Friday, December 15, 2006

A series of unfurtunate events EP 1 Lemony Snicket

This is a story about three brothers that need to help each other because of their uncle. It all started some time ago when Mr.Poe one of the biggest friens of their parents came to give them the bad news. Mr.Poe asked them to enter in the car, after some time they arrived at home that was all destroyed and with it the parents life dead in a fire. All the three brothers had special abilities; Klause had the abbility of beeing very intelligent because he read a lot and Violet had the ability of creating new machines and the small Sunny had the ability of bitting all the things even the most solid one's and her second abbility was that she could understand the words people said to each other and even the one's that where sended to her. Mr.Poe said to them that their next house was the one of Count Olaf that was the baddest of all their parents. They lived some time with him but he started to hate them and thay started to hate him. Count Olaf tried to kill them in all the ways possible so he could get all the money that they had in the bank. The three brothers where very rich and they had parents that where rich almost as them but not the same way they did. Count Olaf was very mean with them but one day the three brothers finded some way to change family and they did because Mr.Poe sow Olaf trieng to kill them so he changed them in a nother family; and if you wont to know you should read the next book!!!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Juliet and her Father
Juliet has a lot of relationship's but I choose her relationship with her father because I think it is very important for her and the story. Her father is a Nobel with a lot of money he loves her daughter's but not to sacrifice for them. Juliet is a young girl she married with Romeo but the problem is that she needs to Marie with Paris. Juliet is in love with Romeo and she married him and now she has a nether problem because her father wounds to Marie her with Paris and this is a big problem because she doesn't wont to Marie Paris because she loves Romeo and for this she has two problems and she needs to decide who to Marie. Her father is very streak and even him needs to decide if to make Marie Juliet with Romeo or to let her live her life with Romeo, if I was the father I would choose to let her live with Romeo. In other cases Juliet and her father are good friends but only when Juliet obeys to him and respects the others that her father gives to her. Her father is married and has a nurse that works for them in their house.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Chop and Change
Barbara Deary

Hi, this is one of the very nice books that i read. This book talks about a sister and a brother that act as a team that can do everything because they are very special. The boy name is Simon, he is the age of 13, he is blond and he is very solar and he is very strong for last thing he would wont to become president. The sister name is Susan, she is 13, she is dark for her hair and she is normal for the color o the skin. She is very intelligent and she has the iq o 300 and she would wont to become a scientist and ind the cure o the cancer, she can find a solution allways and she is in search of a boy that can do the thing's that she can do for example calcolate math problems in the have of a second.
One day of Dicember the parents of Susan and Simon live them at home with their grandmother and go out to eat. During the night someone comes and knocks on the door the grandmother goes to see who is there and finds a strange man with an ash. The grandmother isen't very intelligent and because of this she invites the strange man or a tee. Hours ater the man kills the grandmother. Susan and Simon see him do that and call the police but because of the storm they cant call the police so they elaborate a plan. The plan was creating a big coup with the sand and the incenerator that they created, they would put the coup out of the enterance door and mace sounds out of it so the killer would go out and fallin it. The plan was created and they needed to find someone to send ou so they decided that Simon would go out after this they captured the killer and waited for the sun and the police to come.
Some ours after the police came and got the criminal that was very famous because of the people that he killed. The police gave them some money and they used it in more inventions. The family was very happy but they where very sad because o the grandmother. With all this the story ended and the two brothers returned to their normal life the one of creating new things for the humanity.
The adventures of Sharkboy and Lava girl
Dior Max

Hi, today i am going to post a new enterie. It's about of two boys and one girl. The two boys where very different because of there body and because of there way of thinking everything. One of the boys the one that was mutated was very similar at the girl. The boy that diden't like violence and created everything, name was Max. The boy that was mutated and thought that violence was the best was Shark boy. And finally the girl who fout that she was mean and wonted to live on the earth was Lava girl.
Lava girl was a very nice girl and could control the lava and fire and all the things that created fire, she wonted to live on the earth and find out her secret.
