Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Hedge Funds-who is the winner(literature review) Essay
Hedge Funds-who is the winner(literature review) - Essay Example In the later part, we give an analysis, consult other authors and available literature in the field, and critically assess Brown’s article on hedge funds. The phrase â€Å"hedge funds†alone has not been well defined. Dr. Grenville, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia could not mention the proper definition. The Bank of Australia, in a paper submitted to the Australian House of Representatives, indicated that it was very concerned about the activities of highly leveraged financial intermediaries known as â€Å"hedge funds†. The paper stated that they were concerned that the funds made money â€Å"by attacking an exchange rate that has already overshot, so that it overshoots even further.†Through published actions and short selling, a bandwagon forms, then the funds would pull out. The Bank paper further stated that this was what happened to the ERM crisis that hit the British Pound in 1992, the Asian currency crisis in 1997 and speculative attacks on the Hong Kong dollar peg in 1998. With their action, the funds were holding the small countries hostage. (p 301) Brown (2001) pointed out that the International Monetary Fund reported that in the 1990s, there were financial intermediaries that had been investing steadily into South East Asia. There was a net inflow of about US$20 billion into the region over and above portfolio and direct investment; this was up to 1995 and 1996 when it increased to US$45 billion per annum. Then, there was a collapse of the Baht and the Ringgit in 1997 (the start of the Asian financial crisis), and a sudden outflow of US$58 billion. It was then perceived by the central bankers in the region that the collapse in the currency had everything to do with an attack on the currencies of the region by well-financed international speculators. Hedge funds could be the cause of the Asian financial crisis. One of those who believed on this was Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad when he said,
Monday, October 28, 2019
Decomposition of Bleach Essay Example for Free
Decomposition of Bleach Essay In this experiment, the rate of decomposition is calculated by measuring the volume of the product gas using water displacement. The reactant used is household bleach, which contains 5 to 6% of NaClO. The decomposition can be stated in this following equation: 2 ClO- (aq) 2 Cl- (aq) + O2 (g) To measure the rate of decomposition, a catalyst is needed to fasten the reaction. A suitable catalyst is Co2O3, which is produced from mixing Co(NO3)2 and bleach. The reaction can be described as follows: 2 Co2+ (aq) + ClO- (aq) + 2H2O (l) Co2O3 (s) + 4 H+(aq) + Cl-(aq) Purpose The objective of this experiment is to determine the rate of decomposition of bleach by measurement of gas production at several different temperatures. Hypothesis The decomposition rate will increase if the surrounding temperature increases. If the surrounding temperature increases by 10C, the reaction rate will double. If the temperature decreases by 10C, then the reaction rate will decrease by half. Materials * Household Bleach * Co(NO3)2 solution * Erlenmeyer flask * Stopper and tube * Ring stand * Burette * Graduated cylinder * Thermometer * Burette clamp Procedure Refer to lab instruction sheet Decomposition of Bleach Data Table 1 Accumulation of Oxygen at Room Temperature (24C) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) 30 3.5 210 29.9 60 9.1 240 34.3 90 13.4 270 38.3 120 18.0 300 42.0 150 20.8 330 44.5 180 25.9 360 50.1 Table 2 Accumulation of Oxygen at 10C above Room Temperature (34C) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) 30 8.1 180 37.5 60 13.9 210 41.3 90 20.4 240 45.4 120 26.0 270 49.4 150 31.8 \ Table 3 Accumulation of Oxygen at 10C below Room Temperature (14C) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) Time Interval (s) Volume of Gas (mL) 60 0 900 27.2 120 0 960 29.5 180 0 1020 31.9 240 1.8 1080 33.5 300 4.0 1140 36.0 360 6.5 1200 38.0 420 8.9 1260 40.5 540 11.8 1320 42.1 600 13.2 1380 44.1 660 15.6 1440 45.6 720 18.1 1500 47.5 780 21.0 1560 49.6 840 23.0 1579 50.0 Analysis Calculations: Reaction Rate = Reaction rate at room temperature = = 0.14 mL O2 / s Reaction rate at 10C above room temperature = = 0.17 mL O2 / s Reaction rate at 10C below room temperature = = 0.036 mL O2 / s Table 4 Rate of Decomposition of Bleach Surrounding Temperature (C) Reaction Rate (mL/ s)
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Facts about African American History Essay -- essays research papers
FACTS ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY I. Introduction to Afro-American History      A. Central theme-Quest for 1. Freedom, 2. Equality, 3. Manhood/Women Suffrage      B. Reasons for the Afro-American Movement-1. Record sake, 2. Inspirational           Sake, 3. Fight for the concept that blacks are inferior.      C. Africanism-anything that has an African origin      D. Eras of History- Ancient (Stone Age), Medieval (Dark Ages History), Modern           (Reform), & Current II. Discuss the four group of Black Historians.      - The Author of Black Historians is Dr. Thrope.      -The Beginning School-Rope to justify Emancipation      -The Middle School-Builder of Black Studies      -The Layman School-Untrained Historians      -The New School-Professional Historians           The first historian was George Washington Williams. John Rustwrum                was the black undergraduate historian to graduate from Harvard. III. Fathers of History      A. Carter G. Woodson-Father of Negro History ( Founder of Black History Day)      B. Charles Wesley & Monroe Clark-Father of African American Studies      C. Herodotus-who was Greek, Father of History in General-He wrote his history           in Hodge Podgy, meaning something thrown together.      D. Thucydides-Father of Scientific History IV. Review of the Browder Files by Anthony T. Browder.      A. Introduction-Why can’t African American reunite as a race?           1. We don’t know our heritage.           2. We fail to produce the thing s we need.           3. We have a loss of sense of family.        &nb... ...deal      with. Example: County schools have higher scores than city schools.      C. Emancipatory-used to helps resolve contradictions between practical and           technical knowledge. It is a knowledge that can be used to change negative           conditions into positive conditions in order to improve the life                     chances/experiences for black people. Example: County schools may have           better teachers. Important to Know Africa is the birthplace of humanity. Africa had 3 main kingdoms-Ghana, Mali and Songhai Bicades Sudan means land of black people. Kongo means land of Black Smith Egypt was once known has hemit, which means land of blacks. Africa was called Ethopia, which means land of black skin. NPCRO means dead. MANCY means worship, honor, & celebrate the dead. Griots-oral historians Human life began in Eastern Africa about 160,000 years ago.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Educational Reform Essay
The educational institutes today are more focused on academics & pay less attention to the physical attributes of the students. Physical educators along with academic teachers play an important part in promoting good health through regular physical activities. The number of obese children is increasing around the world. Research depicts that one in every ten; six years old child in England is obese. It is estimated that by the year 2020, 50% of the children would be obese. (BBC. co, 2004,) Lack of physical activity is said to be a cause for lowers academic achievements as well as overweight & obese individuals. The reason being, when the fundamental dietary & fitness needs are not met, the students show a decline in academics by giving a poor performance. A study in New York asserted that students’ intelligence & academic performance was affected by the slightest of malnutrition signs. Schools play a major role in developing the young minds & grooming them for a bright future, it must be kept in mind that physical education too is an imperative aspect of an individual’s life. Along with the P. E. courses the students should be advised about a proper diet intake. Children with poor nutritional habits, especially in the early years usually score low in vocabulary, reading & calculation. (Athletics Campus Life, 2007) It is calculated that 40% of American population is inactive & only 20% are slightly active. Mostly 50% of individuals drop out of exercise programs without even completing six months. The fact is that habits are developed at an early age. If the students are not facilitated with physical exercise courses at school, they will never form healthy workout habits. The schools these days are struggling to increase the student success rates, the children are over burdened with homework & extra classes, leaving no time for extracurricular activities. The Buffalo City School District in New York has decided to incorporate a physical education department starting from the very initial stage; the aim is to achieve better student grades, attendance & improved health. The students’ nutrition, active lifestyle & accomplishments are all interrelated. If the child is happy & healthy, he will perform well in every step he takes. Reducing 240 minutes per week in class time in favor of physical activity resulted in higher math scores. (Action for Healthy Kids, 2004) Students with the highest fitness scores scored the highest in their SAT exam. Being physically active also fortifies the student’s cognitive learning abilities & lowers anxiety & depression levels. It is derived from extensive research that the intake of oxygen during exercise benefits the neurons & increases the mind power. Overweight children are susceptible to develop physical ailments like blood pressure & diabetes in later life, not to mention the psychological effects by being teased in school causing a reclusive feeling, low self esteem & presently depression. The Cambridge Public Schools, in Massachusetts, discovered that almost 14% of children from the age group 9-13 were overweight due to sedentary routines. These students were being targeted for jokes & bullying. In order to facilitate the energy of hyperactive & sedentary students, at the same time improving their physical & social wellbeing; increased the activity programs at school targeting every student’s individual needs. This act may produce desirable results in the meantime confronting issues like obesity & bullying. But focus should be kept on the physical wellbeing of students; therefore it’s a better option to minimize competing activities. Sports & recreational competitions are a good way to realize one’s potential but may induce negative feelings in the losing opponent. Every school attempts to reach the highest target of excellence; this goals should set concern for the physical & mental growth of the students thus, expanding time for the physical & extracurricular activities for the children to indulge in. summer & winter breaks can also be utilized for such programs. Participating in such activities help the children to discover their strengths & uniqueness creating a feeling of achievement. They realize their interests & then design their future goals accordingly. A number of funds are use for the betterment of academic departments in schools. Some steps should be taken for designing the physical education department in order to achieve a positive impact on the confidence, self esteem & motivation of all the students. Each student should be dealt separately, so as to meet individual demands & improve their over all personality. A policy taken up by the Michigan State Board of Education Policy in September 2003 on Quality Physical Education confirms that well planned physical activities play a pivotal role in the student learning capabilities. They learn to incorporate their skills & abilities to the fullest in every field. They started a 150 minutes/week program for the elementary students & 225 minutes/week. (Michigan State- Resource Guide) Some of the ideas that can be incorporated for the betterment of students overall capabilities are:†¢ All students should be entitled to join the physical activity groups. Each age group should be handled separately so they can enhance their confidence, identify their personal. The physical education curriculum should be based on a rationally researched content. The proper equipment & tools should be provided by the school & a professional trainer should be hired to train the students. The individual strengths & abilities of students should be catered. Tests should be conducted to find out their endurance levels & body strengths & then target the problem areas for achieving a healthy & active student body. †¢ Athletics are very effective in the over all growth of children. Basic levels of athletics should be coached to every student & advance courses available to those who are interested. †¢ The P. E. group can hold study groups & workshops to help the students with their weakness & provide them with proper nutritional guides. Several activities can be introduces involving interaction with friends & families of the students. For example few schools arrange sport days, running tracks & family fitness nights. After school activities can play a major role in inducing physical fitness in the students. The points to keep in mind are that †¢ the activities are convenient for the students †¢ the program contains enough intensity to make it challenging †¢ Variety of programs should be introduced so that the children are keen to partake in them. †¢ The weather conditions should be kept in mind & indoor gyms & recreational rooms should be set up in case of a rainy day. †¢ The parents & teachers should be encouraged to get involved with the students so they can help the children to live up to the best of their abilities.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
