When You Cant Sleep at Night free essay sample

Quite little woman, with your swollen eyes, okay demonstrate them to me? I let the voice of Austin Carlile stream into my mindfrom my earbuds as I sat on my bed and gazed out the window. The virus saturated my body through the window that isolated my tearâ ­stained face from the snow delicately skimming to the ground. I pushed my clench hand into my mouth to smother the following wail as it destroyed its way to my lips from where it counts in my stomach.As I sat alone in obscurity, I permitted myself to flounder in selfâ ­pity, my instabilities worrying all my contemplations. Around the hour of my sixteenth birthday celebration, I understood that I didn’t simply like young men? I loved young ladies too.For months after my acknowledgment, I could scarcely sleep.I would lie wakeful for a considerable length of time, irritated and apprehensive in light of the fact that the fascination I felt for people confounded me and left me feeling incorrectly, as there was something within me that was failed and should have been fixed. We will compose a custom article test on At the point when You Cant Sleep at Night or then again any comparative theme explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Whenever I had the option to nod off, I was tormented with nightmares.I would wake up in a virus sweat, tears in my eyes, unfit to get away from the contemptuous remarks my loved ones heaved at me in my dreams.â€Å"You either like young men or young ladies, you can’t like both†, â€Å"it’s only a phase†, â€Å"you’re just confused†, â€Å"you’re a freak†, â€Å"that’s disgusting†, â€Å"stay away from me†.After fourteen days of these ‘episodes’, I not just couldn’t rest, I was startled to.The individuals in my fantasies knew who I truly was? I couldn’t avoid them.So I escaped the genuine versions.Thewalls I had worked among myself as well as other people became taller and thicker.Because of my frailties, around others, I turned into an adaptation of myself Id intended to shroud my sexuality. I decided to fulfill others as opposed to remain consistent with myself. It had been right around 96 hours since I had last dozed and I could scarcely function.I in the end capitulated to my body’s urgent requirement for rest, however not so much as after an hour, I woke up on account of one more nightmare.â€Å"I despise you†, â€Å"I abhor you†, â€Å"I detest you†.Those three words went through my head over and again as I attempted to quiet my breathing and keep down my tears. I was worn out on crying. I was worn out on not having the option to sleep.I was burnt out on envisioning everything that could go wrong.I was worn out on concealing my sexuality.I was worn out on enduring peacefully. So I came out.Slowly at first.I told my closest companion, and when he revealed to me he despite everything needed to be my companion I felt the weight I had been carting around begin to fall away of my shoulders.With every positive reaction I got, I developed increasingly more happy with being straightforwardly bisexual.I had the option to drive my psyche to close down and I could rest through the night.The bad dreams turned out to be less continuous and I wasn’t continually tormented with tension and selfâ ­consciousness. I still infrequently wind up tensely scratching my arm, or wringing my hands because of the fits of anxiety welcomed on by my dread of dismissal, and there are still evenings when I just rest for an hour or two.But that’s alright, the circumstance I’m in has no handy solution and the more sure with myself I become, the less incessant these occasions occur.Slowly grasping my sexuality has instructed me that tolerant myself the manner in which I am ought to be one of, if not the, most significant pieces of my life and I shouldn’t penance who I am to satisfy the assessments of others, in such a case that they really are significant, they’ll acknowledge me as well.

Effective Study Essay

Powerful learning relies on great examination aptitudes, yet â€Å"Many understudies ††both conventional and nontraditional ††entering school have scarcely any viable investigation skills.† ( Huber, 1994, 29) Good investigation abilities don't just happen; they should initially be learned and afterward applied reliably. Productive investigation methodologies incorporate a preset time, an attractive spot, and an all around planned arrangement for study. A Time for Study A considerable lot of us think we have more to do than we have the opportunity to do, and examining gets scammed. It is critical to set up a calendar of every day exercises that incorporate availabilities for doing the contemplating you need to do. Inside each examination opening, compose the particular investigation action; for instance, â€Å" Red Unit 6 In Modern Writing, answer Questions 1-10.† Keep the calendar adaptable so it tends to be adjusted in the event that you meet your examination objectives early-†or late. A Place to Study Pick the best spot to study and utilize the equivalent each time every day. Doing so will assist with placing you in an investigation mind-set when you enter that place. Pick a spot that has the least interruptions: individuals traffic, discussion, phone, TV, and outside clamors. Normally study is the best done alone without sights and sounds that divert the eye and ear. Power the brain to concentrate eagerly on the examination task. (Silver, 1992, 26) A Plan for Study Research on the impacts of explicit investigation abilities on understudy execution recommends that the accompanying examination strategies help to improve scholastic execution. (Dansereau, 1985, 39) 1. Skim a unit or a part, nothing headings, point sentences, keys words, and definitions to sign you to what you are going to examine. 2. As you need the material, convert the headings into questions; at that point look for answers to those inquiries as you need 3. On the off chance that you own the book, use shading set apart to feature significant thoughts: heading, theme sentences, exceptional terms, definitions and supporting realities. Something else, make notes of these thoughts. 4. In the wake of perusing the material, survey the featured things( on your notes that contain them) 5. Utilizing the heading expressed as questions, check whether you can respond to those inquiries dependent on your perusing. 6. Test yourself to check whether you review meanings of significant terms and rundown of supporting reality on thoughts. A high adjustment exists between great examination propensities and passing marks for courses taken in secondary school. REFERENCES Dansereau, D.J. â€Å"Learning Strategy Research.† Thinking and Learning Skills. Vol. 1. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erllaum, 1985 Huber, Rose. â€Å" Teaching Students How to Study.† Eastside Weekend. September 1-7, 1994 Silver, Theodore. Study Smart. New York: Villard Books, 1992

Mannings Arm Wrestling With My Father and Vowells Shooting Dad Essay

Mannings Arm Wrestling With My Father and Vowells Shooting Dad - Essay Example His dad was into firearms while Vowell was into music and craftsmanship. Both Vowell and Manning had communicated separation and partition from their dad which is normal for an age hole. The child and the girl anyway started to comprehend their dads when they developed. In Manning’s case, the child comprehended why the dad was so incredulous of his exhibition, it was on the grounds that he is pushing him to be as well as can be expected be. In Vowell’s case, the girl saw that she is so similar to her dad that â€Å"We’re both savvy alecky mavericks with ridiculous tasks and bizarre equipment.† Differences in conclusion, taste and inclination are natual between a parent and a kid. They might be hereditarily practically comparable yet they are as yet unique individual. They experienced childhood in various age and being such, their points of view in life general can be extraordinary. These distinctions anyway doesn't need to heighten to a degree of contentio n whereby the kid will feel far off and estranged to the dad. This commonly happens when the dad over-force himself and when there are unhealed hard feelings in the kid. I have by and by perceived how unhealed feelings of spite can demolish a dad youngster relationship in a portion of my companions. I am simply fortunate in light of the fact that my dad is steady, understanding and adoring that regardless of whether we have contrasts because of our age hole, they were insignificant and we even child ourselves about it. My dad stoops my sort of music as noisy while I bother him back that his kind of music as old and hauling. He might be wry now and again when he helps me to remember my needs yet I comprehend it to be his method for getting in to me so I won't get wayward with my life. I realize he cherishes me since I felt it and he doesn't stop for a second to demonstrate it to me. I likewise have a significant regard for my dad for the sort of man he is. I am thankful on the ground s that I know cap a portion of my companions are not that fortunate with their folks. I have this dear companion who has an oppressive dad. His dad doesn't reprove him out of the expectation of adjusting his ways or improve him yet just to censure him and cause him to feel awful. I know since I saw it when I visited him in their home. I don't have the foggiest idea why and the main sensible thing I can consider for what reason does it is a result of his liquor and medication issue. Subsequently, my companion answers back to his dad in a discourteous way and the trading of words between are not beautiful and unfit to be written in this paper. Do the trick to state that they were cruel and some were even profane. This clarifies why my companion seldom remains in their home and is continually spending time with his companions and irate with the world. My companion likewise gets in a difficult situation oftentimes maybe because of the repressed displeasure he has with his dad. I am very much aware that kids ought to be deferential of their dad. Yet, fathers ought to likewise endeavor to get good and truly be a dad to their youngsters. They should retouch their ways with the goal that they will have the ethical command to encourage their youngsters to be live upstanding. On account of my friend’s father, the dad can't do anything when my companion answers back to his dad that before encouraging him to fix his life, to fix his life first. That is really cruel however it is very evident. Additionally, when giving censures, fathers ought to be caring when they rebuke their youngster with the goal that it won't make separation and age hole. This generally occurs

An Eye For An Eye Expression - Free Essay Example

The common expression an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. This refers to the Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou because in both the main characters make decisions that harm them or the people around them. Some of the more thought about topics of the Odyssey are hospitality, loyalty, and vengeance. All these themes tie into the stories. Both the story and the movie are about the journey to get back to their family and get their wives back. Ulysses’ and Odysseus’ journeys were similar but there were clear differences. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou took place in America and the Odyssey took place in Greece. In Greece they are very welcoming to guests and when they have strangers come to the door they feed them and give them somewhere to rest. As in the Odyssey one example of bad hospitality is when Odysseus and his men went to Polyphemus’ cave, the men thought that they would be welcomed in and get to feast. But they were mistaking, because when the cyclops was hungry he would just grab two of the men and eat them whole. In the Odyssey there was also a good example in hospitality, the lotus eaters. When Odysseus and his men arrived on the island they were welcomed and got a treat right away. Although this treat, the lotus, would distract them from their real goal the lotus eaters were very welcoming. Another big lesson to be learned from the stories is loyalty. Loyalty was a big part of these stories. In Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Pete and Delmar were loyal to Ulysses’ until they found out that there was no treasure. They were furious at Ulysses. They were also mad because Ulysses only wanted their help to break out because he wanted to get back with his wife. In the Odyssey there were many loyal people to Odysseus, Penelope and all the men who went to Troy with him. The men were loyal to Odysseus because when Odysseus was getting them in trouble with monsters and gods the men kept following him. Penelope was loyal to Odysseus throughout the whole story. She was having a hard time keeping the suitors at bay while Odysseus was away. Throughout the story Odysseus knew who to keep around him and knew who to trust. But when he heard about all the suitors trying to kill his son and trying to marry his wife he was furious. Vengeance was one of the most action packed themes in the stories. In the Odyssey at the end of the story when Odysseus gets back to Ithaca. When he got back he was dressed up as a beggar and when Penelope had the competition, to string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axe heads, to find a new husband. None of the suitor were able to string the bow, but when it was Odysseus’ turn he was able to string the bow and make it through all the axe heads. So he won, but he was still angry about the suitors trying to kill his wife and marry his wife. So he traped everyone in the room and killed all the suitor with help from his son Telemachus. Another example is when the cyclops was devouring his men so he stabbed the cyclops in the eye. He did this for vengeance and to get out of the cave they were trapped in. Odysseus was a leader that you would not want to go against or disrespect. The decisions that the characters of both stories, affected them and the people around them. The ideas of hospitality, loyalty, and vengeance were expressed on a large scale in both stories. Overall, the expression an eye for an eye means when you punish someone you will be injured or penalized to a similar degree.

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Essay examples - 822 Words

Does the amount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, â€Å"two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with debt in tow† (Fischer). Among these students, the average amount owed is twenty-six thousand dollars (Fischer). There is a six month grace period after graduation to allow the student time to find a job and programs to try to help eliminate debt. â€Å"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that one-fourth of the American workforce may be eligible for repayment or loan forgiveness programs† (Atteberry). The†¦show more content†¦These budget cuts often effect the teachers by their salary. Also, if the teacher in the Teacher Forgiveness Program got laid off because of budget cuts before their five years where up then none of their loan would be paid. Another option that students with debt may take would be joining the military. The military has its own loan forgiveness program. Another thing that the military has is strict rules about who can be in the military. People in the military rather it is the Army or the National Guard have to be healthy. It is not someone’s fault if they are not in perfect condition because for the most part our health is out of our hands. Basic things like not smoking can help prevent someone from being unhealthy, but no one can avoid their family history when it comes to their health. The best options right now for a student with debt is to apply to the Income-Based Repayment Plan or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program if going into a public service job. This program adjust the loan payments to be fifteen percent of their discretionary income (Atteberry). This means that their monthly loan payment is fifteen percent of what they make that is abov e the federal poverty level. The best part about this program is that â€Å"after twenty-five years after making payments, the borrower’s remaining balance if completely forgiven† (Atteberry). The only borrowers that can apply to the Public Service Loan ForgivenessShow MoreRelatedIs Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good Idea?1009 Words   |  5 Pagesnew media, Kayla Webley, in her essay â€Å"Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?† states Robert Applebaum’s solution for student loan debt is a â€Å"radical and wildly unfeasible solution† in both economically and politically. Applebaum’s proposal is to â€Å"provide a one-time bailout of student debt†¦as a way to stimulate the still-limping economy.† However, Webley counters the solution has to have â€Å"the purported benefited and fairness of a one-time student loan bailout.† In Webley’s essay, in the sixthRead MoreIs Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good Idea?1227 Words   |  5 Pagesnew media, Kayla Webley, in her essay â€Å"Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?† states Robert Applebaum’s solution for student loan debt is a â€Å"radical and wildly unfeasible solution both economically and politically. Applebaum’s proposal is to â€Å"provide a one-time bailout of student debt†¦as a way to stimulate the still-limping economy.† However, Webley counters that the solution has to have â€Å"the purported benefited and fairness of a one-time student loan bailout.† In Webley’s essay, in the sixthRead MoreIs Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good Idea?970 Words   |  4 PagesMONEY In the article â€Å"Is forgiving student loan debt a good idea† by Kayla Webley, a writer for Time, Webley feels that from a human standpoint forgiving student debt holds some appeal (2). Kayla Webley refers to Robert Applebaum who started a petition in 2009 with a petition of nearly 670,000 signatures. The comments from persons posting the petition are quoted as â€Å"guessing this will never happen but it can’t hurt to sign on† (1). Burdened with an estimated $88,000 in debt, Applebaum’s proposal isRead MoreIs Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good Idea?972 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea Many people would love to have their student loans debt forgive but do not believe it will happen. So Kayla Webley decided to write an article about student loan forgiveness, at the time Webley wrote the article she was the education correspondent for Time magazine. Now she is currently a staff writer for the same magazine. In her article, she claims that the student loan dilemma that is facing a lot of Americans is a problem for your countryRead MoreIn The Short Essay, â€Å"Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt A Good807 Words   |  4 PagesIn the short essay, â€Å"Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?† by Kaya Webley, she illustrates through validations that student debt is a problem, but Applebaum’s proposal brings about political and economic problems. One of her validations is that most people can afford their student loans. She also states that only a small handful of graduates leave school with an unbearable student debt. Webley touches upon programs that are already in place to help pay off college debt. Another one of her validationsRead MoreIntroduction. In The Recent Years, There Has Been An Increasing1016 Words   |  5 Pagespaying tuition fees for college students. This has been brought about by high cost of living and inflation. In addition, college tuition fees today as compared to 50 years back have increased exponentially. As a result, more students are opting to applying and taking student loans provided by the federal government. Consequently, statistics show that the amount of student dept is souring. This has led to economists start debating on the impact the ever-increasing student dept has on the economy of theRead MoreStudent Debt Is Tough And Federal Loan865 Words   |  4 Pagesfederal loan forgiveness only applies to federal Direct Loans, not private student loans. If the graduate is lucky enough to land a public service job the graduate must realize that there is no guarantee that the employment will still be around in ten years since no one truly knows how the program will work or if it will work at all. Val Meyers, associate director for the Office of Financial Aid at Michigan State University comments are recorded in Susan Tompers’ article â€Å"My Apologies: Forgiving StudentRead MoreEssay on Student Loan Debt Should be Forgiven1256 Words   |  6 PagesDoes the amount of student loan debt have an effect on the economy? If so would forgiving student loan debt help lower the national debt or would it just increase it? According to Mary Claire Fischer, a writer for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, â€Å"two-thirds of students who receive bachelor’s degrees leave college with an average debt of twenty-six thousand dollars† (Fischer). This means that the average student debt has doubled since 2007 (Ross 24). The total student loan debt is $1.2 trillionRead MorePros And Cons Of Student Loan1256 Words   |  6 PagesApplebaum laments that from the stu dent loan industry point of view, the student debt is there to help the loan providers amass funds from the youngest, economically vulnerable and financially unstable of which graduates form the majority. The loans have come with immense opportunity cost as the â€Å"educated poor† are not able to buy homes, invest or innovate, start businesses or engage in economically viable activities while the few up the echelons of power are benefiting. Tuition rates have escalatedRead MoreStudent Loan Is A Terrible Idea1308 Words   |  6 PagesStudent loan forgiveness is a terrible idea. Sure, in an idealistic world it would be great if the country could forgive all student loan debt and thus bring relief to all students across the nation. Realistic? Not necessarily! Instead of the fairytale notion of student loan forgiveness being the answer to all the problems, America would fair better in taking the initiative in making reforms to the educational loan system that are a bit more rea listic. Student loans are a massive predicament in the

