K's

Dover Beach - The Sea of Faith

2005-08-01T23:21:00.000-07:00

*No part of this work may reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
For permission, contact Kevin Ford at bassguy101@yahoo.com*

This is a quasi-research paper which revists my C worthy essay on the poem, "Dover Beach". I probably will get another C (ending isnt 100% restatement of intro), but I think this is a nice continuation to finally end this Mathew Arnold trilogy of work. The quality is very high, and it delivers a power punch to anyone willing to read. Maybe this will inspire you to change your life some, maybe it'll depress you, maybe it'll wake you up to how good you really do have things. Nothing is held back and you will continue to think about this in relation to how you live.

What I'm trying to say, is why live a life to the lowest, if you try you can acheive, if you attempt you can succed. Mow your front lawns and plant some trees. How hard is it to slip a quater into the red salvation army cans during the holiday season? Yes people are born to a certain class and a certain society, but each person on this planet is an independent being, and has the power through effort to change their surroundings. What's the main difference between our different races? The quantity of melanin underneath the epidermis! Don't live in denial! Don't settle for ignorence! ....Although, I have had a few monsterburgers.

Sea of Faith, By Kevin Ford

Since the beginning of the now homo-sapien creature, two to three million years ago (Skomal), evidence has pointed that man has evolved to seek the answers to his questions that bothered him so. Nature has selected man to rise up as the dominant species of the planet Earth, and through natural selection, has given him the ability to learn. Through the rising epochs of the human timeline, man has successfully gained answers to his budding questions in almost rapid succession; all while developing new tools to use to better help his species survive. Today, man lives saturated in his answers, having traded many past lifestyles for conveniences, and sometimes, ignorance. As in “Dover Beach” (Arnold, 1153), what if the world was to embrace the concepts behind the “Sea of Faith” (Arnold, 1153), and just what it tries to warn the general populace of. Dover beach describes the declining “Sea of Faith” (Arnold, 1153), as a technologically advancing world that can be used for positive, but through unfortunate laze, has lead to a steadily decline in moral and ethical values.

Our greatest asset as being human, are our hyper evolved molecular structures that allow us to change through minuscule genetic mutations (Shute). It is how our race survives through massive epidemics, natural disasters, famine, war, etc, with little effect on our general populous numbers (Infoplease). Along the way, up until present time, we have created tools to help ease our lives, starting with the early bone carved tools, and steadily progressing up to the duel core microprocessor newly released from AMD (AMD). The main difference being, in the past, these inventions were developed for survival; spears, astrology, crop rotational theories. Unfortunately, some of the new inventions we are prescribed today, go far beyond help, and venture into the harmful on considerable levels. Medicine has proven its use time and time again, but many new pills on the market have false descriptions of its contents, and others in which access to its ingredient list isn’t publicly released.

“For patients with rare, intractable or fatal illnesses, off-label prescribing is sometimes appropriate. In other cases, there may be gold-standard studies backing an off-label use. But doctors routinely are choosing unapproved therapies that are questionable at best. The practice is perfectly legal, widely accepted and defended by doctors and the American Medical Association--and it's taking a toll…Based on the FDA 's own data, Knight Ridder estimates that at least 8,000 people became seriously ill last year after taking some of the nation's most popular drugs off-label. The true number is likely to be many times higher.“ (Adams).

Was the invention of Hardy’s 2/3rds pound “Monster Burger” truly worth the 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat (Shur) (plus 600 calorie french fries) to mankind? Unfortunately people are generally just as willing to fill their stomachs with the most toxic foods ever produced in the history of the world, as they are to take any medicine the doctor may. While these noxious burgers flavored with MSG (Warner) fill the middle class stomachs, the people of much poorer foundations are cursed to live in a world surrounded rich in technology, but neglecting of aid. Even so, comparatively to times past human life in general now is far sturdier for those who can afford it. Life expectancy is far higher than in the past, 77.6 years of age currently (Tanner), and through medicine, people do lead much healthier lives, but the future is left in question as our mindsets are modest in concern for what extends beyond our personal space. The, “What’s going to affect me, while I’m alive” syndrome, a disease spreading without thought to the next generations in which today’s problems will endanger the next.” Thus in “Dover Beach” our man looks out over our declining “Sea of Faith”, and wishes he himself, along with the world could pull together to revitalize what good standing “faith” truly is.

The “Sea of Faith” (Arnold, 1153), its power is remarkable, it’s ideals virtuous. In its plentiful water, the seeds of joy, love, trust, chivalry, and peace spawn forth into the flora of tranquility. Man has never once lived near the “Sea of Faith”, it is a place left for hopes and dreams. Its ideals show us the blueprint in how we should live our lives in a proactive, morally sound manner. The “Sea of Faith” still touches many of the souls of America, but its grasp is weak, and completely inexistent to some. This extends from holding the door for another person, to preparing a well thought out, healthy meal for friends and family to dine over in a pleasant environment. Other examples include recognizing the promise of “until death do us part”, and the donation of time and money towards the noble act of charity.

If the “Sea of Faith” were fully present in the hearts of all men and women of the world, the planet would operate to a much different frequency than the repeated songs of war and greed. The concept of world peace is quite simply the easiest of all to understand, help each other, don’t hurt. If every single person who holds a gun with the intent to kill another were to drop that gun, and shake the other persons hand in understanding, history would at that time have been made for something that had never yet been present in human culture, world peace. It’s that easy, but in a world with a declining “Sea of Faith”, it’s that hard.

The reality of the world is of this; war, divorce, injustice, poor treatment, famine, disease, mistrust, hate, spoils, appeasement, laze, ignorance, bias. As new developments in technology arise, and we gain more answers to questions to fill the news headlines, so do the stories in which these new skills are providing human culture with more harm than good. Ironically, even though a product or service is documented as entirely deadly; tobacco products for instance, 46 million adults in the U.S. are addicted, these people go out of their way in seemingly backwards progression to subscribe to harming themselves mentally and physically. Scientists wave their hands in warnings against tobacco products other the harmful substances, perhaps due to the potential the product has in reconfiguring the genetic structure of a users DNA (Monmaney). Others write reports on how fantastic these new products are, and anyone who doesn’t have it, isn’t “with” it.

The people with the answers may know full and well the path they lead others on is harmful, but in order to garner massive amounts of money, they still lead their followers. People know spoiling their children is largely unhealthy for a child’s responsible future, but they still do it. People might not understand the vows in their marriage, they still marry. People know if each of them put ten extra dollars a week into a specialized fund to help clean up their neighborhood, a great deal of good can come from it. People know the key to gaining knowledge about each other is through talking, understanding, and compromise, yet some would rather settle for shooting each other intensely with guns. Some people are biased in their lives, die hard republicans, die hard liberals, each live in their own arrogance and ignorance, washing themselves and others among their counterfeit beliefs towards a “better” future.

The “Sea of Faith”, it goes far beyond religion, it goes far beyond indifference, it goes far beyond misunderstanding, it goes far beyond the mediocre values we as humans have ever stood for. What it does, is create a temporary dream, one that has been lost, but can be regained in reality. The first step in our understanding is perhaps the suspension of the personal ego, and perhaps being able to suspend the mightiest of egos might allow one to step far outside this fast paced world we live in. From there, they may look back inside this Earth and gaze upon its coveted truths, and perhaps it would give the “Sea of Faith” a little more water to rise up, for all the world to enjoy.
Works Cited

1. Adams, Chris, Alison Young. "Prescribing Drugs 'Off-Label' Is Routine, but Can Injure, Kill Patients." Knight-Ridder Newspapers. 31. Oct. 2003: SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. NVCC Woodbridge, Woodbridge, 25 Jul. 2005 .
2. Arnold, Matthew. “Dover Beach” Literature Reading, Writing, Reacting. 2004, Wadsworth. Canada, p1153-1154.
3. AMD “AMD64 X2 Duel Core Processor” 24 July 2005.
.
4. Infoplease, “Disasters” 24, July. 2005.
.
5. Monmaney, Terence. "Scientists Discover How Cigarettes Set Up Cancer." The Seattle Times. 18 Oct: 1996. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. NVCC Woodbridge, Woodbridge, 25 July 2005 .
6. “Saving Lives” Tobacco Free Kids. 24 July: 2005
.
7. Shure, Jim “Hardee’s Monster Burger Creates Uproar” Free Republic 24 July. 2005 .
8. Shute, Nancy. “Where We Come From.” U.S. News and World Report Jan. 2001: 29-1. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. NVCC Woodbridge Library, Woodbridge, VA. 25 Jul. 2005
.
9. Skomal, Susan. “Prehistory: Our Ancestors Emerge” The World Almanac and the Book of Facts 2005. 2005. P 503.
10. Tanner, Linday. “Obesity to Lower U.S. Life Span.” Lincoln Courier. 16 Mar. 2005. SIRS Researcher. SIRS Knowledge Source. NVCC Woodbridge Library, Woodbridge, VA. 25 July 2005
.
11. Warner, Melanie. “Food Companies Test Flavoriings That an Trick the Taste Buds.” New York Times. 6 Apr, 2005: Late. ProQuest. Proquest Information and Learning Company. NVCC Woodbridge, Woodbridge VA. 25 Jul. 2005
.

