Monday!!!

Today is the first day back at school after our four day break! This day was not a normal day. During school all juniors and seniors were called to the auditorium to listen to a speech by two leaders of the Civil Rights movement. This was not the only unique feature. I also wore my new glasses to school. I am very happy that I can now see words of the board more clearly.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Norwood Builder & The Adventure of the Dancing Men (p575-612)

The Adventure of the Norwood Builder is the second story that Doyle has to offer in the Return of Sherlock Holmes. This starts with a man by the name John Hector McFarlane. He is a lawyer who had been accused of murdering one of his clients. The person that was murdered was Jonas Oldacre. John told Holmes that Jonas hired him to write his will. The weird part about this will is that Jonas wanted to give John everything he had. So, John went to Jonas' house to write the will and put all the papers in a safe at the house. He stayed there late and went to an inn after. The next morning John found out in the paper that Jonas was murdered and the police were looking for him. There was a massive amount of evidence against John and did not know what to do. So, when he went to Holmes he began his own investigation. Later in the story Holmes found out that John's mother was once engaged to Jonas but then left him. Homes then talked with the house keeper and found that she knew information. Later in the story, Holmes solved the case. To prove it, he set fire to the house and Jonas, who was thought to be dead, ran out. At the end of the story they found out that Jonas was trying to have revenge on John's mother.
In The Adventure of the Dancing Men, a man named Hilton Cubitt went to Holmes for help. He gave him a piece of paper with pictures of dancing stick figures. He told Holmes that the men had a meaning to his wife and that they continuously reappeared. Mr. Cubitt's wife had a scared look on her face when she saw them but would not tell her husband why. So, Holmes told Mr. Cubitt to write down every occurrence of the men and give them to him Holmes later found out it was a code and cracked it. When he went to tell Cubitt, the man was shot and his wife was hit in the head. From the code, Holmes found out that a man named Abe Slaney was Cubitt's old lover and he had come to get her back. He was also a criminal and when he saw Cubitt, he shot him. At the end Slaney was arrested but escaped and Cubitt's wife spent the rest of her life alone.

2.23 Diction Exercise

a.debilitating, cynicism, pessimism, prone, strenuous, carousel, stubborn, involuntarily
b. diction: flowing, perplexed
connotation: astonished, faithful
sound: reposeful, unique
c. The flowing yet perplexed expression of Alain DeBotton's Idealization coveys a sense of ambivalence and foreboding skepticism about love and its slanderous turmoil of emotions.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Empty House (p559-575)

This story is different from other stories because it tells how Holmes is still alive, brings him into the story and has another case. The story starts with the murder of a man named Rolnald Adair. He was shot in the head and most people had no clue why. At the same time Watson wanted to revisit the old case he had with Holmes. Over there he saw a plain detective and ran into a book collector who was rude to him. After some time, the book collector went to Watson to apologize for his behavior and when Watson turned around, the book collector took off his disguise and ended up being Sherlock Holmes. He explained his death by telling Watson that the had won the fight against Moriarty but made it appear that he had fallen to his death down a waterfall. Instead he climbed down the cliff and ran away. After that Holmes ended up traveling the world. He went to Florence, Tibet, Lhassa, Persia, Mecca, Khartoum, and France. He went back to London because he had heard about the Rolnald Adair case and wanted to help. To solve the case Holmes and Watson hid in an empty house because Moriarty's men were still after him. That same night the murderer of Adair ended up coming attempting to kill again but they catch him and give him to the police.

Video Games Are GOOD!!!

Today i found an article in the Huffington Post that states one hour of video games a day is good and a key to success in life. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-mcgonigal/video-games_b_823208.html This article goes on telling about how the games can make people work together to solve problems and even tells that because of video games we can cure cancer. It tells that 5 million gamers are playing for 40 hours a week!!!!! I had no idea how important video games are to this generation.

