Star Trek - Timelines

Star Trek - Timelines

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Q:

In a previous letter, we learned the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance are sworn enemies of the Terran Empire. Did you know the Empire is led by the Vulcan, Spock? Did you know Vulcans and Romulans share many physical characteristics? Take Notes, because there will be a test.

Mirror Garak:

We have an opportunity to capitalize on the turmoil Sweeping Romulus. We could influence the Romulan factions who will appoint the next Praetor Come to Romulus without being detected, and I will share our plans.

Picard convinces a former Romulan security officer to defect, giving the away team insight into procedures.

Data successfully concealed the ship inside the hull of a decommissioned Tarkalean freighter.

Picard expertly maneuvered the ship through gaps and exploits in the Romulan system’s deep space sensor grid.

Picard has successfully reached Mirror Garak’s location without being detected by Romulan forces!

Our crew successfully got he ship to the rendezvous with ‘Mirror’ Garak inside Romulan space. We await his arrival.

We will back Shinzon as the leader of the Romulans in the upcoming congress elections. Shinzon is the clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, created to infiltrate the Federation by the Gal Shiar. He was sent to the dilithium mines of Remus, where he became a respected leader among the Romulan subject races. 

Your sacrifice will secure his reputation as a great leader!

A pity to have to use you in this way! I respect those who die for an ideal, even if it is not the one they might have chosen. We can make this experience easy for you, or we can make it interesting. I’ll let you decide!

We successfully crippled Shinzon’s impulse deflection array with a lucky shot. Unable to steer, he was forced to withdraw to make repairs.

Sela

Captain, my stronghold on Romulus is under attack by Shinzon’s faction. I propose we join forces to prevent Shinzon and his Klingon-Cardassian Alliance supporters from taking over the Romulan Star Empire. In exchange for your help, I would welcome closer Federation ties.

Why should I become involved?

Sela

You already did when you met with Commander Garak inside Romulan space, Captain. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but you are already deeply involved here. Helping me end this conflict before it turns into a general interstellar war is now your moral obligation.

Without doubt the situation has deteriorated on Romulus. The Senate looks to both Sinzon and myself for leadership so Shinzon of course chose to assassinate me. After you’ve replenished your antimatter, scan the capital city. I may need your help soon to stave off anarchy.

I have a feeling we might regret this but we will intervene to protect you.

Sela

Sinzon’s faction has launched another wave of drones in a suicide attack on my command facility. They’re trying to blast their way through the fortress walls, bit by bit. I need your help, right now, or soon you’ll have to deal with Shinzon in command of the whole Star Empire.

Picard failed to patch into Sela’s command network. Useful Romulan military units were left out of contact.

Picard gave an uplifting speech to the Romulans in the city segments being battered by Shinzon. Morale has risen.

Crusher concocts and vents an incapacitating gas in the location where Shinzon’s forces are congregating.

Kor’s tactics to defeat the advanced drone stations worked. Several phaser shots destroyed the launchers.

Sela

I’m alive. My command post is badly damaged, and I’ll have to find a new base facility, but my forces have prevailed. I’m in a position to start pushing back against shinbone’s loyalists, and reacting to the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance’s aggression, thanks to you.

What can you do to help the Federation with the temporal anomaly crisis?

Sela

We’ve barely been able to cope with the disruptions caused by the temporal anomalies, let alone take time to learn about them. We can discuss pooling our information at some point, we will all find it difficult to maintain order if invaders from other timelines keep appearing.

I expect the Romulan Senate to appoint me as the new Praetor within the next few hours. Then I will have plenty of work to do, both in rebuilding Romulan forces, crushing her enemies, and scouring the Empire for Shinzon and other traitors. I could certainly use your help.

You can count on our help, so long as your requests serve Federation interests.

Sela

One of Shinbone’s warbirds is on a decaying orbit, aligned for an intentional impact in a major city. We don’t have any ships in position that can stop it… so we’re asking for your help. Millions of innocent Romulans could be killed if that ship hits the surface.

Kor plotted a course that brought the ship close enough to the plummeting warbird to take effective action.

Tuvok used pulses from the main deflector dish to alter the trajectory of the suicide warbird.

Tuvok was able to slow the warbird somewhat in Romulus’ upper atmosphere with the tractor beam.

Kor set the Romulan ship’s singularity reactor to implode before it reached the inhabited surface of Romulus.

Shinzon

Do not interfere with our campaign to overthrow Sela. Romulan space will soon be in our control, and a new era will dawn for the oppressed peoples of the Star Empire. With help from the Klingons and Cardassians, the Romulans shall feel our wrath, as we have felt theirs for centuries.

What makes you think that terrorizing the Romulans won’t lead to chaos?

What revolution ever comes without first inflicting chaos on those who presume to rule? We will shake the Star Empire to its foundations, and its people will soon understand that the price of my protection is service.

Sela seems to have found my dreadnought, the Scimitar, under construction. I will have to destroy it, before she can get it operational. I must go, dear Captain… I mustn’t let my friends in the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance think I’ve lost my edge.

We will go and attempt to broker a cease-fire.

Sela

It isn’t you I’m after, Captain. If you won’t stand down, you’ll have to be neutralized.

We have successfully held our own against Sela’s warbird. She has withdrawn to the protection of her starbase.