University College
David John Lodge was born on January 28, 1935, in London’s lower-middle-class East End, the only son of a musician father and a staunchly Catholic mother. The family’s straitened economic situation, his conservative Catholic upbringing, and the dangers of wartime London left their mark on young David. He began his first novel (unpublished) at eighteen while still a student at University College, London, where he received his B. A. in English (with first honors) in 1955 and an M. A. in 1959.Between times Lodge performed what was then an obligatory National Service (1955-1957). Although the two years were in a sense wasted, his stint in the army did give him time to complete his first published novel, The Picturegoers , and material for his second, Ginger, You’re Barmy , as well as the impetus to continue his studies.In 1959 he married to Mary Frances Jacob; they had three children. After a year working as an assistant at the British Council, Lodge joined the facul ty at the University of Birmingham, where he completed his Ph. D. in 1969; he eventually attained the position of full professor of modern English literature in 1976. The mid-1960’s proved an especially important period in Lodge’s personal and professional life.He became close friends with fellow critic and novelist Malcolm Bradbury (then also at Birmingham), under whose influence Lodge wrote his first comic novel, The British Museum Is Falling Down , for which the publisher, not so comically, forgot to distribute review copies; he was awarded a Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship to study and travel in the United States for a year (1964-1965); he published his first critical study, the influential The Language of Fiction (1966); and he learned that his third child, Christopher, suffered from Down syndrome (a biographical fact that manifests itself obliquely at the end of Out of the Shelter and more overtly in one of the plots of How Far Can You Go? ).Lodge’s secon d trip to the United States, this time as visiting professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley in 1969, during the height of the Free Speech Movement and political unrest, played its part in the conceiving and writing of his second comic novel, Changing Places , as did the critical essays he was then writing and would later collect in The Novelist at the Crossroads (1971) and Working with Structuralism (1981). The cash award that went along with the Whitbread Prize for his next novel, How Far Can You Go? , enabled Lodge to reduce his teaching duties to half-year and to devote himself more fully to his writing.He transformed his participation in the Modern Language Association’s 1978 conference in New York, the 1979 James Joyce Symposium in Zurich, and a three-week world tour of conferences and British Council speaking engagements into his most commercially successful book, Small World , later adapted for British television. His reputation growing and his financial situation brightening, Lodge donated all royalties from his next book, Write On: Occasional Essays, ’65-’85 (1986), to CARE (Cottage and Rural Enterprises), which maintains communities for mentally handicapped adults. In 1987 he took advantage of early retirement (part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s austerity plan for British universities) so that he could work full time as a writer. Lodge soon published Paradise News (1991) and Therapy (1995).He also published two collections of essays, After Bakhtin: Essays on Fiction and Criticism (1990) The Art of Fiction (1992), and a comedic play, The Writing Game (1991). Especially popular for his academic novels, Lodge enjoyed an increasingly strong critical reception in the 1990’s. The Writing Game was adapted for television in 1996, and Lodge was named a Fellow of Goldsmith’s College in London in 1992. In 1996 he published The Practice of Writing , a collection of seventeen essays on the creative process. In this text he treats fiction writers who have influenced him, from James Joyce to Anthony Burgess, and comments on the contemporary novelist and the world of publishing; the main focus, however, is on adapting his own work, as well as the work of Charles Dickens and Harold Pinter, for television.Lodge remained a supporter of CARE and other organizations supporting the mentally handicapped (the subject of mental handicaps appears briefly in Therapy in a reference to the central character’s sister’s dedication to a mentally handicapped son). He retained the title of Honorary Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Birmingham. In addition to interests in television, theater, and film, Lodge maintained an interest in tennis that is sometimes reflected in the novels. Literary Forms Mediating between theory and practice, David Lodge has proved himself one of England’s ablest and most interesting literary critics. Among his influ ential critical books are The Language of Fiction (1966) and The Novelist at the Crossroads (1971).In addition to his novels and criticism, he has written short stories, television screenplays of some of his novels, and (in collaboration with Malcolm Bradbury and Jim Duckett) several satirical revues. Achievements As a novelist Lodge has made his mark in three seemingly distinct yet, in Lodge’s case, surprisingly congruent areas: as a writer of Catholic novels, of â€Å"campus fiction,†and of works that somehow manage to be at once realist and postmodern. The publication of Changing Places in 1975 and Small World nine years later brought Lodge to the attention of a much larger (especially American) audience. Changing Places won both the Yorkshire Post and Hawthornden prizes, How Far Can You Go?received the Whitbread Award, and Nice Work was shortlisted for Great Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize. Literary Analysis In order to understand David Lodge’s no vels, it is necessary to place them in the context of postwar British literatureâ€â€the â€Å"Movement†writers and â€Å"angry young men†of the 1950’s, whose attacks on the English class system had an obvious appeal to the author of The Picturegoers , the English Catholic novel and â€Å"campus novel†traditions, and finally the postmodernism to which British fiction (it is often claimed) has proved especially resistant. In addition, Lodge’s novels are significantly and doubly autobiographical. They draw not only on important events in the author’s life, but also on his work as a literary critic.In The Language of Fiction Lodge defends the aesthetic validity and continuing viabilty of realist writing on the basis of linguistic mastery rather than fidelity to life, and in The Novelist at the Crossroads he rejects Robert Scholes’s bifurcation of contemporary fiction into fabulistic and journalistic modes, positing the â€Å"probl ematic novel†in which the novelist innovatively builds his hesitation as to which mode to adopt into the novel. Lodge’s own novels are profoundly pluralistic yet manifest the author’s clear sense of aesthetic, social, and personal limitations as well as his awareness of working both within and against certain traditions and forms. The Picturegoers Set in a lower-middle-class area of London much like the one in which Lodge grew up, The Picturegoers is an interesting and even ambitious work marred by melodramatic excesses. As the plural of its title implies, The Picturegoers deals with a fairly large number of more or less main characters.Lodge’s title also is indicative of his narrative method: abrupt cinematic shifts between the different plots, use of a similarly shifting focalizing technique, and a stylizing of the narrative discourse in order to reflect features of an individual character’s verbal thought patterns. Of the seven main characters, Mark Underwood is the most important. A lapsed Catholic and aspiring writer, he arrives in London, rents a room in the home of a conservative Catholic family, the Mallorys, and falls in love with the daughter, Clare, formerly a Catholic novitiate. The affair will change them: Clare will become sexually awakened and then skeptical when Mark abandons her for the Catholicism from which she has begun to distance herself.Interestingly, his return to the Church seems selfish and insincere, an ironic sign not of his redemption but of his bad faith. Ginger, You’re Barmy Dismissed by its author as a work of â€Å"missed possibilities†and an â€Å"act of revenge†against Great Britain’s National Service, Ginger, You’re Barmy continues Lodge’s dual exploration of narrative technique and moral matters and largely succeeds on the basis of the solution Lodge found for the technical problem which the writing of the novel posed: how to write a novel about the tedium of military life without making the novel itself tedious to read. Lodge solved the problem by choosing to concentrate the action and double his narrator-protagonist Jonathan Browne’s story.Lodge focuses the story on the first few weeks of basic training, particularly Jonathan’s relationship with the altruistic and highly, though conservatively, principled Mike Brady, a poorly educated Irish Catholic, who soon runs afoul of the military authorities; on the accidental death or perhaps suicide of Percy Higgins; and on Jonathan’s last days before being mustered out two years later. Lodge then frames this already-doubled story with the tale of Jonathan’s telling, or writing, of these events three years later, with Jonathan now married (to Mike’s former girlfriend), having spent the past three years awaiting Mike’s release from prison. The novel’s frame structure suggests that Jonathan has improved morally from the self-centered agnostic he was to the selfless friend he has become, but his telling problematizes the issue of his development.Between Mike’s naive faith and Jonathan’s intellectual self-consciousness and perhaps self-serving confession there opens up an abyss of uncertainty for the reader. The British Museum Is Falling Down This moral questioning takes a very different form in Lodge’s next novel. The British Museum Is Falling Down is a parodic pastiche about a day in the highly literary and (sexually) very Catholic life of Adam Appleby, a twenty-five-year- old graduate student trying to complete his dissertation before his stipend is depleted and his growing family overwhelms his slender financial resources. Desperate but by no means in despair, Adam begins to confuse literature and life as each event in the wildly improbable series that makes up his day unfolds in its own uniquely parodied style.The parodies are fun but also have a semiserious purpose, the undermining of al l forms of authority, religious as well as literary. Parodic in form, The British Museum Is Falling Down is comic in intent in that Lodge wrote it in the expectation of change in the church’s position on birth control. The failure of this expectation would lead Lodge fifteen years later to turn the comedy inside out in his darker novel, How Far Can You Go? Out of the Shelter Published after The British Museum Is Falling Down but conceived earlier, Out of the Shelter is a more serious but also less successful novel. Modeled on a trip Lodge made to Germany when he was sixteen, Out of the Shelter attempts to combine the Bildungsroman and the Jamesian international novel.In three parts of increasing length, the novel traces the life of Timothy Young from his earliest years in the London blitz to the four weeks he spends in Heidelberg in the early 1950’s with his sister, who works for the American army of occupation. With the help of those he meets, Timothy begins the proce ss of coming out of the shelter of home, conservative Catholicism, unambitious lower-middle-class parents, provincial, impoverished England, and sexual immaturity into a world of abundance as well as ambiguity. Lodge’s Joycean stylization of Timothy’s maturing outlook proves much less successful than his portrayal of Timothy’s life as a series of transitions in which the desire for freedom is offset by a desire for shelter, the desire to participate by the desire to observe.Even in the epilogue, Timothy, now thirty, married, and in the United States on a study grant, finds himself dissatisfied (even though he has clearly done better than any of the novel’s other characters) and afraid of the future. Changing Places Lodge translates that fear into a quite different key in Changing Places. Here Lodge’s genius for combining opposites becomes fully evident as the serious Timothy Young gives way to the hapless English liberal-humanist Philip Swallow, wh o leaves the shelter of the University of Rummidge for the expansive pleasures of the State University of Euphoria in Plotinus (Berkeley). Swallow is half of Lodge’s faculty and narrative exchange program; the other is Morris