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Final Problem (p542-558)

This is the last story of the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and I might add that it also has  a good story. The story starts with Holmes going to Watson and telling him how three attempts of murder were placed on him. In the first attempt, a cab was trying to run him over. During the second attempt, someone tried to drop a brick from a rooftop but just barely missed him. During the third attempt, Holmes was attacked by a man but he fought him off. This all happened after he visited a man named Professor Moriarty and he could not prove any of it to the police. During this story, Holmes stated that Moriarty was his intellectual equal. Later in the story, Holmes meets Watson at the Victoria Station dressed as a priest so no one would recognize him. But while they were talking, Holmes found out that Moriarty tracked Watson to the station. So, in order to get away, they hide behind luggage. After that, Holmes found out that most of Moriarty's people were arrested but because they still were not safe, Holmes and Watson went to Switzerland. When they were there, Moriarty found a way to track them down and keep Watson away from Holmes for enough time. Holmes was able to write a letter where Watson could find it telling that he had to go fight Moriarty. At the end of the story Watson found Holmes and Moriarty dead and he went back to England.
After some research, I found that Doyle was trying to finish the Sherlock Holmes stories and write different literary works. But because his audience wanted more Holmes, he brought it back.

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Greek Interpreter & The Naval Treaty (502-542)

In The Greek Interpreter, a man named Mr. Melas, the Greek interpreter, told a story to Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock Holmes' older brother. In this story, Melas was told by a man named Harold Latimer to go to a house and translate. On the way there Latimer blocked any way of Melas knowing where he was and threatened him if the translation went public. When he arrived at the house, Melas was rushed into a room with two other men. Latimer wanted Melas to translate and tell one of the men his demands of signing some papers. That man, named Kratides, refused to sign the papers which gave property to Latimer. Later Melas found out that a woman was involved with the property transfer and she even came to the room Melas was in. The woman's name was Sophy and Kratides' real name was Paul. After that, Melas was taken back into the cab and dropped off far from his house. When that happened, he went to Mycroft who told Sherlock to look into it. So, they put an advertisement up and find out where Sophy lives and Holmes took Watson and Mycroft. They also went to pick up Melas but found out that he has been taken. When they arrived at the house Melas described, they learned that it was abandoned, but found Melas and Kratides inside. However, Kratides was found dead because he refused to sign the papers. At the end of the story, it is learned that Latimer was stabbed to death.
In The Naval Treaty, Watson received a letter from an old friend telling that he needed help from him and Holmes, Someone had taken a naval treaty from his office when he stepped out. Watson's friend's name was Percy Phelps. His wife was a suspect but they did not find a treaty with her. Phelps had "brain fever" and was sick so he was in bed most of the time. By making observations, Holmes found out that the thief probably came by cab and visited some people. The unusual part about this case is that the treaty has not been sold yet but Phelps knew it would be soon if they don't find it. Later, at night, someone had tried to break into Phelps room at night. Phelps saw him with a knife but he ran away. Because this happened, Holmes decided to hide and watch the house and one day the same man came back. Holmes found that he went back to the room and opened a secret hatch in the floor and took out the treaty. So they caught the thief and Holmes literary served the treaty to Phelps for breakfast the next morning.

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Reigate Puzzle & The Crooked Man & The Resident Patient (p.458-501)

In the Reigate Puzzle, Homes has just finished a case in France and he is very tired. So Watson took him to his friend's estate next to Reigate. Over there, Holmes found out that a man named Colonel Hayter needed some help in a case.  There were two robberies. In the first one, nothing very valuable was stolen, but in the second one William Kirwan was murdered. When Holmes saw the body, he found a note in his hand and from that found out that two men a young and old wrote it. So, the first people Holmes went to were the Cunninghams. There was a young and old one and they owned of the estate. After that he spent some time investigating and putting his facts together. He put many facts together and was convinced that they committed the crime. In the story there was also a struggle with the Cunninghams and Holmes where they attacked and tried to kill him but Watson saves him. Once that happens, they were both arrested and the older Cunningham told why he did what he did. He said that William was blackmailing his employees and  Cunningham had enough of it and tried to scare him by robbing him and killing him.
In the Crooked Man, the story starts with Holmes telling Watson about the case he was on and for him to be a witness to the investigation. In this case, a man named Colonel James Barclay was killed by someone. The Colonel's wife Nancy is the prime suspect in the case. The last time the Colonel was seen alive was when he was seen going to his wife in the morning room. The maid also said that she heard them arguing and heard Nancy say the word David. After the murder, a club like weapon was found in the morning room. After seeing the room and hearing the facts, Holmes was sure that a third person was involved with the murder because he saw footsteps on the road. When Holmes talked to Miss Morrison, Nancy's friend, she tells what happens. She told Holmes that they met a man whom is found to be called Henry Wood and she swore to Nancy that she would not say anything. Later it is found out that Wood served with the Colonel some years back and the Colonel betrayed him twice and when he saw Nancy he followed her home and the second he saw the Colonel he killed him.
In the Resident Patient, a man name Percy Trevelyan went to Holmes for help in a problem. A man named Blessington said he had some money to invest in him and told doctor Trevelyan that he has set him up with a prestigious address and has paid everything. All he wanted back was three fourths of his pat that his practice earns. Since this had happened everything has gone good for the doctor until he came to a Russian patient. The patient and his son went to meet the doctor but while he was looking at the father, the son secretly went to his room. When Holmes heard this, he wanted to go see where the doctor practices to investigate. Holmes later finds out that the two men were out to get Blessington and Blessington was very paranoid. The next day Blessington hung himself and the doctor called Holmes right away. When Holmes looked at the scene of the crime, he found that there were three man there and it was not suicide. After some time, the police found out that Blessington and the three other men were in a gang that robbed banks and the three men had came to avenge one of their partners that died because of Blessington.