Shinzon

Sela is trying to keep me away from the Scimitar… That ship, when active, will have as much power as a small fleet, all by itself. Sela will dare to use any weapon at her disposal. This is why I seek help from the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Do you know any other way but the path of violence?

In time, when I have achieved absolute rule, and have cleared Romulan society of all potential adversaries… then perhaps I might turn my attentions toward establishing a new dynasty, perhaps one which will merge with the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance someday.

Sela’s forces still press the attack, but there is no sign of Sela herself. If my ship should be destroyed, Captain, she will likely finish you off as well. Your ship may as well fight at my side, and retrieve any useful components nearby for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

No offense, but we will take our chances and appeal to Sela’s better side.

Shinzon

Stop where you are… your ship has wandered into one of Sela’s minefields. If you want to live, I would suggest taking steps to chart a path through the minefield.

Data successfully adjusted the ship’s helm controls to respond better to sudden course changes.

Data succeeded in rigging our science probes to act as minefield clearing drones.

Tuvok successfully hacks into the mine network, disarming nearly all of them!

Kor correctly saw a potential threat in a dim cluster of sensor contacts, and moved the ship away from them.

Sela

Thank you for helping to draw Shinzon and his Klingon-Cardassian Alliance friends out into the open. I altered the frequency of the temporal anomaly in the Romulus system to re-trigger the Reman uprising of several years ago. It worked perfectly, more Senators support me now.

Would you mind sharing how you were able to ‘tune’ the anomaly in that way?

That will have to remain a Romulan state secret for now, though I suspect it won’t be long before your scientists learn how to perform the procedure. When they do, we’ll be ready to counter any Starfleet attempt to intervene against us using time travel.

Now that Shinzon is dead, and my claim to the Praetorship is secure, I expect you have Starfleet business to attend to. You have thirty-six hours to leave Romulan space. Any deviation, and you will be fired upon.

How Quickly Can You Defeat the Orc and the Dragon?

White collar crime rates:

A great resource which highlights that even though there are less than 10,000 white collar crime convictions a year, over 100,000 each year accept plea deals. With almost 7 million employed in financial sectors, if those had all been independent, in the course of the average life expectancy, 110% of all financial sector employees can be expected to commit a white collar crime (I guess some must have been identity fraud). That being said, not all white collar crime is in the financial sector (around 20%) and 50% of offenders become re-offenders quickly after release and finally the average career is not the same as the life expectancy, but without those qualifying premises it would appear all bankers go bad. Even with those qualifying factors, the numbers speak starkly to a culture which stands out among industries. Click here to see the answer

I guess the right answer would be that something like 80-90% of bankers are goodies, but still getting a check has about 100X greater chance (in the states anyway) of putting you in touch with a former or future criminal than buying a joint (the white house says that about one in every 12,000 joints smoked result in an arrest)!

So time to learn Bolivian? Or what is the Nat. Sec. target now?

world's greatest dad: NewYorker Cartoon

Today's Daily Cartoon by Tom Toro. Find more cartoons here: http://nyr.kr/1Iu8D9g
Posted by The New Yorker on Monday, June 22, 2015

Illegal or decriminalized Marijuana or Alcohol's effect on the blood flow (circulation) of the brain.

Note: Lead was found in New England marijuana, specifically 100% of archeological finds in Massachusetts, in Spring of this year. The results hold true for alcohol use, but marijuana has since been found to increase functional connectivity.

test1

x^2=12 x=2+-(v--3) f''(x)=12x^2-48=0 12(x^2-4)=0 12(x+2)(x-2)=0 x=+-2 f'(x)=4x^3-48x =4x(x^2-12) f'(-4)=4(-4)((-4)^2-12) will be negative f'(-3)=4(-3)((-3)^2-12)positive f'(-1)=4(-1)((-1)^2-12)positive extrapolated application of number to variables rel max @ (0,f(0)) rel. min.@ (2V--3, f(2V--3)) and -2V--3, f(-2V--3)) (2root3, -66) and (-2root3, -66) f(x)=x^4-24x^2+80 f(0)=80 f(2V--3)=16*9-24(4*3)+80 146-288+80=0 =-146+80= -66 ^^same as f(-2V--3) Exam Prep Relative Extreme very similar to what we get on the test, parts a thru e just fill in all the blanks not too hard, just to remember what is going on any specific questions or walkthrough? some derivatives? probably one that involves more than one rule List out all the rules-2columns 1) first side: Derivatives we know f(x)=x^n =polynomial e^x or a^x ln^x sinx cosx 2) rules to use we can "break up functions" product rule u(x)-v(x) quotient rule: p(x)/q(x) chain rule: u(v(x)) ex) f(x) = sin^2(x+1/x) =(sin(x+1)/(x))^2 CHAIN RULE u(x)=x^2 u'(x)=2x v(x)=sin((x+1)/x) chain rule again g(x)=sinx g'(x)=cosx h(x)=(x+1)/x h(x)=(x/x)+1/x) h'(x)=x^-2 v'(x)=g'(h(x))*h'(x) =cos((x+1)/x)(-x^-2) =-cos((x+1)/x)/x^2 f'(x)=u'(v(x))*v'(x) 2(sin((x+1)/x)(-cos((x+1)/x)^2) ex) f(x)=(x^2-2)/e^x^2 Quotient rule: p(x)=x^2-2 p'(x)=2x q(x)=e^x^2 CHAIN RULE: q=u(v(x)) u(x)=e^x u'(x)=e^x) v(x)=x^2 v'(x)=2x q'(x)=e^x*(2x) f'=(e^x^2*2x-(x^2-2)(2xe^x^2))/(e^x^2)^2 =(2xe^x^2)-(2x^3e^x^2)+(4xe^x^2)/(e^2x^2) =(xe^x^2)(6-2x^2)/(e^x^2)^2 =x(6-2x^2)/(e^x^2) f(x)=3xe^x+2 find where ifs inc/dec, concave up/down PRODUCT RULE u(x)=3x u'(x)=3 v(x)=e^x v'(x)=e^x f'(x)=3e^x+3xe^x 3e^x+3xe^x=0<- to find CNS 3e^x(1+x)=0 e^ ANYTHING IS NEVER ZERO 1+x=0 x=-1 CN f'(-2)=3e^-2(1-2) f'(0)=3e^0(1-0) --> Positive! f is increasing on interval (-1,@@) and decreasing on (-@@,-1) would increase product rule but we are smart and we realize hey, this is the derivative of 3xe^x f''(x)=3e^x+(3e^x+3xe^x) 6e^x+3xe^x 3e^x(2+x)=0 x=-2 f''(-3)=3e^-3(2-3) gives NEGATIVE f''(0)=3e^0(2-0)>0 f is concave up on (-2,@@) down on (-@@,-2)|>