Zapp, also forty, an academic Norman Mailer, arrogant and ambitious.Cartoonish as his charactersâ€â€or rather caricaturesâ€â€may be, Lodge makes them and their complementary as well as parallel misadventures in foreign parts humanly interesting. The real energy of Changing Places lies, however, in the intersecting plots and styles of this â€Å"duplex†novel. The first two chapters, â€Å"Flying†and â€Å"Settling,†get the novel off to a self-consciously omniscient but otherwise conventional start. â€Å"Corresponding,†however, switches to the epistolary mode, and â€Å"Reading†furthers the action (and the virtuosic display) by offering a series of newspaper items, press releases, flysheets, and the like. â €Å"Changing†reverts to conventional narration (but in a highly stylized way), and â€Å"Ending†takes the form of a filmscript.Set at a time of political activism and literary innovation, Changing Places is clearly a â€Å"problematic novel†written by a â€Å"novelist at the crossroads,†aware of the means at his disposal but unwilling to privilege any one over any or all of the others. How Far Can You Go? Lodge puts the postmodern plays of Changing Places to a more overtly serious purpose in How Far Can You Go? It is a work more insistently referential than any of Lodge’s other novels but also paradoxically more self-questioning: a fiction about the verifiably real world that nevertheless radically insists upon its own status as fiction. The novel switches back and forth between the sometimes discrete, yet always ultimately related stories of its ten main characters as freely as it does between the mimetic levels of the story and its narration. The parts make up an interconnected yet highly discontinuous whole, tracing the lives of its ten characters from 1952 (when nine are university students and members of a Catholic study group led by the tenth, Father Brierly) through the religious, sexual, and sociopolitical changes of the 1960’s and 1970’s to the deaths of two popes, the installation of the conservative John Paul II, and the writing of the novel How Far Can You Go? in 1978. The authorial narrator’s attitude toward his characters is at once distant and familiar, condescending and compassionate. Their religious doubts and moral questions strike the reader as quaintly naive, the result of a narrowly Catholic upbringing. Yet the lives of reader and characters as well as authorial narrator are also strangely parallel in that (to borrow Lodge’s own metaphor) each is involved in a game of Snakes and Ladders, moving narratively, psychologically, socially, and religiously ahead one moment, only to fall suddenly behind the next.The characters stumble into sexual maturity, marry, have children, have affairs, get divorced, declare their homosexuality, suffer illnesses, breakdowns, and crises of faith, convert to other religions, and join to form Catholics for an Open Church. All the while the authorial narrator of this most postmodern of post- Vatican II novels proceeds with self-conscious caution, possessed of his own set of doubts, as he moves toward the open novel. Exploring various lives, plots, voices, and styles, Lodge’s artfully wrought yet ultimately provisional narrative keeps circling back to the question that troubles his characters: â€Å"How far can you go? †in the search for what is vital in the living of a life and the writing (or reading) of a novel. Small WorldLodge goes still further, geographically as well as narratively speaking, in his next novel. A campus fiction for the age of the â€Å"global campus,†Small World begins at a decided ly provincial meeting in Rummidge in 1978 and ends at a mammoth Modern Language Association conference in New York one year later, with numerous international stops in between as Lodge recycles characters and invents a host of intersecting stories (or narrative flight paths). The pace is frenetic and thematically exhaustive but, for the delighted reader, never exhausting. The basic plot upon which Lodge plays his add-on variations begins when Persse McGarrigleâ€â€poet and â€Å"conference virgin†â€â€meets the elusive Angelica Pabst.As Angelica pursues literary theory at a number of international conferences, Persse pursues her, occasionally glimpsing her sister, a pornographic actress, Lily Papps, whom he mistakes for Angelica. Meanwhile, characters from earlier Lodge novels reappear to engage in affairs and rivalries, all in the international academic milieu. A parody of (among other things) the medieval quest, Lodge’s highly allusive novel proves at once ente rtaining and instructive as it combines literary modes, transforms the traditional novel’s world of characters into semiotics’ world of signs, and turns the tables on contemporary literary theory’s celebrated demystifications by demystifying it. At novel’s end, Lodge makes a guest appearance, and Persse makes an exit, in pursuit of another object of his chaste desire.The quest continues, but that narrative fact does not mean that the novel necessarily endorses the kind of extreme open-endedness or inconclusiveness that characterizes certain contemporary literary theories. Rather, the novel seems to side with the reconstructed Morris Zapp, who has lost his faith in deconstruction, claiming that although the deferral of meaning may be endless, the individual is not: â€Å"Death is the one concept you can’t deconstruct. Work back from there and you end up with the old idea of an autonomous self. †Nice Work Zapp’s reduced expectations ty pify Lodge’s eighth novel, Nice Work , set almost entirely in Rummidge but alsoâ€â€as in How Far Can You Go? â€â€evidencing his interest in bringing purely literary and academic matters to bear on larger social issues.The essential doubleness of this geographically circumscribed novel manifests itself in a series of contrasts: between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, literature and life, the Industrial Midlands and Margaret Thatcher’s economically thriving (but morally bankrupt) London, male and female, and the novel’s two main characters. Vic Wilcox, age forty-six, managing director of a family-named but conglomerate-owned foundry, rather ironically embodies the male qualities his name implies. Robyn Penrose is everything Vic Wilcox is not: young, attractive, intellectual, cosmopolitan, idealistic, politically aware, sexually liberated, as androgynous as her name, and, as temporary lecturer in women’s studies and the nineteenth century nov el, ill-paid. The differences between the two are evident even in the narrative language, as Lodge takes pains to unobtrusively adjust discourse to character.The sections devoted to Vic, â€Å"a phallic sort of bloke,†are appropriately straightforward, whereas those dealing with Robyn, a character who â€Å"doesn’t believe in character,†reflect her high degree of self-awareness. In order to bring the two characters and their quite different worlds together, Lodge invents an Industry Year Shadow Scheme that involves Robyn’s following Vic around one workday per week for a semester. Both are at first reluctant participants. Displeasure slowly turns into dialogue, and dialogue eventually leads to bed, with sexual roles reversed. Along the way Lodge smuggles in a considerable amount of literary theory as Vic and Robyn enter each other’s worlds and words: the phallo and logocentric literalmindedness of the one coming up against the feminist-semiotic aw areness of the other.Each comes to understand, even appreciate, the other. Lodge does not stop there. His ending is implausible, in fact flatly unconvincing, but deliberately soâ€â€a parody of the only solutions that, as Robyn points out to her students, the Victorian novelists were able or willing to offer to â€Å"the problems of industrial capitalism: a legacy, a marriage, emigration or death. †Robyn will receive two proposals of marriage, a lucrative job offer, and an inheritance that will enable her to finance the small company Vic, recently fired, will found and direct and also enable her to stay on at Rummidge to try to make her utopian dream of an educated, classless English society a reality.The impossibly happy ending suggests just how slim her chances for success are, but the very existence of Lodge’s novel seems to undermine this irony, leaving Nice Work and its reader on the border between aspiration and limitation, belief and skepticism, the romance of how things should be and the reality, or realism, of how things areâ€â€a border area that is one of the hallmarks of Lodge’s fiction. Paradise News Paradise News centers on the quest motif and the conflicts of a postmodern English Catholic. Bernard Walsh, a â€Å"sceptical theologican,†was formerly a priest but now teaches theology at the University of Rummidge. Summoned, along with his father, to see his aunt, who left England after World War II and is now dying in Hawaii, Walsh signs up for a package tour to save money. The rumpled son and his curmudgeon father join a comic assortment of honeymooners, disgruntled families, and other eccentrics; Lodge calls an airport scene â€Å"carnivalesque.†When the father breaks his leg on the first morning, Bernard must negotiate to bring his father and his aunt together so that his aunt can finally reveal and overcome the sexual abuse she suffered in childhood. Bernard’s journey to Hawaii becomes a journe y of discovery in his sexual initiation with Yolande, who gently leads him to know himself and his body. A major theme, as the title suggests, is â€Å"paradise. †Hawaii is the false paradiseâ€â€paradise lost, fallen, or packaged by the tourist industryâ€â€yet a beautiful, natural backdrop is there, however worn and sullied. Paradise emerges from within the individuals who learn to talk to one another. The â€Å"news†from paradise includes Bernard’s long letter to himself, which he secretly delivers to Yolande, and letters home from members of the tour group.As with Lodge’s other novels, prominent themes are desire and repression in English Catholic families and a naive academic’s quest for self. In a complex tangle of human vignettes, Bernard moves from innocence and repression to an awakening of both body and spiritâ€â€an existential journey that is both comic and poignant. Therapy Therapy centers on another spiritual and existentia l quest. Lawrence (Tubby) Passmore, successful writer of television comedies, is troubled by knee pains and by anxiety that leads him, after reading the works of Soren Kierkegaard, to consider himself the â€Å"unhappiest man. †Seeking psychotherapy, aromatherapy, massage therapy, and acupuncture, Tubby moves through a haze of guilt and anxiety.When his wife of thirty years asks for a divorce, he seeks solace with a series of women, with each quest ending in comic failure. Obsessed with Kierkegaard’s unrequited love, Tubby launches a quest for the sweetheart whom he feels he wronged in adolescence. Lodge’s concern with the blurring of literary forms is evident in Tubby’s preoccupation with writing in his journal, sometimes writing Browningesque monologues for other characters. Opening with an epigraph from Graham Greene asserting that writing itself is â€Å"therapy,†Lodge takes Tubby through a quest for self through writing that coincides with a literal pilgrimage when he joins his former sweetheart, Maureen, on a hiking pilgrimage in Spain.When Tubby at last finds Maureen, her recollections of their teenage romance minimize his guilt, and his troubles seem trivial in comparison with her losing a son and surviving breast cancer. At the end, Tubby is planning a trip (a pilgrimage) to Kierkegaard’s home with Maureen and her husband. Tubby’s real therapy has been self-discovery through writing in his journal; other therapies and journeys have failed. Intertwined with existential angst, Tubby’s physical and psychological journeys are both comic and sad, with an underlying sense of the power of human goodness and the need to overcome repressions. Findings and discussion Conclusion References
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Covalent or Molecular Compound Nomenclature
Covalent or Molecular Compound Nomenclature Molecular compounds or covalent compounds are those in which the elements share electrons via covalent bonds. The only type of molecular compound a chemistry student is expected to be able to name is a binary covalent compound. This is a covalent compound made up of only two different elements. Identifying Molecular Compounds Molecular compounds contain two or more nonmetals (not the ammonium ion). Usually, you can recognize a molecular compound because the first element in the compound name is a nonmetal. Some molecular compounds contain hydrogen, however, if you see a compound which starts with H, you can assume it is an acid and not a molecular compound. Compounds consisting only of carbon with hydrogen are called hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons have their own special nomenclature, so they are treated differently from other molecular compounds. Writing Formulas for Covalent Compounds Certain rules apply to the way names of covalent compounds are written: The more electropositive element (further left on the periodic table) is listed before the more electronegative element (further right on the periodic table).The second element is given an -ide ending.Prefixes are used to denote how many atoms of each element are present in the compound. Prefixes and Molecular Compound Names Nonmetals may combine in a variety of ratios, so it is important that the name of a molecular compound indicates how many atoms of each type of element are present in the compound. This is accomplished using prefixes. If there is only one atom of the first element, no prefix is used. It is customary to prefix the name of one atom of the second element with mono-. For example, CO is named carbon monoxide rather than carbon oxide. Examples of Covalent Compound Names SO2 - sulfur dioxideSF6 - sulfur hexafluorideCCl4 - carbon tetrachlorideNI3 - nitrogen triiodide Writing the Formula from the Name You can write the formula for a covalent compound from its name by writing the symbols for the first and second element and translating the prefixes into subscripts. For example, xenon hexafluoride would be written XF6. It is common for students to have trouble writing formulae from compounds names as ionic compounds and covalent compounds are often confused. You arent balancing charges of covalent compounds; if the compound does not contain a metal, dont try to balance this! Molecular Compound Prefixes Number Prefix 1 mono- 2 di- 3 tri- 4 tetra- 5 penta- 6 hexa- 7 hepta- 8 octa- 9 nona- 10 deca-
