The Full Burn by Kevin Conley ($25.99)

image source

Scratch your itch for adventure travel with this true tale of some real fall guys, and get a lesson in the business of jumping from tall buildings and rolling brand new cars.

Tuna: A Love Story by Richard Ellis ($27.95)

image source

Meet the entrepreneurs behind your tuna hand roll. From “ranch” to fish market, tuna harvesting is a complex global business populated by charismatic business owners.

Serve The People: A Stir Fried Journey Through China by Jen Lin-Liu ($24)

Chinese cuisine has enjoyed a rebirth in China, thanks in large part of the rise of small businesses after Mao. Lin-Liu serves up a delightful dish of experience in a Beijing cooking school, plus a helping of the country's social and cultural history.

Heirloom: Notes From an Accidental Tomato Farmer by Tim Stark ($24)

image source

What Stark began as a lark - 3,000 heirloom tomato seeds started in a Brooklyn apartment-has become a thriving business that supplies scores of Manhattan restaurants. It is a satisfying journey that began long before “local sourcing” was a buzzword.

Now moving on to the best coffee machines that you could buy and happily put it in your kitchen.

Illy X6 Trio ($500)

image source

It resembles a cute critter from a Pixar movie, but the X6 is surprisingly high maintenance. The manual specifies spring water and an additional milk container. The steam wand will make you feel like a real barista. If you prefer a lot of individual style (and foam) in your latte, this is the machine for you.

Delonghi Nespresso ($699)

image source

This intimidating model, in red or chrome, is almost too sexy for any kitchen counter. It boasts many flavors and a detachable unit for milk heating. But with its clunky brewing process, large frame, and inconveniently narrow cup holder the Nespresso left me unimpressed.

Braun Tassimo ($169)

image source

This is my personal favorite and I own this one. It is a classy model that looks like a spaceship but has a compact physique. It offers nine coffee brands. I greatly appreciate its one-touch approach. The pods contain both coffee and milk, which takes the guesswork (and risk of getting burned) out of your hands if you are not being careful.

John M. Richardson, Jr. once said, “When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened” In the short story “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells, we see what the future could be like if we as humans do not change our capitalistic way of life. Wells' main character, the Time Traveler, discovers that humanity evolves differently physically, socially, and intellectually into the Eloi and the Morlock because of the wide and unjust division between the upper and lower classes of society.

The division between the upper and lower classes of society lead the Eloi and the Morlock to develop differently physically. This can be seen when the Time Traveler comments on the Eloi's distinctive looks, “Their hair, which was uniformly curly, came to a sharp end at the neck and cheek…” (Wells 245). This observation shows that the Capitalists, or upper class, have evolved into curly haired humans. On the contrary, the Time Traveler describes the Morlocks, “…I saw a solitary white, ape-like creature running rather quickly…” (Wells 267). This description shows that the Labourers, or lower class, have evolved in to fast white apes far superior to the Eloi. The assumption can be made that due to the upper and lower class division, the Morlock have evolved into a separate species from the Eloi and dominate them. Thus, the separation of the classes changed the human species.

Socially, the Eloi and the Morlock develop differently due to the division between the upper and lower classes. This can be seen when the Time Traveler descirbes Weena, an Eloi, “[Weena] was exactly like a child.” (Wells 266). This observation shows how the Eloi do not understand basic human concepts above a child's level of understanding. The Time Traveler then goes on to relate the social differences to the division of the classes, “…social difference between the Capitalist and the Labourer was the key to the whole position.” (Wells 272). This remark shows that the Time Traveler understands why and how the human race developed into two separate species. The Time Traveler was clearly a smart man.

