Thursday, January 26, 2012

Grasp Assignment(should marijuana be legal)

In the article, “Doctor Group Wants Pot Legal,” Anthony York (Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA)) informs readers about a doctor group who wants Marijuana “pot” made legal for medical use. York’s viewpoint is more in the middle of yes or no. So his view point is more of like in things like medical use, and research to learn more about its uses would be okay, yet where as to sell on the street to smoke because it’s fun or just anything besides medical use or research it wouldn’t be okay. So in general the author is pretty open ended and open to both sides of the topic.


In the article “Colleges See Risk to Easing Pot Bans” Mary Beth Marklein (USA Today) informs people about colleges that see consequences to letting up on pot bans. The author’s viewpoint is that these colleges are right and that marijuana should stay illegal. The author does say one or two reasons why pot could be legal (for medical, and research use only). And also I did notice some bad connotation where she explains why pot might be legal.



In the article “Should Marijuana be Legalized under any Circumstances” Joe Messerli informs people about both sides of whether or not marijuana should be legalized. Messerli’s viewpoint is open ended to both sides of the issue and there for there is not really very much conflicting evidence. The text structure, Compare and Contrast supports his open ended feeling about this topic. And the connotation he uses is very neutral.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Year 3333

Year 3333
By: Jacob



Intro:                                                   

“Almost there. Almost there. Just a couple hundred more feet.” “SKREECH” “phew I made it.” “Ok, I am safe for now.” I should probably introduce myself. My name is Kyle I’m 17 and it is the year 3333. If you are listening to this voice recording now that means that I have succeeded in my mission. Before I tell you anything you must know some things. First on the date December 31, 2999 world peace was officially declared. Second the Earth’s plates have move back into the formation of what you know as Pangaea. And third the Atmosphere is almost completely gone so man kind has been forced under ground to survive. Also because the atmosphere is completely gone the radiation from the sun has created mutants who roam Earth’s surface.

Let’s go back to when this whole crazy thing started.

Chapter 1:

          It was a normal day or so I had thought. It had started off as a normal day so I got up and got ready for work. My whole life change on that day and I never did end up making it in to work.
So here is how it happened.
I was about halfway to the power plant where I worked and all of a sudden I was ambushed. “Get off me” I cried out. But I only got a very brief view of my captors. They were men wearing black suits, and then everything went dark.
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When I regained my consciousness I was in a chair in an empty room with a door and no windows. Then all of a sudden three men came into the room the one in the center holding a folder. “Ah Kyle. Do you have any idea why you are here.” said the one in the middle who was holding the folder.  “N-n-no I don’t.” I managed to stutter. “Well have you read the paper lately. “Said the man on the left. “Yes. Every day.” “Well then you know that some guards have been going missing from their stations on the surface.” He said. “If you are asking if I have read about that then yes I have, but I don’t see how this has anything to do with me.” I replied. “Well do you remember how when everybody turns 15 they have to sign up for the military? Any way you had one of the best fitness test results, and also one of the highest IQ’s.” Said the man who was standing off to the right side. “So to get to the point you have been selected to be in a special op’s team to undergo tasks that even the best people in the army can’t come back from alive.” Said the middle guy. “Well do you accept?!” said a voice coming from the shadows behind the three men. “Um, yes I do.” I said.

Chapter 2:

          Once I had accepted the offer one of the men lead me off into another room to be briefed.
... … … … …      … … … … …     … … … … …     … … … … …    … … … … … … 
          Once we got there he told me that he was not allowed in but told me that I had to go in. When I entered the room there was a large round table with about five chairs around it. I just sat down in one of the larger chairs. Over the period of about 15 minutes three more people who looked around my same age came into the room and each one said that the same thing that happened to me happened to them. After there was four of us a large army type guy who was dressed in camo came storming into the room with four folders and stood at the opposite side of the table as we were at. “Do any of you guys know why you’re here!?” He half said and half shouted. Only I raised my hand to respond. He then just completely disregarded it. “Well because none of you know, you have been recruited for a special op’s team.” He said.
          “What for?” One of the other guys shouted out. “Each of you has been recruited for different things. One of you has been recruited for your knowledge of weapons and how to use them. Another one of you has been recruited because you are the fastest working medic in our data base. Also one of you has been recruited for your stealth. And last but not at all least one of you has been recruited for both your brute strength and also you high intelligence.” He responded. After that last part the other three people all turned their heads towards me because I was the most muscular one there. Their faces looked amazed as if they were having trouble imagining me a big muscular guy also being a genius.

