Bookworm Heaven

Anyone remodeling anytime soon? These are some tempting ideas. :)

http://www.woohome.com/interiors/28-things-every-bookworm-should-have-in-their-dream-home

Don't Forget About L.A.R.K. Book Reviews!

I haven't had time for leisure reading or writing, but I have been doing a lot of reading and writing about books at college. If you are interested in what I've been reading, I decided I could post a few reviews on our book review blog. I only have one up right now but plan on adding more.

Blessings,

Grace

Inventors and The Uses of Their Inventions

Here is a short essay I had to write for school today. The topic was interesting but I had a surprisingly hard time coming up with data for it!

Inventors and the Uses of Their Inventions

Kelpie Fly

November 2014

Most of us humans are exceedingly proud of our accomplishments. The greater they are the more big headed we get. But what if our accomplishment had a massive negative impact on mankind? Let us look at two examples.

 1 In a letter to Lester Gardener  in August of 1946, Orville Wright wrote that he “once thought the aeroplane would end wars.”  He, as well as many others, assumed that flight would prove such a devastating ability wars would practically be ended before they started. Three years after receiving their official patent Wilber and Orville Wright tested their machine for the U.S. Army. Later the brothers even provided airplanes and trained pilots for WWI. They worked diligently for what they hoped would bring world peace. Those of us who were at that time still the future generation can read our history books and see this was not the case.

Close to the end of WWII, Orville’s peace bringing bird dropped a highly controversial and hugely  devastating capsule called “the atomic bomb”. 2 In the same letter that Wright spoke of his earlier optimism  he wrote, “I now wonder whether the aeroplane and the atomic bomb can do it [end wars].” The note of sorrow rings with a tinge of regret that his world changing invention did not bring about the calm he had imagined.

3There was another man who dreamed that his invention would put and end to wars. His name was Alfred Nobel. We know him best as the founder of the Nobel peace prize but with out studying much further we find a seeming contradiction. Nobel was the man who first concocted dynamite. Though this explosive was originally designed for blasting in mines we are not surprised to read history and find it quickly used for war. At first Nobel did not seem to mind this. In fact he told Austrian Countess Bertha von Sutter in 1891, 4 “Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses; on the day that two army corps can mutually annihilate each other in a second, all civilized nations will surely recoil with horror and disband their troops.”

Alfred Nobel did not live to see WWI or to understand just how mistaken he was.

These two men were very gifted but did they make a mistake? I do not believe we can lay the blame of higher military (and civilian) casualties on these brilliant men who hoped to bring something the greater portion of the world also longs for, peace.  However, we can learn the lesson that they too must have realized: our actions can have uncontrollable repercussions. After all, “5With great power comes great responsibility.”

 

      1.  www.wrightstories.com  2.www.wrightstories.com   3. www.nobelprize.org

4. www.nobelprize.org  5.  The movie Spiderman 

My writing book  said to use the last paragraph to sum up my point. I did not really have a point so this assignment was difficult. In the end I gave up and used the above but I do not care for it. Any ideas?

The Beetle's Song

I'm in love. In love with the song of the heavens, the wind in the trees, and trickling of the brook. But most of all, I'm in love with Crescendo. His arms are smooth and strong. His hands thick and warm. But it's his song – yes, his song – that's most beautiful to me. It's ever growing in intensity, every note building upon the other, until it reaches a pinnacle of perfection you never though possible. Still it grows, weaving in, weaving out, till there's a thousand tender strands woven into his song. That's how it always builds until he touches me. When our hands are interwoven, his song stops altogether, like he's pausing for a breath, and I know he's listening to mine – he told me so.

Mine is like a war, he says. Like the clash of beda-beetles on the front lines. Like a chaotic 

cacophony of melodies colliding. I ask him, “Is it pretty?”

“I like it,” he says. “You've many thoughts a tumbling around in your head.”

“And that's a good thing?”

“Yes, it means you think.”

Yes, I do think. Too much Mama says. But my thoughts won't sit still even under the strongest meditation. It makes my beda-bug feisty. She buzzes and flits beside my ear, tickling every hair till I brush her away. She'd make a good battle bug, Papa insists, but I don't want to go to battle. I don't want to fight the Pain-Bringers. They don't have songs. You never know one is behind you until you hear a twig snap. Then it's too late. Pain shoots into your eyes, a place you never feel.

..........................

Beda thread her way through the wood, here ears attentive and alert. Lady buzzed past her right ear and led the way, flitting back and forth between the trees. 

Lady, wait! Beda's bare foot caught on something sharp, and she fell to the ground. Twigs crunched under her weight. Beda cradled her aching wound. 

Bzz-bzzzz! Lady landed on the girl's nose.

Beda swatted the beetle away. "Patience, girl!" she growled through clenched teeth.

Bzz-bzzz! We haven't got much time.

"I know, but I can't very well walk on a hurting foot." Beda's fingers slid across her foot, feeling for abrasions in the skin.

You will have to learn to fight with much more than a hurt foot in the war.

"I know, I don't want to think about it."

You will have to soon enough.

Beda sighed and pushed herself off the ground. She grimaced as pain shot up leg. 

Lady tickled here cheek. There you go. Hurry now. The Uncles and Aunts won't wait for you!

Right. Beda took a deep breath. "Lead on."

Lady buzzed on ahead of her, humming an all too familiar tune. The war will come, O children rise. Defend the Father's holy land. Let our notes reach high and true, perfect songs to break all doom.

Beda ignored the notes of the song and focused on the buzzing of Lady's wings.

"Beda." The girl felt an hand on her arm and squealed.

"Peace, Beda," the voice spoke again. "It's just me. Didn't you hear my song?"

"Crescendo." Beda exhaled. "I'm sorry, I was focused on Lady."

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings."

"I know, I was just in a hurry. Have the sessions started?"

"Yes, but your name has not been called yet. Come, let's go." Crescendo grabbed here arm, his beetle now leading the way. Beda leaned close to him, trying to calm her thudding heart. She felt the trees fade away and open air rushed her face. In the distance, she could hear a thousand songs intermingled in the town square.

"Something is wrong." Beda shivered as she interpreted the frantic notes of the music.

Her friend spoke in a hushed voice. "I think now they have called your name."

Lady zipped angrily around Beda's face. "I'm going, I'm going!" Beda sprinted for the square, grimacing again as pain shot up her foot.


------------------------

Well, this is a very rough draft of the beginning of a story I've been tossing around in my head for about a year now. What I want to do with this story is just a bit difficult. If you don't mind, I'd like a little feedback so I know whether I got a few things across clearly or not.

First, did you understand that these characters cannot see, but rather they rely on their beetles to tell them where to go?

Also, is it clear that each person has a unique song by which they communicate feelings and personality?

Do you want to read more?

Oh and my title has nothing to do with the old music group...I just haven't come up with a better title yet :)