The Eloi and the Morlock develop differently intellectually because of the upper and lower class division. This is seen when the Time Traveler remarks on Weena's character, “But [Weena] dreaded the dark, dreaded shadows, dreaded black things.” (Wells 266). This comment shows that Weena, and all Elois, fear the dark, but do not have the intellect to understand why they fear it. What Wells is trying to say is that the Eloi are stupid, plain and simple. The Time Traveler goes on to comment on the Morlocks mating habits, “The male pursued the female, flinging flowers at her as she ran.” (Wells 271). This depiction of the Morlock shows that they are much smarter than the Elois because they know how to get a girl. Clearly, the Morlock are far superior in all aspects of superiority.

To conclude, through the characterization of the Elois and the Morlocks, one can assume that they have evolved differently physically, socially, and intellectually because of the division of the classes. Thankfully, this would never really happen in only eight hundred thousand years.

How war changed a particular man named Lt. Henry.

The book begins as Henry prepares to go on leave, and soon picks up with his return. Quickly, Hemingway lets readers know how Henry feels about the war after he asks a wound soldier, "How do you like this goddam war?" After the reply, he returns, "I say it's rotten. Jesus Christ I say it's rotten" (35.) Even though he believes the war is so rotten, he still feels safe and secure. On page 37, he states, "I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war." As confident as he was, he gets stuck in an attack and says, ''I tried to breath, but my breath would not come... I knew I was dead... I breathed and I was back" (54.)

After Henry is wounded, his view of the war changes drastically. Instead of just calling it rotten, he begins to hate it (70.) In addition, after he is moved to a hospital and is cared for my Miss Barkley, he comes to the realization that, "I loved her very much and she loved me" (108.) Now that he loves her and is wounded, why go back to the war? It is extremely challenging to leave a loved one to fight for ones home country, but absolutely pointless to leave to help some other country. Henry is certainly affected by his relationship with Miss Barkley. While they are talking before he departs for the front, he tells her, "We always feel good when we're together" (150.) As true as this is, and as much as he would like to stay with her, he still his to leave to go back to the front. So now it is time to travel on to the third step of Henry's change.

After he arrives back on the front, everything has changed. Even the major talks about how bad the war has been (164-165.) Rinaldi also complains, "This war is killing me... I am very depressed by it" (176.) The war also affects Henry's temper and anger. During the retreat, he kills a soldier who ignores his command (204.) This is just one sign of when war has made a major, unchangeable change in a person, when one forgets values and cold bloodily murders someone. After "Anger was washed away in the river alone with any obligation," Henry begins the long journey to escape the war and its effects (232.)

Even though war can be successful in diplomacy, it is still like an arcade change machine. When someone puts money it, they hope to get proper change. Even if the proper change does not emerge there is still change. The desired effect does not come about, but thoughts toward it are changed for the worse. Like war, there is always an effect and some change, but not always to one that hoped for. If a war or a change machine does not give the proper results, it is hated, but when it pays out correctly, everyone loves it.

• Danny Dunn - a teenager who has a great interest in science. He admires Professor Bullfinch as a mentor. He always wants to invent things.
• Professor Bullfinch - a stereotypical absent-minded professor at the fictional Midston University. The professor was also a musician who played the bass viol. He is patient and calm.
  
• Mrs. Dunn - Danny's only parent. She is a thoughtful and loving mother, and wise at the same time.
• Irene Miller - Danny's friend who just moved next door. She is interested in science, especially in Biology. She is a tough girl. She also gets mad easily when her friend, Joe, says that girls are nothing but trouble.
• Joe Pearson - Danny's friend. He is the poet of the group. He used to think that girls are nothing but trouble, but not until he got to know Irene better.
• Doctor Grimes - a friend of Professor Bullfinch. Grimes is a curmudgeonly figure, rarely taking the teenagers seriously, and often trying to antagonize the Professor. Doctor Grimes was also a musician who played the piccolo; he and the professor would on occasion play duets.
• Eddie Phillips - the snitcher. He is the villain of the story. He seems unintelligent for most of his classmates, but he's not a total idiot.
• Miss Arnold - their teacher. She is a good teacher. But, she gives plenty of homework. It is because she believes that homework is a way for the students to learn by themselves.