Management Team Business Operations - 1391 Words

Management Team In Business Operations The management team in our business includes the Chief Financial Officer, the Sales Manager, the Marketing Director, the Human Resources Director, the Chief Technology Officer, and the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Financial Officer is the one responsible for the budget and the accounting systems of the business. A growing company needs a CFO in its management team because the cash position and assets of the company have to be monitored and husbanded properly. In addition, there are many financial reports required by stockholders, stakeholders and various agencies of the government. The Sales Manager is very important in the operations of the company as the success and profitability of a†¦show more content†¦A CTO or Chief Technology officer is now an essential part of the management team, as effective presentations and reporting are now reliant on modern technology. A company’s web presence and social media presence is also an essential factor in a companyâ⠂¬â„¢s growth and success in this age of modern technology. Maintaining customer data, personnel data, and product specifications is also dependent on technology. The Chief Executive Officer or CEO charts the business’ strategic vision and sets the milestone towards the company goals. His effective leadership is responsible for the positive results produced by the rest of the team. He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the team members and is able to draw on individual strengths to constitute a strong team. The team concept, group dynamics, and the strengths and weaknesses of business teams The concept of the team is for people of different expertise to interact, share their individual expertise, and collaborate for the success of the business enterprise. The dynamics of the group are the unseen forces existing in a team which can greatly influence the way the team will behave, react to situations or perform. Some of the factors that can influence team dynamics include individual personalities of the members of the team, the team operation, the way the team view itself, and the organization of the team.

Facebook Case Study free essay sample

Some might even use it to spy on their partners, triggered possibly by romantic jealousy (Darvell, Walsh and White, 2011; Elphinston and Noller 2011, 631). Others use it as a platform to advance various social and political causes by creating public Facebook pages. Lynas is an Australian listed company with ambitions to process rare earths in Malaysia. Concerned about the carcinogenic effects of the post production waste, multiple Stop Lynas Save Malaysia (SLSM in short) Facebook pages have been created by various Malaysian green groups (Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia Facebook page, 2013). The resultant groundswell and widespread publicity on mainstream media could have well contributed to the share price slide over the last two years (Lynas Corporation Price Quotes, 2013). This case as well as the iconic Arab spring uprising in Egypt Tunisia has clearly demonstrated the edge that Facebook has given to the small man on the street by conferring them a voice for their cause, even with limited cash (Chokoshvili 2011, 22-23). In a nutshell, Facebook is one of the top 4 new social media platforms (the thers being Youtube, Twitter and LinkedIn) that allows for users to interact, influence 2 and exchange information, with the aim to increase their social capital (Dutta and Fraser 2009, 2; Macnamara 2010, 7). The implications of Facebook users behaviour Millions of users are susceptible to potential data abuse by cybercriminals, identify fraud as well as identify thefts should their accounts be hacked (Richmond, 2010). Loss of privacy and bad publicity are also key issues when individuals tap on the social media highway. The recent cash-for-tweet saga by the South Australia Tourisms paid tweets to generate publicity for Kangaroo Island backfired, is a case in point (Ward, 2012, 39). Facebook addictions (Griffiths 2012, 518) seems to be a growing concern many have gone on digital breaks, Some users have even decided to flick the click permanently as life priorities changes (Kippist, 2013), while some users have complained about cyber bullying (Walker, Sockman and Koehn 2011, 35; Widdup 2010, 62). Facebook has somewhat returned some power to consumers as the millions of users brag, bag and promote brands voluntarily, acting like being a brand ambassador on a pro bono basis. Leveraging on this consumer to consumer power to influence purchasing decisions meant businesses need to rethink their 3 branding and marketing exercise to include a hybrid of brick and mortar and the click-and-Like mediums (Edelman 2010, 2; Mangold and Faulds 2009, 358). Its a paradigm shift where consumers are co-creators of the brand and hard selling shifts into two-way conversational selling. All these changes create opportunity for positive electronic word of mouth (also known as eWOM) to go viral very quickly (Chu 2011, 39). This can lead to a loss of control by businesses over the branding and marketing efforts. This lost of control is also a concern amongst government and private companies trying to control their employees access to SNS during their working hours (Bhagwat and Goutam 2013). Facebook will need to ensure that the privacy of users are not compromised as there are lots of data on its hands (Bhagwat Goutam 2013). This vast amount of data is rich pickings for potential hackers like the Comment Group from China who mines data from social networking site. It then sends out innocent looking emails to unsuspecting end-users for commercial espionage and sabotage intent (Lee 2013). Leverage Facebook for commercial returns (and the issue of company Facebook effectiveness). This blending of brick and click mixture (Mangold and Faulds 2009, 359) has created new platforms for businesses to channel resources and finances to ensure they are also seen, heard and accepted (Lusch 2011, 263). Corporations that know how to do it right (not necessarily the first time around) gets a bigger 4 piece of the share of voice, which hopefully will lead to greater electronic word of mouth (also known as eWOM) (Chu and Kim 2011, 48). Some have suggested an approach known as hypertargeting (Shih, 2009, 12), where companies can sharpen their customer centricity through specific targeting of potentials customers by personalizing marketing and CRM efforts as user generated data and data is matched to potential service offering and marketing campaigns (Shih 2009, 12). To monetize, some early adopter companies are setting up full scale versions of their brick and mortar business within Facebook. These companies, like the English cloth trading company , ASOS (which stand for as seen on screen) are targeting the moppers, a term used for shoppers with a mobile smart phone device that are now able to shop and pay online without leaving the SNS platform. Its a strategy that has yielded ASOS a healthy twelve percent pre-tax profit of $44. 5 million from a total sale of $371 million (Shannon and Kharif 2011, 22). Even traditional corporate bulwarks in the brick and mortar space are partnering Facebook to set up virtual SNS-based shopping experience – these include JC Penney, Delta Airlines as well as Tesco (Shannon and Kharif 2011, 22). Tescos approach goes a few steps extra in this click battle – customers are able to add to their virtual shopping basket simply by photographing a barcode of a specific product. Two other companies with fully integrated stores within the Facebook platform include British Young Designers and French Connection, whilst others like Dove is subcontracting their check out functions with the Facebook platform to third party sites like Bestbuy and Easyjet (McEleny 2011, 1). Even non profit outfits like the Australian Salvo have much success with their recently concluded I like Salvo Facebook campaign through a combo of paid and unpaid fan likes support that was executed by DGM Advertising. The bottom line too has increased, year on year by 6. 6 percent ( Marketing, May 2012, 4951). The role that FACEBOOK Platform play for both INDIVIDUALS and ORGANIZATIONS As seen from the examples from the paragraphs before this, Facebook Platform has been a cornucopia of opportunities for businesses. It has also been a boon to savvy apps and game developers to earn real bucks directly through micro transactions as well as indirectly through placements of advertisements into those apps/games environment (De Prato and Paul Simon 2011, 14). The improved version of Platform and Facebook Connect drives traffic to website and encourage other users to attract even more users to their websites. A clever third party cookie embedded through the Like button enables organizations and businesses to trace and track consumer behaviours, even if they dont click on the Like button (Roosendaal 2011, 7). With another 75 percent of website (Piskorski, Eisenmann and Smith 2012, 8) yet to implement the Like button on their websites, this could generate limitless opportunities for businesses to tap on 6 this one giant online ecosystem of consumer intelligence gathering in the months and years to come (Edelman, 2010, 6). With opportunities comes threats of litigation Facebook is being sued by Rembrandt Social Media whos claims that the Like button uses two patents from a dead Dutch IT programmer by the name of Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer (BBC News, February 11, 2013). Arresting revenue fall in Facebook stock price – options to boost revenue Strategy 1- Continual market penetration and Augmentation There are plenty of opportunities to increase revenue through social advertising for Facebook. 31 percent of Australian companies, big and small, still do not have any online social media presence at all (Paterson 2012, 40). Through a more personalized algorithms of consumers psychographics and demographics, Facebook can offer their corporate customers like Telstra, Virgin, Qantas and Optus (Paterson 2012, 40) a more personalized marketing and selling messages. To monetize revenue from users traffic, Facebook is already implementing Facebook Exchange, a tool that tracks users web habits when they visit nonFacebook websites, and then customized ads once they return to the Facebook page (Sengupta, 2012). Facebook could perhaps also monetize non-US markets 7 like Indonesia, Brazil India as these countries have some of the highest number of users outside of America (Piskorski, Eisenmann and Smith 2012, 14). Strategy 2 – Monetizing through mobile technology as in smart phones and tablets The mobile smart phone and tablet platform is where the money is for Facebook as consumers go mobile (Kim, 2012; Hogue 2013). Facebook could leverage on the many mobile platform-based companies it has acquired, for instance Instagram (mobile photo sharing, Tagtile (mobile customer loyalty service), and Karma (mobile gift-giving application) (Kim 2012). Tagtile, in particular has much potential to be a potential game changer think of it as a frequent flyer for retail consumers on steroids (Baxter 2012, 38; Bhagwat and Goutam 2013). Its a mobile based retail loyalty that rewards customers with free deals in exchange for their checking in, whilst the merchants get to know more about their customers through an electronic cube, similar to a Foursquare initiative (Adams 2012, 35; Vega 2011). Considering also that revenue from mobile advertisement for Facebook was zero two quarters ago, the current fourth quarters 23 percent of total advertising revenue in 2012 is an achievement, and should be leveraged for further growth in 2013 (Oreskovic, 2013). Facebook might even make a takeover bid on smaller operators like ExactTarget, a company with proprietary enabling technologies thats critical in helping the mobile advertisement to be even more profitable for Facebook (Hogue 2013). Strategy 3 –Monetizing through merchandizing and gifting 8 In the United States, Facebook is gradually rolling out actual gift cards that users can give to their friends. This, along with the ability to buy a gift to a friend on their friends special occasion like birthdays/anniversaries could help boost earnings (Weber, 2013). 9 References Adams, Yvette. 2012. 10 Digital Strategies for Aussie Tourism Marketers. Marketing April: 34-35. Baxter, Andrew 2012. Has Foursquare missed the retail boat, and will Facebook miss it to? Marketing June 2012, 38. Bhagwat, Shree, and Ankur Goutam. 2013. Development of Social Networking Sites and Their Role in Business with Special Reference to Facebook. Journal of Business and Management 6(5): 15-28. http://iosrjournals. org/iosrjbm/papers/Vol6-issue5/B0651528. pdf Chokoshvili, David. 2011. The role of the internet in democratic transition: Case study of the Arab Spring. Master’s thesis, Central European University. Chu, Shu-Chuan. 2011. Viral advertising in social media: participation in Facebook groups and responses among college-aged users. Journal of Interactive Advertising 12(1): 30-43. Darvell, Millie J. , Shari P. Walsh, and Katherine M. White. 2011. Facebook Tells Me So: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand PartnerMonitoring Behavior on Facebook. Cy berpsychology, Behavior Social Networking 14 (12): 717-722. De Prato, Giuditta, and Jean Paul Simon. 2011. Paving the way to e-services: Innovation through online games. Paper presented at 22nd European Regional ITS Conference Budapest, Budapest, 18-21 September. http://www. econstor. eu/bitstream/10419/52209/1/672464470. pdf Edelman, David C. 2010. Four ways to get more value from digital marketing. McKinsey Quarterly March: 1-8. https://www. mckinseyquarterly. com/Four_ways_to_get_more_value_from_dig ital_marketing_2556 Elphinston, Rachel A. , and Patricia Noller. 2011. Time to Face It! Facebook Intrusion and the Implications for Romantic Jealousy and Relationship Satisfaction. Cyberpsychology, Behavior Social Networking 14 (11): 631635. Griffiths, Mark D. 2012. Facebook addiction: Concerns, criticism, and recommendations—A response to Andreassen and colleagues 1. Psychological Reports 110 (2): 518-520. http://www. amsciepub. com/doi/abs/10. 2466/01. 07. 18. PR0. 110. 2. 518-520 10 Hogue, Joseph. 2013. This company is doing what Facebook cant. Street Authority, February 9. http://www. streetauthority. com/growthinvesting/company-doing-what-facebook-cant-460424 Kim, JinBae. 2012, June 8. Facebook: In desperate need for a change. Capital Traders Instablog. http://seekingalpha. om/instablog/1016506-capitaltraders-group/685501-facebook-in-desperate-need-for-a-change Kippist, Lucy. 2013. Why I decided to quite Facebook. The Australian, February 8. http://www. theaustralian. com. au/news/i-quit-facebook/story-e6frg6n61226573612540 Lee, Dave. 2013. The Comment Group: The hackers hunting clues about you. BBC News, February 12. Lin, Nan. 1999. Building a network theory of social capital. Connections 22 (1): 2851. Lusch, Robert 2007. Marketings Evolving Identity: Defining our Future. Journal of Public Policy Marketing 26 (2): 261- 268. Lynas Corporation Price Quotes. 2013. Quotes and Research. Comsec website. Accessed February 9. https://www2. comsec. com. au/Private/MarketPrices/Charts/Charts. aspx? stock Code=LYC Macnamara, Jim. 2010. Electioneering 2010: Social media in the Australian federal election. paper produced for the Australian Centre for Public Communication, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, http://www. fass. uts. edu. au/communication/centres/acpc/docs/eelectioneering-2010-acoc-report. pdf Mangold, W. G. and Faulds, D. J. 2009. Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons 52 (4): 357-65. McEleny, Charlotte. 2011. French Connection and Dove start selling on Facebook. (cover story). New Media Age, 01-03. Oreskovic, Alexei. 2013. Facebooks mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter. Yahoo! Finance, January 30. http://finance. yahoo. com/news/facebook-growsrevenue-40-percent-211444541. html Paterson, P. 2011. How Australias Top 500 companies are using social media. Marketing June 2012, 40. Roosendaal, Arnold. 2011. Facebook tracks and tracers everyone: Like this! Tilburg Law