Chapter 3:
“Well now to get to why you guys are here.” The army guy said breaking the silence. “As you all know there have been attacks on our guard towers placed on the surface. But what you probably don’t know is that one guard did survive and he has told us what has been killing our men.” He said with a worried look on his face.
          After that we were lead off as a group to a room where they were keeping the guard.
          “It was huge! One minute I was doing my job. It was towards the end of my shift I saw the guy who was going to relieve me of my duty for the day. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere a giant mass of feathers swept down and scooped him up in its beak then turned its head towards me! Then in less than 5 seconds it had already almost gotten to where I was. Then I ran, lucky for me there was an entrance back down here only 5 yards away, so I sprinted off towards the entrance as fast as I could and I barely made it to safety. Once I was safe it stuck its talons down after me but did not do much harm. Then after a couple of minutes it gave up and flew off.” Described the guard with as much detail as possible.
          “Well.” I said. “It looks like we have a giant bird on our hands.”

Chapter 4:

          Over the next couple of days the government placed video cameras on the surface for surveillance, and they also prepped us for our mission. (To “take care of” the bird)
          After a couple of days they had managed to get a tracking device on the bird. Also during that time the other three people recruited and I had plenty of time to talk. During that time I learned that the other boy was the one who was recruited for stealth and also that his name was Noah. The blonde haired girls name was Stephanie and was the medic for our group and then last but not least the girl with the darker hair was Lisa who was the weapons expert.
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          After a couple of days, the government had pretty much figured out where the birds nest was. So they gave us a large trailer/RV and filled it with things like food, weapons, multiple ways of communication, and other things. Then they gave us the coordinates and then they told us that the RV had a type of auto pilot in it but that we could still control it if we needed. And then they sent us off.

Chapter 5:
          Once we had left and were driving on the surface strait to where the nest was we all just road in silence until after about ten minutes Noah said “Well if I am correct then it will be about a three week trip, so we might want to figure out sleeping arrangements or make schedules or something like that.” “He’s right.” I said trying to help him out of an awkward situation that was bound to happen if nobody else stepped in. So we all went into the back of the RV and found two sets of bunk beds built into the RV and also a couch. “I call the top bunk!” Stephanie yelled out, and then leaped up on one of the top bunks. “I guess we can bunk together.” Said Lisa. “So I guess were bunking together.” I told Noah.
          Over the next couple of days while we traveled the only time we stopped the RV was at night so we could sleep. Also during the days we came up with multiple plans for taking out the bird, and we were also helping each other out with things like Lisa showed us how to use a multitude of different weapons, Stephanie showed us some of the simpler medical techniques for different situations, Noah showed us how to blend into things while wearing some bright colors, and I tutored them all, and also showed them how to take down an enemy who is bigger than you. And so doing all that and playing video games with everyone else made time go by pretty fast.

Chapter 6:

          After we had been on the road for about two weeks we were preparing for the battle with the bird, so that there would not be anything going wrong during the battle. We gave our selves each two packs full of supplies (food, medicine...) also we all loaded up on weapons too.
        Then after about three days when we were about two days away we could see the location of the birds’ nest it was on the top of the mountain and there were the ruins of an old town from a long time ago. (From before humanity had been forced underground.) So at this point in time we just started to make sure are wireless headsets worked so we could communicate with each other.
          Once we made it to the base of the mountain we got out of the RV and then just in case the battle would end up coming down here we explored the ruins of a city that was surrounding the mountain. It was actually just a very small town. Then we all got one last night sleep before the big battle.
Chapter 7:

          In the morning we all woke up at the loud screech of the bird, and when I say loud I mean loud almost even deafening. Then when we all gathered by a window we saw a horrible thing. “Ewww. What are those things?” Said Stephanie. “Those “things” are mutants.” Said Lisa as if she was really annoyed by that comment. “They seem to be fighting somethi” Noah Stopped in mid sentence. “I-i-is-Is that giant skyscraper sized thing the b-b-b-bird?” Noah then stuttered. And when Noah described the size of the bird he amazingly was not exaggerating. It was literally at least the size of a small mansion and at maximum the size of a small skyscraper. “They expect us to kill that gigantic thing.” Said Noah. Then at that exact moment the giant bird scooped up the mutants in its beak then turned its head towards us.

End of part 1