Tiger/Dragon!

2005-07-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Tiger/Dragon is once again in production. Below is a very very very rough rough draft of Chapter 2, which helps to introduce many of the political aspects quickly into the story... Senate meetings in most stories are dry and boring, and there will most likely be several "formal" situations in Tiger Dragon, but hopefully I can keep the pacing exciting throughout. Don't worry, the entire story will not all be war and meetings! There will be a great mix of several different stories taking place all at once, all while surrounding the main characters, and the Demon. Enough talk, read and enjoy, but keep in mind this a rough draft, and it is rough around the edges. Enjoy.

"The more intelligent the person, the farther they seem to stay away from politics." - Nalia'Serra - "Impartial Diary"

Chapter 2 -

"Unfathomable, what you mean to tell me Senator is that somehow, one of those demon managed to traverse past the Great Wall into Solace, ransack a town, and simply disappears? Perhaps they were only bandits, some kids looting for fun!"
"Taurus, you make a mockery of these people whom have suffered. It is dangerous for one in your position to think so close-mindedly. Perhaps this was the work of bandits, but I seriously doubt that even bandits have such disturbingly gruesome tastes on how to mutilate a body."
"Perhaps we should go ask the dead what they think about the whole situation?" shouted someone from the crowd. It was met with laughter, but was soon hushed.
"Perhaps we should!" exclaimed Senator Griselgrey, "but unfortunately the dead have trouble talking Senator Taurus, providing you with the cold hard evidence you need to understand that Solace, was indeed attacked by the Demons horde! Until a witness of some sort arrives I admit our suggestions lack 100% confirmation, but it is obvious that simple men could not have performed these actions!"
"Now now," Taurus replied to all around him, "the Wall-Keepers are very good at what they do, all traces of the Demon are kept out. It's been quite some time since the last attempt to charge the wall, but their makeshift leaders make some of the worst battlefield decisions ever seen, ever! So now, a small band of Demon has slipped passed the wall, smart enough to maneuver past all the watching eyes. They travel unchecked, stroll into town, and then kill everything. Afterwards they bow, and stroll back over the wall, and go back home. Demons? Bah, not in the slightest bit! Humans! Humans that slipped away into the woods, and went back to their villages, blending in with all the other humans. They are looking to get rich quick, cause they are sick, sick people!"
Agreement ran throughout the crowd.
"There are no demons in these lands, only delinquents, and they will be dealt with!" He finished crossly.
"Senator Taurus", jumped in Quintus, "You probably are correct in your assumption, but the truth is these people were slaughtered and we cannot simply rule out demon activity. As soon as the Sari return, we'll have a better understanding. Perha...."
"All rise! Bow your heads in the honor of the Queen and the Lord, welcome our champions, and welcome our guests!" shouted the Lord's head sentinel.
All along the balconies, the patrons instantaneously showed their gratitude while the giant double doors began to open.
Grand Patriarch Theodore Ford and his queen, Eileen Josephine strolled through the massive opening, followed by Grand Champion Jakus-Ko and his highest level students in training. Behind them followed scribes, and personal guardsmen.
The Patriarch and his Queen took their seats. The crowd followed. No one said a word, not a sound was made, and not a shoe scuffled. Silence. Although this process had taken place so many times, it was still held as prominently as possible. Even though this meeting was called so soon, everything had already been well prepared. For emergency meetings such as this, all travel to the near center of Solace, to CityDale. Heavy walls fortified the outskirts, prepared to eliminate any whom tried to force an assault on the city laden with the most important combination of figureheads in the Sol-Planes. In fact, CityDale was more heavily fortified than the Capitol of Solace, Solaria. Simply because no other city was the meeting place for all the world.
The center of CityDale held the most defining structure in all of Solace. The Apex Tower, it stood higher than the Siberyian Great Wall, it stood so tall, a traveler could see it from clearly five miles back. Inside the Apex, on the second level, lay the Senate Floor, there was enough room for the 100 elected members to sit.
90 Lesser Senators sat behind the 10 Major Senators. In front and slightly lower was a very long panel in the shape of a U, for ambassadors and other guests to sit. In between the floor and the next, a balcony jutted out, and thinned on the sides, surrounding the inside of the ring made above. This higher façade sat none other than the Patriarch and the Queen, the supreme leaders of Solstice. Each chair surrounding was left for important guests and their followers. Rulers in the front, their entourages fanning out behind them. In this room, no one sat at a disadvantage, although the higher the rank of the speaker, the better their vantage point. From the floor, the Apex Tower looked large enough for no more than the people currently sitting. But by glancing upwards above the Champions Row, the Apex Tower dons its name. Rows and rows and rows and rows of stadium seating fill the eyes. Above another layer, stretching higher and higher. This tower, is the Apex, Tower.
"Welcome Senators," Patriarch Theodore greeting his guests, “before we begin, I'd like to present to you a very special guest, who's come to us from the Great Wall, Lord Randall of Siberiya."
A hushed murmur swept up through people, and at the site of the giant man, cheer burst forth. There was no nation nobler than Siberiya, and few men more revered than Lord Randall. His own men followed, all rather large, powerful looking warriors. Each wore highly decorative armor, Siberiyans were the only people in Solstice allowed to wear all red, simply out of honor and respect. They wore helmets with high golden crests from the front to the backs.
"As you may already know Senators,” continued Lord Ford, “this day is not one for pleasure. Great people of Solace, our lands have been attacked, and your brethren have suffered. I present to you, in honor before this high court, Lord Randall"
The seven and a half foot man stood up at the second mention of his name, and took a slow look all around.
"People of the Sol-Planes, a town that was once laden with 300 people, lay in ashes. The people, all were killed, not a witness of the slaughter lived. Demons, are to blame. How they got there and how they left is still a mystery, but we will have our revenge." Randall was a man of few words, him having said this much was a treat for all the spectators. He then spun, motioned to Jakus, and the two marched out.
Queen Eileen stood up as the double doors closed again. The peoples chatter quickly ran silent again.
"One hundred warriors from each village and five hundred warriors from each city are to form up, and proceed into Syberiya. From there they will be separated into scout teams, assault, and defense teams. As proud as the Syberiyans are, they will never admit that they may need the rest of the worlds help. The Demons have become active as of late. We have become aware of this, and as dumb as those brutes on the wall may seem, they are smart, and they have reported strange antics. No human has been into Demon lands in the past five years, we cannot assume things have remained the same since then. We must find out, so we will be sending teams as well, past the Great Barrier, and across the Frosted Sea."
"My Lady, I can see sending patrols to the outskirts of our lands, but to spy on the Demon? If...they find our men in their lands, a war could be sparked." cried Griselgrey, "there is too much we hold dear for war with the Dark ones!"
"You foolish old man," laughed Taurus, "I supposed we just wait until every city is burnt down before we take a look at what's happening. Sooner or later war will break out, we can hit them hard if when they aren’t looking!"
"Suppose we do, scout out their lands", Quintus reacted, "We could slip in and out, and the information would be extremely valuable. If we knew what the enemy was up to, we could better prepare for what could be a next step in their plans to make war. As much as I hate to send out young boys out on these missions, it is a necessary evil that must be done."
Griselgreys old eyes sighed, "There used to be a time," he said, "when we lived in peace, without fear from any Demon, in fact, no one really knew what one looked like. Syberians knew how to enjoy themselves."
Laughter escaped from the tense observers, usually when Senator Greiselgrey spoke, all ears opened, and all minds listened. He was a man well into his age, and had been a Senator for well over half. The man has lived through love, loss, war, and tragedy. His word is respectable, his knowledge vast. Grisel grew up and still resides in Ashdale, where he now spends most of his time mentoring the children. He has two favorite students. Only one person treated his seniority without care, Taurus.
"Old man, the days of flowers, butterflies, and beautiful skies are trembling."

Bount 2 - Part 2 & 3

2005-07-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Isaac continues his quest to dig up Mettal, but is he all he's made out to be? or worse.