The Trader Project Project Management

Introduction The major aim of all organisations is to provide vital goods or services to its clients. Organisations ensure that their activities benefit their stakeholders. Therefore, profit-making organisations must ensure that they generate profits without exploiting their customers. The complex nature of the activities of various organisations necessitates them to strive to improve their efficiency.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on The Trader Project: Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This enables an organisation to gain a competitive edge over its rivals. From time to time, organisations implement various initiatives that strive to improve their activities. Automation of various activities is one of the major strategies that companies use to improve their efficiency. However, a company has to take extreme care to ensure the successful implementation of various IT projects. Efficient proj ect management enables a company to implement the projects successfully. Some of the causes of failure of IT projects include lack of proper planning, poor leadership, and failure to anticipate various problems that may occur during the implementation of the project. The costs of implementing IT projects ranges from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. Therefore, failure of IT projects may have devastating effects on a company. It may even lead to the collapse of a company. The Trader project faces some of the above problems. These problems led to the inflation of the budget of the project. In addition, they led to a significant delay in the completion of the project. The Trader Project The Trader project strived to automate the activities of Barwest Bank. The aim of the project was to automate documentary letters of credit (LC) and Documentary Collections (DC). In addition, the project would lead to the automation of other financial transactions of the bank. Aut omation would reduce the operational costs of the company. It would enable the company to reduce staffing in the Foreign Service Office (FSO) and Financial Services Branches (FSB) by 25%. The break-even of the automated system was only three years. This was due to its ability to increase the efficiency and reduce operational costs. The budget of the project was  £1,000,000. However, the project exceeded its budget estimates. In addition, the project did not follow its schedule. Implementation of the project lagged behind its schedule by several months. These problems increased the break-even period to six years. In fact, the system may not break-even after six years due to various factors that are beyond the control of the company.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Problems The Trader project faced various problems that hindered its implementation. The problems led to a significant increase in the budget of the project. However, most of the problems were avoidable. The problems that the project faced included: Poor management and leadership styles Poor project planning and control Lack of efficient communication channels Management and Leadership Styles The management and leadership style of a project determines the success of the project. Leaders should ensure that they motivate project members to achieve their objectives. The type of leadership or management style that leaders employ is usually dependent on the type of project. No leadership or management style is suitable in all types of projects (Jones, Steffy Bray, 1991, p. 575). Scope, time constraints, goals, and the personalities and experiences of the team members determine the leadership and management styles that project managers should employ in a certain project (Binder, 2007, p. 24). In the Trader project, the project manager, Gordon Grant, used the wrong leadership and management style. Grant made several decisions that affected the project without consulting team members. Grant introduced a new project member from ABC without consulting other team members. He did not provide information on how the existing team members would accommodate the new team members. In addition, Grant did not address various problems that the project teams faced. Grant did not address the problem that Derek Pringle, one of the project members, faced while running capacity tests. He told him that it was not his duty. This is despite the fact that failure to find a solution would affect the efficiency of the project. Grant wanted various groups to achieve results at all costs. He even told the project group members from Barwest Bank to work during the long Easter weekend to enable them finish the project in time. In so doing, he disregarded the views of other members of the project implementation team. Project Planning and Control Project planning and control determines the time tha t the project management team would take to implement a certain project. Changing the staffing or organisational structure is one of the major methods that companies use to improve their project planning and control. The business process helps in defining project planning and control. Companies usually give project managers the freedom to choose any project planning and control tools. Project managers should determine what activities various project group members should undertake and when they should undertake the activities (Simpson, 2010, p. 28).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on The Trader Project: Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Grant changed the structure of the project implementation team to improve its efficiency. He included a new member from ABC to help existing team members. However, the project manager did not use efficient planning and control methods. The project manager equip ped FSB and FSO branches with only one printer and PC. However, the branches needed three PCs and printers. It was impractical for the branches to share only one printer and PC. In addition, the printers used a printer board that was obsolete. The project manager was unable to coordinate the activities of different team members. This was evident in the situation where the project manager requested team members from Barwest Bank to work during the long Easter weekend. He assumed that team members from ABC would also be working during the weekend. However, members from ABC went on a vacation in Paris during the Easter holiday. In addition, the new software application went ‘live’ before the project manager could solve some of the problems that the application faced. This is a clear illustration of the lack of proper planning and control of the project manager. Communication In an organisational setting, communication determines the efficiency of various activities. Theref ore, it is vital for a company to formulate efficient communication channels. Setting up efficient communication channels is one of the first activities of a project management team. Most project teams meet regularly to discuss the progress or issues facing the project (Koster, 2009, p. 48). Communication between the team members may be virtual or face-to-face. However, efficient communication is useless if the project team members do not strive to solve the problems that the project faces. In the Trader project, group members communicated with each other via e-mails and letters. This enabled them to raise several issues that they faced while implementing the project. However, the project manager did not address certain issues that the group members raised. The project manager did not address the problem that one of the group members, Charles Baker, faced while trying to implement the project.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Baker, it was impossible to use printer boards since they were obsolete. This problem would affect the efficiency of the project since the printer is one of the major components of the new system. However, the project manager did not take concrete steps that would help in solving this problem. In the Trader project, all group members could communicate directly with the project manager. This increased the issues that the managers faced. Most projects require people to communicate with their group leaders instead of communicating with the project manager directly. Leaders of various groups are the only people who should communicate with the project manager directly. Charles Baker communicated with the project manager directly instead of raising his issues with Iqbal Jaffar, his group leader. Communicating with group leaders instead of the project manager helps in solving various issues that group members may face faster (Turner, 2007, p. 785). Solutions Establishing effic ient communication channels is one of the first steps that project managers should take. Project managers should hold regular meetings with various members. The meetings help in communicating the schedule status and task priorities (Gido Clements, 2012, p. 332). Therefore, holding regular meetings would have helped in solving some of the problems that the Trader project faced. From the case study, it is evident that there was no efficient communication between members of the project implementation team. The members strived to address the problems the problems only when they got out of hand. Leadership and management style is one of the major problems of the Trader project. The project manager should have incorporated relevant people in the project implementation team. Since FSO and FSB branches would be the ultimate users of the automated systems, it was vital for the project manager to include representatives of the branches in the project implementation team (Schwalbe, 2010, p. 2 95). In addition, the company should not have implemented the project in a hurry. The company should have taken sizeable amount of time to determine how the project would help in improving the activities of the company. In any project, it is vital for the team members to feel that their input is valuable. This improves the motivation of the team members. Therefore, it is vital for project managers to use democratic style of leadership whenever possible. Democratic leadership enables project managers to consider the views of people who will implement the project (Taylor, 2006, p. 65). In the Trader project, the project manager used autocratic leadership. He did not consider the views of other members of the project implementation team. This made the members feel isolated and helpless. One of the major reasons that made the project manager use this leadership style is time constraints. In addition, he hatched the project without the input of other group members. Therefore, he felt tha t he had intricate knowledge on the project. Use of democratic leadership would have helped in avoiding some of the problems that the project faced. It would have enabled the project manager to avoid storage and printer problems (Kerzner, 2013, p. 58). Project planning and control determines activities that various members of the project implementation should undertake. In addition, it determines the right time that project members should undertake the activities. This helps in coordinating the activities of various project members. Ideally, individual group members should focus on one task at a time. They should perform various tasks according to their priority and ensure that they have few interruptions. Performing high priority work first helps in improving the speed of the project. In the Trader project, the project manager went on leave during a critical part of the project. This created delays in the project since he could not address several issues that occurred during this p eriod. During the implementation of a project, it is vital for various members to provide frequent updates to relevant stakeholders. Regular updates help in recalculating and analysing the schedule of a project. In addition, updates help in adjusting the project plan. In the Trader project, the project manager provided regular updates on the schedule of the project. However, the project manager did not use the updates to adjust the project plan. Initially, the company intended to implement the project within three months. However, the project manager implemented the project after 12 months. This led a significant increase in the budget of the project. Therefore, the project manager should have used the updates to adjust the project plan. This would have curbed the significant increase in the costs of the project. Recommendations The Trader project did not achieve its initial objectives due to the above problems. The project had an over-optimistic cost position. The project plan over looked several factors that haunted the project later. Therefore, the company should ensure that it conducts extensive feasibility studies prior to the commencement of future projects. Feasibility studies would help in determining some of the problems that the project may face in future. In addition, the feasibility studies would help in the formulation of accurate financial plans (Westland, 2007, p. 25). The company should ensure that it formulates various activities that improve the interpersonal relationships of the project group members. Prior to the commencement of a project, the company should hold meetings with the group members. The meetings should discuss how the project implementation team would undertake its activities. This would enable the individual group members to feel that they are a valuable part of the project. Before implementing new systems, the company should ensure that it trains the users of the new systems. In addition, the company should incorporate relevan t stakeholders in the project team. These measures would help in reducing resistance towards the new system. Failure to include employees from the FSB and FSO branches is one of the major factors that increased resistance towards the project. In future, the company should ensure that it formulates suitable contracts with the suppliers of IT equipment. The company should use hardware capabilities instead of hardware configuration to enter into contracts with suppliers of IT equipment. This would have eliminated the need to buy new servers. The suppliers of the IT equipment would have borne the costs purchasing the new equipment. Conclusion Poor leadership, planning, and control are some of the major problems that the Trader project faced. They led to a significant increase in the cost of implementing the project. These problems increased the break-even period of the project from three years to six years. Therefore, the company should ensure that future project managers have skills th at would help them overcome the problems that the project may face. References Binder, J 2007, Global project management, Gower Publishing Ltd, Surrey. Gido, J Clements, JP 2012, Successful project management, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA. Jones, JJ, Steffy, BD Bray, DW 1991, Applying psychology in business, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD. Kerzner, HR 2013, Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, John Wiley Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Koster, K 2009, International project management, SAGE Publishers, Thousand Oaks, CA. Schwalbe, K 2010, Information technology project management: With Microsoft Project 2007, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA. Simpson, WP 2010, ‘Project planning and control when time matters: Focus on process to synchronize and drive results’, Production and Inventory Management Journal, vol. 46 no. 2, pp. 26-43. Taylor, J 2006, A survival guide for project managers, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn., New York. Turner, JR 2007, G ower handbook of project management, Gower Publishing Ltd, Surrey. Westland, J 2007, The project management life cycle: A complete step-by-step methodology for initiating, planning, executing and closing a project successfully, Kogan Page Publishers, London. This case study on The Trader Project: Project Management was written and submitted by user Cailyn Cruz to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Childrens Day in Japan and Koinobori Song

