Reflective paper Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reflective paper - Personal Statement Example Being in a hurry to get home, the thought to get down and check the stricken car did not even cross my mind and without notifying the owner of the other car I drove away. It was not in my knowledge that the damage to the other vehicle was of such intensity; in fact, at that point in time the idea of any significant damage had not entered my mind. Maybe there might have been a â€Å"thud† however, to my mind then the sound must have been inaudible. The stress under which I had been driving proved to be my distraction and clouded my better judgment. The pre-occupancy of schoolwork, deadlines, examinations, distressing my teachers and the anger of my awaiting parents at home all swirled within my head, tugging for my attention and consequently caused my head to spin. This stress then coupled with a headache is my only excuse to having overlooked the right way of handling the situation. I must admit here that somewhere in the back of my mind the thought of this incident did linger ; yet I tried to push it further back to dismiss it. The more I tried the more it came back to me and the more it began to feel real. I began to realize the possibility of actually having struck the car behind me and the thought disturbed me. I contemplated of the idea a few times but always winded up assuring myself that no such thing had happened. Guilt would spread over me at the mere thought of my suspicion being true. I said to myself, and then my discourse following the incident should have been otherwise. It was not easy wrenching away the guilt that crept over me but I could not muster the courage to own up to my mistake. Would anyone believe my innocence after I had driven off or would I even be heard at all in my plea for innocence? These questions haunted me and frightened me out of doing the honorable act of making things right. Having never been in such a situation, I began to wonder if I had hurt anybody, directly or indirectly. Had

The Consequences of Colonization Essay Example for Free

The Consequences of Colonization Essay Dr Clionadh Raleigh Human Geography. GG1023. Name: Louise Schriek Student ID: 11759835 Extension Granted for ad misericordiam reasons (Due on the 18/04/2012, Handed 26/04/2012). Word count: 1500 (excluding bibliography). Title : The consequences of colonization: an interpretation regarding the nature and causes of the ongoing issues around nationalism, ethnicity and stately power in sub-Saharan Africa since decolonization. Colonial occupation and the manner in which independence was gained and free states were organized may be a possible explanation for the matters of contention revolving around ethnicity, nationalism, and states in Sub-Saharan Africa to this day. A first part will expose the reasons for multiple ethnicities being situated in the same territory, and contrast it with the mainly mono-ethnic governments. A second part will deal with the consequences of this colonial inherited and induced system, holding that the nature of most sub-Saharan African states and their relations to the nations encompassed within their territories does not necessarily lead to secession, violence or power-contestations, but may partly account for the problems faced by these countries. Many of the territorial boundaries in Africa today have not changed since their definition by colonizers at the Berlin Conference (1884-1885); native societal systems were barely taken into account, the emphasis having been on the maximization of territory and resources (p93, Cole 2007). The individual colonial institutions and territories formed the inescapable frame that African nationalists had to confront and operate within to effectively challenge colonial occupation (p11, Young 2004). Mobilizations against the colonial states thus had to identify to and mobilize through the territory and populations imprisoned by this state, and thus colonial boundaries were kept as models for the new rising civic nationstates. The hyphenation of nation and state embodied ideological requirements to be impersonated to legitimize a discourse of independence in the eyes of European powers (p164, Hutchinson 2004). All groups encompassed in one delimited colonial territory thus needed to be presented as one nation claiming its rights to selfdetermination and due national territory, through a demotic form of  nationalism (Preface, E. K. Francis 1968) with respect to the specific colonial power occupying it. As Robert Stock explains, much of the weakness in African political institutions can be traced back to the colonial period, especially to the transition of political powers with the gain of independence (p136, Stock 2004). The governments put into place were composed by an African elite highly influenced by western values and ideologies, having benefited of colonial education (p70, Potter 2008). Elections were impacted and controlled by the colonial powers efforts to set up governments (p7, Saha 2010) that would not seriously challenge the interests of the metropole (p136, Stock 2004), hereby staying implicitly imperialist to keep economical advantages, to not be challenged politically, to impose their political ideologies on these rising free states, and to keep an upper hand on the exploitation and trade of resources in the globalizing economy. The new African governments were thus closely correlated with the previous colonizing powers, and were not necessarily a reflection of the people and nations within these states, of their desires and interests, but rather of that of a designated elite monopolizing the power in its own interest. Autonomy itself came from a popular strive of Africans, and vast independence movements fighting for political and economical freedom, encompassed in the continent-wide Pan-Africa ethnic phenomenon as a unitary reaction to colonization (p106, Cole 2007). But the consequent autonomous states set up did thus not rise from  a common will of the people, but of westernized decisions and a certain disguised continuation of the society model set up during the colonial era; The struggle for African autonomy and the creation of the independent states lacked substantial connection, as it seems that the first did not give birth to the second. It is thus not surprising that in general Sub-Saharan African States do not identify to the nations they were attributed or feel a strong duty of promoting the entirety of their citizens interests, and vice versa. Moreover, it seems that the elite holding political power will have a stronger connection to their own ethnic-nation than to the whole of the population in their territory (p235, Saha 2010). The importance of the  ethnic-factor in the process of nation-building is argued by such figures as Anthony Smith or Walker Connor to be of fundamental importance (p5, Young 2004). Ethnic belonging seems to be a fundament of the current African societal model. This may be traced back to the fact that the civic form of nationalism bringing all ethnic nations of one state together had by no means been pursued by colonial rulers, hereby facilitating control of populations and minimizing the amplitude of possible nationalistic protest. Most African Governments are constituted by one political party that will promote the interests of this one ethnicity, and be supported by it. These Uni-party governments are an inherent part of the system installed by the colonizing powers. A possible interpretation is as that of a vicious circle. The first governments of the new states at independence were mainly representative of only one of the ethnicities comprised in the state. Valuing this fraction of their states population that they shared ethno-national belonging with induced the growing loss of identification and trust of other ethnicities and of their sense of citizenship and belonging to the state as an inherent part of its nation. Support thus declined, the state responded by growingly disregarding these often numerous nations peripheral to their system, whom in turn in this opposition may aspire to overthrow the group in power, to defend their interests and gain recognition . Complications seem to derive from the probl ematic mono-ethnic governmental institutions holding stately power. This, amongst other factors, may be a cause for corruption and violence in SubSaharan Countries. It seems that The peripheral ethnicities subjugate themselves to the state, not by motive of civic nationalism and positive support, but by lack of means of contestation and politicization, by bribery as they are payed off or compensated (the least possible) for their passivity, through repression by violence, or elimination by mass murder. Various ethnic nations being encompassed in the same state thus usually seems to not lead to the secession of African states. Instead it leads to the fight over the monopoly of state-power between the various ethnic groups concerned (p240 Saha 2010). The state, due to its mono-party and mono-ethnic  constitution, only represents a fraction of the citizens that the officially homogenizing civic nation-state, indeed exhibiting national symbols, hymns, history etc (p443, Dirlik 2002) is supposed to take into account. Substantial civic-nationalism and equal treatment of the whole population on its territory, through the distribution of power and wealth, is not reflected. In fact, very few ethno-nationalist socio-political movements in Sub-Saharan Africa have made intractable demands to form their own ethnic states (p5, Saha 2010). Many movements, such as the Sudans Peoples Liberation Movement or the Oromo Liberation Front in Ethiopia do not consider secessions as the solution to their ethnic issues (p5, Saha 2010). These movements are rather looking for better recognition from the political elite, and for a better politico-economic position. It seems thus that ignored ethnicities, or the peoples nations on the social margins (p6, Young 2004), aspire more to a civic type of nationalism in the states that encomprise them, rather than to the creation of their own ethno-nationalist state, the latter, due to past and present situations, appearing to not be the key to development and stability. Ethnicity is thus an issue in state-politics. Ethnic divisions are very much observable in economic and political hierarchies, and this poses a problem for democratization and civic-nationalism which should be the prominent form of nationalism manifestations in most African countries south of the Sahara due to their multi-ethnic nature. Monopoly of the state by one ethnicity also holds as consequence the latters ample control of natural resources, which are of major importance in the developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, whose economies depend largely on the exploitation of primary resources. Contemporary nationalism advocates the fragmentation of  the states resources monopoly amongst its citizens (p22, Guiberneau 1999), which is rarely the case in Sub-Saharan Africa. It may be suggested that internal contestations of power and overthrowal- attempts of one ethnic group by another happen to gain access to the resources and wealth that the large national territories that each state rules over comprise. Added to  this is the large amount of development aid that governments gain access to, but that seems to mostly disappear amongst the elite and be used to secure its power-monopoly through bribery, financing violent repressions, and corruption of the populations that are not of the system supporting the party in power(p62, Orijako 2001). The access to this wealth may thus also be an incentive for intra-state tensions. Ethnic differences within nations do not seem to be the reason for intra-state conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. But they still make the situation of these states problematic. One possible interpretation is thus that it is the mono-ethnic nature of most subSaharan African governments causes intra-state tensions. The cause of this may be traced back to the political, economic, social and territorial structuring imposed by colonial powers during colonial occupation, and generated by the way independence was gained, that is, through the colonial system, and influenced by colonial interests. Bibliography: . Montserrat Guibernau and John Hutchinson (2001), Understanding Nationalism, Polity Press, Great Britain. (Library 320.54 ). . Robert B. Potter, Tony Binns, Jennifer A. Elliot, David Smith (2008- Third Edition), Geographies of Development- An Introduction to Development Studies, Pearson Education Limited, UK. . M. Crawford Young (12/07/2004), Revisiting Nationalism and Ethnicity in Africa, James S. Coleman African Studies Center, UCLA, (Academic article, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/28h0r4sr ). . Arif Dirlik (2002), Rethinking Colonialism- Globalizatio, Postcolonialism, and the Nation, University of Oregon,The International of Postcolonial Studies, RoutledgeTaylor and Francis Group, USA. (Academic Article) . Robert Stock (2004), Africa South of the Sahara- A Geographical Interpretation (Second Edition), The Guilford Press, USA. . Santosh C. Saha (Mar 01, 2010), Sub-Saharan Ethnic Attachment And Civil Conflict: A Methodological Approach To State-Building And Ethnicity. Journal of Third World Studies; Vol. 27, No. 1, p. 235-251 (Academic Article). tcd library- EBSCO. . Roy Cole and H.J. De Blij (2007), Survey of Subsaharan Africa- a Regional Geography, Oxford University Press, USA. . E. K. Francis (1968), The Ethnic Factor in Nation-Building, University of North Carolina Press, USA. (Oxford Journals, Academic Article, http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/ content/46/3/338.short ). . Humphrey Orijako (2001), Killing Sub-Saharan Africa with Aid, Nova Science Publishers, USA.