Bounty II. – Part 2

West Metro, this city stank, but that’s how it’s always been, filthy to the core, just like its founders. It was built by crooks, criminals, and the kind of people who’d steal candy from a baby. You see, Metro City itself was good days walk from here. Metro City is clean, neat, and full of fat rich cats. There was a time ago when Metro City was infested with crime, murder, rape, sick stuff. You couldn’t find any place worse than Metro. Well the people got fed up, and staged a coup, kicking out the man in charge, and put their own Mayor on the throne. Strong hardliner, and he came out swingin, instead of jail time, crooks got to choose, capitol punishment, or exile. Well it didn’t take long before two of the exiles roamin the sands got together and started to latch some logs together. More crooks caught on to the act, and started making some productivity out of themselves, and West Metro was born. A population started to fill out the small town, more buildings sprung up, businesses were created, and even a police force was adopted. Go figure, the crooks policing their own, but they didn’t know what they were doin, no one in that crap hole did. How many exiles does it take to screw in a light bulb eh? Well when the big boys from afar come and start creating more trouble than they used to, their group of minute men just can’t do much about it. So the crooks come to us, the Hunters, we set the terms, although sometimes we do it out of the goodwill of our hearts. I hate West Metro.

I was told my friend was living in some cave around here. I always figured monkeys liked cages more, but a cave’ll do just fine. To be honest, I don’t even feel like shootin up the place tonight. It wasn’t a bad night, the air was clear enough to see the bloom of white light way in the distance. Everything about this night was perfectly normal, but a jobs a job, a hits a hit.

Something was lying in the road coming ahead.
“We’ll what 'ave we got here…” Slowing the hopper down.

She lay disfigured, left for dad on the side of the road. I left the hoper on idle and took a closer look. Everything about here was perfectly normal, except how her arms were where her legs should have been, and how her legs were where her arms were supposed to be. I drew a pistol.

“Honey, I can end it all for you right now,”
Tears began to drip from her battered face. Deep, blue eyes…
“But first…I’m going to ask you some questions. Did Mettal do this, Randall Chin?”
She nodded as best she could, her muscles strained against the broken bones in her neck.
“Which direction is he?”

She shifted her leg, connected to her shoulder, and pointed its toes to the side. I gazed, squinted…a light, a pinprick in the night, that’s the cave.

"Does he have any friends out there? Anyone else?"

She tried to move, I think, her stare was blank, her mind too far gone to be of any real use.

I wonder if Mettal heard the shot from all the way out there. I knelt down next to her, running my hand across the sand, grabbing some into my palm.

“Rest in peace sweet friend of only a second. May the lord care for you now?” Carefully, I allowed the sand to stream onto her forehead, one line, and another; the wind did would not touch this cross. Her eyes were still staring up… blue…bluer than clear water… Maria… my sweet Maria… I cleared my own eyes… a handkerchief, with flowers on it was hanging out her shirt… I took it… to ease my pain.
A shadow rose behind me.
“Ha ha ha, well, what do we have here?” A voice rumbled.
* * *

Isaac rose, the leather rubbing against his fingers.

“Are you this ones lover? I thought I told all you runts to stay in town, or else. I guess you just don’t like listen, kind of like this one here.”
The moon didn’t do Randall Chin the justice he deserved. You could call this bionic freak a work of art, kinda like a Da Vinci painting, except a Mona Lisa with two sets of arms and plates of shear metal attached in pieces to her body.

Isaac sneered.
“What, you, not like Mettal?” Randall waved all four arms around in circles,”But look what I’ve done. I perfected the art of human construction. I can connect any part of any body, and make it work with any another, science and study this takes! But nobody likes it, no one appreciates it like I do, so they must understand! I make them understand, she, she learned how perfect my body is, so I made her body perfect too! Do you like my work?”

“I think I’ll enjoy your artwork more when it becomes mainstream.” Isaac tried to fumble a round into the hole in the revolver, but it fell out of his hands…Isaac spat in defiance…so they want him alive, I need to bring him back alive…1000 tin…no…I’ll demand 2000.
“You make fun of me, you think my ideas are phony. You laugh at me with everybody else!”
“Need a hug? I can give you one, just come here and wrap your arms around me.” Isaac spat to his side.
“Really? You want me to give you hug?” He charged forward extremely fast, catching Isaac completely off guard. Randall wrapped all four limbs around Isaac, and lifted.
“Not too rough now, Uncle Isaac needs his back.”
“I’m sorry, so you really are not here to try to kill me? Why are you here…what are you doing out of town? I told you to say in town!” He tossed Isaac down like a rag doll.
“I’ve…got a surprise for you,” rubbing his side, “a gift…but, you have to come with me.”
“What, a present, for me? It is not my birthday though, you are tricking me!”
“No no, I got you something, but it’s going to be awhile before I can give it to you. Its not here, but it is out there, far away from West Metro.”
Mettal stood, thinking in his mind of what to do.
“Here,” Isaac stuck out his hand, “help me up, and let’s go.”
“We’ll, ok,” with two palms Isaacs arm was nearly yanked out of his shoulder.

“You see that”, pointing to the hopper, “we’ll ride on that to the surprise for a few days ok? Let’s go now, before the surprise goes away.” Isaac turned and walked, and grunted, and pondered, and rubbed the handkerchief between his thumb and fingers. On his way back to the hopper he passed the poor woman, rest her soul… she deserved nothing of this pain she’s been released from. All in all, this turned out better than expected. This man o many horror stories hasn’t proved too be too much a problem so far. Isaac stepped up to the hopper, and turned a few dials, to support the weight of that thing.
“Get on”

Randall was standing in his same spot, and then leaped to right before the hopper. With one step, the hovercraft dropped down and smacked the ground. The gyroscopes worked on overdrive to right the platform. His other leg followed and the thing must have forced the hopper revved up to full power.
“Alright buddy, lets go.” Isaac pulled a lever, and pushed a few buttons. The hopper rose, and its engines whined with stress, dragging forward a few feet, and picked up to a brisk flight. It took a while, but not before long the machine was moving at a somewhat respectable pace. This was going to be a long trip.

Part III

I didn’t always used to be a hunter. I used to have a wife, kids, a dog. Deep blue eyes, Maria… I pulled the handkerchief out of my worn pocket.
“Mettal, why do you it?” The hopper had been going for only a few days now. But there weren’t any interruptions along the way, except for a stop at a small village to fill the water sacks. Randall kept quiet the entire time; I want to finish his days, but, something inside isn’t quite sure if…that’s the right thing to do. Mettal turned his chin to Isaac, the bolts in his forehead glistened from the moonlight.

“What do I do?”
“That woman back in West Metro, why’d you do it to her?”
“That is what I always do.”
“How’s it make you feel, does it make you feel good?”
“No, nobody likes my work!”

With a quick draw, Isaac pressed the tip of a revolver to a soft spot unguarded by steel.
“Listen up, and listen well, if I wanted to, I could shoot this bullet and let it ricochet all around the inside of your skull. Nobody appreciates anything about your work, no one likes your work, when you kill people, nobody likes it. No one is going to appreciate what, you, do.” Mettal flinched… “Ah ah ah…move another muscle and I’ll be facing a court martial for the failure to follow clear instructions. Now I’m going to take a guess Mettal, and I’m going to guess you didn’t manage to teach yourself all this. In fact, you seem like to stupid of a man to put one and one together, but you do, and you put body parts together. You’ve got a partner.”
“Master…doesn’t like when I give out… I mean, no… mas..o…I’m in trouble now.”
“Not as much trouble as your going to be in if you doesn’t start talking.
"He will yell at me...if I tell you who he is...he will hurt me. He says if I don’t practice on people, he will hurt me."
"Tell me where can I find him?"
"You don't want to find him...he will hurt you."
"It's something I don't worry about. You know, I was expecting for you to...well, there was a man, who came to kill you a while ago. Son of a great man, a real fighter."
"There was a very mean man, who wanted to hurt me, and he almost did, but I was to fast for him. He used weapons and everything, but he didn’t understand how much better my body was than his. "
"So did you kill him?"
"I didn't kill him, I don't hurt anybody, I just make them better, and I can make you better."
"I'll pass on the enhancements."

Isaac pulled the gun from the side of the beasts head.
"We just need to take you back up to my town. There are going to be a lot of people who are going to want to talk to you, make fun of you, and probably hurt you. But you don’t do anything, you just stay calm and you don't go off and try to fix somebody with a better body? We're friends right? Don't let me down."

"I've...never had a frien...you, said...no..." Mettals face twisted around...he was smiling, like a child would. He's never heard anything like that before. Isaac turned his head away...he didn’t want to see Randall smiling. But behind him Isaac knew Randal was still beaming…unknowingly of what to say or do.

