The lumber-room Essay Example for Free

The lumber-room Essay She starts of in the story looking at the world in a nice light and talking about fantasy creatures, also how nice her life will be when she grows up, gets a job has kids and a beautiful loving husband the usual 13 15 year old female dream. Then she meets Kerry Stevenson and decides from things other people have said that he is not a very nice person. Then she meets Mrs Rutter and decides she is a innocent sweet old lady, she is in fact not very nice and leaves a German pilot in the woods for two days to die a slow pain full death. The story follows a stereotypical approach to looking at old and young people, these stereotypes soon change as you find more about the characters, as the story goes on Mrs Rutter describes how she left a pilot to die as an act of revenge and Kerry turns out to be quite humane and kind lad. At the end of this story, she is walking home and decides that everything is not as it seems and that not every one is stereotypical. I prefer the lumber-room because of its happier out look on life a carefree childish approach to life, also the way Nicolas out smarts his aunt is amusing and made me laugh. The book formed strong pictures in my mind and was enjoyable and easy to read I believe that the darkness out there uses to much symbolism to convey its point, also the lumber-room is much easier to read less description, more action and lets get down to the facts. In the lumber room the only really long descriptive part, is the part where the hunts man is hunting the stag and is himself being followed by some wolves he doesnt take this at face value and makes the story behind the tapestry much more complex than it actually is. I feel he can identify with the hunts man, as he has also hunted his aunty in his own childish way. I think this is an excellent piece of descriptive writing and describes a young Childs imagination very well, he looks at the tapestry and sees past the plane facts and even comes back to comment on it later saying that he thinks the wolves will eat the stag while the hunts man runs from the wolves. In addition the plot is nowhere as near sinister or riveting, as the darkness out there. This story uses lots of light, dark contrasts to show that things are either a bad or good memories, when she walks down by packers end theres a shadow that falls on her and it gets colder, using metaphors to describe her feelings as a physical feeling rather than a emotional one. The darkness and light story left me feeling sad miserable proving grown ups to be fallible and weak, where as the lumbar room story made me feel alive, excited and amused wanting to read more of his antics.

The Blessed Sacraments Of Catholic And Christian Religion

The Blessed Sacraments Of Catholic And Christian Religion The Blessed Sacraments each of them very vital to Catholics and Christians, either as an element of personal spiritual growth or in terms of their significance to the church as a whole, and a lane on the road to God. These sacraments are ceremonial and point to what is sacred, significant and vital for Christians. There are seven Sacraments according to the Roman Catholic Church Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance or Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony (Marriage) and Holy Orders; these were designed to reinforce an individuals connection with God. The word sacrament comes from the Latin word Sacramentum, which means a sign of the sacred, and can be translated as mystery. o Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist o Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation or Penance, and Anointing of the sick o Sacraments of Service of Communion: Matrimony and Holy Orders Baptism Baptism is the first sacrament a Catholic/Christian receives. It begins a lifelong voyage of commitment and discipleship. Under the three sacraments of initiation, Baptism is the first. Before one can receive other sacraments, one must be baptized. The sacrament can only be received once in terms of its power to convey forgiveness of all sins, and can be received at any age. Eucharist The Eucharist is the main building block in the faith. This sacrament occurs when Catholics in good standing accept the body and blood of Jesus Christ, considered both a sacrifice and a meal, to bring them closer to God. This sacrament was initiated by Jesus, during the Last Supper that he shared with his disciples. Catholics believe that the sacrament, which must be celebrated by an ordained priest, starts by turning the bread and wine, to the body and blood of Christ during the blessing and in the true presence of Jesus, who died for our sins. Confirmation Confirmation is the third sacrament under the initiation sacraments. Although one may already have the Holy Spirit inside them, this sacrament helps one to use the Spirit within them and recognize its presence. After one is confirmed they are considered a mature individual to the faith to the people of their faith and church. One has the responsibility to the faith and to their church. The sacrament of confirmation is normally administered by the Bishop; on the other hand due to certain conditions the Bishop could assign a priest to administer the confirmation services in his absents. Those being confirmed, t sacrament shows sharing of the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands. Penance This sacrament is called by three names, confession, reconciliation, and penance. Each of these reflect one element of the sacrament. This is called confession; since one must identify and confess ones sins. One must admit they have done something immoral and are willing to take penance for. This is also is called penance because one must do something to make up for their sins. It shows that they have owned up to ones sin and are ready to strive to do better. This is called reconciliation; since one must be willing to reconcile with God and those they have wronged. The third and last is the sacrament of Penance, which restores the gift of Gods grace to one. Matrimony The sacrament of matrimony (marriage), is when a man and woman take the vows of faithfulness for one another through marriage in the eyes of all Christians. The married couple shows their marriage as a way they can live out their Christian baptismal faith. Catholics and most Christian marriages comprise of three key characteristics: their everlasting obligation to one another, their unconditional love and care for one another, and intention to have and care for children. Holy Orders The sacrament of Holy Orders (Ordination) is when a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon is the ordained, and who vows to lead other Catholics or Christians by bringing them the sacraments, by proclaiming the Gospel, and by providing other means to holiness (especially the Eucharist). The Holy Orders provides these individuals who are called upon to assist others the opportunity to do that with serving others onto their sacred journey. This provides them the power to execute certain sacraments and rituals in the Catholic faith. Anointing of the Sick Anointing of the Sick (formally known as the Last Rites) is the sacrament that gives individuals who are suffering help. This may heal them or provide them the grace and power they need to tolerate their illness and make penance with God. Under this sacrament, the priest uses his hands on the forehead, nostrils, cheeks, lips, breast, palms of both hands, and the back of the hands (known to some as motion of lying of the hands). Then the priest speaks the words from the prayer of the gospel for behalf of the sick along with the blessing of anointing with oil; to bring the sick closer to understanding their belief and journey at that present moment in time with God. Also, this sacrament celebrates the resurrection in several ways. This helps the person to be less scared on whats to happen or whats to come if they were to pass on. A sacrament gives grace of and by itself, by the power it possesses. Jesus attached grace to the outward sign, so that that outward sign and grace go together. The blessed sacraments are quite amazing: these are everyday signs of Gods personal work. Gods wisdom showed his grace in a noticeable way to provide all of us the quieting belief when one receives grace, when he provided it. And Christ gave us several wonderful gifts. And in his sacraments, he continues to supply those gifts to us, away from all measures, at any time we require them. The Orthodox and Anglican traditions also practice all seven sacraments. Other Christian denominations only celebrate baptism and communion.

Relationship Between Mosquito Breeding And Environment

Relationship Between Mosquito Breeding And Environment Mosquitoes are widely known throughout the world and mosquito using several water bodies for breeding (WHO, 1982). Larval species can be found in almost every type of non-flowing aquatic habitat from the marshy edges of large lakes, provided that fish or tadpoles are not present through swamps and marshes of all types and sizes along sections of rivers, streams, or ditches where the water is not flowing to small collections of water in rock crevices, tree or stump holes, leaves of pitcher-plants and artificial containers (Wood, Dang and Ellis, 1979). The climatic and environmental factors are influenced directly and indirectly to the distribution of mosquitoes (Mafiana et al., 1998). Mosquitoes prefer an environment with certain resources which are food, shelter, favourable temperature, rainfall, breeding site and suitable humidity in sufficient amount and at the appropriate time for survival and development for the eggs of female mosquito to hatch (Romoser Stoffolano, 1998). The breeding of various mosquito species is recently increase contributed of the recent increase in ecological and environmental modification due to agricultural activities and urbanization (Amusan et al., 2005). Temperature and the availability of appropriate aquatic breeding habitats are the two environmental variables that most impact the abundance of mosquitoes. Temperature impacts both the survivorship and developmental rate of mosquitoes; surface wetness, as mentioned above, limits the population size of sub-adult mosquitoes. These two parameters, temperature and surface wetness, will be used to force the model mosquito population (Kettle, 1995). Constant studies on biology and larval ecology of mosquitoes have been observed as important tools in mosquito control. Such studies will help to determine the existing and disappearing mosquito species and the extent of their distribution (Mafiana et al., 1998 Anyanwu et al., 1999). Mosquito can cause more human suffering than any other organisms. Mosquito bite cause severe skin irritation through an allergic reaction to the mosquitos saliva which can cause human skin red bump and itching. Mosquito also carry disease that afflict human such a s malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis and dengue virus which a mosquito bites infected the host, the virus will be transferred into it, and the transmission chain starts again (WHO, 1997). The life cycle of the mosquito is begins with the female mosquito will lay eggs at any surface water, which hatches as a larvae in the right conditions. The larvae then develop into several instar stages before entering pupation. After the pupation, the mosquito emerges as an adult which is also called as amigo. Adults generally mate within the first few hours of emergence, and then the adults will rests on the surface water for a short time to allow itself to dry and all its body parts to harden. Blood feeding does not occur for a couple of days after the adults emerge including the mating. Once fully developed, the female mosquito will proceed to find a protein source for their eggs which is blood. After biting, the female rests while take care of their eggs and repeat thegonotrophic cycle again. 1.3 Significances of study Environment plays an important role on life cycle of mosquito. So, in this study and research, it can show us the interactions between environment and life cycle of mosquito. In this research study, I would like to know the effects of environmental factors such as pH, rainfall and temperature of the site on mosquito abundance by using the larvae one. Mosquito abundance is actually relate with the amount of rainfall and contribute to increase the number of larval breeding sites, the spatial relationship between larval habitat availability and adult mosquito abundance is not clear. In these study also, I would know the disease that mosquito can bring which effect the human health. We can know that mosquitoes are a vector agent that carries disease causing viruses and parasites from person to person without catching the disease themselves. Furthermore, I will know the methods used for mosquito control that can reduce the disease that mosquito can bring to human. Depending on the situation, source reduction, biocontrol, insecticides to kill larvae and to be specific, the adults may be used to manage mosquito populations. In these research study also, we would like to know when the suitable breeding time for mosquito is actually. It is said that many species disappear almost completely during the dry season and it will be most productive towards the end or just after the wet season, when most species will have built up to a peak and the limits of the breeding sites have temporarily stabilized. 