Monday, October 21, 2019
The reception of the hristian paradigm s i n th Essays - Films
The reception of the hristian paradigm s i n th Essays - Films The reception of the hristian paradigm s i n the modern Ukrainian drama Baroque is a determinant theatrical playing strategy f or modern Ukrainian playwrights . The process of instigation an interactive game with the viewer takes place, actively involving him in the stage business , even as a protagonist / antagonist , when the boundary between the hall and the stage is erased , provoking the diffuse of the apparent and r eal , their co-operation , partly imitating the co-authorship . There is a number of works in contemporary Ukrainian drama , which genre authors identify as "a new mystery drama " ( L . Paris I. Sirius. C entaur ' ) , "a s chool mystery" (V. Dibr ova " The Glove "), " a puppet mystery" (A. V yshenskyi "Cossack Mamay and the keys to Paradise ")," a mystical drama " (S. Novytska " Shynkarka ") or put into the name of the t rilogy "Another Parable of Lov e " (Marta), (Elsa), ( Manole ) or actualize the c hristian discourse " The Road to Paradise", "144000" Y a . Vereshchak ("apocalyptic"), " The Holy Passion for the God's fool ," "Lament for Judas II" . L. Chupis , "The Nativity Play " V. Shevchuk , " The Tale of Modern Years " the LTV band (an interlude) , "Confession from the pedestal " A. Semeriakova , "Davi d" (confession') V. Lusiuk , V. Shevchuk "Gates of the deathly shade" (the drama with two interlude s divided in two acts ) . During last years
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Timeline from 1800 to 1810
Timeline from 1800 to 1810 Decade By Decade: Timelines of the 1800s 1800: The second federal census was taken in 1800, and determined the population to be 5,308,483. Of that number, 896,849, about 17 percent, were slaves.April 24, 1800: Congress chartered the Library of Congress and allocated $5,000 to purchase books.November 1, 1800: President John Adams moved into the unfinished Executive Mansion, which would later be known as the White House.December 3, 1800: The United States electoral congress convened to decide the winner of the election of 1800. The election was disputed, and after a series of votes in the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Jefferson was declared the winner over Aaron Burr and the incumbent John Adams.November 17, 1800: The United States Congress held its first session in its new home, the unfinished Capitol, at Washington, D.C. 1801: January 1, 1801: President John Adams began a tradition of White House receptions on New Years Day. Any citizen could stand on line, enter the mansion, and shake hands with the president. The tradition endured until well into the 20th century.January 1, 1801: The Act of Union, which bound Ireland to Britain, took effect.January 21, 1801: President John Adams nominated John Marshall as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall would go on to define the role of the court.February 19, 1801: Thomas Jefferson won the election of 1800, which was finally resolved in the U.S. House of RepresentativesMarch 4, 1801: Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as president and delivered an eloquent inaugural address in the Senate chamber of the unfinished U.S. Capitol.March 1801: President Jefferson appointed James Madison as secretary of state. As Jefferson was a widower, Madisons wife Dolley began serving the White House hostess.March 10, 1801: The first census taken in Britain determines the po pulation of England, Scotland, and Wales to be about 10.5 million. March 16, 1801: George Perkins Marsh, an early advocate of conservation, was born in Woodstock, Vermont.April 2, 1801: At the Battle of Copenhagen, the British Navy defeated a Danish and Norwegian fleet in action related to the Napoleonic Wars. Admiral Horatio Nelson was the hero of the battle.May 1801: The Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the United States. President Thomas Jefferson responded by dispatching a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates.May 16, 1801: William H. Seward, a senator from New York who would become Lincolns secretary of state, was born in Florida, New York.June 14, 1801: Benedict Arnold, famous traitor in the American Revolutionary War, died in England at the age of 60. 1802: April 4, 1802: Dorothea Dix, an influential reformer who headed efforts to organize Union nurses in the Civil War, was born in Hampden, Maine.Summer 1802: President Thomas Jefferson read a book by explorer Alexander Mackenzie, who had traveled across Canada to the Pacific Ocean and back. The book helped inspire what would become the Lewis and Clark Expedition.July 2, 1802: Jonathan Cilley, who would be killed in a duel fought between two members of Congress, was born at Notthingham, New Hampshire.July 4, 1802: The U.S. Military Academy opened at West Point, New York.November 1802: Washington Irving published his first article, a political satire signed with the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle.November 9, 1802: Elijah Lovejoy, a printer and abolitionist who would be killed for his anti-slavery beliefs, was born in Albion, Maine. 1803: February 24, 1803: The U.S. Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, decided Marbury v. Madison, a landmark case that established the principle of judicial review.May 2, 1803: The United States concluded the purchase of the Louisiana Purchase with France.May 25, 1803: Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston.July 4, 1803: President Thomas Jefferson officially gave orders to Meriwether Lewis, who had been preparing for an expedition to the Northwest.July 23, 1803: A rebellion led by Robert Emmet broke out in Dublin, Ireland, and was quickly put down. Emmet was captured a month later.September 20, 1803: Robert Emmet, leader of an Irish rebellion against British rule, was executed in Dublin, Ireland.October 12, 1803: Alexander Turney Stewart, inventor of the department store and a leading merchant in New York City, was born in Scotland.November 23, 1803: Theodore Dwight Weld, a great organizer of the abolitionist movement, was born in Connecticut.December 20, 1803: The vast terr itory of the Louisiana Purchase was officially transferred to the United States. 1804: May 14, 1804: The Lewis and Clark Expedition began its westward voyage by heading up the Missouri River.July 4, 1804: Author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts.July 11, 1804: The vice president of the United States, Aaron Burr, fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey.July 12, 1804: Alexander Hamilton died in New York City following the duel with Aaron Burr.August 20, 1804: A member of the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Charles Floyd, died. His death would be the only fatality on the entire expedition.November 1804: Thomas Jefferson easily won reelection, defeating Charles Pinckney of South Carolina.November 1804: Lewis and Clark met Sacagawea at a Mandan village in present day North Dakota. She would accompany the Corps of Discovery to the Pacific Coast.November 23, 1804: Franklin Pierce, who served as President of the United States from 1853 to 1857, was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire.December 2, 1804: Napol eon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France. December 21, 1804: Benjamin Disraeli, British author and statesman, was born in London. 1805: March 4, 1805: Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office for the second time and delivered a remarkably bitter inaugural address .April 1805: During the Barbary Wars, a detachment of U.S. Marines marched on Tripoli, and after victory, raised the American flag over foreign soil for the first time.August 1805: Zebulon Pike, a young U.S. Army officer, embarked on his first exploring expedition, which would take him to present day Minnesota.October 21, 1805: At the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Horatio Nelson was fatally wounded.November 15, 1805: The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the Pacific Ocean.December 1805: Lewis and Clark settled into winter quarters at a fort constructed by the Corps of Discovery. 1806: Bernard McMahon published The American Gardener’s Calendar, the first book on gardening published in America.Noah Webster published his first dictionary of American English.March 23, 1806: Lewis and Clark began their return journey from the Pacific NorthwestMarch 29, 1806: President Thomas Jefferson signed into law a bill allocating funds for the building of the National Road, the first federal highway.May 30, 1806: Andrew Jackson, future American president, killed Charles Dickinson in a duel provoked by disagreement over a horse race and insults to Jackson’s wife.July 15, 1806: Zebulon Pike departed on his second expedition, a voyage with mysterious purposes that would take him to present day Colorado.September 23, 1806: Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis, completing their expedition to the Pacific. 1807: Washington Irving published a little satirical magazine, Salmagundi. Twenty issues appeared between early 1807 and early 1808.March 25, 1807: The importation of slaves was prohibited by a law passed by the U.S. Congress, but the law would not take effect until the January 1, 1808.May 22, 1807: Aaron Burr was indicted for treason.June 22, 1807: The Chesapeake Affair, in which a U.S. Navy officer surrendered his ship to the British, created an enduring controversy. Years later, the incident would provoke a duel that would kill Stephen Decatur.July 4, 1807: Giuseppe Garibaldi was born.August 17, 1807: Robert Fulton’s first steamboat left New York City bound for Albany, sailing on the Hudson River. 1808: Albert Gallatin completed his landmark Report on Roads, Canals, Harbors, and Rivers, a comprehensive plan for creating a transportation infrastructure in the United States.January 1, 1808: The law banning importation of slaves into United States took effect.November 1808: James Madison won the U.S. presidential election, defeating Charles Pinckney, who had lost to Thomas Jefferson four years earlier. 1809: February 12, 1809: Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky. On the same day, Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England.December 1809: The first book by Washington Irving, A History of New York, an inventive blend of history and satire, is published under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker.December 29, 1809: William Ewart Gladstone, British statesman and prime minister, was born in Liverpool. Decade By Decade: 1810-1820 | 1820-1830 | 1830-1840 | 1840-1850 | 1850-1860 | 1860-1870 | 1870-1880 | 1880-1890 | 1890-1900 | The Civil War Year By Year
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Transformers movie & comic book PowerPoint Presentation
Transformers movie & comic book - PowerPoint Presentation Example But this never renders the comic books inferior, because despite the effect of cinema impact, the comic books are still hot cakes when it comes to sales. The major differences that one can identify in the cinema and the comic book medium would be the effects and the attention they grab. It can be further noticed that though the comic lacks some elements that a cinema typically possesses, it succeeded winning over the hearts of many readers but however there are some major differences and some interesting aspects that have to be attributed to the cinema medium. The comic medium at some point fails to carry the emotions as much as a cinema does, since with reading one restricts himself to his scope of imagination. This scope has been amplified with all the technical effects comprising the sound, music, modulations of speech and adding a sense of our presence, making cinema a more interactive medium. Ang Lee’s â€Å"The Hulk†has seen great success both as comic and cinema and he had combined both these media with great art and articulate understanding of the story. The comic, as one reads draws close attention and maintains a breath taking suspense throughout the book and this in fact shows up in the cinema as well, with impeccable narration and Ang Lee ensured that every character that he portrayed in the cinema was of no less awe that he depicted in the comic.
