Something to live for

This is something of a cheat post, because I am pointing you in the direction of a different article, but I thought it was worth posting.

The title is "Isil's Western converts are not motivated by Islam. They are motivated by boredom." The article points out that many people joining Isil are not necessarily the ones you would expect and that often they are doing it because the western way of life no longer offers them something to live for, or indeed to die for.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100285161/isils-western-converts-are-not-motivated-by-islam-they-are-motivated-by-boredom/

Character Study

A writing challenge I set myself. Enjoy!


My name is Jasper Curic. Beside me right now are Rowan Moritz, his twin sister, Rose, and Erin Loven. We have decided to write our story and after much deliberation it has been agreed that we will take it in turns to tell it from our own perspectives.
     To begin with, though, we will tell you about ourselves, but to make it more interesting each of us will write about one of the others. So here is my description of Rose Moritz:
     When I first met Rose she was in the process of winning an argument (or so she claimed) with her Dad. This involved her slamming the front  door and marching past me as I was walking up the garden path. She has long strides for someone who is not particularly tall, and she runs fast, although not gracefully. “Hi, you must be Jasper,” she said loudly as she passed. This, I have discovered, sums Rose up quite well. She is bold and brave (most of the time) and is not afraid of standing up for herself, which probably comes from having a twin brother and a mother who ran off with some guy who was in the army when Rose was only five. Sometimes she can be a bit rash but, once I got to know her, I discovered that she cares very much for all her friends and I would trust her with my life.

*          *          *

Hi. I’m Erin. I’ve had to leave the others and come and sit on the windowsill to write this. They were distracting me. I will tell you about Rowan.

     Rowan Moritz is the kind of person who within five minutes you feel as though you’ve known for years. He seems to be friends with everyone he meets and I guess this has something to do with the way he always has time for you and always listens to what you have to say. He has dark hair, like Rose, and dark eyes that sparkle when he laughs, which happens regularly. I guess he’s quite outgoing, although sometimes he tries to duck out of things and he can also be a bit forgetful. Going fishing on his Dad’s boat is one of his favourite things to do, despite nearly drowning when he was nine.

*          *          *

This is Rose. I’ll keep this brief cause I’m sure you’d much rather read about the story. Having said that, Erin, who I’m about to introduce, is amazing.

     Erin Loven is definitely the most sweet and lovely person I know. She has this wonderful, trusting nature and she likes to think about everything. She learnt to dance when she was younger and now she seems to sort of float everywhere in her long, beautiful skirts. She’s about the same size as me, but with light brown hair and soft eyes, which make all the boys melt, although genuinely I don’t think she’s even aware it half the time.

*          *          *

And I’m Rowan. I’m afraid this won’t be so well written, I never have been as good with words. Mostly I leave that to J, and now I have to write about him.

     Jasper Curic is an interesting guy. He likes exploring and finding out about things and doesn’t really mind what anyone else thinks about him. Some people might say he’s ‘well educated’ and I suppose he is knowledgeable and he always seems to have the right words, but that hasn’t stopped him getting in to trouble at times. In fact our story starts at the moment J arrived in Winmouth, and really it’s him we have to thank for having a story at all.

World Empires

Over the millennia the World has been dominated by many empires, some bigger than others. While certain areas of the globe have been fought over and claimed many times by different people, other regions have known only a few occupants. So I wondered how it would have looked if some of the biggest empires had happened at the same time, and this is what I came up with.

I cannot claim complete accuracy, largely because of the various overlaps, but also because I have drawn this from other individual maps, which is not altogether easy. However, it does show the extent of these eight empires and the obvious impact they made upon the world. Sadly, of course, most of these empires came about through war and bloodshed, and it is good that we now live in a time where countries and people are happy with the land they have, mostly. It is also interesting, though, that those areas most fought over throughout history are the ones still most hotly contested today.

It doesn't take a genius...

When we think of the great engineering and industrial countries of the past 50 years, Germany and Japan both come high on the list.
     There is another connection between these two nations: they both lost in World War 2, and in fact, were hugely decimated. After the war neither were allowed to rearm, or use their engineering knowledge and expertise (that had dragged out the war) for anything remotely military. Consequently they built cars and (seemingly) toys, among other things, which helped both their industry and their economy.
     Meanwhile, France and Britain had been rearming, for no apparent purpose, while America and Russia (who had taken over as the World super-powers) put all their expertise into reaching the moon first. Something that was very expensive and not particularly useful to the common man (or woman).

I wonder what the world would be like if everyone had put their energies (and economies) into improving the quality of life?

Sketching - Part 4

Attempts of a few interesting flowers that maybe I'll try to grow some day.

WW1 Centenary

100 years since the beginning of World War 1. We can barely imagine the horrors of that time and pray that nothing like it will ever happen to us.

This is a mini saga concerning my Great-Grandfather's brother, Captain Peter Ligertwood.

 

 

Three years of distant war, three days in brutal Passchendaele, three hours the Captain of A Company, 2^nd Marines.

He tied the men together with yarn and led them from the front as they crossed the Paddebeek. His company took the target, but four times wounded Ligertwood marched no more.

Captain Tory

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Chris Van Allsburg) is a collection of fascinating sketches with each one having a title and 'caption'. They provide great inspiration for writing. Here is one I have attempted.

Captain Tory

He swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.

 

August 5th was one of those quiet summer days when no one's around and there's nothing to do. Hadley Cuirc had spent the morning kicking stones along the quay and watching the boats coming and going and was set on doing the same after lunch. However, as he trudged slowly beside the river in the general direction of home, he saw a man in a long, dark coat and sailor's cap, standing and staring out over the water. Hadley stopped and, being of an inquisitive nature, called out, "What are you looking at?"

     He expected the man to jump in surprise or to ignore him, being so preoccupied. Instead, and without turning around, the man gave a quiet reply.

     "My schooner, young man. My beautiful schooner."

     Hadley was perplexed. Not by the sailor, nor by his manner: there were often odd men around the town. What confused Hadley was the lack of any such vessel, there was not so much as a dingy on this section of the river at that moment. Carefully he stepped across the grass to where the man was stood, in case he was missing something, but the water was clearly deserted.

     "What schooner?"

     "You don't see it," replied the man. It was not really a question, more a statement, but Hadley felt that he aught to clarify.

     "No, I don't see any boats."

     The man turned towards him and Hadley noticed for the first time that he held a lantern that glimmered faintly in the noonday sun.

     "Then you'll be thinking I'm mad," said the man in a low, gruff voice, "but Ol' Captain Tory ain't mad, he's not even half mad. Young man, you come back here at midnight tonight, and I'll show you I'm not mad."

     By this point Hadley had decided he didn't want to hear any more, being quite sure the old man was perfectly mad, and he began to edge away.

     "Midnight, remember," said Captain Tory.

     "Yes, Sir," said Hadley, to show that he'd heard, before he turned and skipped into a run that took him all the way home.