1.4 Problem Statement Mosquito had been known for a century which is they carry diseases which can cause human to death. These can be described as the mosquito can cause more human suffering than any other organism. Furthermore, mosquito bite can cause severe skin irritation through an allergic reaction to the mosquitos saliva which can cause humans skin itching and red bump. Mosquito carry several diseases which are malaria, filarial diseases (dog heart worm), viruse dengue, encephalitis and yellow fever. These diseases can suffer human being and can cause human being to death. Nowadays, mosquito distribution is increasing in Malaysia because of certain conditions that contribute to mosquito breeding. More than that, population in Malaysia also increases by year to year. So, this also will increase the number of cases that inflict the human by mosquito. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Environment In general, environment is actually referred to the surrounding of something or an object. The natural environment is contrast with the built environment which includes the areas and components that are strongly influenced by the human. An ecosystem is a kind of natural which include all of plants, animals and microorganisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment. There have been several studies that have focused on how environmental factors affect the mosquitoes breed (Yee 2008). The environmental factors and climatic are influenced the distribution of mosquitoes which in directly or not (Mafiana et al., 1998). Mosquitoes prefer an environment with certain condition that help their breeding which in appropriate amout and time for survival and development (Romoser Stoffolano, 1998). 2.2 Biodiversity 2.3 Mosquito Mosquitoes are insects belonging to the order Diptera, the True Flies. Like all True Flies, they have two wings, but unlike other flies, mosquito wings have scales. Female mosquitoes mouthparts form a long piercing-sucking proboscis. Males differ from females by having feathery antennae and mouthparts not suitable for piercing skin. A mosquitos principal food is nectar or similar sugar source. There are over 2500 different species of mosquitoes throughout the world; about 200 species occur in the United States with 77 species occurring in Florida (Darsie et al., 2002). 2.3.1 Life Cycle of Mosquito The mosquito is actually been through four separate and distinct stages of its life cycle which are egg, larva, pupa and adult. Eggs are laid one at a time or attached together to form rafts. They float on the surface of the water. Most eggs hatch into larvae within 48 hours, others might withstand subzero winters before hatching. Water is a necessary part of their habitat. The larva lives in the water and comes to the surface to breathe. Larvae shed their skins four times, growing larger after each shed. The larvae feed on microorganisms and organic matter in the water. During the fourth molt the larva changes into a pupa. The pupa stage is a resting time which is non-feeding stage of development but pupa are mobile, responding to the light changes and moving with a flip of their tails towards the bottom or protective areas. This is the time the mosquito changes into an adult. When development is complete, the pupa skin splits and the adult mosquito (imago) emerges. The newly emerged adult rests on the surface of the water for a short time to allow itself to dry and all its body parts to harden. The wings have to spread out and dry properly before it can fly. Blood feeding and mating does not occur for a couple of days after the adults emerge. 2.3.2 Transmission Virus transmission of mosquito will affect the human after being bitten and human is the reservoir of the virus. In mosquito, the virus will take for about 8 to 10 days to develop. A female mosquito may transmit the virus to its progeny through transovarian transmission, but it is not frequent. These virus or disease from mosquito will transmit into human circulation during the blood meal time. The virus will develop in the human circulation which the human incubation period takes about 3 to 14 days. If a mosquito bites, the virus will then transmit into the host and the transmission chain starts again (WHO, 1997). Vertical transmission of dengue virus is very rare. Nonetheless, 2 cases were reported in Malaysia in 1996 (Chye et al., 1997). 2.3.3 Factor Contribute to the Disease Outbreak The occurrence of mosquito disease is depends of several factors, including the density of mosquito vectors. For example the dengue virus which is carried by the Aedes aegypti that is needed to sustain dengue virus transmission epidemically or endemically has yet to be determined. Virus transmission increased by denser human population. Urbanization in tropical countries has resulted in both a proliferation of Aedes aegypti and an increase in the number of susceptible human hosts (WHO, 1997). According to McMichael and Woodruff (2008), mosquito borne infections tend to increase with warming and certain changes in rainfall pattern. Higher rainfall will heighten the disease transmission. Therefore, climate change will affect the potential, seasonal transmission and geographic range of various vector borne diseases. These diseases would include all water borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever (Haines et al., 2006). Climate change will affect the biodiversity and the ecosystem goods and services that we rely to human health. Changes in temperature and rainfall effect the distribution of the diseases vectors, such as Aedes mosquitoes (Haines et al., 2006). Recent reviews suggest that dengues range and incidence may be changing as a result of climate change (Gubler, 2002). Most of the transmissions of mosquito borne diseases are sensitive to weather conditions for several reasons here, mosquito need standing water to breed, and a warmer temperature is critical to adult feeding behavior, the rate of larval development and speed of replicate of virus (Hales and Panhius, 2001). Haines et al., (2006) stated that changes in climate that can affect the transmission of vector borne infectious disease include temperature, rainfall changes, humidity, soil moisture and sea level rise and it will cause the variation of the overall incidence of the disease, where less, the geographical distribution of disease also change. 2.3.4 Breeding and Larval Habitat According to Queensland Government (2005), the mosquito is frequents backyards in search of containers holding water inside or outside the home. For example cans, buckets, jars, pot plants dishes, vases, birdbaths, boats, discarded with no rims tyres, roof gutters blocked by leaves, containers, tarpaulins and black plastic. It also can breed in natural containers like fallen palm fronds. Besides that, even in a drier condition it also breeds in water in subterranean sites such as wells, telecommunication pits, sump pits and gully traps. Furthermore, according to Queensland Government (2005) also stated that climate of tropical and subtropical regions are very suitable for mosquito breeding. This is because of high temperature and high appearance of quiescent water body. With this, it makes the climate in Malaysia is tropical and the temperature are within 20Â °C to 30Â °C throughout the year and with high average rainfall which is almost 2500mm in the Peninsular Malaysia and it is become the most suitable breeding conditions and habitat for mosquito. 2.2.5 Ecology of the Mosquito Breeding Site

Deforestation: Conservation and Sociological Effects Essay -- Environm

Deforestation: Conservation and Sociological Effects Introduction Top Forests have covered the earth for millions of years, providing habitat and food for animals and humans. These forests have stabilized different ecosystems and have continued the natural cycle that keeps plants and animals in check. The discovery of fire changed all of this. It was the beginning of deforestation, a process that has continued and increased over the last 200,000 years. Humans are the responsible party for the deforestation that has occurred. Humans discovered that animals could be driven with fire. This led to accelerated forest loss due to uncontrolled burning for hunting use (Miller & Tangley 1991: 28). Agriculture was the next problem discovery. Agriculture introduced land clearing of forested areas for crops. Suddenly forests were being destroyed at a faster rate. The 18th and 19th centuries brought about the Industrial Revolution, and soon people were moving from the rural country to the more urbanized cities for job reasons. Forests were cleared for villages that turned into small towns that became cities. As the cities grew more forest was cleared. The solution to space needs was solved by clearing more forest. This was the history of many of the more developed nations (Richard & Tucker 1988: 213). The United States has been irresponsible in the past with handling their forests. The focus was on industry, consumerism and success. There was no room for saving the forests. There are different stories in other countries. Deforestation is also a problem in third world countries, but for different reasons. The first half of the deforestation history is similar, but development didn't go quite like that of Western Europe and the Unite... ...urning, Alan Thein. Saving the Forests: What Will It Take? Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, 1993. Gradwohl, Judith, and Russell Greenberg. Saving the Tropical Forests. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1988. Miller, Kenton, and Laura Tangley. Trees of Life. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1991. Peluso, Nancy Lee. Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control and Resistance in Java. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992. Richards, John F., and Richard P. Tucker. World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1988. Schmidt, Ralph, Joyce K. Berry, John C. Gordon. Forests to Fight Poverty. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Vandermeer, John H., and Ivette Perfecto. Breakfast of Biodiversity. Oakland, CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1995. Deforestation: Conservation and Sociological Effects Essay -- Environm Deforestation: Conservation and Sociological Effects Introduction Top Forests have covered the earth for millions of years, providing habitat and food for animals and humans. These forests have stabilized different ecosystems and have continued the natural cycle that keeps plants and animals in check. The discovery of fire changed all of this. It was the beginning of deforestation, a process that has continued and increased over the last 200,000 years. Humans are the responsible party for the deforestation that has occurred. Humans discovered that animals could be driven with fire. This led to accelerated forest loss due to uncontrolled burning for hunting use (Miller & Tangley 1991: 28). Agriculture was the next problem discovery. Agriculture introduced land clearing of forested areas for crops. Suddenly forests were being destroyed at a faster rate. The 18th and 19th centuries brought about the Industrial Revolution, and soon people were moving from the rural country to the more urbanized cities for job reasons. Forests were cleared for villages that turned into small towns that became cities. As the cities grew more forest was cleared. The solution to space needs was solved by clearing more forest. This was the history of many of the more developed nations (Richard & Tucker 1988: 213). The United States has been irresponsible in the past with handling their forests. The focus was on industry, consumerism and success. There was no room for saving the forests. There are different stories in other countries. Deforestation is also a problem in third world countries, but for different reasons. The first half of the deforestation history is similar, but development didn't go quite like that of Western Europe and the Unite... ...urning, Alan Thein. Saving the Forests: What Will It Take? Washington, D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, 1993. Gradwohl, Judith, and Russell Greenberg. Saving the Tropical Forests. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1988. Miller, Kenton, and Laura Tangley. Trees of Life. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1991. Peluso, Nancy Lee. Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control and Resistance in Java. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992. Richards, John F., and Richard P. Tucker. World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1988. Schmidt, Ralph, Joyce K. Berry, John C. Gordon. Forests to Fight Poverty. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Vandermeer, John H., and Ivette Perfecto. Breakfast of Biodiversity. Oakland, CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1995.