Children's Day in Japan and Koinobori Song May 5 is Japans national holiday known as, Kodomo no hi Ã¥ ­ Ã¤ ¾â€ºÃ£  ®Ã¦â€" ¥ (Childrens day). It is a day to celebrate the health and happiness of children. Until 1948, it was called, Tango no Sekku (ç « ¯Ã¥ Ë†Ã£  ®Ã§ ¯â‚¬Ã¥  ¥), and only honored boys. Although this holiday became known as, Childrens Day, many Japanese still consider it a Boys Festival. On the other hand, Hinamatsuri (㠁 ²Ã£  ªÃ§ ¥ ­Ã£â€šÅ ), which falls on March 3rd, is a day to celebrate girls. Childrens Day Families with boys fly, Koinobori é ¯â€°Ã£  ®Ã£  ¼Ã£â€šÅ  (carp-shaped streamers), to express the hope that they will grow up healthy and strong. The carp is a symbol of strength, courage, and success. In a Chinese legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon. The Japanese proverb, Koi no takinobori (é ¯â€°Ã£  ®Ã¦ » Ã§â„¢ »Ã£â€šÅ , Kois waterfall climbing), means, to succeed vigorously in life. Warrior dolls and warrior helmets called, Gogatsu-ningyou, are also displayed in a boys house. Kashiwamochi is one of the traditional foods that are eaten on this day. It is a steamed rice cake with sweet beans inside and is wrapped in an oak leaf. Another traditional food is, chimaki, which is a dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves. On Childrens Day, there is a custom to take a shoubu-yu (a bath with floating shoubu leaves). Shoubu (è â€"è’ ²) is a type of iris. It has long leaves that resemble swords. Why the bath with shoubu? It is because shoubu is believed to promote good health and to ward off evil. It is also hung under the eaves of homes to drive away evil spirits. Shoubu (Ã¥ °Å¡Ã¦ ­ ¦) also means, materialism, warlike spirit, when using different kanji characters. Koinobori Song There is a childrens song called, Koinobori, that is often sung during this time of the year. Here are the lyrics in romaji and Japanese. Yane yori takai koinoboriOokii magoi wa otousanChiisai higoi wa kodomotachiOmoshirosouni oyoideru Ã¥ ±â€¹Ã¦   ¹Ã£â€šË†Ã£â€šÅ Ã© «ËœÃ£ â€ž é ¯â€°Ã£  ®Ã£  ¼Ã£â€šÅ Ã¥ ¤ §Ã£  Ã£ â€žÃ§Å"Ÿé ¯â€°Ã£  ¯ 㠁Šçˆ ¶Ã£ â€¢Ã£â€šâ€œÃ¥ ° Ã£ â€¢Ã£ â€žÃ§ ·â€¹Ã© ¯â€°Ã£  ¯ Ã¥ ­ Ã¤ ¾â€ºÃ© â€Ã©  ¢Ã§â„¢ ½Ã£  Ã£ â€ Ã£  « æ ³ ³Ã£ â€žÃ£  §Ã£â€šâ€¹ Vocabulary yane Ã¥ ±â€¹Ã¦   ¹ - rooftakai é «ËœÃ£ â€ž - highookii Ã¥ ¤ §Ã£  Ã£ â€ž - bigotousan 㠁Šçˆ ¶Ã£ â€¢Ã£â€šâ€œ - fatherchiisai Ã¥ ° Ã£ â€¢Ã£ â€ž - smallkodomotachi Ã¥ ­ Ã¤ ¾â€ºÃ£ Å¸Ã£  ¡ - childrenomoshiroi é  ¢Ã§â„¢ ½Ã£ â€ž - enjoyableoyogu æ ³ ³Ã£   - to swim Takai, ookii, chiisai and omoshiroi are I-adjectives. There is an important lesson to learn regarding terms used for Japanese family members. Different terms are used for family members depending on whether the person referred to is part of the speakers own family or not. Also, there are terms for directly addressing members of the speakers family. For example, lets look at the word father. When referring to someones father, otousan is used. When referring your own father, chichi is used. However, when addressing your father, otousan or papa is used. Anata no otousan wa se ga takai desu ne. 㠁‚㠁 ªÃ£ Å¸Ã£  ®Ã£ Å Ã§Ë† ¶Ã£ â€¢Ã£â€šâ€œÃ£  ¯Ã¨Æ'Å'㠁Å'é «ËœÃ£ â€žÃ£  §Ã£ â„¢Ã£  ­Ã£â‚¬â€š- Your father is tall, isnt he?Watashi no chichi wa takushii no untenshu desu. ç § Ã£  ®Ã§Ë† ¶Ã£  ¯Ã£â€š ¿Ã£â€š ¯Ã£â€š ·Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£  ®Ã© â€¹Ã¨ » ¢Ã¦â€°â€¹Ã£  §Ã£ â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€š- My father is a taxi driver.Otousan, hayaku kite! 㠁Šçˆ ¶Ã£ â€¢Ã£â€šâ€œÃ£â‚¬ Ã¦â€" ©Ã£  Ã¦  ¥Ã£  ¦- Dad, come quickly! Grammar Yori より is a particle and is used when comparing things. It translates into than. Kanada wa nihon yori samui desu. ã‚ «Ã£Æ'ŠãÆ'ۋ  ¯Ã¦â€" ¥Ã¦Å" ¬Ã£â€šË†Ã£â€šÅ Ã¥ ¯â€™Ã£ â€žÃ£  §Ã£ â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€š- Canada is colder than Japan.Amerika wa nihon yori ookii desu. ã‚ ¢Ã£Æ' ¡Ã£Æ' ªÃ£â€š «Ã£  ¯Ã¦â€" ¥Ã¦Å" ¬Ã£â€šË†Ã£â€šÅ Ã¥ ¤ §Ã£  Ã£ â€žÃ£  §Ã£ â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€š- America is larger than Japan.Kanji wa hiragaba yori muzukashii desu. æ ¼ ¢Ã¥ ­â€"㠁 ¯Ã£  ²Ã£â€šâ€°Ã£ Å'㠁 ªÃ£â€šË†Ã£â€šÅ Ã©â€º £Ã£ â€"㠁„㠁 §Ã£ â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€š - Kanji is more difficult than hiragana. In the song, Koinobori is the topic of the sentence (the order is changed because of the rhyme), therefore, koinobori wa yane yori takai desu é ¯â€°Ã£  ®Ã£  ¼Ã£â€šÅ Ã£  ¯Ã¥ ±â€¹Ã¦   ¹Ã£â€šË†Ã£â€šÅ Ã© «ËœÃ£ â€žÃ£  §Ã£ â„¢ is a common order for this sentence. It means the koinobori is higher than the roof. The suffix ~tachi is added to make the plural form of personal pronouns. For example: watashi-tachi, anata-tachi or boku-tachi. It can also be added to some other nouns, such as kodomo-tachi (children). ~sou ni is an adverb form of ~ sou da. ~ sou da means, it appears. Kare wa totemo genki sou desu. Ã¥ ½ ¼Ã£  ¯Ã£  ¨Ã£  ¦Ã£â€šâ€šÃ¥â€¦Æ'æ °â€"㠁 Ã£ â€ Ã£  §Ã£ â„¢Ã£â‚¬â€š- He looks very healthy.Sore wa oishisouna ringo da. 㠁 Ã£â€šÅ'㠁 ¯Ã£ Å Ã£ â€žÃ£ â€"㠁 Ã£ â€ Ã£  ªÃ£â€šÅ Ã£â€šâ€œÃ£ â€Ã£   Ã£â‚¬â€š- That is a delicious looking apple.Kanojo wa totemo shindosouni sokoni tatteita. Ã¥ ½ ¼Ã¥ ¥ ³Ã£  ¯Ã£  ¨Ã£  ¦Ã£â€šâ€šÃ£ â€"ん㠁 ©Ã£  Ã£ â€ Ã£  «Ã£  Ã£ â€œÃ£  «Ã§ «â€¹Ã£  £Ã£  ¦Ã£ â€žÃ£ Å¸Ã£â‚¬â€š- She was standing there looking very tired.

Investigative report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Investigative report - Essay Example I would listen to customer as I walked around. It is important for you to note that Wal-Mart food chain stores are not as effective as you may think. The retail stores have a shortage of employees, a problem that people could hardly discover. Despite this problem, I observed that they stock a wide range of food and grocery products (Kipple, Adam and Wherry 23). During my visit to this Wal-Mart grocery store, I found that most customers prefer to shop there because the retail outlet stocks a variety of foods and grocery products. The food chain store stocks products such as cereals, soft drinks, fish, milk, fruit and vegetables. The list of grocery products on the shelves is endless. I found out that the retail store have a strength in availing products to the consumers on time (Kipple, Adam and Wherry 24). You should note that my observations were supplemented by consumer talks, which were not deduced from interviews. Indeed, I walked around the retail store just like any other consumer and never interviewed anyone. On another different note, the retail store had a shortage of employees ranging from the shop attendants, cashiers to the supervisors. The customers were hanging around the corridors and shelves because there were few shop attendants to direct them. Additionally, the same customers would line up for several minutes before they pay for the goods to the cashiers. There were many customers inside the retail store, not because they loved the store so much, but, due to the fact that employees were inadequate. I had thought that Wal-Mart is perfect and efficient even before visiting their food chain store. Being the leading grocery business in the US and the world, one might think that there are no problems in its operations. You should note that the retail store does well in stocking many types of products, but, has a shortage of employees to meet the customer needs. I will go beyond and remind you that Whole Foods is another company that deals with

Meaning of Socratess Claim Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Meaning of Socratess Claim - Essay Example The essay "Meaning of Socrates’s Claim" analyzes Socrates's statement, â€Å"the unexamined life is not worth living† which is a clear representation of the deeply principled arguments that are rooted in philosophical life. In order for one to fully comprehend one’s self, relative to the world, it is pertinent that self-examination and self-questioning of one’s life and its foundations. In the case that one chooses not to examine one’s life, they relinquish critical thinking and remain ignorant to their own though process, behaviors, and emotions (Rudebusch). This creates a situation where individuals become merely a passive receiver of experience as opposed to an engage and active exegetist of experience. At the individual level, one has to fundamentally question the very foundations' values that one has inherited from society so as to critically analyze the validity of the basis or foundations of these norms and cultures (Strauss). This requires the deconstructing all the values that one holds, stripping them down to the source, purpose, advantages and disadvantages of the given value. Depending on the conclusion of these results, the value, norm and/or culture can either be discarded, modified or upheld as it was initially. When one lives an unexamined life at the social level, they have no one to observe the individual’s evolutionary process. This is the isolation of man that is damaging to experience. This is because man is naturally tuned to socialize and interact with members of his/her own species.

Chief Bill Bratton Leadership Essay Example for Free

Chief Bill Bratton Leadership Essay When one thinks of a leader, what type of person do we think of? Is that individual a hero that we see on television, a cartoon character, a family member, or is that person a public servant? Regardless of occupation and title, a leader is a person who inspires others and they know how to motivate people. â€Å"When they arrive, you see something about them that stands out. The inner strength of their leadership ability emerges†. (Gonzalez, 2007, February 1). Leaders are individuals in your area of work who are focused on the tasks at hand and they have a clear and concise vision on what their respective organizations are set out to do. How do you know if you are being an effective leader? A leader is a person who is looked up to and has a plan to get things accomplished. Within groups, a leader is the person who makes the final decision for the group and it is a person who is motivated to see success for their organization. â€Å"A leader is on a quest and you can see it†. (Gonzalez, 2007, February 1). In the area of law enforcement, Bob Vernon states that there are six questions that every law enforcement officer leader should ask to see if they are being effective leaders. Vernon states that each law enforcement leader should look in the mirror and ask themselves if their organization has the following: a.) Direction, b.) Teamwork, c.) Staff development, d.) Principles, values, and policies, e.) Communication, and f.) controls (Vernon 60-62). Few officers were more of a leader than William Joseph â€Å"Bill† Bratton was. Bratton was born on October 6, 1947 in Dorchester, Massachusetts which is a suburb of Boston. He attended Boston Technical High School and graduated in 1965. Bratton went on to serve in the military and he served in the Vietnam War during the 1960’s. Bratton began his police career with the Boston Police Department in 1970. Within ten years he rose to the rank of Superintendent. During Bratton’s police career he held the position of Superintendent with three of the largest police agencies in the world. Bratton served with the Boston Police Department from 1991-1993, the New York City Police Department from 1994-1996, and lastly with the Los Angeles Police Department from 2002-2009. During Bratton’s tenure with the New York Police Department, the work he did resulted in dramatic change in the level of crime in the city. For example, murder rates dropped from 2,500 per year to just less than 1,000 per year. Shootings fell from 6,000 to 3,000 a year and robberies from 85,000 to approximately 50,000 per year. (Blair, 2002, September, 23).

Compare and Contrast A Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy and The Monkeys Pa

Compare and Contrast A Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy and The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs In this essay I am going to explain the similarities and differences between 'The withered arm' and 'The monkeys paw'. Both of these texts were written before 1914 by two different people. Thomas Hardy wrote 'The withered arm' and W.W. Jacobs wrote 'A monkeys paw'. The withered arm is a short story about a milkmaid who had an affair with a high class farmer. When the farmer gets a new wife, the milkmaid becomes jealous. In a nightmare, the milkmaid who is called Rhoda Brooks sees the new wife she had been obsessing over for the past few days in a horrific apparition gloats over her new husband. In this nightmare Rhoda grabs the apparition and feels her arm as if it were real as she throws the spectre to the floor. The ghost is gone when she looks down. The farmers' new wife, the next day, finds a new mark on her forearm in the shape of a hand in the same place that Rhoda had grabbed the apparition. Rhoda and Gertrude, the farmers' wife soon become good friends as her arm becomes increasingly more serious. Eventually Gertrude persuades Rhoda to get her to take her to a conjurer called conjurer Trendle who is a local magic man. Eventually Rhoda takes her and conjurer Trendle gives her advice but does not give a solution to her trouble. They return home to the village. A year later after Rhoda and her son had left the village Gertrud's arm is becoming steadily worse and she is using all types of potions and magick on it but nothing seems to make it any worse so she goes to see conjurer Trendle for one last time. This time he gives her a solution, she must touch the neck of a recently hanged man while the body is... ...ell in the rural setting of A withered arm. The time frame for each story is also different, the monkeys paw all takes place over a few weeks where as a withered arm has the story lasting for over a year. The time frame they are set in gives them a big difference as it distinguishes one from the other easily. I think that the story which is most striking out of these two has to be The monkeys paw. This story is a better length to not take a while to read and the plot seems better as a whole. Each character seems to have obviously different personalities that they use all the time and these are distinctly separate from the characters of a withered arm. I like the way that the ending of this story is a cliff hanging, we are not told what Herbert looks like after he was brought back to life we are just told about the sigh of dismay from Mr Whites wife.

