Reading & Writing (Writing & Reading)

The piece written by the writer is written rich with coherency.
The writer most certainly captivates the reader.
The reader reads the writer's work,
but the writer writes for the reader's leisure.

The Insoluble Mystery

The library book that was overdue ten years. The unsolved mystery holds no potential of being solved. Their's no clues as to why the book was never returned for up to a decade. The book of theft, the book that contains the know-how about theft in all its concepts was ironically stolen or perhaps borrowed for a decade... You decide the fate of this story... Their is none. Well, at least that's what I thought...

Life's Theories

The hypothesis fixed and set concrete by the wise has the tendency to be correct, it never lets down, the wisdom is arguably significant. The naive steer themselves into a direction that welcomes corruption, infidelity, insecurity and incompetence with open arms. For the most part, they're prone to defeat and vulnerable to many of life's downs whilst attempting to grasp the 'ups' - the positives - success. In contrast, success is inevitable for the wise.

I have put together an idea of a potential novel that I would like to write in the near future, I welcome feedback with open arms and hope that some day this comes together. I have basically condensed my ideas into a paragraph providing something similar to a blurb or a synopsis, however I think it's a little more thorough than an ordinary synopsis. Enjoy and please tell me what you think, thank-you!

An Australian troop doesn't return home after a stint in the middle-east with Australian army's Special Force team. Among the 20 troops within the Special Forces, this troop was the only one not to return home to Australia  for reasons not specifically identified. Finally, amid the gloomy and dejected sadness spread across the lives of the lost troop's loved ones, he was formally declared deceased. His coffin was brought home, a service for his passing eventuated and Special Forces troop Donald Rutherson known as, D.R. by the team, was remembered and respected for losing his life for his country. Two years after his death, Donald is found in Russia by a savvy Australian detective who had travelled to Europe start a new life. Detective Miller, who coincidentally, was the head detective on the case for the missing Donald Rutherson two years ago in Australia. He remained adamant that the death of D.R. was a hoax and never officially closed the case. Rutherson, now known as Tomas Prukherov, has become synonymous with corruption and infidelity and had kidnapped over twenty young women and imprisoned them on a farm subjecting them to slavery and poverty for over a year. An ordinary Aussie troop became an infamous Russian psychopath and changed the Australian military for eternity. The motives and wherefores are revealed within the epic thriller.

We're all ordinary individuals, the extraordinary just do illustrious things that grants them the label of 'fame'. Does being famous mean that one's fortunate in that regard? Or does it imply that they hold a greater magnitude of importance than the ordinary individual? In essence, being constantly obedient doesn't usually attract praise or appreciation, however it's one's disobedience that is noticed and amplified. Where is the moral concept within the dynamics of this issue? In order to excel, one must avoid sitting on the fence and being tentative in amidst a specific situation, whether it is beneficial to them or to others, a concrete decision must be implemented. Being ordinary can oppose the concept of being 'famous' and extraordinary so long as the ordinary are capable of the extraordinary. 

This is one of my very first pieces of writing, evidently it's raw, but I have grown and built upon this.

Enjoy!

- Nathan S

Post-Lockout Fiasco Hits Houston Hard

Martin averaged 23.5 PPG
 for Houston last season and was
close to breaking the record for
3-pointers made and free-throws made. 

NBA fans it has most certainly been an eventful week of free agency to say the least. The post-lockout period has been marked by interesting events, some that require head scratches as well as thumbs up. In addition, not all has been pretty for the NBA and especially for teams like the Houston Rockets who have certainly felt the punch of the free agency period thus far.


As the lockout ended there was speculation that Chris Paul wanted out and that he was done and over with the league owned New Orleans Hornets. As the Collective Bargaining Agreement was ratified by the league and thus the lockout was officially lifted, Hornets' all-star point guard, Chris Paul, subsequently confirmed the speculation and came out honest and open about his desire to leave the Hornets franchise. Hornets' GM, Dell Demps was quick to orchestrate potential deals to ship Paul out of New Orleans to ensure that productive players would be shipped back in return to avoid losing him in free agency for nothing at all.  Of those potential deals, the specific three-team deal between the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Hornets seemed most promising and reports say that it was, in fact accepted across the board among each respective team's front offices. The three-team deal was centered around landing Paul in LA and consisted of sending Odom out to New Orleans and Gasol out to Houston.                                                                                          

PROPOSED THREE-TEAM TRADE:
LAL: Chris Paul
HOU: Pau Gasol
NO: Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Goran Dragic, Lamar Odom and a protected 1st round pick from Houston (via NYK)


This is where the deal gets complicated. Ultimately, because the Hornets are owned by the league the final decision on all trades involving New Orleans must be made and signed off by David Stern, Adam Silver and those involved within the league head office. As the trade was agreed by all three teams, it soon become public as reports stated that the trade was ''done'' and ''imminent''. 