So brutal, but did he even know what he was doing was wrong? It's as if he were still a child...the more I learn about this creature...I realize this. But even a child would know better than to kill...but, if he were brought up in that sense, it would have taken a close relationship to make him think that way, a fatherly ...or motherly figure. If the reports are true though, and from what I’ve seen I know they are, he’ll have no place in this world. That girl…so distraught…the eyes, so much pain…so blue.

Isaac’s fingers rubbed gently across the revolver ends…feeling the texture of the smooth chrome. It’s all he could do to ease what he was feeling inside. Something he hadn’t known for years, remorse. She died, so terribly, and there was nothing that could have been done. She was to bear a son, who’d help take over the small piece of land. The local demand for the crops would bring in just enough to get by week after week…month after month. Isaac lowered himself into the hoppers seat, resting his head against the back, letting the wind blow after his breath. He clicked the barrel around, and started to slide the weapon out…

“Why do you want to be my friend?”
Isaac looked up, letting go of the revolver again. He didn’t quite have an answer to respond with. He blankly stared into Metal’s black eyes, starring. Standing up,
“Mettal, have you ever lost someone, and felt like you couldn’t keep going without them.”
“No? I don’t know what that means?”
“Somehow I knew you wouldn’t understand..” Isaac removed a revolver… and flipped it in his palm.
“It’s hard to explain,” he continued, “it has to be felt, loss, you’ve never experienced it before have you?”
“I lost my arm once, but I found it later.”

Isaac stepped backwards to the edge of the speeding hopper.
“No one is going to like you, simply because you look like a mutant trashcan. You can’t go and kill them either, or mutilate them simply because they make you mad. My suggestion, you take off two arms, take off those metal plates, and try to start over in a place no one knows your name. Meet a nice person who can show you what else you need to learn.” Isaac raised the gun to his temple, leaned backwards, and pulled the trigger.

Mettal turned back just in time to see Isaac’s feet tip over the edge. His eyes went opened wide, unable to register that he was alone on the hopper and the lump in the distance was quickly fading from sight.
“Friend!” Mettal kicked off the hopper and met the ground running. He leapt and bound over the dry and cracking ground, thud, thud, thud, thud, he leapt once more, and landed before the body of a groaning Isaac. He extended all four arms and shook him furiously.
“Friend! No… friend! No ho hoo…….”

“Don’t worry,” Isaac coughed, “It didn’t work… I’m ok.”
“You, why…? Randal was at a loss of words.
“I guess, you should help me up…” In a way...that poor girl back there just saved my life…just one of those chambers hadn’t a bullet. “We don’t have the hopper anymore do we…” He could make it out in the distance, driving away without him.

Randall still wasn’t quite sure as to what to say other than a random “Friend”, here and there. But managed to lift Isaac up onto his shoulders.
“Alright” Isaac pointed in front of him, “we…need to go in that direction…and fast…whooaff”

The tin-man jumped forward into a fast sprint. He kept running, he was running extremely fast. Isaac, was surprised, they’d make good time after all. After a minute, they even passed the hopper, which was still going on its way.
“Do you want to get back on the flying machine?” “No that’s quite all right, you just keep running, run me to my money because I’ve earned every tin, and...I think a paid vacation is due.”

To be continued…. Bounty

Bounty: Episode 2

2005-06-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've decided to create a new series out of bounty. We'll see how it goes, it'll be a new style for me, more simple of words, tone, everything. Also a first in my writing, some things need to be said quick and simple, so there may be a letter, and ___ to indicate a quick and simple way of describing a character trait or something of the like. Main characters name is now Isaac, not Kevinos James. Enjoy part 2 (grammer is horrible, I'll fix it later)

Bounty, episode 2

"If someone is sent out.."
Isaac "I know, don't worry, I took care of it"
"That is not the point, if someone is sent out, and you pitty patty around again, I'll have your badge!"
Is "Hah, my badge? I'm the only one you've got who can kill anything like Pocello. I had him the whole time."
"But you slipped up, slipped up real bad, and I can't have my hunters slipping up real bad."
Is "You got your man, I got your man"
"What good is a man who can't talk, you shot the b____ straight through his eyes."
Is "He was askin for it"
"Well I guess you can tell that to all the kind people Pocello happened to murder. Pocellos dead, but he died before we got anouthg outa hi. You know the policy Isaac, no killing. The force pays you to bring these cards back alive. I don't care if you saw off their heads so much as they can tell me what I need to know."
Is "You could say I tried that"
"Well you've got another one, I saved this freak just for you, screw up again, and your done, real done"
Is "Can I choose door number two?"
"His name is Randall Chinn, his goonies call em Mettle, and for good reason. The man likes to sew metal plates to his body, did I mention he's managed to attach two more arms to his body and get them to work?"
Is "You know, you have a real knack for pissin me off"
Kriegal tossed him the face card and Isaac took a look at it
Is "He cant stay away from the women, I'm real surprised."
"Bring this one back alive."
Is "I'll try my best."

With that Issac spun on his heil and clicked his spurs on his way out the door, making sure to leave a few scuffs and scratches with his boots. His body clinked and clanked from all the bullets, metal casings, and loose change stuffed in his pockets. His trip ended after a brisk walk down the hall, and into the main floor of the tavern. Rinny was sittin by the bar, Isaac grabbed a four legged stool on his way over and slapped it down next to his friend. First things first.

Is "Hey babe, how about a couple of rounds for the old man."
Daisy "Anything you want for the right price"
Is "That's my girl"
Tin "So how'd it go, the ol' man bark you up a tree?"
Is "Surprisingly, everything went smoothly."
Tin "Man got some new meds from the doc, catch him at the right time and he may just give you his job."
Is "I declined his offer, and picked this out for myself instead."
Issac slapped the card face up on the bar table
Rin whistled "You got yourself a real winner there, how comes I've never heard of em before?"
Is "Apparently, no body in West Metro can do anything about this guy. The Governer tries to handle these big ones with his own men, pathetic. So they come in to town here cryin gabout needing help months ago. Bounty is a little over 1000 tin, I bet in the Boss is probably keepin more than half of that for himself, we'll see when the time comes."
Rin Tin "Anybody come close to stoppin the fool?"
Is "Nope, the best attempt was by the poor shmuck who nailed Rex's son last year. Didn't last 30 seconds, and as bid as Randall is, you'd think he'd be as slow as an ox. I'm headed out tonight, you want to join?
Tin "Can't, got monster patrol all week"
Is "Daisy, another one please, I'm going to need a few for the road too."
* * *
So much for the R & R, the hopper glided across the cool desert sand. The clear moonlight eased the stress of navigating to sludgetown, but oh well. I could see the cities glow from here, about time, its only been two weeks now. This thing had better have a pretty good excuse for runin my month.

* * *

Is "Answer me now punk, when was the last time you saw some big metal freak walkin around here. I'd rather be shootin up the place, but policy requests I ask as many questions as possible, got it?
"I-I-I've never seen anything like that! I-I-I ain't even seen a crime been done this week!"
Isaac moved the knife alittle closer
Is "Somethin stinks in Metro city tonight, and I think its what your tellin me. I'm going to ask you one more time, or else I might accidently let this blade slip.."
"Alright alright, he went west, e-e-verybody knows he's just outside of town, Mettal, said if anyone in town snitched he'd come back for em. Please don't let em kill me too! Oh what have I done, he's gonna get me now, lemme go, let me go!"
Isaac threw him across the ground, he walked back around to the mainstreet, and strolled into the nearest bar he could find.

(To Be Continued)_

Email

2005-06-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

bassguy101@yahoo.com

Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold

2005-06-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

Dover Beach (1867) - Matthew Arnold

The Sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; - on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! You hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which he waves draw back, and fling
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cese,a dn then again begin,
With remulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human miser; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Wsa once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the nightwind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new
Hath really neither joy, nore love, nor light.
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darling plain
Swept with confused alalrms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night

Dover Beach

2005-06-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is a draft of what could possibly be one of my best works ever, and this took less than an hour to write. I did do quite a bit of (prewriting) deciphering of each line in the poem...enough to fill 9 pages of lined paper on all the different aspects, meanings, ect. of Dover Beach. I thought it could have been a love story, or a tragic loss, a war, a breakup, but as it turns out, it may have included it all. Enjoy this, its a fun read. I'll make you think, after you read the poem, read this, read the poem again, and try to figure out what it all means. If you dont take every single line in though, you might miss a very important segment, and there are many.