Shark boy was a normal boy that lived on a platform but a day a storm came and separeted him from his father and wen't to live with the sharks and became one of them, all mutade. He became the king of the ocean's and he wonted to find his father that he lost after the storm.
The last and most important character is Max, Max is a ten years old boy that has the bigest imagination of the world and he can dream with the eyes opened. He dreamed Sbabalandia and he dreamed everyone. Max isen't very happy and when he goes at school he is punched from zero that is the antagonist in the story.
Zero is a dream finisher a person that eliminates the dreames. His dreams where distroyed when he was little and from that he is a bully. In the story they need to save the planet and to do that they need to kill Mr. Electro that is a bad guy that controlls the planet. After this he needed to destroy zero but he diden't do it because they became friends and saved the place. After Lava girl finded her secret she wasen't mean and even lava but she was light the biggest thing. Shark boy realized his dream he wen't to find his father and became the boyfriend o lava girl. And like this the story ended and everybody lived good for the rest of their life.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Trojan horse
Mathieu Handsome
This is a very funny book. It should be the summary of what happened lot of years ago when gun's didn't exist and you needed to use horses instead of cars. I hope you will enjoy this book.
It happened all a lot of time a go when you didn't exist and when you hadn't cars and when electricity didn't exist.
There was one upping a time a you man whose name was achilli, he had 25 years and he was very nice he could have all the girls of the earth, people thud that his mom was a god and that when he was burned he was putted in a lake where you could GE immortality. He was putted in that lake but not all body a pice didn't enter that lake, do you know what pice? Maybe but the answer is that the pice loosing was the toe. You will think that it is impossible that
someone would think to get that part but the son of the king of troj killed him because of that part I will write you the story of the Trojan horse. It started all when Elena wen't to troy and the brother of Agamemnon was so Hungary that he prepared an army to conquer the city. Ten years after the friend of Ackley go the idea of creating a big horse like present and putting inside a lot of men. Some men for open the doors. Hours after the army got inside and conquered the city the son of the king killed Ackley but the city was still lost.
There is a nother book on the return of Ulisse a very nice story full of action and mystery's.
I would congratulate with author and i would say you to read this book.

Monday, November 06, 2006

StormBreaker
Anthony Horowitz
Late one night, 14 year old Alex Rider finds out from a police officer that his uncle has died from a car accident. He hears from the officer that if he had been wearing a seatbelt, his uncle might have had a chance at survival, which doesn't make sense to him because his uncle is a very careful person. Throughout the first few chapters, Alex discovers little clues that point to a different death, including bullet holes in the windshield, and his uncle's boss appearing at his funeral with a handgun. A little later on, Alex is called down to his uncle's work building to talk about his uncle's will with one of the employees. When he leaves for a moment, Alex finds this to be his perfect chance to do some investigating. He decides to sneak into his uncle's office and look at some of his documents, but he is caught and shot with a tranquilizer gun. When Alex wakes up, he finds himself in a strange building. He finds his uncle's boss, Alan Blunt, who begins to explain the situation to Alex. Alex finds out that his uncle didn't work for a bank, but as a spy for British top secret intelligence agency, MI6, and that Alex is inside one of their training centers. Alex is then told of the mission his uncle was working on. He is briefed about a man named Herod Sayle, and that he is working on a computer system called the Stormbreaker, which he is going to donate thousands of them to schools all across England. Alex is forced to work for MI6 to investigate the production of the Stormbreakers, because it seems suspicious that he is donating so many. He will be going as Felix Lester, a boy who won a contest to take a tour of the Stormbreaker production and be the first to test the Stormbreaker system. Alex is given two weeks to begin training at the MI6 training facility. During the training, he is pushed to the limits by the tests he must take, and is constantly harassed by the other people in training. He eventually finishes his training, and is sent back to be given some special items to help him out during his mission. Soon later, Alex is sent to Sayle Enterprises. Alex quickly makes his first mistake by telling Sayle to call him Alex instead of Felix. After meeting a few of the employees, Alex goes to bed. The next morning, he is called down to begin testing the Stormbreaker. After testing for a few hours, Alex decides to start sneaking around, but he is quickly caught though. After some more investigating, Alex discovers Herod's plan from his own investigations, and some clues left behind by his uncle. Herod plans to infect all of the school children with smallpox hidden inside the computer systems. When his plan is discovered, Herod attempts to kill Alex, but fails, and Alex sneaks into a helicopter heading for where Herod is going. Alex manages to stop Herod just in time, with the help of former enemy Yassen Gregorovich.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Creature