Date and Observations Essay

1. Write the balanced equation for the reaction conducted in this lab, including appropriate phase symbols.†¨Mg(s) + 2HCl(aq) –> H2(g) + MgCl2(aq) 2. Determine the partial pressure of the hydrogen gas collected in the gas collection tube. †¨The partial pressure of the hydrogen gas is 1.07 atm 3. Calculate the moles of hydrogen gas collected.†¨pv=mrt ; n= .0013mol of hydrogen gas 4. If magnesium was the limiting reactant in this lab, calculate the theoretical yield of the gaseous product. Show all steps of your calculation.†¨0.03184 g Mg(1mol Mg/ 24.3050 g Mg)= 0.0013mols Mg 0.0013mols Mg(1mol H2/ 1mol Mg)= .0013 1. Determine the percent yield of this reaction, showing all steps of your calculation. 2. (actual yield/ theoretical yield)x 100% (0.0013/ 0.0013)x 100= 100% 1. Would the following errors increase, decrease, or have no effect on the calculated moles of gas collected in the experiment? Explain your answers in complete sentences.†¨ a. The measured mass of the magnesium was smaller than the true mass. †¨If the measured amount of magnesium is less than the true amount of magnesium then the measured number of moles would be lower than the measured number of hydrogen would be smaller than the true number of moles of hydrogen. It would decrease the calculated moles of the gas. b. The actual temperature of the hydrogen gas is lower than room temperature. †¨If the actual temperature of hydrogen gas is lower than room temperature then the actual amount of hydrogen gas would be higher than the gas at room temperature. So therefore it would increase the number of moles produce. 2. Explain in terms of particle collisions and Dalton’s law why it can be assumed that the total pressure inside the gas collection tube is equal to the atmospheric pressure outside of the tube. †¨If the number of particle collisions and the pressure inside the gas collection tube was high it would force the water in the gas collection tube to be lower than the surrounding water. If the number of particle collisions and the pressure was low the surrounding water would push the water higher into the gas collection tube. When the water is even, inside and outside of the tube, the number of  particle collisions and the pressure are equal. 3. If an undetected air bubble was trapped inside the gas collection tube, how would this affect your calculated percent yield? Explain your answer. 4. If there was an undetected air bubble trapped in the gas collection tube then the pressure of hydrogen would be lower then the actual value therefore the percent yield would be lower than the actual percent yield.

Abortion The Battle For Integrity - 1691 Words

Abortion: The Battle for Integrity On January 22, 1973, one pregnant woman made a radical argument to legalize abortion to the Dallas County Court in Texas that would dramatically shake the future of America. This young pregnant women known as Roe defiantly claimed to the assembly that the Texas laws for abortion were unconstitutional. The laws to establish abortion were authorized by the state governments at that time, and specifically the Texas laws ruled abortion illegal unless the mother’s life was threatened. After this heated debate known as Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court eventually declared a woman s constitutional right to have an abortion (Kaplan 49). Ever since abortion was legalized in the court decision of Roe v. Wade, the justification for this act is that a fetus is not a person until viability, that women have a clear right to privacy for abortion laid out in the fourteenth amendment, and that if abortion was illegal, back alley abortions would become frequent and a risk to many wom en; despite this, a more persuasive view on abortion would be that a fetus is a potential life, that abortion denies a fetus the right to life and happiness guaranteed in the fourteenth amendment and the Declaration of Independence, and that legal abortion leads to more abortions and more use of abortion for the intent of birth control. In order of to justify the legalization of abortion, pro choice advocates claim that fetuses don t become a person until it sShow MoreRelatedPersuasive Essay On Abortion917 Words   |  4 PagesAbortions in Texas consist of ending a pregnancy of an unborn child before it can live out of the mother womb. However if the pregnancy ends not on purpose before the twenty four week mark then technically it would be considered a miscarriage. Though inducing the abortion on purpose has caused a lot of controversy over the past century. Deliberately putting people on one of two sides of this issues, of either being for it, which would be considered Pro Choice. Or in the other category of the ProRead MoreWomen s Health Care And Reproductive Rights1515 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion has been one of the hottest topics concerning women’s health care and reproductive rights. Tune into any presidential debate and you’ll notice candidates spending as much time discussing the topic as immigration, foreign policy, climate change, and gun control. There are a lot of misconceptions about the pro-choice movement but it can be explained in very simple terms. Being pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion, it simply means accepting that women have the choice to choose what theyRead MoreThe Controversial Issue Of Abortion1555 Words   |  7 Pagestopic of abortion in the United States has been and remains one of the most controversial issues in western culture and politics. An abortion can be defined as the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it can survive on its own. This comprises two major forms of abortion: spontaneous, which is often referred to as a miscarriage or induced abortion, which is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. The term is commonly used to refer to the induced abortion, and this is the abortion, which hasRead MoreShould Abortion Be Legalized?930 Words   |  4 Pagesan overwhelmingly shocking amount of, not only pro-choice, but als o pro-abortion articles published to the New York Times, one particular text titled New F.D.A. Guidelines Ease Access to Abortion Pill caught my attention. Contrary to a lengthy duration of anti-abortion progressivism, it seems that pro-abortionist, and seemingly less detrimental pro-choice movements are gaining support, rather dishearteningly. Ultimately abortion, according to a plethora of both scriptural and secular ideologies, isRead MorePro Life Vs Pro Choice Debate1636 Words   |  7 PagesPro-Choice Debate History of Abortion The 1973 court case Roe v. Wade was a landmark decision for United States history, and it still remains very controversial today. The Court ruled that the right to privacy applied to a woman’s choice to have an abortion, therefore legalizing the action. Abortion is officially defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Today there are two groups continuing this battle, â€Å"pro-life† and â€Å"pro-choice†Read MoreIs Abortion Justifiable In Cases Of Rape Or Incest?1496 Words   |  6 PagesAbortion is a topic that people love to argue. It is super easy to throw emotions into the argument because many people feel so strongly about it. People argue that abortion is either a good solution or a bad choice by the mother. However, many of the women who choose to have an abortion feel like it is their only choice. Finding out you are pregnant can be profoundly scary. Especially if the pregnancy is unplanned, or the mother is a victim of rape. It is assumed that most women who have beenRead MoreAbortion Is Not A New Idea1871 Words   |  8 PagesMerriam-Webster’s Dictionary abortion is, â€Å" the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.† Abortion is not a new idea, that is only understood in America. It is a procedure that has taken place worldwide for centuries. There is much debate over this topic because everyone has their own opinion of the idea. Some believe it should be banned forever and in all circumstances and others believe that abortion should be allowed andRead MoreThe Effects Of Negative Effects On Obama Health Care System1687 Words   |  7 Pagesservices in the U.S. according to its provisions. The Christians’ Reaction to Obama Healthcare Obamacare is the most threatening matter for Christians, and it represses their freedom of faith. Through a persistent legal battle of Christian Lawyers and associations against Obamacare, the U.S. Government allowed exception only for church, but not for Christian companies such as Hobby Lobby, many Christian school, and even hospitals. Therefore, it is the biggest issue faithfulRead MoreAbortion : The Battle Of Moral Rights Essay1835 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion: The Battle of Moral Rights One of the most controversial topics in the field of philosophy is abortion. The issue about the morality of abortion is continuously debated. The matter of abortion hinges on the question of personhood—because since then, every person has a moral status. The big question about the morality of abortion rise on the question: when does personhood begins? The two main sides of the abortion debate is between the conservative view which is supported by the CatholicRead MorePro Life And Pro Choice2045 Words   |  9 Pagesemphasize the issue of the rights of the unborn. o Pro-choice supporters stress the importance of the rights of the pregnant woman. †¢ The criteria of personhood is necessary to specify what we mean by a person. †¢ Initially, much of the debate about abortion centered around the question of the moral status of the fetus – In particular, if and when the fetus is a person. o It began sufficient conditions, which are conditions that if present would guarantee personhood. The structure of the argument looks

Traffic Accidents Road Accidents Essay - 1522 Words

Traffic accidents Introduction: The issue of accident is an extremely intense in interstate transportation because of complex stream example of vehicular Traffic, nearness of blended Traffic alongside people on foot. Traffic accident prompts to death toll and property. Consequently the Traffic Engineers need to attempt a major obligation of giving safe Traffic developments to the road clients and guarantee their wellbeing. Road accidents can t be completely forestalled however reasonable Traffic Engineering and administration the accident can lessen rate to a specific degree. Traffic accidents are the fundamental explanation behind the expansion in passing in our reality. Road accidents are without a doubt the most incessant and, generally, the reason for the most harm. The explanations behind this are the amazingly thick road Traffic and the generally extraordinary flexibility of development given to drivers. Accidents including overwhelming merchandise vehicles happen very often in spite of caIls for capable conduct, for regard of the stacking controls and the expressway code, and in addition the commitment for drivers to adjust their speed, which influences halting separations, to the Traffic and climate conditions. The avoidance of road accidents is likewise critical and will be guaranteed by strict laws, by specialized and police controls, progressing preparing for drivers and, if need be, by legitimate and regulatory punishments for those mindful. SeveralShow MoreRelatedAbstract - Road Traffic Accident Is Very Serious Matter1230 Words   |  5 PagesAbstract - Road Traffic Accident is very serious matter of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 1.24 million people of the world die annually on the roads. 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The topic of road safety is neglected in third world countries although road accidentsRead MoreThe Effect of Speed Limits on Road Traffic Accidents3504 Words   |  15 PagesLimits on Road Traffic Accidents Summary An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of speed limits on road traffic accidents. The investigation took place in Sweden during the summers of 1961 and 1962 and lasted for 92 days in each summer. For part of the 92 days general speed limits of 90km/hr or 100km/hr were imposed, for the rest of the time they were not. The number of accidents resultingRead MoreA Brief Note On Vehicle Accident Avoidance System1002 Words   |  5 PagesVehicle Accident Avoidance System Sarker Md Shahabuddin 12-20473-1 Sec: B Motivation: Nowadays road accidents in modern urban areas are increased to uncertain level. The loss of human life due to accident is to be avoided. In this paper discuss about the vehicle accident avoidance system in highway safty. A vehicle proximity warning - collision avoidance system is being developed using GPS and wireless local area networks to improve safety of off-highway trucks in open pit mines.System warningsRead MoreRoad Transport and Traffic System, and Safety Problems in Ethiopia: the Two Decades Experiences2347 Words   |  10 PagesRoad transport and traffic system, and safety problems in Ethiopia: The two decades Experiences Prepared for 9th International Conference on The Ethiopian Economy â€Å"We must now use every day to act on road safety, and implement effective sustainable action to prevent injury and death on the world’s roads.† Dr Lee Jong-wook, director-general, World Health Organization Prepared By: Temesgen Aklilu, (MA, BA) (Mobile: 0911228931) March, 2011 Addis Ababa Ethiopia [pic] Pictorial descriptionRead MoreEssay on Road Accidents1897 Words   |  8 PagesEssay on Road Accidents !! Lack of road-sense has further complicated the matters. Driving licenses are given on illegal gratifications to the authorities and traffic rules and regulations are thrown to the winds. Overloading is one of the major factors of road- accidents and deaths. The condition of the vehicles is hardly found road-worthy. The unmanned railway level-crossings further add to the chaos and confusion. The multiplicity of authorities and utter lack of coordination among them is anotherRead MoreThe Dangers Of Texting And Driving1391 Words   |  6 PagesUnited States. In the last seven years, states across the U.S. have banned texting and driving in efforts to stop fatal accidents that have claimed so many lives. The focus of this is piece is to understand the dangers of texting and driving, the direct impact it has on New Hampshire citizens and the efforts that states across the country are making to prevent these deadly accidents. By definition, distracted driving is â€Å"any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or textingRead MoreIndia Is The Third Largest Country Of The World Essay994 Words   |  4 Pageseconomy (India’s gross domestic product, 2016, p. 1). As of 2001 72% of India’s population resides in rural areas, however, with growing industry and need for urbanization, its population is becoming more mobile resulting in higher injury related accidents. Insufficient and nonexistent prehospital and trauma care, the government of India has failed to recognize injury and trauma as a major public health problem in lacks the necessary infrastructure to establish and define prehospital care (JoshipuralRead MoreThe Death Of A Car935 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Where u at.† Those were the last words 18-year-old Mariah West saw before her car struck a bridge and spiraled into oncoming traffic. She was ejected from the car, and then slid down the roadway causing her face to get disfigured and her skull to get crushed. Unfortunately, Mariah died on May 21st, 2009. When you step into a car you don’t expect anything life-threatening to happen. Safety is taken for granted as soon as one steps into an automobile. Most people in the world don’t have a singleRead MoreCar Accidents in Lebanon3057 Words   |  13 PagesAbstract Summary: The problem of car accidents in Lebanon is becoming a severe issue since the percentage of car accidents is increasing year after year. There are several causes leading to this situation, however they differ in the importance of their implementation. Some of the causes are direct such as: use of seatbelt, texting while driving, speeding, and drinking and driving, while others are indirect such as road infrastructure, rules forced and implemented, and efficiency of driving tests

