Action List 3.29.11

It is interesting the amount of money that is involved in online poker and how these players developed their skills so quickly. The multitasking ability of people due to some games keeps increasing especially the real time strategy games which Cates began with require management of many things at once. Other brain is adaptable so the constant experience of these situations gives them a developmental advantage to older people whose brains are less adaptable because of age. The rise of these people is extraordinary, but not overall surprising when looking at the facts. They exchanged social time being naturally excluded from society to improve their ability towards a career they loved, but did not even consider at that point.

Action List 3.29.11

Jeremy Land seems to be very realistic about his future. He states his major interests, but then turns to what is real possibilities for him and restrictions which he will experience giving him a good idea of his real future. I think his future career is most likely to happen.
Salome Zamora might not be taking it seriously or have a strange imagination because I doubt the owning a bakery that can bake marijuana into the bread for some consumers is realistic for profit or for legal reasons.
A few others might be deluded in thinking they will become famous actors or advance from a 2 year college into medical school.
In 10 years, I how to be finishing medical school and looking for employment, but it will be a long and difficult road in which many things might change. A lot of people begin with the same aspirations as me, so I hope that I will not fade like others.

Phantom pg 310-348

Rachel is still in the cave with Violet who is treating her worst than when they were "playmates." She is suffering punishments for her running away and for all the actions of others which Violet blames on her, but Violet and Six are working on a magic drawing that involves Richard. This design is more complicated then what the previous magic drawing on Richard was, so it must have a different function.
Richard returning to the keep runs into Berdine. She tells him about how her studying of Kolo's journal has been going to give them insight into the events surrounding the Great War. She has found information about Baraccus. He was questioned as a traitor at the time and there were rumors going around, but Berdine found some other information in a book of prophecy that was talking about the copying of a key and hiding them among the bones. Richard realizes that the key is the Book of Counted Shadows and that the Sisters of the Dark have learned this too, so they are going to use them to try and release death on the living. He rushes to the sliph to warn Zed and come up with a plan with everyone racing behind him.
From learning about the new books he now knows that the Sisters of the Dark are at Caska and will likely confront them when he has a good opportunity, so he can go help his troops south. Six is going to come into play soon because they are crafting a spell around Richard and have one of the Boxes so it is likely that both groups will converge on Six and Violet.

Phantom pg 237-309

Samuel took Rachel to Six, but princess Violet was there also. Violet had now become queen at the death of her mother and was ruling we her unusual desire of other's suffering. Six had helped her heal after Kahlan and Richard had corrected problems in there kingdom, and now Violet was found to have the gift of magic art which can be used to trap people among other things. Six was teaching Violet about her gift and Samuel had retrieved the Box of Orden and Rachel at Violet's desire. Violent is planning revenge on Richard.

Kahlan is almost at Caska with the Sisters of the Dark when they find Jilian. Tovi had captured her grandfather and was making her wait and watch for them to come. The Sisters initially attack her, but Kahlan protected him until she told them what she was doing.

Richard went to the D'Hara through the sliph to tell the army to not engage the Order in a final battle. He has realized that there can be no victory against the force that size, so he is sending the army to break up into groups and terrorized the Old World so that the army cannot provide enough food for itself and will starve. They are going to be separate parties of soldiers attacking anything which could help the Order's army and hopefully free people like the ones in Alter'rang too. Richard is not going with them he is still working on fixing Chainfire and stopping the Sisters of the Dark.

I am glad that the Richard realized to charge the strategy because it goes back to the symbol of the starburst everyone kept trying to make the events lead to a final battle, but there it no solution for victory in it. The final battle was a trick and diversion that everyone focused on, and Richard understood that. Violet seems to be an immediate problem because if she used the art magic in Richard he will have to try and counter it and he may not succeed this time without the Sword of Truth. Richard needs to also find and get the book explaining his ability to he can help end the war.