Best way to remember EMR (electromagnetic radiation) spectrum in order of energy!

 In order to remember the EMR (electromagnetic radiation) spectrum there is a joke. I thought it up while studying for my chemistry exam and thinking about the beginning of each part.
A hippie walks into a fun house and says: "GrUVI MiRa"
The order of electromagnetic radiation according to energy levels is Gamma Rays, Ultra Violet light, Visible light, Infrared light, Microwave light, and Radio waves
I hope this helps someone studying for an exam!
Peace.

Frances with Ha-ha, but where is the boohoo? Or goosepimples?

Paul Andreas Fischer VTIFF 10/2013
 
 My expectations were surpassed in the film Frances Ha. The use of sitcom like interpersonal relations as a facade to entice the viewers into struggling with greater life phenomena regarding sexuality and human interaction was staggering. While at first impression the cast was amateur and the story tangled, the mastery of cinematic devices to captivate the audience, gave the distinct and lasting impression of an important message, if only the viewer could decrypt what that message was. Ultimately due to the exposure of intimate details of personal lives in a certain manner, the conclusion is drawn that the statement is on the society that nurtured, created and maintains the girl; that America is a materialistic society unbound by substantive difficulty. The cast takes on an almost neorealist situative commentary on the life of a young woman who has exactly what she needs to prosper, and yet there is a tragic underpinning to her interactions with those around her and to her self-communication. The nature of this tragedy is surreal; her being “undatable” as described by her roommate forces her to re-evaluate her own sexuality and in turn the film scrutinizes the gender performance of those around her. But the vehicle has a distinctly neo-realist quality, one that extends beyond the black-and-white empirical nature of the roll and seems to seek truth in setting while imparting an urgent and necessary message of understanding in character development. Perhaps the most memorable moment in the film is as Frances lights a cigarette against an apparently clear sky and in the unique blustering winds as the music rises in excitement, in tempo and volume. With a triumphant and yet demarked step she lurches out of the way and the Eiffel tower is revealed: she has made it to Paris! While she does not succeed in resolving her social problems at this point, a certain turning point in the film has been reached. The completion of the film was ill conceived, while appropriately happy and still comically contemplative, this picture of her resolutely, gleeful but still troubled, stepping away from the Eiffel tower smouldering cigarette in hand would have made a classic ending, given the appropriate cinematography and character development beforehand. Where the Italian Neo-realism film movement consisted of perhaps a dozen films, and spawned many more similarly related movements since then, each showing devastation on a scale not available to any individual studio or entity, it was reality, in a similar track Frances Ha shows true beauty and strength in the setting and the characters, a sense of contentment and placidity, struggle logically met with triumph, that reflects the fundamental change in the European outlook in the times since. Part of what makes this such a strong emotive response to the film was the use of real world settings, and more apparently of real world characters. As close as the cinematography and music came to capturing the legendary psychological effects of the neorealist cinema, though lacking the goosepimples and teary eyes that accompany the tragic suicides and deaths of protagonists in neorealism, the character development and plot progression was decentralised in a most similar manner to Soviet era films. One in particular comes to mind, the film Daisies, in which two cohabiting girls or sisters perhaps explore their own temporal existence, stagnant lifestyles, and ultimately harsh realities in Yugoslavia, then a satellite of the Soviet Union. In both films there is an intense struggle occurring in the plot with a status quo of intolerance and with incompatibility to the social norms extant. Then in a variety of settings these norms and intolerance are torn apart without apparent consequence. While the themes of love and friendship are certainly more classically epic in Frances Ha (this is not said as a very positive statement), there is a shared dipolar structure to the films in which independent theses are tested on two protagonist characters through interaction of a number of people less important to the themes and plot. What makes Daisies perhaps one of the most distinctive films from the region and time, and holds Frances Ha from achieving similar contemporary success is the ability to break solidly from social norms in order to prove their validity. Though both films’ decentralisation of characters make them delightfully unreachable with standard methods of evaluation seeking protagonist and antagonist, or of seeking out a definite hypothesis and proof, the neorealist stylistic choices and comedic relief speak out against a silent censor. In Daisies, this occurs in a grand finale, with the destruction of state property and final smashing of a chandelier and expensive banquet, which at the time infuriated senior Soviet officials. Without a hypothesis, the film successfully proves that, at least in the satellite states, the Soviet Union was a classless society obsessed with materialism. In Frances Ha the silent censor is outlined, in this case the interpersonal feelings tumultuously clashing inside of a confused girl unsure of her sexuality, her datability, and at times her ability, but is not properly confronted. The picture of Frances moving away from the Eiffel tower, impatient yet hopeful could have communicated the conclusion of this confrontation classically, but that is hopping too deeply into the director’s seat. What can be said, however, is that it is clear that the problems internal to the character Frances such whether she is happy with herself, without a volatile reaction to the silent censor in everyone, and the nature of her social acceptance are neatly folded up and finished, while external ones, such as who exactly she will find, what kind of relationship she will pursue, and her credit card debt are unresolved. Leaving these unresolved questions combined with unrequited confidence from peers and in herself proves a most intriguing posit: that the United States as this girl has known it is a materialistic society utterly unbound by substantive difficulty. A better proof for the stylistic and cinematographic nature of this film is that America is a materialistic society bound by the pressures of substantive difficulty, but freed through the token of true and open friendship or love as the case might be.