Why Are They Too Good For The Word Marriage - 939 Words

Thirty and Still Single In 1950’s, women were married at 20 and men at 23. Now it’s at is all time high, Women are walking down the isle at the age of 27 and 29 for men. Why? Well there are many reasons why. Are they not able to follow the old ways? Are they too good for the word marriage? Or are they too busy getting ready? Is it the smart thing to do or was the old ways the best way? The first reason, being a gentlemen and having certain standard have become old fashion. Men and women have changed their mindset a lot over time. In the 50s winning the women’s heart and hand in marriage was a real prize. Bring flowers to her, taking her out on dates, and showing her manners was part of our culture. Now what is seen in more of lack of commitment, from fear or not wanting to be held down, and less effort to get the girl. This may be because women have lowered their standards as well and have let men get what they want with out a ring on their finger. No commitment usually leading to lack of loyalty, which in return brings people to not being able to trust. It becomes a cycle, leading the untrusting person to not commit. Some may fear to commit from their family history, they may have lived through a divorce or had one parent walk out. They do not want to end up in the same situation, so they may more cautious or run from it completely. In the old days, people would proudly show their partner to the world. But now people boost about sneaking off with someone else. In the 50’sShow MoreRelatedWhen Should I Get Married? - 5 Important Questions That You Should Answer Before Tying the Knot792 Words   |  4 Pagesdoomed; â€Å"Marriage is not always a bed of roses. It is a responsibility starting from day one.† This sounds scary. But no one can deny the ounce of truth that is embedded in its every word. The question, therefore, is not how to make it a bed of roses. It is rather more important to answer the â€Å"5 W† questions of who, what, when, where and why when deciding whether it is really the time to finally utter that once-in-a-lifetime â€Å"I do†. 1. Who is the one responsible for a successful marriage—wife orRead MoreThe Christian Of A Christian Marriage955 Words   |  4 PagesA Christian marriage sets a positive example by conducting oneself in a manner worthy of Christ. Our attitude shows who we are on the inside. 1 Peter 3:1-2 declares: â€Å"Wives†¦if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of their lives† (NIV). God wants us to exemplify him. God doesn’t try and change us against our own will. We have to want to change for ourselves. In marriage, Borys said a great quote:Read MoreGetting Ready For Marriage By Jim Burns And Doug Fields1583 Words   |  7 PagesMarriage is a bond made between two people that is hoped to last a lifetime; however, in recent times this bond is becoming broken due to the increase number of divorce. An important way to not become a statistic of divorce is to receiv e counseling or to read a self-help book like, â€Å"Getting Ready for Marriage† written by Jim Burns and Doug Fields. These resources allow married couples to develop the vital skills needed to push through the trials and tribulations that can occur during marriage. TheRead MoreMarriage Is The Most Important Part Of Marriage861 Words   |  4 PagesMarriage is a word that has evolved into something else in today’s society. It is an â€Å"old† term that applies to â€Å"old† beliefs. Today marriage is a word used to describe the coming together of two people under a consenting agreement that they will care for each other under any circumstances. Timothy Keller, a marriage expert, describes marriage as, â€Å"to be loved but not know is comforting but superficial. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousnessRead MoreEvaluating The Cohabitation Epidemic by Neil Clark Warren1317 Words   |   6 Pageswhat kinds of people are cohabiting and why they are cohabiting. Followed by that, the author first uses the opinions from the bible to argue against cohabitation and then applies four strategies by comparing cohabitation and marriage to support marriage over cohabitation to lend the claim that a â€Å" trial marriage† is unnecessary. Last, Warren uses the result from several studies to supplementally support the idea that there is no need for a â€Å" trial marriage† because cohabiting couples have alreadyRead MoreWhat Do We Learn from Juliets Relationship with Her Father? Essay1394 Words   |  6 Pages03.13 William Shakespeare’s, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provides an insight of the experience of women in an Elizabethan society. The play was written in the late 1600’s, and is about two feuding families whose children fall in love. Their love leads to marriage, however, Juliet’s decision to marry Romeo was against her father’s will, this made life even harder for her, as in the 1600’s a women did not have the privilege to choose her husband. This decision was made by her father only. Moreover, she wasRead More Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters in Tans The Joy Luck Club1457 Words   |  6 Pagesspeaking only English and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow.   For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan feather and tell her, â€Å"This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions.†Ã‚   And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English (Tan 3).† The American culture focuses more on the individual.   Typical Americans always want to be independent.   TraditionallyRead MoreDivorce And Its Effects On Social Life1627 Words   |  7 Pagesinnocent children who involuntarily are dragged through the process. In the pages that follow, this paper will discuss both mental and physical challenges that marriages encounter and try to ascertain whether or not these strained marriages should be given a chance a recovery. Based on the definition obtained from ppsychologytoday.com Marriage is the process by which two people make their relationship public, official and permanent. It is the joining of two people in a bond that based on the vowsRead MoreGay Marriage Is A Big Problem848 Words   |  4 PagesGay marriage in America is a big problem in our world today, a lot of people in the Untied States and in our country’s do not believe in same sex Marriage. But the Untied State Supreme Court passed the bill for same sex marriage to be legal in all 50 states of America. But the real question is why is this a big situation in America or across the world? Why was so many people was against it? Well let me give you a few reason why it was a big problem in America. June 28, 1968 is when the gay rightRead MoreToo Naà ¯ve for Marriage Essays994 Words   |  4 Pagesbecause marriage is a huge step. Although there is no law that states what age someone can get married, I think that getting married yo unger than twenty-five can be a terrible mistake because the couple is probably immature, not stable and not committed. The first reason why people should not get married younger than twenty-five years older is because they are too immature. Marriage is great, especially if it is with somebody with whom it is worth spending the rest of their lives. It is not a good idea