Kevin Ford
6/7/05
Pruett
6:30 Eng 111 Tues

Dover Beach: Tears Reflection

The wind blew gently, blades of grass sway back and forth in its breath. The sun paints the sky a lush gradient of sweeping blues and the clouds reflect off the soul the of sweet Mother Nature. Grass even on the other side could never shine so green, or speak so fragrantly of its pride and joy. A boy stood on these hills, looking from back to forth alongside the only road stretching into the distant city. Not a sound from its frantic core reached these parts; only the caressing speaks of the breeze. Perhaps, if one listened closely, they'd hear the soft sob of the boy. A car lay twisted on the tree next to him, an arm hanging out the window. The boys shining tears streamed, mixing in along side of the alcoholic puddle, released from the broken bottle. Close your eyes, and what is left of this image, but the peaceful sounds of an open plain.

Beauty can turn upside in less than two lines, Dover Beach creates one of the most beautiful translations of serenity, understanding, and terror ever transcribed in literature. The previous fictitious story and Dover Beach share the same message. A plea for understanding, a cry for just one simple moment to express itself. If the world would only listen, of how the human race has declined into such a lost state of mind in which the most innocent descriptions are later mutated into depressive depictions of a paradise lost. Dover Beach describes one man’s loss of sight in an age he once knew, while the world loses faith in the heavens, trust in each other, and disregard for righteous humanity. Throughout the poem, the visual effect of this poem lessens while the aural effect transcends.

I chose Dover Beach first and foremost because I am one who enjoys the beach, whether it be during the morning rise, afternoon swim, evening walk, or midnight calling. Once in a while I’ll just choose to cover a topic simply because of it’s name, and this was the case here. As it turns out, Matthew Arnolds poem is as superb as any other, and I feel is far superior to many other poems I’ve read from authors I’ve heard more acclaim from. He mixes in a light rhyming scheme, breathtaking scenery, and burrowing symbolism to devise one very deep, complicated, compact work of art. I will explain how this poem in thought, feeling, and physicality shift from pure visual bliss into aural frustration.

“The Sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; - on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.”

Lines one through five illustrate the painting of an artist with a perfect hand for capturing someone’s imagination. Close your eyes, and imagine the feeling of the perfect night beside the beach. The tide is full, the water is high up to your feet, the moon sparkles off the water. A light breeze scoots across your arms and legs. The scene is of complete tranquility, its quite, calm, still, and in complete harmony with your well content heart. Perhaps a pina colada is in your right or left hand.

“Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,”

Here we know of a man or woman, whom is not alone, their significant other awaits by their side, enjoying the full embodiment of peacefulness. The oceans heavy waves crash upon the beautiful white sand, particles of perfection float along the lowest part of Earth’s atmosphere and scent the air sweet.

“Listen! You hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin.
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in”

Listen, the visual effects begin to fade out, and what we see as readers begin to fill our imaginary ears in which we use to better understand this story. The jarring waves take notice of his sight and sound. He watched the waves roll up and down the coastline, listening to its crash against the rocks. But what has happened to our peaceful serenity, as a major change is developing inside. “With tremulous cadence slow, and bring the eternal note of sadness in” What has happened to our beautiful beach? What can the eternal note have comparison, perhaps the internal weeping of a boy lost without a parent, an undying regret, or perhaps a chilling nightmare stuck in perpetual motion of the cerebral imagination.

“Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.”

One word injects thousands of pages of literature, hundreds of documentaries, and countless numbers of over analyzed material. This one subject is not so much a word, but a person, Sophocles. Many consider Sophocles to be one of the greatest playwrights in the history of mankind. The creator of Oedipus, and his child Antigone. Sophocles characters degenerate into barbaric souls greedily seeking only power and love. They live blind to the wake of their actions, and call upon gods whom supposedly gave the ok to murder each other. Religion. Faith. Love. Murder. Betrayal. Corruption! Is this what our solitary beach holds in its water? The ebb and flow, the sea sinks farther and farther from our figure whom relies more and more on his ears. Human misery racks his ears. Not the once peaceful sounds of the ocean.

“The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
It’s melancholy long, withdrawing roar
Retreating, to the breath
Of he night wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.”

Our site of the beach is gone, what was once a poem about its grace and beauty, descends into its grimy depths to speak of human misery. The most important symbol of the poem lies in this passage. The Sea of Faith was once too at the full all around the world. Its grip on the world was powerful and tight. The Sea has ebbed, embraced by fewer and fewer as they look elsewhere for their answers. These people look for these answers, answers to questions that bother them so. The answers to life, love, immortality, evolution, facts, ect. The man is one of these people, and now lives in regret. He himself no longer embraces the sight of the sea, rather, he settles for how it sounds instead, the melancholy long, withdrawing roar. Our friend is most likely disappointed with his results, as he longs for the beauty of the ocean again, of the stars glimmer, of the moons reflection. Of a smell so sweet and a breeze so gentle. This is his “eternal note of sadness”, he wishes he had resisted the lure of the “new”.

“Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain”

Yet in stranded in his answer plagued mind, one person stands there lovingly by his side. His one true love, and they talk of the pain they must endure. The sea lays in front of them, the faith, but they cannot see it. The tide has dropped the sea too far for their eyes. The sounds fill their minds now, the new world in which they live, the enlightened world. It was supposed to be filled with options, beauty, newness! But to their disappointment all these truths in the end filed down into painful realities. They, and all those in the world whom else cannot see the Sea of Faith, have gained few answers to their many questions. Their joy sinks, their love crumbles, their light fades, chivalry passes away, peace becomes a memory, and pain, the eternal pain…the misery, is all that is left.

“Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”

ERTS - Electronic Arts

2005-06-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Let me warn you, this is a very technical, nuts and bolts type report. It is interesting, and you will learn a few things, but chances are if you don't know what all the jibber jabber means in the Money section of the Washington Post means, you may have some trouble here. Now I personally dont like EA very much at all, but to make a better grade, and things easier, I said I liked the company quite a bit. I chose this company because they are a supreme business leader. If I had invested $10,000 in EA 15 years ago, I'd have $16,000,000 to play with now. Hmmmm.... the works cited is horrible, but who cares, its there.

Kevin Ford
4/26/05
Behan
Bus 100

Stock End Review: ERTS

Chapter 1: Overview
Hello, my name is Kevin Ford, and for this 14 week Stock tracking project, I’ve followed the events of Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts is the biggest third party entertainment software developer, and publishing company in the 10 billion dollar video game economy. (EA) As the demand for better technology continuously rises, Electronic Arts proceeds to provide consumers with cutting edge visuals, thrilling audio and realistic game play, taking story telling to a whole new level never yet experienced through literature or the cinema. As their company profile states,

“Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, Electronic Arts posted revenues of $3 billion for fiscal 2004. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under three brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EA GAMESTM, and EA SPORTS BIGTM. EA's homepage and online game site is EA.COMSM.”

Having invested 10,000 dollars into EA, worth 164 shares at $60.81 each, I can honestly claim the choice to pull out so soon could have been a blunder. Unhappily on the date of 4/19/05, each share was worth ten dollars less, at 50.74. (Yahoo Finance) The total price difference equated out to a negative $10.74, and my Net Loss after liquidation on that day brought me down $1,761.36. I started with $10,000.00. I ended with $8,238.64. Having said that, had I truly invested $10,000.00 into Electronic Arts, I would have more than reserved them, as EA is rapidly expanding towards a fully global market with its brightest days just ahead with no end in sight.

EA throughout the years has gained a reliable reputation on par with entertainment giants Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. The battle to control the 5 to 35 year old target market is by no means ending as gamers only want the best product in what is already a very overcrowded market. Why EA is on top is because every one of their efforts reaches millions of fans across the world, and all of their efforts are nothing less than that of spectacular. Racing fans love Need for Speed Underground, providing anyone the opportunity to race a virtual car of their own design from the inside out. War worshippers find satisfaction in EA’s Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and Command and Conquer Series. Why watch the same two hour movie over and over when you can enjoy a 20+ hour story of your own, such as in the Lord of the Rings, Batman, Harry Potter, and for the mobster in you, The Godfather. EA doesn’t stop there, as no more than one company allows you to play with virtual lives, and with that, EA presents The Sims, the most potent IP of 2004.

In the world of sports interactivity, EA is at present number one. Almost every sport has been digitized into a game, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, NASCAR, F-1 Racing, Rugby, the list goes on. Furthermore, EA now controls video gamings leading cash cow, which is the NFL. John Madden may be famous for his Raider’s coaching or his superb commentaries on television, but today’s generation know John Madden as the man who boasts the world’s best selling franchise under his belt. The NFL, NCAA as well as the #1 worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, have all just signed groundbreaking, exclusive contracts with EA, so that only EA may make games based on NCAA football, as well as everything that has anything to do specifically with the NFL (NASDAQ). With these contracts, EA can provide special unique qualities to their games, in which no other company can.