Blue Jean

DAVID BOWIE IS SOO COOL

falling models haha

Rainbow People on the Boulder Mall

LOVE SUTHERN DOGGY HAIRED RAINBOW HIPPIES!

Flying Burrito Brothers - Christine's Tune

Iggy Pop interview and performing

UPTON SINCLAIR ON IMMIGRATION

The first family had been Germans. The families had all been of different nationalities – there had been a representative of several races that had displaced each other in the stockyards. Grandmother Majauszkiene had come to America with her son at a time when so far as she knew there was only one other Lithuanian family in the district; the workers had all been Germans then – skilled cattle butchers that the packers had brought from abroad to start the business. Afterward, as cheaper labor had come, these Germans had moved away. The next were the Irish – there had been six or eight years when Packingtown had been a regular Irish city. There were a few colonies of them still here, enough to run all the unions and the police force and get all the graft; but most of those who were working in the packing houses had gone away at the next drop in wages – after the big strike. The Bohemians had come then, and after them the Poles. People said that old man Durham himself was responsible for these immigrations; he had sworn that he would fix the people of Packingtown so that they would never again call a strike on him, and so he had sent his agents into every city and village in Europe to spread the tale of the chances of work and high wages at the stockyards. The people had come in hordes; and old Durham had squeezed them tighter and tighter, speeding them up and grinding them to pieces and sending for new ones. The Poles, who had come by tens of thousands, had been driven to the wall by the Lithuanians, and now the Lithuanians were giving way to the Slovaks. Who there was poorer and more miserable than the Slovaks, Grandmother Majauszkiene had no idea, but the packers would find them, never fear. It was easy to bring them, for wages were really much higher, and it was only when it was too late that the poor people found out that everything else was higher too. They were like rats in a trap, that was the truth; and more of them were piling in every day. By and by they would have their revenge, though, for the thing was getting beyond human endurance, and the people would rise and murder the packers. Grandmother Majauszkiene was a socialist, or some such strange thing; another son of hers was working in the mines of Siberia, and the old lady herself had made speeches in her time – which made her seem all the more terrible to her present auditors.

ANTI IMMIGRATION

When I carefully unfold my local morning paper and possess utter lack of surprise to see a story on a young illegal immigrant committing a crime I realize that there is a problem: a crime wave correlated with unprecedented numbers of illegal immigrants is sweeping throughout the nation. After a little research, I discover that, According to public information, there are well over twenty million illegal immigrants in America right now! Every single one of these immigrants has a much higher chance of criminality than American citizens who have been successfully and legally integrated into the American lifestyle. Many of these illegal immigrants have children that were brought through harsh, desert winds, snuck past American law enforcement, sometimes several times! All this can result in severe trauma both for the child and the adult. The children alone have cost Americans like you and me over thirteen billion dollars in taxes for education since 1996! Outrageous as this sum may be, it is a cost Americans are willing to sustain for the betterment of millions of human beings. I wouldn’t want the members present to make the ipsedixitism of illegal aliens who are allowed into the states help further the cause of freedom and pursuit of happiness, then this bill would indeed be detrimental. This bill improves lives of humans in America by stopping the attrition of high skilled jobs by desperate immigrants often work in terrible living conditions for little or no pay. This provides cheap labor for the rich corporations while ruining the lives of middle class Americans by bringing outsourcing to our very doorstep! More importantly, the utter lack of humanity shown by a government that allows uneducated Mexicans to make the decision to take themselves and their innocent children into the ghettos and backwaters of America lacks any of the morals and standards upon which this nation was built! By leaving the border unenforced, America is not just doing itself a great disservice, but is also ruining millions of Mexicans lives! In the 1900’s America acquired the labor of the world by telling uneducated Polish, Irish, and Asian immigrants lies, claiming luxurious lifestyle, and a virtuous society was to be found here. When the immigrants came to America, they were greatly disappointed by poor working conditions and prejudice against all foreigners in both rural and urban America. Today, when immigrants come to America, they can be pressed into sex trade, slavery or gangs. This is immoral beyond limits! And what does anyone who does not take all possible steps to prevent the entire population of “undocumented migrants” from illegally immigrating into America want? They want to stop short of solving the disease of poverty and crime in Mexico and focus instead on the symptoms of the unfortunate immigrants who are a victim of the system which I propose we change. It would be both cruel and harsh to ignore either the plight of immigrants in America now or the plight of illegal aliens to come, and therefore I suggest all present to pass this bill, which locks down the border and encourages the assimilation of immigrants currently in America.