Reefer Madness Essay -- essays research papers

I. Introduction and Overview   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is something very interesting about a book with a cover promising lurid tales of sex, drugs, and cheap labor. The persona of Eric Schlosser's subject and the effective marketing behind it are very verbose in nature. Here in this book, Eric Schlosser is keeping with the long tradition of the so called, â€Å"yellow† journalism, in wresting the black market, from the back alleys of public consciousness and putting it on display in the storefront of the eye of everyone. In the painfully, yet enjoyable essays, Eric Schlosser takes us on many numerous excursions through the war on marijuana, the lives of immigrant farm workers, and the very dirty sex industry in the United States. He paints a very graphic image of hypocrisy in the policies of the U.S. government by examining the power of the economy of the underground and the misuse of government resources in legislating morality to its public. . II. Major Issues In each of the authors essays in this book, is the truth of the smut and other things of the American ideal. You could say it is a liitle bit Weber's Protestant Ethic meets Larry Flynt. In each scenario, whether through agricultural facility and personal liberties, in the case of marijuana criminalization; immigrants in search of a better life, in the case of stigmatized farm workers; or punishing a successful businessman because of his lack of morals, Eric Schlosser returns to the unpleasant image of America as a bundle of hypocrisies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On one level, each scenario is of an American archetype of success. For a country that prides itself on its immigrant history, hard-work ethic, and financial success stories, it seems strange to make these folks look like the villains. This is what Eric Schlosser is getting at: that these people would be heroes if the American ideal were anything more than a myth. Forgotten in that ideal, rationalized somehow, is the fact that our national heritage also includes a strong grounding in Puritanical morality somewhat. This is perhaps one of the most dissatisfying aspects of Schlosser's book, that the exploration of our moral grounding is never explored all that deeply, even though it is criticized. However, it is indisputable that the author, Schlosser, feels that the American ideal has a dangerous and powerful hold on the public co... ...ese topics, or is he attempting to establish himself as a liberal?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perhaps, ironically, Schlosser's book is attractive for the same reasons that its subjects are, it is a type of book you do not want to be caught reading. In the United States, especially in the patriotic surge following the 2001 terrorist attacks, it is unfashionable to question nationalistic conventions. If teenagers are drawn to marijuana because their parents forbid it and married men are lured by the pornography stands because it is immoral, is it also possible that disenchanted citizens are tempted by a book that portrays its government and policies as laced with duplicity? We may never know.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Table Of Contents I. Introduction and Overview II. Major Issues In The Book III. Conclusion â€Å"Reefer Madness† overview

The reigns of Justinian as the emperor of Byzantium during

The reigns of Justinian as the emperor of Byzantium during 527 to 565 BC and Romanus IV in 1068 to 1071 AD were two most important events in Byzantine. The former marked the stability and economic growth of the land and the former was known to start the end of the empire. Byzantine (Istanbul today), which was called as an extension of Roman Empire in eastern part, after it was captured and made it a province. Justinian known as ‘Justinian the Great’ according to Alexander A.Vasiliev â€Å"is the central figure of this entire period† (1954, 132) for invading Italy, pacifying Africa and controlling Persia from invading the land through his faithful and able generals named Belisarius and Mundo (Treadgold, 1997, 207). Romanus IV on the other hand had a strategy that did not work for him. Romanus IV gathered large army in troops enough to defeat the enemy, yet he lost the battle for he lost control of them due to disloyalty of his men.Justinian seldom joined the army, while Romanus was at the center of the battle. Justinian delivered direction and instruction to his trusted men, and Romanus IV if not misunderstood, was left alone by his warriors to seek refuge (Bradbury, 2004, 176). The challenges in the reign of Justinian were the uprising of the people and uncontrollable circumstances that weakened his control – the plagues and earthquakes that befell the land.Romanus IV’s challenges were much severe since he reigned at the time when Byzantine never had any recur but to drive away the Seljuk Turks to contain the territory at the midst of unfaithful generals and warriors. Justinian was just fortunate to have a wife and Belisarius who advised and obeyed his command. Romanus IV had a different case instead because he was caught unprepared despite a well-organized plan he made to win the battle.His greatest challenge was not the number of enemy but the sphere of his influence as a leader to execute commands. Romanus had no lawful men and he was unaware of that; besides, the empire was surrounded by men with greedy ambition. Bibliography Bradbury, J. 2004. The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. USA: Routledge. Treadgold, W. 1997. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. USA: Stanford University Press. Vasiliev, A. 1954. History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453. USA: University of Wisconsin Press.

Language of the Neanderthal Essay

It is understood that the Neanderthal was an exceptional thinker and communicator; but there are heavy debates that question whether or not it spoke with a language. Some argue that the hyoid bone of the Neanderthal was too high in relation to its larynx to enable its tongue to form words, while others argue the opposite. With respect to both theories, it was indeed a linguistic hominid. The Neanderthal skull is more similar in shape to the Homo sapien than that of hominids before it; which would make it reasonable to believe that it was able to speak using language. Since it was the transitional species however, it may have been limited in its development of language usage. History of the Neanderthal Before analyzing the arguments discussing the language used by the Neanderthals, it is important to understand what is known about them. Homo neanderthalensis is the last species in the evolution of hominids, which is not considered a â€Å"modern human.† After many years of study, and dozens of findings, scientists observed the differences in the shape of Neanderthal skulls compared to Homo sapiens. They discovered that the brain was smaller, the bones were much more robust, and that the Neanderthal had no chin. The first findings of Neanderthals were in Belgium, Germany, and Gibraltar, in the early to mid 1800s. Some of the most important findings of the Neanderthal were in the La Chapelle- aux- Saints caves of Southern France. The ideas that have come from these rolling hills have both hurt and helped the progress for valid information in Neanderthal studies. In 1908, Jean and Amà ©dà ©e Bouyssonie’s findings led many scientists to conclude that Neanderthals lived strictly in caves. This is now proven to be false. These rumors however, created widespread generalization that made Neanderthals appear vastly inferior to modern humans. One such generalization held sway and brought about artistic depictions of the Neanderthals being sluggish and  awkward creatures. These depictions were created in reflection of the reconstruction of the â€Å"OId Man of La Chapelle- Aux- Saints† by French paleontologist, Marcellin Boule. The bones in the reconstruction of this particular Neanderthal were arthritic; and â€Å"although Boule was aware of the deforming illness†¦his reconstruction apparently did not take it into account sufficiently† (Sommer 2006:213). It wasn’t until the mid- 1900s that paleoanthropologists discovered that the Neanderthal walked upright and wasn’t slouched over at all. Discussions on the Neanderthal Hyoid Bone Despite all of the progress that has been made in figuring out just who Homo neanderthalensis was, anthropologists still have a long way to go. There are many sub-topics about the enigmatic skeletal remains of the Neanderthal that are stirring up heated debates in the world of anthropology, and are still left to skepticism. One of the most controversial is whether it was able to speak with flexible tongue movements that were able to create sophisticated variances in sound; that moreover allowed it to live with social interactions that rivaled the ones we use today. The hyoid bone and larynx position of the Neanderthal compared to Homo sapiens is the most explored aspect of this debate of language. In these arguments, the morphology of the organs and bones in the neck are often times more of a concern than their functionality. The hyoid is a U shaped bone, responsible for harnessing the movements of the tongue. It is located just above the larynx, which is also known as the voice box. The larynx and hyoid bone are positioned in a way that work together to form the words heard among modern day humans. In the early 1970s, scientists E.S. Crelin and Philip Lieberman reassembled the larynx of the Neanderthal and came up with a strong theory that is still agreed with today. They found that the Neanderthal â€Å"larynx is positioned high, close to the base of the skull, and the tongue lies almost entirely within the oral cavity† (Lieberman 1975:494). Lieberman is an expert in the evolution of language and has spent a greater part of his career discussing the major differences between Neanderthal and modern human language. He has written volumes that greatly detail the morphology of the Neanderthal’s mandible and laryngeal bone structure; and has for the most part concluded that Neanderthal language was nowhere near that of modern day humans. Shortly after Lieberman and Crelins’ reconstructed Neanderthal skull, there was not yet an actual Neanderthal hyoid bone found; and other scientists and thinkers in the 1970s disagreed with the way the Neanderthal skull was reconstructed. They based this off of the fact that Crelin was using only five specimens of Neanderthals from the La Chapelle Aux Saints site and also that the culminated skull was reconstructed incorrectly. Many paleontologists believed that the way it was put together would have made it impossible for it to swallow food. â€Å"One cannot help wondering why the vocal tract remodeling concentrates so heavily on La Chapelle when La Ferrassie I is in a much better state of physical preservation† (Carlisle and Siegel 1978: 370).Despite the valid statements made by Carlisle and Siegel that account the pristine condition of the skull that was put together at the La Ferrassie I site; it still did not give any more evidence that pointed to advanced vocal communication among the Neanderthals. Around the late 1980s the first Neanderthal hyoid bone was found in the Kebara Caves of Mount Carmel, Israel. It was discovered in the middle Paleolithic layers of soil that date back to sixty thousand years ago. Upon investigation of the bone, it was discovered that it was nearly identical to those of modern humans. It is important to point out that many of noted paleontologist, Philip Lieberman’s studies were based on comparing the hyoid bones of Chimpanzees to Neanderthals. Lieberman and his colleagues reached a consensus that Neanderthals spoke more like Chimpanzees than modern humans. Chimpanzees have been reportedly able to communicate with very subtle changes in tonality, which indicates there is a primitive language there. That being said, the shape of the hyoid bone of the chimpanzee is worlds apart from the Homo sapien. Whereas, previously mentioned the hyoid was nearly identical to the Homo sapiens’. The chimpanzee’s hyoid bone is much smaller and narrower in comparison to its larynx which is partly what makes its language usage, extremely limited. Not only that, but its brain is much smaller than not only the modern human, but also the Neanderthal. Lieberman’s vast knowledge of Linguistics has made him an important figure in Archaeology, but his morphological ideals that are commonplace have left out some of the more obvious similarities between Neanderthals and Humans. Neanderthal DNA The functions of the DNA structure of the Neanderthal are often times abandoned entirely in the arguments defending their â€Å"lack of language.† Proteins extracted from digs surrounding Neanderthal sites have been analyzed in labs and their DNA structures have given researchers positive reinforcement that the Neanderthal was very similar in its genetic makeup. According to Dr. Julien Riel- Salvatore from the University of Colorado at Denver, â€Å"Genetically, they [Neanderthals] share with modern humans a distinctive mutation of the FOXP2 gene, which seems to be intimately associated with speech† (Julien Riel-Salvatore, personal communication 2011). This same mutation is not exhibited in the Chimpanzee. Neanderthals and Human Breeding There are other debates that coincide with Neanderthals being able to speak, for instance a study that shows Neanderthals may have been able to breed with humans. This is a paradox in that it would rule out the term Neanderthal entirely, because in order to breed, an animal must be of the same species. If this is true not only would it point out that Homo neanderthalensis could speak as eloquently as the Homo sapien, but the Homo neanderthalensis was a Homo Sapien. The differences would be more in the light of behavior, nomadic skills, and tool technology that made the Homo Sapien with a chin able to out-survive the other. Playful notions aside, this is still a very debatable sub-topic of Neanderthal language and many more discoveries will have to be made to prove its total validity. Misleading Theories Other noted archaeologists believe that the large nose of the Neanderthal made it incapable of speech, insisting â€Å"†¦Contrasts in facial morphology probably led to nasal-like vocalizations†¦[and for]†¦advanced hmmmmm sounds† (Mithen 2006: 226). The brief description that Mithen uses to back up this opinion does not prove anything about how the nose may have certainly caused vocal limitations. Its nose was larger in size, but so were other parts of the Neanderthal, and they were no impedance to how it got around. Conclusion Corrosion of bones and more importantly muscle tissue make many aspects of anthropology a challenging field. It is not always clear how the muscle  tissue that once surrounded the skeletons of our ancient relatives operated in relation to nerves, connective tissue, and bones. The Neanderthal is a confusing hominid because of its somewhat smaller cranial capacity, and extremely large skeletal frame. The shapes of its bones are like larger replicas of ours, aside from the skull which is unique in its brow ridge and lack of chin. The conclusions of inter-breeding seem a bit far-fetched. It may have been able to speak as well as modern humans, but perhaps in comparison to the Darwin Finches, its slight variances in structure may have selected it to extinction. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Riel- Salvatore for his feedback on the Neanderthal. I am not a professional analyst in anthropology, and am grateful that he was able to provide me with some of his personal inquiries on the controversial debates centered on Neanderthal language. Works Cited Boellstorf, Tom (Editor) 1978 Additional Comments on Problems in the Interpretation of Neanderthal Speech Capabilities Vol 80 American Anthropology Association, Virginia. Lynch, Michael (Editor) 2006 Mirror Mirror on the Wall: Neanderthal as Image and Distortion in Early 20th- Century French Science and Press Vol. 36. SAGE Publications, California. Mithen, Steven 2006 The Singing Neanderthal. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts. Riel- Salvatore, Julien (Interview) 2011 Original notes from email. Ruff, Christopher (Editor) 1996 Structural Harmony and Neanderthal Speech: A Reply to Le May Vol. 45 Wiley-Liss, New Jersey.