For those at work with a few minutes to spare, consumers may sign up for EA’s POGO service. Like many other web-based game sites before it, POGO offers their own take on Card Games, Board Games and Puzzle Games. For those who enjoy winning things, users may sign up for POGO and play games to potentially win cash and other prizes.

Chapter 2: Management/ Business
EA turned into a publicly-traded company on September 20, 1989 on the NASDAQ at a split-adjusted price of $0.50 per share, and have split 4 times since, each 2 for 1. (EA) To date, prices range in and around 50 to $60 a share. The company runs as a C-Class corporation, deep inside what is seemingly a perfect market, although Oligopolies are developing. Well over a hundred different studios vie to place their product in the market for the same prices as they were ten years ago.

During fiscal 2004, EA’s Studio and Publishing teams delivered 27 platinum titles which helped to bring in 3.3 billion dollars by years end, up 19% from 2003 fiscal year end. Six franchises sold over 5 million units, which include The Sims, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, FIFA Soccer, Lord of the Rings, and Madden NFL franchises. In Europe, business has risen by 200% within the last three years, and doubled within the Asian market. As a new handheld boom takes place, EA is prepared to make the most of the new PSP and DS platforms. Also, within the next two years, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony will have all released their innovative next generation consoles, which are anticipated to provide the power necessary to create games which could eerily mimic real life. Earlier last year, EA embraced Microsoft’s highly advanced LIVE network during the annual E3 expo, complete with superstars holding games in which people would soon be able to play together globally, connected through the internet.

One of EA’s strengths is that they are able to create and release their titles continuously for almost all the major systems out today, such as the X-Box, Playstation 2, Gamecube, PSP, DS, Gameboy, N-Gage, and up and coming cellular phones. It is EA’s mission to put the best products into the hands of the consumer, despite development costs. EA since their initial incorporation in 1982 have published games for over 43 different platforms. The company’s flexibility comes from its wide array of first party studios and publishing centers as well as 3rd party developers. These studios are located near Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, Montreal, London, and Tokyo. EA publishes their products under three major brands, EA Sports, EA Games, and EA Big, as well as co-publishes, and EA distributes products in which are made by other companies, such as Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy X-2. During fiscal 2004, EA pushed 32 internally developed titles, and co-published 11.(EA) EA’s most profitable franchise for the calendar year was the Sims; selling more than 16 million copies while Need for Speed sold over 15 million.

As of late, EA has been acquiring new licenses, buying massive shares of powerful competitors stock, and completely removing all competition in several forms of video game entertainment. The company completed its acquisition of Criterion Software, makers of what many professional entertainment sites claim as the 2004 GOTY, and has agreed to purchase 19.9 (21, TFT) percent of Ubisoft for 90 million, most famous for Tom Clancy’s franchises usually set in the events of tomorrow. EA also purchased more of Digital Illusions, makers of the online Battlefield franchise. Ea purchased a young outstanding company, CryTek, makers of one of today’s most advanced games, Far Cry. What surprised, and angered many consumers this year were its flurry of exclusive horizontal, and conglomerate agreements with high-status companies. In the progression of less than three months, EA bought exclusive rights to develop NFL video games for the next five years, EA also bought the exclusive rights to make games based on the ESPN license for the next 15 years, practically stealing the ESPN brand away from then Sega owned 2KGames, running away with Sega’s two most competitive elements. Afterwards EA proceeded to buy the exclusive rights to make football games based on the NCAA for 6 years, and then the AFL. This is all on top of exclusivities with FIFA, NASCAR, and the PGA Tour.

Chapter 3: Distribution and Marketing
EA’s global business infrastructure is run by EA Partners, (EA) whom operate with the intent to generate and purchase intellectual properties crafted by third party developers, publishers, and licensors. EA Partners has established ties with DICE, Lionhead, Krome Studios, Black Hole Games, Free Radical Design and many others. EA Partners also distribute developed and manufactured goods in support of other companies, such as Capcom, Namco, Koei, and NovaLogic.

After the game code is finished or gone gold, the product is made available to consumers on disk or cartridge. They are generally sold to mass market providers, electronics, and video game specialty stores. Clients may buy off the company website, or through additional websites in which the games are sold. Also, EA may distribute games bundled with other software or hardware in which the consumer purchases the manufacturers product. With the innovations of the World Wide Web, some properties may even be bought and downloaded over the internet.
Revenue is gained primarily through direct sales, North American direct sales accounted for 95% of the total revenue.(EA) In order to maximize total revenue, extensive research to estimate demand for each product in terms of regional location takes place. Inventory is not retained, as strong product sales typically last from 60-90 days before the product value begins to decrease and thus every unit must be pushed. This process is known as LIFO, last in, first out. (McHughes) Units are sold all over the world, although on most occasions, units of the same title do not release at the same time from region to region. Business is conducted in countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Taiwan.

Having taken a class for the first time which specializes in business on a higher level, I can honestly say my mind has been made up in the direction I’d like to proceed in the coming years. While the idea of this stock project seemed more of a stock chore at first, I find myself reading the money section of the newspaper more often, and actually enjoying the ability to know what even the petty issues mean. Now I know, that if I had ten thousand dollars to spend, I would absolutely invest in the stock market, even ERTS. Electronic Arts is still a young company, but they are becoming the best, much like the youngest country in the world has become the planets most famous. I certainly would invest in Electronics Arts, in time, and in money.
Works Cited

1. a) Electronic Arts Homepage, April 18-24th
b) “Electronic Arts Reports Fiscal Third Quarter Results” Q3 2005 Earnings Release.
2005.
2. a) Yahoo.Finance,1/18-4/19. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ERTS.
b) “ERTS”. Stocks and Quotes. 2005.
3. a) The NASDAQ Stock Market 1/18 – 4/19, http://www.nasdaq.com/
b) “Electronic Arts, Inc.” Summery Quote.
http://quotes.nasdaq.com/asp/SummaryQuote.asp?symbol=ERTS&selected=ERTS
4. McHugh, Susan, James M. McHugh, William Nickles “How Economics Affects Business:
The Creation and Distribution of Wealth”, Understanding Business, Edition 7, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2005.
5. Grande, Carlos, Maija Pesola.”French games industy is also chaging” The Financial Times
Limited. 11 March. 2005: pg 21.

Memorial Day

2005-05-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.kendormusic.com/str2004/mp3/stra06.mp3
Memorial Day, Stand up, put your Right Hand over your Heart, and Say the Pledge of Allegiance. If you do not, you aren't American, and need to be kicked out of this country.

All Hail! America! America! America!

Tiger/Dragon

2005-05-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've begun writing the first draft of Tiger/Dragon. Chapter 1 is finished, and am in the middle of chapter 2. I'll post some of it later on.

bassguy101@yahoo.com

Bounty

2005-05-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

This is a small diddy I made about 6 months back in December. One night I was just making up something stupid and I saved it. I looked at it tonight, took a few minutes to refurbish it, and now I may have created a new character to develop in Tiger/Dragon, or perhaps for another setting in the future. The gunman represents my ideal fantasy character, and a best friend of mine enjoys samurai type warriors more than any other, so this is a creation based on those ideas.

Bounty - By Kevin Ford

Blades of grass bowed before streaming winds from the valley. The morning sun was announcing its presence, a new day over this grassy plane.

“Draw it, draw your weapons, weakling!” My fingers rested calmly above cold steel, holstered in deep tanned rawhide, cracking from years of wear.

“We shhhallll see whommmm the weak-ling issss am-ong us,” he laughed.

I spoke from the corner of my mouth, setting the hair triggers, “The sooner the better.”
Without any questions I pulled out my two chrome plated steel blasters, instantaneously pulling each trigger one after another. I gritted my teeth as the slugs launched out the end of each short barrel, explosions of flame licking their tips. The modified revolvers were each made to fit 8 bullets, and all 16 shots were fired.

“Is that it?”
The sun glinted off his drawn swords, standing calmly as he had seconds before. Bullets surrounded him, smashed and some split in half.

“If that was the best…of your abil-ity, I… truly am sorrrry for what will seem-ingly prove to be an…unfair…fight”

I took time during his speech time to reload; it also was an occasion to think of something witty to say.

“You are a…funny man, now stand still and let me finish you once and for all!” No, that wasn’t a very witty comeback at all, oh fine… let me just finish this. I raised my arms.

For a second time my weaponry began belting out bullets of fury. Through the smoke, I could see him moving like a blur, deflecting bullets invisible to the human eye with such particular grace that anyone but the Kevitos James might have stopped shooting simply to applaud. Clink, clank, blink, clunk. I kept firing, and firing. Click, the revolvers were finished. My opponent took the time to grin while I reloaded more rounds into them.