Diction exercise: Country Boys

Cody from the movie Country Boys mumbled homespun diction conveys and uncertainty in how to express himself appropriately. He spoke in mostly soft brief statements to answer question. He seemed to hesitate in his answers illustrating a worry of people misinterpreting him because of his experience with being mocked. While around friends, he uses more vulgar language and seems to be more open with less hesitation. He also expresses himself through music. He desires to be unique by playing heavy metal music while incorporating Christian beliefs which through personal experiences. There is a small span of emotion present in his voice when he speaks. All of the ways he communicates himself gives him a quality of shyness and fear of farther discrimination. Chris, from the same movie, has a clear colloquial language that has a tone of uncertainty showing a lack of confidence. Chris does not speak softly or short statements, but will ramble sometimes expressing the same concern almost to himself multiple times. He has a much wider range of emotion in his voice, but the most commonly found is worry or uncertainty. He has high aspirations seen through a fictional character he made up to help support him, but he is ridden with fears or not accomplishing those goals. He rarely was anything but respectful to others. Chris’s fears of the future presented themselves in his respectful homely diction. 

Phantom pg 186-236

Shota did not leave it up to Jebra's words alone to sway Richard's actions. She walked up and touched him placing him in some kind of dream in which he experienced the executions of him and his men around him with Kahlan witnessing it and the ridicule of the Order's soldiers around him. His magic would not work even though it should have. He was completely helpless; there was no solution. As he was killed he flashed back to the Wizard's Keep in his actual body.
Nicci and Cara were obviously alarmed by that time and forcing Shota away from Richard prepared to take any force necessary to protect him. After a menacing exchange of threats Richard began to understand Shota's attempt to show him what he must see. Richard as Shota for any remaining help and she told him that it was only for him to hear.
Shota began to talk of the Wizards during the Great War. She talked of the name of the First Wizard at that time, Baraccus, and his relation to Richard. He also was married to the woman who became the first Confessor similiar to Kahlan being the only Confessor current time. She then explained his importance to Richard. A spy wizard during this time accessed the Temple of Winds and was able to corrupt the gift, so less people would be born with it and it would die out but also that in the distant future a dream walker would be born to lead the Old World to victory in the war. Baraccus discovering the problem when he went to check the problem could not change either, but instead made sure that a war wizard would be born to protect the New World. Richard is the war wizard and Jagang is the dream walker. Baraccus also left a book that he wrote in the Temple of Winds explaining all of the powers of a war wizard giving Richard the powers to win the war.
This chapter is set the stage of what Richard must face. The Imperial Order is looming over the remaining New World, the Sisters of Dark are close to causing the Keeper to engulf the world of the living, and Six is collecting seemingly unconnected items and causing problems that need to be addressed. The salvation seems to be this book, but no one knows were it is.

Phantom pg 138-185

Jerba begins her story of the attack of Galea. She did not know how long the fighting took, but the end result was clear the Order had won. She heard the battering rams breaking through the gates of the castle were she was imprisoned and the screams of the victims the Order's soldiers found. She hide in the back of the cell to hide and avoid being caught because she knew the consequences. All of the other prisoners which were mans accused of murder and the like were released and helped the Order pillage the city. Anyone not set aside to help provide for the occupying army were killed in cruel fashions. Young children were separated to be indoctrinated into the faith of the Order because it is easier to get people to die for your cause if they believe it sends them to heaven and that their enemies are corrupting the world with infidel beliefs. Because Jerba hide during the initial attack, when she emerged the soldiers thought she had been set aside to serve them and she became a slave which was better than the alternative. Jebra witnessed great cruelties of the Order, but then Shota came and saved her from the madness.
After Jebra was done with her tale, Richard tried to explain the importance of Chainfire to Shota and how it needs to be dealt with. Shota is skeptical since she does not see it in the flows of time, but Richard still believes it is a great threat.
The story helps show the evils of the Order, but also that they are not different than the people in the New World, but they are indoctrinated from a young age to corrupt their beliefs and conform them to the Order. Resistance in this setting meant death, and unlike we saw in the Old World there could be no resistance of the mind because those with it were quickly noticed and eliminated. It gave and grave warning of the future if Richard fails.

Kids Ruling School

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/opinion/15engel.html?_r=1&hp

I do not think letting students control what they do all day is a good idea. In a small controlled environment it may help encourage some people to work harder and find answers to questions they pose, but in a large environment it could become just a social event. Some parts of school may not fit well with people's personalities, but nothing will fit everyone perfectly. I think the current school system promotes people to apply themselves for grades they desire while teaching at a level that can be achieved by most.