Inclusion in the Classroom Essay -- essays papers Education Special Ne

Inclusion in the Classroom Inclusion can be defined as the act of being present at regular education classes with the support and services needed to successfully achieve educational goals. Inclusion in the scholastic environment benefits both the disabled student and the non-disabled student in obtaining better life skills. By including all students as much as possible in general or regular education classes all students can learn to work cooperatively, learn to work with different kinds of people, and learn how to help people in tasks. â€Å"As Stainback, Stainback, East, and Sapon-Shevin (1994) have noted, ‘...the goal of inclusion in schools is to create a world in which all people are knowledgeable about and supportive of all other people,’† (Whitworth, 1999) Of the many benefits aspects for children placed in inclusion classrooms, there is none more important than the academic benefits. One way that students benefit is by learning skills of independence. Special needs students learn to depend on themselves first and then ask for help when they really need it. In the inclusive setting there won’t be as much of an opportunity for teachers or aids to assist all of the students. All children are taught through new and sometimes improved methods when put into an inclusion classroom. Teachers , through training, will learn different methods of teaching concepts that may make it easier for students to understand. Difficult concepts in math, such as volume, may be taught in a new and easy to understand way. In a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University (Success For All) it was determined that in an inclusion setting â€Å"assessments showed improved reading performance for all students, the most dramatic improvements o... ...d students gain better life skills and a better understanding of others. Reference List: Walker, K. E., & Ovington, J. A. (1998, September 6). Inclusion and its effects on students. Electric Journal for Inclusive Education, Vol. 1 Ed. 2. Retrieved October 31, 2002, from http://www.cehs.wright. edu/~prenick/JournalArchives/Winter-1999/inclusion.html Whitworth, J. W. (1998). A model for inclusive teacher preparation. Electric Journal for Inclusive Education, Vol. 1 Ed. 2. Retrieved October 31, 2002, from http://www.cehs.wright.edu/~prenick/ JounalArchives/Winter-1999/whitworth.html Stout, Katie S.(2001, November 5). Special education inclusion. Wisconsin Education Association Council.Retrieved November 28, 2002, from http://www.weac.org/resource/june96/speced.htm Special education in the regular classroom.(1969). New York, NY: The John Day Company, Inc. Inclusion in the Classroom Essay -- essays papers Education Special Ne Inclusion in the Classroom Inclusion can be defined as the act of being present at regular education classes with the support and services needed to successfully achieve educational goals. Inclusion in the scholastic environment benefits both the disabled student and the non-disabled student in obtaining better life skills. By including all students as much as possible in general or regular education classes all students can learn to work cooperatively, learn to work with different kinds of people, and learn how to help people in tasks. â€Å"As Stainback, Stainback, East, and Sapon-Shevin (1994) have noted, ‘...the goal of inclusion in schools is to create a world in which all people are knowledgeable about and supportive of all other people,’† (Whitworth, 1999) Of the many benefits aspects for children placed in inclusion classrooms, there is none more important than the academic benefits. One way that students benefit is by learning skills of independence. Special needs students learn to depend on themselves first and then ask for help when they really need it. In the inclusive setting there won’t be as much of an opportunity for teachers or aids to assist all of the students. All children are taught through new and sometimes improved methods when put into an inclusion classroom. Teachers , through training, will learn different methods of teaching concepts that may make it easier for students to understand. Difficult concepts in math, such as volume, may be taught in a new and easy to understand way. In a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University (Success For All) it was determined that in an inclusion setting â€Å"assessments showed improved reading performance for all students, the most dramatic improvements o... ...d students gain better life skills and a better understanding of others. Reference List: Walker, K. E., & Ovington, J. A. (1998, September 6). Inclusion and its effects on students. Electric Journal for Inclusive Education, Vol. 1 Ed. 2. Retrieved October 31, 2002, from http://www.cehs.wright. edu/~prenick/JournalArchives/Winter-1999/inclusion.html Whitworth, J. W. (1998). A model for inclusive teacher preparation. Electric Journal for Inclusive Education, Vol. 1 Ed. 2. Retrieved October 31, 2002, from http://www.cehs.wright.edu/~prenick/ JounalArchives/Winter-1999/whitworth.html Stout, Katie S.(2001, November 5). Special education inclusion. Wisconsin Education Association Council.Retrieved November 28, 2002, from http://www.weac.org/resource/june96/speced.htm Special education in the regular classroom.(1969). New York, NY: The John Day Company, Inc.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 23~25

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Clair Stirs a Brainstorm For all his admiration for the field biologists he'd worked with over the years, secretly Clay harbored one tiny bit of ego-preserving superiority over them: At the end of the day, they were going to have only nicked the surface of the knowledge they were trying to attain, but if Clay got the pictures, he went home a satisfied man. Even around Nathan Quinn he'd exercised an attitude of rascally smugness, teasing about his friend's ongoing frustration. For Clay it was get the pictures and what's for dinner? Until now. Now he had his own mysteries to contend with, and he couldn't help but think that the powers of irony were flexing their muscles to get back at him for his having lived carefree for so long. Kona, on the other hand, had long paid homage to his fear of irony by, like many surfers, never eating shark meat. â€Å"I don't eat them, they don't eat me. That's just how it work.† But now he, too, was feeling the sawtoothed edge of irony's bite, for, having spent most of his time from the age of thirteen knocking the edge off his mental acuity by the concerted application of the most epic smokage that Jah could provide (thanks be unto Him), he was now being called upon to think and remember with a sharpness that was clearly painful. â€Å"Think,† said Clair, rapping the surfer in the forehead with the spoon she had only seconds earlier used to stir honey into a cup of calming herbal tea. â€Å"Ouch,† said Kona. â€Å"Hey, that's uncalled for,† said Clay, coming to Kona's aid. Loyalty being important to him. â€Å"Shut up. You're next.† â€Å"Okay.† They were gathered around Clay's giant monitor, which, for all the good it was doing them, could have been a giant monitor lizard. A spectrogram of whale song from Quinn's computer was splashed across the screen, and for the information they were getting from it, it might have been the aftermath of a paint-ball war, which is what it looked like. â€Å"What were they doing, Kona?† Clair asked, spoon – steaming with herbal calmness – poised to strike. As a teacher of fourth-graders in a public school, where corporal punishment was not allowed, she had years of violence stored up and was, truth be told, sort of enjoying letting it out on Kona, who she felt could have been the poster child for the failure of public education. â€Å"Nate and Amy both went through this with you. Now you have to remember what they said.† â€Å"It's not these things, it's the oscilloscope,† Kona said. â€Å"Nate pulled out just the submarine stuff and put it on the spectrum.† â€Å"It's all submarine,† Clay said. â€Å"You mean subsonic.† â€Å"Yeah. He said there was something in there. I said like computer language. Ones and ohs.† â€Å"That doesn't help.† â€Å"He was marking them out by hand,† Kona said. â€Å"By freezing the green line, then measuring the peaks and troughs. He said that the signal could carry a lot more information that way, but the whales would have to have oscilloscopes and computers to do it.† Clay and Clair both turned to the surfer in amazement. â€Å"And they don't,† Kona said. â€Å"Duh.† It was as if a storm of coherence had come over him. They just stared. Kona shrugged. â€Å"Just don't hit me with the spoon again.† Clay pushed his chair back to let the surfer at the keyboard. â€Å"Show me.† Late into the night the three of them worked, making little marks on printouts of the oscilloscope and recording them on yellow legal pads. Ones and ohs. Clair went to bed at 2:00 A.M. At 3:00 A.M. they had fifty handwritten legal-pad pages of ones and ohs. In another time this might have felt to Clay like a job well done. He'd helped analyze data on shipboard before. It killed some time and ingratiated him to whatever scientist was leading the project he was there to photograph, but he'd always been able to hand off the work for someone else to finish. It was slowly dawning on him: Being a scientist sucked. â€Å"This sucks,† said Kona. â€Å"No it doesn't. Look at all we have,† said Clay, gesturing to all they had. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"It's a lot, that's what it is. Look at all of it.† â€Å"What's it mean?† â€Å"No idea.† â€Å"What does this have to do with Nate and the Snowy Biscuit?† â€Å"Just look at all of this,† said Clay, looking at all of it. Kona got up from his chair and rolled his shoulders. â€Å"Mon, Bwana Clay, Jah has given you a big heart. I'm goin' to bed.† â€Å"What are you saying?† Clay said. â€Å"We got all the heart we need, brah. We need head.† † ‘Scuse me?