The novel The Time Machine was published in 1895, at the height of the industrial revolution Essay Example

The novel The Time Machine was published in 1895, at the height of the industrial revolution Essay Example The novel The Time Machine was published in 1895, at the height of the industrial revolution Paper The novel The Time Machine was published in 1895, at the height of the industrial revolution Paper Essay Topic: Literature The Time Machine Industrial revolution was taking place in the Victorian era, progress and technological progress was advancing and lots of machines and new technologies were being invented. People were afraid that they might lose their jobs to the machines so they started moving away from the cities to the rural areas. As time was very early at the Victorian era, people did not travel long distances, this was because there werent trains and cars so people use to have horses in which they couldnt travel for long distances. Many important technologies were invented, for example the invention of the telegraph (message sent through wires) made the world feel smaller, and this was because people would know what as happening in his world. The telegraph had a huge impact on the global trade and the news. The media grew. The population in Britain increased rapidly over the Victorian times; it used to be 9million roughly but now its 36million people from different cultures living in the UK. The UK is well known as multiculturalism country this is because there are varieties of different cultures. In the Victorian era, their were different genres of books, including romance, comedy, fantasy and etc, H.G. Wells differed from these groups because he wrote sci-fi books and he was known as The man who invented tomorrow and he was well remembered. Jules and Verne wrote stories about space travel which Victorian readers to wonder about other planets and if there might be other creatures like aliens living in other planets. Science fiction authors were middle class, publishers were suspicious of sci-fi because it challenged God of societys order and people thought it was dangerous like the big bang theory, challenges the existence of God. Herbert George Wells was born in September in 1866. He was an English author, best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary. Together with Jules Verne, Wells has been referred to as The Father of Science Fiction and the man who invented tomorrow H.G. Wells was a fair and full of justice man. He wanted equality between everybody and he also wanted education for everyone, but the crisis was that in the Victorian times, equality did not even exist. The upper-class were the people who were rich and also the people who did not work very much so they were lazy people but on the other hand the working-class were people who did not have rights for example, they didnt have the right for voting and works right. Today the law tells us that everyone has minimum working hours + payment, but in the Victorian times, this was different because they use to get treated unfairly. In the Victorian times, if an individual had leisure, this meant that they were rich and were classed as the upper class. The novel The time machine acts as a warning for the middle and upper-class about ignoring the working class so the upper-class and the middle-class were deviates. H.G. Wells was worried and bothered about not educating or protecting the working class, Also H.G. Wells wanted to help the lower-class by protests. H.G. Wells was pacifist and wanted to stop war and violence. There are several famous quotes he said and one which was if we dont end war, war will end us. H.G. Wells, the author of the time machine represents the working class as Morlocks and upper class as Elios, this is very clever as him as he uses personification to compare the human as creatures. The author describes the Elios as very beautiful and graceful creature this already informs us that the description is talking about the Elios. There are also many other description which is describe the Elios for instance There are many clues in the novel which suggest that the Elios were once upon a time an upper class. For instance, the clothing of the Elios is suggests as follows leather belt Sandals buskins. There are other clues which tell us that the Elios were upper class for instance I saw a group of figures clad in rich soft robes and this tells us that they are very formal and rich. The author, H.G. Wells, says that he struck me as being a very beautiful and graceful creature this suggests that in the Victorian era, the upper class didnt care about how much they worked but they only cared about their beauty. The Elios were very weak as they were lazy and they only let the working-class work hard so they became very fragile and weak as H.G. suggested in his novel for instance I and this fragile thing out of futurity, there are also other quotes when as he is saying they are weak and fragile for example but indescribably frail. The creatures so called Elios are very illogic and over exaggerated form of influence to the Victorian era, but this illogic idea is very unique but its very knowledgeable by H.G. Wells. The time machine is very ironic but very intelligent; this is because H.G. Wells illustrates the Morlocks and the Elios very logically and cleverly as he compares them to the Victorian era and their society. There are also other creatures other than the Elios, these are called Morlocks, they are more extreme and more deadly than the Elios. H.G. Wells says that the faint halitus of freshly shed blood was in the air this suggests that they are like animals that smell blood. This metaphorical idea its very clever by the idea of him creating such idea that would even in now days been accepted. The Morlocks are creatures that live underground, they live in the dark and the time traveller is sure that they can see in the dark, and this also suggests that they are afraid of the light. The Morlocks are like savages, they look like ghosts when they are moving around in the and they also dont have any feelings towards people. H.G. Wells says that while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face. This emphasises that they see more by touching and feeling people almost like a blind person would. The appearance of the Morlocks is described as stated lank fingers, unpleasant odour, there eyes were abnormally large and sensitive, The Morlocks touch people without permission as the time traveller says hand being gently disengaged. The Morlocks are unsophisticated creatures. H.G. Wells was a man who wanted peace and justice for all man kind, thats the whole purpose of the time machine. The reason why he wrote the time machine was that because the working class were classified as being normal human being and for that they were treated very differently in comparison to the upper-class which had most of the power. So H.G. Wells wrote the time machine novel as set of warning to the upper-class so that they wouldnt deviate from the working class. The Morlocks are metaphorically incomparason to the working class. The Morlocks use to be (one upon a time) a working class; they use to be hardworking; they were innocent people who had no right but the right to work and not get their own free time or their own working hours this was very cruel by the upper-class therefore H.G. Wells wanted to end that sort of cruelness. The time machine movie that was directed by Simon Wells and was released in 2002, it is very different to the novel and its interpreted differently. Simon Wells is the eldest grandson of H.G. Wells. H.G. Wells was the author of the time machine but his grandson made a film about it but changed many stuff; there are many possible reasons why he done this and one which might be that he wanted to suit everyones need as being modern movie and making it more interesting and more sophisticated. In the novel, the time traveler and his friends discuss the probability of the time travel but this is very different in the film that was released in 2002 because the time travelers fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½e gets shot and he goes on his machine to change the past so he can save his wife but he fails. There is a message behind this because H.G. Wells is trying to say that you cant change the past but you can change the future. The interpretation in the novel and the film is very unique because in the novel, the friends return for a dinner a week later to discover the time traveler exhausted and disheveled, claiming that hes been to the future; 802701. However the movie differs because he does not go back to dinner but instead he destroys his time machine to annihilate the Morlocks and stays with the Elios. In the movie there is no narration because we can see what is happening and its very vivid, but in the book is different because the time traveler begins to narrate his time in the future. We can detect millions of changes in the movie compared to the novel, for example, in the movie, the Elios are very hard working creatures, this suggests that when we see the Elios in the movie, theyre are building their houses and working extremely hard. In the novel, the time traveler meets Weena, an Elio, teaches him the language and their way of life. However, this is different in the movie because Weena only teaches him a little about their language but not fluently as we can see in the movie and she also teaches him little bit about their way of life. There are hints and clues that there is another species living underground and threatening the Elios and their luxuries but on-the-other hand, in the movie is similar but also different because the boy has a nightmare or even hallucinates. The novel and Movie are of course not completely different because in the novel, the time traveler travels underground out of curiosity and to find his time machine. He sees the working of the Morlocks, an animalistic race who keep the Elios in their luxury. However, this is the same in the movie that was released by H.G. Wellss grandson. Simon Wells. In the Movie, near the end, the time traveler battles the leader of the Morlocks leader and defeats him and for this victory leads to the extinction/annihilation of the other Morlocks. In the novel, the time machine is returned to the time traveler and he leaves the strange land but in the movie, this differs because the time traveler uses the time machine to destroy the Morlocks habitat. In the novel, it suggests that the time traveler travels in time before going home and finds and even stranger world of huge crabs living on earth, but on the other hand, the time traveler travels in to the future and finds the Morlocks have taken over the world. In the movie that the time traveler stays with the Elios, the reason for this is because he couldnt go back because he destroyed his time machine but in novel, its different because the time travelers friends question whether he is telling the truth. Then the time traveler disappears. The time machine novel is very difficult and it has very high standard context which is very difficult to interpret or understand. The novel also has old English language for example queer and also therewith. The time machine novel is set for those who are very high Standard English speakers and readers because it is very sophisticated and not barbaric. The writer, H.G. Wells is a very descriptive writer. He uses many adjectives and adverbs. He does this to build up attention and atmosphere and make it more visual for the reader. There is a very mysterious atmosphere to the description of the time machine- he makes us wonder what will happen next. It is stated in the novel when the time traveler is showing the machine to his guests when he says dance of a shadow, A metaphor and a personification that the shadows are coming to life. H.G. Wells uses lots of repletion as he repeats the word parts to emphasis that the machine is made up of lots of different materials. H.G. Wells makes his writing more vivid and uses words that modern readers might not understand the exact meaning of now days and he uses longer and more complex sentences to describe stuff.