Phantom pg 103-138

The two women approaching the Wizard's Keeper were Shota and Jerba. Richard, Cara, Rikki, Nicci, Zed, Nathan, and Ann all rushed to the entrance to make check what was happening. Shota informed Richard that Chase was stabbed my Samuel with the Sword of Truth and although he is injured he will survive, but Rachel was taken. Shota also informs Richard that Samuel has been bewitched by another witch women. Nicci believes she knows this woman's name is Six because of the talk among the Sisters of the Dark. They feared Six indicating her power. Shota also believes that she needs to help Richard stop chasing phantoms because according to the flow of time the Order is still going to win the war and she wants to change that by influencing what Richard has to think about. To do that she has taken Jerba, a seer, from Galea who survived the onslaught that they face to explain the horrors to Richard.
Jerba begins to tell what happened after Zed sent her to watch over the Queen of Galea and to help her out of her illness. Cyrilla feared the Order and devoted everything to isolating themselves in a defense she believed could hold out the Order. Anyone who spoke against her was convicted of treason, and when Jerba had a vision of the destruction that would happen if they stayed isolated she was thrown in jail for such thoughts being treasonous against the country. Zed reveals the Wizard's Tenth Rule explaining this action that people will try to avoid their fears even if it means irrational action. The rule is: "Willfully turning aside the truth is treason to one's self." Jerba waited in prison for a long time and then the attack of the Order begun.
We learned that Richard must change his coarse of action if he wants victory. We also learned a new Wizard's Rule. Hiding from the truth does not change it. We must face it and guard against the repercussions that it will lead to. The knowledge of Samuel's bewitchment leads to questions on how attacking for the One Box of Orden and Rachel relate. Rachel originally helped hide on of the boxes from Darken Rahl, but I am unsure of the relation.

Phantom pg 72-103

Kahlan is with the Sisters and walks through one of Galea's cities. It is torn apart from the Order and is a hideous sight. Kahlan is filled with rage for vengeance, but because of forgetting her past she is unsure why. The Sisters quickly move through the city and find Jagang's forces on the other side in the distant. They know they can make it past their slow moving forces to Caska without getting too close to the large encampment, but Arminia is worried that the force will kill Richard and make them vulnerable before they complete their task. Ulicia is unconcerned about that possibility and moves them on.

Nicci wakes up with Richard's watchful eye over her. She is surprised to be alive. She soon learns that Richard undid the web a second time and Zed healed her. Zed wants to know how Richard knew what to do so Richard explains the symbols of a War Wizard he learned. One means movement with iron form. The starburst means be let your vision be open to all that is there neverfocusing on one thing exclusively for doing so can hide what you need to see. The primary edict is "It means only one thing, and everything: cut. Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut."The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush Him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit."It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death."

Richard then reveals his belief that the Chainfire being imbued with the chimes is causing it to remove magic slowly along with memory. No one remembers Scarlet the dragon that helped Richard in the first two books, so as magic creatures are erased the memory of them is too. As they are discussing it he realizes 2 women are coming to the Keep.

I like the meaning of the starburst because sometimes we become to focused on elements of something and things function as a whole, so by ignoring part of something you can not be able to understand something right in front of you. The primary edict sticks in my head as something I like although I am not sure how to apply it yet.

March Maddness

I love this time of year because spring is could in less than a week, the weather is warming to perfect temperatures for running, a the basketball tournament is about to begin. It seemed to be a common topic in almost every class today, and it is interesting to hear everyone's different opinions one why one team is better or will beat another. Basketball great to watch and hopefully I will have time to catch some of the good games that will go on. Although I do not expect them to win, I hope Purdue will since I might be going there in a few years and my parents went there I feel obligated to support them.

Phantom pg 1-71

Kahlan reached the meeting place with the three Sisters of the Dark. Tovi was suppose to be there, but they do not know what has happened to her. At the inn they were suppose to meet at someone is able to see Kahlan. The Sisters are infuriated and kill him before he can say address Kahlan as the Mother Confessor allowing her to know that she is more than a slave. Then the Sisters of the Dark force the innkeeper's daughter into telling them that Tovi went to Caska. They departed immediately to catch up.