“Your new age weapons are nothing but…worthless toys to me. Can’t you see… boy, I’m t-oo fast for yoouuu. You,”, he let out another chuckle, “are, nothing but a lit-tle bug, a little tiny bug, in which I…must squash. I’m tired of w-w-waiting for you, let’s finish this now!”

He charged screaming a maniacal scream, both swords aimed forward, ready to slice off any of unguarded limb. In the blink of an eye, I was confronted face to face, sword to gun. With each swipe of his blades, my guntips responded, parrying with explosions. Concussion after Concussion after conconcussion knocked his blades away, effectively blocking every swipe of his sword. He leapt back ten feet to excape the heat, something only true nin-jitsu can do.“Un…b-b-believe-able”. He was panting...so he is mortal.“You had better start believing!” (Reloading)

Now I led the charge, close combat gun training, against one of my most agile opponents ever. His attacks were met with shielding bulletfire, and my shots, deflected by reinforced alloy steel. He stepped back, pivoting on his back foot the Ninja leapt into midair, aiming to land right on my shoulders. I raised my gun tips, ready to shoot this bird out of the sky. He lifted both swords high, setting them flat against his back. In one powerful motion the blades reversed direction, snapping through air and come to a rest, cutting deep into the center steel of the mags. I shot. Guns, and swords both shattered, millions of shimmering pieces exploded in every which way, shrapnel painted my face releasing streams of red down my cheeks. I smiled, he frowned, I blew in his face, he collasped to the earth, blood pooling from where his eyes should have been.

“You know, those were my last bullets, hope your happy.”

Kevitos James wins. Flawless, Victory. (fataliy) excellent, oooooooooooh ooopsies!

The Pack

2005-05-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

I made this just for fun, to put as an AIM away message, I (and others) liked it so much that I saved it, put it in my info. Now I think I'll put it here.

4 Life

My face is lashed by the whipping winds. The piston contained in my chest pumps up and down, pushing hot blood throughout my veins. The sinews rope around my bones and the cables of my frame energize during respiration. I can sense every cell throughout my system swell, accommodating of the building energy. All the while my mind streamlines, sharpening into a Zen-like calm, whilst my soul from atop the mountain peak howls before the moon. Join me my brethren, BAGUBAS old and anew carry onward! We will roam these mountains forever; those beneath us will crumble before our almighty storm!

bassguy101@yahoo.com

Title IX - Controversial? Perhaps.

2005-05-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

This was another major work I turned into College Comp I. Before you start reading, let me tell you, I love women, there are many talented women out there, perhaps more talented woman than men. I have two nieces whom I both think would make excellent wrestlers. As you read, keep all things in mind, and more importantly keep my ARGUMENT in mind!!! I cannot stress this enough! This is my argument below

"Title IX needs an overhaul, and partial removal from sports until it effectively provides all athletes the opportunities they rightly deserve to succeed in sports."

When you finish reading this, scroll back up, and read that and then ask yourself if you agree or disagree.
DO NOT take this as a stance on what I think about women in sports. If you do, that is your own foolishness and misinterpretation.
DO NOT come to me, calling me names, as you will only be making yourself look dumb and ignorent.

Kevin Ford

Chiles

Honors English 111

29 November 2004

TIX

Johnny has wrestled his whole life, and his senior year, he nearly wins states. He's worked hard to achieve his 4.0gpa and has participated in a few clubs, all while holding a steady job. He hopes to go to MUU on a full ride that could be offered; he’s dreamed of going to this school since the days of his childhood. Unfortunately, he receives a letter in the mail, apologizing for not being able to send him any sort of scholarship, and is declined the opportunity to participate whatsoever. Sue, who isn't very athletic, and hasn't seriously been interested in any sports at all, has never had a job, and is only a C average student, is suggested she apply for an athletics scholarship to MUU. She receives a full ride to play field hockey in a matter of weeks. What are we dealing with is discrimination towards men, induced by Title IX. Thus, Title IX needs an overhaul, and partial removal from sports until it effectively provides all athletes the opportunities they rightly deserve to succeed in sports.

As stated in Title IX, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” (USDOL)

“This policy interpretation applies to any public or private institution, person or other entity that operates an educational program or activity which receives or benefits from financial assistance authorized or extended under a law administered by the Department. This includes educational institutions whose students participate in HEW funded or guaranteed student loan or assistance programs.” (ORC)
This 9th article of the Education Amendments, came into effect 1972, and has provided a significant stepping stone in which the subject focus, women, have witnessed much success over. Unfortunately, in the world of collegiate sports, Title IX may be indirectly discriminatory in its approach to settling the score between genders.

Title IX consists of three rules specific rules regarding sports. For a school to act in compliance, it must follow one of three rules listed. If complaints arise, and a school is found to be neglecting the rules set by Title IX, the government, Education Department's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) steps in, and deals with the fallacy to how they see fit. (USDOE, 106.3)

The first rule requests that men's and women's athletic opportunities are proportionate to the male/female population ratio within a school. As of 2004, women made up well over half of the US college student body, 56%, but women represented only 42% of varsity athletes (NCAA). Theoretically, to comply with the first rule, women have the right to receive over 55% of all funds received by the government for sports programs. What this does is create a significant problem in regards to Title IX, and the athletes of America. In order for even a 50/50 ratio to be met, more opportunities must be given to women and male sports must nix many walk on athletes. Therefore, schools have begun to set quotas, setting how many students of each gender must be recruited in order to comply. Many male, hard working, life dedicating athletes have had their dreams swept away after high school, while many women who may have little experience in sports, receive full scholarships to the same colleges.

The second rule requests that an institution can show a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex. While the concept is fair enough, problems begin from the very start, and that’s the budget. Schools already max out their budget on programs they already have established. In order to have more money to spend on new programs for women, money must be freed up, and programs are dropped. Since women sports must continue to grow, male sports are severed. Furthermore, new sports established for women have regularly received less participation from individuals experienced and familiar with the sport. This again goes back to the ratio of male/female varsity athletes, and even though doors have been opening for women, women have not been acting to their full potential, and it’s not fair to the kids who can’t play anymore because their twenty years of dedication weren’t enough to keep their sport alive. Without full female representation, quotas still aren’t being met, and thus more male sports are being threatened with separation from federal money.

The third rule requests that “schools must fully accommodate to the abilities, as well the interests to the gender underrepresented within the school.” This final rule is more of a failsafe than anything else. It practically forces a school to comply with the first two rules set by T9. The truth is no one institution can remain complaint free, therefore if there is even just one angry fanatic, their objections must be investigated further to test if that school is in compliance with T9 rule 1 or rule 2. This is the clamp that gives Title IX the power it has, and the power to abuse.

Title IX is an all-encompassing force in the world of sports, it has been known for ending sports programs for females. Some schools have dropped not only their wrestling programs, but their entire gymnastics program and swimming programs, both of which are predominantly female sports. Reasons for doing so are due to money shortages towards opening more popular sports for females, such as women’s basketball and softball teams. What arguments can be brought up from this? It goes against rule 2, and possibly rule 3, and in certain aspects, rule 1.

Certainly, changes must be made to fix obvious flaws within these rules set by the government. Although the ongoing battle between Men and Women may have several different viewpoints, both sides agree on a number of problems. As far as money is concerned, and where it goes, a common enemy is easily visible hogging an obtrusively large sum of it, and that is football. “It's ridiculous that a fully-funded Division I football program is allotted 85 scholarships - if you figure that approximately 60 athletes make the travel squad, that means 25 guys are getting full scholarships to watch their team play on ESPN every other weekend. That hurts women’s' AND men’s' teams in other sports, yet for some reason the NCAA allows coaches to claim that they "need" those extra 25 scholarships.” (Worsnop, 5)inling the obvious include how money is being spent, sizes of teams, an as basketball.ms.her, to c

What if the military refused acceptance of males into the ranks unless an equal number of women showed up? What if schools didn’t count walk-on athletes in gender comparisons? Maybe numbers should be based more on scholarship distribution, or based on supply and demand for a sport. What if more women went to watch female sports, imagine the revenue generated from such an activity. Could the government provide more money for schools, so a lazie-faire system could make available an equal playing field for both men and women, whereas quotas were not needed?