† And so, in the morning, with the promise of a colossal piece of information for barter (the torpedo range) but without a true indication of what he really needed to know in return (everything else), Clay talked Libby Quinn into coming to Papa Lani. â€Å"So let me get this straight,† said Libby Quinn as she paced from Clay's computer to the kitchen and back. Kona and Clay were standing to the side, following her movement like dogs watching meatball tennis. â€Å"You've got an old woman who claims that a whale called her and instructed her to have Nate take him a pastrami sandwich?† â€Å"On rye, with Swiss and hot mustard,† Kona added, not wanting her to miss any pertinent scientific details. â€Å"And you have a recording of voices, underwater, presumably military, asking if someone brought them a sandwich.† â€Å"Correct,† said Kona, â€Å"No bread, or meat, or cheese, specified.† Libby glared at him. â€Å"And you have the navy setting off simulated explosions in preparation to put a torpedo range in the middle of the Humpback Whale Sanctuary.† She paused meaningfully and pivoted thoughtfully – like Hercule Poirot in flip-flops. â€Å"You have a tape of Amy doing a breath-hold dive for what appears to be an hour, with no ill effects.† â€Å"Topless,† Kona added. Science. â€Å"You have Amy claiming that Nate was eaten by a whale, which we all know is simply not possible, given the diameter of the humpback's throat, even if one were inclined to bite him, which we know they wouldn't.† (She was just a deerstalker, a calabash, and a cocaine habit short of being Sherlock Holmes here.) â€Å"Then you have Amy taking a kayak out for no apparent reason and disappearing, presumed drowned. And you say that Nate was working on finding binary in the lower registers of the whale song, and you think that means something? Have I got that right?† â€Å"Yeah,† said Clay. â€Å"But you have the break-in to our offices to get the sound tapes, and you have my boat being sunk, too. Okay, it sounded more connected when we were talking about it last night.† Libby Quinn stopped pacing and turned to look at both of them. She wore cargo shorts, tech sandals, and a running bra and appeared ready at any moment to just take off and do something outdoorsy and strenuous. They both looked down, subdued, as if they were still under the threat of Clair's deadly spoon of calm. Clay had always had a secret attraction to Libby, even while she'd been married to Quinn, and it was only within the last year or so he'd been able to make eye contact with her at all. Kona, on the other hand, had studied dozens of videotapes on the lesbian lifestyle, especially as it pertained to having a third party show up in the middle of an intimate moment (usually with a pizza), so he had long ago assigned a ;hot; rating to Libby, despite the fact that she was twice his age. â€Å"Help us,† Kona said, trying to sound pathetic, staring at the floor. â€Å"This is what you guys have, and you think because I know a little biology I can make something of all this?† â€Å"And that,† said Clay, pointing at the now arranged and collated pages of ones and ohs on his desk. Libby walked over and flipped through the pages. â€Å"Clay, this is nothing. I can't do anything with this. Even if Nate was on to something, what do you think? That even if we recognize a pattern, it's going to mean something to us? Look, Clay, I loved Nate, too, you know I did, but –  » â€Å"Just tell us where to start,† Kona said. â€Å"And tell me if you see anything in this.† Clay went to his computer and hit a key. A still of the edge view of the whale tail from his rebreather dive was on the screen. â€Å"Nate said that he had seen some markings on a whale tail, Libby. Some writing. Well, I thought there was something on this whale, too, before it knocked me out. But this is the best shot of the tail we have. It could mean something.† â€Å"Like what?† Her voice was kind. â€Å"I don't know what, Libby. If I knew what, I wouldn't have called you. But there's too much weird stuff going on that almost fits together, and we don't know what to do.† Libby studied the tail still. â€Å"There is something there. You don't have a better shot?† â€Å"No, this is something I do know about. This is the best I have.† â€Å"You know, Margaret and I were helping a guy from Texas A&.M who was designing a software program that would shift perspective of tail shots, so edge and bad-angle views could be shifted and extrapolated into usable ID photos. You know how many get tossed because of bad angles?† â€Å"You have this program?† â€Å"Yes, it's still in beta tests, but it works. I think we can shift this shot, and if there's something meaningful there, we'll see it.† â€Å"Cool runnings,† Kona said. â€Å"As far as this binary thing, I think it's a shot in the dark, but if it's going to mean anything, you're going to have to get your ones and ohs in the computer. Kona, can you type?† â€Å"Well, on ones and ohs? I shred most masterful, mon.† â€Å"Right. I'll set you up with a simple text file – just ones and ohs – and we'll figure out if we can do anything with it later. No mistakes, okay?† Kona nodded. Clay finally looked up and smiled. â€Å"Thanks, Libby.† â€Å"I'm not saying it's anything, Clay, but I wasn't exactly fair to Nate when he was around. Maybe I owe him one now that he's gone. Besides, it's windy. Fieldwork would have sucked today. I'm going to call Margaret, have her bring the program over. I'll help you if you promise that you'll put all your weight into stopping this torpedo range and you'll sign Maui Whale on to the petition against low-frequency active sonar. You guys have a problem with that?† She was giving them the â€Å"spoon of death† look, and it occurred to both of them that this might be something that was innate to all women, not just Clair, and that they should be very, very afraid. â€Å"Nope,† said Kona. â€Å"Sounds good to me. I'll put on a pot of coffee,† said Clay. â€Å"Margaret is absolutely going to shit when she hears about the torpedo range,† said Libby Quinn as she reached for Clay's phone. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Orientation to the Blues A small explosion went off over his head, and Nate dove under the table. When he looked up, Emily 7 was bent over staring at him with her watery whale eyes and a mild expression of distress, and Nu;ez was crouched at the other end of the table smiling. â€Å"That was the blow, Nate,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"A little more intense than the humpback's, huh? These ships act like real whales, remember. The blowhole is right above our heads. Vented to the rest of the ship, but, you know, every twenty minutes or so it's going to go. You get used to it.† â€Å"Sure, I knew that,† said Nate, crawling out from under the table. He'd been out off of Santa Cruz searching for the blues. You usually found them by the sound of their blows, which you could hear up to a mile and a half away. He looked up, expecting to see sky through the blowhole, but instead he saw just more smooth whaleskin. â€Å"They behave like whales, but the physiology is completely different to allow for the living quarters. I don't really understand it, but for instance the blowhole is vented down the sides somewhere to some axillary lungs that do the oxygen exchange with the blood. I don't know how they got us electricity at all. I mean, I said I wanted a coffeepot, and they put in an outlet. There are circuits all over the bridge for our machinery. The other bodily functions seem to be handled by smaller versions of liver, kidneys, and so forth around the outside of the cabins. The main spine runs over the top of the ship. There's no digestive system. The ship's digestive system is at the base; it hooks up and pumps nutrient-rich blood into the ship, which stores enough energy in blubber to run it for six months at sea, or around the world at least once. We can cruise at twenty knots as long as no one is watching.† â€Å"What do you mean, ‘no one is watching'?† â€Å"I mean you guys. Biologists. If one of you guys is watching us, we have to slow it down after a couple of hours. Especially if we're tagged.† â€Å"This ship has been satellite-tagged? What do you do?† â€Å"We go to silent running for a while. Then we dive, and one of the whaley boys goes outside and pulls the tag off. We've been tagged twice by that Bruce Mate guy from Oregon State. That guy's a menace. Probably has a satellite tag on his wife to track her trips to the can. If they'd asked me, he'd be the one riding with us now.† â€Å"You know who he is?† Nate was aghast. As a scientist, you were always fighting being overwhelmed by what you don't know, but the magnitude of this whole operation – it was too much. â€Å"Of course. Since commercial whaling backed off, cetacean biologists have been the main focus of our intelligence program. Why do you think you're here?† â€Å"Okay, why am I here?† â€Å"I don't know the whole story, but it's something to do with the song. Evidently you were a little too close to finding our signal in the song, so they yanked you.† â€Å"The aliens were that interested in what I was doing?† â€Å"What aliens?† â€Å"These aliens,† Nate said, nodding toward the pilots and Bernard and Emily 7, who had moved to another table on the other side of the corridor. â€Å"The whaley boys aren't aliens. Who told you that?† â€Å"Well, Poynter and Poe implied that they were.† â€Å"Those jerks. No, they're not aliens. They're a little weird, but not from-another-planet weird.† Bernard looked up from what appeared to be a chart of some sort and gave a half-assed signature raspberry. â€Å"They do that a lot,† Nate said. â€Å"If you had a tongue four inches wide, you'd do that a lot, too. It's sort of a display move with them, like the penis waving that Bernard was doing.† â€Å"Like male killer whales do.† â€Å"Bingo. See, a guy with your background, this is easy to explain. I didn't understand squat at first.† â€Å"I'm sorry, but I can't believe that this ship, the whaley boys, the whole perfection of the way they work, could possibly be products of natural selection. There had to be a design. Someone made all this.