Organizational Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1
Organizational Culture - Essay Example stry and providing services such as construction and agricultural products, including tractors, engineering vehicles, bulldozers, loaders, but it has also diversified now keeping in view its potential and also started making the shoes and boots. The company is having the revenue of US $ 36.339 Billion in the year 2005 and is currently employing 77000 employees approximately, the organizational culture the company is showing is strong in terms of services they are providing right now, it was all due to the fierce competition with Komatsu that the company decided to change its culture in 1990s as a result they are having very strong hold in the market, the culture was weak before 1990s as there were so many of the labor strikes and a lot of shutdown processing was there but sooner the company identified its weakness and worked on it, you can see that now the entire union of employees work together and corporate at their level best with the customer as a result the company gained succes s, which was otherwise not possible if there wouldn’t be any team work. The organization is following a dominant culture, there are strict rules that are followed by all executives and employees in the organization, which also includes intact working of supervisors, employees and executives. -The organization and me have few things common, both of us keep on striving to get the better results and also we both have a desire to excel in what we do, the organization has taken it self out of a situation from where no body gets out and eventually results in bankruptcy, nevertheless it kept on striving and today it stands number one in manufacturing construction tools and equipments. -The organization first of all believes in being innovative and risk taking which means that the employees whenever come up with great idea, they are allowed to implement it, also the organization believes in people orientation which means that they consider their employees as they have already paid the
Friday, October 18, 2019
Amazonia S.L Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words
Amazonia S.L - Essay Example e growing population of competitors in Matarà ³; however it had successfully recovered by opening new business practices with the help of his nephew, Carlos Costa. Based on the income statement figures of Amazonia, S.L. from the year 2002 up to 2004 its net income is improving as well as the revenue of the business. This had proven the success of Amazonia, S.L., and this big market share was brought about by customer’s loyalty. On the other hand, the market situation is rapidly changing and so with the customer’s taste and preferences. This situation should be properly handled by Amazonia, S.L. to avoid recession in the near future. The idea of innovation had long been considered by Mr. Antonio Moreno and the task was given into the hands of his son, Miquel. Soon after Miquel deals with the operations and customers of the company, he discovered a new idea of innovation – to establish cocktails Copacabana, a production and merchandising division of exotic fruit j uices, emphasizing their healthy properties. The main thrust of this paper is to identify whether the proposal of Miquel Moreno would be viable for the business. He really believes that cocktail Copacabana is a good business but how will he present the evidences in a manner that is convincing to the partners of the company. Although Miquel had gathered reliable data for his proposal, he at the same time lacks familiarity with the daily practices of the new business. Thus, this paper would also tackle about the minor and major stated problems of the new proposed business with a corresponding alternative solution. Every business venture whether unknown or known to the market has to face different problems brought about by environmental changes (Thomson 9). This is part of every business which no one can hide or run away from it. This situation will likely occur either in the present or in the future situation, and so before this could happen, the business should have its own coping mechanism in an
Operation management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words
Operation management - Assignment Example Outputs are also unique to every business in terms of the type of product or service being offered. A company without a quality OM strategy can risk being topped by more able competitors. This report looks to Starbucks on Lincoln-High Street, a service company with very high demand and need to be efficient. Analysis looks to understand performance objectives, demand fluctuations, quality perceptions from customer groups and suggestions on how Starbucks can improve. Source: Drawpack. (2014). External and internal effects on the performance objectives. [online] Available at: http://www.drawpack.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=6326 (accessed 20 November 2014). For Starbucks, speed is the most key objective to be sure the business gains customer loyalty and meets with satisfying important paying customers. The Lincoln-High Street Starbucks is a very busy organisation. During observation, research saw that Starbucks serviced about 20 customers every thirty minutes. This cafe had an unstructured queue system with no clear markers or barriers set up that showed customers where they were expected to stand whilst wait for service. Physical barriers and signs in a structured system better control flow and create efficiency (Adan, Boxma and Resing 2001). This created a situation where customers were forming lines in various places and customers seemed unsure about their place in line. On several times, customers deferred their place in line to other customers, not sure about who was actually there first. Having a waiting line system with clear markers, signs and barriers is important as it creates environment of certainty and efficiency. Models for waiting lines directly affect customer feelings about service quality and costs of getting serviced. Tam (2004) says that customers have better views of services when perceived service quality is higher than the costs they have to pay to obtain the
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Early Roman politics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Early Roman politics - Assignment Example The era marked the creation of the Rome Republic ruled by magistracies including praetors, tribunes, censors, and aediles (Winterling 57). The Republic also had a voting assembly that would vote on crucial matters like war. Series of wars and attacks would weaken Romans political system, but the Republic was able to regain its dominance in the Mediterranean Sea region and become politically strong again. The Late Republic era marked the dominance of senators on the countrys political system though emergency of influential individuals like Julio Ceasar would shape early politics in Rome (Winterling 54). Julio Ceasar came at a time when politics situation in Rome was restless with clear political divisions. The republic governance also marked early Roman politics. The Senate had full legislative power. The era also marked autocratic rule by emperors whose presence meant that the Senate could only function as an advisory body to the Emperor. The early political situation in Rome depicts a republic with weak political institutions a factor that would lead to the fall of some
What social, political, and economic reasons should Puerto Rico be an Term Paper
What social, political, and economic reasons should Puerto Rico be an Independent Nation - Term Paper Example An island with over ? of the population having difficulties with English will never fit in a country whose 97% of its population speaks fluent English. It would be easier for Puerto Rico be a sovereign country due to the cultural and linguistic concessions. A Spanish speaking island would not want to see its culture erode gradually the way Quebec has been torn from Canada (usefoundation.org 1). Being an overseas territory of the U.S, Puerto Rico has been exposed to penetration of American commodities, capital, customs, and laws. This is unequaled to any other Latin American state. Paradoxically, Puerto Ricans show strong cultural identity compared to other Caribbean people. There has been a widening rift between asserting a separate culture for the Islanders and the pushing for sovereignty. This has been manifested in music, beauty contests, sports among other areas. Puerto Rico is a representation of apparent paradox. It is stateless and has refused to assimilate into mainstream Ame rica. After over a hundred years of American occupation PuertoRico is Afro-Hispanic. Puerto Ricans consider it a postcolonial colony. They are people without a nation of their own since they live in a U.S territory that is not part of the U.S (Jorge Duany 425). Puerto Rico’s juridical definition is neither a sovereign republic nor a state. This creates contested, problematic, and ambiguous political status. It is a Paradox how this kind of in-between status strengthens rather instead of weakening Puerto Rican national identity. In opinion polls which have been conducted in Puerto Rico, over 60 percent of the population chooses Puerto Rico to be their nation, whereas about... There are many pros in Puerto Rican economics. Puerto Rico will be able to tax its own citizens and use the money to build and develop its infrastructure. There will be an open market for trading with the nations currently in alliance with United States. If it becomes a sovereign state, the island will enjoy low unemployment rates and a high per capita income. All the Puerto Ricans working in the U.S and other countries will come back to build their country. The relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States is directly responsible for the island having among the highest living standards of Caribbean, Central, and South America. However, Puerto Ricans who are American citizens by birth are still very far away from the same economic prosperity levels as the American citizens in the fifty states. The opportunity of achieving those standards is only if Puerto Ricans will govern themselves and improve the economic situation of their country
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Early Roman politics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Early Roman politics - Assignment Example The era marked the creation of the Rome Republic ruled by magistracies including praetors, tribunes, censors, and aediles (Winterling 57). The Republic also had a voting assembly that would vote on crucial matters like war. Series of wars and attacks would weaken Romans political system, but the Republic was able to regain its dominance in the Mediterranean Sea region and become politically strong again. The Late Republic era marked the dominance of senators on the countrys political system though emergency of influential individuals like Julio Ceasar would shape early politics in Rome (Winterling 54). Julio Ceasar came at a time when politics situation in Rome was restless with clear political divisions. The republic governance also marked early Roman politics. The Senate had full legislative power. The era also marked autocratic rule by emperors whose presence meant that the Senate could only function as an advisory body to the Emperor. The early political situation in Rome depicts a republic with weak political institutions a factor that would lead to the fall of some
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Discussion Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4