TRANSLATING GERMAN

“One minute. Eines moment. Une moment site plait.” My broken German failed me as I attempted to explain melting cheese o nto a casserole to my twelve year old cousin, Jakob. Between the two of us and three languages we shared less than a dozen words. “Chocolat Chaud! Chocolat Chaud!” My other helper, ten year old Florien knew no English but was quite willing to utilize his limited French for the promise of a hot chocolate. This is the Fischer’s kitchen, December 29, 2006. Through the ham, eggs, cheese and onion scented haze, I saw the patron of this frenzied dinner, my father Andreas. Before Christmas, I hadn’t seen him for a decade. Now I was in Baden Baden for Christmas, meeting my biological family and residing in the country that shared the first years of my life with Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I left my mother, brother and step-dad in Burlington, Vermont to throw myself into the lifestyles and cultures of my family in Baden Baden. Throughout the excursion, my father and I reminisced upon those years which I only vaguely remembered. Struggling to remain alert and absorb as much as I could required constant vigilance on my part because of the sleepless nights, the discothèque, and a bumpy. At five thirty on the final day, however, I faced a crisis in the toughest assignment I’d ever received. In the morning I went to Heidelberg and saw the castle, my dad’s fraternity, and, of course, the McDonalds. “You know, Paul, I know you are baptized and if you desire, Heidelberg would be an excellent accommodation as my fraternity would give board to catholic relatives of alumni.” It soon became clear to me that he was lobbying for a German higher education. Unfortunately, I explained to him, while I hope to come in the summer to work with the Baden Baden tourist department, I’m not sure I could learn German to the extent required for a college education. As my father and I sped down the Autobahn, we got a call from Doretta, my grandmother, the controlling heart of the Fischer family. If she had a motto, it would be “The buck stops here”. She called to let us know the family would be gathering to wish me farewell and Andreas and myself would be expected to cook for the family. “The family” consisted of seventeen Germans, well equipped for the rigors of consuming fantastic amounts of food. Andreas called up Elka, my aunt, and enlisted the help of my two small cousins. Having sufficient manpower it became necessary to acquire the ingredients. Andreas admitted that he was not a cook, and he had to “repose” or sleep. This left me in charge of preparing a meal for seventeen Germans with the veritable assistance of my preteen cousins. We went to the Aldi’s, a sort of general store that sold primarily food but also everything from clothes to electronics. I was still shocked that the responsibility of cooking had fallen upon me, as I had little experience in the matter. In the Aldi’s, language barriers with my cousins were terribly detrimental; forty-five minutes were wasted finding pasta, eggs, meat (of course), ice cream, whipping cream, butter, vegetables, and over a dozen bars of excellent chocolate. Back in the kitchen, I asked Jakob to melt some chocolate, and sipping this we began to plot out the next two hours of pure frenzy. “Jakob und Fleurian, du ben choppen der, um, onions, carrots, und tommaten.” I desperately attempt to convey my message with hand motions until Jakob exclaims,” Ahah!” And with quick, sharp German he instructs Fleurian and I begin to prepare dinner. The only food I know how to prepare is the omelet, from the weekends when my brother and I sleep in and I have to cook breakfast. “Vrrrrrrmm… kaTUNG, kaTUNG, zzzzzwwwweeeeeee….” The meat cutter, knives chopping the vegetables and the egg beater begin, like a chorus just one, then another joins in and just as the third one commences, the first finishes, breaks, and begins again. Once the food is prepared I pour the chopped bits and sauté all of it, from the meat to the carrots and onions. The sizzling of the skillet only is now the center of the frenzy, adding a constant background to the collection of sounds that have now resumed lacking Fleurian. Too much chocolate and he departed, to sleep it off, leaving Jakob and myself to finish the job. One, two, three omelets. Cooked to perfection and the third omelet I almost entirely entrusted to Jakob, he was such a quick learner and we were able to communicate adequately in French. The haze created by cooking good food smelled almost as good as the food tasted and the aroma of a home made meal filled the air. Sweeter than rose gardens the meal cooked by our own hand smelled, and the drifting of the smell to the fourth floor is certainly what prompted Andreas’ awakening. “Ohlalala!” The glee on his face fairly radiated as he tasted our work. ”Goodness! We must have this recipe. This is very good but how in the world do you serve omelets for dinner?” Yes, indeed, here he had a good point but I was ready for this and I told him of our plan to make a casserole. Now Andreas’ face clouded, “How am I to feed seventeen people with one casserole?” He inquired. And I have no idea,” The situation is under control, we have an hour, we will have enough food.” He insisted again we wouldn’t have enough food and went back to bed. I was afraid he may be right and solemnly instructed Jakob to prepare the last resort, every cooks final attempt to salvage a meal, even at the risk of contemptuous remarks like: ”Spaghetti, that’s, uh, easy.” With the crisis averted, albeit unsatisfactorily to myself, guests began to arrive and my desire to make homemade ice cream for desert also took a second rate replacement. The guests would eat in fifteen minutes, dessert in less than an hour. Without enough time to make ice cream, I turn to Jakob and ask where the ice cream is. “Je ne sais pas. Ahhh… Fleurian perhaps?” Of course, Fleurian the little sugar demon knew exactly where it was (he even knew ice cream in English). Now I will invoke, as a last resort, the cook’s artificial recipe for fake homemade ice cream. I quickly checked to assure that the chocolate had survived Fleurian and began to melt it. When I was in Arkansas I learned to melt Hershey bars and use them mixed with vanilla ice cream to create a semblance of real homemade ice cream. I did this now, and mixed with the whipped cream that Andreas whipped for us (he was now awake), I created a spectacular dessert. I think that in a time of crisis, a person’s true character comes out and it is beautiful to observe the transformation from ordinary, mundane to the hero, the leader. As Jakob learned the Basic English words and gained confidence, there was immense gratification for me as he vested his ego into the project and finally became able to undertake the most intricate of procedures. Of course there was no unwillingness on my part to allow Jakob to take over, instead I experienced the inspiration of trying something for the first time and receiving not just praise, but the highest praise: my German family not only found that I was eager to learn their tradition but also to offer them culture of my own.

