Name one character. Rewrite a short excerpt of the story from this character's point of view.

Book read: Raven's Gate from The Power of Five - Anthony Horowitz

Character: Matt Freeman

Pg.10, 3rd paragraph

I only had three pounds in my pocket, saved up from the newspaper round. Another twenty pounds was at home, hidden in a box under my bed. I needed money. It wasn't just because my trainers were falling apart and the games on my XBox were six months out of date. Money was power. Money was independence. I was in need of it and tonight I was here because I wanted some.

But already, I was wishing I hadn't come. It was all wrong. It was stupid. Why had I ever agreed in the first place?

I glanced at my watch. Ten past six. We had arranged to meet at a quarter to. Well, that was excuse enough. I swung myself off the wall and headed across the station front. Not taking more than a couple of steps, an older boy appeared out of nowhere and blocked my path.

Who do you think the author intended to read this book and why?

Book Read: Twilight - Stephen Meyer

After flipping through the pages of this book, an impression struck me. Teenage girls. Vampires living in bungalows, going to school, studying biology. Is this not what most teenage girls want to experience? A vampire classmate sitting beside you in class? Charming, sexy and ever-so-attractive?

In my opinion, this book is mainly intended for teenage girls to read. Not like any other teenage romance novels, this book has an element different from 'Gossip girl' or 'The princess diaries'. A touch of the supernatural! Vampires! Sexy creatures of the night. More alluring is it not? Additionally, there's that struggle of love between the two main characters of the book that acts a lot like a 'page-flipper'.

With crushes on hot and hunky guys catching up on girls in their teens, this book is definitely intended for them. Romance is definitely not lacking. Struggle for love, the mysterious vampires... the various fights between them... For the record, vampires are known to feed on blood and Bella (the girl whom Edward the vampire fancies) is human with a lot of fresh, red blood... I wonder how challenging it was for Edward to curb the urges and just take a bite...

Besides teenage girls, boys will read it too. Much battle scene is evident in the book and the action-packed novel can be enjoyed by teenage boys too. With Edward the vampire possessing supernatural powers like superhuman strength and speed, this book is somewhat similar to 'The X-men" or other superhero novels. The only thing is, it has a speck of romance that will attract that little more of your attention.

Thus, in conclusion, I personally feel that 'Twilight" is meant for teenagers of both genders though more to the females. Much of the content is what teenagers fantasize to be in. Vampires, love, supernatural powers... I am a guy and I have to admit I had a whale of a time digesting this book bit by bit and can't wait to purchase and devour the sequel.

So, girls out there if you are yet to be mesmerized by Edward, or desire for some 'vampiric romance', this book is definitely the book for you. Grab it now!

Could there be a perfect world and what would it be like?

A perfect world.... what exactly is perfect?

Perfection is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness.

I define a perfect world as a world free of hunger, slavery, prostitution, greed, lust, dishonesty, murder and all the other negativities of our current world.

So, heres the question, could there be a perfect world?

No. It is straight and direct. No.

How can there be a perfect world when everyday, people are jumping to their deaths, killed by ruthless, serial murderers, young girls at the end of their wits being prostitutes, slaves being whipped.... greed... lust...

Can we put it to a stop? Or, how can we put it to a stop?

We can't.

For a toddler, a perfect world may be very easily achievable considering the fact that their needs comprises of only food, water, air and sleep. This is perfect to him. I get my food, water and sleep, that's all I require! Life is perfect!

When he goes up to elementary school, things get different. Homework, exams, friends, grades, different impressions of him.... How can all these be absolutely flawless and perfect? They can't.

Obviously, more problems will arise in high school, college, the office and at home. The world is created to be perfect but because of man's greed, solely on greed, the table is turned around.

For example, a woman named Rebecca could be living in a mansion with swimming pools, impressively huge bedrooms, endless supply of the latest fashions - a life others deem as perfect. But just because of greed, solely greed, she sees a celebrity in Hollywood owning a castle on a remote island, she starts thinking that her life needs a lot more than what she has now. A mansion... I want a castle like Madonna! Greed is the word.

Things are made to be perfect, greed spoils it all.

This world can never be perfect because men are made and created to be greedy, and if thats the case, talk about perfection.

What is beauty?

Beauty is a characteristic of a person animal, place, object or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction.

The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this is a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

In my opinion, beauty can be classified into two categories - Outer and inner.

For outer beauty, it includes physical factors (physical attraction) like youthfulness, sexiness, complexion, causing others to be in admiration of you. Outer beauty is commonly associated with lust and greed, mainly because outer beauty invokes lust and attracts the opposite gender.

For inner beauty, it normally includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, congeniality, charm, integrity, congruity and elegance.

To measure outer beauty, usual ways of measurement includes hosting beauty pageant events and comparing the different levels of beauty on a stage. It is a much more challenging task to measure inner beauty though.

