National Geographic: The World's Largest Trees

     I read an article in National Geographic magazine called "The World's Largest Trees". It was about scientists discovering more about the old sequoia trees. The biggest one they've found is one that they named "The President" 90 years ago, and we still call it that today. It has a dead spire on its top that was struck by lightning, and a canopy that holds nearly 2 billion leaves. It has 4 large branches, each the size of a tree themselves. Though sequoias are not the largest trees in height, they make up for it in trunk width. They are also extremely old. The reason that it has survived for so long is it has simply outlived its competitors. The scientists are trying to get me to know that this tree has been studied for an extremely long time, and they have learned a lot about it.
     The scientists have done a lot of work to learn about these trees, and this is because they want to conserve them. They are telling us about this tree because they want us to become interested in things about the tree. The scientists want us to feel interested in the tree, so that no one will try to get rid of it. If people understand the tree, they will not look to use the wood for fuel or furnishings. At least that's what National Geographic wants people to feel.
     I believe that National Geographic has the right idea on this topic, but I think they could make the idea a bit more blatant. They basically just give information about the tree. I only noticed the idea because of the loaded words spruced throughout the article, but for someone who hasn't learned about that sort of thing, it might be hard to notice.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

I have recently been reading "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert. it is the second out of six books in the series "Dune". Paul Atreides, the main character in the book, has aged significantly since the previous book, but the book does not give a specific age. His sister, Alia of the Knife, however, is 16. As an embryo in her mother's womb, she was given the memories of all of the former Reverend Mothers, along with her mother's memories up to that point. A Reverend Mother is a teacher and a High Priestess of the Bene Gesserit (Mainly girls, because Paul is the only boy Bene Gesserit that has ever existed). Bene Gesserits are people trained from birth to have the ability to persuade people to do what they want among other things. There are many conflicts in this story, some external but many internal. External problems include the schemes of the Princess Irulan, daughter of the previous Emperor (before Paul took over) along with the (former) Emperor's old Truth-sayer (a Reverend Mother who can hear when the truth is said), a Guildmember (basically the transportation in the Dune universe) named Edric, and the Tleilaxu Face Dancers (Bene Gesserit trained to shape their faces any way they please, mimicking other peoples faces). Some internal problems are the fact that Paul's prescience is waning, and the only way he can see into the future is using massive amounts of a drug called melange, and Alia being attracted to the ghola (a servant made from dead flesh by the Tleilaxa) made from Duncan Idaho's flesh. Duncan Idaho was a friend and mentor of Paul's who died in the battle against the former Emperor's army.

Muad'Dib by Frank Herbert

I recently read the third book of the "Dune" series by Frank Herbert. The main character, Paul, has acquired prescient powers that he could never imagine he would have. The Baron of the Harkonnens has allied with the Emperor to overcome Arrakis by force and kill off the Atreides bloodline for good. Paul wins and becomes the Emperor. This reminds me of justice in the real world in that the Emperor and the Baron are bad people, who take advantage of the less fortunate unfairly to gain power, and Paul, who is righteous and helps who deserves it, wins the battle and earns justice for the people.