Monday 2/14/2011 :)

Today has been an exhausting day. After all the work I did at school I also had track which was very tiring. On top of that I have a huge amount of work to do. I have a feeling that this week will be very busy. On the other hand, I can not wait for friday because there is no school. I also found a website that has to do with destroying Google computers. It is called http://www.google.com/chromeos/demolab/ and is very fun. All you have to do is type in the chat box how you want the computer to be destroyed and it happens. Google really has allot of time on their hands!.

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The "Gloria Scott" & The Musgrave Ritual (p429-458)

The "Gloria Scott",  described some times in Holmes' college times. He lives with his friend Victor Trevor at his father's estate. Over there Holmes had a clue that told him that Victor's father knew someone with the initials J.A. and that he wanted to forget. His father told him that J.A. was an old lover, but Holmes did not believe it. Holmes thought he was making the man uncomfortable so he decided to leave. As he was leaving a old man entered and Victor's father left when he saw him. Apparently they have been shipmates 30 years before. The next couple weeks, Holmes was doing chemistry experiments and one day received a telegram from Victor to come back. When they met at the station, Victor told Holmes that his father had a stroke when he looked at a letter and when they got home, he had died. Holmes later found out that Victor's father was being blackmailed and the old man that came earlier's name was Hudson and he took a job from Victor's father but quit recently. Holmes found out that Hudson was threatening to tell Victor's father's old name, James Armitage (J.A.). With that name he had robbed a bank and was transported onto a boat called The Gloria Scott and Victor's father and Hudson were part of a revolt and were one of the few to survive. So, they changed their names and lived happily until Hudson showed up again and blackmailed  Victor's father.
The Musgrave Ritual is a different type of  Doyle story because instead of Watson being the narrator, Holmes is narrating himself. In this story, Holmes tells Watson what happened after he visited his university friend, Reginald Musgrave. This man visited Holmes when two of his workers disappeared. He couldn't find them when he fired a man named Brunton for reading a family document called the Musgrave Ritual. When  Musgrave caught Brunton, he gave him a week to invent a reason for leaving so he didn't have to fire him. A few days later Brunton was gone too with out giving notice or taking his things. When Holmes investigated he found out that the Musgrave Ritual was a set of instructions for finding something. Holmes later found a cellar and in that cellar they found Brunton dead and a chest. In there was a bag with gold, gems and King Charles I's gold crown. They later found out the original owner of the house and crown had died before telling his children about the crown and crowning one of them. After that the story had ended.

Harry Baals

Our former mayor Harry Baals' name is a candidate for a memorial center in our town Fort Wayne. Many national and local news centers are giving this attention because of the mans name. There have even been jokes on national television and some newspapers.