State of the Union Reaction Paper essays

State of the Union Reaction Paper essays I feel that the State of the Union Address was filled with omissions and misrepresentations. Mr. Bush has many mirrors that dont show the true picture. He remind me of the carnival when you have the mirrors that make you look tall or skinny even ones that make you look fat. Just look into one of President Bushs mirrors and youll see just what he wants you to see. The said thing is that most people dont realize that when they walk away from the mirror reality is still there. In Mirror number one Mr. Bush tried to convince the nation that Social Security is headed for bankruptcy. The President has decided that his last term will be spent doing battle with President Roosevelt. Roosevelt proposed Social Security with the government as the guarantor of a safety net for the elderly, an idea that has been central to the New Deal creed that Democrats have hewed to since. Bush said he wanted to fundamentally alter it for younger workers, relying on the upward forces of financial markets to provide returns that the government never could. If young voters embrace the idea, then they might also embrace the GOP for years to come. The smoking gun is what President Bush omitted. He failed to mention that he was also proposing a fundamental shift in risk from government to the individual. If we are to be responsible for our own senior years then why not stop paying social security tax and invest on our own. He failed to mention that when money is diverted for investments that we will have to pay taxes some other way to support the current Social Security system. President Roosevelt knew that not all of us are good investor he might have even had a premonition on companies like Enron who would swindle the American people. Bush warned alarmingly of financial disaster. He spoke of the importance of personal accounts, which even his supporters say wouldn't help. The alarming disaster is that he is in charge of ou...

Translating “May” to Spanish

Translating â€Å"May† to Spanish The English auxiliary verb may is commonly used in at least three different ways, and each of them is translated to Spanish differently: When ‘May’ Expresses Possibility Probably the most common use of may is to express possibility. In this way, the meaning is often roughly the same as the auxiliary verb might. This can be translated in different ways, but typically the Spanish would require the use of a verb in the subjunctive mood. Note how there is no single word in the following sample sentences that means may. The sentence in parentheses following the Spanish translation is a literal translation of the Spanish and should have roughly the same meaning as the original English sentence. They may make a new version of the book. (Es posible que hagan una nueva versià ³n del libro. It is possible that they will make a new version of the book.)She may be pregnant. (Es posible que està © embarazada. It is possible that she is pregnant.)There may be more than one for each person. (Tal vez haya ms de una para cada persona. Perhaps there is more than one for each person.)We may go to Cozumel for our honeymoon. (Posiblemente vayamos a pasar nuestra luna de miel a Cozumel. Possibly we will go to spend our honeymoon in Cozumel.)There may be 50 million of us in 2015. (Quiz seamos 50 millones en 2015. Maybe we will be 50 million in 2015.)She may not leave. (Puede que no salga. It can be that she doesnt leave.) A key, then, when translating to Spanish is to think of an alternative way to get the idea of may across. You can find other ways of translating this usage of may in this lesson on translating maybe. Note that in most cases there are several translations that would work, so your choice often will depend on context and the tone of voice you wish to use. When ‘May’ Is Used Used for Asking Permission May is commonly used when seeking permission to perform such action, or when giving permission. Generally, the verb poder gets the idea across well: May I go to the concert tonight? ( ¿Puedo ir al concierto esta noche?)Yes, you may go. (Sà ­, puedes ir.)May we get more information about our account? ( ¿Podemos obtener otra informacià ³n sobre nuestra cuenta?)If you have any questions, you may call me. (Si tienes preguntas, puedes llamarme.) Although in formal English speech a distinction is sometimes made between may and can, there is no need to make such a distinction in Spanish, as poder functions for both meanings. The verb permitir can also be used: May I smoke? ( ¿Me permite fumar? Literally, am I permitted to smoke?)May I visit the house? ( ¿Me permitieron ustedes visitar la casa?)May I leave tonight? (Me permites salir esta noche.) When ‘May’ Expresses Desire Although not especially common, may can be used to express a wish or desire. Sentences with that usage typically can be translated to a sentence beginning with que followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood: May he rest in peace. (Que en paz descanse.)May you live for many more years. (Que vivas muchos aà ±os ms.)May you have many more years of life! ( ¡Que tengas muchos aà ±os ms de vida!) Sentences such as these can also be translated using ojal que. May it rain tomorrow. (Ojal que llueva maà ±ana.)May you have many children. (Ojal que tengas muchos hijos.) ‘May’ in Sayings Some set phrases have meanings that often cant be translated word for word and need to be learned individually: Be that as it may. (Aunque asà ­ sea.)Come what may. (Pase lo que pase.)Devil-may-care attitude. (Actitud arriesgada/temeraria.)May I help you? ( ¿En quà © puedo servirle?)We may as well study. (Ms vale que estudiemos.) The Month of May The Spanish word for the month of May is mayo. Note that in Spanish the names of the months  arent capitalized. Key Takeaways When may is used to indicate that something is possible, the translation often uses the subjunctive mood.When may is used for seeking permission, it can often be translated using a form of the verb poder or permitir.When may is used to express some types of desire, it can often be translated using a sentence that begins with que or ojal que and is followed by a subjunctive verb.

Product launched discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Product launched discussion - Essay Example The business is a specialty food store that offers bakery and pastry products, fresh produce, fresh meat and seafood, condiments and package food, and cheese and specialty dairy products. The firm has a lot of food products that can be eaten at the moment. There is a need for the company to offer other types of food products that have a longer lifetime shell life. By introducing a new line of food products that that are prepared and frozen the customer can take home put it in the freezer and eat it at a later time. The new product can help the company achieve sales growth. In order to evaluate the Kudler Food a brief SWOT analysis has been a prepared. A SWOT is a marketing analytic tool that evaluates the internal and external environment of the firm (Kotler, 2003). One of the strengths of Kudler Fine Food store is that it offers a wide variety of fresh food products. The company has a good management team and over 13 years of experience in the food industry. A weakness of the busine ss model is that the firm has only three locations. The company cannot achieve the benefits of economies of scale due to its small size.

Whiteheads Prolificacy in Logic and Philosophy Essay

Whiteheads Prolificacy in Logic and Philosophy - Essay Example Because of this, Whitehead issues the warning that philosophy must not make a dereliction on the multifarious aspect of the world. It is for this same reason that Whitehead describes beauty as the union of intensity, harmony, and vividness which involve perfection of importance for an occasion. The same explains the reason for Whitehead seeing God as the set of all processes and relationships so that God is radically transcendent (universe-in-god) and radically incarnate (god-in-universe). Whitehead maintains that the metaphysical status of eternal objects is resistant to change so that they remain incomprehensible without an actuality and only intelligible within a broader conceptual frame (Stein, 2006). Â  Whitehead noted that experiences of science, ethics, aesthetics, and religion greatly influence the worldview of the Western culture and should, therefore, factor a more comprehensive and holistic cosmology. This cosmology should be comprehensive enough to provide systematic descriptive theories of the world, which are applicable for deducing human intuitions that have been arrived at through scientific, ethical, aesthetic and religious experiences. Whitehead maintains that in order for science to be, there has to be the presence of sufficient structures, given that intelligibility is a general condition essential for science and all knowledge. Whitehead also continues that science is progressive and imposes upon humanity, progressivity in thinking and inquiry. Whitehead also sees science as existing for posterity, since its progressive technology enables the generation-generation transition into uncharted seas of adventure or inquiry. Â  According to Whitehead, the essence of truth readily necessitates the need for verification.

Invasive ductal carcinoma Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Invasive ductal carcinoma - Research Paper Example A century and a half ago Rudolf Virchow’s seminal ideas linked inflammation with cancer; and opened avenues for comprehension of the scariest disease mankind continues to face. Virchow suggested the presence of â€Å"lymphoreticular infiltrate†, at the site of inflammation was indicative of cancer initiation. The researches in previous decade have offered support to the ideas of Virchow; that malignant tissues formed during cancers create an inflammatory microenvironment (Balkwill & Mantovani, 2001). Breast cancers arise from the epidermal lining of the terminal duct lobular unit. Cancerous cells either remain confined to the terminal duct lobular unit and the draining duct; or proliferate beyond the basement membrane to the adjacent tissue. While the former is referred to as in situ or non-invasive; the latter is called invasive or infiltrating carcinomas. A misnomer used in the classification of invasive carcinomas was ductal and lobular carcinomas; where the two were believed to arise from ducts and lobules respectively. It is now understood that both of these types of breast cancer have origin in the lobule. The invasive breast cancers are now classified on the basis of specific cellular growth patterns and morphology of cells. Breast cancers with distinct features are called invasive cancers of special type; and the rest referred to as of no special type (figure 1) (Sainsbury et al., 2000). Cancers of breasts are the most common affecting women, with 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancers reported from USA alone (ACS, 2014). Survival rates for breast cancer for women in the age range of 50-69 years, for five years is estimated to be 80%, for younger women it is slightly lower (Coleman et al., 2004). It is the second most common cause of death in women (first in case of Hispanic women) in USA (CDC, 2013). 72-80% of the cases of breast cancer are those of Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). The

To Pledge or not to Pledge Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

To Pledge or not to Pledge - Research Paper Example According to Nelson (2012), the enduring significance of the Nightingale Pledge may be attributed to the legacy of the first nursing icon, Florence Nightingale, in her unwavering dedication to cater the needs of the sick and needy, particularly during difficult times, such as war, famine, disease, and natural calamities (pp. 10-11). Considering the eminent influence of the Nightingale Pledge on a nurse’s life, this paper attempts to uncover the underlying historical significance of the said pledge. Further, this paper also attempts to study the various contexts of the Pledge, especially its functions, purpose, ethical significance, limitations, and criticisms. Historical Role As a profession, nursing is deeply rooted in the society due to its outward protection of the rights of humans, particularly in their rights to life and well-being. In fact, Fagermoen (2005) states that the philosophical foundations of nursing are based on the principles of Humanism wherein nurses, even i n their early not standardized practice, aim to protect, serve, and preserve human life (p. 157). Florence Nightingale embodies those humanistic values in her devotion to tend the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War, and, while alleviating the physical conditions of the soldiers, she also attempts to advance the care systems and psychosocial environment of hospitals so as to make those more conducive to a faster healing process (Fagermoen, 2005, p. 157). During her tenure as a military nurse, she wrote a series of nursing books and notes outlining the basic responsibilities and duties of a nurse, which, in later years, became the theoretical and practical foundations of professional nursing (Kim, 2005, p. 1). The life and works of Florence Nightingale gave birth to the nursing profession, a profession that overcomes barriers of time, place, culture, and religion. For instance, although her works influenced the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale was not the one who wrote the Ni ghtingale Pledge; instead, the pledge was authored by Lystra Gretter, an American nurse (â€Å"The Nightingale Pledge,† n.d.). The pledge was first professed by the 1893 nursing graduates of Detroit’s Harper’s Hospital. Nightingale’s legacy even reached in Japan during the outbreak of the war in 1945 wherein a head nurse in Hiroshima Army Red Cross initiated the recitation of the Nightingale Pledge to restore calm and order in the panic-stricken hospital due to the defeat and surrender of the Japanese militia. Nursing stories around the world relate to the Nightingale Pledge wherein most, if not all, nurses find self-satisfaction in their work through saving the lives of others. Function and Purpose In analyzing the Nightingale Pledge, one can infer that the pledge functions as an ethical guide for nurses in their professional practice while it also aims to indicate the roles, obligations, and limitations of being a nurse. For instance, although the Night ingale Pledge undergoes several legislative revisions and amendments due to socio-cultural concerns, the revised and amended versions of the pledge still maintains the universal nursing standard of conduct, which includes professionalism (â€Å"The Code of Ethics,† 2010, p. xiv). For instance, some of the revisions include the ANA 1950 Code and the 1976 Code; each of which outlines the recommended nurse-patient relationship, which is primarily on a professional level. For instance, the prevailing idea of the revised editions delves on a

Canterbury Tales - The Pardoner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Canterbury Tales - The Pardoner - Essay Example They help to take a lot of people to holy places that have been made through the events that have been taking place in those places in the footsteps of those individuals who have gone before them or the presence of shrines or relics of the holy individuals. Pardoner giving his tricks of the trade in most of his works, for example, he explains to the pilgrims the major cause of most evils. This expression forms the key theme that he uses most of the time while preaching so as to understand better and loosen the purse strings of most of his audiences. On arrival to town, Pardoner demonstrates some of the relics and their curative traits some of which appeared to be fake though he does not appear to be caring a bit. In most of his preaching, Pardoner struggles to ensure that most of the pilgrims learn to understand that he only work through preaching to earn more money thus he does not hesitate to take money even from the poor widows. He often praises himself that he is a good speaker through tossing some English and Latin phrases to make things sink in the people a bit and in most cases he uses biblical philosophies to look more serious.