THIS IS FOR CASINO GAMBLING

Humankind been enjoyed gambling as a pastime for over several millennia. In America, if you were to ask “honest” Abe about the issue of legalization of casino gambling, he would have stared with a look of puzzlement: until religious groups gained control of the government in the early twentieth century, gambling was unrestricted and was an accepted part of American life. Thomas Jefferson saw gambling as a much more acceptable form of funding the republic’s government than compulsory taxes that imposed on the individual’s rights. Today, casinos augment the personal freedoms of senior citizens, folks who describe gambling as a socially responsible pastime. comparing the effects of pathological gambling with statistics revealing that twenty-five percent of Americans have been involved in auto accidents and another twenty-five percent smoke, a leisure activity that usually results in death shows that pathological gambling really isn't prevalent or deadly. Finally, taxes paid by casinos annually are two to three times the estimated cost of casinos to society. In addition to taxes, casinos sponsor everything from education to senior activity days.

Seniors represent over one fifth of the populace visiting casinos annually in day trips that are organized by casinos to provide seniors with a cheap, accessible, form of leisure activity. Studies show that older adult gamblers are motivated toward maintaining social relationships. More importantly, gambling can have a more positive impact on a senior’s mental health than isolation, which is often the only alternative for low-income seniors. Sixty-three percent of senior gamblers are unable to afford other leisure activities, meaning that casino gambling is saving lives by keeping seniors from retreating into despair, isolation, and questioning their will to live.

Keeping in mind that the number of Americans who rely on gambling is ten million+, the half million pathological gamblers are a sick, mentally ill minority who often have histories of alcohol and drug abuse. There are nowhere near as many pathological gamblers as, for example, smokers or people involved in auto accidents. Both of these activities have high fatality rates and each smoker spends as much on cigarettes biannually as a problem gambler will lose during his entire gambling career . Gamblers cost society between five and mentally ill pathological gamblers incur fifteen billion dollars to society annually. Anti-gambling groups claim that the social disaster known as a pathological gambler is a relatively new phenomena created by the modern gambling industry. Anyone whose read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Gambler knows that pathological gambling has been around much longer than current day casinos. Most importantly, it should be recognized that blame for any mental illness cannot be pinned on anyone and as a sign of good faith, casinos expend millions of dollars every year for helping problem and pathological gamblers.

Having determined that casinos actually help ten million people get through their final years by providing them with an economic activity to look forward to and finding that pathologic gambling is a mental illness that existed long before the arrival of casinos, casino gambling has already provided many more benefits than harm. In addition to the lives saved, there are great economic benefits received by local and state government. Every year, Americans wager five hundred billion dollars, fifty of which stays the casinos retain as profit. Of this between thirty and fifty percent is paid in taxes depending on local regulations resulting in over twenty billion dollars that the government collects from an industry that results in a maximum of fifteen billion dollars in costs.

THIS IS AGAINST CASINO GAMBLING

When Casinos collect a dollar in profit, less than thirty percent of the dollar reaches government coffers. Gambling simply creates an extra layer of bureaucracy in which corporations and gigantic chains skim money from the clutches of hard working citizens. The money that is brought in must be weighed with the ruined lives of small business owners and pathological gamblers alike. Tobacco and drug addiction have similar symptoms to pathological gambling. More people gamble casually than do smoke or drug and problem gambling is actually more prevalent than heavy smokers. All three of these leisure activities harm the general populace in order to line the pockets of corporations such as Marriott, Best western, and Harrah’s.