Discussion Questions - Essay Example Moreover, in some cases, business process changes are modified that are considered the root cause of the issues. Employees related to management should be well aware of various approaches for removing the weaknesses and select the best-suited method, according to the nature of business, resources and the control required over the process. Hence, all stakeholders must participate and show their interest in the selection process. Answer 2 In order to reduce cost on system development, organization purchase fourth generation tools or software packages. As the in-house ‘software development’ cost is high, organizations prefer to buy them from external software houses. Organizations may purchase the software from the vendors, outsourcing organization or application service providers. As business nature of the departments do not change at a rapid pace and are common in almost every organization including inventory control, general ledger, payroll processing and account receiva bles do not change over a long period of time. Applications that are purchased from external sources can be adjusted to the similar in nature business process of an organization. This is a cost saving factor, as applications are purchased from external sources along with customization and maintenance support, which is a responsibility of vendors. These factors conclude that the application software packages reduce the system development cost.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Gileadean regime Essay Example for Free
Gileadean regime Essay Explore the way in which Margaret Atwood presents Moira The Handmaids Tale. Refer closely to any literary and linguistic approaches where necessary. Within The Handmaids Tale Atwood presents us with many characters that are emotionally weak; Janine, Offred and even the Commander residing in the higher echelons of society all possess a deprivation of spirit brought about by the oppressive and restrictive nature of the Gileadean regime. In contrast to this we are presented with Moira and through her Atwood is able to create tension, conflict and a rebelliousness that is otherwise only seen in the recollections of Offreds mother. Moira acts as a representative for independence and liberty in the novel, she defies her oppressors and is seen by Offred as a role model that she finds impossible to aspire to. Moira constantly battles the status quo; she parades her lesbianism and manages on two occasions to defeat the system at the disgrace of the much-hated Aunts. She is confidant in both manner and speech. Dont move said Moira or Ill stick it all the way in The boldness of this imperative paired with the violent connotations attached to the verb stick gives Moira the sinister tone she needs to intimidate Aunt Elizabeth. Moira is portrayed as an activist, she does not merely contemplate the possibilities of freedom as Offred does and Offred recognizes this with dissatisfaction as she muses the prospect of what she can do with the fan that she has been given. If I were Moira I would know how tot take it apart, reduce it to its cutting edges. I have no screwdriver but if I were Moira I could do it without a screwdriver. Im not Moira. This quote clearly outlines the practical nature of Moira juxtapositioned with the more theoretical approach that we would associate with Offred who loathes herself for it. The syntactic parallelism If I were Moira but if I were Moira points to the irony that Moira, in the same situation as Offred could use the fan to aid her escape. When we first learn of Moiras disappearance in chapter 22 we are not fully informed as to the details of her flight; the thought of Moiras freedom made the other Handmaids feel dizzy. Atwood purposely withholds this information to let the reader share in this feeling of suspense; the mystery surrounding Moira at this point enhances her charisma. Offred recalls the Handmaids feeling a sense of victory over the aunts; Moira had shown that they could be defeated and so easily too, through Moiras actions the Aunts power was diminished. Having belittled the enemy she is seen to have great power, Offred refers to her as a loose woman a clichi connoting sexual freedom but cleverly a second implication of the characters unbridled power now that she is free. When Moira escapes, the future seems to hold promise for the Handmaids. The thought of what Moira could do now that she is free gives them a sense of presence, a pressure reaching its climatic point. Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She made us dizzy This simile poses threat and the sense of freedom that Moiras escape gives the other women. Much of Moiras character is revealed to us through direct speech; This is a loony bin, Moira said. Im so glad to see you, I said Where can we talk? said Moira. The used of direct address here brings the reader closer to the story and builds tension and suspense through the feeling that they are present at the time of conversation. The colloquialism loony-bin reveals that Moira is a non-conformist; Atwood creatively uses her as a reminiscence of the time before. Moiras interrogative response Where can we talk? conveys that Moira does not linger over sentimentalities as Offred would; it shows that she is active rather than passive. The clipped syntax reflects the rushed exchange of spoken discourse giving a nervous quality to both characters and reminding the reader of the volatile situation that the Handmaids are in. Moira is incredibly blas throughout the novel; her nonchalance shows even in her response to working at Jezebels which will lead to an impending death in the Colonies. Youd have three or four good years before your snatch wears out and they send you to the bone-yard. The vulgarity of the expletive snatch corresponding with the verb wears describes the female body in a manufactured way, dispensable for male pleasure and just as easily disposed of. It is this taboo language that Atwood uses to familiarize us with Moira. Her reference to the Colonies as the bone-yard is further evidence of Moiras ability to perceive things in a brutally realistic way. The fact that she is graphically aware of the inevitable doom she faces and does not react over- sentimentally show Moiras unwavering courage. When Offred reflect on her student life in the time before we see that Moiras attitude to sex was then just as relaxed and liberal as it is under the Gileadean rule Im giving an under-whore party Tarts stuff, lace crotches, snap garters. Bras that push your tits up Here the three-part list indicates the casual attitude that Moira has towards sex, she is comfortable with her sexuality and her taboo language reflects this. The portmanteau under-whore adds humour to Moiras character and so contrasts with the present where humour is essentially forbidden. Moira is irreverent and shows contempt to every aspect of injustice; Camaraderie shit How much do you want to bet shes got Janine down on her knees I bet she got her working away on that dried up, hairy old withered This quote is evidence of Moiras iconoclastic beliefs; there is a linguistic shock between the positive noun Camaraderie and the negative expletive noun shit. This shows the complete disrespect that Moira has for those who blindly follow the theocratic regime. Offred sees her irreverence as a source of power. There is something in the whispering of obscenities about those in power it deflates them, reduces them to the common denominator where they can be dealt with. Here Atwood uses visual language comparing those in power to something that can be deflated. This gives connotations of a balloon filled with air and its course is therefore precarious and fickle as to where it could blow. This is allegorical to the regime; Atwood makes the point that wherever there is oppression there is unavoidable rebellion. Moira sees through all aspects of the regime with explicit cynicism, in Jezebels she analyses the actions of all the men in power with insulting accuracy. Its like screwing on the altar, your gang are supposed to be such chaste vessels they like to see you all painted up. Just another crummy power trip The pre-modifier crummy reduces the Commanders who perceive themselves as omnipotent to mere perverts. The use of the expletive screwing is further evidence of Moiras iconoclastic views. The use of the collective noun all painted up reduces the Commanders desires to petit and perverse, there is a linguistic shock to aid Moiras criticism in the antithesis of screwing and chaste vessels. Through Moira Atwood reminds us that Jezebels is a prescribed reality for those in power. The architects of this new society who claim their actions were to protect women from the world by eradicating pornography and prostitution are now seen as absolute hypocrites. Jezebels exposes the hypocrisy of the men who prate about sexual morality and then spend their evenings sleeping with prostitutes in a club, purpose built. The most poignant aspect of the novel is realised through the change in Moira. In their last encounter Offred learns that the spirit of both Moira and her mother, both figures of transgression and resistance in the Handmaids life, have been broken. Throughout the novel, Atwood has set up a heroine in the eyes of both the Handmaid and the reader who believe that if there is to be a fortunate end to this grim tale then it will be accomplished through Moira. In their last meeting at Jezebels we disappointingly realise that this is not so; She is frightening me now because what I hear in her voice is indifference and a lack of volition. It is the abstract nouns indifference and volition that indicate the chance in Moira, the woman who, in times of need, Offred looked to as a source of hope has now become just like her, instead of embodying defiance Moira now embodies Gileads ability to crush even the strongest of spirits. I dont want to be like her as far as something I lack. Give in, go along, save her skin I want swash-buckling heroism from her, single handed combat. Something I lack. This three-part syndetic list describes Offred who has romanticised and projected on to Moira the qualities she wished she possessed and is here, along with the reader, sorely mistaken. I dont know how she ended Because I never saw her again What has happened to Moira is an anticlimax; we do not expect to be left unknowing, the novel now seems closer to real life than fiction and this brings the starkness of Offreds reality to the readers attention. Moiras spiritual demise and erasure is an elaboration of the full force of oppression Margaret Atwood presents us with, once a courageous, outspoken woman has become a despondent pessimist with no hope of escaping Gilead. It is this change in Moira that makes us realise the true awfulness of the situation so many women in the novel are in.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Same-Sex and Cross-Sex Friendships