To Pledge or not to Pledge Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

To Pledge or not to Pledge - Research Paper Example According to Nelson (2012), the enduring significance of the Nightingale Pledge may be attributed to the legacy of the first nursing icon, Florence Nightingale, in her unwavering dedication to cater the needs of the sick and needy, particularly during difficult times, such as war, famine, disease, and natural calamities (pp. 10-11). Considering the eminent influence of the Nightingale Pledge on a nurse’s life, this paper attempts to uncover the underlying historical significance of the said pledge. Further, this paper also attempts to study the various contexts of the Pledge, especially its functions, purpose, ethical significance, limitations, and criticisms. Historical Role As a profession, nursing is deeply rooted in the society due to its outward protection of the rights of humans, particularly in their rights to life and well-being. In fact, Fagermoen (2005) states that the philosophical foundations of nursing are based on the principles of Humanism wherein nurses, even i n their early not standardized practice, aim to protect, serve, and preserve human life (p. 157). Florence Nightingale embodies those humanistic values in her devotion to tend the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War, and, while alleviating the physical conditions of the soldiers, she also attempts to advance the care systems and psychosocial environment of hospitals so as to make those more conducive to a faster healing process (Fagermoen, 2005, p. 157). During her tenure as a military nurse, she wrote a series of nursing books and notes outlining the basic responsibilities and duties of a nurse, which, in later years, became the theoretical and practical foundations of professional nursing (Kim, 2005, p. 1). The life and works of Florence Nightingale gave birth to the nursing profession, a profession that overcomes barriers of time, place, culture, and religion. For instance, although her works influenced the nursing profession, Florence Nightingale was not the one who wrote the Ni ghtingale Pledge; instead, the pledge was authored by Lystra Gretter, an American nurse (â€Å"The Nightingale Pledge,† n.d.). The pledge was first professed by the 1893 nursing graduates of Detroit’s Harper’s Hospital. Nightingale’s legacy even reached in Japan during the outbreak of the war in 1945 wherein a head nurse in Hiroshima Army Red Cross initiated the recitation of the Nightingale Pledge to restore calm and order in the panic-stricken hospital due to the defeat and surrender of the Japanese militia. Nursing stories around the world relate to the Nightingale Pledge wherein most, if not all, nurses find self-satisfaction in their work through saving the lives of others. Function and Purpose In analyzing the Nightingale Pledge, one can infer that the pledge functions as an ethical guide for nurses in their professional practice while it also aims to indicate the roles, obligations, and limitations of being a nurse. For instance, although the Night ingale Pledge undergoes several legislative revisions and amendments due to socio-cultural concerns, the revised and amended versions of the pledge still maintains the universal nursing standard of conduct, which includes professionalism (â€Å"The Code of Ethics,† 2010, p. xiv). For instance, some of the revisions include the ANA 1950 Code and the 1976 Code; each of which outlines the recommended nurse-patient relationship, which is primarily on a professional level. For instance, the prevailing idea of the revised editions delves on a

Pros and Cons of Police Gratuities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pros and Cons of Police Gratuities - Essay Example   According to Richard Kania, there are some particular situations where police officers should be encouraged to accept gratuities. He supports his opinion on the fact that individuals who offer police officers gratuities do so as rewards, but not with the intension of corrupting the police force (Barker 47). He also gives an example of a cook who offered him a free meal in exchange of frequent visits he made to his (cook) establishment. Police officers are routinely obligated to provide such services to the community, and they should not be rewarded at all for providing such services, however; the cook felt a sense of indebtedness to Kania for security services he offered, and the cook’s response was a personal one: a free meal (Barker 51). The problem he noted is that some of his colleagues when offered such gratuities will make it a routine to collect them on a daily basis. This turns out to be the beginning of corrupting the police system. Therefore, police gratuities th at are offered with the aim of rewarding the officers for hard work should be accepted, while those offered with the aim of corrupting the police system should not be accepted. Accepting gratuities is also a way of integrating fresh police officers into the police force system. John Kleinig notes that the issue of police corruption is highly emphasized during police training, therefore, officers who accept gratuities may feel that they are already corrupted, and there is no reason why they must not accept gratuities from the public.  

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll Essay Example for Free

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll Essay Just as The Italian includes a stone chamber, secured by doors of iron, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde too contains a peculiar locked cabinet in which Poole, Dr Jekylls butler, believes his master has been murdered and that the person who has locked himself away is Hyde. The fact that these secret rooms are included in the novels, allows the reader to speculate the strange things that might be going on behind the sealed doors of the rooms. All in all, Gothic literature is extremely evident in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but at the same time it is heavily influenced by Victorian psychology, which I will now be commenting on. Victorian society was heavily based on power, wealth and culture. Victorians believed they were ethical, moral people and their society was that of an ideal one; however with the amount of crimes taking place i. e. Jack the Ripper this was not the case especially since Victorians were sexist and racist. Even though Stevenson sets his story in the heart of London using such respectable professional people as lawyers, doctors and men of science, what he shows us is a city fraught with divisions. Such divisions included those between the rich and poor, men and women, country and city, science and art, and also good and evil shown to us by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, who not only does he represent a form of rebellion against the arrogant domination of the upper classes and government, but also the beast in man. Stevenson greatly investigates the duality of human nature in his novel. This theme does not emerge fully up until the last chapter, when the complete story of the Jekyll-Hyde affiliation is exposed by Henry Jekylls Full Statement of the Case. Therefore, we confront the theory of a dual human nature unambiguously only after having witnessed all of the events of the novel, including Hydes crimes and his eventual eclipsing of Jekyll. Dr Jekyll describes his dual personality as the animal within me licking the chops of memory. The text not only posits the duality of human nature as its central theme, but forces us to consider the properties of this duality and to contemplate each of the novels episodes as we weigh various theories. Such a theory includes that of Freuds theory of the id, ego and superego. The id is entirely unconscious and represents the primitive self of us. It is the self indulgent and selfish side of us. The ego, however unlike the id, spans the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The ego is the only component of personality that can interact with the environment. Lastly, the superego is the part of personality that establishes standards of right and wrong. The superego is the ethics and morality behind our personality. In the 19th Century, it was believed that the id was represented by a troll like figure, and Hyde is described as being pale and dwarfish. As Stevenson probes the depths of human psychology and challenges our perceptions of good and evil in society, we are struck by the disturbing face of evil. Dr. Jekyll tries to repress and kill off the Mr. Hyde in himself, but that alter ego is a part of who he is. He cannot renounce or destroy that part of himself. In The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian, represented by his ego and superego, is in conflict with his id represented by the picture painted of him as a young, handsome man. In Henry Jekylls Full Statement of the Case the story of Jekylls downfall is revealed to Mr Utterson. Jekyll suggests to us that mankind has a split personality when saying severed in me those provinces of good and ill which divide and compound mans dual nature. Stevenson provides us with the message that man has two sides to him not just Jekyll. There are many quotations to suggest this too. Such examples in this chapter include: primitive duality of man, the agonised womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling- this is in fact a metaphor describing our consciousness being like a womb, man is not truly one, but truly two and lastly I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of life. From what Stevenson has produced, I can conclude that Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde cannot easily be seen as having more to do with Gothic tradition than late 19th Century psychology. We must take into account that psychology is a subject matter and Gothic is a style, however I consider the novel has been written carefully and equally in terms of Gothic tradition and late 19th century psychology as I believe the style of Gothic literature has been heavily influenced by Victorian psychology. Some might argue against Gothic tradition being the more dominant argument, simply for the reason that Stevenson has not included involvement of haunted castles and dungeons, two of the most obvious Gothic traits. As a closing statement to this essay, I can admit Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was published truly as a chilling shocker in 1886 and still today remains as an original classic. Simran Kooner 10HA English Coursework 1 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Disney Movie Analysis: Lady and the Tramp