† Cielle nodded, smiling. â€Å"I've known a number of scientists in my lifetime, Nate, but I'm sure this is the first time I've heard one arguing in favor of a grand designer. What's that called, the ‘watchmaker argument'?† She was right, of course. It was an accepted premise that intelligent design in nature was not necessarily a product of intelligence, but merely the mechanism of natural selection of traits for survival and really, really long periods of time for the selections to assert themselves. Nate's life's work had been built on that assumption, but now he was giving Darwin the old heave-ho simply because his – Nate's – mind was too small to adapt to the idea of this craft. Well, yes, damn it. Screw Darwin. This was too strange. â€Å"I'm sorry, I'm just having a little trouble getting my head around this. I don't know how you take to being a prisoner, but I don't care for it. On top of that, I could barely sleep on the humpback with the blow going off every few minutes, and I haven't eaten anything but raw fish and water for about five days. I'd be addled even if this didn't seem impossible.† Bernard made a whimpering noise, and Skippy and Scooter followed along in a moment until they sounded like a basketful of hungry puppies, and then they all broke out into wheezing snickers. Emily 7 frowned at them. â€Å"Of course, I understand, Nate,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"Maybe you should finish up your coffee and go to your quarters. I have a few sports shakes in my cabin that will get some carbohydrates to your brain, and I can get you something to help you sleep – the ship's doctor has a full stock of Pharmaceuticals.† She patted his hand maternally. Nate felt a little ashamed for having complained. â€Å"You're not the only human on this ship, then?† â€Å"No, there are four humans and six whaley boys on board. The others are in their quarters. But they're all excited to meet you. Everyone's been talking about it for weeks.† â€Å"You've known for weeks you were going to take me?† â€Å"Well, sort of. We were on standby. We just got the go-ahead the day before we took you.† â€Å"And you, and the rest of the crew, you're prisoners, too?† â€Å"Nate, every person on this ship, on any whale ship, has been pulled out of a sinking or sunken ship, a plane crash at sea, or some other disaster that would have killed them. This is a gift of time, and frankly, once you accept where you are and what you're doing, I'm going to ask you where you'd rather be. Okay?† Nate searched her face for any sign of sarcasm or malice. All he found was a gentle smile. â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"You go to your quarters now. I'll send around your supplies in a bit. Bernard, would you show Dr. Quinn to his quarters?† â€Å"I'm not really a doctor,† Nate whispered. â€Å"Take whatever respect you can get from them, Nate.† Bernard waited at the entry to the corridor, rubbing his shiny-smooth stomach and grinning. A white coffee mug stood out in contrast against Bernard's abdomen, suspended as it was in the grasp of his penis. â€Å"I've always wanted to do that,† said Nate, deciding that he wasn't going to let the whaley boy get the satisfaction of intimidating him. â€Å"Would be really handy for driving.† Nate bowed toward the corridor. â€Å"Lead on, Bernard.† Bernard skulked down the hall in what would have been a full pout posture, had he any lips to do the actual pouting. He spilled a trail of coffee along the way. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The Inner Secrets of Cetacean Sluts Nate was just settling into the idea of the organic bunk he was going to be sleeping on before actually settling into the bed. He was not a God kind of guy, but he found himself thanking one nonetheless for the crisp cotton sheets and pillowcase on a feather pillow. He didn't think he really wanted to sleep with his face against whaleskin. There was a soft whistle outside the portal, and the great flap of skin retracted to open to the corridor. Emily 7 stood there with a tray that held two cans of protein shake, a glass of water, and a single small pill. She grinned but did not try to step into the cabin. The small portal required a bit of a crouching and climbing action for Nate to enter, so he guessed she'd dump the tray trying to get through. Then again, she might just be trying to be polite. She waited while Nate took the cans from the tray and set them on the low table, then swung around to take the pill and water from her. Emily 7 whistled and gave him a sidelong glance, causing her right eye to bulge out at him, as he'd actually seen humpbacks do when checking out a boat at the surface. She gestured for him to take the pill. â€Å"You're not leaving until you see me take my medicine?† Emily 7 nodded. â€Å"Well, I guess if you guys wanted to get rid of me, it would have been a lot easier to kill me without bringing me all the way out here to poison me.† Nate took the pill, downed the water, and opened his mouth to show that the pill was gone. â€Å"That okay, nurse?† Emily whistled and nodded, then gently took the empty glass from Nate's hand. She reached up to hit the node, and the portal closed between them. Nate heard her whistle the first few bars of a lullaby. She's sweet, Nate thought, in a tall, malevolent rubber-puppet sort of way. For almost a week the only sleep Nate had been able to get was while he was restrained in the chair in the humpback, and even then it was restless – with the ship blowing every few minutes and the whaley boys whistling communications – so, despite the blow of the blue-whale ship, he fell into a deep sleep filled with vivid dreams. He dreamed of himself and Amy, their naked bodies entwined, slick with sweat under soft candlelight. Strangely, even as he dreamed, he had the semilucid thought that before, whenever he'd taken a sleeping pill, he didn't remember ever dreaming. But that thought was pushed away by the feel of Amy's smooth skin, his fingers softly caressing her muscular legs, her four long, webbed fingers wrapped lovingly around his – â€Å"Hey!† Nate opened his eyes. A softly lit fence of spiky teeth smiled over at him, steamy fish breath washed over his face. â€Å"Uh-oh,† said Emily 7, her voice high and rasping, verging on duck-speak. Nate leaped out of bed and bounced off the wall on the other side of the cabin. Emily 7 pulled the sheet up over her head and burrowed against the wall, digging her melon under the pillow. Then she lay still. Nate stood trying to catch his breath. As soon as he'd hit the floor, the biolighting had come up to high. He pushed back against the flexible wall, then suddenly became self-conscious and pulled his T-shirt off the back of the chair to cover his erection, which was rapidly losing its will to live. She was just lying there. â€Å"Hello? I can see you.† Curled up. Not moving. There under the sheets. All whaley. â€Å"You aren't fooling anyone. You're bigger than I am. You're not hidden.† Just the soft sound of her blowhole opening and closing. Nate realized that it might be easier to hide under the covers if one had a blowhole, as one could cover one's mouth and face and still breathe. Addled by sleep deprivation, residual sleep medication, two cups of coffee, and now a few endorphins, he started to speculate on how a creature might adapt for hiding under the covers, then shook off the biologist rising up in him. â€Å"Come on, we're different species and stuff. That's creepy.† Now a bit of a squeak, more like a whimper, followed by a tiny â€Å"Uh-oh,† like a small elf had been mashed under the covers with a heavy book and had uh-ohed its last pathetic gasp. â€Å"Well, you can't stay here.† He remembered how he'd felt when Libby had left him and by way of explanation she'd said, â€Å"Nate, I don't know, I don't even feel like we're the same species.† At the time he'd felt as if his stomach were being turned inside out. It had ruined him socially for more than a year. Longer than that if he counted the fiasco attraction to Amy. He stepped over to the bunk. Emily 7 scrunched into the corner between the wall and the bed. Nate worked the edge of the sheet loose and cautiously slid one leg under the covers. The lump that was Emily 7's head moved as if she was listening. â€Å"You have to stay on your side, okay?† â€Å"Okay,† wheezed Emily 7 in the mashed-elf voice. Nate awoke to the exhultations of killer whales – high-pitched hunting calls. The pod seemed to be gleefully celebrating a hunt, or at least calling another pod to come along and help. It occurred to him that he was actually riding in a craft that qualified as food for the orcas, and the ship might be in danger of attack. He'd have to ask Nuà ±ez about that. He swung his feet off the bunk, and the lights came up. He realized that he was alone and sighed with relief. There was a fresh set of khakis hung over the chair and a bottle of water on the table. There was a small basin on the wall opposite the bunk, no bigger than a cereal bowl and made out of the same skin as the rest of the ship. He hadn't even noticed it the night before. There were three lit nodules above the basin, like those used to activate the portals, but Nate could see nowhere for the water to come out. He pushed one of the nodules, and the basin started filling from a sphincter in the bottom. He pushed another, and the water was sucked out the same orifice. He tried to foster scientific detachment toward the whole thing but failed miserably: He was creeped out. Nate desperately needed a shave and a shower, but he didn't want to try to wash his whole six-foot-two-inch body in an eight-inch bowl with a†¦ well, a butt hole at the bottom. He'd had just about enough of advanced poop-chute technology, thank you. He splashed some water on his face and dressed in the khakis, wonde ring as he did if the whale ship could actually grow a mirror for him to shave in if he needed it. The whole crew appeared to be up and milling about the bridge when Nate came in. There were four whaley boys at the table with the charts to the right of the hatch, the two pilots at their consoles. Nuà ±ez stood by the table to the left of the hatch, where there were seated a blond woman in her thirties and two men, one dark, perhaps in his early twenties, and one bald and gray-bearded, a healthy fifty, maybe. Not a very military-looking bunch. Everyone turned when Nate came in. All conversations – words or whistles – stopped abruptly. The echo of killer-whale calls bounced around the bridge. Emily 7 turned away from Nate's gaze. Nuà ±ez was leaning against the wall near the nook that housed the coffeepot, actively trying not to look at him. â€Å"Hi,† Nate said, catching eye contact with the bald guy, who smiled. â€Å"Have a seat,† said the bald guy, gesturing toward the empty seat at the table. â€Å"We'll get you something to eat. I'm Cal Burdick.