asymptotes

This is Part 3 of a series of 4 talk outlines on the cardinal virtues 'I will take the Ring,' he said, 'though I do not know the way.'   Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him, and Frodo felt his heart pierced by the sudden keenness of the glance. 'If I understand alright all that I have heard,' he said, 'I think this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will.'   - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Introduction Society has always admired and exalted people who have overcome great difficulties to achieve an ideal or goal Roselle Ambubuyug, blind student who graduated BS Math  summa cum laude  in Ateneo de Manila University Filipina pilot without hands Manny Pacquiao Martyrs Frodo and the quest to destroy the One Ring These are examples of the virtue of fortitude. What is Fortitude? Fortitude is the capacity to pursue an ideal despite the difficulties Fortitude st...

I just finished giving a midterm exam in one of my classes. Of course, I spent much time thinking about the bonus questions, which I call Nonlinear Reasoning, being a mixture of course topics and humor. One of bonus questions was the following: (The Turing Test, proposed by Alan Turing, determines whether a machine can be considered intelligent or not.) Those who are versed in the War of the Ring could easily deduce that the correct answer to this question is " One Ring ": Sauron and Gollum are not interested in passing the Turing Test because they are only interested in the  One Ring . However, most of my students just answered " ring ". Since I am not a terror teacher, I guess I will have to give these students partial points. However, I also have to be reasonable and just in giving it to them. Since there are twenty Rings of Power in all  –  Three for the Elven-kings under the sky; Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone; Nine for Mortal...

Three kings will see a great star in the bright blue sky, Seven men will follow it and lead them far; Nine days it shall guide them to the greatest King, One whose kingdom shall have no end. In the land of Judah, He shall lie, One King to rule the world, one who'll redeem men; One King to save the world, and from their sins release them, In the land of Judah, He shall lie. F ollowing a great star, the Three Kings of the Orient are led to Rivendell. There, the Elf-Lord Elrond explained to them The Prophecy. Together with Anakin, Harry, Neo and Aragorn, they embark on a journey to bring the Crown of Prophecy to the Lord of the Kings. But the journey turns out to be perilous, for the evil KingWraights are coming after them. THE LORD OF THE KINGS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE KING PART I This is a script written for a 2005 highschool Christmas Movie Project.  Note that this is not written according to standard scriptwriting rules. ...

Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings are now household names thanks to the huge success of Jackson's film adaptation of the Trilogy.   The Hobbit will soon follow, as Jackson finishes another film trilogy adaptation for it. However The Silmarillion , the book which provides the backdrop for the stories of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit remains out of reach for many people, even among Tolkien fans. One of the main reasons given is that The Silmarillion is a difficult book to read. I think I agree with that claim, although I would also add that the enjoyment I got from The Silmarillion surpasses that which I got from The Lord of the Rings (LotR) . I read LotR before Silmarillion .  I almost gave up reading LotR... twice. But once I got to the Mines of Moria chapter, I couldn't let go of the book.  I am already a Tolkien fan when I started reading the Silmarillion , so perhaps that eased out a bit the effort of reading a "difficult book". But th...

“ Then I knelt, too, and prayed: 'O God, if there is a God, forgive him his sins, if there is such a thing as sin.'  ” - Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited “ I am assailed by the worst temptations of atheism. ” - St. Therese of Lisieux, from her diary “ Even the very wise cannot see all ends. ” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings “ May the odds be ever in your favor. ” - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games First, a disclaimer. This essay will not directly tackle the question of whether or not God exists. The reader is referred to a more profound and entertaining discussion on this topic by Dr. Peter Kreeft , a popular contemporary philosopher and speaker. Instead, this essay will consider God’s existence from the point of view of chance and consequence. I shall begin by relating a personal experience. A year ago, I received a series of anti-rabies shots for a cat bite. I was peacefully relaxing in a beach hut when I accidentally stepped on a c...

My message to all Thank you very much to all of you for being part of my life. My life has definitely been much richer because of all of you. I mean, life without challenges would definitely be a bore. :-p My reply to all greetings in FB Since there are so many greetings, I decided to write a code to save me time. I hope you guys don't mind. For i=1 to Num_FB_Friends  do If Greeted(FB_Friend[i]) then   Write(Wall(FB_Friend[i]), ¨Thank you so much for the greetings!¨) Else   Write(Wall(FB_Friend[i]), ¨Did you check your calendar today?¨);   Unfriend(FB_Friend[i]) My age If you wish to know my real age, check out this post : 17 Again : Discovering the Fountain of Youth My birthday aspirations That what should be shall be.  (Galadriel to Frodo at the Mirror of Galadriel in JRR Tolkien's Fellowship of the Rings ) Genuine peace and human progress around the world. Emitte Spiritum tuum et renova faciem terrae! (Send forth your Spirit and renew th...

Being a commentary on The Lord of the Rings. A portion of this article appeared in the Young Blood section of The Philippine Daily Inquirer on January 1, 2004 under the title: Lord of the Rings: Not Just Fantasy. "Above all shadows rides the Sun.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings THE EPIC TRILOGY The Lord of the Rings will draw to a close with the showing of its last segment, The Return of the King. The past two installments have left the viewers fascinated and terrified with the discovery of realms beautiful and dreadful, characters admirable and detestable, tales delightful and mournful, set in a land called Middle Earth. Fantasy and Reality Fantasy, escape from reality, many would say. But this is not how J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of this epic trilogy, envisioned it to be. Tolkien saw fantasy as a plunge into reality rather than an escape from it. Fantasy provides the writer a greater degree of freedom to emphasize certain asp...

Aia María quanta Eruanno i Héru as elye · aistana elye imíca nísi · ar aistana i yáve mónalyo Yésus : Aire María Eruo ontaril á hyame rámen úcarindor sí ar lúmesse ya firuvamme : násie : The Hail Mary in Quenya (High Elven)  -JRR Tolkien   Tolkien had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In one of his letters, he fondly referred to the Blessed Virgin in the following way: "Our Lady, upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded." There are at least two types or figures of Mary in Tolkien's world.   The first figure is Galadriel, the elven lady of Lothlorien who possesses great wisdom and beauty. Galadriel is the greatest and wisest of the remaining elves in Middle Earth. Because of this pre-eminence among the elves, she became proud and wanted a realm of her own. This is the reason why she was still in exile in Middle Earth. [1] The Blessed Virgin is pre-figured by Galadriel bec...

I reminisce the good times I had with him in high school: studying together, playing pranks on our classmates, making fun of our teachers,  singing old-fashioned songs . Those were great times I will always recall with fondness. I lost contact with him after college. I wished I could still see him, talk to him, laugh with him. But I never had the chance to talk to him or laugh with him again. I was, however, able to see him one last time. He was lying in a coffin.   I was shocked: struck at the fact that someone so intelligent and with so much potential could die at a very young age; stunned that this someone is actually my friend. Unbidden, a question spontaneously arose in my mind: "When will it be my turn? "    I then picture my own death. I lay in coma in a hospital. Around me were people who loved me and people I loved. I drew my last breath and passed into the twilight. A vigil was held for me. My family, friends and acquaintances came to pay me their l...