Close Reading #1

Picasso’s oil on canvas image

In this painting labeled “The Blind Man’s Meal”, Pablo Picasso expresses a picture with similar colors, static movement, smooth brush strokes and a dull setting which highlights how a blind man’s life might seem. Almost all of the colors in this scene are a shade of blue. This could suggest a dull sad moment. This man’s hands on the desk and food not in his mouth implements a motionless image. Picasso presents this man with a boney and empty looking body. This reveals that the blind man does not eat very much. The artist has also used smooth brush strokes instead of bold, fine strokes. This use of his brushes expresses a sad or calm moment which enhances how the viewer sees the painting. The blue colors, frown on his face, and knowledge that this man is blind also develops a somewhat of a dull setting. Picasso makes one infer that this painting permeates a dull, almost lifeless image that cannot be created any other way.

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes The Yellow Face & The Stock-Broker's Clerk (p402-429)

The Yellow Face was a short adventure of Sherlock Holmes. In this memoir, Holmes returns to his house and is bored because he does not have a case to work on. But as he enters, Watson tells him that a man stopped by but left because he was not there. Holmes find out that he left his pipe and was sure he would be back. The man, Mr. Grant Munro, had returned and told Holmes what his problem was. His wife had been hiding something from him and would not tell him what it was. She said it would be better for him to not know. He also told him her background and that he had caught his wife sneaking to a neighboring cottage. Upon seeing this cottage he also saw a person with a yellow face in the window. He wondered what it was but his wife continuously told him that it would be better if he did not know. But one day he did go into the cottage and every room was empty. When he told Homes, he agreed on going to the cottage. Once they did unannounced, Holmes found a child with a yellow mask on. So he peeled it off and found it to be an African American child. When Munro's wife found out he knew, she told him that the child was hers and she was hiding her from him. In the end the story finished happily with no racist remarks, which is in a way rare for its time.
In the Stock-Broker's Clerk a clerk named Hall Pycroft went to Holmes and told him about a company that offered him a well paying job. So him and Watson went on a train to where the job is supposed to be. There, Pycroft told Watson that he was not needed from his stockbroking house. He was then offered a job from other stockbrokers, Mawson and Williams and also offered a job from a man named Arthur Pinner. So, Pycroft went to Birminghan with Holmes and Watson to meet Pinner's brother who is also one of the company's founders. There, Holmes and Watson were disguised as job-seekers. They later find out that the only reason Pycroft was wanted was for his signature that a man could commit identity theft and accept a job. Also, upon looking in the newspaper, they learned that Mawson and Williams have been robbed and the criminal had been captured. A large amount of money was taken but recovered by the police by a man in the name of Pycroft and Pinner. After that the story ends and Holmes says that "Human nature is a strange mixture".

How to Know if You're Boring

This video shows clear clues that could hint that you are boring. If you find yourself to be truly boring... find help....and fast!

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Silver Blaze (p381-401)

Silver Blaze is a horse that races. In this story, the horse is a famous winner and has just disappeared and its owner, John Straker has been murdered. A man named Inspector Gregory was part of this case before Holmes and Watson got to the scene and he already arrested a man. Later in the story, Holmes found Silver Blaze and but didn't really care much about it in the begging of the case so he left it alone. In this story another man was accused of murdering Straker and many people had been unusually drugged with opium. Later in the story, Holmes cleared everything up and found out that the horse was disturbed when Straker was with him and he killed him. Holmes then explained what happened step by step and the story ended.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (p361-380)

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches is the last story told in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In it, a woman named Violet Hunter went to Holmes for help in deciding whether or not to take a job as governess. She ended up accepting the job and was hired by Mr. Rucastle but told Holmes that she would telegraph him if something went wrong. After some time she did contact Holmes and wanted him to go to the estate that she worked at. Once Holmes arrived there Ms. Hunter told him that many things were strange. For example, she was once told to wear an electric blue dress and read with her back against the window. Also Mr. Rucastle told funny jokes and Ms. Rucastle never laughed at them. Ms. Hunter also noticed that there was a part of the house that was never used. When Holmes investigated, he found out that Mr. Rucastle was keeping his daughter as a prisoner so he could use Ms. Hunter (who looks like his daughter) to convince a man that she is not interested in him. At the end of the story Holmes found out that Rucastle's daughter had escaped and married the same man he was trying to keep away from her.

This is one of the longest stories in the entire Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and it is only 19 pages!