† He shook Nate's hand. â€Å"This is Jane Palovsky and Tim Milam.† â€Å"Jane, Tim,† Nate said, shaking hands. Nuà ±ez smiled at him, then looked away quickly as if the coffeepot needed some immediate attention or she was going to crack up – or both. Everyone at the table nodded, sort of staring at the spot in front of them, like So here we are on a giant blue-whale ship, hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean, with killer whales calling about us, and Nate fucked an alien, so†¦ â€Å"Nothing happened,† Nate said to the whole bridge. â€Å"What?† said Jane. â€Å"Your quarters satisfactory, then?† asked Tim, an eyebrow raised. â€Å"Nothing happened,† Nate repeated, and even though nothing had happened, from the tone of his voice he wouldn't have believed it either. â€Å"Really.† â€Å"Of course,† said Tim. All of the whaley boys except Emily 7 were snickering. When he looked around, all the males were waving their willies back and forth in time in the air, as if swaying to a pornographic Christmas carol. Emily 7 put her big whaley head down on the table and covered it with her arms. â€Å"Nothing happened!† Nate shouted at them. Silence again on the bridge, just the echo of killer-whale calls. â€Å"Are we in danger?† Nate asked Nuà ±ez, trying desperately to change the subject. â€Å"Are they going to attack the ship? Those are feeding calls, right?† Often, when killer whales found a whale that was too big to be taken by their family pod, or when they happened on to an especially rich school of fish, they would call to other pods for help. Nate recognized the calls from some work he'd done with a biologist friend in Vancouver. â€Å"No, these are residents,† Nuà ±ez said. â€Å"They're just excited about a bait ball they've found. Probably sardines.† Resident killer whales ate only fish; transients ate mammals, whales and seals. Over the last few years scientists tended to refer to them as completely different species, even though they appeared the same to the layman. â€Å"You know what they are by their call?† â€Å"More than that,† Cal said, â€Å"we know what they're saying. The whaley boys can translate.† â€Å"All killer whales are named Kevin. You knew that, right?† said Jane. She had a slight Eastern European accent, Russian maybe. She looked a little amused, her blue eyes dark under the yellow cast of the bioluminescence, but she didn't appear to be joking. She patted the seat next to her, indicating that Nate should sit down. â€Å"Like all the pilots are named Scooter and Skippy?† Nate said. â€Å"Actually, they have numbers like Emily – their choice, by the way – but since there are never more than one pair of them on a ship, we don't bother with the numbers.† Nate suddenly realize that in all his time on both of the whale ships, except when one of the pilots had gone outside to catch fish, the pilots always seemed to be at the controls. â€Å"Don't they ever sleep?† â€Å"Sure,† said Jane. â€Å"We're pretty sure they sleep with half their brain at a time, like whales, so between two of them the ship always has a full pilot. Without one of them at the controls, it's basically a big lump of meat.† â€Å"You said that you're pretty sure. You don't know?† â€Å"Well, they don't know for sure,† said Jane, â€Å"and they're not very excited about our doing experiments on them. Now that you've joined us, though, maybe you'll be able to figure out what's going on with them. We sort of play it all by ear. The whaley boys and the Colonel run things. Cielle, you didn't tell him all this?† â€Å"He was pretty beat,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"I tried to get him settled in as soon as I could.† Nate wanted to protest the â€Å"settled in† comment. After all, he was a prisoner here, but these people didn't behave at all like captors. They immediately impressed him as having the same dynamic that he'd seen in research teams, a â€Å"we're all in this together, let's make the best of it† attitude. He didn't want to yell at these people. Still, it made him a little uncomfortable that she was so forthcoming with information. When your kidnappers showed you their faces, they were giving you the message that you weren't going home. Nu;ez set a plate down in front of him. It had a salad of mixed seaweeds, carrots, and mushrooms, a piece of cooked fish, which looked like halibut, and what appeared to be rice. â€Å"Eat up,† she said. â€Å"A couple of nutrition drinks aren't going to get you back up to speed. We do eat a lot of raw fish, even on the blue, but you need some carbs until you adjust to this diet. There's plenty of rice when you finish that.† â€Å"Thanks.† Nate dug in while the others, all but Cal, excused themselves to work in other parts of the ship. The older man had obviously been charged with Nate's second orientation lecture. Cal scratched his beard, looked around at the pilots, then leaned over to Nate and spoke in a lowered voice. â€Å"They're very promiscuous. You know how dolphin females will mate with all the males in the pod so no one can be assured of who the father of her calf is? They think it keeps the males from murdering her calf when it's born.† â€Å"That's the theory,† Nate said. â€Å"They're sort of like that, and back at base you have a big pod to deal with. You start down that path†¦ well, you've got a lot of whaley boys to sex up.† â€Å"I didn't sex her up,† Nate hissed, spraying rice out over the table. â€Å"I'm not sexing up any whaley boys†¦ er, girls – ; â€Å"Whatever. Look, they're very close. Here on the ship they don't have separate quarters – they share one big cabin. Sex is very casual with them, but they understand that we're a little more hung up about it. Some of them seem to affect human shyness. We generally don't mix sexually with them. It's not forbidden, but it's†¦ you know, frowned upon. It's only natural for a guy to be curious –  » Nate put down his fork. â€Å"Cal, I did not have sex with anyone – I mean, anything.† â€Å"Right. And be careful around the males. Especially if you're in the water with them. They'll bung-hole you just to watch you twitch.† â€Å"Jeez.† â€Å"I'm just telling you for your own good.† â€Å"Thanks, but I'm not going to be around long enough to worry about it.† Might as well throw it in their faces, Nate thought. The older man laughed, almost shooting coffee out his nose. When he recovered, he said, â€Å"Well, I hope you mean you plan on dying soon, because no one ever leaves.† Nate leaned into Cal's face. â€Å"Doesn't it bother you, that you're a prisoner?† â€Å"There's not one of us here who wouldn't be dead if the whaley boys hadn't picked us up.† â€Å"Not me.† â€Å"Especially you. You were always twelve hours from dead since we started watching you. Certainly it had to occur to you how much easier it would have been just to kill you?† Nate just stared for a second. Actually, it had occurred to him, and he didn't see the logic in keeping him alive if all they wanted to do was stop his research. He wasn't going to make that argument verbally, but still†¦ â€Å"Don't overthink it, Nate. If you ever doubted that life was an adventure, it definitely is now.† â€Å"Right,† Nate said. â€Å"But before you ask me where I'd rather be, let me remind you that there's a sphincter in the bottom of my sink.† â€Å"You haven't seen the shower, then? Just you wait.† After he ate, Cal loaned him a copy of Treasure Island to read, but when Nate returned to his cabin, he could barely concentrate on the book at all. Funny what you learn about yourself in a short conversation. One, that he would rather have been accused of having sex with another species than with another male (even of another species). Interesting prejudice. Two, that he actually was grateful, not only to be alive, but grateful to be having completely new experiences every moment, even as a prisoner. Three, that learning was still a high, but he burned to share it with someone. And finally, that he was feeling a little jealous, a little less special, now that he knew that Emily 7 was having sex with all the male whaley boys on board. That fickle little slut. He dozed off with Robert Louis Stevenson on his chest and the sound of killer whales calling in the distance. Outside, the pod of twenty killer whales, most the sons or daughters of the matriarch female, were calling frantically to each other as they worried away at a huge bait ball of herring. Biologists had long speculated on the incredibly complex vocabulary of the killer whale, identifying specific linguistic groups that even  «spoke » the same dialect, but they had never been able to put meaning to the calls other than to identify them as â€Å"feeding,† â€Å"distress,† or  «social » noises. However, had they had the benefit of translation, this is what they would have heard: â€Å"Hey, Kevin, fish!† â€Å"Fish! I love fish!† â€Å"Look, Kevin, fish!† â€Å"Mmmm, fish.† â€Å"You, Kevin, take a run down that trench, fake left, go right, hit the bait ball, nothing but fish!† â€Å"Did someone say ‘fish'?† â€Å"Yeah, fish. Over here, Kevin.† â€Å"Mmmmm, fish.† And it went on like that. Actually, orcas aren't quite as complex as scientists imagine. Most killer whales are just four tons of doofus dressed up like a police car.