The major harm of casinos manifests itself not just in skyrocketing crime and therefore higher taxes but also in unemployment rates that actually rise as population booms without a corresponding increase in actual production. Following casinos’ arrival in St. Louis, Missouri unemployment rate jumped nearly one percent as commuting workers took the place of local restaurant workers, entertainment, and technology services. This translates into hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. These unemployed masses rely on government funds to support them. The unfortunate of these must resort to crime, requiring an excellent police force. The “prosperity” created by casinos often is only paying for the messes that it creates.

Casinos encourage sprawl that can result in big city drugs, sex, and crime entering small town at overwhelming levels. The environment that produced greats from Abe Lincoln to Bob Dylan to Emerson is destroyed by corporations and the strangling of local business. The forger of the declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson, firmly held that even duties on imports were infringements upon the personal rights of the people and governmental presence should be kept to a minimum. How he might have spun in his grave had he known that one day the richest men of America would take the poorest man’s dollar and split it with a complacent government 70: 30.

It may well be pointed out that the small town culture isn’t realistic for competition in today’s high-tech world and a strong government is required to keep order in large metropolises that increase production. Here, too, government money is inefficiently collected through gambling. When only thirty percent of profit is going to the government, millions of citizens are rendered useless from pathological gambling, and tens of millions are employed in the industry that drove gamblers pathological society cannot sustain the huge harm inflicted by legalized casinos. I would enjoy seeing the venerable Alexander Hamilton humiliate those who suggested gambling as an efficient way of creating commerce. And daresay Thomas Jefferson’s outrage would be memorable at the very idea of obvious trickery involved in casinos. Suffice to say, however, that casino gambling is economically and morally wrong.

ISLAMIC EXPANSION 750 (JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING)

Starting in 632 AD, after Mohammed united the Arabian Peninsula, the Islamic influence began to expand, peaking and beginning decline in 732 AD with the battle of Tours. At the peak of the Islamic empire, it can be seen on the map that the Muslim world spread from western India to Spain. Arabian expansion in the middle ages was a result of intense military devotion and discipline, religious unity and economic prosperity. Ingenious fighting tactics and superior training gave the Islamic warriors a huge advantage over their poorly organized European and Indian counterparts. These warriors felt they had the right to liberate the members of other cultures in the name Islam because of the extremely devout followers of the religion on the Arabian Peninsula and the eager converts from conquered lands. Arabians were blessed with holy cities that were located in the center of the empire, encouraging trade and hospitality industries. As conquered lands produced more converts, these cities swelled into gigantic tourist metropolis.

Over the century of great military conquest, Islamic armies were fueled on by large numbers of converts from the assimilated cultures. Strong armies were supported by assimilated cultures: the Islamic society contained three tiers or levels. The highest level was the Muslim born who paid no tax and enjoyed great luxury for their support. Below the Muslim born were converts who paid small taxes and at the bottom was the heretics who paid the bulk of the taxes but were not prosecuted as they might have been in other cultures. J. J. Saunders described how these religions were to be tolerated on payment of tribute. Mohammed reinforced this conviction with his words: “Believe or else pay tribute”. Syed Ameer Ali describes in The Spirit of Islam that Christianity did the opposite of this and stifled religious freedom and liberty of thought. He also explains that while the Muslim army was swift, and the cavalry was devastating to “brothers of the book” outposts and “barbarians” alike they never rose their sword but in self-defense.

“The Moslem's struck their enemies and laid waste to the country and took captives without number... everything gave way to their scimitars”

Sir Edward Crecy

This highly trained army was the charge of caliphs, or “rightly guided ones”. The caliphs were called this because they were thought to be guided by Mohammed, resulting in enormous devotion from the devout soldiers and populace who Philip K. Hitti claimed to prefer death to life for the cause of their religion.

The reason for the massive support of the people was the relative ease of conversion and great benefits from Islamic heritage in the Islamic world, which at that time represented one of the few outposts of civilization, technology, or culture following the collapse of Rome. Support was secured by the Quran which ordered Muslims to “do battle with them or they shall profess Islam.” Although success was very hard for a non-Muslim, Muslims had only to follow the five pillars and they were guaranteed the benefits such as no taxes, cultural identity, and potential to rise through the free schooling system installed in many large cities. The five pillars are alms to the poor, completion of the Hajj, establishment of daily prayers, self purification through fasting on Ramadan, and, most attractively, conversion to Islam merely by pronouncing ones dedication in sincerity. These requirements were substantially less difficult than other confirmation techniques of religions of the period. Another interesting pillar that was, and still is, vital to the unity of the sprawling Islamic empire is the Hajj.

The Hajj is completed once in a lifetime. This pilgrimage ensures that nearly all Muslims have made their way to the heart of Arabia. This obviously helped to unify the hundreds of various cultures as well as bringing huge amounts of cash and industries to Arabia. During the period of expansion, this was vital to insuring that the armies and keeping the complex Abbasid bureaucracy created to manage the wars and government affairs. The Abbasids were very aware of the profound effect the economy had in the upkeep of an empire and the moving of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad was greatly inspired by the wish to increase trade revenue throughout the Islamic world. The desire of riches, culture and civilization is constant throughout Islamic expansion. Philip K. Hitti would even go so far as to propose that this desire drove the expansion and creation of the Islamic Empire.