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9 Free Essays

string(23) " it was just not done\." CHAPTER SEVEN Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Cried the Humpback When a visitor first drives into the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale Sanctuary – five baby blue shiplap buildings trimmed out in cobalt, crouching on the edge of the huge Maalaea Bay and overlooking the ruins of an ancient saltwater fish pond – his first reaction is usually â€Å"Hey, not much of a sanctuary. You could get maybe three whales in those buildings, tops.† Soon, however, he realizes that these buildings are simply the offices and visitor centers. We will write a custom essay sample on Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9 or any similar topic only for you Order Now The sanctuary itself covers the channels that run from Molokai to the Big Island of Hawaii, between Maui, Lanai, and Kahoolawe, as well as the north shores of Oahu and Kauai, in which there is plenty of room for a whole bunch of whales, which is why they are kept there. There were about a hundred people milling around outside the lecture hall when Nate and Amy pulled into the parking lot in the pickup. â€Å"Looks like a good turnout?† Amy said. She’d attended only one of the sanctuary’s weekly lectures, and that one had been given by Gilbert Box, an ill-tempered biologist doing survey work under a grant for the International Whaling Commission, who droned through numbers and graphs until the ten people in attendance would have killed a whale themselves just to shut him up. â€Å"It’s about average for us. Behavior always draws more than survey. We’re the sexy ones,† Nate said with a grin. Amy snorted. â€Å"Oh, yeah, you guys are the Mae Wests of the nerd world.† â€Å"We’re action nerds,† Nate said. â€Å"Adventure nerds. Nerds of romance.† â€Å"Nerds,† Amy said. Nate could see the skeletal Gilbert Box standing off to the side of the crowd under a straw hat whose brim was so wide it could have afforded shade for three additional people and behind a pair of enormous wraparound sunglasses suitable for welding or as a shield from nuclear flash. His gaunt face was still smeared with residue of the white zinc oxide he used for sun protection when out on the water. He wore a long-sleeved khaki shirt and trousers and leaned on a white sun umbrella that he was never seen without. It was a half hour before sunset, a warm breeze was coming off Maalaea Bay, and Gilbert Box looked like Death out for his after-dinner stroll before a busy night of e-mailing heart attacks and tumors to a few million lucky winners. Nate had given Box the nickname â€Å"the Count,† after the Sesame Street vampire with the obsessive-compulsive need to count things. (Nate had been too old for Sesame Street as a preschooler, but he’d watched it through grade ten while baby-sitting his younger brother, Sam.) People agreed that the Count was the perfect name for a survey guy with an aversion to water and sunlight, and the name had caught on even outside Nate and Clay’s immediate sphere of influence. Panic rattled up Nate’s spine. â€Å"They’re going to know we’re faking it. The Count will call us on it the first time I say something that we don’t have the data to back up.† â€Å"How’s he going to know? You had the data a week ago. Besides, what’s this ‘we’? I’m just running the projector.† â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"There’s Tarwater,† Amy said. â€Å"Who are those women he’s talking to?† â€Å"Probably just some whale huggers,† Nate said, pretending that all of his mental faculties were required for him to squeeze the pickup into the four adjacent empty parking spaces. The women Tarwater was talking to were Margaret Painborne, Ph.D., and Elizabeth  «Libby » Quinn, Ph.D. They worked together with a couple of very butch young women studying cow/calf behavior and social vocalizations. They were doing good work, Nate thought, even if it appeared to have a gender-based agenda. Margaret was in her late forties, short and round, with long gray hair that she kept perpetually tied back in a braid. Libby was almost a decade younger, long-legged and lean, blond hair going gray, cut short, and she had once, not too long ago, been Nathan Quinn’s third wife. A second and totally different wave of anxiety swept over Quinn. This was the first time he’d encountered Libby since Amy joined the team. â€Å"They don’t look like whale huggers,† Amy said. â€Å"They look like researchers.† â€Å"How is that?† â€Å"They look like action nerds.† Amy snorted again and crawled out of the truck. â€Å"That’s not very professional,† Nate said, â€Å"that snorting-laugh thing you do.† But Amy had already walked off toward the lecture hall, a carousel of slides under her arm. Nate counted more than thirty researchers in the crowd as he walked up. And those were just the ones he was acquainted with. New people would be coming back and forth from the mainland all season – grad students, film crews, reporters, National Fisheries people, patrons – all hitchhiking on the very few research permits that were issued for the sanctuary. For some reason Amy made a beeline for Cliff Hyland and his navy watchdog, Tarwater, who was out of uniform in Dockers and a Tommy Bahama shirt, but still out of place because his clothes were ironed to razor creases – his Topsiders had been spit-shined, and he stood as if there were a cold length of rebar wired to his spine. â€Å"Hey, Amy,† Cliff said. â€Å"Sorry to hear about the break-in. Bad?† â€Å"We’ll be all right,† Amy said. Nate strolled up behind Amy. â€Å"Hey, Cliff. Captain.† He nodded to each. â€Å"Sorry to hear about the break-in, Nate,† Cliff said again. â€Å"Hope you guys didn’t lose anything important.† â€Å"We’re fucked,† Nate said. And Tarwater smiled – for the first time ever, Nate thought. â€Å"We’re fine.† Amy grinned and brandished her carousel of slides like a talisman of power. â€Å"I’m thinking about getting a job at Starbucks,† Nate said. â€Å"Hey, Cliff, what are you guys working on?† Amy asked, having somehow moved close enough into Cliff Hyland’s personal space to have to look up at him with big, girly-blue eyes and the aspect of a fascinated child. Nate cringed. It was†¦ well, it was just not done. You read "Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9" in category "Essay examples" You didn’t ask, not outright like that. â€Å"Just some stuff for the navy,† Cliff said, obviously wanting to back away from Amy, but knowing that if he did, somehow he’d lose face. Nate watched while Amy grated his friend’s middle-aged irrelevance against his male ego merely by stepping a foot closer. There, too, was a reaction from Tarwater, as the younger man seemed to be irritated by the fact that Amy was paying attention to Cliff. Or maybe he was just irritated with Amy because she was irritating. Sometimes Nate had to remind himself not to think like a biologist. â€Å"You know, Cliff,† Amy said, â€Å"I was looking at a map the other day – and I want you to brace yourself, because this may come as a shock – but there’s no coastline in Iowa. I mean, doesn’t that get in the way of studying marine mammals?† â€Å"Sure, now you bring that up,† Cliff said. â€Å"Where were you ten years ago when I accepted the position?† â€Å"Middle school,† Amy said. â€Å"What’s in the big case on your boat? Sonar array? You guys doing another LFA study?† Tarwater coughed. â€Å"Amy,† Nate interrupted, â€Å"we’d better get set up.† â€Å"Right,† Amy said. â€Å"Nice seeing you guys.† She moved on. Nate grinned, just for a second. â€Å"Sorry, you know how it is?† â€Å"Yeah.† Cliff Hyland smiled. â€Å"We’ve got two grad students working with us this season.† â€Å"But we left our grommets at home, to analyze data,† Tarwater added. Nate and Cliff looked at each other like two old broken-toothed lions long driven from the pride – tired, but secure in the knowledge that if they teamed up, they could eat the younger male alive. Cliff shrugged, almost imperceptibly, that small gesture communicating, Sorry, Nate, I know he’s an asshole, but what am I going to do? It’s funding. â€Å"I’d better go in,† Nate said, patting the notes in his shirt pocket. He passed a couple more acquaintances, saying hello as he went by, then inside the door ran right into a minor nightmare: Amy talking to his ex-wife, Libby, and her partner, Margaret. It had been like this: They’d met ten years ago, summer in Alaska, a remote lodge on Baranof Island on the Chatham Strait, where scientists were given access to a couple of rigid-hulled Zodiacs and all the canned beans, smoked salmon, and Russian vodka they could consume. Nate had come to observe the feeding behavior of his beloved humpbacks and record social sounds that might help him to interpret the song they sang when in Hawaii. Libby was doing biopsies on the population of resident (fish-eating) killer whales to prove that all the different pods were indeed part of one clan related by blood. He was two years divorced from his second wife. Libby, at thirty, was two months from finishing her doctoral dissertation in cetacean biology. Consequently, since high school she hadn’t had time for anything but research – seasonal affairs with boat skippers, senior researchers, grad students, fishermen, and the occasional photographer or documentary filmmaker. She was n’t particularly promiscuous, but there was a sea of men you were set adrift in if you were going to study whales, and if you didn’t want to spend your life alone, you pulled into a convenient, if scruffy, port from time to time. The transience of the work drove a lot of women out of the field. On the other hand, Nate tried to solve the male side of the equation by marrying other whale researchers, reasoning that only someone who was equally obsessed, distracted, and single-minded would be able to tolerate those qualities in a mate. That sort of reasoning, of course, was testament to the victory of romanticism over reason, irony over rationality, and pure foolishness over common sense. The only thing that being married to another scientist had gotten Nate was a reprieve from being asked what he was thinking about while lying in bed in a postcoital cuddle. They knew what he was thinking about, because they were thinking about the same thing: whales. They were both lean and blond and weather-beaten, and one evening, as they were portaging gear from their respective Zodiacs, Libby unzipped her survival suit and tied the sleeves around her waist so she could move more freely. Nate said, â€Å"You look good in that.† No one, absolutely no one, looks good in a survival suit (unless a Day-Glo orange marshmallow man is your idea of a hot date), but Libby didn’t even make the effort to roll her eyes. â€Å"I have vodka and a shower in my cabin,† she said. â€Å"I have a shower in my cabin, too,† Nate said. Libby just shook her head and trudged up the path to the lodge. Over her shoulder she called, â€Å"In five minutes there’s going to be a naked woman in my shower. You got one of those?† â€Å"Oh,† said Nate. They were both still lean, but no longer blond. Nate was completely gray, and Libby was getting there. She smiled when he approached. â€Å"We heard about the break-in, Nate. I meant to call you.† â€Å"That’s okay,† he said. â€Å"Not much you can do.† â€Å"That’s what you think,† Amy said. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet as if she were going to explode or Tigger off across the room any second. â€Å"I think these might mitigate the loss a little,† Libby said. She slung her day pack off her shoulder, reached in, and came out with a handful of CDs in paper sleeves. â€Å"You forgot about these, I’ll bet? You loaned them to us last season so we could pull off any social noises in the background.† â€Å"It’s all the singer recordings from the last ten years,† Amy said. â€Å"Isn’t that great!† Nate felt as if he might faint. To lose ten years’ work, then reconcile the loss, only to have it handed back to him. He put his hand on Libby’s shoulder to steady himself. â€Å"I don’t know what to say. I thought you gave those back.† â€Å"We made copies.† Margaret stepped over to Quinn and in doing so got a foot between him and his ex-wife. â€Å"You said it would be okay. We were only using them for comparison to our own samples.† â€Å"No, it’s okay,† Nate said. He almost patted her shoulder, but as he moved in that direction she flinched and he let his hand drop. â€Å"Thank you, Margaret.† Margaret had interposed herself completely between Nate and Libby, making a barrier of her own body (behavior she’d obviously picked up from her cow/calf studies – a humpback mother did the same thing when boats or amorous males approached her calf). Amy snatched the handful of CDs from Libby. â€Å"I’d better go through these. I can probably come up with a few relevant samples to play along with the slides if I hurry.† â€Å"I’ll go with you,† Margaret said, eyeing Amy. â€Å"My handwriting on the catalog numbers leaves something to be desired.† And off they went toward the projection station in the middle of the hall, leaving Nate standing with Libby, wondering exactly what had just transpired. â€Å"She really does have an extraordinary ass, Nate,† Libby said as she watched Amy walk away. â€Å"Yep,† Nate said, not wanting to have this conversation. â€Å"She’s very bright, too.† Sometime in the last week a tiny voice in his head had started asking, Could this get any weirder? In two minutes he’d gone from anxiety to embarrassment to anxiety to relief to gratitude to scoping chicks with his ex-wife. Oh, yes, little voice, it can always get weirder. â€Å"I think Margaret may be on a recruiting mission,† Libby said. â€Å"I hope she checked our budget before she left.† â€Å"Amy’s working for free,† Nate said. Libby leaned up on tiptoes and whispered, â€Å"I believe that a starting position on the all-girl team has just opened up.† Then she kissed his cheek. â€Å"You knock ’em dead tonight, Nate.† And she was off after Amy and Margaret. Clay and Kona arrived just as Libby walked away, and, irritatingly, Kona was checking out Libby from behind. â€Å"Irie, Boss Nate. Who’s the biscuit auntie suckin’ face with ya?† (Like many authentic Hawaiians, Kona called any woman a generation older â€Å"auntie,† even if he was horning after her.) â€Å"You brought him here,† Nate said to Clay without turning to face him. â€Å"He’s got to learn,† Clay said. â€Å"Libby seemed friendly.† â€Å"She’s chasing Amy.† â€Å"Oh, she a blackheart thief that would take a man’s Snowy Biscuit to have a punaani nosh. That Snowy Biscuit belong our tribe.† â€Å"Libby was Nate’s third wife,† Clay volunteered, as if that would somehow immediately illuminate why the blackheart Libby was trying to steal the Snowy Biscuit from their tribe. â€Å"Truth?† Kona said, shaking his great gorgonation of dreadlocks in rag-doll confusion. â€Å"You married a lesbian?† â€Å"Whale willies,† said Clay, adding neither insight nor illumination. â€Å"I should go over my notes,† Nate said. CHAPTER EIGHT A Rippin’ Talk â€Å"Biology,† said the pseudo Hawaiian, â€Å"dat bitch make sex puppets of everyone.† Clay had just told him the story. The story was this: Five years into her marriage to Nathan Quinn, Libby had gone for the summer to the Bering Sea to put satellite-tracking tags on female right whales. She had already begun working with Margaret Painborne, who was at the time trying to find out more about the mating and gestation behavior of right whales. The best way to do that was to keep constant tabs on the females. Now, sexing whales can be an incredibly difficult task, as their genitalia, for hydrodynamic reasons, are all internal. Without a biopsy or without being in the water with the animal (which means death in three minutes in the Bering Sea), about the only way to determine sex is to catch a female when she is with her calf or while the animals are mating. Libby and Margaret had decided to tag the animals while they were mating. Their base ship was an eighty-foot schooner loaned to the project by Scripps, but to do the actually tagging they used a nimble twelve-foot Zodiac with a forty-horse engine. They’d spotted a female trying to evade the advances of two giant males. The right whale is one of the few animals in the world that uses a washout strategy for mating. That is, the females mate with several males, but the one who can wash out the others’ seed most efficiently will pass his genes on to the next generation. Consequently, the guy with the largest tackle often wins, and male right whales have the biggest tackle in the world, with testes that weigh up to a ton and ten-foot penises that are not only long but prehensile, able to reach around a female from the side and introduce themselves on the sly. Libby took the front of the boat, where she braced herself with a fifteen-foot fiberglass pole tipped with a barbed stainless point attached to the satellite unit. Margaret steered the outboard, maneuvering over frigid seven-foot seas, into the position where Libby could set the tag. Right whales are not particularly fast (whalers caught them in rowboats, for Christ’s sake), but they are big and broad, and in the frenzy of a mating chase, a small Zodiac provides about as much protection from their thrashing, sixty-ton bodies as would wearing aluminum-foil armor to a joust. And noble Libby, action-girl nerd that she was, did look somewhat like a gallant knight in Day-Glo orange, her lance ready to strike as her trusty warhorse, Evinrude, powered her over the waves. And as they approached the big female, a male on either side of her, the two sandwiching her so she could not escape, she rolled over onto her back, presenting her genitals to the sky. At that she slowed, and Margaret steered between the two tails of the males so Libby could set the tag. The female stopped then and floated up under the Zodiac. Margaret powered down the motor so as not to rake the animal with the prop. â€Å"Shit!† Libby screamed. â€Å"Get us off! Get us off!† A swipe from the flukes of any of the animals would put them in the water, minutes from hypothermia and death. Libby had rolled her survival suit down so she could maneuver the harpoon. She’d be pulled under in seconds. Suddenly, out of the water on either side of them came two huge penises, the males searching for their mark, moving closer to the female, producing waves that knocked the two women into the floor of the boat. Above them the two pink towers curved around looking for their target, feeling the edges of the boat, running slime across the rubber, over the biologists, poking, beating about, and generally abusing the women. The female now had the Zodiac centered exactly over her genitals, using the rubber boat as an ad hoc diaphragm. Then the two giant whale willies encountered one another in the middle of the Zodiac, and each evidently thinking that the other had found his target and not wanting to be left out, they let loose with great gushing gouts of sticky whale semen, filling the boat, covering the equipment, the scientists, washing the gunwales, swamping the motor, generally leaving everything but the gal whale completely and disgustingly jizzed. Mission accomplished, off they swam t o strain a little postcoital krill out of the fray. Margaret suffered a concussion and a partially detached retina, Libby a dislocated shoulder and various scrapes and bruises, but the real trauma could not be assuaged with snaps, slings, and Betadine. Several weeks later Libby rejoined Nate, who was down at the Chatham Strait with Clay filming feeding behavior. She walked into his cabin, hugged him, then stepped back and said, â€Å"Nate, I don’t think I want to be married anymore.† But what she really meant was â€Å"I’m done with penises forever, Nate, and pleasant as you are, I know that you are still attached to one. I’ve had my fill, so to speak. I’m moving on.† â€Å"Okay,† Nate said. He told Clay later that for hours he had been feeling hungry and kept telling himself that he should stop working and go eat, but after Libby showed up, then left, he realized that he hadn’t been hungry at all. The emptiness inside was from feeling lonesome. And Nate had stayed relatively lonesome and mostly heartbroken since that day (although he didn’t whine about it, he just wore it). Clay didn’t tell Kona this part. Confessions made over whiskey and campfires were privileged communication. Loyalty. â€Å"So,† said Nate, â€Å"Since the song appears, in most cases, to actually draw the attention of other males, who often join up with the singer, it would seem that the song cannot be directly connected to mating activity, other than it happens in the mating season. And since no one has actually observed humpbacks mating, even this assumption could be in error. If, indeed, the song is the male attempting to define his territory, it would seem ineffective, since other males tend to join singers, even those escorting cow/calf pairs. The study recommends that more studies be done to find out if there is, as previously thought, any direct correlation between humpback song and mating activity. Thank you. I’ll take your questions.† Hands went up. Here it came: the crystal gazers, the whale buggers, the hippies, the hunters, the tourists, the developers, the wackos, the researchers (God help us, the researchers), and the idly curious. Nate didn’t mind the curious. They were the only ones without an agenda. Everyone else was looking for confirmations, not answers. Should he go to a researcher first? Get it out of the way? Might as well go right to the dark side. â€Å"Yes, Gilbert.† He pointed to the Count. The tall researcher had taken off his sunglasses but had pulled down the brim of his hat as if to conceal the glowing red coals of his eyes. Or maybe Nate was just imagining that. The Count said, â€Å"So with these small samplings – what was it, five instances of interactions among singers and others? – there’s no real conclusion that you can reach about the relation to breeding or the robustness of the population? Correct?