How to Succeed in College

THE COMPLETE SUMMARY PART I GETTING ORIENTED ACADEMICALLY Chapter 1 : Making the Academic Adjustment to College. 1. 1Comparisons between high school and college. In college you will be more academically independent and responsible to yourself because you need to make decision for yourself in order to achieve great academic performance. Besides that, you may have a lot of work need to be done when you entering the college. In college, class meetings is fewer and students is given the freedom to practice develop sense of responsibility.Students in college also need to take initiative to make a contact with instructor to make the instructor get to know you. 1. 2Reasons for Attending College. You maybe in college to earn degree to become more educated, to become certified for a particular job or to make money after earning the degree. You may wish to think of earning a degree as the practical and immediate outcome of your college experience. But, acquiring an education is an important an d satisfying achievement in itself. Try to see these goals as complementary rather than conflicting. 1. 3The Purpose of College.Acquiring an education can enhance your self-esteem. To the extent that the degree represents effort and achievement, a college degree can give you the satisfaction of acquiring knowledge and developing new skills. Education provides the means that can change the way you think, process information and perceive the world. 1. 4College as a System. The basic requirement for earning a college degree is to complete the number of credits needed. Be sure you understand the requirements of your degree program, understand your college policies for first year students.If you don’t understand a policy, consult with academic advisor. A college also develops a core curriculum. Most educators agree that students should study something in addition to their area of specialization to broaden their expertise. 1. 5Important of Grades. Making good of grade is a badge of effort, a sign of achievement. There are also other requirement that includes in grade which is attendance, class participation and written work. If you find yourself getting low in many courses, seek help immediately. 1. 6Calculating Your Grade Point Average (GPA).To calculate your GPA , you convert your letter grades to numbers. These numbers are stipulated by your college. In most college, an A = 4. 00, a B = 3. 00, a C = 2. 00, a D = 1. 00 and a F = 0. 00. college calculates pluses (+) and minuses (-) differently. 1. 7Final Course Grades. You must ensure that you understand how each instructor computes the final grade. Ask, if it’s not clear, how much weight is assigned to each of the following ; written assignments, class participation, quizzes and tests, midterm and final examinations and any special project. Chapter 2 : Managing Your Time. 2. 1Using Time Effectively.To begin making more productive use of your time, you need to know that not only how you have been spen ding it, but also how you want to use your time more effectively. It is important that you be clear in your mind about what things are important to you and how you can find time to devote to them. 2. 2Changing Your Attitude Toward Time. To help you get through difficulty in making time for both the things you have to do, try to remember why you came to college and remind yourself of your goals and what is required to achieve them. Realize too, periods in your life when your free time seem minimal will eventually end. . 3Developing Strategies to Use Your Time Productively. First, you must scheduling your time by arrange a master schedule of everything you do. It help you to adjust fixed routines. You can develop schedules for different purposes and different stretches of time. You can start by creating a monthly calendar. By that, you can get a closer view and remind yourself of which obligations are imminent and which remain a few weeks away. 2. 4The Problem of Procrastination. To p rocrastinate means to delay – sometimes, to delay to the point of not doing the thing at all.People tend to procrastinate because they don’t enjoy the thing or you afraid of failing at something. Besides that, you may procrastinate because you are disorganized. 2. 5Techniques for Avoiding Procrastination. Breaking a large task down into smaller, more manageable parts is a practical and useful approach. Let your interest and your momentum carry you. Besides that, you can reward yourself for completing tasks given. You also can leave extra time by plan to finish the task given before the deadline and then revise it. Chapter 3 : Getting the Most from Your Courses. 3. 1Syllabus.You need to understand the course requirement by reading the syllabus given. Then, you might comment on the syllabus by get in the habit of questioning course requirements so that you understand exactly what will be expected of you. You also might need understand the responsibility of attending clas s well. You also need to ensure that you note the instructor’s name, the location of their office and their office hours. You also must know the nature of the examinations and the requirement on written work. You should asking about the grading to know how your instructor evaluate your performance. Chapter 4 : Getting To Know Your Instructors. . 1Knowing the academic rank. There are a few instructor that the students need to know when they entering college like professor, assistant professor, lecturer and instructor. Excellent, good, average and bad teacher exist at every rank. What earns faculty promotion from one rank to another at research institution is professional activity usually in the form of research and publication. However, they become college teachers because their enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. 4. 2Asking question in class and out. In class, students must active to participate in question and answer sessions.You should not afraid to ask question to y our lecturer. Under the best circumstances, an instructor will allow time for student question even in large lecture course. Your question can give an instructors clearer sense how well he or she is communicating essential concept and issue. You can also go to the her office during the regularly scheduled-office hours. 4. 3Seeking help. If you are having the trouble in a course, whether that trouble be related to understanding difficult concepts, to completing projects or adjusting to the social or intellectual climate in the classroom, speak to the lecturer about it.One more thing don’t afraid for ask an appointment and let instructor know what you do understand and identify precisely where your trouble lies. Ask lecturer for advice about what else you can do beyond attending to his or her explanation. 4. 4Conferring with instructor. You should be aware of some ground rules for student-teacher conferences. First remember that you are visiting an instructor in his or her depa rtment office, as this will be the most likely meeting place. Second, be clear about how long the meeting will last. Third, make effective and efficient use your time with instructor.Fourth, observe rules of academic etiquette. Fifth, if you feel need for greater privacy, you can ask for it. 4. 5Choosing your instructor You can choose by the instructor’s official reputation. You can be guide by student course evaluation or go by hearsay. You can also meet the instructor yourself, request a syllabus and act on your impressions and instincts. You can ask about upcoming course, and you can explain your interested in the subject. Chapter 5 : Learning About College Support Services. 5. 1Computer Labs. You will find the university computer lab an extremely important resource.If you know that you will be using the computer center to draft and revise your written assignments, find out from the staff not only when the center is open but also when it is use most heavily. If you have yo ur own computer, find out how to link up with the university computer. Visit the computer lab for specific information on using its facilities and services. 5. 2Language Labs. You’ll need to know what restrictions may be put upon your use and what the sign up and sign in procedures may be. You can expect to find the language lab equipped with individual headphones and tape players.But you will also find the book, magazines, and newspaper in the languages taught at your college and perhaps in a few that or not. 5. 3Workshop, Tutorials, Lecturers. Most university or college offer workshop, tutorials, meetings, informal discussion in connection with such university resources as computer and language labs. As a student we must take advantage from this chance or facility provided by university to us as student. Use them properly and as a way to increase the scope of your college experience. 5. 4Club and Other Activities. Club membership can be an academic experience as well as a s ocial one.It can also give you a chance to develop practical skill related to your major or your career ambitions. It provided you with a chance to relax and have fun with doing thing you enjoy. They can improve your skill and enrich your academic experience. 5. 5Career Planning. Find out what office handles career planning, job responsible and internships. Even though you may be a first year student, you should inquire about career planning services, and internship, for you might be surprised to learn about opportunities for which you qualify even now.You might receive useful advice about how to plan for your career from experienced and knowledgeable counselors. 5. 6Counseling and Support Service. Your college or university will offer many kind of support services, some of them more directly related to our academic concern. Perhaps you may be qualified to help provided services in one of these areas because of your background or experience. And you may discover that some of the ser vices these additional university resources make available can make a difference not only in your overall college experience but in your academic performance and success as well. . 7Volunteer Organizations. Your school or college also offer opportunities for you do a volunteer work such as community services. Some university offer academic credit for various types of social action and volunteer action or work. Through volunteer work you can improve your faculty with a foreign language, develop your social conscience, enrich your spiritual sense of self. PART II DEVELOPING ACADEMIC CONFIDENCE Chapter 6 : Improving Study and Notetaking Skills. 6. 1Developing Notetaking Skills. 6. 1. 1Rules for Notetaking. The first rule for good notetaking is to be prepared.It involves the studying you do before class like reading assigned chapters, doing exercises and also bringing the necessary tools to class whatever you need to take good notes. 6. 1. 2Finding a Place to Sit. Find a place in the cl assroom or lecture hall where you are comfortable and from which you can see and hear the instructor clearly. More closer to the front you are, more fewer distractions you will receive from other students. However, being in good spot enables you to concentrate better on classwork and makes notetaking easier. 6. 1. 3Listening Guidelines. You can improve your listening skills by following these guidelines.Firstly, you must ready to listen for unexpected detail and the unusual examples, be a focused rather than a distracted listener, find ways to connect what is said with what you know, identify key points and supporting details, be an active rather than passive listener – try to anticipate, ask question about anything unclear and participate as much as you can. 6. 1. 4Attending to Handwriting. Strive to write clearly, if it slows you down. You may even wish to print especially important information. If have serious problems with handwriting, you may able to use a notebook compu ter a tape recorder.If can, develop your own form of shorthand. Be consistent in your use of abbreviations and symbols so that you can remember later what it stand for. 6. 1. 5Watching and Noticing. Watch you instructor closely. Nonverbal signs may be used to emphasize a point. If the instructor writes something on the board, be sure to write it down. Besides that, this also a way to be involved and attentive in class because your instructors expect you to pay attention to them. 6. 1. 6Participating in Class. Many classes require participation. You should try to participate as fully as possible.Ask question, respond to the instructor, comment further on discussion initiated by the instructor or by students. You can keep focus, take better note on the important aspects of class discussion. By discussion, have a greater chance to remember material enlivened especially if you participated actively. 6. 2Notetaking Techniques. 6. 2. 1It isn’t necessary to write everything down. Yo u may wish to use the Cornell Notetaking System by Walter Pauk of Cornell University. To use this method, draw a line down the page 2 inches or so from the left margin and draw a second line across the page 2 inches or so from the bottom.With your page divided into three areas, you have space to record different kind of notes. Second one is by using a double-column notebook by Ann E. Berthoff, formerly of the University Massachusetts at Boston. You can simply divide page into two parts . 6. 2. 2There are also other notetaking strategies such as underlining. Underlining is a system of checkmarks or symbols in the margin of your text. You just underline important factual passage and highlight important ideas. 6. 2. 3Annotating also is the notetaking strategies by putting brief annotations or notes in the margins.Marginal notations can be question, reactions, objections or symbols question marks ( ) to indicate places where the text confuses you. 6. 2. 4Some final suggestion for noteta king strategies is to organize both your class and reading notes, label and date your notes, edit and revise your notes, separate your comments and observation from the ideas of your instructor. 