Teenagers, Friends and Bad Decisions

This article by TARA PARKER-POPE was very interesting and gave me somewhat of a different view on peer pressure and decision making by teenagers. It goes into telling how the tests were conducted and what they did with the brain scanners and the magnetic resonance imaging device. The results of the experiment led the researcher to believe that teenagers make bad decisions when they are around their friends. Because this is only one experiment, many more need to be conducted to get a clear result. This article was very informative and I hope many more are made like this.

Monday :)

Today was a very tiring day because I am barely getting any sleep. I am happy that the school schedules are back to normal. For me this week will probably be very busy for me. Knowing this, I should prepare for what is probably going to happen and maybe start my homework a little earlier. I can not wait until the summer and the time to do anything I want. One of these days it will come.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (p343-361)

In The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, a man named Mr. Alexander Holder made a loan of 50,000 pounds to a client and he left the Beryl Coronet (crown) as collateral. Holder was in a way paranoid about the safety of this crown and wanted to stay near it most of the time. One day he woke up and saw his son Arthur with the coronet in his hands and trying to bend it. He also notices that three of the beryls are missing. So, he went to see Holmes for help and he also got some police involved. After some time Sherlock Holmes solves the problem and finds out that Holder's niece was partnered with another criminal and escaped. Arthur only made it seem like he broke it because he was in love with her.
This episode was somewhat longer than the others page wise but did not have that much important information. Doyle should have really worked a little longer on his stories. 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb & The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (p311- 343)

In The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, a man named Victor Hatherley went to Doctor Watson because his thumb has been cut off and he needed the wound repaired. After he had repaired it, Watson took the man to Holmes to find out what had happened instead of going to the police. So, Mr. Hatherley told the story talking about him being blindfolded and driven to a house to look at a machine. The machine was a press and he told the people that blindfolded him what needed to be fixed. After he looked at it one last time, Hatherley found out that the press is not being used for what it is supposed to be used for. So, he runs out and jumped out the window to find out his thumb was cut off. So Holmes sums up what happened and told that there were counterfeiters and when Hatherley was running out he dropped his lamp which burned down the whole house.
In The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, tells of a woman who disappeared on her wedding day. Her husband, Lord Robert was confused by this and went to Holmes for help. He talked about an accident that his bride had with a man when she dropped her flowers. Holmes was asking many questions and kept on approaching the answer as time went on. He looked at documents and letters and eventually found out what had happened. The bride saw her old husband and they ran away together. Later on they went back and apologized to Robert and he was sad afterwards.

Michigan

Today I went to Michigan, where I formerly lived and visited relatives and friends. I had fun catching up with them and enjoyed the time we spent. I will be here for two days and one night and hopefully be back Sunday night. Michigan is one of my favorite states to go to and it brings back many memories that are dear to me. I have lived here for 14 years and every once and a while my family and I go back to visit. Above is a picture of the Detroit river where the GM headquarters are and the tunnel which connects the United States to Canada.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle & The Adventure of the Speckled Band (p276-311)

In The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, a man named Peterson took a goose home for a Christmas dinner and his wife found a blue carbuncle (gemstone) in its throat. Holmes wanted to know how the gem ended up in the goose. So, he went to a goose dealer and asked him. The dealer told Holmes that someone was also asking about a goose and Holmes then knew that someone else knew about the carbuncle. But then a man named Ryder showed up and told Holmes what had happened. He thought that he was being followed by a thief so he fed the gem to the goose with a black bar on its tail. The only problem was that there were two geese with black bars on their tails and when he went back to retrieve the gem, it wasn't there. Holmes eventually finds out that the gem was stolen but did not threaten to put the man in jail because it was Christmas so he let him go and the man ran away.
In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, a woman named Helen Stoner went to Holmes and told him that her sister died. So, she tells him the story and Holmes also finds out that if Helen and her sister were to leave their stepfather, he would become very poor and he suspects him. Helen lives with her stepfather in an old house and weird noises happen at night. Later Helen leaves and Holmes finds a place for her to stay. By the end of the mystery Holmes finds out that Helen's father had sent a deadly Indian snake to her sisters room which had killed her. Helen's father tries to attack Helen with the snake when she found out also, but Holmes attacked it and it ran away to Helen's stepfather and kills him.