections. In the perfect school I think that the teachers would just give out all the work at the beginning of the year the student can just refer to the textbook so they can learn the way that best suits them. Then the teachers main job would be then just to assist the students so they can improve their skills and not have to continually go over material that can be easily looked up. This year since I could not get into computer programming 12 inside the time table I am taking it outside the time table. I work on the course during my spare and I just finish the chapter in time for the test and so far I have been really enjoying it. Next year I plan on going to University of Calgary and I have been conditionally accepted into the engineering department. 

Superpower Blog

If I could have any superpower it would be to make a time traveling DeLorean appear from Back to the Future. This would be a cool super power because not only would I have a vehicle to time travel in but I could also fly around in it. I would make sure it was a DeLorean equipped with the Mr. Fusion fusion generator so I would not have find access to plutonium to power the 1.21 gigawatts required for the flux capacitor to time travel. This superpower would be better then all the others because I could go back in time and see the Great Pyramids being built and still be back to get to work in time, yesterday. Using the hover conversion installed on the DeLorean I could travel anywhere in the world visiting great sites like Machu Picchu in Peru or fly to the sunny beaches of Greece. While I am in the area I could even go back in time see the Colosseum when it was in its prime before it was partly destroyed by the 1349 earthquake. No more touring historical ruins, I could go see them when they were in use. Even just driving the DeLorean around the city would be fun. Drive to the Channel parkway set the time to 100 years in the future and accelerate to 88 m/h to vanish into the unknown. I would have to be careful not to alter the timeline and change the course of events that could threaten the existence of entire cities or even countries. There would be a risk of going back in time to see the Great Pyramids being built and accidental stepping on a butterfly which could catastrophically end up in the destruction of the earth. But with great power comes great responsibility.