6. 3Improving Study Skills. 6. 3. 1To best study is by finding a suitable study environment. For example, a desk or table with ample space for you to spread out your books, papers and notes. Good environment to study is a place free of distraction. 6. 3. You also need to mapping out a schedule of study time. Ideally, you should try study at times when you are most alert and do your work best. You must also manage and allocate sufficient time to prepare for classes and reviewing notes. 6. 3. 3Before you start studying, you need to setting goals for studying. You need to have an idea of what you want to accomplish and how long you plan on studying to reach your goal. 6. 3. 4Other than that, you need to improve your understanding. First, you need to translate into your words what you recorded f rom your instructor. If you able to translate it, it show you really understand it.You must not forget to preview what are you studying before you start a chapter. Different with review, which you do it quickly when you finish studying. 6. 4Remembering what you have studied. 6. 4. 1The first principle of remembering is you cannot remember what you have not learned. The second is, be selective. You not be able to remember everything. And the third principle is associate what you are learning with what you already know. 6. 4. 2There are some time-honored techniques for you to remember details. First is mnemonics which memorize by linking them in easy-to-remember way.You may learned by create a rhythm. The second is by acronyms which means a word that made up of the first letters of a series of words. You can create your own one to help you remember sets of details and key concepts. Chapter 7 : Taking Quizzes, Tests and Examinations. 7. 1Types of tests. Tests is a set of questions that when answered demonstrates how much or how little you know about the subject. Quizzes is a brief and cover a small amount of material perhaps the reading for a single class. An examination is a chance to redeem yourself if you are well prepared. 7. Preparing for Tests and Exams. Your long-term preparation for tests and examinations includes faithful class attendance, careful class preparation, reviewing and notetaking. Your long-term preparation essentially includes everything you can and you should do in taking the course seriously. Your short-term preparation for tests can be vary widely. For a course in which you have been doing the work commendably all along, you may need no more than a once over lightly. 7. 3Studying for Tests and Exams. What will enable you to use your study time effectively is by finding a comfortable place to study.Besides that, manage your time. If you study best in the morning, don’t schedule your heaviest exam prep at night. You also need to set y our goals for your study sessions. Try to accomplish something specific at each session. After accomplishing one of your goals, reward yourself. 7. 4Types of Question in Tests and Exams. First, there may be a true-false questions which needed you to mark first all the questions you are confident are true or false. Multiple-choice questions also are among the most difficult for students it often contain two apparently correct responses.Fill-in questions require you to complete a statement by introducing words or phrases that you supply yourself. And lastly, essay questions. In this essay questions, you need to write an essay whether it short essay or long essay. Chapter 8 : Reading with Understanding. 8. 1Developing an Ability to Read. Reading actively with you pen in hand, you can underlining, annotating and jotting notes. You also can reading reflectively by reading slowly and deliberately . Besides that, you can reading interpretively where you reading to understand.Lastly, readin g evaluatively by reading to evaluate the persuasiveness of what you read. 8. 2Reading and Interpretation. You need to interpret to make sense of something. Besides that, in interpretations, you can making inferences. An inferences is a statement we make about what we don’t know based on what we do know. Your inferences will lead you to an understanding of what you are reading 8. 3Reading and Imagination. When we read, we imagine a voice in our heads or a figure and character behind the voice. Imagination leads you to think, shift perspectives, understand another’s point of view.Chapter 9 : Developing Thinking Skills. 9. 1Comparing Creative and Logical Thinking. CREATIVE THINKING| LOGICAL THINKING| Puts things together and synthesizing them| Analyse thinking and taking them part| Generates new ideas| Develops and evaluates ideas that have already been formulated| Explores many alternatives, it is unconcerned with being right in every particular| Focus on finding a sing le answer and being right at each step of way| Is inclusive, admitting all ideas no matter how trivial or outrageous they may seem| Is selective, screening out and eliminating unpromising possibilities| . 2Techniques of Creative Thinking. There are many ways to develop the ability to think creatively as establish a quota of alternatives. You can generate many alternatives as seem reasonable. In reversing relationship, you need to turn something around and approach in from an opposite direction. This can spur you to think creatively. Besides that, creative thinking can be develop by denying the negatives. A poor idea may lead to better one. You also can asking question in order to thinking creatively because most productive kinds of question lead to further thought. 9. Overcoming Obstacles to Creative Thinking. 9. 3. 1Perceptual Blocks. This block inhabit ability to make sense of what we are looking at. They interfere with our thinking by blocking what we can see. To overcoming it, y ou need to learned how to see new things with patience, effort and practice observing and noticing. 9. 3. 2Cultural Blocks. This block may derive from your connection with particular ethnic, racial and intellectual traditions as well as from your class and gender. It blocks limit and inhibit thinking. To avoid this block, you need to recognize and acknowledge it and be aware of it. . 3. 3Intellectual Blocks. This blocks is a obstacle to knowledge. You also may lack the skill to express the ideas effectively. To break through an intellectual block, you need either to acquire additional information and you must use effective way, study, review and prepare yourself. 9. 3. 4Emotional Blocks. Occurs when feelings inhibit thinking. This include fears and anxieties. This lead inhibit your ability to speak your mind and impede your creativity. You have to overcome your aversion to whatever inhibits your thought and learn to tolerate ambiguity. 9. . 5Oppositional Blocks. Oppositional blocks result from polarizing, or setting up manually exclusive categories without providing a middle ground between them. Considering degree or extent pushes you to consider gradations and to make distinction can make you explore to be more critical thinker. Chapter 10 : Becoming Familiar with Your College Library. 10. 1Uses of College Library. The library as a repository of information where you can find answers to every kind of question. Besides that, the library also as a general source which suitable to read and relax.Apart from that, library also is a great place to study. 10. 2Finding Books. 10. 2. 1 Accessing Books Using the Library Catalogue. You need to know using the online library catalogue. An integrated catalogue combines author, title and subject information in a single catalogue system arranged alphabetically. This the most efficient integrated catalogue. 10. 2. 2 Accessing Books Using Online Computerized Databases. Computerized databases will speed your search for books an d they provide enormous amounts of information quickly and easily. 10. 3Getting the Books.When you have identified the book’s location, you need to locate it on the shelf. To do this, follow the library’s key or map to its storage of books. Look along the shelf at the other titles, you may found something useful. If you have problem to looking books, you can help from library staff to glean information from experts. 10. 4Library’s Special Resources. Your university library will probably have other resources besides books and periodicals you may find helpful. These may include art, audio, video and special collection, government documents, CD-ROM Database, internet and online database.PART III LOOKING BEYOND THE FIRST YEAR Chapter 11 : Choosing a Major and Planning a Course of Study. 11. 1Learning about Majors. Talk to professors in the field that seem promising by set up an appointment and ask also about the job prospects. You should visit the career services of fice and speak to a counselor about your interest. 11. 2Choosing a Major. Many baccalaureate programs require you to devote your first two years to a wide range of general subjects. Usually, a major concentration is organized by a specific academic department.Choose a major that you interest and pleasure to learn and how it can develop your critical and creative thinking skills. 11. 3Planning Your Major with an Advisor. Once you decide on a major or concentration, the first thing to do is seen advisor to review the college’s major requirement. It is to help you understand all departments requirement. Begin to discuss an overall plan for your college coursework. 11. 4Double and Minor Majors. You might consider taking a double major because it separates you from vast majority of students who will only have only one major.It also increase your option work and offer you unusual intellectual opportunity. You might taking minor because you want to increase the range and versatile o f your academic program. 11. 5Independent Study. Offers you to work closely with a faculty member in designing, planning and pursuing course of study. It also offers you a chance to work intensively on a project of your own. To qualify for independent study, students often are required to achieved a particular GPA. Chapter 12 : College As Preparation for The Future. 12. College As Preparation for Work. College should provide you with the skills to perform competently in the workplace. What you learn at college should be useful and transferable to what you doing after graduation. 12. 2College As Preparation for Profesional Study. A preparation for a career in business. College is also to some extent a preparation for future study, whether that study be formal or informal, avocational or professional. It is also a simply way to encourage you to project beyond what you can see and know. 12. 3College As Preparation for Life.Many of challenges you face in college are mirrored by challeng es you face beyond it. In college, you develop a sense of responsibility and independence so you can rely on it later. College is the place to discover these interests and to nurture them. DISCUSSION OF MAIN ISSUE. Part one concerns getting oriented academically. Meaning that, the student will making the academic adjustment to college by managing their time, getting the most of the courses, getting to know the instructors and learning about college support service. In this part, it explains how the college system works.Besides that, it also provide the tips on how you should spend your time. It also includes advice to working with instructors which focuses interaction between students and faculty inside and outside the classroom. This part also focuses on a academic support service and on related curricular resources available at most schools. The second part of the book, provide tools about how to develop academic confidence in students. First we discuss about improving study and n otetaking skills. It give how to reinforce the successful study habits and effective notetaking strategies.Then, we discuss about taking test and examinations. We found that, it describes different kinds of test and how to prepare for it effectively. Besides that, we also discuss about reading with understanding. Reading is important not merely for acquiring information but also in developing thinking skills, especially ability to analyze and interpret. In this chapter it focus more on various strategies for improving ability to think creatively. Lastly we discuss about becoming familiar with college or university library which gives us information to well used the library.In part three, the main issue is looking beyond the first year that discussing on choosing a major and planning a course of study and college as preparation for the future. It provide us practical advice if we unsure about a choice of major. By choosing a major and planning a course of study advocates careful plan ning so that courses can be related rather than remaining as isolated islands of academic experience. Entering college or university is as the preparation for the students future which means preparation for work, preparation for professional study and lastly preparation for life.COMMENTS OF BOOK. We found that, How to Succeed in College can help students achieve good grades by providing some tips to success. We think that, How to Succeed in College also help students to acquire the confidence , competence and knowledge they need in order to maximize their learning potential. This book also help the student to understand how the college system work. This book also invites us to think seriously about why we attend college and what we will do there. All of us agree if the students read this book, they will more tend to think, write, talk and listen critically.In addition, we found that this book provide assumptions that a strong education is the best preparation for living and working in a complex world so that the generations can prepared themselves to facing new world. The book also focusing on practical methods to improve the student academic performance. In conclusion, we think the book well explain to us on how to achieve a good future by choosing the course that we want with addition tips and guidelines to success in college.