However, subsequently, the deal was over-turned by Commissioner Stern due to "basketball reasons" and left all three teams in adversity. The Rockets now have their two top scorers in Martin and Scola disgruntled and uncertain about their spot on the roster both now and long-term. The Lakers now have an already-emotionally-weak Pau Gasol uncertain about his validity on the roster to deal with and as for the Hornets, they still have Chris Paul on their roster, who has openly told the public that he doesn't want to be apart of the franchise anymore. This is, to say the absolute least, a messy and discombobulated situation that hurts all three teams significantly. Although, for the most part, it's the Rockets who are most effected and are left with a bruised roster as a result of this melodrama.


In contrast, Scola still remained poised, focused and overwhelmingly professional amidst this fiasco. He stated that "it's nothing new, every year there is a lot of talking, only difference this year is that it actually happened, then it didn't happen, then it happened and then it didn't happen". The Argentine native is fresh off a 18.3 ppg (points per game) and 8.2  rpg (rebounds per game) season. Scola insists despite his name being centered in trade talks that he's just wanting to "play basketball" and move over this obstacle.


Houston's first exhibition game is scheduled for the 17th of December on Saturday Night (around Sunday morning for Australian viewers) at the Toyota Center against the San Antonio Spurs. It will soon be seen whether the trade rumors have inflicted acute or long-term damage to the Rocket's key players.

Smokers, It's About Time You Cut The Ignorance

An unattractive abundance of sheer filth - Quit it!

There is absolutely nothing healthy about smoking. The smell, the sight and the price of these cancer sticks is off-putting, in fact it's merely a welcome mat on your door-step gladly inviting lung cancer and associated respiratory complications.

Recent legislation has ensured that all tobacco distributors shelve all cigarette packaging in cabinets that disallows all consumers to view the price and branding of each respective cigarette brand. For the most part, it is a bid to formally express the potential harms cigarette smoking can cause by basically locking away to ability to view the good ol' Winnie Blues on the shelves at supermarkets or at service stations.

However, in contrast, the government's highest revenues are extracted from the sales of petroleum and ironically, tobacco (cigarettes). In this sense, the legislation contradicts the government's significant revenue success and realistically isn't an effective bid to attempt to cut smoking rates among Australians. If the government can't make sense of this fiasco and remains greedy and acquisitive, we must do so and take the initiative to diminish smoking rates among Australians ourselves. According to a study conducted by the Cancer Council, 19% of 17 year old boys smoke full time and 17% of 17 year old girls smoke full time as well. Furthermore, in Australia there are over 15'000 deaths caused by smoking related diseases such as respiratory failures, lung cancers and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD).

As an ex-cigarette smoker I can empathize to the difficulty of giving up a habit, it's never easy stopping something immediately that's routine and that concept is, most certainly, reasonable and understandable. But what isn't understandable is the inevitable consequences you're inviting by smoking tobacco. Teenagers, at such young raw ages are mostly naive, vulnerable and susceptible to these potential harms and have this perspective that smoking cigarettes is, in fact in some way 'cool' and do so as a means of fitting in and to avoid discrimination.

Although it is understood to be a strenuous and difficult quest to ever completely ban or abolish smoking, however, by granting teenagers the appropriate knowledge of the potential harms and diseases that smoking tobacco welcomes it ensures that a seed is planted in their minds, further steering them in the right direction toward the future.

I killed my habit of smoking these cancer-sticks by ferociously hurling my packet on the bitumen, gazing disgustingly into the measly stick that controlled my every move and dictated my daily routine. I felt free, I was no longer controlled by such a demon. It took the tragic experience of witnessing the loss of an extremely close family member who was my idol and inspiration, which for the most part, changed my life completely. Ultimately, I witnessed my fate, it was me laying remorsefully on my death bed, yearning for the past wishing I had of listened to those who cared for my health and well-being. But now, I understand that it is just simply too late.

Unfortunately, it took the emotional distress that this tragedy inflicted to realize the absurdity of cigarette smoking. In addition, after viewing my predetermined destiny, I now live a smoke-free life and so should you. Think of your family, could they deal with your departure out of their lives? Could they cope with the overwhelming burden that your death would promise?

By smoking cigarettes you're not only harming your individual health, but you're more importantly, betraying your family. If you're a smoker in the modern era be ashamed, today it's selfish, egotistic and narrow-minded to continue to do such an ignorant thing. It's not too late to bring your life back, abolish the habit now or you'll be prematurely welcoming death.