Summary

Danny Dunn and his friends, Joe Pearson and Irene Miller, want to get their homeworks done faster. Miss Arnold, their teacher, always gives them plenty of homeworks to do. She says that it's her way of making the students learn how to study. The three friends think that these assignments eat up so much of their time.

Professor Bullfinch, the scientist who Danny and his mom live with, has gone out of town. He left his precious invention - Miniac - under the care of the teenage boy. The professor trusts Danny a lot since he has seen him work on Miniac. One night, Irene was asking Danny about their English homework. He didn't know how to do it, so he suggested that they ask Miniac about it. The machine printed out the answers fast and easy. This scenario gave the threesome an intelligent idea. Voila! Miniac the Homework Machine - perfect! They loaded everything on their books to Miniac's memory so that the machine will know how to do all their homeworks in every subject. This was supposed to be a spotless master plan of the three amigos. But then, Eddie Phillips, the snitcher, sensed that something was going on. So, he followed the three on the way to Professor Bulfinch's laboratory. He overheard everything and told Miss Arnold about it. The three friends hated snitcher more for what he did. They got back on him. This made Eddie furious. That's why, using what he learned while eavesdropping, he changed the temperature of the machine. This was a very big problem since, that same day of Eddie's sabotage, two representatives were with the professor to check on his latest invention. One of them was Dr. Grimes. This scared Danny and Irene. Luckily, just in the nick of time, Danny finally figured out what was wrong with the machine and fixed it. This made Miniac famous and proved her significant and useful.

Going back to the problem with Danny and his homework, Mrs. Dunn had a wise idea to fix it. She told Miss Arnold to give them higher level homeworks. This was an agony for them because they still had to input all the data on the high school books on the machine. At the end of the school year, the three were awarded “HOMEWORK CHAMPIONS”. This disappointed Danny, because he didn't expect that they were working a lot harder than everybody else.

The Conflict

The conflict of all conflicts in the story was, of course, caused by the villain - Eddie “Snitcher” Phillips. He was so mad at the three friends for setting him up. So, he planned sabotage. Having overhears what Danny was saying to her friends about Miniac when they were making their homework, he learned a way to cause malfunction to the machine. He changed Miniac's temperature to make her cold. Danny was telling her friends about warming up the machine before using it. Because of this, Miniac had trouble on processing data and solving problems loaded to her. The worst part is, the professor just got back from his trip, with two scientists to check on Miniac. Professor Bullfinch thought that it was the right time to make Miniac known to the world. But how can that happen when Miniac was not working well? This was a big problem for Danny. The professor trusted Miniac on him. But now, she was out of control!

The Climax

While the scientists and Mrs. Dunn were having dinner, Danny and Irene silently went to the laboratory to try fixing Miniac. But, they weren't able to figure out the problem. The professor and the two evaluators have already arrived in the laboratory. Danny felt very nervous about it. The two evaluators began testing Miniac. For the first problem they gave, she gave jammed answers. The professor was surprised by this since Miniac was working just fine when he left. Danny was trembling because he was given full responsibility over the machine. One of the evaluators lost his patience over Miniac. He said that it was just a total waste of time because - once again - Professor Bullfinch made a failure in his invention. Danny was shaking, freezing cold. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. And one evaluator was about to step out of the lab door.

The Resolution

Danny was getting ice cold. Irene told him that he sounded just like her when she was reading a jammed answer printed by Miniac. This gave Danny the idea that the machine was cold. He checked on the temperature of Miniac. The label said that she is in fine temperature. But inside it, it was actually adjusted. And with this, only one suspect came into the mind of the teenager - Snitcher Phillips. The professor warmed up Miniac and the machine did well again. The impatient evaluator went back in and both scientists were amazed by the speed and accuracy of Miniac's answers. They congratulated the professor and told him that Miniac will be introduced to the world as soon as possible. As for Danny, he confessed that they've been using Miniac to do their homework. He thought that this was a wise idea. But, Miss Arnold made him disappointed when she gave the three amigos a special award - Homework Champions. The teacher said that they were actually doing a lot more work than everybody else since when they load information to the machine, they are sort of studying.

