A Haiku to my mother’s cat

Major Irritant

Mum’s feline slept in my bed

And now I have hives

This is not a poem

This is not a poem

You only think it is

It’s a mere collection of words

Without rhyme or reason

Or anything resembling a meter

_{Doggoned useless brain.}

I love a challenge

I was once told there are no bad poems

I have set out to prove this wrong

I assure you,

This is a

HORRIBLE,

WRETCHED

Poem.

­­(Really.)

English Class

This class makes no sense to me

So I sit here twiddling my thumbs

Hoping that the laws of Quantum physics

Will come through for me

And I will suddenly warp through the floor

And suddenly, the fact that I still haven’t finished my essay

Won’t

Seem

So

BAD

Compare and Contrast Essay

Michael Nollan

English 10

Due 5/10/10

Compare & Contrast

THE CURSE OF WINDOWS

There are two well known brands of operating system available for computers: Apple Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows. The continued argument of which operation system is superior has battled on for decades now, and it seems to get more hostile as time goes on. Here, I will present my evidence to support my belief: Apple’s operating system is clearly the better choice.

POINT ONE: STABILITY

In all likelihood, the most well known argument in this debate is the issue of stability. Upon suffering a “Fatal Exception”, Windows will give you the infamous BSoD, which kills your operation system and reboots the computer, causing you to lose anything you had been working on at the time. The “Fatal Exception” in question could be a software error or hardware error. The Mac equivalent is the “Kernel Panic” screen, which simply gives you a grey dialogue box stating that you must force reboot your computer. Upon rebooting, your system will be just as you left it. The Kernel Panic is activated when a serious hardware problem is detected (Such as the hard disk suffering damage when you dropped your computer.) The Kernel Panic is considerably rarer than the BSoD, (I’ve had several Blue Screens as opposed to only one Kernel Panic in my life, and I use Mac a lot more.) and more effective at its purpose (dealing with serious exception errors.) Upon a software error in Macintosh OSX+, the offending program is shut down rather than the whole computer. If the operating system itself suffers a failure (which I have not personally experienced), it reboots while your other programs stay open (and usable, for that matter.)

POINT TWO: USER FRIENDLINESS

Upon an application’s unexpected termination, MacOS simply opens a dialogue box telling you what went wrong, and gives you the choice of reopening the program, sending a bug report, or simply doing something else. Windows gives you some unusable hexadecimal gibberish that cannot be utilized without a major in computer sciences.

My grandmother managed to crash her windows several times, infect it with a virus, and worry that she’d broken the law upon being informed that she had attempted an “Illegal operation”. It took her about five years to render her Apple computer unusable, and it took me about 10 minutes to fix the issue. (She’d erased all her applications; heaven only knows what compelled her to do this.)

All Macintosh settings can be easily accessed from the control panel, whereas Windows settings cannot be changed without first hunting them down through a multitude of menus and dialogue boxes, and it sometimes doesn’t even work after you’ve changed the setting, or it won’t let you change the setting, or it simply reverts the change the next time you log in.

POINT THREE: SAFETY

I refer to each system’s respective tendency to fall victim to viruses, trojans, worms, and other general hacker mischief (or not). Despite the title, this section will not expound upon Sony’s infamous exploding batteries occasionally found in both brands of computer laptops, but will point out that those batteries are neither Microsoft’s or Apple’s fault , but Sony’s.

Windows has numerous brands anti-virus software available for it, from the standard pre-packaged stuff we use at the school to programs that cost a hundred dollars a month. However, it will still invariably catch something at some point. (Been using this Windows computer four years, and it has caught about a dozen viruses in that time.) Mac has NO brands of anti-virus programs for it – the antivirus stuff is built right into the system, and works like a charm – I’ve never had a single virus on the Apple I’ve been using for the last eight years.

Also, when larger holes appear in security, Microsoft hems and haws before finally admitting that it’s a bug, not a feature, and fixing it. This is rather troubling.

POINT FOUR: COST

This does seem to be a bit of an issue for many people – Windows computers are cheaper. However, Apple computers are consistently shown to be faster, safer, and more stable – and they last longer before going obsolete. (Remember what I said about that eight-year-old computer?) At the core of it, it simply seems that we can turn to the old adage, “You get what you pay for.”

Conclusion

If you’re a computer wizard that likes solving ridiculously complex problems and repairing broken machines, then Windows is for you. If you are an average person that just wants the superior choice, then Apple Macintosh is the way to go. One last thing: Some argue that more programs run in Windows, and it is therefore superior. Although this is true, it is really due more to the programmer’s short sightedness than any true superiority in the operating system. Apple now comes with a program called “Boot Camp” that allows you to run Windows software.

“Character Analysis”

Had to analyze a character from “The Last Sin-Eater”. Despite my boring rendition, it’s actually a fairly good book. Also, I wanted to compare him to my principal, but my teacher nixed that idea. Killjoy…

I have chosen to perform a character analysis of Brogan Kai, the primary antagonist of the story. He does seem like a stereotypical Welsh character, in that he’s: loud, rude, strong, brutish, and not very bright. (I don’t invent stereotypes. The people who do invent stereotypes are frequently unfair and cruel in their creation. Don’t shoot the messenger.)