Same-Sex and Cross-Sex Friendships Friends. How many of us have them? Friends. Ones that we can depend on. This question about friendships was asked in the 1984 song Friends by Whodini. Humans have the need for social interaction and one of the ways that human beings fill this need is by forming friendships. From an early age, we form bonds with our peers. Initially these bonds start as surface friendships in childhood and as people grow older, the friendships they have take on a more profound meaning. Many different kinds of friendships can be found depicted in the media. From television shows like Friends, Girlfriends, and Seinfeld to movies that depict the ups and downs of friendships. People typically have more same-sex than cross-sex friendships (Booth Hess 1974; Ross, 1985). In this paper, I will discuss the differences and similarities of female-female and male-male friendships and use examples from two movies to show how the values and characteristics of these friendships differ and are alike. I will also be discussing cross-sex friendships (CSFs). There hasnt been as much research or theory on cross-sex friendships because for a long time, theorists and researchers viewed cross-sex friendships as potential romantic relationships (Bleske-Recheck Buss, 2001). This view has changed and there is now emerging research and study of difficulties and advantage of having and maintaining cross-sex friendships. I will also be discussing a movie that demonstrates the positive and negative features of cross-sex friendships. Male-Male Friendships Although there has been a rising popularity of depicting bromances (a term used to describe close male friendships) in the media, Traustadottir found that research has found that males have significantly fewer friends than women, especially close friendships or best friends. (2008 p.1) There are three main barriers that have been attributed to the lack of close friendships in men; competition between men, traditional masculine stereotypes about real men, and fear of homosexuality (Fasteau, 1991; McGill, 1985; Miller, 1983). The movie The Wood, is about three male friends from Inglewood, California who have grown apart and reunite back in their hometown during one of their weddings. The movie shows present-day and also flashback scenes to their childhood to show how their friendship developed. One of the flash-back scenes gives an example of the three barriers attributed to lack of closeness. The three main characters; Mike, Roland, and Slim in a pizza parlor discussing how their luck with the women is going during their junior year of high school. All three are talking about their frustration at still being virgins as sophomores (traditional masculine stereotypes), they begin to argue about who will lose their virginity first (fear of homosexuality) and decide to make it a competition by making a pot. Every week, they add a dollar to the pot and whoever loses their virginity first will receive the money (competition). Male friendships tend to emphasize activities and companionship and expressions of closeness felt between friends comes in the form of friendly teasing. Although male friendships are formed and maintained in ways that differ from female friendships, there are still some similarities that can be seen. Male friendships provide a release of stress and reduce depression in the same manner that women friendships do. Female-Female Friendships The differences in female friendships and male friendships is not in what is strived for in their close relationships i.e. intimacy, empathy, and trust; but in the means in which their friendship goals are accomplished. Women are naturally more apt to show emotions and this translates into the friendships they form as well. Traustadottir (2009) examination of female friendships found: Women typically describe their friendships in terms of closeness and emotional attachment. What characterizes friendships between women is the willingness to share important feelings, thoughts, experiences, and support. Women devote a good deal of time and intensity of involvement to friends. (p.1) Women are more open with affection and more likely to sincerely complimenting each other. While men use communication to accomplish things, communication is seen as a way to build and maintain intimacy and closeness in female friendships. This is why women are more likely to discuss personal thoughts, feelings, and problems with their friends (Greif 2009). In a survey done by Greif (2009) 71% of women stated that being understood (communication, sharing, caring, not being judged, and receiving feedback) to describe what friendship means. Only 51% of men surveyed answered the same. Demonstrating friendships with concrete acts (example. helping move, giving loan) was a choice that men responded to in the survey was not shown on the womens responses. In the movie, Waiting To Exhale, it depicts four female friends providing support and advice to each other through their dealing with men, families, and careers. This movie shows how female relationships are built on communication and emotional intimacy. Cross-Sex Friendships Because male and female same-sex friendships have different characteristic, it has been speculated that men and women cannot become and maintain strictly platonic friendships. Although much more difficult, successful cross-sex relationships are possible. There are at least four unique challenges facing individuals in cross-sex relationships: defining the relationship, managing sexual attraction, establishing equality, and managing interference of others (OMeara, 1989). The movie Brown Sugar is the story of two friends Dre and Sidney that met as children and have maintained their cross-sex friendship throughout their adulthood. In the movie, Dre starts dating a woman and they become engaged. This sparks questions and thoughts about Sidney and Dres own friendship and if there was any romantic feelings between them. One scene in the movie after Dre has become engaged, shows Sidney prepping and beautifying herself when Dre calls to say hes coming to visit. As she looks at herself in the mirror and fixes her hair and make-up, she pauses and asks herself What am I doing? Its just him. This scene shows how managing sexual attraction and clearly defining the relationship are concerns that come up even in long-term cross-sex friendships. Although difficult, there are benefits from cross-sex friendships that cannot be seen in same-sex friendships. Those benefits include, an increase of the understanding about beliefs and values of the other sex (Canary, Emmers-Sommers, Faulkner, 1997), verifying out attractiveness to the other sex (Rubin, 1985), protection, short-term sexual opportunities, self-expression, and intimacy (Bleske-Rechek and Buss 2000). Conclusion Developing and maintaining friendships is key in developing interpersonal skills. Although some friendships may be more easy to maintain than others, there are benefits to all types friendships and they are attainable if the parties involved value the relationship enough to put in the hard work and effort. References Alison P. LentonLaura Webber. (2006). Cross-sex Friendships: Who has More? Sex Roles, 54(11-12), 809-820. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from Psychology Module. (Document ID: 1175830101). Diane H Felmlee. (1999). Social norms in same- and cross-gender friendships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 62(1), 53-67. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from Research Library Core. (Document ID: 40396565). Greif, G. L. (2009). Buddy system: understanding male friendships. New york: Oxford Universtiy Press. Matthijs Kalmijn. (2002). Sex Segregation of Friendship Networks. Individual and Structural Determinants of Having Cross-Sex Friends. European Sociological Review, 18(1), 101. Retrieved April 12, 2010, from Social Science Module. (Document ID: 323673221). Traustadottir, R. (2008, April). Gender patterns in friendships. Retrieved from http://thechp.syr.edu/genpat.htm
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Dylan Marlais Thomas :: essays research papers
     â€Å"I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that’s the record.†(Quoted by John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America). One of the most renowned authors of the twentieth century, Dylan Thomas is as well known for his philosophical poetry, critical writings, and essays. Often focusing on themes as birth, death, love, and religion, Thomas's works remain distinctly personal through a blend of rich language, detailed imagery, and psychological issues. Thomas is a poet known greatly for his indulgence in his love for poetry and literature. Parallel to this is the unique way Thomas was able to write his works about ideas and themes outside the environment he was contained to live within. His strict childhood and middle age life, which was largely filled with drinking, and wondering slums played some part in shaping his work, but can be overlooked if studied correctly.      Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in the Welsh seaport of Swansea. Both his parents held respectable jobs and he lived under a middleclass household. His mother, in particular lead Dylan from an early age to be a serious reader and writer of poetry. Dylan’s interest in poetry and literature was sparked at an early age, and by high school Dylan was editing for his school newspaper. Aside from editing, Dylan also published his own works which frequently appeared in other publications.      â€Å"It is particularly clear from his early poems, where Marc Alyn has observed, all of his originality is already on view, that he was occupied with introspections that lie outside of time and place, and that his style owes comparatively little to tradition and experience.†(Dylan Thomas) Unlike many writers, Dylan was able to explore with ideas that he frequently could not compare his own life with. Dylan’s early poetry was greatly influenced by his friend Daniel Jones. The two friends often wrote plays, and developed poems by drawing lines out of a hat and piecing them together. These were the beginnings of Dylan’s career as a writer and poet.      Before long he was reporting and writing feature articles for the paper and its weekly supplement, The Herald of Wales. Thomas began to spend much of his time exploring the streets, pubs, and alleys of the depression-ridden seaport town in which he lived. Even though, well off himself, Thomas found it much more interesting to study and write about these areas (The Life of Dylan Thomas, Constantine Fitzgibbion). Dylan Marlais Thomas :: essays research papers      â€Å"I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that’s the record.†(Quoted by John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America). One of the most renowned authors of the twentieth century, Dylan Thomas is as well known for his philosophical poetry, critical writings, and essays. Often focusing on themes as birth, death, love, and religion, Thomas's works remain distinctly personal through a blend of rich language, detailed imagery, and psychological issues. Thomas is a poet known greatly for his indulgence in his love for poetry and literature. Parallel to this is the unique way Thomas was able to write his works about ideas and themes outside the environment he was contained to live within. His strict childhood and middle age life, which was largely filled with drinking, and wondering slums played some part in shaping his work, but can be overlooked if studied correctly.      Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in the Welsh seaport of Swansea. Both his parents held respectable jobs and he lived under a middleclass household. His mother, in particular lead Dylan from an early age to be a serious reader and writer of poetry. Dylan’s interest in poetry and literature was sparked at an early age, and by high school Dylan was editing for his school newspaper. Aside from editing, Dylan also published his own works which frequently appeared in other publications.      â€Å"It is particularly clear from his early poems, where Marc Alyn has observed, all of his originality is already on view, that he was occupied with introspections that lie outside of time and place, and that his style owes comparatively little to tradition and experience.†(Dylan Thomas) Unlike many writers, Dylan was able to explore with ideas that he frequently could not compare his own life with. Dylan’s early poetry was greatly influenced by his friend Daniel Jones. The two friends often wrote plays, and developed poems by drawing lines out of a hat and piecing them together. These were the beginnings of Dylan’s career as a writer and poet.      Before long he was reporting and writing feature articles for the paper and its weekly supplement, The Herald of Wales. Thomas began to spend much of his time exploring the streets, pubs, and alleys of the depression-ridden seaport town in which he lived. Even though, well off himself, Thomas found it much more interesting to study and write about these areas (The Life of Dylan Thomas, Constantine Fitzgibbion).