Dan throw
Hi, today I'm going to tell you a nice story about a poor family. There was one upon a time a family that was very poor and lived in a hood all isolated from the people. One bad day there was a storm and it was raining and the family was all scared because they where all isolated from the people and they hadn't altruistic because they liked to live at the poor way and like this they shouldn't pay altruistic. The family was composed from Jon the father and Jake the sun. One night a very dark night something scorched the door. The father was all scared and decide to go down and look what it was, arrived down with his gun he fended nothing so he thought it was his imagination, but it wasn't. The day after the same thing happened and they so the creature because they decided to look down ho it was and they so something but it was to dark and they so only a strange thing in the dark. The day after they Wendy out and looked for some clues that could help them and understand what it was. They where all scared and Jack needied to go in city to get some food and he needed to be quick because in the night the creature would appear. Jack Wendy away and with him he brought the gun for security so he would be more secure in the night he decided to sleep in the city so in the way to the return he wouldn't have problems. The day after he returned at home and fended the door decoded but the father was steal alive because he closed him self in the bedroom and with him had a sword in case of the creature. The night came and Jon and Jack decided to kill the creature so to have a better life and to be more secure in the house, so in the night they waited the creature and when it entered they closed it in prison and in the morning they looked who it was. It was a dog and with this they had a good life and a new pet at home.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

The battle of Salamis

  • The Battle of Salamis
    The March south and the sack of Athens
    Xerxes and Delphi
    The Battle
    The aftermath
  • The March south and the sack of Athens
    The Greeks that are left from Thermopylae make their may back to their communities and there is no further residence north of the isthmus.
    Xerxes continues to recruit from northerners and the central Greeks and we hear of no objections. Xerxes does also seem to embark on terrorism on the Greeks that he finds. He beheads Leonidas and shows off his body as a deterrent. He also physically branded the Thebans who surrendered at Thermopylae. He also ravishes Phocis by sending off a detachment to trash the place on as a reprisal for not offering earth and water.
  • Xerxes and Delphi
    According to Herodotus his army is approaching with the intention to attack and cause damage (bk. 8:36-39) and they are only prevented from doing so by a series of supernatural events: thunderbolts, collapsing mountains, sacred weapons that move themselves, giant ghostly hoplites. We are asked to believed that the contingent panics and is overwhelmed by the people of Delphi. Herodotus's source is definitely from someone who comes from Delphi, and his is presented with some rocks that supposedly crushed the Persians. However it is far more likely that this is a story built up afterwards showing that the people were a target for the Persians, but they defended themselves as a king of self justification smoke screen to Herodotus.
    The Persians then send their army to Boeotia and basically detachments go to each city to confirm homage - note that Alexander himself had supplied officers to go to Boeotia as go-betweens. However two towns are handed over to Persia for destruction: Thespiae and Plataea. Remember that these two cities are resisting only because of their hatred to Thebes.
    Meanwhile the Athenians were evacuating their city and it seems that the bulk of their population was exported to Salamis or Troezen. However there are those who resisted Themistocles's idea of the wooden walls. They prefer to believe that the wooden wall was the wall that used to run around the top of the acropolis - not the ships -. So they barricade themselves in.
    The Persians arrive and hit Athens in September 480. They feel that this is revenge for Lade and Marathon - they loot the temples, trash the acropolis, and start ravishing the whole city. The Athenians see all this from a distance in Salamis, which must have stirred up a lot of emotion.