Richard is reading in the keep to learn more about what to do when he notices something strange in the air. By following it too its source, he found Zed, Ann and Nathan around Nicci who was levitating in the air. Richard soon learned that they were doing an internal verification web on Chainfire so that Nicci could see how the spell worked and try and reverse it. Richard notices that something is out of place though. A line is missing. He figures out that the Chainfire spell has been contaminated by the chimes, and because of that the spell was killing Nicci. He used he understanding of the symbols to release Nicci from the spell, but in doing so the Beast found him through his gift. They had to once again try to fight the Beast, but nothing they did seemed to harm it until Nicci used the grace they had drawn for the verification web along with her gift to cast one powerful burst not intending to harm it but to send it away. In doing so, Nicci had once again trapped herself in the web, and expected death to follow.

Caska is the Deep Nothing, so something in the Sisters of the Dark's plan involves the use of the central sites. The motivation of Samuel's attack on Tovi is still unknown, but did give them time. The contamination of the chimes is no longer speculation. It's verification indicates that there will be severe repercussions to magic in the future. Richard has once again shown innate ability to understand magic in ways that those who have studied could not. The beast still stalking him is troubling because it lost focus near the end of the last book after he escaped it in the keep the first time. The book has moved into events quickly which is different than previous books.

Rock-Paper-Scissors

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html

Above is the website to a computer that is suppose to be able to find patterns in our seemingly random behavior in rock paper scissors to win by a significant measure in the long run. Personally I was able to use the describing statement to change my evident behaviors it would key to constantly allowing me to have a lead of one game at the end of about 30 matches, but this tactic might fail in the end too. Other people around me were facing more difficulties with very few winning more than the computer.

Weekend Blog Assignment: Spellbound

Neil is constantly practicing words even right before the competition. I think he uses the practicing to distract himself from the anxiety of the competition and to give himself confidence that with all of the words he knows he does not have to worry about getting something unexpected or missing something. Ashley, on the other hand, does not deal with the pressure well. The first time she goes up to the pedestal for a word she froze. To get through these stress she said she prayed to God before the spelling bee and seemed to be driven by a desire to represent herself well. When she froze on the first word, she broke through the fears and answered it correctly, so although she did not begin the competition dealing with the stress well, she was able to degrade her fears through her drive.

Chainfire pg 608-667

Richard appeared in the Deep Nothing along with Cara and Nicci in an instant. The priestess of the bones who had fled to the temple to wait for Richard is there and had just been caught by Imperial Order scouts. Richard and Nicci quickly dispense of them, and learn what is happening to the village he. Richard sends Nicci and Cara to end the attack from the Imperial Order, and he stays with the priestess of the bones to look among the ruins for what he needs. Eventually, they find a hidden chamber full of books, and one of the books is named Chainfire.

Nicci and Cara having successfully defended the village returned to the sliph about the before Richard found the book. When he returned to them, he showed Nicci, who through skimming it say that it was the idea of casting a spell to erase someone similar to what happened to Kahlan, but had dire consequences.

As Nicci was reading Richard saw a snake vine, knowing the meaning of such an event he immediately went through the sliph to the People's Palace to check on the Boxes of Orden. His suspicious were confirmed, and he found that the boxes were stolen. From General Trimack, he learned that Tovi was injuried by someone wielding the Sword of Truth and captured by General Meiffert. Richard went there to learn what she knew. Nicci went in to interrogate her because Tovi did not know whose side Nicci was on. From talking to Tovi she learned that Richard was right about everything. Kahlan was capture by the 4 sisters, Richard was protected from the spell they cast on her from the Sword of Truth, all evidence suggesting Kahlan was not real had been planted by them, the Boxes of Orden is the counter to Chainfire, and that they have maintained there bond to Richard throughout this time by granting granting him immortality if they succeed, the Sister of the Dark put the Boxes of Orden in play with only 2 because Samuel stole one.

With the information acquired, Richard went back to the Wizard's Keep through the sliph. He presented Zed, Ann and Nathan with all of the information he had acquired and asked for them to help him stop the Sisters of the Dark because this was the final battle that they had kept trying to force onto him through prophecy.

Richard's instincts once again found the answers necessary. The Final Battle that was referanced in the prophecies is not about to happen. Now that he has convinced everyone to help him and that he is thinking clearly he can make progression towards solving the real problems. These last chapters showed some forgiveness which refers to the Wizard's Fourth Rule: There is magic in true forgiveness. Richard forgave everyone for not believing him specifically Nicci who felt in need of such forgiveness and Cara for something she had done in her past that he had hoped Richard would never know. Forgiveness allows us to progress from the past which gives use insight into hope to prevent mistakes, but is not a place that dwelling on can fix or change.