Friday, October 11, 2019
A Game of Thrones Chapter One
Bran The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness that hinted at the end of summer. They set forth at daybreak to see a man beheaded, twenty in all, and Bran rode among them, nervous with excitement. This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brothers to see the king's justice done. It was the ninth year of summer, and the seventh of Bran's life. The man had been taken outside a small holdfast in the hills. Robb thought he was a wildling, his sword sworn to Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall. It made Bran's skin prickle to think of it. He remembered the hearth tales Old Nan told them. The wildlings were cruel men, she said, slavers and slayers and thieves. They consorted with giants and ghouls, stole girl children in the dead of night, and drank blood from polished horns. And their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half-human children. But the man they found bound hand and foot to the holdfast wall awaiting the king's justice was old and scrawny, not much taller than Robb. He had lost both ears and a finger to frostbite, and he dressed all in black, the same as a brother of the Night's Watch, except that his furs were ragged and greasy. The breath of man and horse mingled, steaming, in the cold morning air as his lord father had the man cut down from the wall and dragged before them. Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses, with Bran between them on his pony, trying to seem older than seven, trying to pretend that he'd seen all this before. A faint wind blew through the holdfast gate. Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field. Bran's father sat solemnly on his horse, long brown hair stirring in the wind. His closely trimmed beard was shot with white, making him look older than his thirty-five years. He had a grim cast to his grey eyes this day, and he seemed not at all the man who would sit before the fire in the evening and talk softly of the age of heroes and the children of the forest. He had taken off Father's face, Bran thought, and donned the face of Lord Stark of Winterfell. There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said. Finally his lord father gave a command, and two of his guardsmen dragged the ragged man to the ironwood stump in the center of the square. They forced his head down onto the hard black wood. Lord Eddard Stark dismounted and his ward Theon Greyjoy brought forth the sword. â€Å"Ice,†that sword was called. It was as wide across as a man's hand, and taller even than Robb. The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel. His father peeled off his gloves and handed them to Jory Cassel, the captain of his household guard. He took hold of Ice with both hands and said, â€Å"In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die.†He lifted the greatsword high above his head. Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer. â€Å"Keep the pony well in hand,†he whispered. â€Å"And don't look away. Father will know if you do.†Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away. His father took off the man's head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow, as red as surnmerwine. One of the horses reared and had to be restrained to keep from bolting. Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly, reddening as he watched. The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy's feet. Theon was a lean, dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed, put his boot on the head, and kicked it away. â€Å"Ass,†Jon muttered, low enough so Greyjoy did not hear. He put a hand on Bran's shoulder, and Bran looked over at his bastard brother. â€Å"You did well,†Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen, an old hand at justice. It seemed colder on the long ride back to Winterfell, though the wind had died by then and the sun was higher in the sky. Bran rode with his brothers, well ahead of the main party, his pony struggling hard to keep up with their horses. â€Å"The deserter died bravely,†Robb said. He was big and broad and growing every day, with his mother's coloring, the fair skin, red-brown hair, and blue eyes of the Tullys of Riverrun. â€Å"He had courage, at the least.†â€Å"No,†Jon Snow said quietly. â€Å"It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark.†Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast. Robb was not impressed. â€Å"The Others take his eyes,†he swore. â€Å"He died well. Race you to the bridge?†â€Å"Done,†Jon said, kicking his horse forward. Robb cursed and followed, and they galloped off down the trail, Robb laughing and hooting, Jon silent and intent. The hooves of their horses kicked up showers of snow as they went. Bran did not try to follow. His pony could not keep up. He had seen the ragged man's eyes, and he was thinking of them now. After a while, the sound of Robb's laughter receded, and the woods grew silent again. So deep in thought was he that he never heard the rest of the party until his father moved up to ride beside him. â€Å"Are you well, Bran?†he asked, not unkindly. â€Å"Yes, Father,†Bran told him. He looked up. Wrapped in his furs and leathers, mounted on his great warhorse, his lord father loomed over him like a giant. â€Å"Robb says the man died bravely, but Jon says he was afraid.†â€Å"What do you think?†his father asked. Bran thought about it. â€Å"Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?†â€Å"That is the only time a man can be brave,†his father told him. â€Å"Do you understand why I did it?†â€Å"He was a wildling,†Bran said. â€Å"They carry off women and sell them to the Others.†His lord father smiled. â€Å"Old Nan has been telling you stories again. In truth, the man was an oathbreaker, a deserter from the Night's Watch. No man is more dangerous. The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is taken, so he will not flinch from any crime, no matter how vile. But you mistake me. The question was not why the man had to die, but why I must do it.†Bran had no answer for that. â€Å"King Robert has a headsman,†he said, uncertainly. â€Å"He does,†his father admitted. â€Å"As did the Targaryen kings before him. Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. â€Å"One day, Bran, you will be Robb's bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king, and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.†That was when Jon reappeared on the crest of the hill before them. He waved and shouted down at them. â€Å"Father, Bran, come quickly, see what Robb has found!†Then he was gone again. Jory rode up beside them. â€Å"Trouble, my lord?†â€Å"Beyond a doubt,†his lord father said. â€Å"Come, let us see what mischief my sons have rooted out now.†He sent his horse into a trot. Jory and Bran and the rest came after. They found Robb on the riverbank north of the bridge, with Jon still mounted beside him. The late summer snows had been heavy this moonturn. Robb stood knee-deep in white, his hood pulled back so the sun shone in his hair. He was cradling something in his arm, while the boys talked in hushed, excited voices. The riders picked their way carefully through the drifts, groping for solid footing on the hidden, uneven ground. Jory Cassel and Theon Greyjoy were the first to reach the boys. Greyjoy was laughing and joking as he rode. Bran heard the breath go out of him. â€Å"Gods!†he exclaimed, struggling to keep control of his horse as he reached for his sword. Jory's sword was already out. â€Å"Robb, get away from it!†he called as his horse reared under him. Robb grinned and looked up from the bundle in his arms. â€Å"She can't hurt you,†he said. â€Å"She's dead, Jory.†Bran was afire with curiosity by then. He would have spurred the pony faster, but his father made them dismount beside the bridge and approach on foot. Bran jumped off and ran. By then Jon, Jory, and Theon Greyjoy had all dismounted as well. â€Å"What in the seven hells is it?†Greyjoy was saying. â€Å"A wolf,†Robb told him. â€Å"A freak,†Greyjoy said. â€Å"Look at the size of it.†Bran's heart was thumping in his chest as he pushed through a waist-high drift to his brothers' side. Half-buried in bloodstained snow, a huge dark shape slumped in death. Ice had formed in its shaggy grey fur, and the faint smell of corruption clung to it like a woman's perfume. Bran glimpsed blind eyes crawling with maggots, a wide mouth full of yellowed teeth. But it was the size of it that made him gasp. It was bigger than his pony, twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel. â€Å"It's no freak,†Jon said calmly. â€Å"That's a direwolf. They grow larger than the other kind.†Theon Greyjoy said, â€Å"There's not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years.†â€Å"I see one now,†Jon replied. Bran tore his eyes away from the monster. That was when he noticed the bundle in Robb's arms. He gave a cry of delight and moved closer. The pup was a tiny ball of grey-black fur, its eyes still closed. It nuzzled blindly against Robb's chest as he cradled it, searching for milk among his leathers, making a sad little whimpery sound. Bran reached out hesitantly. â€Å"Go on,†Robb told him. â€Å"You can touch him.†Bran gave the pup a quick nervous stroke, then turned as Jon said, â€Å"Here you go.†His half brother put a second pup into his arms. â€Å"There are five of them.†Bran sat down in the snow and hugged the wolf pup to his face. Its fur was soft and warm against his cheek. â€Å"Direwolves loose in the realm, after so many years,†muttered Hullen, the master of horse. â€Å"I like it not.†â€Å"It is a sign,†Jory said. Father frowned. â€Å"This is only a dead animal, Jory,†he said. Yet he seemed troubled. Snow crunched under his boots as he moved around the body. â€Å"Do we know what killed her?†â€Å"There's something in the throat,†Robb told him, proud to have found the answer before his father even asked. â€Å"There, just under the jaw.†His father knelt and groped under the beast's head with his hand. He gave a yank and held it up for all to see. A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood. A sudden silence descended over the party. The men looked at the antler uneasily, and no one dared to speak. Even Bran could sense their fear, though he did not understand. His father tossed the antler to the side and cleansed his hands in the snow. â€Å"I'm surprised she lived long enough to whelp,†he said. His voice broke the spell. â€Å"Maybe she didn't,†Jory said. â€Å"I've heard tales . . . maybe the bitch was already dead when the pups came.†â€Å"Born with the dead,†another man put in. â€Å"Worse luck.†â€Å"No matter,†said Hullen. â€Å"They be dead soon enough too.†Bran gave a wordless cry of dismay. â€Å"The sooner the better,†Theon Greyjoy agreed. He drew his sword. â€Å"Give the beast here, Bran.†The little thing squirmed against him, as if it heard and understood. â€Å"No!†Bran cried out fiercely. â€Å"It's mine.†â€Å"Put away your sword, Greyjoy,†Robb said. For a moment he sounded as commanding as their father, like the lord he would someday be. â€Å"We will keep these pups.†â€Å"You cannot do that, boy,†said Harwin, who was Hullen's son. â€Å"It be a mercy to kill them,†Hullen said. Bran looked to his lord father for rescue, but got only a frown, a furrowed brow. â€Å"Hullen speaks truly, son. Better a swift death than a hard one from cold and starvation.†â€Å"No!†He could feel tears welling in his eyes, and he looked away. He did not want to cry in front of his father. Robb resisted stubbornly. â€Å"Ser Rodrik's red bitch whelped again last week,†he said. â€Å"It was a small litter, only two live pups. She'll have milk enough.†â€Å"She'll rip them apart when they try to nurse.†â€Å"Lord Stark,†Jon said. It was strange to hear him call Father that, so formal. Bran looked at him with desperate hope. â€Å"There are five pups,†he told Father. â€Å"Three male, two female.†â€Å"What of it, Jon?†â€Å"You have five trueborn children,†Jon said. â€Å"Three sons, two daughters. The direwolf is the sigil of your House. Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord.†Bran saw his father's face change, saw the other men exchange glances. He loved Jon with all his heart at that moment. Even at seven, Bran understood what his brother had done. The count had come right only because Jon had omitted himself. He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow, the name that custom decreed be given to all those in the north unlucky enough to be born with no name of their own. Their father understood as well. â€Å"You want no pup for yourself, Jon?†he asked softly. â€Å"The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark,†Jon pointed out. â€Å"I am no Stark, Father.†Their lord father regarded Jon thoughtfully. Robb rushed into the silence he left. â€Å"I will nurse him myself, Father,†he promised. â€Å"I will soak a towel with warm milk, and give him suck from that.†â€Å"Me too!†Bran echoed. The lord weighed his sons long and carefully with his eyes. â€Å"Easy to say, and harder to do. I will not have you wasting the servants' time with this. If you want these pups, you will feed them yourselves. Is that understood?†Bran nodded eagerly. The pup squirmed in his grasp, licked at his face with a warm tongue. â€Å"You must train them as well,†their father said. â€Å"You must train them. The kennelmaster will have nothing to do with these monsters, I promise you that. And the gods help you if you neglect them, or brutalize them, or train them badly. These are not dogs to beg for treats and slink off at a kick. A direwolf will rip a man's arm off his shoulder as easily as a dog will kill a rat. Are you sure you want this?†â€Å"Yes, Father,†Bran said. â€Å"Yes,†Robb agreed. â€Å"The pups may die anyway, despite all you do.†â€Å"They won't die,†Robb said. â€Å"We won't let them die.†â€Å"Keep them, then. Jory, Desmond, gather up the other pups. It's time we were back to Winterfell.†It was not until they were mounted and on their way that Bran allowed himself to taste the sweet air of victory. By then, his pup was snuggled inside his leathers, warm against him, safe for the long ride home. Bran was wondering what to name him. Halfway across the bridge, Jon pulled up suddenly. â€Å"What is it, Jon?†their lord father asked. â€Å"Can't you hear it?†Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else. â€Å"There,†Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling. â€Å"He must have crawled away from the others,†Jon said. â€Å"Or been driven away,†their father said, looking at the sixth pup. His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind. â€Å"An albino,†Theon Greyjoy said with wry amusement. â€Å"This one will die even faster than the others.†Jon Snow gave his father's ward a long, chilling look. â€Å"I think not, Greyjoy,†he said. â€Å"This one belongs to me.â€
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