    Meanwhile the Persian fleet lick their wounds at Artemisium having lost a large part of their fleet., for about a week. They sail down the Euripus channel. As they go, they trash the Euboea coastline. However when the Greeks were fleeing themselves, the previous week - Themistocles had written messages urging the people to rebel. The Persians beach themselves at Phalerum - the old port of Athens - clearly in view of the Athenians in Salamis.
    During September there is a stand off situation with the Greek fleet at Salamis and Persians at Phalerum. Any Greek army that still exists is involved in building a wall across the isthmus and shelter behind it. This operation is led by Leonidas's younger brother Cleombrotus. For the Athenians in Salamis there is little sign of a forward defence strategy and the they see this as a lack of support from their neighbours.
    On the Persian side, they send a lot of time in Athens, but launch the odd raid on Megara. The question is the fleet: Herodotus tells us that a large number of Greeks submit to Persia, which enables them to restock and build their numbers back up to 1,200. This is unlikely because:
    · The Persian stand off tactic suggests similar numbers, and caution
    · There is no evidence of raids of the Peloponnesian league, as numbers are too low
    · It is unlikely that there are still 600 ships in the whole of Greece left to be submitted to the Persians
    At this point Herodotus draws out the story line, building up the tension, and registering in the readers‘ mind that this is a pivotal battle,
    The Greeks are divided - and Herodotus spends a lot of time showing arguments between Themistocles (and his largest contingent of ships) and Eurybiades. It appears the Spartan position is that they want to retreat to the Isthmus and use the fleet to back this up. However the Spartans are persuaded to do otherwise by the Athenians who are keen to defend Salamis. Herodotus suggests that there is little support for defending the island, and only the Athenians are in favour of the proposal, although this too is unlikely because presumably Megara and Aegina would want to defend north of the Isthmus.
    There is a lot of direct speech designed by Herodotus - which we cannot date.; The audience are drawn in and it is resolved by a threat by Themistocles: If you don't fight at Salamis - we will withdraw the Athenian fleet to Sicily. This is apparently what tips the balance as Athens represents at least half the fleet. This all shows how extreme tensions are at the time.
    Xerxes tried to increase the pressure himself - by building out a jetty or mole across to Salamis which will install panic, as once this is completed the Persians could march on foot to Salamis. This is a similar tactic to the one used at Lade, as delaying tactics combined with pressure hopefully will crumble the opposition.
    Herodotus claims 380 ships were on the Athenian side - which is a quite specific figure for the man who usually deals with multiples of 300, however Aeschylus's play "the Persians" gives us the figure of 310 ships, and Aeschylus was there at the battle himself. The Persians are probably nearly double in numbers: 500-600 - although again Herodotus gives us the figure of 1,200.
    Herodotus then tells us of a debate on the Persian side. Nearly everyone in Xerxes's council is favourable of attacking immediately. However, a female tyrant: Artemisia of Halicarnassus speaks of delaying tactics. She is given a positive press from Herodotus, as being a wise person as she sees that the Greeks will tear themselves to pieces, and suffer from starvation and lack of water. This will force the Greeks into attacking on Persian terms. This, like the story of Artabanus, is Herodotus's way of expressing opinions with the benefit of hind-sight. So it is an example of personal comment amalgamated into the story. There is also presentation of Persian arrogance against the one point of reason
    Themistocles is credited by Herodotus of having a really cunning plan which is the beginning of tales of Themistocles's intelligence an ability for trickery. It probably reflects highly ambiguous attitudes of Athens towards a man who 10 years later ends up exiled in Persia. What he does is send a slave called Sicinnus to Xerxes with a message from Themistocles saying that Themistocles is really on the Persian side and if they attack immediately - they will win a great victory because there is such tension among the Greeks that they will all slip away. He continues by saying that if they are attacked aggressively - some of the Greeks will go over to the Persians side. This is complicated: is it straightforward deceit to the Persians or is he covering his own back in the event that the Athenians loose the battle.