Disney Movie Analysis: Lady and the Tramp Zeinab Kobeissi Abstract Lady and the Tramp is a Disney cartoon considered one of their classics and based on Disney’s conventional plot which circles around two main protagonists comprised of the damsel in distress, Lady, and the hero who comes to her rescue, Tramp. This essay aims to examine reinforced stereotypes, stigmas and certain roles that are portrayed through characters in The Lady and the Tramp, while also discussing the influence and the insights of the protagonists in the cartoon. Keywords: Hollywood, Disney, misrepresentations, stereotypes, stigmas Lady and the Tramp There is a very typical Disney scenario that is present in â€Å"Lady and the Tramp†. There is always a damsel in distress that needs to be rescued, and in this particular animation it is a Cocker Spaniel called Lady, that is owned by a married couple that lives in a wealthy suburban region, and is quite pampered. She is a good-looking female dog with big inviting eyes, long and thick eyelashes and a groomed coat. She is comparable to other Disney female characters like the little mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White, etc. because she embodies the stereotypical beautiful and attractive female. For every damsel in distress there is always a hero ready to save her. The hero here is called, Tramp; a free spirited ladies’ man. Surprisingly, he doesn’t fit into the traditional male hero role when it comes to his appearance (a street dog) but, like all heroes, he ends up winning the female’s heart and they live happily ever after together. According to Disney’s Dolls article, archetypal Disney characters who are generally young females are in their nature happy and remain in suspended animation awaiting a man who would give them a life of adventure and meaning (Kathie Maoi, 1998). Here, Tramp rescues Lady after she is attacked by dogs that pursued her when she escaped from her foster’s house. Lady was under the care of Jim Dear and Darling, right until Tramp came along. Although Lady is not a human, she is nonetheless created with some makeup on, shaped eyebrows, long feminine eyelashes with big blue eyes and flowing hair; groomed and physically taken care of, unlike Tramp. Her speech is also quite refined and reflects a rather high status as a dog. Lady is purely another version of other Disney female characters that are repeatedly depicted as dependent, powerless damsels that fall into danger and require a male hero to save them from the trenches. (TV Tropes, n.d). The plot of the movie itself is not as complex as other Disney animations since here there are no actual villains but instead situations that simply oppose the two protagonists, like Aunt Sarah (the temporary foster) and the dog catchers. It is still however, a story centered on love and romance, highlighted in scenes like when Tramp invited Lady out for on a date at an Italian restaurant and they ended up kissing, and when he ultimately won her heart by attacking the rat at the end. The animation in its core is somewhat different from other classical Disney movies since all the leading characters are dogs. The supporting characters are the Siamese cats and the two human men Tony and Joe, the Italian owner/manager and chef. It still however presents characters that are charged with Asian, Mexican, Russian and Italian stereotypes. The Siamese cats in the movie, Si and Am, are represented with clichà ©d Asian manners of speech and typical slanted eyes. Their personalities are quite sneaky and cunning, always plotting and do not have the best of intentions. They even trashed the house’s living room where Lady was living, attempted to devour the pet fish, and even put the blame on Lady for the clutter that they themselves caused. Siamese cats in their nature however, are actually quite affectionate, reliable, and friendly, so their real characteristics were not reflected, but instead presented under false stereotypes of Siamese cats and of cats in general (Pet Wave, n.d). â€Å"Lady and the Tramp† was released soon after the Korean War ended and stereotypes of Asians were very widespread in the states, which explains the hidden implication of the Siamese cats. There is also the Chihuahua, Pedro, who lives in the dog pound and of course, has exaggerated Mexican traits and features. He is given a heavy Latino accent and actually says that he is in the country illegally. He appears only in the scene where Lady is taken to the dog pound after she is caught, and he is doing nothing except sitting in a pile of straw throughout the entire scene. He only says two lines in the whole movie; â€Å"pardon me, amigo. What is this ‘chili heel?† and â€Å"my sister Rosita Chiquita Juanita Chihuahua, I think†, both indicating the typical Mexican stereotypes of them having long names and being uneducated, obviously generalizing and misrepresenting (Pierre, 1999). These are among the standard stereotypes of Mexicans that are still evident today, continuously â€Å"[they are] portrayed as illiterate criminals†¦lazy, dirty, and physically unattractive† (Holder, 2012). There is also Boris, a Russian wolfhound that has a heavy Russian accent and is seen as the philosopher and deep thinker in the dog pound scene. Here there is more of a positive stereotypical representation of Russians that indeed portrays how Russians were once the heart of European philosophy, but is still a stereotype nonetheless. As a matter of fact, it was refreshing to see a constructive portrayal of Russians as they are often linked to the Mafia in American media (Ferguson, n.d.). There are also Toni and Joe who work at Toni’s restaurant, where the Tramps took Lady for their dinner date, who are both based on predictable Italian stereotypes as being chubby and jovial people who speak in a heavy accent and always use fast hands gestures. This is also a stereotype that steered away from the expected Mafia/gang association that is shown in mainstream media, but nevertheless does not reflect the truths of all Italians (Ferguson, n.d.). Some other representations are present in this Disney movie that are not exactly grounded on stereotypes but more on stigmas and positive images. The scene of the rat creeping into the babies’ room at the end of the movie to bite him does not seem very credible, and there exists a repetitive stigma of rats being wicked, crafty, and filthy, regularly correlated with disease and grime (TV Tropes, n.d.). Although the rat is not given an identity or a name, it is reproduced in such a negative light that the audience can easily form a negative image of rats in real life. When it comes to positive images, Lady’s’ neighbors, Jock and Trusty who are also her friends, are given positive roles that mirror true dog qualities such as outgoingness and devotion and even the obsession of burying bones in the yard (TV Tropes, n.d.). It is safe to say that Lady and the Tramp is a typical cartoon that is full of stereotypes and unreasonable beauty standards that are recurrently seen in other Disney classics. It heavily displays stereotypes that ultimately generate stigmas on particular ethnic groups like Asians and Latinos, which eventually lead to outbursts of aggression towards such minorities (Ferguson, n.d.). This warps the perceptions of such races and nationalities and even some animals, as in the case of the rat and cats as a whole, for young viewers who are exposed to these (mis)representations (Ferguson, n.d.). Lady and the Tramp is still probably a less intense version of other Disney movies that are fueled with heavy stereotypes, such as Aladdin, who rely greatly on negative stigma to formulate images of certain groups of peoples that usually end up being very far from accurate. References Fetini, A. (2009, December 9). Top 10 Disney Controversies. Time. Retrieved from http://entertainment.time.com/2009/12/09/top-10-disney-controversies/slide/lady-and-the-tramp/ Maio, K. (1998). Women, race culture in Disney’s movies. Retrieved from http://www.newint.org/easier-english/Disney/diswomen-p.html Misener, J. (2013, March 28). Are Disney Movies Racist? BuzzFeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/are-these-disney-movies-racist#.qjAo9v9Pg Pet Wave (n.d.). Siamese Cats. Retrieved from http://www.petwave.com/Cats/Breeds/Shorthair/Siamese/Temperament.aspx Tv Tropes (n.d.). Animal Stereotypes. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimalStereotypes Tv Tropes (n.d.). Damsels in Distress. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DamselInDistress?from=Main.DistressedDamsel (n.b.). (2012). Disney Stereotypes. Musings of a Mediaholic. Retrieved from https://bintmedia.wordpress.com/disney-stereotypes-lady-and-the-tramp/

Iraq - military campaign Essay -- essays research papers

Abstract  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Past experience  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Diplomatic problems  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Concept of Operation  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The campaign  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 5.1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Air power  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 5.2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ground operations and special forces  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 5.3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Iraqi strategy and tactics  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intelligence  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychological operations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Public relations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Technology  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Casualties  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Weapons of mass destruction (WMD)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conclusion  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  References:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8 14.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Glossary of terms  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  warfare  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  vanguard  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  breach  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  sortie  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  enclave  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  13 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  domain  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  14 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  envisage  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  resistance  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  16 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  paramilitary  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  17 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  campaign  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  18 Abstract This article draws together early military implications of a campaign where intensive operations lasted just about a month. The deeper insights will need much more time for the post operations reports to be written, detailed batt... ...#8226;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Does technology replace troops? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Can air power now eliminate the power of armies to defend? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Do logistics still constrain rates of advancement? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Are special forces assuming greater importance for future warfare? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Did the coalition get its media strategy right? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How accurate was intelligence? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How important are allies? •Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What are the combat applications of the need to rebuild a nation after a conflict? Now, more than a year after the official end of the war, one thing is clear. Only the military part of the operation went approximately according to plan. Everything else went wrong. The peace still hasn’t returned to the country and it seems that occupational forces can’t provide it. The country is on the edge of religious war and it will be hard to extinguish that flame. Iraqis and democracy had to pay high price for cheap gasoline in the United States.

Letter to the reader Essay

To The Readers In my portfolio I will be writing about varies of things such as Georgia 411 Interest Inventory, My Career Choice, Autobiographical Incident Essay, and Persuasive Essay & Narrative Essay. In these essays you will get different types of emotions from me. Let me break down what it is that I will be writing about in the essays. First in my Georgia 411 Interest Inventory essay it’ll be about what type of learner am I? And what types of careers match your skills. Â  Secondly in my Career Choice essay I’ll be writing about a college/career dedicated to the future career I choose. The main point of this essay will be to research my career choice and create a plan of action including the amount of education required and prepare myself to be able to interview for the position in the future. Now my third essay is about an Autobiographical Incident that impacted my life in some way. How did the incident affect me? What were some thoughts during the experience? What are my thoughts on it now? This essay is something that means a lot to me because it impacted my life in so many ways. It was kind of hard trying to type up this paper without crying but it was well worth it in the end; because it brought back memories that I tried to forget. Fourthly, my essay is a Persuasive Essay it’ll be written to convince someone to adopt my beliefs on a topic. Â  Most of all lastly, my last essay is a Narrative Essay a fictional story of my very own. I do hope you all enjoy what I created in my portfolio.

Original Myth

The Sun, the Moon, and the Great Spirit Long ago, before there was life, before there was even a planet Earth, there were celestial entities that existed in the universe back when it was a light blue. These spirits appear to humans as large masses in space, such as the other planets and the stars. Since the beginning, there were two powerful apparitions that would become rivals until the end of time, the Sun Spirit and the Moon Spirit. The Sun was favored by the other astral entities to the isolated Moon.Not long after all of the spirits of the universe were created by the Great Spirit, their creator who cannot be seen by any life form, the Sun had become the leader of all other celestial bodies and was placed in the center of the Solar System. This angered the Moon, who despised the Sun. The Moon Spirit challenged the Sun for the position as ruler of the planets. Unfortunately for the Moon, the Sun used his superior strength to outcast the Moon to a lonely location between Venus and Mars. After 4,000 years of peace among the bodies of the Solar System, the Sun was growing old and developed a feeling that something was missing.The Sun Spirit decided that it was time for him to create a new successor since he has aged and become weak over time. The Sun found stray meteors flying across space and summoned all of his remaining power to bring them to him. The aging Sun then smashed the colossal space rocks together to create one large mass. Afterwards, he engulfed the inanimate boulder with his life-giving fire to give it consciousness. â€Å"Who are you? Who am I? † said the curious new planet. â€Å"I am the Sun, your creator and protector.You are my daughter who will one day grow up to take my place as ruler of everything in existence,† said the Sun to his newborn child. â€Å"Well, do I have a name? † the naive child asked. â€Å"I shall name you ‘Earth’,† said the Sun. For many days, the cosmos celebrated the birth of t heir beloved king’s child. Eventually, the news spread so far that it got to the Moon Spirit. The Lunar Spirit then schemed the perfect plan to get revenge on the Sun. The Moon waited until all of the other entities fell asleep to sneak out of his seal. He eventually found the sleeping solar king and his princess.The Moon then kidnapped her and brought her to where the Sun had banished him. Child Earth woke up with a loud scream, constantly calling for her father. To silence her, the Moon engulfed her in such a great amount of water that she would never be able to speak again. When the Sun woke up, he looked around for his daughter; she was nowhere to be found. The King began to panic and told every spirit in the universe to look out for the young princess. Not long after, Venus confronted the Sun and said, â€Å"I know where your daughter is. She has been taken away by the twisted Moon and can no longer speak. This news made the Sun so furious, his fire grew to be so large that it gave off the largest glow anyone had ever seen. The powerful light from the glow began to illuminate all parts of the Solar System including the Moon and Earth. The Sun was now able to see his captive daughter, but had no strength left to pull her back to him. From that day on, all of the celestial entities mourned for the loss of their future queen. To show their consolation for the Sun, they all decided to use their combined power to turn space from a sky blue color to black for the second half of every day.To make matters worse, the Moon confronted the Sun to make a proposition. â€Å"If you stand down from your position as king, I will let you have your daughter. If not, then I will force you to stand down,† explained the Moon. The Sun Spirit refused to give up his position. The Moon then declared war on the Sun, but immediately after doing so, the Great Spirit appeared for the first time since the birth of the universe. The two rivals were struck with awe. The Gr eat Spirit refused to let the universe spiral into chaos because of the Sun and Moon’s conflict.In order to please them both, he gave the Sun his daughter for half of a day, but when the Sun falls asleep, the Moon would take ownership. Whenever her father would leave and the Moon would come, the Earth would try to break free of her liquid entrapment, causing the tides to rise. In addition, the Great Spirit went to the Earth and planted a massive green tree on her that would grow from both the soil from the sun and the water from the moon. This Tree of Life would give birth to all life on Earth that we see today, from insects, to sea creatures, to humans.

Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 12-13

12 JENNIFER When Jennifer arrived home from work, the phone was ringing. She ran to the phone, then stopped with her hand on the receiver, checked her watch, and decided to let the answering machine get it. It was too early to be Travis. The machine clicked and began its message, Jennifer cringed as she heard Robert's voice on the answer tape. â€Å"You've reached the studios of Photography in the Pines. Please leave your name and number at the tone.† The machine beeped and Robert's voice continued, â€Å"Honey, pick up if you're there. I'm so sorry. I need to come home. I don't have any clean underwear. Are you there? Pick up, Jenny. I'm so lonely. Call me, okay? I'm still at The Breeze's. When you get in-â€Å" The machine cut him off. Jennifer ran the tape back and listened to the other messages. There were nine others, all from Robert. All whining, drunken, pleading for forgiveness, promising changes that would never happen. Jenny reset the machine. On the message pad next to the phone she wrote, â€Å"Change message on machine.† There was a list of notes to herself: clean beer out of refrigerator; pack up darkroom; separate records, tapes, books. All were designed to wash reminders of Robert out of her life. Right now, though, she needed to wash the residue of eight hours of restaurant work off her body. Robert used to grab her and kiss her as she came in the door. â€Å"The smell of grease drives me mad,† he'd say. Jenny went to the bathroom to run her bath. She opened various bottles and poured them into the water: Essential Algae, revitalizes the skin, all natural. â€Å"It's from France,† the clerk had said with import, as if the French had mastered the secret of bathwater along with the elements of rudeness; a dash of Amino Extract, all vegetable protein in an absorbable form. â€Å"Makes stretch marks as smooth as if you'd spackled them,† the clerk had said. He'd been a drywall man moonlighting at the cosmetic counter and was not yet versed in the nomenclature of beauty. Two capfuls of Herbal Honesty, a fragrant mix of organically grown herbs harvested by the loving hands of spiritually enlightened descendants of the Mayans. And last, a squeeze of Female E, vitamin E oil and dong quai root extract, to bring out the Goddess in every woman. Rachel had given her the Female E at the last meeting of the Pagan Vegetarians for Peace when Jenny had consulted the group about divorcing Robert. â€Å"You're just a little yanged out,† Rachel had said. â€Å"Try some of this.† When Jenny finished adding all the ingredients, the water was the soft, translucent green of cheese mold. It would have come as a great surprise to Jennifer that two hundred miles north, in the laboratories of the Stanford Primordial Slime Research Building, some graduate students were combining the very same ingredients (albeit under scientific names) in a climate-controlled vat, in an attempt to replicate the original conditions in which life had first evolved on Earth. It would have further surprised her that if she had turned on a sunlamp in the bathroom (the last element needed), her bath water would have stood up and said â€Å"Howdy,† immediately qualifying her for the Nobel prize and millions in grant money. While Jennifer's chance at scientific immortality bubbled away in the tub, she counted her tips, forty-seven dollars and thirty-two cents' worth of change and dollar bills, into a gallon jar, then marked the total into a logbook on her dresser. It wasn't much, but it was enough. Her tips and wages provided enough to make the house payment, pay utilities, buy food, and keep her Toyota and Robert's truck in marginal running order. She made enough to keep alive Robert's illusion that he was making it as a professional photographer. What little he made on the occasional wedding or senior portrait went into film and equipment, or, for the most part, wine. Robert seemed to think that the key to his creativity was a corkscrew. Keeping Robert's photography business buoyant was Jennifer's rationalization for putting her own life on hold and wasting her time working as a waitress. It seemed that she had always been on hold, waiting for her life to start. In school they told her if she worked hard and got good grades, she would get into a good college. Hold, please. Then there had been Robert. Work hard, be patient, the photography will take off, and we'll have a life. She'd hitched herself to that dream and put her life on hold once again. And she had kept pumping energy into the dream long after it had died in Robert. It happened one morning after Robert had been up drinking all night. She had found him in front of the television with empty wine bottles lined up in front of him like tombstones. â€Å"Don't you have a wedding to shoot today?† â€Å"I'm not going to do it. I don't feel up to it.† She had gone over the edge, screaming at him, kicking wine bottles around the room, and finally, storming out. Right then she resolved to start her life. She was almost thirty and she'd be damned if she'd spend the rest of her life as the grieving widow of someone else's dream. She asked him to leave that afternoon, then called a lawyer. Now that her life had finally started, she had no idea what she was going to do. Slipping into the tub, she realized she was, in fact, nothing more than a waitress and a wife. Once again she fought the urge to call Robert and ask him to come home. Not because she loved him – the love had worn so thin it was hard to perceive – but because he was her purpose, her direction, and most important, her excuse for being mediocre. Sitting in the safety of her bathroom, she found she was afraid. This morning, Pine Cove had seemed like a sweatbox, closing in on her and cutting off her breath. Now Pine Cove and the world seemed a very large and hostile place. It would be easy to slip under the warm water and never come up, escape. It wasn't a serious consideration, just a momentary fantasy. She was stronger than that. Things weren't hopeless, just difficult. Concentrate on the positive, she told herself. There was this guy Travis. He seemed nice. He was very good-looking, too. Everything is fine. This is not an end, it's a beginning. Her paltry attempt at positive thinking suddenly dissolved into a whole agenda of first-date fears, which somehow seemed more comfortable than the limitless possibilities of positive thinking because she had been through them before. She took a bar of deodorant soap from the soap dish, lost her grip, and dropped it into the water. The splash covered the faint death gasp the water let out as the soap's toxic chemicals hit it. PART THREE SUNDAY NIGHT Millions of spiritual creatures walk the Earth. Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep. – John Milton 13 NIGHTFALL Overall, the village of Pine Cove was in a cranky mood. No one had slept well Saturday night. Through most of Sunday the weekend tourists were finding ugly chips in Pine Cove's veneer of small-town charm. Shopkeepers had been abrupt and sarcastic when asked the usual inane questions about whales and sea otters. Waiters and waitresses lost their tolerance for complaints about the unpalatable English food they served and either snapped at their customers outright, or intentionally gave them bad service. Motel desk clerks indulged themselves by arbitrarily changing check-out times, refusing reservations, and turning on the NO VACANCY signs every time someone pulled up to the office, proclaiming that they had just filled their last room. Rosa Cruz, who was a chambermaid at the Rooms-R-Us Motel, slipped â€Å"sanitized for your protection† bands across all the toilets without even lifting the lids. That afternoon, when a guest protested and she was called on the carpet by the manager, who stood over the toilet in room 103, pointing to a floating turd as if it were a smoking murder weapon, Rosa said, â€Å"Well, I sanitized that, too.† It might have been declared Tourist Abuse Day in Pine Cove for all the injustices that were inflicted on unsuspecting travelers. As far as the locals were concerned, the world would be a better place if every tourist decided to hang bug-eyed and blue-tongued by his camera strap from a motel shower rod. As the day wore into evening and the tourists vacated the streets, the residents of Pine Cove turned to each other to vent their irritability. At the Slug, Mavis Sand, who was stocking her bar for the evening, and who was a keen observer of social behavior, had watched the tension grow in her customers and herself all afternoon. She must have told the story of Slick McCall's eight-ball match with the dark stranger thirty times. Mavis usually enjoyed the telling and retelling of the events that occurred in The Head of the Slug (even to the point of keeping a microcassette recorder under the bar to save some of her better versions). She allowed the tales to grow into myths and legends as she replaced truths forgotten with details fabricated. Often a tale that started out as a one-beer anecdote would become, in the retelling, a three-beer epic (for Mavis let no glass go dry when she was telling a story). Storytelling, for Mavis, was just good business. But today people had been impatient. They wanted Mavis to draw a beer and get to the point. They questioned her credibility, denied the facts, and all but called her a liar. The story was too fantastic to be taken at face value. Mavis lost her patience with those who asked about the incident, and they did ask. News travels fast in a small town. â€Å"If you don't want to know what happened, don't ask,† Mavis snapped. What did they expect? Slick McCall was an institution, a hero, in his own greasy way. The story of his defeat should be an epic, not an obituary. Even that good-looking fellow who owned the general store had rushed her through the story. What was his name, Asbestos Wine? No, Augustus Brine. That was it. Now, there was a man she could spend some time under. But he, too, had been impatient, and had rushed out of the bar without even buying a drink. It had pissed her off. Mavis watched her own mood changes like the needle on a barometer. Given her current crankiness, the social climate in the Slug tonight would be stormy; she predicted fights. The liquor she stocked into the well that evening was diluted to half strength with distilled water. If people were going to get drunk and break up her place, it was going to cost them. In her heart of hearts, she hoped she would get an opportunity to whack someone with her baseball bat. AUGUSTUS As darkness fell on Pine Cove that evening, Augustus Brine was filled with an uncharacteristic feeling of dread. In the past he had always seen sunset as a promise, a beginning. As a young man sunset had been a call to romance and excitement, more recently it signaled a time of rest and contemplation. Tonight it was not sunset, the promise, but sundown, the threat. With nightfall the full weight of his responsibility fell across his back like a leaden yoke, and try as he might, Brine could not shrug it off. Gian Hen Gian had convinced him that he must find the one that commanded the demon. Brine had driven to the Head of the Slug, and after enduring a barrage of lewd advances from Mavis Sand, he was able to pry out of her the direction the dark stranger had gone when he left the bar. Virgil Long, the mechanic, gave him a description of the car and tried to convince him that his truck needed a tune-up. Brine had then returned home to discuss a course of action with the king of the Djinn, who was engrossed in his fourth Marx Brothers movie. â€Å"But how did you know he was coming here?† Brine asked. â€Å"It was a feeling.† â€Å"Then why can't you get a feeling of where he is now?† â€Å"You must find him, Augustus Brine.† â€Å"And do what?† â€Å"Get the Seal of Solomon and send Catch back to hell.† â€Å"Or get eaten.† â€Å"Yes, there is that possibility.† â€Å"Why don't you do it? He can't hurt you.† â€Å"If the dark one has the Seal of Solomon, then I too could become his slave. This would not be good. You must do it.† The biggest problem for Brine was that Pine Cove was small enough that he could actually search the entire town. In Los Angles or San Francisco he might have been able to give up before starting, open a bottle of wine, and let the mass of humanity bear the responsibility while he sank into a peaceful fog of nonaction. Brine had come to Pine Cove to avoid conflict, to pursue a life of simple pleasures, to meditate and find peace and oneness with all things. Now, forced to act, he realized how deluded he had become. Life was action, and there was no peace this side of the grave. He had read about the kendo swordsman, who affected the Zen of controlled spontaneity, never anticipating a move so that he might never have to correct his strategy to an unanticipated attack, but always ready to act. Brine had removed himself from the flow of action, built his life into a fortress of comfort and safety without realizing that his fortress was also a prison. â€Å"Think long and hard on your fate, Augustus Brine,† the Djinn said around a mouthful of potato chips. â€Å"Your neighbors pay for this time with their lives.† Brine pushed himself out of the chair and stormed into his study. He riffled through the drawers of the desk until he found a street map of Pine Cove. He spread the map out on the desk and began to divide the village into blocks with a red marker. Gian Hen Gian came into the study while he worked. â€Å"What will you do?