Thoreau mostly uses imagery to illustrate time in the excerpt. The second sentence is saying that he is in the midst of time/living, and he can "detect how shallow it is," meaning that he is aware that life is short and that the end is inevitable. Thoreau also describes time as being fleeting, but ever-present.
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Answer:
1) We get to see more of the emotional deterioration of Starbuck in season 2 ep 15. And she’s not having a good time. She’s drinking, she’s staying up late, and she’s not endearing herself to one of the pilots under her command, Kat. This at first leads to verbal jousting over who is the pilot with the most kills, but gradually intensifies as the episode goes on. Starbuck, isn’t on top form. She’s still having recollections of her time back on Caprica, and her promise to go back and save Anders, but she’s denied permission to go back and rescue him. Furthermore, we discover she missed a mission in which a pilot was killed, and then she makes a booze-filled lurch for Apollo. The mental state he’s in, they’re clearly a match made in heaven.
2) Raiders reincarnate so that their past lives are learning experiences. They no longer have to go through a training process and have to learn everything again. They get to go into a different vessel with the same amount of intelligence. This way they never die unless their resurrection ship is destroyed which would be a disadvantage to them.
"During the shop’s peak hours – from eight in the evening till around midnight – one could hardly hear oneself talk because of the boisterous chatters that went on."
