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!.