† â€Å"Find the demon,† Brine said through gritted teeth. â€Å"And when you find him?† â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"You are a good man, Augustus Brine.† â€Å"You are a pain in the ass, Gian Hen Gian.† Brine gathered up the map and headed out of the room. â€Å"If it be so, then so be it,† the Djinn shouted after him. â€Å"But I am a grand pain in the ass.† Augustus Brine did not answer. He was already making his way to his truck. He drove off feeling quite alone and afraid. ROBERT Augustus Brine was not alone in his feeling of dread at the onset of evening. Robert returned at sunset to The Breeze's trailer to find three threatening messages on the answering machine: two from the landlord, and one ominous threat from the drug dealer in the BMW. Robert played the tape back three times in hope of finding a message from Jennifer, but it was not there. He had failed miserably in his attempt to crash and burn at the Slug, running out of money long before passing out. The job offer from Rachel wasn't enough either. Thinking it over, nothing would really be enough. He was a loser, plain and simple. No one was going to rescue him this time, and he wasn't up to pulling himself up by his own bootstraps. He had to see Jenny. She would understand. But he couldn't go looking like this, a three-day growth of beard, clothes he had slept in, reeking of sweat and beer. He stripped off his clothes and walked into the bathroom. He took some shaving cream and a razor from the medicine cabinet and stepped into the shower. Maybe if he showed up looking like he had some self-respect, she would take him back. She had to be missing him, right? And he wasn't sure he could spend another night alone, thinking about it, going though the nightmare. He turned on the shower and the breath jumped from his body. The water was ice cold. The Breeze hadn't paid the gas bill. Robert steeled himself to endure the cold shower. He had to look good if he was going to rebuild his life. Then the lights went out. RIVERA Rivera was sitting in a coffee shop near the police station sipping from a cup of decaf, smoking a cigarette, waiting. In his fifteen years on the force he estimated that ten of them had been spent in waiting. For once, though, he had the warrants, the budget, the manpower, and probable cause, but he had no suspect. It had to go down tomorrow, one way or another. If The Breeze showed up, then Rivera was in line for a promotion. If, however, he had gotten wind of the sting, then Rivera would take down the drunk in the trailer and hope that he knew something. It was a dismal prospect. Rivera envisioned his task force swooping in with sirens blaring, lights flashing, only to chalk up a bust for unsafe vehicle, perhaps unlawful copying of a videotape, or tearing the tag off a mattress. Rivera shivered at the thought and ground out his cigarette in the ashtray. He wondered if they would let him smoke when he was working behind the counter at Seven-Eleven. THE BREEZE When the jaws of the demon had clamped down on him, The Breeze felt a moment of pain, then a light-headedness and a floating feeling he had come to associate with certain kinds of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Then he looked down to see the monster stuffing his body into its gaping mouth. It looked funny, and the ethereal Breeze giggled to himself. No, this was more like the feeling of nitrous oxide than mushrooms, he thought. He watched the monster shrink and disappear, then the door to the old Chevy opened and closed. The car sped off and The Breeze felt himself bouncing on the air currents in its wake. Death was fine with The Breeze. Sort of the ultimate acid trip, only cheaper and with no side effects. Suddenly he found himself in a long tunnel. At the end he saw a bright light. He had seen a movie about this once; you were supposed to go toward the light. Time had lost meaning for The Breeze. He floated down the tunnel, for a whole day, but to him it seemed only minutes. He was just riding the buzz. Everything was copacetic. As he approached the light, he could make out the figures of people waiting for him. That's right: your family and friends welcome you to the next life. The Breeze prepared himself for a truly bitchin' party on the astral plane. Coming out of the tunnel, The Breeze was enveloped by an intense white light. It was warm and comforting. The people's faces came into view and as The Breeze floated up to them, he realized that he owed every one of them money. PREDATORS While night fell on some like a curtain of foreboding, others were meeting the advent of darkness with excited anticipation. Creatures of the night were rising from their resting places and venturing forth to feed on their unsuspecting victims. They were feeding machines, armed with tooth and claw, instinctively driven to seek out their prey, gifted with stealth and night vision, perfectly adapted to the hunt. When they stalked the streets of Pine Cove, no one's garbage cans were safe. When they awakened that evening, they found a curious machine in their den. The supernatural sentience they had experienced the night before had passed, and they retained no memory of having stolen the tape player. They might have been frightened by the noise, but the battery had long since run down. They would push the machine out of the den when they returned, but now there was a scent on the wind that drove them to the hunt with urgent hunger. Two blocks away, Mrs. Eddleman had discarded a particularly gamey tuna-fish salad, and their acute olfactory systems had picked up the scent even while they slept. The raccoons bounded into the night like wolves on the fold. JENNIFER For Jenny, evening came as a mix of blessing and curses. The call from Travis had come at five, as promised, and she found herself elated at being wanted but also thrown into a quandary about what to wear, how to behave, and where to go. Travis had left it up to her. She was a local and knew the best places to go, he had said, and he was right. He had even asked her to drive. As soon as she had hung up, she ran to the garage for the shop vac to clean out her car. While she cleaned, she ran possibilities through her mind. Should she pick the most expensive restaurant? No, that might scare him away. There was a romantic Italian place south of town, but what if he got the wrong idea? Pizza was too informal for a dinner date. Burgers were out of the question. She was a vegetarian. English food? No – why punish the guy? She found herself resenting Travis for making her decide. Finally she opted for the Italian place. When the car was clean, she returned to the house to pick out what she would wear. She dressed and undressed seven times in the next half hour and finally decided on a sleeveless black dress and heels. She posed before the full-length mirror. The black dress definitely was the best. And if she splashed marinara sauce on it, the stain wouldn't show. She looked good. The heels showed off her calves nicely, but you could also see the light-red hair on her legs. She hadn't thought about it until now. She rummaged through her drawers, found some black panty hose and slipped them on. That problem taken care of, she resumed her posing, affecting the bored, pouty look she had seen on fashion models in magazines. She was thin and fairly tall, and her legs were tight and muscular from waiting tables. Pretty nice for a thirty-year-old broad, she thought. Then she raised her arms and stretched languidly. Two curly tufts of armpit hair stared at her from the mirror. It was natural, unpretentious, she thought. She had stopped shaving about the same time she had stopped eating meat. It was all part of getting in touch with herself, of getting connected to the Earth. It was a way to show that she did not conform to the female ideal created by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, that she was a natural woman. Did the Goddess shave her armpits? She did not. But the Goddess was not going out on her first date in over ten years. Jenny suddenly realized how unaware she had become of her appearance in the last few years. Not that she had let herself go, but the changes she had made away from makeup and complicated hairstyles had been so slow she had hardly noticed. And Robert hadn't seemed to notice, or at least he had not objected. But that was the past. Robert was in the past, or he would be soon. She went to the bathroom in search of a razor. BILLY WINSTON Billy Winston had no such dilemma about shaving. He did his legs and underarms as a matter of course every time he showered. The idea of conforming to a diet soft-drink ideal of the perfect woman didn't bother him in the least. On the contrary, Billy felt compromised by the fact that he had to maintain his appearance as a six-foot-three-inch tall man with a protruding Adam's apple in order to keep his job as night auditor at the Rooms-R-Us Motel. In his heart, Billy was a buxom blond vixen named Roxanne. But Roxanne had to stay in the closet until Billy finished doing the motel's books, until midnight, when the rest of the staff left the motel and Billy was alone on the desk. Only then could Roxanne dance through the night on her silicon chip slippers, stroking the libidos of lonely men and breaking hearts. When the iron tongue of midnight told twelve, the sex fairy would find her on-line lovers. Until then, she was Billy Winston, and Billy Winston was getting ready to go to work. He slipped the red silk panties and garter belt over his long, thin legs, then slowly worked the black, seamed stockings up, teasing himself in the full-length mirror at the end of the bed. He smiled coyly at himself as he clipped the garters into place. Then he put on his jeans and flannel shirt and laced up his tennis shoes. Over his shirt pocket he pinned his name badge: Billy Winston, Night Auditor. It was a sad irony, Billy thought, that the thing he loved most, being Roxanne, depended on the thing he liked least, his job. Each evening he awoke feeling a mix of excitement and dread. Oh, well, a joint would get him through the first three hours of his shift, and Roxanne would get him through the last five. He dreamed of the day when he could afford his own computer and become Roxanne anytime he wanted. He would quit his job and make his living like The Breeze: fast and loose. Just a few more months behind the desk and he would have the money he needed. CATCH Catch was a demon of the twenty-seventh order. In the hierarchy of hell this put him far below the archdemons like Mammon, master of avarice, but far above the blue-collar demons like Arrrgg, who was responsible for leeching the styrofoam taste into take-out coffee. Catch had been created as a servant and a destroyer and endowed with a simplemindedness that suited those roles. His distinction in hell was that he had spent more time on Earth than any other demon, where, in the company of men, he had learned to be devious and ambitious. His ambition took the form of looking for a master who would allow him to indulge himself in destruction and terror. Of all the masters that Catch had served since Solomon, Travis had been the worst. Travis had an irritating streak of righteousness that grated on Catch's nerves. In the past, Catch had been called up by devious men who limited the demon's destruction only to keep his presence secret from other men. Most of the time this was accomplished by the death of all witnesses. Catch always made sure that there were witnesses. With Travis, Catch's need for destruction was controlled and allowed to build inside him until Travis was forced to unleash him. Always it was someone Travis had chosen. Always it was in private. And it was never enough for Catch's appetite. Serving under Travis, his mind always seemed foggy and the fire inside him confined to a smolder. Only when Travis directed him toward a victim did he feel crispness in his thoughts and a blazing in his nature. The times were too few. The demon longed again for a master with enemies, but his thoughts were never clear enough to devise a plan to find one. Travis's will was overpowering. But today the demon had felt a release. It had started when Travis met the woman in the cafe. When they went to the old man's house, he felt a power surge through him unlike anything he had felt in years. Again, when Travis called the girl, the power had increased. He began to remember what he was: a creature who had brought kings and popes to power and in turn had usurped others. Satan himself, sitting on his throne in the great city of Pandemonium, had spoken to a multitude of hellish hosts, â€Å"In our exile, we must be beholden unto Jehovah for two things: one, that we exist, and two, that Catch has no ambition.† The fallen angels laughed with Catch at the joke, for that was a time before Catch had walked among men. Men had been a bad influence on Catch. He would have a new master; one who could be corrupted by his power. He had seen her that afternoon in the saloon and sensed her hunger for control over others. Together they would rule the world. The key was near; he felt it. If Travis found it, Catch would be sent back to hell. He had to find it first and get it into the hands of the witch. After all, it was better to rule on Earth than to serve in hell.