The character is clearly static, as he remains hot-headed and temperamental throughout the book. Despite the fact that he’s the main antagonist, he doesn’t appear that often, which leads me to the conclusion that he’s actually a minor character. The author discloses his being mostly through descriptions from other townspeople, although occasionally his terrifying actions speak for themselves. He KILLS the ‘Man of God’, which means he clearly is close-minded.

His psychological profile… this man appears to be so messed up, I would recommend a psychiatric hospital, or possibly even an exorcist!  It is this crazed persona of his that drives a decent part of the plot, keeping the village in fear of him, and obeying his more-than-eccentric whims. Disturbingly, this character actually IS believable, because in this age of global media, you actually hear about people like him (and worse) on a regular basis in the news.

Brogan clearly has no ethics, or at least what few he has are warped beyond recognition. He rules the town with an iron fist and a will of steel, and he clearly isn’t “Trying to do the right thing in the wrong way”. His motivation for the control of the town is probably the same as many people in his kind of position – he’s power hungry and a little crazy, he likes being able to order others around.

Brogan consistently behaves in a way that means you can only truly describe him as a filthy b****** (We’ve read that word – out loud – in our short story unit, so don’t get all mad at me for alluding to colorful language.) He is unquestionably erratic, seeming to fly off the handle at any small thing, but he’s predictably erratic – he’s always going to be crabby about something.

He reigns over the town with fear, as none dare oppose him. Indeed, when he discovers that Kadi has been visiting the “Man of God” against his declaration, he chokes her – nearly to death.

As I’ve covered in the pieces above, Brogan Kai has a plethora of weaknesses and faults, not the least of which is pride. He also is afflicted by jealousy, a love of power, unscrupulousness, and a very short temper – sometimes it seems as though he lacks a temper at all!

By my judgment, he doesn’t seem to have ANY redeeming qualities at all. He was clearly not intended to be the ‘sympathetic’ variety of villain.

As far as moral constitution goes, he doesn’t seem to have much – only that when he makes a decision, he stands by it.

His conflict is with all of the townspeople who are disobeying him, and the people who don’t stand by his decisions. This ultimately leads to his downfall.

In short, I have come to the conclusion that Brogan Kai is a horrible person [SATIRE] that is not unlike an unholy combination of Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler. [/SATIRE]

A paraphrasing of “The Guitar”.

My teacher required that we paraphrase (Read: Ruin) a poem. I recommend the original, ’tis much better.

Some guy is playing a guitar

At the break of dawn

It’s impossible to shut it out

Loud

Lonely

A single, monotonous note

The man misses his home

The desert sand

White flowers

He laments his lack of purpose

The evening without end

And dead sparrows in trees

He laments these five things.

“Good Earth” Persuasive Essay

I am here to argue that excessive wealth corrupts. As per the requirements, I will attempt to do this using nothing but examples from the well-known (Or so I am told) book The Good Earth.

The Good Earth clearly shows that wealth corrupts in the case of the main character, Wang Lung; at the beginning of the book, he was honest, hardworking, and thrifty. As the story progressed, he acquired property and wealth, and before long, his scruples left him.

Many people would argue that wealth brings happiness. (You know who you are.) However, this is clearly not the case in this book. Wang Lung moves from abject poverty to having as much money as the Hwang family mentioned at the beginning of the book – and yet is not happy. He is restless throughout the course of the book, and having so much money and nothing to do (He has servants to work his land for him) ultimately causes trouble within his family. Having never learned to read, and thus unable to know that the Chinese character for “trouble” is represented by two women under one roof, Wang buys a second wife, and effectively shuns his first one. His sons are spoiled rotten, and have forgotten the Confusion rules of respect, ultimately leading up to his son having an affair with Wang’s second wife. _(EW!)

Not only that, but the fact that he is wealthy has attracted his leech of an uncle, and his worthless wife and spawn, and he cannot drive them away as the uncle leads a bandit clan – he must give the uncle whatever he desires, or Wang Lung’s house will be ransacked. Before Wang had money, the uncle didn’t bother hanging around.

In addition to this, Wang’s sons have no respect for the land – Their father’s wealth allowed him to raise them as scholars rather than farmers, and they consequently have no understanding of the value of work; what with their cushy lives, they’ve never had to lift a finger to help on the farm.

This all leads up to Wang Lung ultimately moving into the house of the Hwangs – the people that he hated so much for their haughty ways – and it is shown that he has become just like them.

Heck, the guy even becomes a pedophile. That’s about as low as you can go. _{(The notes you directed us to claim that Pear Blossom is his concubine, not merely his companion.)}

In the end, his sons buy a grain market, and he overhears them talking about selling the land. He realizes that he has wasted his life and spoiled his sons, for in a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do”, he has inadvertently taught them that money is more important than the land. Despite all his begging, they exchange knowing glances, and the reader is shown that they’re selling the land for money anyhow, despite their father’s dying wishes.

In conclusion…

MONEY IS POWER. POWER CORRUPTS.