† Nate sighed. Fuckwad, he thought. He spoke to the strange faces in the audience, the nonprofessionals. â€Å"As you know, Dr. Box, samples for whale-behavior studies are usually very small. It’s understood that we have to extrapolate more from the data with whales than with other animals who are more easily observed. Small samples are an accepted limitation of the field.† â€Å"So what you are saying,† Box continued, â€Å"is that you are trying to extrapolate the behavior of an animal that spends less than three percent of its time on the surface from observing its behavior on the surface. Isn’t that akin to trying to extrapolate all of human civilization from looking at people’s legs underwater at the beach? I mean, I don’t see how you could possibly do it.† Nate looked around the room, hoping that one of the other behavior researchers might jump in, help him out, throw a bone to the podium, but apparently they were all finding the displays on the bulletin boards, the ceiling fans, or the wooden floor planks irresistibly interesting. â€Å"Lately we’ve been spending more and more time observing the animals under the water. Clay Demodocus has over six hundred hours of videotape of humpback behavior underwater. But it’s only recently, with digital videotape and rebreather technology, that underwater observation has become practical to do to any extent. And we still have the problem of propulsion. No diver can swim fast enough to keep up with the humpbacks when they’re traveling. I think all the researchers in this room understand the value of observing the animals in the water, and it goes without saying that any research without consideration of underwater behavior is incomplete. You understand that, I’m sure, Dr. Box.† There were a few stifled snickers around the room. Nathan Quinn smiled. The Count would not go into the water, under any circumstances. He was either terrified of it or allergic to it, but it was obvious from watching him on his boat that he wanted no contact whatsoever with the water. Still, if he was going to get his funding from the International Whaling Commission, he had to get out there and count whales. On the water, never in it. Quinn believed that Box did bad science, and because of that he had gone into consulting, the â€Å"dark side.† He performed studies and provided data for the highest bidder, and Nate had no doubt that the data was skewed to the agenda of the funding. Some nations in the IWC wanted to lift the moratorium on hunting whales, but first they had to prove that the populations had recovered enough to sustain hunting. Gilbert Box was getting them their numbers. Nate was happy to have embarrassed Box. He waited for the gaunt scientist to nod before he took the next question. â€Å"Yes, Margaret.† â€Å"Your study seems to focus on the perspective of the male animals, without consideration for the female’s role in the behavior. Could you speak to that?† Jeez, what a surprise, thought Nate. â€Å"Well, I think there’s good work being done on the cow/calf behavior, as well as on surface-active groups, which we assume is mating-related activity, but since my work concerns singers and as far as we know, all singers are males, I tend to observe more male behavior.† There, that should do it. â€Å"So you can’t say definitively that the females are not the ones controlling the behavior?† â€Å"Margaret, as my research assistant has repeatedly pointed out to me, the only thing I can say definitively about humpbacks is that they are big and wet.† Everyone laughed. Quinn looked at Amy and she winked at him, then, when he looked back to Margaret, he saw Libby beside her, winking at him as well. But at least the tension among the researchers was broken, and Quinn noticed that Captain Tarwater and Jon Thomas Fuller and his entourage were no longer raising their hands to ask questions. Perhaps they realized that they weren’t going to learn anything, and they certainly didn’t want to try to pursue their own agendas in front of a crowd and be slapped down the way Gilbert Box had. Quinn took the questions from the nonscientists. â€Å"Could they just be saying hi?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"If they don’t eat here, and it’s not for mating, then why do they sing?† â€Å"That’s a good question.† â€Å"Do you think they know that we’ve been contacted by aliens and are trying to contact the mother ship?† Ah, always good to hear from the wacko fringe, Nate thought. â€Å"No, I don’t think that.† â€Å"Maybe they’re using their sonar to find other whales.† â€Å"As far as we know, baleen whales, toothless whales like the humpbacks who strain their food from the sea through sheets of baleen, don’t echolocate the way toothed whales do.† â€Å"Why do they jump all the time? Other whales don’t jump like that.† â€Å"Some think that they are sloughing skin or trying to knock off parasites, but after years of watching them, I think that they just like making a splash – the sensation of air on their skin. The way you might like to dangle your feet in a fountain. I think they’re just goofing off.† â€Å"I heard that someone broke into your office and destroyed all of your research. Who do you think would want to do that?† Nate paused. The woman who had asked the question was holding a reporter’s steno pad. Maui Times, he guessed. She had stood to ask her question, as if she were attending a press conference rather than a casual lecture. â€Å"What you have to ask yourself,† said Nate, â€Å"is who could possibly care about research on singers?† â€Å"And who would that be?† â€Å"Me, a few people in this room, and perhaps a dozen or so researchers around the world. At least for now. Perhaps as we find out more, more people will be interested.† â€Å"So you’re saying that someone in this room broke into your offices and destroyed all your research?† â€Å"No. As a biologist, one of the things you have to guard against is applying motives where there are none and reading more into a behavior than the data actually support. Sort of like the answer to the ‘why do they jump? question. You could say that it’s part of an incredibly complex system of communication, and you might be right, but the obvious answer, and probably the correct one, is that the whales are goofing off. I think the break-in was just a random act of vandalism that has the appearance of motive.† Bullshit, Quinn thought. â€Å"Thank you, Dr. Quinn,† said the reporter. She sat down. â€Å"Thank you all for coming,† said Nate. Applause. Nate arranged his notes as people gathered around the podium. â€Å"That was bullshit,† Amy said. â€Å"Complete bullshit,† said Libby Quinn. â€Å"What a load of crap,† said Cliff Hyland. â€Å"Rippin’ talk, Doc,† Kona said, â€Å"Marley’s ghost was in ye.† CHAPTER NINE Relativity Leathery bar girls worked the charter booths at the harbor, smoking Basic 100s and talking in voices that sounded like 151 rum poured into hot grease – a jigger of friendly to the liter of harsh. They were thirty-five or sixty-five, the color of mahogany, skinny and strong from living on boats, liquor, fish, and disappointment. They’d come here from a dozen coastal towns, some sailing from the mainland in small craft but forgetting to save enough courage for the trip home. Marooned. Man to man, boat to boat, year to year – salt and sun and drinking had left them dry enough to cough dust. If they lasted a hundred years – and some would – then one moonless night a great hooded wraith would swoop into the harbor and take them off to their own craggy island – uncharted and unseen more than once by any living man – and there they would keep the enchantment of the sea alive: lure lost sailors to the shore, suck out all of their f luids, and leave their desiccated husks crumbling on the rocks for the crabs and the black gulls. Thus were the sea hags born†¦ but that’s another story. Today they were just razzing Clay for leading two girls down the dock. â€Å"Just like outboards, Clay, you gotta have two to make sure one’s always running,† called Margie, who had once, after ten mai-tais, tried to go down on the wooden sea captain who guarded the doorway of the Pioneer Inn. Debbie, who had a secret source for little-boy pee that she put in the ears of the black-coral divers when they got ear infections, said, â€Å"You give that young one the first watch, Clay. Let her rest up a bit.† â€Å"Morning, ladies,† Clay tossed over his shoulder. He was grinning and blushing, his ears showing red even where they weren’t sunburned. Fifty years old, he’d dived every sea, been attacked by sharks, survived malaria and Malaysian pirates, ridden in a titanium ball with a window five miles down into the Tonga Trench, and still he blushed. Clair, Clay’s girlfriend of four years, a forty-year-old Japanese-Hawaiian schoolteacher who moved like she was doing the hula to a Sousa march (strange mix of regal order and island breeze), backhanded a hang-loose shaka at the cronettes and said, grinning, â€Å"She just along to pour buckets on his reels girls, keep him from burning up.† â€Å"Oh, you guys are so friggin’ nautical,† said Amy, who was wrestling with a huge Pelican case that held the rebreather. The case slipped out of her grip and barked her shin before she caught it. â€Å"Ouch. Damn it. Oh yeah, everyone loves your salty friggin’ charm.† A chorus of cackles from the charter booths wheezed into coughing fits. Back to the cats, the cauldrons, the coconut oil, the sacred Jimmy Buffett songs sung at midnight into the ear of drunken, white-bearded Hemingway wannabes to make that rum-soaked member rise from the dead just this one last time. The leathery bar girls turned back to their business as Kona passed by. â€Å"Irie, Sistah Amy. Give up ye burden,† said Kona, bounding down the dock to sweep the heavy rebreather out of Amy’s grip and up onto his shoulder. Amy rubbed her arm. â€Å"Thanks. Where’s Nate?† â€Å"He go to the fuel dock to get coffee for the whole tribe. A lion, him.† â€Å"Yeah, he’s a good guy. You’ll be going out with him today. I have to go along with Clay and Clair as a safety diver.† â€Å"Slippers off in the boat,† Clay said to Clair for the hundredth time. She rolled her eyes and kicked off her flip-flops before stepping down into the Always Confused. She offered Clay a hand, and he steadied her as if escorting a lady from the king’s court to the ballroom floor. Kona handed the rebreather down to Clay. â€Å"I can safety-dive.† â€Å"You’ll never be able to clear your ears. You can’t pinch your nostrils shut with those nose rings in.† â€Å"They come out. Look, out they come.† He tossed the rings to Amy and she deftly sidestepped, letting them plop into the water. â€Å"Oops.† â€Å"Amy’s a certified diver, kid. Sorry. You’re with Nate today.† â€Å"He know that?† â€Å"Yeah, does he know that?† asked Clair. â€Å"He will soon. Get those lines, would you, Amy.† â€Å"I can drive the boat.† Kona was on the edge of pleading. â€Å"No one but me drives the boat,† said Clay. â€Å"I’m driving the boat,† corrected Clair. â€Å"You have to sleep with Clay to drive the boat,† said Amy. â€Å"You just do what Nate tells you,† Clay said. â€Å"You’ll be fine.† â€Å"If I sleep with Amy can I drive the boat?† â€Å"Nobody drives the boat,† Clay said. â€Å"I drive the boat,† Clair said. â€Å"Nobody sleeps with Amy,† Amy said. â€Å"I sleep with Amy,† Clair said. And everyone stopped and looked at Clair. â€Å"Who wants cream?† asked Nate, arriving at that moment with a paper tray of coffee cups. â€Å"You can do your own sugar.† â€Å"That’s what I’m saying,† said Clair. â€Å"Sisters are doing it for themselves.† And Nate hung there in space, holding a cup and a sugar packet, a wooden stir stick, a baffled expression. Clair grinned. â€Å"Kidding. Jeez, you guys.† Everyone breathed. Coffee was distributed, gear was loaded, Clay drove the Always Confused out of the harbor, pausing to wave to the Count and his crew, who were loading gear into a thirty-foot rigid-hull Zodiac normally used for parasailing. The Count pulled down the brim of his hat and stood in the bow of the Zodiac, his sun umbrella at port arms, looking like a skeletal statue of Washington crossing the Lethe. The crew waved, Gilbert Box scowled. â€Å"I like him,† Clay said. â€Å"He’s predictable.† But Amy and Clair missed the comment. They were applying sunscreen and indulging in girl talk in the bow. â€Å"You can talk like such a floozy sometimes,† said Amy. â€Å"I wish I could be floozish.† Clair poked her in the leg with a long, red-lacquered fingernail. â€Å"Don’t sell yourself short, pumpkin.† The ersatz Hawaiian stood on the bow rail like he was hanging ten off the twenty-two-foot Mako, waving to the Zodiac crew as they passed. â€Å"Irie, science dreadies! We be research jammin’ now!† But when the Count ignored his greeting, Kona gave the traditional island response: â€Å"What, I owe you money?† â€Å"Settle, Kona,† Nate said. â€Å"And get down off of there.† Kona made his way back to the console. â€Å"Old white jacket givin’ you the stink-eye. Why, he think you an agent of Babylon?† â€Å"He does bad science. People come to me to ask me about him, I tell them he does bad science.† â€Å"And we do the good science?† â€Å"We don’t change our numbers to please the people who fund us. The Japanese want numbers that show recovery of the humpback population to levels where the IWC will let them start hunting them again. Gilbert tries to give them those numbers.† â€Å"Kill these humpies? No.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"No. Why?† â€Å"To eat.† â€Å"No,† said the blond Rastaman, shaking his head as if to clear the evil from his ears – his dreads fanning out into nappy spokes. Quinn smiled to himself. The moratorium had been in effect since before Kona was born. As far as the kid knew, whales had been and always would be safe from hunters. Quinn knew better. â€Å"Eating whale is very traditional in Japan. It sort of has the ritual of our Thanksgiving. But it’s dying out.† â€Å"Then it’s all good.† â€Å"No. There are a lot of old men who want to bring back whale hunting as a tradition. The Japanese whaling industry is subsidized by the government. It’s not even a viable business. They serve whale meat in the school-lunch program so kids will develop a taste for it.† â€Å"No. No one eats the whale.† â€Å"The IWC allows them to kill five hundred minke whales a year, but they kill more. And biologists have found whale meat from half a dozen endangered whale species in Japanese markets. They try to pass it off as minke whale, but the DNA doesn’t lie.† â€Å"Minke? That devil in the white war paint killing our minke?† â€Å"We don’t have any minkes here in Hawaii.† â€Å"Course not, the Count killing them. We going to chant down this evil fuckery.† Kona dug into his red, gold, and green fanny pack. Out came an extraordinarily complex network of plastic, brass, and stainless-steel tubing, which in seconds Kona had assembled into what Quinn thought was either a very small and elegant linear particle accelerator or, more likely, the most complex bong ever constructed. â€Å"Slow de boat, brah. I got to spark up for freedom. Chant down Babylon, go into battle for Jah’s glory, mon. Slow de boat.† â€Å"Put that away.† Kona paused, his Bic lighter poised over the bowl. â€Å"Take de ship home to Zion, brah?† â€Å"No, we have work to do.† Nate slowed the boat and killed the motor. They were about a mile off Lahaina. â€Å"Chant down Babylon?† Kona raised the lighter. â€Å"No. Put that away. I’ll show you how to drop the hydrophone.† Quinn checked the tape in the recorder on the console. â€Å"Save our minkes?† Kona waved the lighter, unlit, in circles over the bowl. â€Å"Did Clay show you how to take an ID photo?† Nate pulled the hydrophone and the coil of cord out of its case. â€Å"Ride Jah’s herb into the mystic?† â€Å"No! Put that away and get the camera out of that cabinet in the bow.† Kona broke down the bong with a series of whirs and clicks and put it back in his fanny pack. â€Å"All right, brah, but when they have eated all your minkes, will not be Jah’s fault.† An hour later, after listening, and moving, and listening again, they had found their singer. Kona stood balanced on the gunwale of the boat staring down in wonder at the big male, who was parked under the boat making a sound approximating that of a kidnap victim trying to scream through duct tape. Kona would look from the whale to Nate, grin, then look back to the whale again, the whole time perched and balanced on the gunwale like a gargoyle on the parapet of a building. Nate guessed that he would be able to hold that position for about two minutes before his knees locked permanently and he’d be forced to finish life in a toadish squat. Still, he envied Kona the enthusiasm of discovery, the fascination and excitement of being around these great animals for the first time. He envied him his youth and his strength. And, listening to the song in the headphones, the song that seemed so clearly to be a statement of mating and yet refused to give up any direct evidence that it was, Nate felt a profound irrelevance. Sexually, socially, intellectually, fiscally, scientifically irrelevant – a sack of borrowed atoms lumpily arranged in a Nate shape. No effect, purpose, or stability. He tried to listen more closely to what the whale was doing, to lose himself in analyzing what exactly was going on below, but that merely seemed to underscore the suspicion that not only was he getting old, he might be going crazy. This was the first time he’d been out since the â€Å"bite me† incident, and since then he had convinced himself that it must have been some sort of hallucination. Still, he cringed a bit every time the whale humped its tail to dive, expecting to see a message scrawled across the flukes. â€Å"He’s making them up noises, boss.† Nate nodded. The kid was learning fast. â€Å"Get your camera ready, Kona. He’ll breathe three, maybe four times before he dives, so be ready.† Abruptly the singing in the headphones stopped. Nate pulled up the hydrophone and started the engine. They waited. â€Å"He went that way, boss,† Kona said, pointing off to the starboard side. Nate turned the boat slowly in place and waited. They were looking in the direction in which Kona had seen the whale moving underwater when he surfaced behind them, not ten feet away from the boat, the blow making both of them jump, the spray wafting across them in a rainbow cloud. â€Å"Ho! Dat buggah up, boss!† â€Å"Thank you, Captain Obvious,† Nate said under his breath. He pulled down the throttle and came in behind the whale. On its next breath the whale rolled and slapped a long pectoral fin on the surface, soaking Kona and throwing heavy spray over the console. At least the kid had had the sense to use his body to shield the camera from the splash. â€Å"I love this whale!† Kona said, his Rastaspeak melting, leaving behind a middle-class Jersey accent. â€Å"I want to take this whale home and put him in a box with grass and rocks. Buy him squeaky toys.† â€Å"Get ready for your ID shot,† Nate instructed. â€Å"When we’re done with him, can I keep him? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeze!† â€Å"Here he goes, Kona. Focus.† The whale humped, then fluked, and Kona fired off four quick frames with the motor drive. â€Å"You get it?† â€Å"Rippin’ pics. Rippin’!† Kona put the camera down on the seat in front of the console and covered it with a towel. Nate pointed the boat toward the last fluke print, a twenty-foot lens of smooth water formed on the surface by the turbulence of the whale’s tail. These lenses would hold on the surface sometimes for as long as two minutes, serving as windows through which the researchers could watch the whales. In the old whaling days the hunters believed that fluke prints had been caused by oil excreted by the whale. Nate cut the engine and let the boat coast over the fluke print. They could hear the whale song coming up from below and could feel the boat vibrating under their feet. Nate dropped the hydrophones, hit the ;record; button, and put on the headphones. Kona was recording the frame numbers and GPS coordinates in the notebook as Nate had taught him. A monkey can do my job, Nate thought. An hour’s experience and this stoner is already doing it. This kid is younger, stronger, and faster than I am, and I’m not even sure that I’m smarter, as if that matters. I’m totally irrelevant. But maybe it did matter. Maybe it wasn’t all about strength. Culture and language completely screwed up normal biological evolution. Why would we humans have developed such big brains if mating was always predicated on strength and size? Women must have chosen their mates based on intelligence as well. Perhaps early smart guys would say something like â€Å"There, right behind those rocks, there’s a tasty sloth ripe for the spearing. Go get him, guys.† Then, after he’d sent the stronger, dumber guys running off a cliff after the imaginary sloth, he’d settle down with the best of the Cro-Magnon cuties to mix some genes. â€Å"That’s right, bite my brow ridge. Bite it!† Nate smiled. Kona was looking over the side at the singer, whose tail was only twenty feet below the boat (although his head was forty feet deeper). He was only a couple of minutes into his song. He’d be down at least ten minutes more. â€Å"Kona, we need to get a DNA sample.† â€Å"How we do that?† Nate pulled a set of flippers out of the console and handed them and an empty coffee cup out to the surfer. â€Å"You’re going to need to go get a semen sample.† The surfer gulped. Looked at the whale, looked at the cup, looked over the side at the whale again. â€Å"No lid?† How to cite Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 7~9, Essay examples