Poem - valentines

A Valentine is nothing like
A chocolate or a rose.
For in a week these shall be gone,
But Valentines remain.

If love were always sweet to tongue
Or fragrant to the nose,
Each day would be like Valentine's,
And we would go insane.

A Valentine just hangs around
Waiting to be kissed
Long after special days have passed
And every days are here.

So one is wise to choose one well
And chocolates to resist.
For in the midst of mania
It's nice to have one near.

Deception Point - Dan Brown

Intelligence Analyst Rachel Sexton is in her mid-thirties, is single, and works for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office). Her father, Senator Sedgwick Sexton, is a popular presidential candidate surpassing the incumbent President of the United States Zachary Herney. The President sends her to the Arctic as part of a team of experts to confirm and authenticate findings made by NASA deep within the Milne Ice Shelf. NASA's new Earth Observation System (EOS,) a collection of satellites constantly monitoring the globe for signs of large-scale change has found an extremely dense spot in the Milne Ice Shelf. NASA discovers a very dense meteorite. In it are fossils of bugs very similar to--but not the same as--species on earth. NASA claims this as proof of extraterrestrial life. This find is something NASA needs desperately, as the agency’s success rate on other fronts has put it in a bad light. Senator Sexton uses this as an example of government overspending and failure to further his campaign. Meanwhile, a Delta Force team is observing the discovery, monitoring the NASA staff for an unknown commander. When one of the four civilian scientists observes an irregularity with the pit the meteorite was found in, the Delta Force team 'takes him out' using their miniature spy bot, leaving his body in the pit far below the water where he will not be discovered. When another civilian scientist sees the irregularity, he shares it with his friends Corky and Rachel. They report it to Norah, who confirms that there is seawater in what should be a closed area with only fresh water. The four go outside to scan the ice from a distance. The scan shows Ming's body and a frozen section of ice where the meteorite was drilled up into the shaft, and seawater sealed the gap. Upon discovering this, the four are attacked by the Delta Force team. Norah is killed, shown as an accident. Before they are killed, Rachel, Mike and Corky escape and are picked up by the Navy submarine USS Charlotte. The Delta Force team believes them to be dead, leaving them a chance to tell the President's advisor and Rachel's boss at the NRO about their discovery, Ming and Norah's deaths and about the attempt on their lives. Rachel's boss, William Pickering, has them airlifted form the sub to a chopper, which escorts them away from the meteorite discovery site. A group of four civilian scientists have already been studying the find and have confirmed NASA's claims. It is only hours before the President and NASA plan to go public with the discovery.

I think this book was the best book i have read. It had a lot of action for a book of its size and it showed what people can do to others when they are wanting to keep things a secret from the society of humans.

Shawshank Redemption

I enjoyed the movie because mainly it had a happy ending. I enjoy movies with happy endings where a person has succeeded in triumphing over their goal. In this instance, Andy, who is free man, gets caught for a double murder he did not commit. Andy is then sent to Shawshank prison because he had been accused of being guilty with evidence that was incorrect. The movie started off with a confusing storyline, untold and unexplained. It had been a bit misleading because i thought he would be guilty. It turns out he was not, when the real murderer was in another jail. The falsely accused man (Andy) had heard of this when a young guy had been sent to Shaw shank for more than one crime. Andy sees the warden and tells him what really happened but the warden tries to convince the prisoner that he is being misled. The warden was so scared of what he just heard, that he went outside and got a guard to kill the young guy because of what the young guy said to Andy. The warden didn't want Andy to leave Shawshank because he was arranging the wardens and the guards tax accounts. i thought this was unfair in some cases because Andy was being used so much that he may have never been able to leave Shawshank. The only way he knew, was to break out...

I liked the part where he is shown in his cell, the night he was to escape. It made us think, what is his next move. Then, the next morning, he was to wake up as normal and stand in front of his cell, but he never stepped out. His cell was empty and the commanding officers showed the warden and the warden was speechless. He had to find him because the warden was scared that if he were to escape, then the warden would be framed. The warden brings in the escaped prisoners friend (Red) from prison and asks him where his friend has gone. He said he doesn't know. In frustration and a scared emotion, the warden throws chess pieces from the escaped prisoners room at Red and also at the picture he had hung up on the wall of the cell. It tore through the paper and fell down a hole the prisoner had made to escape. It shows us later on in the movie how he escaped. That was my favourite part of the movie as it shows an awesome climax to the movie.

The character that remained in my mind, even after the movie, was Red because he had served a life sentence in jail for far to long and he was the only black man in jail to escape a free man and feel redeemed from what had happened in his past. He always felt regret for what he had done but inside he was to walk in the footsteps of his past life and make up for his mistakes. By making a new friend, he has found a true place in the real world.

Rugby and League

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero widely considered to be one of the most famous and popular of such characters and an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 (June 30th 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, newspaper strips, and video games. With the success of his adventures, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book.

The origin story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father moments before the planet's destruction. Adopted and raised by a Kansas farmer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent, and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early he started to display superhuman abilities, which upon reaching maturity he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity.

While referred to less flatteringly as "the big blue Boy Scout" by some of his fellow superheroes, the general public within the comics hails Superman as “The Man of Steel,” “The Man of Tomorrow, and The Last Son of Krypton. As Clark Kent, Superman lives among humans as a "mild-mannered reporter" for the Metropolis newspaper The Daily Planet (the Daily Star in original stories). There he works alongside reporter Lois Lane, with whom he is romantically linked. This relationship has been consummated by marriage on numerous occasions across varying media, and the union is now firmly established within the current mainstream comics continuity.

The character's supporting cast, powers, and trappings have slowly expanded throughout the years. Superman's back-story was altered to allow for adventures as Super boy, and other survivors of Krypton were created, including Super girl and Krypto the Super dog. In addition, Superman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film. The motion picture Superman Returns was released in 2006, with a performance at the international box office, which exceeded expectations. In the seven decades since Superman's debut, the character has been revamped and updated several times.

A significant overhaul occurred in 1986, when John Byrne recreated the character, reducing Superman's powers and erasing several characters from the canon, in a move that attracted media attention. Press coverage was again garnered in the 1990s with The Death of Superman, a storyline which saw the character killed and later restored to life.

Da Vinci Code

The interpretation of hidden messages in Leonardo's famous works, (which relate to the concept of the sacred feminine) including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, figure prominently in the solution to the mystery.

The novel has several concurrent subplots interweaving the lives of different characters; eventually all the characters are brought together and the subplots resolved in the denouement. The unravelling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templars. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.

The novel is the second book by Brown in which Robert Langdon is the main character. The previous book, Angels & Demons, took place in Rome and concerned the Illuminati. Although Angels & Demons is centred on the same character, the plots are not dependent upon each other. The next book is tentatively scheduled for release in 2008. Its title is The Solomon Key and it is reported to concern

Christopher Columbus =- August 3rd

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set out on his first voyage to what came to be known as the New World. With three ships and a crew of ninety, Columbus hoped to find a western route to the Far East. Instead, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria landed in the Bahaman Islands.

Christopher Columbus set sail in an era of maritime advances, charting his route with the aid of a mariner's compass, an astrolabe, a cross-staff, and a quadrant. The most popular map for mariners at the time was Ptolemy's Geography or Cosmography, printed in 1482 but originally compiled by the Alexandrian geographer, astronomer, and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy in the second century A.D.