The Impact of the Story on the Readers

The story is a very interesting one, especially for students. I never thought that it would end the way it did. What the three lead characters did was not plain cheating. They wanted to save time in doing their homework. But, they still had to exert effort to enable the machine to know the answers. They had to load the information and program them by themselves. It was an additional task for them, but they didn't realize it. They only felt the convenience of having a machine print out all their homework. Because of such comfort, they forgot all about the process of loading information. And their act of loading information to the machine was a way of studying. The machine might've printed out their homework but they know everything that the machine knows. This is the reason why they were crowned Homework Champions. Such a splendid award, don't you think? However, this made Danny disappointed. He thought it was a wise and cool idea but it turned out to be geeky. They were studying - he never realized that. I guess, sometimes, people look for shortcuts but end up taking the longest path there is.

There is a rumor radiating around the outskirts of the cities that the Ashened union swiped away more than ten thousand Aristocratic soldiers in the matter of one day. Nobody is extremely surprised, for the Ashened union is the one of the strongest armies of history, but it frightens the Aristocratic union. They are deducting in the amount of soldiers faster than a fire can annihilate a forest. Half of these Aristocratic solders carry no weapons at all. The C02 in an Aristocratic gun wears out so quickly, and the soldiers find it no use to spring the projectiles at the enemies, when they can just fight with their daggers and spears (Which usually result in a better conclusion battle-wise anyways). This rumor is indeed true. The world government has sent out messengers to examine the spreading rumor, and they have declared that there are over 10,000 dead bodies in that day's battleground.

“All rise!” said King Laine. “Eat healthy and hearty, for today, we must dominate those Ashens!” King Laine was the head leader of the Aristocratic union. He's been leader for 30 years of his life, and plans on being leader until the end of his days. King Laine paced around the army while the soldiers readied their weapons and armor.

“Hold!” he yelled as his army watched the Ashened union advanced to fight the 49th battle of the war. The Ashens we're moving faster then ever, and by the time the Aristocratic team realized it, it was time to fight.

“Charge!” yelled King Laine. The soldiers held their shields out sternly in front of their bodies, and ran full speed ahead. The first brave soldier had his head bashed with a shield. He flew backwards as blood exploded out of the gash in his head. He was not medicated at all whatsoever. Most of the first thousand soldiers we're mutilated by the Ashens. Head shots, stabs, heads being sliced off, all you can imagine an enormous war could conclude in. One particular soldier in this war was Waldron Saber. His biggest goal in life was to attend battle school and participate in a war. Well, now was his time, and he was about to lose everything including his family, his friends, and his life.

A mounted Ashen soldier had been moving forward, picking him specifically out of the crowd to be killed. “Waldron! No!!!” yelled King Laine as he watched his own nephew have his head sliced off. He stared in astonishment as the young one's head fell to the ground. At this moment in time, life seemed to be in slow motion to King Laine. He felt a surge of anger and power as he roared so loud that even the Ashens became frightened of him.

He walked slowly toward a lined up group of Ashens, and one-by-one, he abolished the helpless soldiers. He would consider this expressing the feeling of maximum anger and rage. Nobody could defeat him at this moment. He just saw a member of his family die and he's not going to just move on and ignore this. A mounted soldier came by and King Laine chopped the steed's left foot off, and advanced forward.

Two Ashen soldiers approached him with fear, but also with dignity and confidence. King Laine was positive that he could defeat these two soldiers forsakenly. The Ashen's strategy was to slash in a more diagonal direction, which was definitely a disadvantage for the king. He needed help, but he wasn't going to admit it. He was a Aristocratic soldier, and he was not going to forfeit so easily.