THIS IS FOR AN IRAQ TROOP SURGE

PRO IRAQ TROOP SURGE

PAUL FISCHER

The pentagon spends over half a trillion dollars every year fighting wars abroad. Pro-peace lobbyists decry this as despicable; American boys and girls should not fight wars and shed blood for any other cause than imminent threat to US soil. They cite anti war demonstrators such as Thoreau, author of civil disobedience, and anti federalists including Thomas Jefferson, forger of the declaration of independence. Both of these great Americans were terrified of the strong central government that the colonies had fought so hard to shed itself of. Therefore, argue peace lobbies, the pillars upon which this country stands are threatened by increases in federal military strength. Furthermore, the war is immoral and unjustified, a random precalculated act of violence the Bush administration utilized to direct money to their corporate constituents. Senators who voted in favor of a pre emptive strike now question the viability of a war they claim is corrupted. This leads to their final point which is that the war is economically impossible to escalate. Apparently, it is George Bush’s own tax breaks that make completion of the Iraqi crisis impossible.

Of course completion is not what those senators have in mind, far from it, special interest groups convince them to support immediate withdrawal. Because Iraq is thousands of miles away, America has no business protecting vital trade interests that may be there. Here it becomes necessary to remind the assembled of a situation that Thomas Jefferson was confronted with and his own actions and views. The forger of the declaration of independence faced, as an ambassador to France, a crisis when the Barbarossa pirates disrupted American trade. Thomas Jefferson recommended a coalition of navies from European nations and the US to fight pirates mutually. Lafayette loved the idea and brought it before king Charles’s court. Unfortunately, European nations stood to gain too much from the fruits of piracy at America’s expense to ever agree to such a progressive solution. Looking at European contracting firms’ eagerness to “assist” with Iraq, I conclude that little has changed in apathetic Europe. As a result of Congress refusing to contribute either economic or naval support, Jefferson was made a laughingstock in Europe, and Barbarossa pirates were only neutralized when, after 30,000 dollars and many executions of American hostages, Congress authorized a navy. This navy resolved the Barbarossa pirate situation and proved vital to the US victory in 1812.

Another political legend, Henry Thoreau, draws attention to the Mexican war. The annexation of Mexican land was the result of manifest destiny advocates such as Albert Beveridge delivering impassioned speeches including the march of the flag. Being foresighted enough to recognize the not only the immediate economic benefits of modern day Texas but these politicians were also well aware of the policy that they were creating, one that would prove to be imperative to the American expansion into Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico, the Philippines, and California. A detail of the Mexican war specifically pertains to this bill: the slaughter of Americans at the Alamo and disheartening results from battles across the southwest is comparable to the current situation in Iraq. The American people responded not with quivering hands and meek words, but with a troop surge of thirty thousand men, a bold declaration of American foreign policy that showed the world that America was a superpower to be reckoned with. Today, I entreat those present to stand behind America as President Bush protects her interests abroad just as Thomas Jefferson and Albert Beveridge protected the fledgling democracy’s interest in the times of greatest peril.

The Iraq war was not, as Paul O’Neill claims in his book The Price of Loyalty, a premeditated decision the Bush administration made in order to line the pockets of corporate constituents. The decision to go to war was a spontaneous, courageous action in response to both 9/11 and the prospect of a rogue nation obtaining nuclear weapons. Bush fought a war with only a shoestring budget and defeated a police state controlled by a charismatic dictator. Mr. Bush should be given due credit for his brilliant political decisions and his ability to unite both a congress and senate fragmented by hundreds of committees and subcommittees. In _____’s book, the president has proven himself to be an effective and objective military and domestic leader of the American people.

Economically, the Iraq war has been fought with a minimum budget in order to keep five trillion dollars of tax cuts in Americans’ private wallets. These tax cuts have proven essential in helping the economy remain extraordinarily strong despite Enron, 9/11, and hurricane Katrina to name a few of the disasters that Bush has persevered through as head of state. Far from putting money in corporations’ pockets, the Bush administration has protected it by eliminating five trillion dollars of taxes that would have been expended by the government in ineffective socialist projects that lose billions to contractors and wealthy individuals through corruption. From Amtrak to NASA to Social Security, government dollars are better spent by the common man. Today, with the deficit shrinking and the economy booming, the government must recognize how effective individuals have been at expending their own money.

In summary, our nation was founded on principles of democracy, freedom and equal sovereign rights as a nation. Recognizing the war in Iraq is historically justifiable; America should rally behind Mr. Bush, who has elevated the presidential office to levels unknown since before Watergate. Our president should be given the credit he deserves for fighting big government lobbies to keep the anti-federalist ideals of Thomas Jefferson alive. Thoreau believed that only after man attains security economically, militarily, and socially can he begin to ponder the most important pursuit: philosophy. The constitution recognizes the government’s duty to provide security and few presidents have provided security as effectively in every sector domestic and foreign as George H. W. Bush. By authorizing this troop surge, America thanks Bush for providing security from foreign governments, militants, economic disaster, and corruption.