Whether or not men's and women's sports participation opportunities are “substantially proportionate” to their share of student enrollment, one thing is very clear. The system set up in 1973 is flawed. It needs to be reworked to better suit those who are serious about their games; and to many, these are not just games, it is their life, it is what they live and breathe for. After an athletes last match, game, meet, race, they will tell you, the best part of their lives ended at the sound of the buzzer. Nothing in their future will give them as much

Works Cited
NCAA Membership Breakdown. Chart. Approximate Number of Student-Athletes: The National
Collegiate Athletic Association., 2004.
Title IX and Intercollegiate Athletics. Office for Civil Rights. 11 Nov. 2004
<http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9interp.html>
United States. Exec. Department of Education. 34 CFR. Part 106. Washington. 1972.
United States. Exec. Department of Labor. Title 20 U.S.C. Sections 1681-1688. U.S. Department
of Labor. 1972. 20 Nov. 2004
Worsnop, Richard L. "Gender Equity in Sports." The CQ Researcher Online 7.15 (1997). 30
November 2004 . Document ID: cqresrre1997041800.

Wrestling

2005-05-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is a final draft of an essay I turned in for College Composition I. The original consisted of 9 pages, but later had to be cut down to 5. So while hacking away at the essay I felt some of its essense was lost. I turned it in for my grade, and it now sits on my hard drive.

Kevin Ford
Mr. Chiles
English
September 27, 2004
Wrestling

Through the ghosts wondering in my past, I can still make out the beginning of this path I left so shortly ago. Conversation echoed around and familiar faces faded in and out of recognition. The past, present, and future blurred together in an entanglement only few could understand. Here was I, in a place I’d visited times so many before, Glory Days. This pub, it was the local hangout for us after our glorious battles. If the team did well that night, this was the place for good times, even if we didn’t do so well we’d still have our good times. Tonight was special, we’d just concluded our season in districts, but even more so, I knew my run, had come to a close. 7 years long, recapped in 60 seconds thought.

It was four days into the new year of 1997. The oak desk felt the wrath of an uneasy 6th grader wielding a pencil, tap-tap-tapping. 2:45 loomed near. Even though I didn’t want to try out for this wrestling team, my mother was forcing me into it. She said, “At least try it, you could like it, just give it a shot.” The last bell of the school day rang, and by god I hoped my mother knew what was best for me. 30 minutes later about 30 of us waited, scattered around the alternate gym. Two things struck me then, there were other 6th graders in here, and I wasn’t the smallest kid out to show up either. Unfortunately all those things weren’t in my mind an hour later, I can guarantee you that I must have lost a hundred pounds of sweat due to constant movement.

Practice ended slightly past five, and I couldn’t have been happier, or more upset. My mother was waiting for me outside, she loved me, but she also made me go through this torture. The next day wasn’t any better; in fact, it hurt in many ways I didn’t think possible; more push ups, more up downs, and these horrible little runs called suicides. I wasn’t used to this, I wasn’t made for this, I couldn’t do this. My heart was working too hard for something I didn’t understand. 5 came, and I left for my mother, I told her I hated it, I told her I couldn’t do it, I told her I just wanted to quit. Riding home in the van, I sat defeated, resting my head against the glass, tears streaming down the inside of the window. I thought my mother loved me, so why’d she force me into this torture. My dad came in my room that night, to talk with me about my life as of the past two days. During those moments before sleep in the midnight hours, I thought of how my father said he was proud of me for even trying out, he said he couldn’t ask me for any more than I had already given. I wouldn’t have gone back the next day if it weren’t for him.

March stepped forward, and I got my first shot at a match. It was a great feeling to finally show off my skills in combat, unfortunately my excitement died the second I saw my opponent, a big hulking 8th grader. While the team sat on the bench, thoughts of my impending doom clouded my helpless mind. Coach looked in my direction, suggesting I sit out. I probably should have accepted that lease on life, but the wait for today was too long to throw away. My turn eventually came up and it was time to meet the monster inside the middle circle. We shook hands, and the whistle blew. Silence...fear took over… time slowed… in a show of unstoppable force I was tackled backwards. The pain, it was all I recognized, seeping through me, enveloping my every thou…bam, the whistle sang. The pressure was released, and someone offered me a helping hand. I rose in shame, head down, beaten. After putting everything I could into this sport, only my weakness stood out, I wanted to run away from this sport as fast as I could and never look back. My mother called over from the stands to come talk, walking towards her I felt a change transpire within. My back toughened, my walk steadied, my eyes ignited aflame in anguish. I reached my mother, looked to her, and I said “That will never happen again”.

I began training early, starting in the fall, instead of January. Even though I wasn’t very good, I managed to gain the attention of my coaches; I guess they knew something I didn’t. I finished the entire season with 26 wins, and I commanded great authority within the team. 8th grade proved much the same, and that’s also when I met a good friend Mike. I didn’t know I met Mike, but I did.

Nothing could have prepared me for the world I was going to enter afterwards, high school. More girls, more time in class, and much more time in the gym. The first day of practice, I learned a few things. Mainly as good as I thought I was, there was better, way better. My skills were nothing compared to these beasts. No matter how many attacks I tried, they’d be stopped and countered. The physical conditioning was on a level I’d never experienced before. In a room built for one hundred, seventy five came, and within two weeks, only 35 remained. This room wasn’t meant for everyone, but if you had heart, you could make it. On the front wall were the names of legendary warriors whom became immortalized. These brutally aggressive grapplers, were uninhibited by adversity, and thus earned their legacy printed on this wall of fame. I planned on one goal, to be part of that list.

My Junior year hit, training needed to take place all year round. Nobody could deny I was there physically, best friend Steven Stotler, co-captain Mike, and I constantly pushed each other to the brink of complete physical exhaustion. Doing inverted sit-ups on the pull-up bar while holding a 15 pound weight behind my head wasn’t too hard, but I could count on them to make it harder, with fifteen more pounds.

Those were one of those moments, when you ask yourself why. Why’d you start up with all of this in the first place Kevin? Instead of going home at 2:02 with everyone else, you decide to stay here Kevin, and do sit-ups upside down on a pull up bar, and then go run and workout till 6 Kevin. Why I kept up with the sport, I can’t really tell you why, no wrestler can, its one of those questions no one can answer for you. To me it didn’t matter, I had to do this, and I had to do this for myself, my friends, and my family. Everyone was counting on me, and I couldn’t let them down. Maybe that’s why I kept pushing myself, the same reason I didn’t quit after my 2nd practice at Godwin. The fear of others disappointment in me. So do me this favor, and hand me the 30 pound weight.

Our first match my senior year was against 4th ranked Cox high school. Intimidation swept through our bench, most of the team had already been beaten before their match, and if not before, during. 160 arrived all too soon, meaning it was time to jump into action. I stepped to the line, shook hands, ready? Whistle! We both remained crouching, studying each others weaknesses as two chess masters focused on checkmate. I took the first shot, and command of the match. I followed through my moves with grace and near perfection. His attempts to counter attack were nulled by my own, his pride slammed along the mat. Nothing could stop me in my assault, except for myself. When it was time to end the match, I pulled his left arm back, and weaved mine between his elbow and back. My other arm grabbed his wrist, constricting him with his own limbs. I jumped to the near side, and flipped him over my knees to the back of his neck, his legs standing straight up in mid air. The watch ticked twice that night, the calendar flipped 4, and I, Kevin Ford, was seeded first in districts!

I made it to the finals without a hitch, and so did the opponent I knew id have to face for the title. Earlier in the year we met, a hard fought conference ending in a rare 4-4 time. The prize at stake was worth 61320 hours of my life, this was our final match. If I were to win this match, my name would put on that wall I admired so, and my name would stay there forever.
7 years I trained for these 6 minutes. 6 minutes later, I achieved my closure.

“Kevin”, called out Steven, the rest of the table looking at me, “Where are you at buddy? You’ve been gone for the last minute”. I replied with a half grin, half smirk. I thought to turn around, toward my brother in seniority, co-captain Mike, who was lost in his own thoughts. So accordingly I gave him a resounding slap to the back of the neck.

“Mike, where are you at buddy? You’ve been gone for the last minute.”

“I was just thinking about the time I pinned you in eighth grade.”

1st Post - Let's Get the Ball Rollin

2005-05-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, come on in, I know it's not much, but, it's what I've got to work with for the time being. With a little fixing up, this place will be runnin smoothly in no time. Every now and then, I get the idea that maybe some day I'll end up being a writer. So I've created this with the help of Google(R), and along the way I'll post songs, lyrics, poems, school reports, and short stories of my own creation. Only thing that wont be posted frequently is Tiger/Dragon, that's my long term project, and due to copyright issues, plagarism, and other forms of theft, I must keep the story under wraps until it's fully published. That doesnt mean I wont drop in tidbits, maybe I'll evn post an entire chapter, but hopefully this will be a way to spark interest, and create a personal portfolio of sorts that others can view. Does this thing come with spell check?

email at:
bassguy101@yahoo.com

Testing Testing

2005-05-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

1...2...3...