However, in conclusion, I personally feel that a person is only considered "beautiful" when he/she has of both inner and outer beauty but more of inner beauty.

For example, if a person has a very attractive appearance but has bad habits like consuming drugs, will he/she be considered beautiful that way?

Thus, I find that though outer beauty attracts the eye and attention of others, it is still vital to look out for the ones with real inner beauty and realize the beauty within them that is embedded under the flesh of their bodies.

What is happiness

Happiness. The mere thought of it may bring many people down to thinking if this state of mind even exists in this increasingly treacherous world of ours. Nonetheless, I shall be elaborating more on what I personally feel happiness is.

For most of us, happiness is a state of mind rather than a specific emotion or response to positive outside forces. One important element of happiness is a sense of self-satisfaction. Many of us spend our days in a perpetual state of neediness. We have physical, emotional and spiritual needs which we believe need to be satisfied in order to experience some degree of happiness. It is indisputable whether you accept it or not. For example, when you have a cup of coffee in the morning, completed an assignment, found out that your crush like you too or simply have a hearty lunch. Wouldn't you feel a sense of satisfaction surging through your body, making your day eventually? In one sense, happiness occurs when our list of needs becomes replaced by a new list of physical, emotional and spiritual fulfillment.

Mainly, real happiness is a state of mind that is free of guilt, doubts, lust, greed and any negative form of feelings. For example, if one is in guilt, he can never feel happy as the guilt will overwhelm him frequently, causing him to be overly-wary, suspicious or frightened. For instance, if one is lustful and greedy, he can never feel real happiness as he will only feel momentary happiness, yearning for more and more, which links back to self-satisfaction - an important element of happiness.

In conclusion, happiness is accepting your role in the eternal battle for souls. Don't get wrapped up in the pleasures of this life, which serve only as a distraction. Strive to become what you are, not what people define for you.

"I am lying." True or False?

"I am lying." This single statement is considered a Liar Paradox.

The Liar Paradox is an argument that arrives at a contradiction by reasoning about a Liar Sentence. The classical Liar Sentence is the following self-referential sentence:

(1) This sentence is false.

Experts in the field of philosophical logic have never agreed on the way out of the trouble despite 2,300 years of attention. Here is the trouble--a sketch of the Liar Argument that reveals the contradiction:

If (1) is true, then (1) is false. But we can also establish the converse, as follows. Assume (1) is false. Because the Liar Sentence is saying precisely that (namely that it is false), the Liar Sentence is true, so (1) is true.

We've now shown that (1) is true if and only if it is false. Since (1) is one or the other, it is both.

Thus for the case of "I am lying.",

If I am lying, then the statement is true. But if the statement is true, then I'm not really lying, am I? But if I'm not lying, then it must be false! It is unanswerable, a splendid paradox indeed.

More detailed analysis:

Person: I am lying right now.

Reply: To be lying you would have to be trying to get me to believe something that you do not believe by presenting yourself as though you believed it. Therefore, (a) if you are trying to get me to believe that you are lying and you do not believe that you are lying, then you are lying. Or, (b) if you are trying to get me to believe that you are lying and you do believe that you are lying, then you are not lying but simply confused about what 'lying' means. And, finally, (c) if you are not trying to get me to believe that you are lying then you are not lying whether you believe that you are lying or not.

In short, whether one lies or not is purely a matter of motive and not at all a matter of whether the normal meaning of what one says is true or false.

Sources: Yahoo!Answers

http://www.alanrhoda.net/blog/2006/09/how-to-respond-to-liar-paradox.html

Sulphur - rings a bell?

"Sulphur is a yellow non-metallic element, found in the free state.

It is used to harden rubber used for making tyres.

It is also used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, pesticides and drugs'

This element is commonly associated with the Devil or Satan that is. Many people have accounts of smelling sulphur(rotten-egg smell) when witnessing the Devil. Piqued by curiosity, I was determined to find out if this is found in the bible, flipping and pouring through the endless pages of yellow, my landed on this:

About a century or two before the birth of Christ. Satan almost certainly gets his rotten scent from his underworld lair, described in the Book of Revelation as a "lake of burning sulphur." Hell as such doesn't appear in the Old Testament, but the book of Genesis does recount how God "rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah." The idea of a sulfurous Hell ruled by an archvillain called Satan seems to have arisen at some point in the period between when the two sacred texts were written—probably in the first or second centuries B.C. The Apocryphal Books of Enoch, for example, talk about a place of punishment with "rivers of fire" and "a smell of sulphur."

The idea that Satan had a strong odor is consistent with ancient attitudes about smells. A connection between sweet, dry smells and the divine goes back to the Greek epics, and it shows up in precise terms in the Old Testament: The Lord tells Moses to prepare an anointing oil "blended as by the perfume" consisting of liquid myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, and olive oil. Rotten-smelling gases like hydrogen sulfide would have been associated with moral corruption.

Sources: www.slate.com