    The Persians take the bait and so they prepare for an assault on the Greek fleet at Salamis. They make two sensible moves: on the island of Psyttaleia a heavy detachment of the army is place. He also blocks off the other end of the channel by sending the Egyptians to wait in Eleusis (about 30% of the army). The source of this move is Diondorus Siculus in the 1st Century BC, drawing from 4th century Ephors who is regarded as very reliable - although we don't have his text.
    On the night before the battle, Aristides manages to slip through the Persian troops with a message: the Persians have sent out the Egyptians and are preparing to attack. During the night, they prepare to launch themselves as soon as Persia appears. We are told Persia launches very early, and they spend a long time waiting for attack.
  • The Battle
    Dawn approaches and the line of ships make their way up the channel. Herodotus lists the continents of the Persian side. We are told that at a certain point the Greeks launch attack on the flanks. They also head off the front of Persia by sending a line of ships across like a net. Two factors assist the Greeks: the wind makes the water choppy, which reduces maneuverability of the Persian side. The other thing is they are fighting in an enclosed space which brings advantage to the heavier and stronger Greek ships.
    According to Diondorus Siculus 40 of the Greeks ships are captured or sunk, but Herodotus instead of facts and figures gives a set of individual episodes - which is typical of Herodotus's personification of battles. Herodotus is forced into this as witnesses don't give the big picture. There are also literary reasons: epic poetry is about battles, and in Homer, battles are always described with individual heroic acts. However the pendulum gradually swings to Greece.
    According to Herodotus, the Corinthian fleet had tried to escape towards the bay of Eleusis, but then they turned back, due to the appearance of ghostly pretences. Note when Herodotus is writing the Corinthian Athenian relationship was at an all time low, and it may be that the Athenian sources were responsible for this account. The idea that the Corinthians played no part in the battle therefore is not to be trusted. Note that in Herodotus's time the battle and the deeds of the people still acquires great prestige. Plutarch writes in his essay the malice of Herodotus (1st Century AD) and specifically condemns that this is totally untrue, as says that Herodotus is consistently anti-Corinthian. We should remember that Plutarch was Corinthian himself. However this is unfair as Herodotus isn't that one sided - for example in pg. 476 he says that the Corinthians did play a large part in the war.
    On the interpretation of these events, there are two points of view: maybe the Corinthians are going on the orders of Eurybiades to block any move by the Egyptians. Another point of view is that there is no way of knowing what happened, as we only know of the events in reflection with jealous, bitter and narrow minded picture of the 450s.
    Meanwhile the Persians were scared. The Phoenician fleet flee, and the Ionians fight it out to the bitter end. Xerxes himself is apparently sitting high above the channel watching all. He sees the Greek conscripts fighting with all their effort, and the rest were useless. Herodotus records Xerxes moaning that the Greeks fought like men and his men fought like women.
    Once the rest of the fleet flee, we are told they pass their narrow moorings and sail straight towards the Hellespont. According to Diondorus they had lost 200 ships so far. The soldiers who were left in Psyttaleia were slaughtered by Aristides and his hoplites.
  • The aftermath
    The Greek fleet go to the mooring place of the Persians, and find it deserted - so instead of chasing them, they immediately start reprisals on other Greek states: Andros, Paros and Carystos.
    They ravish the land and raise taxes. This shows how the defeat of Persian is an excuse for strife between the Greeks.
    Herodotus them talks about a conference held between the naval commanders on the Greek side. Themistocles urges Athens to take the fleet to the Hellespont and cut the bridge. However this was opposed by the Spartans and Eurybiades: "we mustn't push on too greater distance." as there is a risk - typical Spartan caution. So instead the Greeks attack Greeks as Sparta is in charge.
    This allows Xerxes and the bulk of his army to evacuate Athens and made their way rapidly to the Hellespont and cross back to Persia.